InfoTech
Complaint 268482 Details

In January 2013 I discovered an irritating problem with my web browser on my brand new Lenovo laptop. I had inadvertently installed "Babylon" as my preferred search engine. Anytime I attempted to start up Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, etc this Babylon would pop up. I assumed this to be a virus that had attached itself to a shared music file I had downloaded. Unable to erase Babylon from my computer, I looked up tech support phone numbers. I came across Info Tech, which appeared to be apart of Lenovo's company. I called an explained my situation. They told me that this was a very serious virus (it isn't) and I granted them full access to my computer. They then kept me on the phone for hours shuffling me back and forth between an obviously all Indian staff. They proceeded to frighten me with random bits of encryption of my computer by telling me these are access times that people from all over the world were on my computer, that so far they hadn't done anything but I needed to act immediately to protect myself. I paid them $200 for their "service." They installed two free software programs. I was under the impression that CCleaner and the other malware software were not free. They ran the cleaner and told me everything was fine. I opened up Internet Explorer and Babylon was gone, however it was still on every other search engine. I found that frustrating but really didn't want to call back. My computer was ultimately no better that it was before. Early this August I received a phone call from Info Tech, they wanted to see how the laptop was doing now. Again, I granted them access to my computer and the same thing happened. They told me my computer was under attack and that my facebook photos are likely to be replaced with pornographic images, my credit card information is up for grabs etc.. I was irritated that I had given them money months prior and apparently nothing had changed for the better. Eventually they asked for money to fix the problem. They asked for $500, I said no. They said they could do something for $300, I said NO. Finally they said they could give me a final offer of $99, I said bye. I called the actual Lenovo support line and as it turns out my laptop is totally fine and that this is a scam company that poses as help lines for Apple, Microsoft etc. I called back Info Tech and demanded my money back. They were rude and explained that even though the software was free I paid for a service. I demanded to know why they wanted more money today for problems that were not there. They said they never call customers and that this is alarming information to them. I told them that that was ridiculous because the person who called me had all of my information from my phone call from January. Real companies do not act in this way. I feel dumb for falling for the scam in the first place, but now I know that if something seems fishy, it probably is! An honest company should never bully a costumer by preying on their fear of identity theft to make money.