Best Buy's Geek Squad Strikes Again

DS writes, "I know, I know, talking about crazy weird Best Buy Geek Squad “services” is kind of old. But, you know what? It always gives me a good laugh. So, in the tradition of our previous piece on the fact that they charge for PS3 firmware upgrades, I now present to you the Geek Squad wanting to install your actual PS3 games onto the system for you. This requires them to slide the game disc into the PS3, sit back, sip a Mountain Dew and wait for the automatic install to complete. If it’s an optional install, they might have to break from their cheese ball eating to press one button on the DualShock 3."

[PS3ROCKS]

Welcome to Dick Buy. How may I dick you over.

[joydestroy]

lol

[HarryMonogenis]

.. charge people for waiting in line. >_>

[Red_Orange_Juice]

this is beyond me, I dont believe this

[kunit22c]

this is almost as bad as having to pay just to play console games online, imagine if we had to do th... oh wait...

[seinfan]

Living isn't free, people!

But it sure as hell doesn't need asinine charged services.

[kunit22c]

I think Best Buy, Activision, and Microsoft could all team up they all seem to like getting every penny out of their consumers..

[Motion]

Well, not to take away too much from the article, but Best Buy reuses the same plastic security cases over and over. Being a former employeee, I can say that there is a good chance that there used to be RAM or some other small computer component inside of that box. Odds are no one really cared enough to scrape the sticker off when a new product was placed inside. I don't know how bad its gotten there over the years, but I highly doubt that installing PS3 games is really one of their services now.

[taz8080]

Best Buy will do anything to turn a quick buck. I think they should also add a fee to carry things to your car or open your boxes for you.

[JoelT]

If they have a box opening service then I'm in the wrong line of work. JK

Seriously though it seems as though there's a sucker born every day and Best Buy is right there to take that sucker for everything they've got. Disgusting.

[thevokillist]

Take a flying lip-lock on my love muscle and hum the National Anthem... this is just recockulous!

[Chadness]

I'm just curious now how much they charge to install a game for you - a game that will install itself anyway the moment you put it in to play for the first time.

[testerg35]

c'mon.. it does take a lot to install! Insert disk and possibly press X several times! :)

[OSU_Gamer]

I dont know what is worse...the idiot who falls for this, or the Geek Squad itself.

[ZombieAssassin]

I hate best buy, I took one of my friends there to buy a Laptop once and as we are walking out they try to tell him he stole it (they lock up all their laptops so unless he had a key it isn't happening). So I got up in their face telling them to screw off that we just walked away from check-out 20 feet away from the door...so of course they had about 10 guys flock over there to see what was going on only to have my friend pull out a receipt and tell them to suck his bullocks and call the cops.

So the hell with Best Buy and their messed up ways.

[Fadetoblack69]

I got kicked out of Best Buy once for telling a customer that the hard drive the salesperson was trying to sell him could be bought at a store 2 blocks away from $75 less than was BB was trying to sell it to him for. For some reason the salesperson didn't appreciate my honesty ;)

[KillerPwned]

They cannot do that dirty bastards.

[slyrunner]

But they can't do that, i worked for BB for 2 years and i can honestly say that if a employ did such thing, that he would be fired the next day.

[duplissi]

i can attest to that, in fact they would then match the competitor's price.

on topic: this kind of shit tarneshes geeks squad.... gs is great for people who have no idea how to fix/clean/upgrade/install their computers, networks, and tvs..... i myself get the black tie protection plans on all major purchases, and some small ones like headphones! (ive purchased one pair of headphones and a 2 year plan for them and since best buy has replaced them 4 times!, i use them all the time and wear them out) also the plan i got for my laptop saved my ass! i dropped it 2 months after i bought it and i got it repaired- it was gone for 6 days!

[zero_gamer]

Best to Buy elsewhere.

[Unbornkirkster19]

common now the firmware thing was bad but this is just plain awful next itll be "well even bring the ps3 home, and turn in on for you! for only 59.99!" One thing im curious about is why is it just the Ps3 they are doing this with? im wondering if this move is justified by the sales. (sorry theres something wrong with my key board i cant make any punctuation marks haha)

[KillerPwned]

Geek squad and Best Buy are the devil.

[IRetrouk]

the question is, are what they doing legal or not, im sure that it probably is but sony should get in touch.

[Neckbear]

Why should they? It's none of their business and they simply don't care about it.

[IRetrouk]

of corse its their buisness, its their console thats being targeted by this, to say its none of their buisness is silly.

[Aither]

But it's stupid of Best Buy for offering this type of service and charging for it.

[Chadness]

I don't think offering the service itself is illegal, but Sony may have an issue with them saying the price of the PS3 is $329.99 (which includes their charge for a firmware upgrade) when it is not. If they start advertising that in ads and such, Sony is going to have issues with it simply because it's giving the public perception that the PS3 is actually at a higher price point than it really is.

