We've never truly been at ease with that
Geek Squad crowd. Something about "the people" they hang with and "the places" they hang at just worries us, so we're pretty thrilled to see another mega-corp stepping in to take the place of the
now-deceased Circuit City FireDog crew. Starting sometime before the holiday season, Wally World will be partnering with N.E.W. Customer Service Companies in order to offer in-home installation to customers buying anything from a wireless router to a HTIB. The service plans will be sold on prepaid cards ranging from $99 to $399 in value, and each install includes a "preliminary consultation and a tutorial after installation is completed." Granted, it may be a bit tough to get the dude looking to
spend $5 on a new plasma to spring for such a service, but hey, it's not like competition is a bad thing.
[Via
Hot Hardware]
posted Oct 25th 2009 7:07PM
walmart is starting its own maid service too.
French maid service?.
No... They are just gonna hire the day workers chillin behind the store. Hola amigos! You clean? You come! Paycheck!
I read this and the first thing that came to mind was "lulz".
Mine was "NOOOOOOOO..."
Mine was "eeew"
Walmart has great prices sure, but I don't really go there for customer service. I can't imagine dealing with an install crew from there.
Is this really that hard to understand?
The install crew is NOT from Wal-Mart.
More useless, under-trained, under-equipped, under-informed, over-priced, drones.
Oh boy.
yeah, who don't speak english
Yeah. Damn WallMart for creating jobs. Burn in hell!!!!
As I always say when people trash the useless crap the Geek Squad does now (PS3 firmware updates, anyone?), as long as they're using the dinero those suckers are paying to subsidize my lower prices, more power to 'em.
Walmart is competition? Whodathunkit?
Knowing the types of people that work at Walmart, I would NEVER let any of them in MY house!
indeed...i was just about to comment on that til i saw yours. i dont like going in walmart...EVER, what on earth would make me wanna let someone from their store into my house. chocolate stained fingers and all....fat chance
Now there's going to be a "computer guy's crack" in the dictionary too.
then it is a good thing that it's not actual Walmart employees doing these installs. read careful. they have partnered with a particular company which will do the work. and nothing was said about repairs. this is strictly setup.
They can't be worse than the people who shop there, especially last Black Friday where they trampled one of the employees to death and then got mad because they had to leave the store because they literally trampled someone to death.
This is already in effect in stores, and it's not Wal-Marts people that do the installs. Wal-Mart just sells the prepaid cards for the service and then a "professional" comes and does the install.
I worked at Walmart for years. I now have a masters degree and am a licensed CPA. It is never a good idea to judge people just because they happen to work at a certain place. You do not know their circumstances, and at least they are working rather than sitting at home collecting food stamps.
In-home or in-trailer install?
Sorry couldn't resist.
OK, your grandpa will be fixing your PC. Good luck.
Best.
Comment.
Ever.
Yup. Geezer Squad!
my guess is that it's going to be a ripoff like geek squad
I mean, come on. Anyone who allows a Wal-Mart employee into their home is asking for it...Best Buy Geeks are no Nerd Herd either.
When will people learn that Google is more helpful than any of these revenue generating "programs" dreamed up in Retail to prey on the uneducated public?
This will only set Wally-World up for more lawsuits.
I once was in line at Best Buy to have my 20D sent in for cleaning just after Christmas. While in line the guy in front of me was having a problem with his iPod not being detected by his crappy Gateway laptop. While the "Geek" was looking at his laptop and sniffing through his music (RIGHT IN FRONT OF US) I asked him if he had performed a hard reboot of his iPod.
I showed him how to and he looked at the "Geek" and asked if it was okay. The "Geek" replied with "Best Buy cannot be responsible for you doing that, sir. But if you think it is okay to do so, try it."
I will not tell you if it fixed his issue, you will have to guess or google it. If I had not helped him, they would have charged him for the "diagnosis" & more than likely stolen music and photos from him.
I guess Wal-Mart Goob-Squad will do that better (Steal and prey on the innocent, that is) and for less! Always!
Moose
If you have porn, Walmart employees will wipe it all out because it offends their petty little heads.
