fraud to high hell

[Axius]

didn't know were else to put this, but yesterday my 80 year old grandad recieved a phone call from a company claiming his machine had a virus and they needed to fix it and was in the process of doing so (the pc wasn't even turned on)

anyway my grandad has had the pc i built him for 2 weeks now, and it runs fine, he can play soliter and go on the internet and thats about it, he struggles finding google and its his homepage... just to give you an idea of his knowledge.

so the guy on the phone spent 2 and a half hours with him talking him through how to download and install teamviewer so they could take control of his computer, after doing so they showed him a fake list of faults a full page long on his computer then directed him to a payment area for a bill of £185.

i got there as this was happening, and turned teamviewer off, and then phoned back asking if there was a problem, i then said what are you tryin to sell.

They replied nothing we are a tech support company trying to fix faults on your grandfathers computer, i can tell you what they are if you like.

So i responded by saying, ok but before you say anything know im a qualified pc tech and i built the pc for him 2 weeks ago.

he put the phone down.

the company hides itself very well, the website is www.thenerdsupport.com

[Simetrical]

Moved from Technical Bazaar to The Basement.

In my experience, most tech support companies are fraudulent. They sell a service whose quality non-technical customers can't evaluate: if the problem is fixed they claim credit, and if not they say there's nothing they could do. Meanwhile, they can bill as many hours as they like, or bill for new equipment, and the customer won't be able to evaluate if that's a reasonable price. A breeding ground for dishonesty. Car mechanics are similar, for similar reasons.

[GrnEyedDvl]

In my experience, most tech support companies are fraudulent. They sell a service whose quality non-technical customers can't evaluate: if the problem is fixed they claim credit, and if not they say there's nothing they could do. Meanwhile, they can bill as many hours as they like, or bill for new equipment, and the customer won't be able to evaluate if that's a reasonable price. A breeding ground for dishonesty. Car mechanics are similar, for similar reasons.

I wouldnt say most, but there are quite a few including Geek Squad from Best Buy. I have fixed more crap that they screwed up than any other single company. One of the local reporters here busted those idiots reselling something they claimed couldnt be fixed.

He took a laptop and intentionally broke off part of the case and the power port where the cord plugs in. He took it to them and they said it couldnt be fixed, and talked him into buying a new laptop. Two days later they posted his old laptop for sale on craigslist, and he went and bought it, verfied the Dell service tag and the hard drive serial number, and ran a big story on the local news.

[Top-Tier-Tech]

He took a laptop and intentionally broke off part of the case and the power port where the cord plugs in. He took it to them and they said it couldnt be fixed, and talked him into buying a new laptop. Two days later they posted his old laptop for sale on craigslist, and he went and bought it, verfied the Dell service tag and the hard drive serial number, and ran a big story on the local news.

My parents got a Best Buy credit card a few years back to get financing on a computer and a Best Buy employee from another state charged nearly $7,000 to the card (even though it supposedly had a $5,000 limit). The charges always came from the same store and the charges were all approved even though the buyer had neither the credit card itself or personal identification (both of which Best Buy claimed they require to complete a purchase on their card) I can only assume it was a Best Buy employee as they are the only ones who could approve a purchase with just a card number.

It took 4 months, numerous phone calls and letters, before Best Buy agreed to drop the charges.

Not only that but the guy who helped my parents pick a PC told them they must spend $40 on the brand new PC to have the Geek squad guys install some things "that all PC's must have", I asked them why this "required stuff" wouldn't already be on the PC seems how it is brand new and the guy gave me an answer that made no sense at all to me (neither I nor my parents knew anything about computers then). After they installed it we later talked to another employee and just asked her what the software was that they required we pay $40 for and this employee told us that was an optional thing rather than a requirement so they refunded the $40 which required we bring the PC in again for them to un-install whatever they had put on it. Since we lived 60 miles from the store we had to go through a lot of hassle to get the $40 back.

The computer was an HP and exactly one day out of warranty an error message came up stating that unless the PC received some sort of work that it may cease functioning. My dad called HP (remember 1 day after the warranty expired) and they said for $100 they could tell him how to "fix" the "problem" over the phone. They wanted to "fix" it over the internet which we didn't have at the time, so they said they could explain the fix over the phone but it would still cost $100. My dad refused, and they told him without the "fix" it would indeed crash in the near future. The PC still works 3 years later.

Those events spurred me to learn to build computers myself. I've built 3 so far, none of which have caused the slightest trouble.

[Karklos]

you should contact the police. If your local police are not interested contact the city of london police, they have a special anti-fraud unit.

[Top-Tier-Tech]

PC repair shops (local ones, Geek Squad, etc.) frequently overcharge for services, charge for things they didn't even do, or illegally install software (windows or otherwise). No tech support can be trusted IMO, that's why it's important to have basic PC skills or use internet forums such as this one to diagnose and correct problems.

