Did I Delete That?
So my old friends back at Geeks On Call have done it again. Now they’ve involved themselves in the scandal that is revolving around the deletion of Top Secret investigations files. Seemed an investigator for the Government used GOC to DOD level wipe a series of Hard Drives. Which is interesting since his agency has their own technical experts. My question would be, which franchise was dumb enough to involve themselves in this particular mess? Being as it was from Jeff Phelp’s franchise doesn’t suprise me. He’d do anything for a buck, and gives true technicians whose only passion is technology and making work better for them, a bad name.
From the article:
Mr. Bloch had his computer’s hard disk completely cleansed using a “seven-level” wipe: a thorough scrubbing that conforms to Defense Department data-security standards. The process makes it nearly impossible for forensics experts to restore the data later. He also directed Geeks on Call to erase laptop computers that had been used by his two top political deputies, who had recently left the agency.
Geeks on Call visited Mr. Bloch’s government office in a nondescript office building on M Street in Washington twice, on Dec. 18 and Dec. 21, 2006, according to a receipt reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. The total charge was $1,149, paid with an agency credit card, the receipt shows. The receipt says a seven-level wipe was performed but doesn’t mention any computer virus.
Just makes me glad I am not associated with Geeks on Call anymore. Of course if you want to read more about it see the following:
Dude, why do you hate GOC so much? Sure they were not perfect, but overall i think they ran a good program. I worked for Jeff Phelps for a year and I thought he was a great owner. He paid very well and gave us a lot of freedom and flexibility. I am not trying to start an argument, I am just curious as to why you had such bad experience with the company.
Comment by Mateo — 12/4/2007 @ 10:40 pm
If it was such a great place to work than why aren’t you still working there? Try working there for three years, watching it turn from a good company with a solid reputation to a horribly run program, that is so desperate to rebuild it’s image because they focused to heavily on the residential market in their marketing, and completely lost their business identity because Geek Squad spends more on advertising in a year than GOC’s entire gross revenue. Even the amazing Telkonet purchase of a third of GOC only values the company at about $15 million.
The model is flawed, as the company tries too hard to control the interactions with the customer. When you have a group of people that aren’t technical trying to stick their noses in technical matters it always causes problems. Not to mention, there is something wrong when the model awards the incompetent technicians that take longer, and therefore bill more. You realize that most of the highest revenue generating techs on a week to week basis do almost no SA work? Why you ask? Because billing at $125 or whatever per hour for a real SA doesn’t net anywhere near as much as someone doing straight residential calls. Let’s compare:
SA Only Tech
28 hours billed x $125 = $3500
Residential Only Tech
300 per call average x 3 calls a day x 5 days = $4500
Now considering that a residential technician would typically cost less as far as salary, and is billing more, who do you think is considered more valuable by the company?
And I had met Jeff Phelps, and personally I think he’s a money grubber. He isn’t in it because he loves the work, he’s in it to make money and that’s all. With ever issue he’s caused, and the crap he’s done in the past, he doesn’t care about a reputation or desire to be the best… just the richest.
Since the time I’ve left, I’ve seen a lot and done a lot, and can definitely say that the grass is greener (and a lot more green too). Think about why any senior person with real skills doesn’t stay around GOC for very long. They are worth more than they are being paid, and they get tired of being seen as a “geek” and being looked down upon as a lowly button clicker.
Comment by Scott Cover — 12/5/2007 @ 11:42 pm