iYogi

I lost wireless internet connection. I phoned Netgear as I have Netgear router and Netgear Wi-Fi range extender. Netgear/iYogi remotely took over my computer and told me they had fixed the problem but it was only a temporary fix. Then, they asked me to pay $199.00 to make it work again. I refused and contacted Charter. Netgear/iYogi left a PC diagnostics icon on my computer and my computer doesn't work even after uninstalling their software. My computer will not let me delete them from the trash bin and now my computer does not work or function. Netgear are scam artists and they have ruined my computer.

On 12-12-2011, I called McAfee to renew my virus protection, and I got a company called iYogi working for McAfee. They renewed my virus protection, and told me I needed to have fifteen things removed from my computer, for $149.00, and would work better, so I said okay. When they finish, my computer would not work. All it said was "we apologize for the inconvenience, but someone added new softwares to the computer" The cost is as much as the new one, so I bought a new one from Wal-Mart for $438.00. They erased everything. I think I should be paid back for everything.

I received a pop-up window saying my McAfee was expired when it shouldn't have been. It was less than a month old. So not wanting to be bothered, I paid the $39.99 and it did not change anything. So I then contacted McAfee customer support because something was obviously wrong. Instead of McAfee, I got an iYogi rep so I assumed McAfee was using them.

So the iYogi phone rep got onto my computer (remember, I thought this was McAfee's customer service) and he did some unrelated bogus poking around in my registry and file system (completely unrelated to my problem) to sell me their $169 service package. He kept me tied up for over a half hour while he did his poking around sales pitch and how my computer needed their service and I patiently waited until he made his pitch (I could smell something bad coming). And when he finally revealed what he was up to and made his pitch, I just said, "No thanks, not interested." And he was angry and annoyed (when I really should have screamed and yelled at him and his bogus customer service hijacking organization, the third world ***), thereby wasting a half hour of his time as a return favor.

I also heard that iYogi is a sweatshop that mistreats and underpays these people who handle their hijacked customer service calls. I've read that they've hijacked many customer services, from Avast to Dell, so McAfee isn't the only victim. I emailed McAfee complaining about these people and they said they were not affiliated with them!

On 28 January 2012, I located what I thought was the toll free number to McAfee virus protection support. My issue was that I'd purchased their product and had proof of this but somewhere between purchase and download signals got crossed. I dialed the number and was connected with "Madhusudan B" who proceeded to help me correct the error. I gave permission to for access to my computer under the assumption I was speaking with McAfee. I was on this call 44 minutes with this person who was doing who knows what inside my computer before they drop the bomb that I could purchase the tech support I would need to clean out the dangerous information my laptop had been infiltrated with since my McAfee hadn't been correctly installed. I had to drag out of Madhusudan B that this whole time.

This whole time he was roaming inside my computer. I was on the phone not with McAfee but Iyogi. I hang up and found the correct McAfee support who informed me even though their name is right there in Iyogi's address line, that McAfee is not representative in any size, shape or form by this company. McAfee was wonderful by the way. I'm livid. What is a consumer suppose to do? How are we to know what's legit and what's not and who is and who's not when we don't have the expertise to know who's the real deal? I thought I was being cautious when I basically flung open the door and said, "Come on in and look at all my business!"

I went to McAfee to update my virus protection and they told me my computer need be cleaner of fifteen different things. So I told them to go a head and do it. After they finished, my computer stop working. Every time I call, they put me on hold, or say they are going to call me back, but never do. This has been going on since 12- 12-11. Thank you.

iYogi represented themselves as Kaspersky support, but that is untrue. My computer froze while your technician was working on it, and he abandoned my problem. After three days, I have resolved the issue and myself. If you were truly Kaspersky employees, you would have known the issue to have caused the Kaspersky problem. I searched and tracked your phone number on the internet, and found you are not affiliated with Kaspersky. I found a list of people who have also had bad dealings with you.

I am going to report you to the Better Business Bureau in New York, and the Attorney General's Office. I spent three needless days researching the problem myself. I have a charge pending to my Visa credit card for $169.00. I am disputing it. Visa has been helpful, and says when the charge hits my account, they will assist me in getting my money back. I want them to black list iYogi as well. The only attorney I would like to contact me, is one who will address the iYogi scam.

