Monday, January 14, 2008

Geek Squad sucks

UPDATE: On January 14, I received a response:
Who sent this to me from info@geeksquadcentral.com?

Thank you!

Sara Yanari
Agent 191
Mission Specialist
Geek Squad Operations - Corporate
Agent191@geeksquad.com
Cell: (612) 919-4855/Office: (612) 291-9689

"Serving the Public, Policing Technology, and Protecting the World"

Want to know more about Geek Squad? Or keep up on the latest info?
Geek Squad Photo Blog: http://www.flickr.com/groups/geeksquad/
Idea Festival: http://www.geeksquad.com/ideafestival
Squad Cast: http://forums....squadcast

There are two possible reasons for this response:
  • "Agent 191" doesn't understand "Reply-To" and delegating of support messages.
  • "Agent 191" might think that my message was some internal joke played on her by other people at Geek Squad.
Either way, "Agent 191" looks a bit like an idiot or an ass (or both). When you see those Geek Squad commercials, these are the people you're dealing with.

I sent a snarky response back (one to info, and one to Agent 191 directly), but I haven't received anything else. So, now when I teach classes to my young engineers, I refer to "Geek Squad" where I used to say "lay people." Snap! (or something)

An e-mail I just sent to Geek squad:
Subject: Complaint: Packaging information of CAT-6 crossover cable

"Geek" squad --

     I purchased a CAT-6 crossover cable of yours yesterday. The packaging surprised me. You advertise yourselves as some sort of elite group of geeks, but the printing on the packaging makes me wonder if any of you know anything about technology at all.

     There are several examples on the front of the package, but one sentence in particular is especially troubling:

"Your geek squad network crossover cable uses an RJ45 connection allowing you to connect between similar types of equipment without the use of a hub; one PC to another PC for example."


     The difference between a crossover cable and a standard patch cable has nothing to do with the "RJ45 connection." For one, both cables use a type-45 "registered jack (RJ)". "RJ45" describes the PHYSICAL connector. That is, it describes the PLASTIC end that mechanically snaps into place when the male version is inserted into the female version.

     The difference between a crossover cable and a standard patch cable is the 8P8C (i.e., "8 position 8 contact") termination type. A patch cable has a T568A termination at one end and a T568B termination at the other end.

     It would be wise for you to change the wording to something like:

"Your geek squad network crossover cable uses an T568A-to-T568B termination allowing you to connect between similar types of equipment without the use of a hub; one PC to another PC for example."
Otherwise, it just simply doesn't look like you know what you're doing.

     When I picked up the cable and saw the text above, I was seriously worried that it would have the 500 MHz bandwidth I needed. Unfortunately, because it was the only one available and I didn't want to terminate my own and risk the crosstalk, I had to buy your expensive cable. My computers came up with gigabit link, so I'm guessing things are fine, but I wonder what I'd find if I walked down the hall and tested these things on a network analyzer.

     Clean up your act, Geek squad.

     Thanks for your understanding --
     Ted Pavlic
A bit much? (yes, I realize there's a typo... I said "patch" once where I clearly meant "crossover")

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

wow, you are gay....

Ted Pavlic said...

This from a guy who searches for "geek squad squadcast."

Anonymous said...

Yes while you may be correct in your technical description of the way a crossover cable works, geek squad is correct in their packaging. A crossover cable DOES use an RJ45 connector regardless of what the connection inside that plastic end is. The fact that you get so worked up over something as small as this tells me that at least one of the following is true a.) you have way too much time on your hands b.) you have no life c.) you take yourself waaaay to seriously. Chill out man; Geek Squad is there to help people who have less technical experience that you or I have. The fact of the matter is most people don't know what an RJ45 connector is let alone know what a T568A, T568B, or a 8P8C connection is, so it really doesn't matter anyways.

Ted Pavlic said...

And, by your reasoning, I guess they'll never know.

You can't criticize people for making stupid decisions about their own technology when those who they trust let them down.

Geek Squad let their clients down.