Woman says she was scammed by tech support company
A Waterford woman who was having issues with her home Comcast email account was sur prised when she got a phone call from an unknown company.
“I thought it was Comcast,” she said.
The company that contacted Sher ry Nutting was ITOK. net. Nutting said because she believed she was dealing with a Comcast contractor, she wound up paying ITOK.net $189.98 to fix her computer problems.
Now she is war ning people to beware of companies that of fer to re pair computers over the phone. Nutting became involved after she couldn’t access her email.
She said after she tried to lo g in, she was called by a third party, ITOK.net, who suggested ways to help. In order to re pair her computer, she gave them her credit card number and paid them. “Then I find out they really aren’t Comcast,” she said. She said the computer hasn’t been working any better since then.
Comcast spokesman Rob Ponto checked into the matter.
“Comcast has no af filiation with ITOK.net and we are cur rently investig ating this customer’s interaction with the company,” Ponto said. “We take the issue of online security very seriously and are committed to providing a safe and secure online experience for all our customers. As par t of our service, Comcast provides a Security Channel at http://xfinity.comcast.net/constantguard that serves as an online resource to help customers protect themselves and their families from spam, viruses, and other online threats.”
ITOK re presentative Corey Davis, who said his company is based in Lehi, Utah, responded to Nutting’s complaint.
Davis said customers find ITOK’s ads online and submit their infor mation to the ITOK system.
“Then we contact the customer,” he said. “We tell them we help a lot of Comcast customers. We explain what we do and we can do a free diagnosis. If they ag ree, we let them know what ITOK can do. We’ve been around since 2004 and have helped lots of customers.”
He said if there was a “miscommunication,” the company would be “happy to help out. At the end of the day we want to improve the lives of our customers.”
The Better Business Bureau at http://bit.ly/17mCJdL shows ITOK.net as accredited but lists more than 70 complaints, some similar to Nutting’s.
A complaint listed on that site reads, “Complaint: ITOK misre presented service when it claimed to re present Charter Communications. I'd requested service from Charter, but was redirected to ITOK.
“On June 8, after experiencing trouble lo gging into my Charter e-mail account I found myself on what I assumed was Charter's web page. Selecting the service tab I was asked for my phone number, and within minutes received a call from (name
“I am the person who said I could never be taken,
but I was.”
SHERRY NUTTING
Waterford resident
not listed) who said she 'often worked with Charter.' When I asked her to clarify, she indicated that her company ITOK often provided technical service for Charter email problems. She then launched into a smooth, professional sales pitch for her company's long-ter m computer support services.
“I admit that she got me to the point where I was committed via credit card number to service in the amount of $149.97 for a full check-up of my computer that day plus another month of phone service. That was also the point where I be g an to realize that something was not quite right, i.e., she hadn't mentioned anything about my email login problem. During a pause in our conversation, I tele phoned Charter's help desk, using another phone line. Charter assured me that they neither used any outside technical service providers like ITOK, nor had anyone at the help desk ever heard of ITOK.”
An Oakland Press reporter found an ITOK web page, http:// bit.ly/140dvEW, with this headline, “Comcast Email Help Now,” and below in smaller print, “Note: ITOK is not an of ficial Comcast support provider but all of our services, including Comcast email support, are made available to the general public.”
When told Nutting’s computer is not working any better, ITOK’s Davis said his company guarantees its work.
Nutting said her credit card company is working to get her a refund. “It’s not right,” she said. “I am the person who said I could never be taken, but I was.”