Hot on the heels of Best Buy’s “Pre-Optimization” service, which any user can do themselves, Best Buy has decided to release a new program. We’ll call it “More Trialware!” That’s right, Best Buy seems to think that users want even more trialware on their computers, and now they’re getting paid by the software companies to do it to you. All you have to do is buy an HP or Dell and click a few icons, install a program or two and Best Buy makes money.

They still have to take that new computer out of the box, load software on it before you even buy it, then try to put everything back in the box correctly – something they couldn’t seem to do correctly a week ago.

I’ll give you all a secret. If you want to “pre-optimize” your computer, download and install a program called Crap Cleaner and run it before doing anything else to that brand new laptop or desktop. There are a lot of other things to do as well, but that is be best place to start. After that, customize your computer to how YOU want it, and you’re already better off.

News hit the Internet today that Best Buy is practicing some pretty nasty business practices. Unfortunately, Best Buy has found that they can offer laptops, that are on sale, for a higher-than-advertised price. While they do sell two versions of the same laptop, a non-optimized and pre-optimized, the non-optimized laptops sell out first (naturally) leaving most customers with an extra $39.99 to add to the bill.

That’s right, imagine going into Best Buy thinking that you’re going to get a $299 laptop that’s on sale in the paper. You get there and find that the laptop you want is actually being listed as $299 + 39.99. You speak to one of the reps and they tell you that “Optimized is better” and explain several pre-scripted paragraphs of technobabble as well as some untrue, self thought-up, comments. You hold your ground and say you want the $299 laptop and they reply “we’re sold out of those…”. What happens then? Depending on which store you visit, and how much of a stink you raise, you may

1. Pay nothing extra
2. Pay a minor fee
3. Pay the full price.

Imagine bringing that pre-optimized computer home to find that you’ve got an info sheet for a different model and manufacturer, and that you’re missing your power supply. It happened. Pre-optimized laptops are opened by associates in the store then manually configured with tweaks that you can do yourself.

While I dislike talking badly about competition, I honestly feel that bad business practices hurt everyone involved, to include customers, technicians as well as legitimate repair companies. These types of situations need to be brought to light. It seems that the Consumerist feels the same way, as they broke the story yesterday. If you’re thinking about buying any type of electronics from Best Buy, or have considered the Geek Squad as a business to fix your computer, I highly recommend that you read the article. You may also want to check on exactly who fixes your computer at the Geek Squad.
Justin

It’s no secret that one of Protocol16’s competitors is the Geek Squad, but what exactly is the “GS”? I spent some time this weekend researching their tools, how they hire and what their internal policies are – it’s always good to know your enemy… One of my “enemies”, in this instance, is just down the road… The Best Buy in Beaverton.

What I learned surprised me a lot. While I knew that I didn’t like how the service operated, I found out that there are some things that go on behind that scenes that make that feeling go from “didn’t like” to “disgusted”…

First, I knew GS’ prices are roughly TWICE those of Protocol16’s. While I don’t agree on some of their time estimates, most of our times do align, when you think of things in raw hours of required labor for a specific fix.

Now, some of you may have just found out that their pricing is roughly twice as much as ours, but how would you feel if you were charged that for an outsourced company to remotely work on your computer? That’s right, outsourced labor. GS runs a program called “Agent Jonny Utah” which is high-tech, internal, lingo for “outsourcer”. According to the article, they’re in India. Don’t know about you, but I’d want to talk to the guy that actually worked on my computer…

I managed to find some interesting material on this program as well. You would think it mentions things like “lower costs for customers” or “better quality”, but no. I discovered terms like “Better utilization of on-floor reps” and “gross margins” – it’s all about the money folks, not about the quality, not about your computer and not about you (except for your money).

I also found out during the course of my research that the GS uses “proprietary tools” to locate and destroy viruses and spyware. What that actually means is, they repackaged several antivirus tools into one package AND use a rebranded service for their remote work that many computer repair shops use, they’re just charging you MUCH more than any normal computer repair shop would for the same tools.

We’re about quality. We’re about welcoming you into our family and ensuring that everything runs right, not about the money. My goal when starting Protocol16 was to ensure that my customers were happy and that I’d eventually have a normal job that I felt was not going to affect how I slept at night. I’ve worked for far too many corporations that literally caused me to lose sleep at night.

I hate talking bad about any company, but the GS is the same type of company I left to start Protocol16.
Justin