When I was unable to install a NetGear wireless adapter. I called the service telephone number listed on the NetGear site. iYogi answered and I began what ended up as a 3.5 hour marathon session with a service technician. The problem was ultimately solved. I am now able to use the wireless adapter and the fix did appear to be complicated. However, it was clear the repair and consultation was needlessly prolonged and during the remote access session, I authorized (in order to allow the technician to scrutinize my computer and assist in the repair - pretty standard these days), he spent a lot of time looking at what webpages I browsed, eventually telling me my problem was a result of a very deeply infected computer with details offered by iYogi's diagnostic software. How convenient, eh?

Again, my problem was ultimately solved but I spent at least an hour fending off a very hard sell of the $169 iYogi service. Interestingly, the tech mentioned that his repair was only temporary and that my computer desperately needed iYogi's attention. He agreed to call me back in 48 hours to talk about iYogi's year long protection/service, after I've had a chance to confirm that his repair worked. Based on the other reviews/complaints above, I'm now seriously worried that I've got a couple of time bombs in my house (both of the computers the iYogi tech insisted on scanning). I'm really stunned that NetGear allows its customers to be exploited, scammed this way by its own technical assistance partner.

This was the number for technical support on the back of a Netgear wireless adapter. The technical support was through a company called Netgear. After talking with an agent, he proceeded to tell me that the only way to be able to use the wireless router was for him to fix things on my computer for a price of $169. I did not purchase this, and after hanging up with him, I switched around a few wires fixing the problem at no cost!

Here is my account info below. I tried to reach McAfee security when I had a problem with my account. I was told that iYogi was their representative. They said that they could fix my laptop for $299.00 with a guarantee. They installed a test version of Norton. Since then, my laptop has been filled with high risk viruses. And each time I use my browser, it is highjacked to a sales page. iYogi did download an access to my laptop. I am not sure if this is secure or not. Their toll free number is 800 237 3901.

I had a problem repeatedly with my computer running slow. I contacted Iyogi many many times after $300.00 and two weeks of 4-6 hour sessions; they never spotted the problem. One thing they did do was disable my Windows Media Player and my virus software. After hours of frustration, I asked for a refund of my money. I now have a worthless computer. I called Dell directly and they tried again to return me to the worthless hacks of Iyogi. I said no ** way; so, he offered help to restore it but wanted a fee to which I replied, 'No ** way. Are you going to charge me to fix something your company screwed up in.' Now, I am going local to see if this thing can be repaired, and was refused by another ** Dell again. Furthermore, I will be telling everyone I know how useless Dell is in support. Oh, and the tech support is in India and they are totally worthless!

I can only hope that my report corroborates that of others. See also what a Google search of "iYogi scam" shows. I subscribed to their services one year ago because I had a PRINTER problem. They solved the problem successfully. Their quote for a one-year subscription was $40.

When I got my credit statement it was for $140. I never used them again. A year later, last week, they called me if I wanted to renew. I declined. The next day, I found all my PRINTER software had been deleted. I also found that re-installing my PRINTERS was blocked. I also found that my machine had become virtually unusable because its speed was reduced by a factor of approx. 100. Calling up a certain window took several minutes instead of the usual couple of seconds. Apparently, iYogi had hacked into my computer. This week I found my credit card debited for $140. As I understand, keeping credit card information after a transaction is completely illegal. I conclude that iYogi use fraudulent if not criminal methods to cheat customers.

I don't have this address as they are in India. I was directed to them from a Microsoft Support address. I called because I couldn't get my Office 2010 "Outlook" to work. It kept asking for the key number. The iYogi technician said that they could take care of it and speed up my computer while taking care of any virus, etc. It cost $299.99 plus four hours of my personal time. Not only did they not take care of it, my computer is slower than ever. At the end of the call, they told me that "Outlook" is not part of my Office 2010.