Oh, how cute. Instead of trying to diagnose if it was an error with the crappy iTunes software and trying to save the mans music on his iPod, your first thought is to zap that sucker. He's now lost all of his music, bravo...because if he's not smart enough to do a hard reboot then he's not smart enough to keep a backup of his music. You're so much smarter than the GeekSquad guy. Do you think if these people even had any idea how to follow directions on Google they would be in there?
It's a good thing you sent your camera "in" to get cleaned because if they did it in store they would be sniffing around inside your camera (RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU) even though that's what you're paying them for.
Speaking of paying them outrageous amounts for a service that can easily be done by yourself by searching Google...why didn't you, you know, SEARCH GOOGLE to clean your camera? It's an extremely easy process that takes like 5 minutes.
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=canon+eos+20d+cleaning
Insky,
I appreciate your concern for this guys' lost music, but I suspect that you're the last person on earth that still pays for it...
Umm... so we went from Walmart dolts to Geeks Quad to faulty Apple products (no surprise there) to advocating stealing music. Bravo. Did it occur to you that stealing is wrong and illegal.
GS doesn't diagnose iPods. They take a quick look at them, any Agent who knows two-shits about them will do a hard reset if appropriate, and past that they can only send them to service if you have one of the BB service plans. w/o a plan they won't/can't even service them, you have to go through Apple. Service plan just means they go through Apple for you, Apple doesn't actually allow them to do repair work.
actually, my company-Flextronics will be providing this service. It's already launched in a couple test markets in Texas. We also provide RTS support for Verizon Wireless, and warranty services for AT&T, HP and Dell
Lest ye forget: http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/
oh god... what in the world?!!?
Please, a warning if you don't mind.
LOL, I came here specifically to post this. So good!
The address IS the warning.
What the fuuuuuuuuuu---
In related news Walmart opens up in-house pawn shops after employees begin bringing in large quantities of valuables from their "grandparents".
N.E.W. is the same company that mans the 1-800-GEEKSQUAD number. Oh crap was that a secret?
N.E.W. is a company that provides call centers, and services. The call center that they provide for 1800 geeksquad is a call center based in the U.S., as opposed to over seas. Also, NEW doesnt provide the service for geeksquad, if you met the people in the call center, you wouldnt want them in your home. They use NEW as a call center only.....
"We'll install your PS3! Only $49.98
Installation Includes:
*Home installation for optimum viewing with the best HD Cables for your home setup (HD Cables sold seperately)
*Firmware upgrade
*Network Connection Setup
*Creation of PSN account for online play, downloading games and demos, and more!
So, they are going to suck it up like Best Buy's Geek Squad then?
Whatever the case, there are a disturbingly large number of people who use such services. And considering the number of electronics WM sells these days, I suspect this will be a profitable venture for them.
Wallmart, in MY HOUSE!?!?! Hell no. Hell frickin' no.
yuck, I would never let walmart employees in my home there nasty enough in the store.
Err, I work at Sams Club.
We've been offering this for over a year now. o.O
I always thought walmart had them too, huh.
Firedogs for life!
lol amen brotha
Double Dragons for life?
Walmart is becoming more of a electronic store so i guess that means competition to other stores and better deals for consumers?
oooo walmart come to my house!!!!!
For people fearing Walmart employees coming to their house. It's more likely Walmart will use third party contract PC Techs.
Great, even LESS intelligent computer techs to make the general public even LESS accountable for their lack of even the most basic levels of computer literacy
I currently work at Wal-Mart while in college and I love installing HT's. Reading this leaves me pretty excited but I can see where a lot of you are skeptical. Knowing the people I work with, I would hope they hire qualified people or give them extensive and serious training. I wouldn't let any of the people I work with at my store put together a home theater.
Does that mean I can play "Walmart Bingo" right from the comfort of my own home?
Why does everybody hate walmart so much? I mean I could see why if you live in a redneck area.. but a lot of walmart stores are just fine.. and they have good prices on things, so I don't see the problem.
and by the same token, not all Best Buys are that awesome. Heck not even all Apple Stores are heaven on earth. No company is all good or bad. and just because someone's shops at one or the other doesn't make them automatically low class, stupid etc. i've seen some folks at my local Best Buy that looked and acted like they belonged on that peopleofwalmart site.
mmm will the Mexicans also cook for me? I love authentic mexican food.