[Joni-Ice]

Call the number on the sticker nd act like you just got the game and you need them to install. Ask for the price. Then tell them to kiss your ass.

[GodsHand]

LOL, I might just do that.

I had a friend of mine call Red Robin (Burger place), and try to place an order for a fur-burger. She kept on thinking he was aking for a fire burger.

[No FanS Land]

that could be really funny!

Sometimes I go in the drive-thru (right hand steering) in a tim hortons or mc donald's on reverse. Some employees are quite annoyed or even angered by this!

[kaos_fish II]

Best Buy does this with all games (360/DS/Wii/PSP/PS3 even PC) at least my local Best Buy's do.. nothing new

[Ninferno]

Wow... but you can't blame them 100%. This wouldnt exist if there wasn't a market for it. Some people just have no idea what they are doing and prefer to just pay someone to do it

[Neckbear]

Uncharted 2 has an optional install? I don't remember if it does, but I don't think so- and the sticker was on one.

[CernaML]

It doesn't install anything. It uses 1GB of your HDD for background data caching.

[Chadness]

Whether it had an install or not, the sticker was on it. It may be just placed on games at random, but I noticed it was on newer titles only.

[DlocDaBudSmoka]

has the install for all the dlc. thats the only install.

[cruncher_20]

I mean, if you need the GeekSquad to install the game, can you really play it ?
Make no sense... If you don't understand the install menu, there's no way you can understand the play menu of the game itself.

Maybe you can call them and play the game for you, finish it then they will sell back the game to themselves for 5$ then sell again at 60$ to another person !

[SpartanQ8]

Geek Squad
let an agent press the buttons for you and moving the analog stick for you also scratching your balls if you feel so and all that at 50$

*Define rubing people off = Geek squad

[Euthanasia78]

I'd say, if You need this service, You probably shouldn't have a PS3. How would You even have an AV setup if You can't install and auto install? LOL

[Gamer_Z]

Is Bobby Kotick working at Best Buy now!?

[Euthanasia78]

Best Buy Geek Squad will charge to come to Your house and find all the hidden glitch spots in Call of Duty for You. LOL

[SuperStrokey1123]

The Nerd Herd would never stoop this low.

[DlocDaBudSmoka]

best comment all day. +bubs

[djfullshred]

My best Best Buy moment...

Bought a large HDTV, and had it delivered, but later found it had issues. I asked for an exchange, they said they did not have another. When I aksed for them to pick it up for a refund, they said I had to truck it down there myself. I got mad & drove over there to complain, and they finally agreed to pick it up. When the delivery guy came by my house, he asked why I didn't just exchange it, because they have lots in stock (contradicting the salesmen who dismissed me, saying they couldn't exchange it).
Bought a replacement of the same model at another store.

[codyodiodi]

It's just a case...

Surprising this got approved.

[cruncher_20]

I think that someone just put the sticker on the case too !

[SRTold]

My little sister had to have her computer fixed in a quick a timely manner. So went to best buy and got her computer "fixed" for $250. It didn't work very well after being fixed, so she brought it back and they "fixed" it again for another $250. Again, they did a terrible job, so I went over to her house and fixed her "fixed" computer and it works great now. Best buy charged $500 to screw up a broken computer. I charged $0 to fix a computer that was re-broken by the geek squad.

I don't know what their training is there, but I have never taken any courses in computers, and only know what I know from screwing around with them.

Don't trust geek squad, they are terrible.

[booni3]

Why won't they stop this? Sony should stop selling them PS3s

[blueb00ger]

I know Best Buy is Infamous for a lot of things, but I think the author of this article might have not be aware of something that I am from working at Circuit City before it closed down. The picture shown from the link is not clear if the sticker is the outside of a box, but if it is then allow me to explain.

We called those boxes "keeper boxes". Try to walk through the entrance/exit with any merchandise in these boxes and the alarms will go off. It is common to put games inside of these keeper boxes so people can't cut up the plastic seal and steal the disc. It's a security measure. Now, at least back at Circuit City, we also used these keeper boxes for memory (RAM, USB drives, etc). In the case of RAM, they do offer their tech service to install them for you. My guess is that the employee working the media section used a keeper box that has a geek squad sticker on it and used it to put Uncharted 2 in there.

I too, did this myself several times because there weren't also enough keeper boxes. Circuit City offered membership where you get 10% off of games and those stickers would get slapped on those keeper boxes. I used them for memory units because I couldn't find any keeper box without a sticker.

However, if that sticker is indeed on the plastic layer of the game itself, then disregard everything I just said.

[Phoenixxx_Blaze]

Logical reply. + bubs