10TV did an interesting undercover bust operation on three of the popular PC repair centers in the US. And it was very interesting what they eventually found out. What they did was they took a laptop, tweak the BIOS to create an error (a fairly easy fix), and they took it to three leading repair chains. And you’ll be surprised what these techs “found” and recommended.

Circuit City FireDog

Diagnosis: Hard drive working, OS fried
Budget Damage: $64.04 consultation + $130 for OS installation = $194.04

Best Buy Geek Squad

Diagnosis: Hard drive fried
Budget Damage: $62.98 consultation + $80 hard drive + $39 hard drive installation + $129 OS installation = $310.98

Micro Center

Diagnosis: Fixed
Budget Damage: $74.67 consulation

This is a very strong statement as to who to trust with your broken down PC. Only one out of three got it correct. Might just be a local thing but we know how incompetent some of these chains can get. And how about that news sometime ago about the Geek Squad robbing you of your pr0n?

View the 10TV video here.