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Unfornate PC Observation at BestBuy

akonradi said:
You say that people go to Apple for support with software issues more often than hardware problems because they don't know what they're doing with the software. So how do you know that this isn't the same at another store?

Also, this is comparing a third-party insurance program against the manufacturers' warranties, which is again an unfair judgement.
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I have learned that this forum has no place for reason and logical thinking. These apple zealots have lost their minds. I love apple hardware just as much as the next guy but lets not go crazy here.
 
BestBuy Ripping Off New Mac Users

BestBuy in Hawaii recently sold a friend of mine a 20" iMac and then told him it was necessary for their "Geek Squad" to Optimize it for him. They charged him $39.99 for running a 3 minute script, at that rate it comes out to more than $800 an hour for optimization. Here is the log found on his computer:

Agent Tweaks Started
10:36:59 PM on Wednesday, July 29, 2009
-------------------------------------------
Mac OS X Firewall Enabled
Two Finger Secondary Click on Touchpad Enabled
Smooth Scrolling Enabled
Dock Magnification Enabled
Dock Auto-Hide Disabled
Bluetooth Discoverable Disabled
Software Update Checking Already Enabled
Automatic Software Update Checking Enabled
Background Downloading of Updates Enabled
More Frequent Check for Updates Enabled
Secondary Button Enabled on Mighty Mouse
Keychain Access on Status Bar Enabled
Safari Auto Open of Downloads Disabled
Safari Tabbed Browsing Enabled
.DS_Store Writing on Network Shares Disabled
GUI Scripting Support Disabled
-------------------------------------------
Total Time to Run was 169 seconds.
User Interaction Completed in 145 seconds. (86%)
Tweaking Completed in 24 seconds. (14%)

They also sold him an Epson NX110 (already obsolete) for $29.99 then charged him $49.99 for a hardware install (All they did was run the installation cd that came with the printer).:mad:
 
John Jacob said:
Yeah, but my point was that you don't see similarly long lines (as described by the OP) at an Apple store or Apple reseller (of similar size and presumably selling as many Macs as the Best Buy sells Pee Cees).
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How can an Apple Store sell as many computers as Best Buy when the market share of PC's vs Macs isnt even a contest? Best Buy is the goto place for buying PC's in a store.
 
Shiner said:
I have learned that this forum has no place for reason and logical thinking. These apple zealots have lost their minds. I love apple hardware just as much as the next guy but lets not go crazy here.
Click to expand...
Are you directing this towards me via the quote? Because that's exactly what I'm trying to imply.
 
Yep sounds like Geeksquad alright. I used to work for them years ago. Its sad to see that its still HP's and Dells hogging up the Geeksquad area.

Edit: Oops, "precinct", not "geeksquad area". I never worked in there anyway I drove the little car around lol
 
RonS said:
BestBuy in Hawaii recently sold a friend of mine a 20" iMac and then told him it was necessary for their "Geek Squad" to Optimize it for him. They charged him $39.99 for running a 3 minute script, at that rate it comes out to more than $800 an hour for optimization. Here is the log found on his computer:

Agent Tweaks Started
10:36:59 PM on Wednesday, July 29, 2009
-------------------------------------------
Mac OS X Firewall Enabled
Two Finger Secondary Click on Touchpad Enabled
Smooth Scrolling Enabled
Dock Magnification Enabled
Dock Auto-Hide Disabled
Bluetooth Discoverable Disabled
Software Update Checking Already Enabled
Automatic Software Update Checking Enabled
Background Downloading of Updates Enabled
More Frequent Check for Updates Enabled
Secondary Button Enabled on Mighty Mouse
Keychain Access on Status Bar Enabled
Safari Auto Open of Downloads Disabled
Safari Tabbed Browsing Enabled
.DS_Store Writing on Network Shares Disabled
GUI Scripting Support Disabled
-------------------------------------------
Total Time to Run was 169 seconds.
User Interaction Completed in 145 seconds. (86%)
Tweaking Completed in 24 seconds. (14%)

They also sold him an Epson NX110 (already obsolete) for $29.99 then charged him $49.99 for a hardware install (All they did was run the installation cd that came with the printer).:mad:
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Oh my it used to be like $30 to install a printer. I know it sounds like a rip-off but to someone who doesn't know computers it may be a good value.

The same thing happens when I take my car to get an oil change. I love paying $20 and have someone do that mess for me since I certainly don't know how to do it. My Dad always tells me I'm getting ripped off by paying $20 for a 5 minute job.

Also, if you think the optimization and printer install are bad, I had a lady pay $900 for me to come out on an "emergency call" and fix her computer cause her webkinz were dying. (Google what a webkin is and you will laugh your ass off!)
 
John Jacob said:
Yeah, but the number of PC's sold from a single store should be roughly the same as the number of Macs sold from a store of similar size. So your point doesn't hold.
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An Apple store or reseller is not the same size as Best Buy. .

John Jacob said:
Yeah, but my point was that you don't see similarly long lines (as described by the OP) at an Apple store or Apple reseller (of similar size and presumably selling as many Macs as the Best Buy sells Pee Cees).
Click to expand...

A few posters just posted that they've seen long lines at Apple stores as well. And again, there are no Apple store selling as many Macs as Best Buy sells PCs. Since about 93-95 computers sold out of every 100 are PCs, it's perfectly reasonable to expect that Best Buy sells a lot more computers than any Apple Store or Apple resellers, especially since Circuit City and CompUSA went under, which leaves people with less places to shop for a PC.

Harlowgold1 said:
This was just an observation and I apologize for lacking empirical data. This is a store the serves a small city. I am talking about a line of 2-3 people. They had chairs for them to sit in due to the lines. This was on Thursday at 1:30PM and we are talking about computers that were DOA! I have not observed this in an Apple store. I have a Dell as well and it is now five years old and have not had any problems. I just thought it was interesting and sad...

