| Industry | Services |
|---|---|
| Founded | June 16th, 1994 |
| Key people | Robert Stephens, Chief Inspector |
| Employees | 24,000+ |
The Geek Squad is a subsidiary of the Best Buy Company and is based in Richfield, Minnesota. It was originally founded on June 16, 1994 by Robert Stephens. The company offers various computer-related services and accessories for residential and commercial clients. The Geek Squad provides services in-store, on-site, and over the Internet via remote access, and also provides 24-hour telephone and emergency on-site support.
Contents |
Geek Squad "precincts" exist in all Best Buy stores in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, China, and the United Kingdom. They offer in-home, online and remote/over the phone services.[1][2] There are also a number of "standalone" locations referred to separately as Geek Squad Stores. These consist of full-time "Agents" who specialize in PC repair, troubleshooting, data rescue, in-home PC setup, and wireless networking.
Best Buy terminated its partnership with Office Depot in Orlando, Florida, where Geek Squad precincts were located in 10 Office Depot locations.[3] The brand is also located in select FedEx Office locations. In October 2006, it was reported that Geek Squad would be launching in the United Kingdom in a joint 50-50 venture with Carphone Warehouse, where today it exists as both an onsite service and a remote repair service. It is now fully operational with onsite services in Greater London, the Home Counties, the South Coast and North West areas of England, and phone and remote repairs undertaken from Tulketh Mill in Preston (Lancashire).[4]
Recently, Best Buy partnered up with online tech support provider SupportSpace to offer remote Virtual Agent services to its customers. SupportSpace was founded in 2006 and provides immediate online tech support services.[5]
In 2007, Geek Squad officially added Magnolia Home Theater installation teams as well as Best Buy Mobile Installers to the Geek Squad brand. The change was titled, "Total Services" and was aimed towards the combination of major Best Buy services into one cohesive unit. Best Buy mobile installers and Magnolia Home Theater installers have now switched from their previous grey and blue uniforms to grey and orange shirts with grey cargo pants. This change removed all "Magnolia Home Theater Installation" branding and was replaced by "Geek Squad Installation Units" instead. This has now allowed Geek Squad to incorporate home theater installation as one of the in home services offered via telephone. All services previously offered are still available.
Despite this change, Best Buy's appliance installers were not incorporated under "Total Services".
Geek Squad employees are known as Agents and are assigned titles similar to those used by intelligence agencies – Counter Intelligence Agent (CIA), Deputy of Counter Intelligence (DCI), Double Agent (DA), Special Agent (SA) and Deputy Field Marshal (DFM), to name a few.[6] Unlike most computer repair facilities, Best Buy US does not require any industry certifications for its in-store technicians.[7] However, Best Buy Canada requires at least A+ Certification to work as a CIA. [8] Stephens mentioned Geek Squad's history in his keynote address to the American Society for Quality at the 2010 World Conference on Quality and Improvement in St. Louis, Missouri on 25 May.[9]
In-store agents, and in-home field agents, wear a white, short-sleeved, pocketless dress shirt. Agents are required to wear a black clip-on tie with the Geek Squad logo pin. Male agents wear black trousers, white socks and black lace-up shoes with the Geek Squad logo on the sole. Female agents may wear either black trousers, white socks, and black shoes; or, a black skirt with hose and black shoes. White and black are the only colors allowed in Geek Squad uniforms; other colors are not allowed. Agents holding certain positions including on-site Double Agents, Special Agents, and Deputies of Counter Intelligence carry a metal police-style badge.[10]
The Minnesota Historical Society added the official uniform to its permanent collection in 2000.[11]
Geek Squad Autotechs and GSIs (Home Theater Installers) wear a grey button-up work shirt or black short sleeved and collared dress shirt with the Geek Squad logo on the front and optional certification patches on the arms. Matching pants or shorts are worn as well as a bright orange undershirt. These agents also have the option of wearing a grey Geek Squad hat and/or black Geeks Squad nylon jacket..
Double Agents & Special Agents drive black-and-white Volkswagen New Beetles (dubbed "Geekmobiles") with an orange-and-black company logo on the door. Geekmobiles in California are all-black with white roof and running boards, due to a request by the California Highway Patrol that the vehicles no longer resemble the paint scheme of their police vehicles (a violation of California law).[12]
Due to a number of financial issues, including a large number of parking tickets and thousands of dollars lost for parking garage fees the Geekmobile program was ended in Manhattan New York City Geek Squad Precincts.
In the UK, Double Agents use Smart cars. However, due to congestion charging, agents operating in central London usually rely on the London Underground system.
Located in Hillview, Kentucky, Geek Squad City is the world's largest Geek Squad computer repair site at 165,000 square feet. It is also the only site that repairs any computer brand no matter how old it is or where it was purchased. United Parcel Service(UPS) trucks deliver boxes of computer equipment that needs to be repaired daily. Geek Squad claims that UPS had to expand its service line within Louisville to compensate for the increase in shipping volume from Geek Squad City.[13]
Geek Squad technicians have been caught on numerous occasions searching and copying pornographic content stored on their customers' computers without permission. When asked about the incident at an unrelated conference, Geek Squad founder Robert Stephens refused to discuss the topic, instead focused on whether bloggers should be considered true journalists and whether bloggers follow the same ethical standards as journalists.[14]
At least one former Geek Squad employee had come forward with allegations that the practice of surreptitiously searching for pornography on their customers' computers is not restricted to isolated employees, but is often shared with management at the location where the one employee worked.[14]
In 2002, during a spate of legal threats and challenges to competitors with "geek" in their names, Geek Squad attempted to block the trademark registration of New England area competitor Geek Housecalls [15] claiming that it violated their trademarks. When Geek Housecalls refused to budge, Geek Squad filed civil suit. After two years of wrangling, Geek Squad and Geek Housecalls arrived at an out-of-court settlement, the details of which cannot be disclosed according to the terms of the settlement except to state that Geek Housecalls retained its name.[16]
In 2006, Geek Squad was sued for allegedly using pirated copies of Winternals' Emergency Repair Disk Commander. The lawsuit filed by Austin-based Winternals claims that employees of Geek Squad have continued using the pirated versions of the software after the commercial licensing agreement broke off. Best Buy and Geek Squad were accused of copyright infringement, circumvention of copyright infringement systems, and misappropriation of trade secrets.[17] A settlement was eventually reached, and Winternals created a three-year agreement in place with Best Buy, allowing Geek Squad employees to lawfully use their licensed programs, including the ERD Commander.[18]
In 2007, A Los Angeles woman filed a lawsuit against Geek Squad when an Agent allegedly left his camera phone recording in her bathroom, to surreptitiously film her taking a shower.[19]
In 2010, Best Buy issued a trademark infringement cease and desist letter against a priest in Wisconsin for painting "God Squad" on his car.[20]