Maybe you have heard of the horror stories from others that have experienced the geek squad.
Here is another true story about the poor customer service and incompetent support from the geek squad.

I am not here to sugar coat anything nor am I here to bash anybody.
My story is the truth and I elect to share it with my blog readers.

Read this true story about my experience with the geek squad in Sanford Florida and decide for yourself if you find such behavior acceptable or not.

In December of 2009 I purchased a Denon AVR-1910 receiver from BEST BUY in Sanford Fl. As an additional precaution and from knowing electronics can be very delicate I chose to purchase the GEEK SQUAD extended warranty which covers the home theater receiver in the event it gets damaged whether it be my fault or not for a period of 4 years. I took the receiver to my office and set it up and it sounded fantastic and it was very easy to use. I was most definitely happy with my purchase and would recommend DENON to anyone looking for a quality home theater receiver.

Approximately 6 months later there was a thunderstorm near my office that created several power surges that I assume blew something in my Denon AVR-1910 receiver. The night before I shut the receiver off then went back to my office after a night of lightning and thunder. I turned the receiver on and nothing! It did turn on but there was no video or audio output so I check obvious things like unplugged the audio receiver and even disconnected everything and reconnected the wires and still nothing.  Well now I knew something was damaged and through troubleshooting and testing I learned my speakers were working and the receiver was the root of the problem.

Understanding these things can happen to anyone plus I had the GEEK SQUAD BLACK TIE extended warranty so I felt good knowing I could bring the receiver back to BEST BUY in Sanford Fl and get it fixed without a hassle.

I unplugged the receiver and brought it back to the BEST BUY – 1501 Rinehart Rd Sanford, FL 32771
where I purchased the receiver from. The young man behind the counter was friendly no doubt but I overheard him talking to other customers about their laptop problems and instantly knew this Geek Squad technician was incompetent to say the least. Regardless I didn’t care since my problem was under warranty.

I explained to the GEEK SQUAD technician that I believe a power surge damaged my DENON AVR-1910 receiver and I was told no problem they will fix it. I walked out of the BEST BUY store feeling a sense of relief knowing they are sending my receiver to their headquarter to get fixed.

1 week goes I start receiving automated emails from the GEEK SQUAD in Sanford Fl.
2 weeks go by – I receive another automated email from the GEEK SQUAD in Sanford FL.
3 weeks go by – I receive another automated email from the GEEK SQUAD in Sanford FL.
4 weeks go by – I receive another automated email from the GEEK SQUAD in Sanford FL.

By now I received three of these automated emails from the geeks yet the store could not tell me when my receiver would be ready to pickup. Finally after 4 long weeks I get a phone call from the Sanford GEEK SQUAD telling me that my receiver has been fixed and is ready to be picked up. I drive to the BEST BUY in Sanford FL and pickup my receiver and while I’m there I asked the GEEK SQUAD technician what went wrong with the receiver and he told me there was a loose capacitor on the main board – circuit board that they re-soldered and that fixed the problem I had.

“Such a minor fix like that is not a 4 week job and rather could have been repaired in less than 1 hour” How do I know? Well I have a long background in electronics and just know these things.

Now I’m back at my office and I am plugging the speakers and other cables into the receiver with a smile on my face expecting to hear some music. WRONG! FAIL! EPIC FAIL!

THE RECEIVER WAS NOT FIXED and did the same thing it did before I brought it to the GEEK SQUAD in Sanford Fl. The Denon AVR-1910 receiver would power on but produced no video or audio output.

I called the GEEK SQUAD in Sanford Florida from my office and asked them about this and they told me they definitely fixed it. That conversation did nothing but waste my time so I contacted the General Manager “Landon Riggle” which by the way was very nice to me and asked me to bring the receiver back to the BEST BUY in SANFORD FL so he can have his GEEK SQUAD technicians troubleshoot the receiver again.

When I got to the store the geeks stood over the receiver scratching their heads looking nothing less then totally confused when I said my receiver was never fixed and nobody there knew who supposedly fixed it in the first place. I was told by the Sanford BEST BUY store that they are going to overnight the receiver to DENON to get fixed immediately. When the GEEK SQUAD says fast service they really mean 4 more weeks of waiting.

During the additional 4 week wait I get 4 more automated emails from the GEEK SQUAD telling me my product is on good hands and is getting the care and attention it needs. Bla bla bla see above image.

After 4 weeks I contacted the general manager again and expressed that I am very unhappy with the support I paid for and to my blog readers this was not free “I paid additional for this service – warranty”.

I was told he would find out what’s going on and contact me the next day which that didn’t happen.
I didn’t hear back from the general manager for almost a week and finally he said he doesn’t know what’s going on and he invited me back to the store to pick out a replacement receiver since he has no clue when it will be fixed.

I drove to the Sanford BEST BUY and found another receiver, a DENON AVR-791 which is essentially the same receiver but a newer model. The girl at best buy was very friendly and took the new receiver to the checkout counter and to my surprise I was not allowed to transfer the GEEK SQUAD BLACK TIE protection warranty that I paid for with the first receiver and I was stuck paying for an additional warranty. She did however prorate the first warranty I paid for and applied that towards my new bill. Needless to say I was disgusted with the GEEK SQUAD for being totally incompetent and for delivering the absolute worst customer service experience I have ever experienced in my life. Now I just wanted to pay the additional fees and get out of there as fast as possible.

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