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I was simply trying to purchase Zone Alarm Antivirus/Firewall online for a laptop computer that was just spending it's FIRST FEW MINUTES with a connection to the internet. I downloaded from what I thought was a legitimate site. The download stalled halfway though. A message popped up that said "Cannot download from server. Please check your internet connection." My internet connection was fine. I tried the download again. Same message appeared again. I typed Zone Alarm support in the search box. I looked at the first site that appeared at the top. I didn't open it, but there was a support number listed in the search result with a Zone Alarm URL below. So I called the number and someone answered right away. He had an Indian accent. I really felt secure that I was speaking with a Zone Alarm representative when he said he could help me with this download problem. The first thing he did was ask for a phone number so he could call back if we were disconnected. I thought he would email me a link to download from or something simple like that, and I should have known better than to let him gain total control of my computer, but I did. Immediately after, my desktop background turned completely black but the icons were still there. I could see my mouse cursor moving all around as he was talking and doing things. He began a scan of my computer that I soon realized was bogus. While he was talking, I could hear others in the background chattering and laughing. Then there would be about 30 seconds of dead silence. Then he talked some more and all the background noise returned, then more dead silence. (In retrospect, that's probably when he was copying files from my computer). Then he showed me the results of the scan and it showed lots of things that could not possibly have been on my computer. It looked fake and that's when this horrible panic came over me. Then he pulled up a Best Buy website to show me how much they charge for computer support so he could compare their prices to his, and began to try to sell me a plan for computer support! I was terrified, enraged, and at the same time I felt like the most *** human on the face of the earth. I am a middle-aged stay at home mom and not exactly a computer whiz, but not exactly totally ignorant either. I was so frozen with fear I didn't think to just power the computer off and hang up the phone. I didn't give him a credit card number, and I declined his offer and asked him to disconnect from my computer. He went through his speech again and then pressured me to choose a plan. I again told him no. He then repeated, "So you are saying today that you do not want any help from me?" I said no and he hung up the phone. Today, I have spent the morning on the phone with Microsoft and my bank just to make sure everything is okay and I didn't go too far. I even tried to call Zone Alarm. The only phone number I could find that would actually get me a live person on the phone is a line where you can request a refund for your Zone Alarm product. I asked for a supervisor and there was none available. I dug around in my computer and found that I had been talking to someone from a company called iyogi, and they have a web site that sells computer support.

After having read several other horror stories like mine on the internet, I now see that these companies such as Dell, HP, Norton, and Microsoft are not a part of this and I don't know to what extent they are aware of this. In retrospect, that download was either bogus or intercepted in some way and the site that popped up at the top of the Google search result was planted there as a trap. And I have read many other stories where people are saying it happened to them just this way, too.

Please, please be careful.

And if there is a response to this posted below that is claiming to be me, the original author, saying that this has been resolved and Iyogi has given me a full year of support free...blah, blah, blah. It's just them posting a response in their broken English to paint me as a satisfied customer. I have already seen them do this to others. However, I am not satisified, I am pissed.

Location: Waxhaw, North Carolina

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Guest

Iyogi wants scan people computer get personal information. Be careful.

I had same experience. They let me go to this website and follow step download documents to your computer. During time they talked with you something else. They asked me credit card, bank account.

I did not give them. I called police and reported.

But I have to change all of my password. It is terrible.

Guest

Wow, IYOGI is total scam, I agree with the woman in post above. After reading her post, I read a post from an alleged IYOGI tech.

If as he says, the industry is so fruitful, why then does IYOGI pose on internet as tech support for NORTON, DELL, HP and others? If they were based in this country and not INDIA maybe the US Attorney General or Better Business Bureau could help.

Unfortunately they are not here, and the damage is done before we know it. May all those at IYOGI some day get the comeuppance they deserve.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-890450

If im not mistaken they said i won a lot of money,,,,Straight MULA $$$$$ Im STILL waiting for the check after i filled My info ,,,,,its a *** *** scam!!! Im suing they *** in the ground!!! Im done have My beautiful son 2 take Care of Im too young 4 this ***,,,,Please!!!

Guest

Hi All

My name is Nikhil and I have worked with Iyogi as a Technical Support Executive. I was actually one of those people who try to fix your computer issues for you.

I have read all the complaints here and i would like to tell you something about Iyogi Buisness.

First Iyogi is based in India, they are legitimate company but they are not listed in New York or anywhere else. They started their operations in year 2007.

Now let me share one of my experiences with you.

