There's a Question in Here ... Somewhere ...

Howdy.

Long time, no see, yes?


I have not gone through the thousands of 'Last Day at Yellowstone' photos and culled it to something that won't make my computer start smoking when I upload them all in a post ...

Soon ...


Maybe ...


I am trying to catch up on other things and not doing a great job of it.


~~ LIKE TODAY! ~~

I have a severe addiction to graphics. I tell myself that they are relatively inexpensive (albeit data hogs) and I enjoy them AND use them ... so I can think of worse things to be addicted to .... oh! and there is no withdrawal symptoms? Well, there might be ...

I have download a BUNCH lately. There is one downside - basically me being crazy ...

I have to manipulate it all JUST SO to fit into my organizing system and generally rename everything. They come with so much information attached to every .png and .jpg file that the file names are huge! They range from 30 - 40 characters long, and are embedded in folder upon folder that is also 30 - 40 characters long and before you know it - the file name with the path is so long that when I go to back up my data I get errors that x number of files did not back up because the file name was too long. AND my OCD won't let me have the nasty file names they come with. Also sometimes an item ... say a flower ... is named (at the very end of all the other information they tack on to it) '1' instead of 'flower' and so when I search in my graphics for 'flower' - that one will not show up, so I have been systematically renaming the non-descriptive files so that I can find them. Yes - HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of tiny pieces of graphics ... I AM THAT STUPID ...

So ... I was busy doing that today, ignoring all the things I was supposed to do when the phone rang. It was a number that I didn't recognize and I generally don't answer the phone EVEN when I know who it is, so I didn't pay much attention to it. Until it rang back. And then rang back again ...

"MY GOSH!!! LEAVE A MESSAGE ALREADY!!!" I thought and back to my deleting and renaming.

The phone rings again and I realize that based on the number, it is most likely a sales call and I am bored, so why not?

Lori: "Hello?"

Dude with an Indian accent: "Hello, may I speak with Lori Hurst, please?"

Lori: "Speaking."

Dude with an Indian Accent: "I am from Microsoft's Support Team and we have discovered there is a serious problem with your computer that if you do not fix it RIGHT NOW it will crash and cause irreparable damage!"

Lori: "I DO NOT HAVE A PROBLEM WITH MY COMPUTER! DO NOT CALL ME AGAIN. TAKE ME OFF YOUR CALLING ..."

... phone hangs up ...

Harsh, you say?

This happened to me about 3 months ago. They called and the guy strung me along for a bit, but it didn't feel right. When he got to the part where he wanted to log onto my system to look around, I said no. He said fine, and walked me through getting into the 'Event Viewer' and seeing that there were errors and warnings. I remember very clearly him saying at the time:

"Oh my G**! Your system is going to crash any minute! It won't make it until tomorrow!"

That made me even MORE suspicious. He said that they had a service I could pay for and they would clean up my system and download software so that this heinous, horrible, awful thing could never happen again.

I acted like I was interested, said I would think about it and call them back. What was their phone number? He gave it to me, and told me that if I didn't do it now, my computer would just be smoking rubble when I made up my mind.

I told him I would take that chance, and that anyway - I had a service package with Dell. He told me that "No, you don't - that is for hardware only - this is software." I calmly told him that I had purchased the software support package (true) in addition so "Yes, I did".

He continued to argue with me for a few moments telling me that I did not have the support that I VERY CLEARLY had, and then abruptly hung up on me.

First, I called the number he gave me and it was a non-working number. I then called my Dell Support Team and told them about it. He said the errors we were looking at were just the run of the mill errors you get every now and then, but proceeded to run some checks on my computer and said everything was fine.

End of story.

UNTIL THEY CALLED BACK TODAY.


Thus - the harshness.

So - I am tootling along - DID happened to fold the laundry, clean the kitchen and mess with some photos I need to give someone tomorrow at church, but WHEN HE CALLED BACK, I was back to deleting and renaming and bored out of my skull.

It was at that moment I hatched my evil plan ...

Lori: "Hello?"

Dude with an Indian accent: "Am I speaking with Lori Hurst?"

Lori: "Why, yes you are!"

Dude with an Indian accent: "I have called you twice now, today to tell you that you have a VERY SERIOUS problem with your computer that needs to be fixed!"

Lori: "Well, if you would stop hanging up on me it might help ... just sayin'."

Dude with an Indian accent: "Excuse me?"

Lori: "Never mind. Now, who did you say you worked for?"

Dude with an Indian accent: "We are contracted by Dell to monitor all their computers running windows and when a malicious virus is discovered to have invaded your system, we call and fix it."

Lori: "Seriously, you're going to go with that? Nice. What I wanted to know is WHAT IS YOUR COMPANY NAME?"

