SoldierHawk wrote:

Knyte wrote: I'm sorry, I figured that statement would be taken with a . But, Geek Squad is really terrible. Case in point: They also give faulty information. A reporter did a test on Tech shops, and quality of service. He had a laptop, in which, one of the studio techs simply made a change in the BIOS so that the computer wouldn't see the hard drive correctly. So, when the computer was turned on, it came up with the "No Boot Device" error message. He went to Geek Squad, Firedog, and a local Mom + Pop shop. Geek Squad charged him $60 and told him that the hard drive was bad and needed to be replaced. Firedog charged him $50 and told him that either the Motherboard or Hard Drive was bad. The local PC shop found the problem in the BIOS, corrected it, and didn't charge anything. This might be the funniest thing I have ever read. Motherboard or hard drive my ass. Gad those people are *evil*.

They did an investigation like that around here some time ago. The problem was caused by some defective cables from the... hard drive, I think, and they went to a few places to see who would be able to find the problem, and what solution they gave to the consumer.

Independant repair guys (those who put ads in the newspaper) : Only 1 person on the 5 they went to found the problem, and he asked for over double the price of a new cable.
Everybody else said the either the motherboard or hard drive had to be replaced, which costs way more than just replacing a cable.

Department stores (like Walmart) : 3 on 5. One said the motherboard was broken, and the other admitted he didn't find the problem. Those who got it right still asked a bit too much, though.

PC shops : 5 on 5, problem found in less than 2 minutes every time, and they charged the real price of the cable.

The "damaged cable" problem was chosen because looking for loose cables and stuff should always be the first thing to look for if a computer refuses to start.

SoldierHawk wrote:

Btw, those "PC Shops" that got the good rating on the wire repair survey...what exactly do you mean by "PC shop"? Like, can you throw an example out there?

I managed to find a video of it and got some more info (I had completely messed up the results) :

- What they did was to notch the SATA cable so the pins inside would be damaged. Price of a SATA cable : usually no more than 10$
- Error shown on computer screen : "Drive 0 not found".

First, they went to see repairmen from three different stores :
Diagnosis 1 : Hard drive broken. Price of a hard drive : about 150$ (according to repairman)
Diagnosis 2 : The computer somehow works again temporarily without the repairman replacing the cable. He tells the reporter there's a problem with the RAM.
Diagnosis 3 : Something about a controller on the motherboard, whatever that is. Motherboard must be replaced. Cost : 200$ for motherboard, + 100$ charged for doing the work.

Then, they went to see 5 repairmen from specialized shops (they didn't give examples, of course, but the stores seemed pretty small.)
Diagnosis 1 to 4 : SATA cable broken. They charged about 4$ to 10$, whatever price they sold a SATA cable for.
Diagnosis 5 : Computer works fine. The computer worked intermittently, so the repairman saw it boot up, but he didn't think of looking at the cables. Didn't charge anything.

Then they called 3 "repairman at home" :

Diagnosis 1 and 2 : Hard drive broken
Diagnosis 3 : SATA cable broken. Price : 35$. He also lied, saying it's the same price if you buy one in a store.

So yeah, just go at some specialized store. They're more competent, and they usually charge less than the others.