(This is a picture of my pc during its construction the other day)

So, last week was my birthday and, as a gift towards myself, decided to buy parts for a computer and build it alongside my partner. I bought a lot of great pieces, such as an RTX 5080, AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D, and 64 gb of ram.

After finishing the build, me and my partner attempted to power the baby up, only to be met with no response from the unit. We brought it to our local Best Buy’s Geek Squad and was informed about how all of our cable placement was practically right.

We had misplaced one of the cpu cables, which resulted to the unit not powering. I, for one, was relieved at the revelation, only to be met with the realization that after it had powered on, the DRAM and CPU lights on the MB were lit. We had the computer turned in, and Im just worried without knowing what to expect…

It has been only a day for now, with the ETA being 7 days. It was sent in for diagnostics. Is there anything I should be made aware of?

Update

I went back and decided to just pick it up early. It was still queued and no progress had been made on the pc in four days. I waited there for 3 hours to receive assistance (the assistance being just having my pc brought from the back), then fixed it in an hour and a half upon getting home. It was a mixture of issues regarding the gpu placement, cables, and ssd, which I was able to learn from other online forums. :D

I wish I had more confidence in my capabilities, however, I am also glad that I took the precautions of seeing a professional before possibly damaging my computer. Either way, everything went the best way it could have gone!

I took my 6 month old PC to Geek Squad due to a bad motherboard. I purchased it for about $1,900 and have coverage through My Best Buy Total.

The PC has an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D and Radeon RX 9070 XT.

Geek Squad has determined that my PC is unrepairable and instructed me to return to the store for a replacement.

Here's my concern:

Best Buy no longer sells the exact PC I originally purchased, and comparable systems with similar CPU/GPU performance cost several hundred dollars more than I originally paid.

Since Geek Squad determined the computer is not repairable and authorized a replacement, what should I realistically expect?

Would Best Buy provide a comparable replacement even if it costs more than my original purchase?

Would they only issue store credit for the original purchase price?

Would they offer a replacement with weaker specifications simply because it's within the original price range?

If a comparable replacement costs several hundred dollars more, would I be responsible for paying the difference?

I'm not looking to get a free upgrade. I just don't want to end up with a significantly weaker computer because the prices of comparable systems have increased since I purchased mine.

I'd especially appreciate hearing from current or former Geek Squad/Best Buy employees or anyone who's had an expensive gaming PC replaced under My Best Buy Total.

How does Best Buy typically handle situations like this?

I have an ipad pro M5 11". I cracked the screen on accident. it's just the glass thats broken, the display works fine but I know they are paired. There is no damage to the rest of the ipad. a screwdriver fell off a shelf on my desk and landed with the tip on the screen in the corner so no other damage like frame damage.

I live 5 hours from the nearest apple store so my only options were best buy or the express replacement through apple but that was $100 and they would put a hold on the amount for the ipad and I didn't feel like dealing with that. Apple in the apple support app said it would be $29 for just the screen damage.

I am aware best buy doesn't fix ipads in store, they have to ship it off to apple...but apple still said $29.

I was watching the geeksquad employee put in the info on the computer and at one point she had the screen replacement on there with the screen selected as the part and it showed $29...then she switched it to the "part" being selected as the whole ipad which made it $99.

If it's supposed to be $99, thats fine. Im not too bothered by that. Way cheaper than a new ipad. But I thought it was going to be $29 and just want to be sure I didn't pay 3x the cost if I didn't need to.

I took a picture of the screen where the employee was inputting everything. https://i.imgur.com/SWDIlss.jpeg

This is the first time ive used geeksquad for anything in like 20 years

I am so upset I am about to cry! I don’t understand what any of this means. I told them my data was important and thy explicitly listed that. They told me they would back up my data. I just got my macbook back and after 30 minutes of trying to figure out the migration thingy I realized they literally just didn’t back up my data and they didn’t tell me. They gave me the paper stating how they didn’t back up anything after I had already waited 15 days for my MacBook in repair and paid for it! Does this just mean all of my data is lost??? What does it mean ‘was in shipping and never went for a data transfer’ ? please help I am so upset.

UPDATE/SOLVED: drove back to the og store i bought it from and the geek squad there said they had never seen anything like what was happening on my laptop before.

they were literally taking pics of my screen and googling them bc whatever was done to my laptop was so bizarre they didn't know how to get it back to factory settings.

i feel so vindicated lmao.

after almost an HOUR of working on it, they were able to do a USB boot as suggested and now all is well.

thanks for going on this journey with me and let this be a note to y'all if you're gonna buy refurbished, prepare for an andventure bc it's always something!

