Wal-Mart to offer own PC repair squad: The SS

ianm

#1 – 10:58 AM July 19, 2008

"Wal-Mart's no good for anything in this sort of service arena."

Are you implying that Wal-Mart is good for something then? I am not aware of any positive or redeeming qualities of that organization.

mdhatter

#2 – 12:08 PM July 19, 2008

I wonder what color the uniforms will be. Brown or black? Since it's wal-mart is say brown.

Ceronomus

#3 – 12:19 PM July 19, 2008

SS? What an unfortunate choice....

Anonymous Anonymous

#4 – 2:48 PM July 19, 2008

"These guys did $150 worth of damage to my car's undercarriage the one time I went there for an oil change. I'll be damned if I ever let them near a computer."

Well, one anecdote is certainly an airtight case against them, all right.

Seriously, I'm sure they'll be as bad as any other corporate storefront computer technicians, but your sneering hipsterism is showing.

Anonymous Anonymous

#5 – 4:04 PM July 19, 2008

I know that the actual "technicians" in the store will most likely NOT be Dell direct employees (just like they have outside contractors for the onsite repairs people). The in-store techs will prob. be from some third party company just wearing Dell branding.

Secret_Life_of_Plants

#6 – 4:20 PM July 19, 2008

They'll just copy your hard drive and blackmail you with the information they find.

People who barely make minimum wage and don't have healthcare have to make money somehow.

semiotix

#7 – 8:42 PM July 19, 2008

I can see it now.

WAL*MART EMPLOYEE: Something wrong with your laptop, Captain?
CUSTOMER: Yes, we couldn't boot it up.
EMPLOYEE: Karl! Fix Captain von Trapp's laptop so that it will boot.
KARL: [presses the power button]
EMPLOYEE: Excellent, Karl.

ReidFleming

#8 – 8:11 AM July 20, 2008

Just another reason to teach basic computer repair along with the utilization skills they (attempt to) teach in schools today. I helped our pre-teen neighbor build his first computer from scratch and now, only a couple of years later, he's the local troubleshooter. This is in rural Nebraska, mind you.

Anonymous Anonymous

#9 – 8:31 AM July 20, 2008

Right. The article doesn't say anything about wages paid to Solution Station employees, but they're "minimum wagers" because they work at Wal-Mart, and they "don't understand" because they work at Wal-Mart. Automatically.

I'd call you a snob, but you're probably the kind of masochistic son-of-a-bitch who would take that as a compliment. I mean, fuck, I took issue with your comments about Wal-Mart, so I MUST be a "minimum wager" myself, and, if a minimum wager calls you a snob, that's validation.

All I can say is this: You people make me sick. Stop being jackasses. Start writing about tech. This site needs less BoingBoing and more Gadgets.

Lea A Franco

#10 – 1:32 PM July 20, 2008

I...how is it possible to make jokes about this and not invoke Godwin's law?

Rob Beschizza

#11 – 7:48 PM July 20, 2008

Hernadez' Corollary:

"As the discussion thread on a gadget blog post about Wal-Mart grows longer, the probability that someone will wonder if the whole thing counts as intrinsically Godwinian approaches one."

:)

Anonymous Anonymous

#12 – 9:39 AM December 23, 2008

WOW. It's funny how everyone likes to throw out an opinion about something they don't know anything about and have not properly researched.

Here's a couple of ACTUAL FACTS.
* Solution Station is not managed by WalMart nor
do any of the employees work for WalMart.
* Solution Station employees are some of the
Highest paid retail computer technicians.
* All solution station technicians are certified.
* Solution station has NOTHING to do with the
Tire and Lube dept. as it seems someone thinks.

Just because you have had a bad experience at WalMart in the past doesn't reflect WalMart's current direction in business.

You know what, if you feel that strongly, keep going to Geek Squad or Firedog and pay twice as much for shoddy work, or even worse, have your local "technician"... lol... jerry rig your computer so that when something happens to it, it's completely messed up!

Anonymous Anonymous

#13 – 11:28 AM July 1, 2009

I would actually like to see what comes of this. It may be a good wake up call for the Geek Squad. As it sits, they are really the only national computer repair company that is readily accessible to the general population. If WalMart rolls this properly they may actually present a half-way decent computer solution to their target customer base. Remember, MOST people that shop at WalMart are low to mid income households. They do not have the means to pay Geek Squad prices. If the Solution Station can provide similar service at a lower price Geek Squad should be on the look out. As a previous Geek Squad employee I can say for a fact that there are a lot of people employed there that are VERY tech savvy. I used it as a way to get my foot in the door. I now am working as a network administrator. Do not assume that just because the employees are young that they are "minimum wage non-technical idiots." This just proves to me that you are either insecure, have a chip on your shoulder from one bad experience, or have no logical reasoning abilities.