is IYOGI For real?

[DavidR]

I am a reseller for Avast and have had two customers now who have had bad experiences with iYogi. I am appalled to hear one of them charged $250 for them to answer the question - "How do I schedule a scan with Avast?" The customer was asked to install iYogi's remote control software, do a spyware scan and other things. In the end, they never did actually answer the customer's question. This is extortion and a scam in my opinion. I do not think iYogi should be the recommended support option by Avast!

As has been said the avast CEO Mr Steckler, steckler (at) avast (dot) com has requested info about iYogi, so if you have time to recount your customers experience.

[Rednose]

During the Evangelists meeting in Prague there was a discussion about - and with the guys from Iyogi as well. We agreed that the Evangelists will test Iyogi, and provide feedback about their experiences to both Iyogi and Avast!

Greetz, Red.

[nmb]

I am a reseller for Avast and have had two customers now who have had bad experiences with iYogi. I am appalled to hear one of them charged $250 for them to answer the question - "How do I schedule a scan with Avast?" The customer was asked to install iYogi's remote control software, do a spyware scan and other things. In the end, they never did actually answer the customer's question. This is extortion and a scam in my opinion. I do not think iYogi should be the recommended support option by Avast!

Which number did they use to call iYogi? The user should call using this number : http://www.avast.com/support-contacts

[RejZoR]

To be honest i never really liked 3rd party but still official support. And for some reason they all end up in India... Not that i have anything against India ppl, but it's just not good.

In my opinion nothing beats specially trained staff that work with avast! and nothing else day after day.
Good example are Evangelists here, those of us who stick around here day after day. We know avast! in depth and we aren't driven by any sales. We just want to help. So if anyone asks how to schedule a scan we answer that directly.

I never had to deal with iYogi but these complaints really aren't that rare from what i can see here.

[nmb]

@RejZor

People who know nothing, even that the forum exists, might need it. And I too accept that this is the best place to ask things as there are many who are better experienced. But there are some set of people who still want telephone support, who doesn't even know that forums exist. Fyi, I am not anyway related to iYogi.

[Hermite15]

3rd party support is crap, 99,99% of the time, if not 100%. Try to call your PC OEM hotline (Acer, Dell etc...) and ask anything It's been like that for years and years. The worse of it all is that they are officially designated by Microsoft as OEM support, with no other alternative phone support for newbies.

 As to iYogi >>> lol, as I can imagine

[Eddy]

No offense to anyone, but the real problem is that jill and lemotjuste don't know how to protect/clean a system. And yes, it can be all free! Click on the link in my signature, visit the malware removal section and do EVERYTHING as stated there.

our lap top came loaded with the "free" AVAST and not because of a virus but because of the repeated warnings by AVAST that the "free" period was over.....out of laziness.....we just subscribed

Why not just simply renewed the free license?

I too have had a horrible experience with iYogi and am disappointed in Avast as a result.

Iyogi has nothing to do with avast since iyogi is an independent provider of on-demand tech support and not affiliated with any third party brand unless specified.

Now a little math.
I solve 30 computer (related) problems a week. Times 52 weeks make that 1560 a year.
I am only 1 person, they are with (as they claim) with over 5000.
So 1560 x 5000 would be 7.8 million a year.
And according to them they have solved a little over 2 million problems.
I even have not included that they can be reached 24/7 and I ofcourse not.

[Asyn]

Iyogi has nothing to do with avast since iyogi is an independent provider of on-demand tech support and not affiliated with any third party brand unless specified.

Well, sorry to say, but IYogi has relations to avast...
http://blog.avast.com/2011/02/11/incredible-india/
There are also a couple of posts in the ECC and other parts of the forum.
asyn

[Eddy]

I took it from iYogi's website.
If they do have a relationship iYogi definatly is not trustworthy.
I also just saw on another page on their site they have 4000+ tech people.
Not really consistant.

[Hermite15]

yeah there was already some uproar here on the forums when Avast announced this collaboration with iYogi and this was apparently fully justified. I've been ranting against that at the time and I don't regret it

[Charyb-0]

No offense to anyone, but the real problem is that jill and lemotjuste don't know how to protect/clean a system. And yes, it can be all free! Click on the link in my signature, visit the malware removal section and do EVERYTHING as stated there.

@Eddy
So, I clicked on your link and saw a woman on her hands and knees wearing a thong in an ad for WEBCAMSEX. See attached. That's classy.

It's unfortunate that Avast continues to use Iyogi after hearing some of the reports. Recommendations go a long way and it's sad to hear users associate Avast with a poor if not unethical support company. Avast has come a long way offering a quality, free service with a user base generated by recommendations. Why they continue to allow this dark cloud to form is beyond me.

[YoKenny]

@Eddy
So, I clicked on your link and saw a woman on her hands and knees wearing a thong in an ad for WEBCAMSEX. That's classy.

He must be into kinky things

Even WebRep rates the site as Bad

[Charyb-0]

Free phone support. So what is the catch here? One phone number for free product and one for paid. So if you call the free product phone number is this where they stick it to you? Suppose it is to get you to the more qualified tech for pro and AIS. Free telephone support for installation, configuration, and trouble-shooting is now available for your Avast product. It doesn't mention repairs. After visiting the site it appears like they try to sell you an annual subscription. I might have to take a test run at this to see how things turn out.

They should add on to this, "For FREE, quick, quality malware removal visit our support forum".

[tridn]

Omg!?! I didn't even know that there's a 30 days grace period. The guy from Avast technical support kept pushing me to purchase the package for $169/yr or $260 for 2 years. So here's his chorus: "you will be helped by 'professional technician', 24hrs a day, 7 days a week. You can ask any question and we will help you." instead of helping me fixing the real problem, which turned out to be
1) download the "uninstall file" from Avast website
2) uninstall
And it took me 2 hours of explanation (mostly on how to turn on my computer??), $169 a total rip off since I'm still in college.
I really hope that avast severe the tie with iyogi. Otherwise, this will be the last time I purchase avast and will be the same with people that I know.

[SafeSurf]

As mentioned earlier, your quickest way to get support is to use the forum first.  We (Avast Evangelists) are here 24/7 and know the Avast products and are very familiar with any issues that come up since we deal with users all the time.  You can also put in a support ticket, however this sometimes takes a bit longer to get resolved.  There are also knowledge-based articles to read that Avast offers online.