Today, I called Microsoft and again he didn't speak English well and I was told "too bad" I must contact the vendor. How do you become the richest man in the world? Ask me in private. I think that I will switch to a Macintosh.

My apology to McAfee: Yesterday, I placed a negative comment about McAfee. After a lot of internet searching, I found that I had been duped by a third party. Just be sure you are getting your product from McAfee. I thought I was, the contract that was emailed to me stated 'thirty day money back guarantee' and 'one full year of customer support'. First, the download I got would not install, I linked for assistance and 'they' installed it.

Everything seemed okay, the status display showed no problems, 'your computer is safe'. I began checking the task manager and found that it did not run unless I started it. I called the number given to me when they installed it and was told I had 1,000's of errors and I must have a tech clean up the computer, else it would crash any minute. I had asked if I had reached McAfee and was told 'yes' (misrepresentation), they were not McAfee, all they were interested in was selling me tech support which I repeatedly explained was furnished by McAfee for a year. The response was that's not the same, it's different.

In order to get them off my computer, I 'purchased' 1 yr. support for $170. I had no intention of letting it charge my card. When I got off the session with the crooks, there was a message from my card security monitor questioning the charge. After searching online, I found the real McAfee customer service. I was advised that they in fact would honor the 1 year support and that they did not know the name that had charged my card, but it was probably a third party tech support group. I never knew such existed before.

The next thing was to get the scam squad to refund my money. Finally, I got their customer service and told the fellow that when I booted my computer, there was a list of 714 registry errors on my computer, "do you want them fixed? Click HERE to PAY." I checked 'no' and removed the program that was generating the list (which was loaded by the scams - new to me). I read the 'riot' act to the tech, waited 20 minutes for someone from customer service, then was told CS would call me back in 15 minutes. Well, they did not but I found the number and called them. Then I got a run around. They can and will be glad to fix the problem. No, I will never let you do anything to my computer ever again. I was never so livid, and was literally yelling at the scam who repeatedly tried to talk me into letting them fix the problem.

Then okay he would refund, but there would be a charge for processing the refund. Oh, no you won't! You will refund the full amount, we argued about a half hour and finally he decided as a courtesy he would refund. I had told him I would not release it to be paid by my card, his reply was the bank would pay them anyway. True? I do not think he gave the refund out of the generosity of his heart, I think the card would not allow it to be processed. If I had been aware of this possibility, I would certainly not have wasted 4 hours the first time and 2 hours the second, excluding the time to research and to find how to argue how to resolve this issue. I thoroughly believe that when they installed McAfee they purposely set it up so that I would have to call for support, then soon after it was 'fixed' problems would start again.

Between the time they did the install and my call for support, the sound had gone out. First I thought it was the speakers, connected another set and still no sound, checked the controls in the system and the sound had been muted. Were they into my computer two weeks after the install? Are they in fact into it now? The invoice they sent me was WINFERNO Software - special partner offer McAfee. McAfee said they have no such partner. The billing name is Iyogi, which McAfee did not recognize.

This company destroyed my laptop and took my money and wont give it back to me. This company is running a scam and putting false information on the internet.

On 3/27/2010, I called Microsoft tech support to fix my PC. I paid $139.99 and was connected to iyogi.net for technical help. After 2 1/2 hours on line the computer ran better but not completely fixed. Since then I have been getting fraudulent debits on my bank account from Mumbai, India. I have never shopped at 10north or shoppersstop. I have cancelled my debit card, but still get the debits. I believe my information was stolen while on line with iyogi.net for so long. All of these companies are in Mumbai, India. This caused fraud to my bank account: 5/8/2010, $88.04 Shoppers Stop; 4/29/2010, $44.86 Shoppers Stop; and 3/22/2010, $73.98 20north.com, all Mumbai, India.

We used to subscribe to there computer support services and they keep calling now. I've asked them to put us on a "no call" list, but they called again, I did not get his name , but he said he was a supervisor and kept insisting I tell him why we do not want their services anymore, I kept telling him we're not interested, he proceded to ask me do I still have computer, I said "that's none of your business!", he kept insisting until, I hung up on him, without him ever agreeing to put us on a "no call" list.