Good. While reporters in Los Angeles and Boston had generally positive experiences, our Austin reporter said the technician spent less than 30 minutes at her home and didn't fix anything. No technician figured out the CD-ROM drive cable problem; they all recommended replacing the drive.
$89 for the first hour;
additional hours
$59 to $99
Fair. In Boston and Austin, technicians arrived on time and fixed the PCs (except for the CD-ROM drive) quickly. The tech in Austin even correctly diagnosed the drive cable, but didn't have a replacement. Our Los Angeles reporter tried for 12 days to book a tech, however, and the one he got did a terrible job.
$85 for the first hour; subsequent service charges are prorated in 15-minute increments
Fair. In Austin, after about an hour the technician called for backup, and a second tech came out to help. The techs forgot to search for the missing files (despite being reminded twice) and couldn't fix the CD-ROM drive. In Los Angeles, the company offered a discount after inadvertently canceling the appointment.
$129 to $229 (flat rate,
depending on the type of
service required)
Good. Our Boston experience was typical: The "Double Agent" arrived a bit early, listened carefully, and correctly diagnosed and repaired most of the problems. Geek Squad recommends that customers take their PC in to a Best Buy store for a hardware problem. In Austin, the tech failed to remove all of the spyware, and it reinfected the system after he left.
FOOTNOTE: 1 The rates and method of billing vary from service to service; when given a choice, we chose a rate plan suited to a single visit by a technician.