Jenny:p
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I'm confused. The line only contained 2-3 people? Or did you mean there were 2-3 different lines? Or maybe 20-30 people?
 
chrono1081 said:
Also, if you think the optimization and printer install are bad, I had a lady pay $900 for me to come out on an "emergency call" and fix her computer cause her webkinz were dying. (Google what a webkin is and you will laugh your ass off!)
Click to expand...

Unless the lady was a lawyer for the RIAA (in which case she deserves to be ripped off -- if one downloaded song is worth $150000 then fixing her computer is certainly worth $900), I think you should feel bad for capitalising on her not knowing how to use a computer. $900, jeez. She could've bought a new computer for that money.
 
I bought 4 laptops from Bestbuy and had to return 3.... Matter of fact they wouldn't even refund my money the last time even though the laptop had hardware defects because..... get this "you reformatted the hard drive".

Turns out the SATA connector was bad and all I had to do was rewire it so I fixed it and it's working as well as a Windows PC can hope for.... for now.
 
0makol16 said:
That's because most of those people were PC users who switched and have no clue what the hell they're doing and kill their Mac or claim it's broekn since they installed something wrong or try to install PC programs... It's kind of funny imo
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LOL - yeah right. My iMac died after a year and a half... thank you... and all I did was wake it from sleep one day just like any other. Of course being Apple I had to take it in to an authorized service center. Unlike Dell, which came out to my parents house to fix their PC which my dad fried by yanking the power cord too many times (he was frustrated installing some crap software I told him to not install)


I will never buy one without adding in the 3 year warranty, too damn expensive to take the risk.



There are just as many horror stories on both sides of the aisle, the difference is one side sells many many times more than the other.

Also, BB is notorious for selling services for NEW computers no one needs. As such it makes their "Geek Squad" look busier than it should. The move a lot of hardware at my local BB. The Apple display is usually devoid of people 9 times out of 10 when I am there. Which is sad because its a better place than the Perimeter Mall Apple Store... though the best in Atlanta seems to be Marietta's Microcenter.
 
Harlowgold1 said:
Then I found it was for the Geek Sqaud and I just needed customer service. I could not believe the number of new laptops and computers that were needing serviced!!!! Some were recently purchased and I was saddened when I heard the purchaser's stories.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've never seen a line of people waiting hours for customer service in the Apple store. :rolleyes:Let me tell you about my experience when my Mac Mini fried its IDE controller...
 
RonS said:
BestBuy in Hawaii recently sold a friend of mine a 20" iMac and then told him it was necessary for their "Geek Squad" to Optimize it for him. They charged him $39.99 for running a 3 minute script, at that rate it comes out to more than $800 an hour for optimization. Here is the log found on his computer:
Click to expand...

Did they sell him rustproof undercoating and a warranty for his blinker fluid too?
 
Oh please :rolleyes:

I've had to wait an hour or two at the Genius Bar to have Apple products repaired. This isn't unique to PCs.
 
If you know what you are doing with your product, such as basic troubleshooting and overall setup, you can bypass most of the "tech support."

90% of the things they offer through tech support can easily be done on your own, with a little Googling and research. Half the customer service line are idiots who have no idea what they're doing and are willing to pay lots of money for a minimal service.
 
Harlowgold1 said:
It seemed like there were so many major HP and Dell computer hardware failures"
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So since when can you purchase Dell computers at Best Buy? And since when do people not call the Dell support to call in their on-site warranty and service?

You know, the #1 reason to buy a Dell computer is that Dell offers the best service in the industry. But the experience that I gathered with Apple and Dell over the last couple of years in two different places is just not representative. Maybe I have always been just lucky with Dell and unlucky with HP.
 
Harlowgold1 said:
Hi All!
I went into BestBuy yesterday regarding a Canon camcorder issue. I saw the line and I thought what the heck is going on here? Then I found it was for the Geek Sqaud and I just needed customer service. I could not believe the number of new laptops and computers that were needing serviced!!!! Some were recently purchased and I was saddened when I heard the purchaser's stories. It seemed like there were so many major HP and Dell computer hardware failures. I typically do not get into the PC/Mac argument but I had to smile in that I wished Microsoft was filming this as their promotion. Yes you can save a lot of money with a Windows machine - but you also spend a lot in repairs - so sad!
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This is why I switched to Apple... less hassle!:D

:apple:
 
You get what you pay for. If Apple was selling computers at the same price as the average Best Buy PC, they would have plenty of failures too.
 
Eidorian said:
Please do tell how the OEM hardware inside a Mac is any different.
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These Best Buy $300 specials are loaded with the cheapest mobo, power supply, memory, HDs that they can find. If Apple had to meet this price point, they would be doing the same thing and having the same failure rates.
 
I went to the Geek Squad area at Best Buy once to get my dad's laptop fixed. At the time, there were a few people there, all with PCs. Later, I saw some guy pick up his black MacBook. He only had the hard drive replaced.
 
Big Boss Man said:
These Best Buy $300 specials are loaded with the cheapest mobo, power supply, memory, HDs that they can find. If Apple had to meet this price point, they would be doing the same thing and having the same failure rates.
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There is really no "cheapest". They use the same stuff that Apple does, but in larger quantities and with smaller profit margins.
 
0makol16 said:
That's because most of those people were PC users who switched and have no clue what the hell they're doing and kill their Mac or claim it's broken since they installed something wrong or try to install PC programs... It's kind of funny imo
Click to expand...

As you say, it's actually quite easy:

PC broken -> manufacturer's fault.
Mac broken -> user's fault.

(and don't tell me that contradicts the fact that Macs are actually easier to use than PCs)

:D
 
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