Once I was working on a customer's computer. The customer was a Microsoft Certified Professional himself. He asked me that his computer was working slow and he wanted me to fix that. (While troubleshooting the issue during the chat on phone he told me about being Microsoft Certified Professional). I simply asked him he must be able to do that himself. He told me that he is actually doing learning the stuff and he will be certified in a few weeks. OK.

He wanted to see what actually I did so that he may learn a few tricks himself.

Well while working on his computer I noticed that his AOL Browser was not working and there was no way that I could fix it. I could only remove it from the computer and give him any other browser like FIREFOX or GOOGLE CHROME. But he denied. He wanted AOL only.

Now we tech support guys are not Superman. We do not fly and surely we do not have any power to shoot laser form our eyes.

I tried to reason with him but he plainly denied and said that he wanted AOL only. As commanded by him I tried to reinstall the AOL and his system crashed as I had already warned him.

Now Please tell me if it was my fault?

In this business we have two departments. One is sales and the other one is Tech. Sales only know one thing "Sales". They are paid to make sales in any way they can. The real problem comes for tech guys. They need to deal with the issues even if they are not resolvable.

We the tech guys try our best to resolve the customer issues. But let me tell you what actually happens.

1.Most of the times customer simply denies our request to get rid of a software that is causing the real problem.

2.After we clean your computer for the first time you keep doing the same stuff again and again that causes trouble. Believe me the same trouble may come up again the very next day after we provide you support.

3. Customer keep downloading all sorts of games , addons, softwares which are not legitimate. That will surely cause problem again and again.

4. Customer simply ignores any assistance request and do not help the Tech Guy for any issue when he asks for it.

Now let me tell the real scene. You face so much trouble with your computer because:

1. You keep downloading games , addons, softwares that are not legitimate.

2. You do not know about the softwares which are good and which are not for your computer. For example: Norton is the best antivirus but it makes your computer work slow and stops its services without your permission. AVG, Panda, Kaspersky, Zomealarm are very much the same.

3.You keep clicking on each and every popup that appears while surfing on the internet without even knowing what it do actually.(Believe me most of them are just scams and they harm your system)

4. A tech guy cannot do anything on a remote session with a hardware issue.

Now let us come back to IYOGI.

We have around 3000 such companies in India who are providing support to customer. Each one of them sells a subscription plan. You will get service only if you buy a plan.(Nothing comes free and we need to sale plan to get our salary)

None of these 3000 companies is a scam. IYOGI is the biggest of all.

Even I want to start up my own tech support company but I do not have sufficient funds to do that. It is a very fruitful business.

I have said all the above not to justify anything. I just wanted to show you the real picture.

May be I am not able to show you the entire picture. If that is the case and you want to know more you can call me at +91-9716****69 anytime.

Regards

Vincent Gtt
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-662661

I have worked for iYogi in the past for 3 months and have learnt a lot from my experiences there. iYogi is a big name in Technical Support and has achieved this position by not just with the help of sales but by providing the best of technical support to its customers. I am glad that I had an opportunity to be associated with them…

Vincent Gtt
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-662661

I have worked for iYogi in the past for 3 months and have learnt a lot from my experiences there. iYogi is a big name in Technical Support and has achieved this position by not just with the help of sales but by providing the best of technical support to its customers. I am glad that I had an opportunity to be associated with them…

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-662661

What about when this company takes money out of your personal checking account without your permission? DO you think that is OK?...

I am fighting to get MY money back, because I DID NOT AUTHORIZE IT. So maybe you don't know that part of the job, or maybe you do. I don't have a problem in paying for support, but I do have a problem when they decide WITHOUT my authorization to take MY money when they feel like it.

SO SHAME ON THEM.

Guest

I purchased a two year subscription from IYOGI, which expired on June 03, 2012. Before my expiration date, I inquired about whether or not I would be able to troubleshoot simply technical problems, since I Yogi always use the remote control to fix any problems that occured.

I was assured i would be able to. However, on 11/05/2012, I encounter a problem with my speakers having no sound. I checked the connection and everything was properly connected. I then went into the control panel and looked at the speaker dropdown box, in which the applly button was shaded.

I contacted IYOGI only to be told that the only way they could help me, was that I had to renew my subscription for a year. It appears to me, that this is an illegal pratice.

Once your subscription expires and is not renewed, they will lock down everything where you cannot troubleshoot a simple tech problem. My advice to anyone who is thinking about using IYOGI "Please Don't".

