Wal-Mart To Offer In-Store PC Tech Support

[demonhorde665]

[citation][nom]spectrewind[/nom]In all honesty...People that come to THG will not use this service.I have several walmart stores in my area and have been inside most of them. In my experience, the employees roaming the aisles rarely speak English as a primary language.What I visualize is a Geek-Squad-like Hispanic/Russian/Vietnamese person trying to sell computer upgrades/repairs in broken english and trying to convey non-tech jargon to a confused Joe-user who has no idea what to do with the computer anyway.This is not a recipe for success in the business.[/citation]


LOl alos funny , people at THG don't shop for comp gear at wal mart so you can say with 100% acurracy that no one here , will ever use wal mart tech support LOL

 

[Camikazi]

[citation][nom]mikepaul[/nom]Hey, if they want people who've built PCs and can wire up a small home network, I could use the extra bucks. I think I'll have to cruise by the local store and check out the job listings...[/citation]
They don't want people who actually know what they are doing, they will want people who can talk customers into unneeded and EXPENSIVE upgrades.

 

[lemonade4]

Camikazi is right.. I work at Staples and as a retailer, we try to push as much add-ons as we can to the customer. Oh your computer has evidence of spyware, we can get rid of it for $30.

 

[indigoataxia]

Walmart has nothing to do with the services. The services are offered by "N.E.W. Customer Service Companies". Other than selling the prepaid cards, the Walmart employee's will have absolutely nothing to do with it.

 

[sykozis]

[citation][nom]doomtomb[/nom]More competition: I welcome Wal-Mart[/citation]

I welcome competition....what I don't welcome is the huge influx of customers I'll end up with by the time Walmart is done. I only do this PART TIME!!!!! I need some free time for my full time job and my family!!!

 

[kingssman]

Wow from the same department where I can ask a guy in the DVD aisle where the LCD Tv's are at and he doesn't know and isn't sure if they carry any...., to offer me tech support.

 

[nachowarrior]

So do they just outright smash the thing with a sledge hammer? or do they trick the customer into letting them THINK they know what their doing like the worthless tool bags at butt buy?

I pitty the fool who pays to ha\/e their pc ruined...

 

[Gin Fushicho]

Oh gee ,thanks Wal-mart for fucking up my chances even more of getting a decent paying tech job.

 

[tmc]

Attention Walmart shoppers, we have a... oh, nevermind!
If your smart, or even stupid.. you should expand your social network of friends to can help you at 1/2 the price walmart is charging. In some cases the advice might even be *FREE OF CHARGE* if it doesn't involve alot of time and/or thinking to give advice/help. Walmart bottom feeds alot in retail, now it's trying to parlay that success into offering services.. the Tracfone/Straight-Talk partnership comes to mind. Afterall, goods makers will only be PUSHED so *LOW* in their pricing before they push back and give their business to competitors so they have to tread that line carefully-- and you see Walmart's loss as Target's gains. I'd first recommend WallyMart upgrade their computer section to something more than a hodge-podge of tech equipment & laptops/netbooks. I was in my local wallyworld and the "trainers" were boasting about how this or that product (happend to be by the hdtv's at this particular event but similar things were going on all over the store) can and should sell better given increased training and aggressive sales tactics of sales personnel. Up until now, they haven't been pushy.. and we know exactly why.. minimum wage workers & welfare grade employees with no skills. Well, apparently they're trying to change that and gentrify... an impossible task, but leave up to Walmart to try to become more like Target/BestBuy.

 

[omnimodis78]

[citation][nom]cybrcatter[/nom]Nothin like a minimum wage techie to f-up your computer[/citation]
I don't work for Wal-mart, but from the sound of it neither do you, or else you would know that it's not a minimum wage paying job. And it's really hard to f-up a computer any more than anyone who buys a crappy retail PC at Wal-mart has already f-ed it up. I cannot believe people still buy retail-build PCs! Do they now know that they could have a superior custom build system from a local PC store for a much lower cost?

 

[FoShizzleDizzle]

Ever asked for help finding something at Walmart? Ask where the hot sauce is, they'll end up looking under cars in the parking lot for it. Nonetheless I don't care what people do - if you're dumb enough to ask for tech support at Walmart, then Darwinism is doing its job perfectly.

 

[redgarl]

lol... it's going to be a nightmare for the peoples having PC related problems...

 

[Mysteic]

For Tom's readers thinking of popping by the nearest Wally World for a new job....don't. You will not survive training because "You are Over qualified". That is Wal-mart, Best Buy, and Circuit City's way of say, "You understand enough about computers to know what we are going to force you to do is bull$h*t and chips."

If you get the job you will be stuck there all day doing stuff to stupid people's 12 year old computers because it won't run Windows 7.

 

[mossguru]

I think there is an amazing level of arrogance in the comments here. I'm in the software solutions business, so I wont be competing against Walmart, but one thing I know is that when a vendor with almost unlimited resources enters your market, it is time to be afraid, very afraid. The simple fact, is that computers are getting easier and easier to use all the time, and Windows 7 is going to eliminate a great deal of what computer techs used to make money fixing. Combine that with free anti-virus from Microsoft and others, much better, more reliable hardware and drivers; there is going to be a lot less for techs to do, and what is left, wont be hard. If Walmart combines repairs with hardware discounts (ala Frys), again, less business for independent techs. Walmart can win by squeezing others out, with quality of service almost a moot point. Be afraid, bitches, dont be cocky.

 

[JonnyDough]

We should have run Walmart out of town a long time ago. Studies have shown that they hurt local economy in the long term. Short term they give a very temporary boost to local economy, but the money that would otherwise go to mom and pop businesses goes to already wealthy investors, many of them foriegn. Then we wonder what happened to our economy. Walmart and the rich politicians who invest in Walmart have robbed us while we sat idly by, clueless...all the while believing that we were getting a "good deal" and cheaper prices on Chinese made crap. Over 90% of the stuff at Walmart is manufactured in China. 90%!!! Doesn't anyone realize what's happened?!!! If we had the tenacity of our forefathers (you know, the ones who threw all the tea into the harbor)...we'd be burning the buildings down...

But America has become far too stupid and complacent.

/truth.

 

[tanderskey]

apolgies in advance, but i'm going to be a bit mean and perhaps even unfair here.

mean unfair On.

if Walmart Tech Support accepts food stamps for payment, i'm sure it'll be a big hit.

mean unfair Off.

 

[sylvia648]

They can't be any worse than the geek squad can they? Probably, but they are all know nothing idiots. The tard squad charges you 40 dollars to put in a graphics card... seriously how handicapped do you have to be? I Hate Best Buy and thinking of going in wal-mart with some geek of theirs trying to sell me over priced obsolete sh1t makes me wonder if there soon will no place you can look at things without someone asking you every two seconds (can I help or recommend something?). Boo!