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Posted: Jan 12 2011 11:39 am

From The Consumerist:

Best Buy is reportedly snipping the white ties of hundreds of agents, shutting down seven of its 16 Geek Squad service centers.

WEWS Ohio reports a Cleveland-area center, which has about 100 employees, is one of the seven affected, and will close down April 29. According to the story, 45 employees at the Cleveland-area facility will lose their jobs.

Citing an unnamed source, WEWS reports laid off employees will be allowed to apply for other job openings in the company, but have no guarantee of continued employment. Employees who will be laid off must stick around until April 8 to receive severance packages.

While job loss sucks, Geek Squad did more harm than good (right Hawk?)

Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

There are a few reasons for this.

1. Computers don't cost that much to replace, so why fix it for the same cost?
2. BestBuy's service in the stores can usually fix the problem. The external mail in service is based on service plans.
3. People have figured out that BestBuy's service programs for computers are scams.

My guess is that the service will remain, but BestBuy will rethink it and make it more like NerdHerd.

Posted: Jan 12 2011 04:56 pm

Thank god this finally happened. I don't know how many times I've had to explain to older relatives to call me instead of wasting 60+ bucks to take it to Geek Squad when their problem is a two minute fix. The service was overpriced and most of those people didn't know fuck all about what they were doing short of the 2 hours training they got when they were hired. You can find a reputable local service shop that knows what they are doing and will do it for less usually.

Posted: Jan 12 2011 05:30 pm

Beach Bum wrote:

Thank god this finally happened. I don't know how many times I've had to explain to older relatives to call me instead of wasting 60+ bucks to take it to Geek Squad when their problem is a two minute fix. The service was overpriced and most of those people didn't know fuck all about what they were doing short of the 2 hours training they got when they were hired. You can find a reputable local service shop that knows what they are doing and will do it for less usually.

So, SO much this.

Damn straight, Sathien.

Posted: Jan 12 2011 05:38 pm

I'm glad that there guys are getting canned, if only so I don't get cut off by that damn Beetle anymore. Seriously, what the hell is so urgent that you need to blow by me in a no passing zone? Is the person's computer taking on its final steps in becoming SkyNet?

I am a little worried though. I had a friend I fell out of touch with who was one of these guys. I hope he ends up finding employment somewhere.