SAN JOSE, Calif. – The first time Bruce Dougherty tried to get his home wireless network up and running, it was a bust. The former marketing executive had to enlist his son’s help, and still there were problems.
So who did he turn to when he wanted a network upgrade?
“That’s my geek, Johnny,” Dougherty said outside his local Best Buy store, gesturing toward a young man in a snappy black-and-white Volkswagen Beetle emblazoned with a Geek Squad logo.
Best Buy’s Geek Squad employs men and women in white shirts and snap-on ties whose mission, for a fee, is to convert consumer wrath about complicated gadgets into warm and fuzzy feelings.
Like Dougherty, many consumers are warming this holiday season to expanded tech house call services offered by Best Buy Co. Inc., Circuit City Stores Inc., CompUSA Inc. and Dell Inc.
The retailers’ traveling geeks help customers with everything from home theater installations to virus removals to setting up gaming consoles. They even program remote controls.
“It’s less of a do-it-yourself and more of a do-it-for-me marketplace now,” said Sean Skelley, a senior vice president of services at Best Buy. His company, the nation’s largest electronics retailer, acquired Geek Squad in 2002 and turned the 60-employee company into a 24-hour service with 6,200 workers.
Since August, Best Buy has had a Geek Squad precinct in each of its 650 stores. Now it’s selling house-call gift cards, including a $129 card specifically for setting up digital camera equipment and software.
Problem-solving missions include any electronics, not just Best Buy purchases.
Dell recently expanded its at-home services to include nights and weekends, and in October strengthened its lineup to include installation of PC accessories, Internet connections and e-mail accounts, as well as moving files from an old computer to a new one.
The direct-to-consumer tech titan now also sells and installs plasma TVs.
Circuit City, which has been offering home installations for wireless networking and home entertainment systems for two years, last month expanded its services into more PC-related problems.
Its new IQ Crew is being tested in three cities to help customers – either in the store or at home – to fix a computer, remove viruses or do software or hardware upgrades.
Electronics retailers say customers have asked for such assistance for years, especially as more digital devices have gone mainstream.
In the past, Dell’s customer service representatives would sometimes refer callers to Microsoft Corp., anti-virus companies, Internet service providers or other manufacturers because the technical problems weren’t covered under Dell’s service warranties.
“Now we say we can do it, but for a fee,” said Jennifer Jones Davis, a Dell spokeswoman.
Prices for house calls start at about $100, depending on the task. Circuit City and Best Buy provide 30-day warranties, and Dell promises return house calls if the technician somehow doesn’t properly complete the job the first time.
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