Geeks on Call finally showed up to my house 5 hours late and lied to me 3 times on when they would be there. I was on my way out when he showed, I didn’t want that liar in my house and told him I’m refusing service. I still can’t get a call back from a supervisor as to the $90 charge on my credit card. I’ve left 4 messages and an operator keeps telling me his supervisor will call me back. This is the worst customer service I have ever seen.

That’s a pretty big statement for a program that just started. Here are a couple of questions for the author (Ryan Ash) of this article. Are you a Sam’s Club member? If so, did you have “Geeks On Call” provide service on behalf of Sam’s Club? Have you ever had “Geeks On Call” provide any type of service for you in the last ten years?

Here are the facts. Other than a few company stores, “Geeks On Call” are locally owned Franchises. They are not affiliated with any big box store like “Best Buy”. These “Geeks On Call” Franchise Owners make it a point to provide a quality service. They have to because failure to do so would put their Franchise out of business. They have no big stores to hide behind and do not have any other ways generate other revenue like “Best Buy” They are just independent Franchises that focus on onsite computer repair.

Sure, ”Geeks On Call” may be more expensive than local computer shops. However, one must keep in mind that “Geeks On Call” is onsite. If you compare “Geeks On Call” with other major ONSITE service providers, one would not find much difference in pricing. What you will often find if you have a “Geeks On Call“ Franchise in you area is fast service. Many times it can be same day service.

So, you can drag your computer into a local store for repair, wait a couple of weeks, and hope it works with your printer at home. You can call the big stores and wait a couple of weeks for them to come out. Or, you can call “Geeks On Call” Again; you are paying for Onsite service and the comfort of knowing that the computer will work at your home or workplace where you need it to function. Also, it should be noted that each Franchise is independently owner and operated. Each Franchise Owner has to right to set their own pricing based on location and the market.

At the time of Mr. Ash’s article, “Sam’s Club” and “Geeks On Call” had just started testing a partnership in select areas. Most likely, Mr. Ash is not even in the select areas where this partnership is currently being tested. So, I would find it very difficult that Mr. Ash has had a chance to get any facts regarding service, pricing or anything else regarding “Sam’s Club” and “Geeks On Call”.

I do believe in “Freedom of Speech”. However, when talking about people’s livelihoods, I expect factual reporting. Without any kind of testing or facts, I find Mr. Ash’s statement regarding “Geeks On Call” overcharging and fixing nothing very irresponsible reporting to the point that some would consider it slander.

Geeks on Call is cheaper than Geeksquad only charging a $79 onsite diagnostic in downtown cities like Washington DC and Chicago. This has not changed even with the rise in gas prices or problems with the economy.

They employ and send to your house and business industry certified techs with current background checks who are personable, honest, reliable and insured unlike many geek type companies working out of their kitchen.

They provide same day service in most cases with a one hour window of arrival and fix the problem onsite 95% of the time. They must charge more than most 19 year old technicians you find on the net or phonebook because they are a franchise and have a nationwide help desk and advertising requirements.

While their rates tend to be more than some teenagers working in between parties they usually fix IT related issues in 1/2 the time and why you should only trust a professional with your family’s pictures or your companies mission critical data.

As we all know you usually get what you pay for unless you are calling GeekSquad ofcourse and hiring a franchise provides a proven system and additional recourse through the franchisor if you are unhappy with local service..