Author Topic: iYOGI SUPPORT FOR AVAST IS A SCAM !!  (Read 33304 times)

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nt1000

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iYOGI SUPPORT FOR AVAST IS A SCAM !!
« on: March 09, 2012, 06:06:49 AM »
I called in to AVAST Support (outsourced to iYogi) to resolve a problem.  I have Avast 7 Internet Security Suite.  Everything works except my firewall.  When I click on 'Fix Now' or 'Start"(firewall), i get "Firewall could not be started" error window.

The support guy refused to even attempt troubleshooting without granting him remote access to my PC.  Finally, I allowed him remote access.
After looking at my AVast firewall settings, he quickly proceeded to access other areas of my PC such as Registry, Event Viewer, TEMP folders, etc.. using the excuse of "your problem root cause may be in one of these areas".  He then tried to scare me into thinking my PC had all kinds of issues and may not be optimized.  He then claimed that because my PC was not optimized, thus is the case of my firewall problem.

Finally, the truth came out: HE WAS TRYING TO SELL ME ON PURCHASING THE IYOGI PC OPTIMIZATION AND SUPPORT SERVICES FOR EXTRA $$$!! ALL THIS HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH MY ORIGINAL PROBLEM.  HE WASTED 30 MINUTES OF MY TIME WITH THIS BULL $.  I stopped him right away and told him to get back to the original problem.  He immediately transferred me via CHAT ONLY (NO VOICE) to some other guy who also remotely accessed my PC.  I waited there and he did noting so I disconnected the session.  SORRY IM NOT GOING TO LEAVE OPEN ACCESS TO MY PC TO SOME GUY IN ANOTHER COUNTRY.

They should stick with troubleshooting avast problems and NOT try to sell us on their own services.  I feel cheated.

I went ahead and installed ZoneAlarm Firewall for the firewall portion and everything works fine.

Gargamel360

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Re: iYOGI SUPPORT FOR AVAST IS A SCAM !!
« Reply #1 on: March 09, 2012, 06:25:20 AM »
Sadly, this is not a scam. 

Scams are fake fronts for a straight rip-off....iYogi just hard-sells a ridiculously overpriced service.   A service that probably delivers what it says, and had better, for the price they ask.

Search the forums for iyogi, and you will see this is not the first complaint...wont be the last either.  I'm sure they have plenty of good people working for them, but they suffer either from a flawed business model (incentive for getting people signed up, this is always always always FAIL) or they need to seriously check out their employees pre-hire better, or they need much better supervision.   

If you care enough to, contact riley@avast.com for complaints with the 3rd party service.  He is pretty good at getting everything straightened out.

Jack 1000

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Re: iYOGI SUPPORT FOR AVAST IS A SCAM !!
« Reply #2 on: March 09, 2012, 06:52:49 AM »
Sadly, this is not a scam. 

Scams are fake fronts for a straight rip-off....iYogi just hard-sells a ridiculously overpriced service.   A service that probably delivers what it says, and had better, for the price they ask.

Search the forums for iyogi, and you will see this is not the first complaint...wont be the last either.  I'm sure they have plenty of good people working for them, but they suffer either from a flawed business model (incentive for getting people signed up, this is always always always FAIL) or they need to seriously check out their employees pre-hire better, or they need much better supervision.   

If you care enough to, contact riley@avast.com for complaints with the 3rd party service.  He is pretty good at getting everything straightened out.

I don't understand why such a great company like Avast is even using them.  There are many complaints about them.  Has anyone had a positive experience with them?  What specifics are they doing wrong?  What do they need to do to improve?  To the OP, is your computer OK now?  Or worse since you asked for their help?  Or the same as before you called?

Jack

Gargamel360

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Re: iYOGI SUPPORT FOR AVAST IS A SCAM !!
« Reply #3 on: March 09, 2012, 07:01:22 AM »
It has been explained before, but it amounts to Avast! seeing the good as outweighing the bad....they apparently handle a good amount of customers for them, like into 4 digit numbers per day.  But the large volume of the good they do comes from simple requests from computer illiterates who have trouble even installing a program.  It is when they get to rummaging in the Event Viewer that things seem to go south fast.  That, and as I said, I'd almost put money on them having some incentive for selling the premium service, that will always lead to trouble just like with car salesmen who operate under the same model (incentive for sales).

OPs OK for now though, albeit without Avast! FW anymore
I went ahead and installed ZoneAlarm Firewall for the firewall portion and everything works fine.

aztony

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Re: iYOGI SUPPORT FOR AVAST IS A SCAM !!
« Reply #4 on: March 09, 2012, 07:05:36 AM »
Quote
Sadly, this is not a scam.

