This is downright theft.

[Nakajo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxSr2W6YjGc

Wow. I will NEVER call one of these places. I'll just get my friend to do it.

[Nekojin]

You can find all sorts of horror stories about Geek Squad and other high-profile computer service outfits online.

IIRC, Geek Squad was actually one of the best there was - until they were bought out by Best Buy. Now, most "Geek Squad" people are just salesmen with limited computer expertise - they're not there to fix your computer, they're there to fix your pocketbooks, by lightening the load.

That's not entirely a fair way of putting it... but Geek Squad employee performance reviews are based largely on their sales performance. That alone should tell you what the "good" GS employees are going to be looking to do.

[JustADude]

IIRC, Geek Squad was actually one of the best there was - until they were bought out by Best Buy.

Yes, they were indeed some of the best. They got bought out to bring their brand-name prestige to Best Buy, which then crapped all over the reputation that name had with it.

[Andara Bledin]

That hard drive recovery one that wanted to send it to a clean room to recover the data was particularly heinous. It costs more than that to do a clean room recovery. Well, if you want one of the best in the business (the guy is related to someone I used to work with and is the go-to guy for several governments), you're going to be paying a lot more than just $2k, so you better make sure your data is worth it.

Of course, right there, this is a lesson to make regular backups of all important data.

^-.-^

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

IIRC, Geek Squad was actually one of the best there was - until they were bought out by Best Buy. Now, most "Geek Squad" people are just salesmen with limited computer expertise - they're not there to fix your computer, they're there to fix your pocketbooks, by lightening the load.

And help themselves to your pr0n.

[Acolyte]

I wish people knew how easy it was to recover data from a HDD that hasn't been physically totaled. GetDataBackNTFS/FAT is GODLY.

Hell, I've even resurrected HDDs hit by lightning. Fortunately, just the control board fried and I had an identical one laying around I could swap it with.

[Boozy]

Of course, right there, this is a lesson to make regular backups of all important data.

I'm going to do that right now.

Good reminder.

[Yfandes]

I wish people knew how easy it was to recover data from a HDD that hasn't been physically totaled. GetDataBackNTFS/FAT is GODLY.

Hell, I've even resurrected HDDs hit by lightning. Fortunately, just the control board fried and I had an identical one laying around I could swap it with.

I use a thingie like this to mine data off of hard drives Sometimes a Knoppix disk helps

[Nekojin]

I wish people knew how easy it was to recover data from a HDD that hasn't been physically totaled. GetDataBackNTFS/FAT is GODLY.

+++... aw, hell, there aren't enough plusses to go around to emphasize this statement. I know that there are other utilities that can be used, but GetDataBack has recovered a metric asston of data off of a hard drive that Andara had that just spontaneously self-destructed, for no visible reason.

[Rahmota]

That explains a lot about the abuse I had from the Geeks when my laptop was broken. I didnt know they where their own company before though.

[BrassCowboy]

How is this any different than what mechanics do to consumers when we get our cars fixed? I mean, most people know as much about cars as they do about computers.

[draggar]

I wish people knew how easy it was to recover data from a HDD that hasn't been physically totaled. GetDataBackNTFS/FAT is GODLY.

So is your freezer.

I use a thingie like this to mine data off of hard drives Sometimes a Knoppix disk helps

I love those, I have two at my workstation at work and they've been well worth the price in data transfers / recoveries.

How is this any different than what mechanics do to consumers when we get our cars fixed? I mean, most people know as much about cars as they do about computers.

You can say that about a lot of industries right now. Computers, cars, suits, electronics (in general), handymen etc.. Heck, I even saw it when I worked in retail, ever hear of phone-slamming?

While these companies do need to make a living, I don't like the fact that a lot of bad apples are ruining the few good ones that are still out there. The whole country (well, countries if you include the USA and Canada) need a wake up call and a huge lesson in ethics.

I've even been an attempted victim before, I just stopped dealing with them right then and there. Obviously they didn't care about their customers, they only cared about money.