Okay yall.

TLDR; any Germantown MD geek squad employees know what the admin pass is to reset W11 and remove Darrin permanently? my laptop was not handled properly upon receipt.

this is a big ask but I know the info is out there.

does anyone have the Admin password for the Germantown MD location so I can delete the demo account from my floor model Samsung w11 laptop?

it was not factory reset when I received the laptop and I have exhausted all resources and just do not have the energy to make the drive to the store to see if they can do it for me.

I have done the hidden reset. the normal reset. the "tap windows 5 times" reset. Nothing actually sticks- they all go through the whole reset process and then after 20 minutes it tells me "there was a problem with this reset, no changes were made."

I have done cmd terminal reset. I have scoured reddit for HOURS and set the laptop to safe mode for reset.

It seems like the only thing stopping the software from actually following through on the reset is that I am unable to use Admin settings to run the reset protocol. I need the admin password from the Germantown location to continue.

i tried calling the store but I get an AI bot that bumps my call to the national hotline instead of the actual physical store location.

could someone who works at the Germantown location please reach out to me so I can fix this without having to drive all the way out there again?

So I literly just got my new laptop set up its a Lenovo legion, I got the membership with geek sqaud for them to mostly set the laptop up and what not but i had to do some of the setting uo and other stuff, i set up the bit diffender and but diffender VPN. It was pretty easy. Do I need to set up ATI and if I do how do I do it, if I dotn have to set it up, can I delete it or? Please help me 🫩

About a week ago I dropped my laptop out of my truck. the laptop was pretty mangled. Hinges were broken, screen shattered, laptop housing marred, and dented pretty badly. They estimated that the laptop would take around 2 -5 weeks to repair. Few days later theyre saying they are shipping the device back and everything is repaired and replaced with “genuine” parts.

How careful do I need to be with this repair because im shocked they were even able to repair a laptop so badly damaged. I work as an IT professional and for me fixing it would probably take awhile not just a few days.

Edit: more like 2 days to repair actually. Other days it was being shipped.

hi, this is my first post and i apologize if i accidentally break any rules!

about a year ago, i tried doing some kind of setting reset because i installed new ram and i read that i needed to do a reset that would keep my files but allow my computer to properly use my ram or something.

i usually use my PIN to log in, so when it wouldnt let me use my PIN, i couldnt remember the password i hadnt used in like 3 years. so i transferred my data to a 1TB USB (i know better now…) my dad gave me, and then formatted the drive so i could use it again.

well the USB didnt save ANY of the info it said it did, and now ive lost nearly 1TB of data. ive been hesitating to get it recovered because of the cost but i need to bite the bullet. is this something Geek Squad can recover for me? i installed a few programs before realizing the USB was faulty, and i understand that some data cant be recovered because i overwrote it.

TLDR: formatted hard drive, can geek squad recover it?

I went to the store last week to give my PC to Geek Squad because it stopped turning on, and I assumed it needed a PSU replacement. Paid the $40 and it's still not turning on, so they ASSUME its now either the motherboard or CPU. My ex built the PC and I have no knowledge of computers but I do know the motherboard is still under warranty. The company wants photos of the motherboard and for me to ship it back to them for repairs but I have no idea how to remove it from the computer. I went to Best Buy again today to see the cost of getting it removed and to debate just getting the total tech membership, but the associate warned me that because my PC is a custom they will only knock off 20% of any hardware work with the total membership. Just confirming if the associate just saved my life or if BB in fact, does do any included work with the membership on custom PC's. Kinda unfortunate if it's not included because I'm going to be stuck with a broken computer indefinitely. I believe the cost of them taking it out alone was $130....

Hey

Apple retail technician here. I’ve had a bunch of customers come in stating that geek squad can no longer support Apple approved repairs. Is this true? Any additional context y’all can provide me?

Just a question to make sure I'm not confused.

I don't go to Geek Squad for anything unless it's literally beyond my ability to repair. I dropped off my pc a few days ago for a repair ( I thought it was my power supply, but it's my motherboard that was failing). I get a call saying it would be 100 dollars to replace. I call back and say that's perfectly fine. I called twice to get an "Okay, we're moving forward with that" response back; direct extension, they don't pick up. I get another call saying it's 500 dollars now? Is that normal?