[atraps]

Wow..

No tech support can be trusted IMO

Pssh, the tech support on this forum is one of the best.

[Axius]

contacted OFT, Trading standards, Consumer direct and a couple of others... they have done a good job at hideing who they are though... the post was more to tell everyone about these scam artists who are targeting the elderly it would seem

[Brusilov]

Pssh, the tech support on this forum is one of the best.

We don't charge. Our lives don't depend on scamming people.

Quite often when money is involved then it 'becomes a different ballgame' (not us).

[Axius]

I truely understand that people have to make a living, but basic human morals must take place somewere, and these pricks have none... there is very little i can do to be honest iv sent emails to pcpro magazine and a few others in hope to raise awareness, i know some of you might this this is going too far, but my nan and grandad are everything to me, and it makes me so angry that this has happened to them especially after ive tried to get my grandad to use a pc and the internet for so long... then this happens!

It reall F***s me off.

[C-Rob]

Oh geeze, I'm glad my grandma only asks her cousin's son and me, her her grandson, for PC help...

I'm honest with her. If I can't figure out what's wrong, I'll have her call in the older guy. If he can't figure it out, then it's... run over by a semi I suppose.

She once tried to pay me... eh, it covered the gas to get there but damnit, I like visitng her!

[Axius]

Can't even represent themselfs properly.... bunch of idiots... just been back down to my grandads now to fix the errors they placed on his computer, the computer was fully upto date when i did it, gone back to it now, and it has alot of random background progs running, and some start up... the firewall was down, nod32 was running strange and needed 2 updates, and 3 windows updates... serious ones, that i am 99.999999% sure i had them before this happened.

Oh and if you want to post snippets of fake statements, do the one about how you have been doing work for them for 3 years but only started up on the 10th of this month....

[Capt. Fozdike]

I've had this happen before. They're just people trying to suck some money out of people. I had some fun with them though since I knew more about computers than they did.

[Top-Tier-Tech]

I knew more about computers than they did.

I should go to Best Buy and pretend I'm going to buy a PC, ask them all kinds of questions and attempt to prove them the utter idiots as the majority of them are, either way putting them through a ton of hassle and waste their time as they did for us. That would be so much fun I haven't been to a Best Buy in ages.

[Capt. Fozdike]

I should go to Best Buy and pretend I'm going to buy a PC, ask them all kinds of questions and attempt to prove them the utter idiots as the majority of them are, either way putting them through a ton of hassle and waste their time as they did for us. That would be so much fun I haven't been to a Best Buy in ages.

Yep, I've done that too when I was bored. Very fun

[Simetrical]

I wouldnt say most, but there are quite a few including Geek Squad from Best Buy. I have fixed more crap that they screwed up than any other single company.

I'm pretty sure it's most. Getting ripped off by these places is the norm. They usually don't know what they're doing, and even if they do, they have no real incentive to spend time on your problem if they can persuade you to buy something from them instead.

If you can't do the tech support yourself, or get a friend/relative to do it, you should get the support from someone who doesn't sell hardware or software, at the very least. Preferably also someone who will come and work where you can watch them (like in your house). Then pretty much all they might be tempted to do is work extra hours doing nothing substantive and asking you to pay them anyway. At least they'll have no big incentive to declare your computer hopeless to con you into buying a new one from them, etc. Try getting a recommendation from someone you know, too, to weed out the most obvious crooks.

I've had this happen before. They're just people trying to suck some money out of people. I had some fun with them though since I knew more about computers than they did.

They usually don't know much about computers. Anyone who knows about computers can get a serious computer job that pays way better than these people probably get. Like system administrator or programmer.

Also, you don't need to know much about computers to fix Windows, in my experience. There are a few things you can try, but after that you have no idea what's going on unless you're employed by Microsoft, so you wind up reinstalling the OS and that fixes things. (Linux is extremely different in this respect: you can learn as much about the system as you're inclined to.)

[Capt. Fozdike]

They usually don't know much about computers. Anyone who knows about computers can get a serious computer job that pays way better than these people probably get. Like system administrator or programmer.

Also, you don't need to know much about computers to fix Windows, in my experience. There are a few things you can try, but after that you have no idea what's going on unless you're employed by Microsoft, so you wind up reinstalling the OS and that fixes things. (Linux is extremely different in this respect: you can learn as much about the system as you're inclined to.)

That's one reason I like Linux, the OS isn't as buried as Windows is and you can learn a lot about it just by exploring it.

[Capt. Fozdike]

Nice mate. Very nice

[Axius]

i sent this story to alot of people and sites... true props for pc pro for picking this up

[Taiji]

Axius, that is a disgusting thing they did to your Grandad. More power to you for your subsequent actions