Hi, I just wanted to let you know the most current developments with Geek Squad. I don't remember where I was the last time that I sent an email, so the beginning is summarized, and then there is new info from Friday.
My computer was intermittently not going to the OS when I turn it on. I thought it was from the HP Printer that I had just installed; but that was just a coincidence in timing. I backed everything up from my computer so that none of my files would be lost if it were to die, or if Geek Squad had to back it up to fix something. I had already defragged the hard drive - but the Norton 360 does that and it was already under 10% defragged. So.before taking it in to Geek Squad, I felt like I was prepared for what would happen. NOT!!! The Geek Squad called me the day after I dropped it off and said that I had many viruses and they would have to clean the viruses up and, of course, that would cost me extra money for them to do that. When I picked it up, I asked the Geek Squad person which viruses it had.she said she didn't know, but their virus removal process would probably remove them. I had already contacted Norton before picking up my computer because I was upset that their program was not working.and where was their guarantee that their software works. After I got home with the computer, I ran the Power Eraser tool that Norton has on their website.NO VIRUS. I then started another online chat where I was eventually sent to a supervisor. He dialed into my computer and checked so many things using the commands in the DOS prompt mode. He said NO VIRUSES, NO PROBLEM WITH MY HARD DRIVE! He then asked me what viruses they said that I have, and I didn't know. I went back to the Geek Squad on Thursday after I had just received the steroid injection for my knee - and I had asked the doc to put extra novacaine in the shot so that I could have time to get home and get my morphine working before the knee pain added to my discomfort. However, I did forget that a lot of novacaine causes me to be a bit nervous, a little shaky, unable to cope with some things. I went to the same Geek Squad and I asked one of the guys what viruses my computer had.he said they don't know, but it would be on a file that they put on my desktop. I opened it in the store, but it was over 20 pages, and the guy showed me where it said the names of the viruses. I closed my laptop and took it home. When I got home, I opened the file and started reading the entire thing. One place it said that I had Windows 7; one place it said that I had Windows Vista; it said that I had no virus protection, no spyware protection, my computer was not set up for automatic Microsoft updates; my disk was severely fragmented, and a few other things that I knew were not true. That made me upset, because I believed that they copied other reports and pasted it into mine. But, I still had all the novacaine in me, my spine was killing me, so I took my meds and a long afternoon nap. When I woke up, I was trying to figure out how to find out what was true or not. I had sent an email to the Norton Supervisor with the Geek Squad report and a copy of our live chat from the night before. Then I thought that I would play dumb and contact Toshiba.after all they are the ones that made my computer and they may be able to tell me truthfully because I no longer had the Toshiba warranty. I told the agent exactly what was happening.he said only two things could cause that.a corrupted OS (which would NEVER have booted up again.an mine was booting up occasionally) or the BIOS on the mother board - what the Norton supervisor had told me the night before. On Friday evening, after I came home from volunteering at our church's fall food festival, I decided that I need to contact Geek Squad.not at the store that I took my computer, not at another local store (they may all know each other and be friends), so I contacted the virtual agent on the Geek Squad website. I told him what the local Geek Squad said, how Norton Power Eraser found no viruses; the Norton supervisor dialed into my computer and found no viruses or hard drive problems, and the Geek Squad Analyzer report which showed that I have viruses on the computer. He checked the report online; and then he dialed in to my computer and ran some checks.no viruses. This is where I finally got my satisfaction.. He told me that the analyzer report that they ran on my computer had not had any updates since BEFORE Windows Vista was released. In my estimation that would have been in 2007 or before. He also said that when they are analyzing a computer for problems they are supposed to run six or seven programs and they only ran the one that was so old. This virtual agent then said that he was going to update my BIOS and that it may totally disable the motherboard, and he confirmed my address and said that if it didn't come back that they would send me a box to put it in and they would replace the motherboard and it would be covered under my protection plan. I was happy about that.but after the computer restarted, he told me that he was going to be sending an email to the person who ran the original scan, the supervisor of that Geek Squad Unit, and the store manager telling them that they are not doing what the Geek Squad protocol is. Then he encouraged me to go online to GeekSquadCares.com and fill in the survey and in the comments write what had transpired. I feel that someone may be losing a job.maybe the entire group in this store.I don't know, but I am happy not only for me, but for all the people that go there in the future. I am happy that I followed through and that others will not undergo the same trickery that I did. The last two weeks have been so hard between the computer not booting up and the HP Printer messing up my computer (and there one of the online reps told me the wrong thing to do, and it caused me hours and hours of doing the instructions he gave me, only to have to contact another representative to walk me through getting the problem resolved.) I returned the printer on Friday to Costco.no problem even though I purchased it about 10 months ago. I have the new printer set up and it is working fine. My computer seems to be doing better, and Geek Squad is going to keep my case open in the event that the same issue of not booting up the OS starts again. What am I going to do today?...something different that sitting all day tryin to resolve computer and printer problems. Thanks for listening.and please always feel free to keep going up to the more competent people when you have a problem.stick to your instincts. I do realize that I would have not had the opportunity to deal with all of this nonsense if I had a job. I was up past 2 am on several days working on these issues.today is all about Dolly & Desi. Dolly needs another vaccine and I cannot bear to hear Desi crying like he did last time that I took her to the vet alone. I will have to decide that when I am ready to go. Taking Desi with when he has no vet issues does help me to get him to learn his manners even when he is so excited. In fact, the last time I took both of them because they both needed shots and he did not do the crying and serious excited panting every time that he heard Dr. Bullard's voice in the background. Maybe I will take him.but if my muscle spasms in my lower back don't stop, Dolly goes alone. We will see. Here is to a wonderful week to all of you!!! Joan, Dolly Dee & Desi Lou