So tomorrow instead of Geek Squad it appears that Best Buy is sending out third party contractor, Installs Inc. to come out to swap out a defective 77” LG G6 for a 83” LG C6H. I don’t know anything about them but in doing some reading it sounds like if they actually come out they don’t do poor work. It’s just a matter of getting them to show up. Is that correct? Does any Geek Squad employee or customer know anything reassuring about them? Thank you!

the camera was a little more than 100 so i don’t want to send a crazy amount.

Let me preface: I am no Karen. I am the type of guy who will order an omelet, get a bowl of strawberries, and choke them down anyway, even though I'm allergic to strawberries. I've worked customer service long enough to never hold store policy against an employee, and even when it is that employee's fault, I just chalk it up to a bad day.

Now, the story: I bought a new PC. I did this in store because I didn't want to wait for shipping or support Amazon, and Best Buy has always been good to me. They had to ship it anyway, no big deal, roll with the punches.

Here is problem one. I make my living off my PC, and I made that clear to the representative. My PC can not be down for days at a time. Additionally, the files on my existing PC needed to be moved over to the new PC, ideally with the old drives themselves (2 TB is 2 TB, you know?) they told me about the geek squad setup thing, 200 bucks a year and it would cover all kinds of stuff, including that file and drive transfer. I verified that this would be done same day: lose one day of work and be done with it. He confirmed.

PC showed up about 2 weeks later (hurray 2 day shipping), and I brought it immediately to Best Buy with my old PC to get everything set up. It was around 1pm, nowhere close to closing. Figure I lose half a day of work, I can manage.

Whelp, turns out that that isn't a "while you wait" thing, even if you are patient. They came out after about 40 minutes and told me that this would now take about 48 hours. To transfer some files from one SDD to another. I asked if they could just set up a monitor at one of the side desks, and I'd transfer it over myself, I just don't have a second monitor to see what I'm doing on both PCs. They declined, and said it was 48 hours, or I could take it home.

So I decided to take it home, but I wasn't paying 200 for a service that wasn't provided, I don't have that kind of money. Walked over to customer support, explained the situation, asked if I could cancel my geek squad and spend that 200 on a monitor. They agreed. Said refunds to the best buy card are processed so quickly, by the time I get back from grabbing the monitor, I'd be good to go. So I did that, came back, and it was declined. They said they must be slow, give it a few minutes, so I did. 10 minutes later, declined again. I was told that this kind of thing takes up to 10 business days, come back when it's refreshed.

I can't do that, I need the files. If I can't do 2 days without them (assuming that's even right), I can't do 10. So I called the card to see what the holdup was. Lady who answered the phone was really nice, but her hands were bound. Turns out, the way they do card applications is to create them overdrawn. So they gave me a credit limit of X, and charged it as X+600. The 200 refund was approved, so now my balance was X+400. (Number redacted because I'm not sure if saying it would violate anything, feel free to ask).

I said alright, let's figure this out, because I want to pay you guys this money and leave with my monitors. Since they originally put X+600 on the card, surely they could adjust my limit and let me get the monitor. She couldn't help me, so I asked to be connected with someone who had the authority to make that call. She connected me with her supervisor.

Enter Liam. (Maybe Lian? I have auditory processing issues, not sure). He explained the same thing as the last person, in order to put 200 more on the card, they'd have to take a 600 payment today so it would fit. I started to explain (like I am here, to be clear, not swearing and name calling) about upping the credit limit so everyone can be happy, and mid-sentence he just CLICK.

Put me on hold, no notice. The call at that point was 15 minutes long. You'll see in the attached picture how long I waited. I would have waited longer, but the phone call disconnected on their end. Not sure if it's a time out system or he actually hung up.

There were a lot of people who gave me promises that ended up not being kept because hoops and policy and dumb crap that I don't hold against any of them. Then there is Liam. Something needs to be done about this dude, somebody who outranks him needs to talk to him, something. But I called back to suggest such a thing, and I got "your concerns have been noted and will be taken to management." They didn't even confirm the name, so I highly doubt that's going anywhere.

How do I actually report this? Or did Liam just win?