When someone's trying to sell you something you neither want or need, and are doing so by being misleading, or giving misinformation, and using scare tactics that is a scam. 

Gargamel360

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Re: iYOGI SUPPORT FOR AVAST IS A SCAM !!
« Reply #5 on: March 09, 2012, 07:15:18 AM »
Quote
Sadly, this is not a scam.

When someone's trying to sell you something you neither want or need, and are doing so by being misleading, or giving misinformation, and using scare tactics that is a scam.
Do you feel like I'm defending iYogi?  Trust me, I want nothing of them either.  To rephrase for the definition-sensitive....They are not just trying to take your money and run, you would get what they promised with their service.  But it is overpriced (imo) and some of their operators sell it too hard.

Offline RejZoR

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Re: iYOGI SUPPORT FOR AVAST IS A SCAM !!
« Reply #6 on: March 09, 2012, 07:29:56 AM »
We've warned avast! team about it several times but they still insist on iYogi as first line of support since it's free. Which i find unfortunate as they only make avast! look bad with their (iYogi's) nonsense proceedure, which is exactly the same for everyone from what i can see from the posts of angry users.
They always make remote access, then they supposedly find bunch of other problems and then they try to sell their service.
That's just stupid policy. Fix the original problem and user might really consider into buying their service since they'd see they actually know how to fix problems. But if they just try to sell something to you, it's like coming to a clinic with a gunshot wound and doctor tries to sell you some very expensive vitamins as the first option. Just ridiculous.

NOW BACK TO YOUR ORIGINAL PROBLEM:
If you don't mind handing me over the Remote Assistance access through avast! 7.0 (i have time today) i can check it out quickly what it might be the problem or if you don't feel like it after iYogi experience, could you please look into the Event Viewer for starters if there are any errors or warnings mentioned around the time you started seeing the issues with the avast! Firewall.
« Last Edit: March 09, 2012, 07:33:10 AM by RejZoR »
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Gargamel360

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Re: iYOGI SUPPORT FOR AVAST IS A SCAM !!
« Reply #7 on: March 09, 2012, 07:38:06 AM »
Well, we don't see the happy people (an exhausted fact but still true)...the happy people are the ones glad they did not have to use a forum....I know it might be hard for forum lovers to grasp, but some people hate forums, mostly from prior bad experience (with intellectual snobbery), some just because it is too foreign, some really need to hear a voice.  And Avast! has to cater to all its customers.

While this is a good argument for phone service in general, I still can't find enough positive from iYogi, mainly because, sure it keeps your PEBKAC customers happy....but it offends the type of user that recommends the product and installs it for people, possibly doing more harm than good.

Jack 1000

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Re: iYOGI SUPPORT FOR AVAST IS A SCAM !!
« Reply #8 on: March 09, 2012, 07:53:53 AM »
Quote
We've warned avast! team about it several times but they still insist on iYogi as first line of support since it's free. Which i find unfortunate as they only make avast! look bad with their (iYogi's) nonsense procedure, which is exactly the same for everyone from what i can see from the posts of angry users.
They always make remote access, then they supposedly find bunch of other problems and then they try to sell their service.
That's just stupid policy. Fix the original problem and user might really consider into buying their service since they'd see they actually know how to fix problems. But if they just try to sell something to you, it's like coming to a clinic with a gunshot wound and doctor tries to sell you some very expensive vitamins as the first option. Just ridiculous.

I have to agree.  And it just makes Avast look bad when people have awful experiences with iYogi.  It's hard to believe that Avast could not find a better company with a stronger reputation as a third party assistant.  Isn't it true that iYogi also is affiliated with other companies besides Avast?  It sounds like the bad outweigh the good.  Maybe Avast thinks iYogi is better than nothing?  I think this forum is better than anything iYogi could do, and the forum really is free!

Jack

Gargamel360

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Re: iYOGI SUPPORT FOR AVAST IS A SCAM !!
« Reply #9 on: March 09, 2012, 08:01:07 AM »
Maybe Avast thinks iYogi is better than nothing?  I think this forum is better than anything iYogi could do, and the forum really is free!
Thats pretty much it, better than nothing, which is what they had before.

As far as the forum....As I said, not everyone wants to, or should have to, use a forum, good or not.   

Especially paying customers, I don't know if its the same abroad, but over here in the states, consumers are pretty demanding, for every dime spent they want a $.20 worth of service....they never get it, but that doesn't change the want.

