Unabashed

Interesting. My post yesterday has attracted some attention, including from Robert Stephens, the Founder and Chief Inspector of Geek Squad. First, let me say that this is a very interesting guy. In my digging yesterday I found that most employees who were speaking out thought a lot of Robert but not much of Best Buy. Whether that’s the common perception or not, I don’t know. So now I’ve read a little bit about Robert, an interview here, an article there, and my respect for Geek Squad and its founder is made considerably stronger. Here’s the text of his response to my post:

Matt,

Thank you for taking the time to post the kinds words about Agent Moffatt.  I wanted to let you know that I personally take time out to recognize each Agent when they receive such nice feedback.  I’ll be sending
your letter to the Agent with a handwritten note.

Also, I wanted you to know that I am still here and completely focused on sustaining quality and retaining great talent.  It’s a lot of work, but I’m convinced it can be done.  I just wanted you to know I and the entire team take it very seriously.

Regards,

Robert Stephens
Founder and Chief Inspector
The Geek Squad

“Serving the Public, Policing Technology, and Protecting the World”

Wow. The man in charge actually pays attention to buzz, realizes that customers don’t write letters anymore but blog their experiences, and then responds to it? Cudos, Mr. Stephens.

I remain,

Geek Squad Wannabe Matt Mitchell

written by Matt Mitchell

I was all set to unleash all my righteous fury upon the Best Buy people; I would vent, rave, and when it was all over I would stand proud and tall and stare down upon the submissive masses who wronged me. But then they were all, like, nice and stuff.

The Geek Squad Agent who took my complaint said, (paraphrasing) “Well, let me plug it up and see what the problem is.” She then saw that it was a 50GB HD in the supposed 320GB slot and replaced it. No fuss, no problems, no hassles, only an apology for my having to redo the setup work I’d already done. But then she copied my setup over to the new HD and I didn’t have to redo that, either. So I’m satisfied, and my bad experience of a few years ago is now somewhat atoned for in my mind.

After accomplishing the minor feat of working conveniently and painlessly through a mire of supposed corporate bureaucracy, I decided to check up on the Geek Squad via the trusty old introwup (how many different ways can I mangle the word Internet? I’m working on at least 101 now…) and found a couple of blog articles that were both comforting and disturbing. For one, it seems that Geek Squad was once a great company to work for. The employees were almost cult-like in their zeal for the company. But after Best Buy bought them out I believe the zest has dissipated.

Too bad; Geek Squad has all the makings of a great idea and a great company, but with Best Buy at the helm it’ll likely be quickly losing its reputation. They charge way too much for every service they provide and Geek Squad Agents are being made to do things that aren’t in their job descriptions. Normally this wouldn’t raise any red flags with me; I’m often asked to do things that don’t fall within the framework of my job description as well, but when you ask tech folks to play salesperson you’re asking for trouble. But from what I read the people Best Buy is hiring as GS Agents aren’t always very technically apt anyway. And once they’re on the job they don’t get any training.

It’s a shame, really. It looks like a great company from the outside, but low pay and dumb management will founder the ship if they don’t sink it outright. If I didn’t already have a great job, I might consider looking into Geek Squad as a potential employer, but after all I’ve read now I’m not so sure.

Picture by irina slutsky.

written by Matt Mitchell