founded june 16 1994 ; 22 years ago 1994 06 16 founder robert stephens headquarters richfield minnesota u.s. area served united states puerto rico canada netherlands united kingdom republic of ireland number of employees 20 000 parent best buy website geeksquad.com geek squad is a subsidiary of american multinational consumer electronics corporation best buy headquartered in richfield minnesota . the subsidiary was originally an independent company founded by chief inspector robert stephens on june 16 1994 and offers various computer related services and accessories for residential and commercial clients . it later merged with best buy retaining stephens as the primary corporate leadership for the subsidiary . the geek squad provides services in store on site and over the internet via remote access and also provides 24 hour telephone and emergency on site support . geek squad no longer works solely on computer related devices . it now diagnoses issues in and repairs all consumer electronics as well as appliances continually expanding its services to keep pace with ever changing technology . 1 contents 1 locations and partnerships 1.1 total services 2 staff 2.1 uniforms and vehicles 3 geek squad city 4 controversy 5 in popular culture 6 references 7 external links locations and partnerships geek squad precincts exist in all best buy stores in the united states puerto rico canada and the netherlands . they offer in home online and remote over the phone services . 2 3 best buy terminated its partnership with office depot in orlando florida where geek squad precincts were located in 10 office depot locations . 4 the brand is also located in select fedex office locations . in october 2006 it was reported that geek squad would be launching in the united kingdom in a joint 50 50 venture with carphone warehouse where today it exists as both an onsite service and a remote repair service . it is now fully operational with onsite services in greater london the home counties the south coast and north west areas of england with phone and remote support undertaken from tulketh mill in preston lancashire and repairs completed at a site in wednesbury west midlands . from november 2015 repairs will be completed at a dixons carphone repair center based in newark east midlands 5 in 2008 best buy partnered up with online tech support provider supportspace to offer remote virtual agent services to its clients . supportspace was founded in 2006 and provided immediate online tech support services . 6 on july 15 2013 all geek squad business was transferred away from supportspace and moved in house to geek squad agents . a 2013 agreement with atomic learning inc. provides all geek squad tech subscribers with access to over 60 000 on demand tutorial training videos . 7 carphone warehouse and best buy s collaboration company best buy europe that also own phone house has since also begun launching geek squad in phone house stores . france germany netherlands sweden spain and portugal all have agents now . it s still in a startup phase in most of the countries . total services in 2007 geek squad officially added magnolia home theater installation teams as well as best buy mobile installers to the geek squad brand . the change was titled total services and was aimed towards the combination of major best buy services into one cohesive unit . best buy mobile installers and magnolia home theater installers have now switched from their previous grey and blue uniforms to grey and orange shirts with grey cargo pants . this change removed all magnolia home theater installation branding and was replaced by geek squad installation units instead . this has now allowed geek squad to incorporate home theater installation as one of the in home services offered via telephone . staff geek squad employees are known as agents and are assigned titles similar to those used by intelligence agencies counter intelligence agent cia deputy of counter intelligence dci double agent covert dac covert agent ca special agent sa deputy covert operations dco and deputy field marshal dfm to name a few . unlike most computer repair facilities best buy us does not require any industry certifications for its in store technicians . however best buy canada requires at least a certification to work as a cia . 8 they also require mecp certification for all technical mobile electronics installers . 9 uniforms and vehicles geekmobile in maryland geek squad chevrolet express in vermont which are no longer used . geek squad ford e 350 cutaway in montreal quebec canada . in store pc agents and in home pc field agents wear a white short sleeved pocketless dress shirt . agents are required to wear a black clip on tie with the geek squad logo pin . male agents wear black trousers white socks and black lace up shoes that used to have the geek squad logo on the sole . female agents may wear either black trousers white socks and black shoes ; or a black skirt with hose and black shoes . white and black are the only colors allowed in geek squad uniforms . agents who have served in an eligible capacity within any branch of geek squad for eighteen months or who have held certain positions prior to 2014 including on site double agents special agents and deputies of counter intelligence carry a metal police style badge with their agent number engraved on it . 10 the minnesota historical society added the official uniform to its permanent collection in 2000 . 