Netgear Tells Customer to Call Geek Squad -- WTF? Posted

Let\'s not kid ourselves, Best Buy\'s Geek Squad division isn\'t exactly a respected establishment in DIY circles, and referring someone to Geek Squad for tech support is like, well, does this even need an analogy? No offense to any of our readers who may work as a Geek Squad tech, but you know what they say about a few bad apples.

What\'s even worse -- and we thought unthinkable -- is when the manufacturer of one your computer parts suggests calling Geek Squad to diagnose your failing gear before they\'ll replace it. That\'s exactly what one user who wrote into The Consumerist claims happened when his Netgear DGN2200 wireless router with DSL modem went on the fritz.

\"Five calls to [Netgear\'s] tech department and it is still not working,\" the user claims. \"On the fifth and final call they suggested I call the Geek Squad (approximately $139 for them to come to our home) to troubleshoot it and if it proves the modem is bad they will send me a new unit at that time (which I only paid $79 to begin with).\"

It doesn\'t take a math whiz to figure out that\'s a bum deal. Assuming it all went down the way the user claims it did, let\'s hope this was an isolated incident.