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-564735

If ure thinking of using Iyogi, save your money! They will want control of your computer, advise you that you have been hacked, need a new virus program and they can fix all that!

Ure getting ready to be screwed! They will charge you an enormous fee, will alter things on your computer, make sure they can in the future *** into your computer.

You will never get positive results, will not get your problems fixed and your money is long gone! Dont deal with these crooks!

iYogi T
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-668727

Dear user,

iYogi is an independent technical support provider and has been in the industry for 6 years. We are also accredited to BBB with an ‘A’ rating and do not follow any such practices as stated by you. We take all feedback seriously and if you are trying to share an incident please send us your account details at iYogicare[at]iyogi[dot]com, so that our Active Response Team can investigate and help you accordingly.

Regards,

Active Response Team

iYogi

Guest

I called Iyogi after I had fell for the microsoft scam, which is run by Indians and my son had wiped my computer clean and reinstalled Windows. I was having problems reinstalling my Kaspersky anti-virus and was given Iyogis number from my cable company.

No doubt, they thought they were affiliated, as their name pops up if you do a search for Kaspersky help. I let them on my computer and they looked in the event logs and said I was having problems because of all the errors and warnings. (I now know that is normal on all computers) My windows was just newly reinstalled. They wanted me to buy their tech support.

I declined and fixed it myself the next day.I was stressed out for a couple weeks waiting for my computer to act up. They sounded way too much like the people who run the Microsoft Scam.

There is something wrong there. I've learned not to let anyone on my computer but my son.

Guest

Called Netgear support for a router problem, somehow got to iyogi and spent 2 HOURS before finally I demanded to just restore the original settings; it was the pin-in-the-back thing I should have known to do. (Doh!) Now I'm worried about what Asnan and Abdullah -- the names they gave me -- gleaned during their seeming cloddishness which was probably on purpose.

Guest

i was having trouble with my router simple stuff and by mistake I looked up linksys router on Google and and then this yogi thing came up on at the top of the list when i asked them if they were affiliated with linksys they said yes. It seemed fishy after they loaded up their diagnostic program and scanned for ad-ware and as soon as they finished they were trying to sell me some *** service for 175$ so i cussed them out and hung up don't be a sucker its a SCAM!!!

Guest

I called Buffalo technical support for my router: iyogi tried to scam me for $179.00. The Bastards!!!!!

Guest

iyogi provided a free service to help me register my Avast product when Avast was not available to speak to. He was polite and patient.

They can see nothing in our computer that we do not see on our screen when they enter. Ask a geek. Its why they tell you "stay in front of your computer" durring the entire opperation.

In a spirit of fairness, I found no fault with the free assistance.

It really appears that some that are complaining did not understand the process that took place. Not everyone should be on line, but then not everyone should have a drivers lisense either.

Guest

Response to Koo.(11/17/2011). Your post sounds almost like a carbon copy of what happened to me about six mos ago.

i paid 169 for a year and received the iyogi support they loaded onto my computer. I (like a fool) gave them control remotely. So far no problems but i often worry about it. now i got an email that i need to contact them about an update.

will getting rid of thier programs end this whole thing or can they compromise my files any time they feel like it since the had remote access at one time. Is norton the way to go since i couldn't reach them by phone.

need some advice. thanks

Guest

Iyogi is a legitimate (but ineffective, expensive, worthhless tech support co) they get your telephone number and harrass you seeking you to buy their service- using lies and more lies. If they were US based they would be arrested.

Guest

They are not a scam, but are incapable of simply assisting in downloading Avast Internet Security upgrade from Avast Pro. After 6 hours, yes 6 hours, I now will need a "expert" to call me two days from now.

Guest

Called about Netgear router port problem. She ran unauthorized program showing numerous errors on my CPU.

Would not even look mat the router until she "fixed all the other problems" for $169.00. Told me to take the CPU back to Best Buy every 3 months for maintainence. Took CPU to certified tech locally. Funny he found none of the problems she mentioned.

Router fixed in less than 5 minutes. Draw your own conclusions but I consider this service to be a complet SCAM!!!

Guest

iYogi is a terrible scam. called them today for support on my linksys router (first popup in google search).

Big mistake. Im going to reformat my HDD... I was wondering why the woman on the other end kept asking me personal information.

DO NOT FALL FOR THIS! THIS COMPANY IS A SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM

BTW I AM NOT COMPUTER ILLITERATE IM AN ELECTRICAL ENGINEER!

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