Geek Squad Rip-Off

A co-worker yesterday said she wanted to ask me some question about purchasing a laptop computer from Best Buy.  She asked me if she should purchase the $129 “extra” service.  When I asked her what the sales person told her it was she said that it was so the Geek Squad could remove programs that are pre-loaded in Vista and isn’t needed.  She was also told this would allow her to receive a recovery disk.

Is it me, or is Geek Squad simply a rip off company that preys on people that don’t understand technology?  Removing programs that aren’t needed?  Isn’t that what the uninstall program is for?  Don’t all computers come with either a recovery disk or the ability to burn one from the “D” drive?

I went to Circuit City not long ago and Geek Squad was there.  They were trying to convince this 60 + year old man that he needed to pay $100 so they could defrag his laptop.  I got angry, went to the gentleman, and started the defrag process for him, at no charge.  Once he saw what it was, and how easy it was to initiate, he realized what a rip off $100 was.  I got some serious stink eyes from the Geek Squad staff but who cares?

I suggested to my friend that the only “extra” she should purchase is an extended warranty from the laptop manufacturer and stay as far away from Geek Squad as humanly possible.  They charge too much to do the simplest tasks, charge to install free programs, try to convince you to purchase programs that are not needed and are memory hogs.

If she needs help with removing programs she doesn’t want she can come to me or a hundred other “geeks” that will charge nothing.