Training is awful. The only trainings they offer are the E-Learnings which are often out of date or contain many inaccuracies. Every employee at the Geek Squad, from the Consultation Agent to the DCI, should be at least A+ certified. If they are not, the store should pay for them to get certified. How else can the company expect people to trust that they are giving sound advice and that they know what they are doing with the computers?
Many Geek Squad employees are former sales associates with no background in computers at all. As a result, it's not uncommon for them to give false information on the most trivial things such as, "Your Vista-era computer is too old to run Windows 8" or "Only Office 2010 and newer is supported in Windows 8." They also always tell clients that a new computer is cheaper than upgrading their current one. The client could have a top of the line Razor gaming laptop from 2009, and they would still tell these people that a cheap $350 crap laptop would be better for them than upgrading their current model. The uniform makes these agents look knowledgeable, but in reality they have no place to be in this Geek Squad position.
Consultation Agents' primary goal is to sell Tech Support. They will try to get people to buy tech support even when they don't even need it. I've seen agents try to sell tech support to people who had no real problems with their computer and already had another local computer technician who they hired to help them with their computer issues. They should even be called "Consultation" Agents because they are really just there to "consult" you on why your should buy the Tech Support plan. This is probably also why the company doesn't care that their CA's are so horribly undertrained.
Some of the computer services are vastly overpriced. A virus removal costs $199 while you can go and get a cleaning for $60-$70 from any reputable local technician who has all the certifications to back himself up. I wouldn't have as much of a problem with them charging $199 if it weren't for the fact that some of the ARAs who are repairing the computers have no official background in computers and no certifications to speak of. Yet, these people charge more than the industry standard price. Why is that? Because a year of tech support coincidentally also costs $199. This is the perfect example of how a sales mindset has corrupted the computer repair mindset of the Geek Squad.
Finally, the pay is awful. Starting salary for a part-time Consultation Agent or Technology Education Agent is $10.15-$10.50. Anyone doing computers should at least be making $11/hour to start off part time. Full timers should be starting out at $12/hour. Considering all the repair work that is done and the knowledge that is required to do this job, $10.50 is too low of a salary.