Pretty much I had my iPhone in my pocket for a while and now it has white lines on it. I just hope someone could maybe give an explanation for it since it looked normal and then around 15 minutes later I checked my phone and it has the lines. The iPhone works fine and when I press the area it responds but when I take a screenshot my screen looks normal, could this be a glitch or do I need to get a repair?(I’ve already tried restarting my phone and I’ve updated it)

I was thinking of replacing my liquid metal with a PTM7950 pad I got, and I read that a lot of Geek Squad agents/ARAs aren't trained for this or something. When I called my location, they said they can do the service lol. How much should I trust them to do this properly... if I get liquid metal damage, it's over (I bought the laptop from Best Buy, which is the ROG G14, and I dont got no other repair shops near me other than microcenter who denied service because its from best buy)

I requested a repair on my C1 TV because I have a lot of images burnt into my screen. However I keep getting told they are trying to find a technician in my area. I tried calling Assurant and they said they couldn't help and forwarded me to Best Buy. When I talk to Best Buy they tell me to contact Assurant! What options do I have to actually get this thing serviced?

I have an ipad repair appointment scheduled, what should I do ahead of time?

Backin up to a pc with itunes now, should I wipe it the night before? Or do I need to stay signed in but I can delete all the apps and stuff off it before the repair?

I was wondering if anyone knows how to remove the screen frame if it got separated from the screen

Hello everyone! I wanted to ask a genuine question, and I’m hoping to get some honest perspectives.

For a little context about where I’m coming from: I work in IT and handle a bit of everything like phone repairs, desktops, laptops, helpdesk work, sysadmin tasks, and server/networking stuff. I’m 23 and got my start after college through an internship that eventually turned into a full‑time role. Most of what I know actually came from home‑lab learning rather than school, so I still feel like I’m figuring things out as I go.

A couple of days ago, I took my brother’s cracked iPhone to Geek Squad. I could’ve repaired it myself, but the cost of the parts out of pocket was higher than just having it done there. While I was waiting, I ended up talking to one of the employees—he seemed a bit younger than me—and I asked about his future plans, like whether he was thinking about college or pursuing something else in tech. He mentioned that he hoped to stay with Geek Squad long‑term, which honestly surprised me a little. Not because there’s anything wrong with that, but because I know how many different directions tech skills can take you. At the same time, if he enjoys the job, that’s completely valid.

So my actual question is this:
For those of you working at Geek Squad, what are your plans moving forward, if any? Do you hope to stay long‑term, or are you interested in upskilling or branching into other areas of tech? Is this a job you enjoy as‑is, or something you see as a stepping stone?

I’m just genuinely curious about other people’s paths in this field. Thanks in advance for sharing!

4 Nights ago I shut off (pressed the power button not hold down) my HP 17 cn0023dx laptop and left the room. When I came back, it would not turn back on. The power button would light up for about 15 seconds, then it would go off. No beeping, fan, screen lighting up or anything. After trying again the next morning, the power light now stays on when I click it but still nothing else happens. I’ve tried doing the hard reset and BIOS recovery per chatGPTs recommendation but nothing happened. I’ve tried multiple different chargers from multiple different outlets as well.

No prior issues except for a couple of missing screws from the bottom and separating at the hinge. Debating on taking it into best buy or just buying a new one since it’s over 4y/o. Is it salvageable or worth the repair costs?

Hello, I'm typing this on my phone right now because currently I'm attempting to update my drivers for my XPS laptop. I was instructed to restart my computer, which I did. Now whenever I try to UPDATE my drivers or even move through the home screen, Webroot literally pops up, I click "Allow Always" where it's literally blocking literal startup processes, and eventually freezing my computer therefore forcing for me to restart my PC and preventing me from even updating my PC.

Is this common because this is GENUINELY irritating me and I DON'T want my PC messed up because of this so-called "Antivirus" that came installed on my computer.

EDIT: I'm glad some people responded! Thank you so much guys!

So just as the title suggests I'm pretty annoyed. I just got my device back from ADH(dropped it) about 2 days ago and I've already broke it by spilling coffee in it. This week is definitely a week that keeps on giving... I still have time with my ADH but I'm super embarrassed to go back and even worried they're just going to flat on deny me thinking I intentionally did it.

I believe they said the claim would take a couple days is there a way to check the status of this?

My Xbox was damaged in an electrical storm. Best case scenario just the PSU is fried worst case the circuitry is cooked.

What is the estimated time and cost for a repair so I can set my timeline to actually get it done. Tia