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Re: iYOGI SUPPORT FOR AVAST IS A SCAM !!
« Reply #10 on: March 09, 2012, 08:10:22 AM »
I'd like to know how many users actually got what they asked at iYogi? I'm sure avast! guys make some kind of satisfactory survey among users who were seeking help with iYogi right? If not, it would be a good idea to start doing that. Because if their procedure to fix problems is like this (and it appears to be like this) i don't think anyone ever gets any proper support and they just can't be bothered to post about it here on forums. And the others who do seems that they all had the exactly same experience. There might also be a 3rd option which are computer illiterate users who pay iYogi and think they got a good deal. But i wonder if they actually fixed the issue then?
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streim

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Re: iYOGI SUPPORT FOR AVAST IS A SCAM !!
« Reply #11 on: March 17, 2012, 10:03:34 PM »
 ;) At first I thought it a good idea because Avast sent me to them when I called Avast support.  That was 1 week ago!  My PC was a mess after the most recent update to Avast Internet Security V7, so here it was 3:00 am and I reluctantly allowed them  remote access to my PC to fix the issue.  Well, to make a very long story short...today was my 7th time contacting Avast (by the way they no longer have phone support, even for us paying customers) through IYogi which I in ignorance purchased.  I have watched as they remotely do everything I could have done myself!  But the one the technicians told me, "Not to worry, we will fix the problem and having your computer at 100 %".  Now that is too funny :P.  I truly like Avast to protect my system, but this is getting a tad ridiculous.  Have not had one complaint since I decided to upgrade from free version in Dec. 2010 until now. 
Just wanted to add my 2 cents (more like $169.00 for a year of yogi :-\.

iroc9555

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Re: iYOGI SUPPORT FOR AVAST IS A SCAM !!
« Reply #12 on: March 17, 2012, 10:06:59 PM »
Streim welcome to Avast! forum.

;) At first I thought it a good idea because Avast sent me to them when I called Avast support.  That was 1 week ago!  My PC was a mess after the most recent update to Avast Internet Security V7, so here it was 3:00 am and I reluctantly allowed them  remote access to my PC to fix the issue.  Well, to make a very long story short...today was my 7th time contacting Avast (by the way they no longer have phone support, even for us paying customers) through IYogi which I in ignorance purchased.  I have watched as they remotely do everything I could have done myself!  But the one the technicians told me, "Not to worry, we will fix the problem and having your computer at 100 %".  Now that is too funny :P.  I truly like Avast to protect my system, but this is getting a tad ridiculous.  Have not had one complaint since I decided to upgrade from free version in Dec. 2010 until now. 
Just wanted to add my 2 cents (more like $169.00 for a year of yogi :-\.

You might want to read this:

http://news.techworld.com/security/3345063/avast-antivirus-support-firm-apologises-for-mis-selling/

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Re: iYOGI SUPPORT FOR AVAST IS A SCAM !!
« Reply #13 on: March 17, 2012, 10:11:41 PM »
...today was my 7th time contacting Avast (by the way they no longer have phone support, even for us paying customers) through IYogi which I in ignorance purchased.  I have watched as they remotely do everything I could have done myself!  But the one the technicians told me, "Not to worry, we will fix the problem and having your computer at 100 %".  Now that is too funny :P.

Read here: https://blog.avast.com/2012/03/15/iyogi-support-service-removed/

Quote
We will also work to ensure that any users that feel they have been misled into purchasing a premium support receive a full refund. We ask that users send any complaints or concerns to support@avast.com or even to myself, the CEO, if desired, vince.steckler@avast.com.
W8.1 [x64] - Avast Free AV 23.3.8047.BC [UI.757] - Firefox ESR 102.9 [NS/uBO/PB] - Thunderbird 102.9.1
Avast-Tools: Secure Browser 109.0 - Cleanup 23.1 - SecureLine 5.18 - DriverUpdater 23.1 - CCleaner 6.01
Avast Wissenswertes (Downloads, Anleitungen & Infos): https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=60523.0

Jack 1000

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Re: iYOGI SUPPORT FOR AVAST IS A SCAM !!
« Reply #14 on: March 18, 2012, 12:51:13 AM »
My WOT (a.k.a My Web of Trust) has a story and more detail about the problems with i-Yogi in their forums.  Let's hope Avast NEVER, EVER does business with them again!  Avast sadly, may have lost customers with their bad i-Yogi experiences that they can't get back.

http://www.mywot.com/en/forum/21318-avast-ends-it-s-relationship-with-controversial-3rd-party-support-company-iyogi

Jack