Walmarts geek squad should be called "The Cheap Squad." Since they all get paid minimum wage.
The people that do the installs Do NOT work for Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart sells the installation plan and then someone affiliated with N.E.W. does the install.
And thus, the Cheap Squad was born.
If you shop at Walmart, you deserve their employees in your home anyway.
*slap*
NO ONE deserves that!!!
NO ONE, YOU HEAR ME?
Awesome, so now not only will you get crappy service from a clueless employee who doesn't give a damn, but you'll also get a similarly clueless installer.
But then again, if you're getting your home theater components at Walmart, you probably won't know the difference if they screw up (and will be on the phone with tech support either way).
How dumb can you be to hire someone to install a "ps3" or a "tv" come on people.
I work at Walmart, and I'll have to admit, I am offended by what some of these other commentators are saying about me and my coworkers. We, at least the ones in electronics, are normal, sane people.
What was I going to say again? Oh, yeah. My Walmart already sells this in-home installation program. We sell them for exorbitant prices and I have yet to see a customer actually want to purchase it.
I've been having the toughest time finding a job just out of college and think that this would be an opportunity for me. I checked the Walmart careers listings and don't see anything about this. I'm interested in a position with this, any advice on where I should turn?
You need to contact N.E.W.
They are the company who handles the installs.
This is not a Wal-Mart Job.
Thanks all, for confirming my belief that the online gadget blog arena was full of pricks.
Have a nice day.
Its cause we have Walmart and their horrendous costumer service. And on top of that you ask any technical question and they don't have an answere. On top of that the employees don't give a right ass about the customers. I been there alot of time asking for a game to see if is in stock and they don't even try to find an answer. They just don't give a f***k at all. Maybe if they paid them more than minimum wage then they give a f***k.
Never thought I would say this but, Walmart Thank you. Anythings better than Geeksquad.
now all my thief buddies from walmart will have more opportunities
test
you pass..
As a GeekSquad agent, I have one thing to say:
You Engadget readers are just jealous.
Everyone wants to be an agent.
Sincerely,
Agent B. Hatfield
Counter Intelligence Agent
BB Precinct 390
I work at Best Buy, and you just made everyone that works for this company look like an idiot.
Nice work.
i would have to agree dwntwnericbrown, but not everyone, just everyone from his store. and i'm sure there are some other people on here that are agents, but just dont want to admit it and want to follow the other sheep and bad mouth us. >:(
CIA/COA from Store 250
Is this supposed to be an early Halloween scare story?
Welcome to WalMart. Get yer shit and get out! OH! Mam would you like to allow us to install that Mr. Coffee machine for you for $20? Let me follow you home. What LOVELY children you have!
I wouldn't trust anyone other than the Nerd Herd with my computer related problems. Jeffster rules.
I'm too lazy to read the above comments all the way through so I do not know if anyone touched on this, but WalMart is also getting in house tech support services very similar to geek squad. Also, they are getting a service where you can return used video games in a RedBox type of device for some WalMart store credit. I do not have any kind of official source, that is just what I have found out while poking around in the computers in Electronics (I work there if that helps...).
Please read before you make ignorant comments.
So, they'll be driving NASCAR replica vehicles?
I can see it now. Nomex suits with sponsor patches instead of black suits and ties.
No - they'll have those big Yellow Smiley Face Buttons.
I wouldn't trust Best Buy's Geek Squad in my house if they paid me.
I wouldn't trust a Wal-Mart equivalent to save my life.
wait a sec. How is Wal-Mart going to bring inferior Chinese labor to your home for 80c on the dollar? Airfare is going to cost them a lot.
I wish WAL-MART would just try and stay with the business they know. WHY with the economy the way it is and people without jobs, would WAL-MART try and capitalize on GEEK squad and Best Buys?? First they had to get into food, tires, computers, all things they really don't nee to make there businesses succesful. I know one thing foresure, there are 2 wal marts close to me and both are FULL of undesirables!! WAL-MART if SAM WALTON was still alive HE would not try and cut the throat of other businesses and it own business.
WAL-MART Lets try and help the economy and let people keep there jobs....JUST try and MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!!