11 geek squad autotechs and gsis home theater installers wear a grey button up work shirt or black short sleeved and collared dress shirt with the geek squad logo on the front and optional certification patches on the arms . matching pants or shorts are worn as well as a bright orange undershirt . these agents also have the option of wearing a grey geek squad hat and or black geeks squad nylon jacket . double agents & special agents drive black and white volkswagen new beetles dubbed geekmobiles with an orange and black company logo on the door . geekmobiles in california are all black with white roof and running boards due to a request by the california highway patrol that the vehicles no longer resemble the paint scheme of their police vehicles a violation of california law . 12 due to a number of financial issues including a large number of parking tickets and thousands of dollars lost for parking garage fees the geekmobile program was ended in manhattan new york city geek squad precincts . in the uk double agents used smart cars initially but due to the congestion charge agents operating in the centre of london later relied on the london underground system . the double agent program in the uk ceased in late 2012 . all technical support services continued in store or via mission control tulketh mill . from here the covert or covert operations agent title was established agents from covert operations are responsible for the technical support of desktop or laptop devices . they provide support for narrow range of approved issues verbally over the phone or agents will connect to clients devices remotely and fix any issues if the computer is able to connect to the internet . geek squad city located in brooks kentucky 13 14 geek squad city is the largest geek squad computer repair site at 240 000 square feet . it is also the only geek squad site that offers repair of any computer brand regardless of age . 15 controversy geek squad technicians have been caught on numerous occasions searching and copying pornographic content stored on their clients computers without permission . when asked about the incident geek squad founder robert stephens refused to discuss the topic and focused on whether bloggers should be considered true journalists . 16 at least one former geek squad employee had come forward with allegations that the practice of surreptitiously searching for pornography on their clients computers is not restricted to isolated employees but is often shared with management . 16 geek squad employees have allegedly engaged in peeping tom activities on female customers during in house service visits . a 2007 case alleges that a geek squad employee used his cell phone to record a 22 year old female customer while she showered without her knowledge or permission . the employee was arrested and best buy was sued over the incident . 17 in another case a geek squad employee allegedly stole nude photographs of a 27 year old female customer from her computer while it was being serviced . the employee then allegedly shared the photos on the internet . 18 in 2002 during a spate of legal threats and challenges to competitors with geek in their names geek squad attempted to block the trademark registration of new england area competitor geek housecalls claiming that it violated their trademarks . when geek housecalls refused to budge geek squad filed civil suit . after two years of wrangling geek squad and geek housecalls arrived at an out of court settlement the details of which can not be disclosed according to the terms of the settlement except to state that geek housecalls retained its name . 19 in 2006 geek squad was sued for allegedly using unauthorized copies of winternals emergency repair disk commander . the lawsuit filed by austin based winternals claims that employees of geek squad have continued using the unlicensed versions of the software after the commercial licensing agreement broke off . best buy and geek squad were accused of copyright infringement circumvention of copyright infringement systems and misappropriation of trade secrets . 20 a settlement was eventually reached and winternals created a three year agreement in place with best buy allowing geek squad employees to lawfully use their licensed programs including the erd commander . 21 in 2010 best buy issued a trademark infringement cease and desist letter against a priest in wisconsin for painting god squad on his car . 22 in 2013 geek squad was sued for invasion of privacy and several other civil infractions for allegedly releasing nude images found on a customer s computer . 23 the suit is ongoing . in june 2015 the court denied best buy s motions for summary judgment on all claims except the claim for negligence wantonness . 24 in popular culture in the tv series chuck the main character works as a member of the nerd herd at a buy more and drives in a nerd herd branded car respectively alluding to geek squad best buy and its geekmobile . 25 in the us version of tv series the office the tech help desk geek squad s logo has appeared logo on the wall of toby s cubicle and a toy of the geek squad volkswagen car atop a filing cabinet in michael s birthday and drug testing respectively . in the season 9 episode of american dad entitled kung pao turkey roger comes to the smith home as a repairman named trevor that works for a in home tech support company called the nerd squad to fix stan s tv after his father in law breaks it . references best buy s geek squad rolls out new geekmobile updated logo . retrieved 11 april 2016 . best buy press release . retrieved 2 june 2007 . nanjil natasha . geek squad best buy canada acquires pc lifeboat in an effort to expand service offering to quebec pdf . retrieved 5 june 2012 . tomassi k. best buy drives geek squad via office depot forbes online . retrieved on december 1 2006 . durman p. geek squad comes to britain . the times of london . retrieved 4 april 2007 . online remote support . geek squad . retrieved 5 june 2012 . http blogs.atomiclearning.com atomic learning teams geek squad learning tools tech support program members geeksquad