Dude with an Indian accent: "Iyogi. We are based in India. As I said, Dell has contracted us to take care of your computer."

Lori: "OK, explain to me EXACTLY what you think is wrong with my computer?"

Dude with an Indian accent: "Your Microsoft Security Layer has expired on your computer and it has let in some viruses."

Lori: "So my Microsoft Security Layer has expired?"

Dude with an Indian accent: "Yes, they provide it only for a time, then you must purchase it. Yours has expired."

Lori: "How long do they give it to you for free?"

Dude with an Indian accent: Starts up again that if we don't fix my computer now it will basically explode in my face ...

Lori: "I suppose you want to log onto my system?"

Dude with an Indian accent: "No, I can walk you through it."

Lori: "OK"

** It should be noted that I have not stopped working on my graphics this entire time ... ***

He tells me to do basically what the guy three months ago told me to do - get into the Event Viewer. I kept working on my graphics all the while telling him I was doing what he told me to do ... BUT NOT DOING IT. I figure the longer I keep him on the phone - the more money I was able to lose their company!

He tells me to do stuff ...

I mutter, ask him to repeat that step?

He is patient ... tells me again ...

Ooops! I lost it! I think we need to start over ... (delete, rename, delete, rename, delete ...)

We start over ...

I think I misspelled it, could you spell it for me?

He spells it for me ...

That didn't work, could you spell it for me again?

He spells it for me ... slower ...

OK, that worked, what next?

We move with our make believe session as I make my way through my list of items to be renamed.

Oh! Wait a minute, back up a few steps, I think I didn't do the right thing there, was I supposed to click on it or just hit return? Cause return caused my screen to go blank! I don't see the program anymore?

Oooops! I think my system is rebooting, I have the Windows logo - we need for it to reboot? Is that supposed to happen?

He sighs, says "No" and we wait.

I tell him that my system takes a REALLY, REALLY long time to boot up - maybe that is because of the virus?

He says that could be it.

We wait, I delete and rename, delete and rename ...

OK! It's back, now what was I supposed to run?

How do you spell that again?

Ooops! Just a sec!

Hmmmm, that didn't work?


THIS ACTUALLY GOES ON FOR 30 MINUTES!!!

I finish my renaming file names and move on to renaming actual graphics items.

Another misspelling, another fumble, another OK, wait, wait, um ... , um .... , .... crap, just a sec I need to start over. Just a sec, um ..., um ... oh, crap! I think I right clicked and ... now, what was I supposed to do again?

He is not very jolly and clearly frustrated with me.

I am TOTALLY STUNNED he has not figured out my sham and hung up on me again!

I start feeling sorry for him so I make believe that I get to the part where the errors are listed. Told him I was there.

When he asked me about the errors (those little inconsequential errors) I came up with a random number and told him.

I had to chuckle when he actually shouted out:

"Oh my G**! Your system is going to crash any minute! It probably won't make it until tomorrow!"

Lori: "Really? Nasty! OK, question. How did you get my information?"

Dude with an Indian accent: "Ma'am?"

Lori: "It is a simple question - how did you get my information?"

Dude with an Indian accent: "Dell provides it, we are their contractor."

Lori: "Alrighty then ... when did I purchase my computer?"

Dude with an Indian accent: "I do not know that. They don't give us that."

Lori: "Dell gives you WHAT information?"

Dude with an Indian accent: "Your name and phone number"

Lori: "OK, when did they give you THAT information?"

Dude with an Indian accent: says nothing

Lori: "It is a simple question - WHEN DID I PURCHASE MY COMPUTER FROM DELL? I mean you got the contract to support it ... WHEN?"


..... dial tone ......



Fun, fun, fun!

Here's the question:

I Googled the company 'Iyogi' and to my complete and utter astonishment found that they exist and do support computers!

Have any of you heard of this company?

Know anything about it?

Use them?

I don't know if these guys that happen to have my name, number and know I bought a computer from Dell (OK, I might have let that part slip during the support argument 3 months ago come to think of it) are really from Iyogi or not, but if this is how they do their cold calls - something is really wrong with them!

I Googled 'Microsoft Security Layer' and all I got was people stating ALMOST VERBATIM the same experience as I had (some having let them on, paid for service and had random charges to their credit card from them ever since ...) and ways to install it from Microsoft's website for free ...

The sites I read all said it was a scam, but I am wondering if these guys are scamming or if the company itself is bonkers. It is based out of India and maybe this seems like a reasonable way to drum up business over there ... I don't know ...

I'm just trying to figure out if I can find a way to get these guys off my back - I'm off to e-mail the company a scathing letter, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it won't help.

Oh, well, next time I think I will be dumber, cry every now and then AND spill my drink on my desk and see if they will wait while I clean it up (and just leave and go take a bath ...)