Nibbled News

Shoddy Tech Support Plagues Giantmatrix

 

Online software companies promise potential customers that their product is second to none and that their product 's technical support team will go out of its way to assist you should you experience problems with their products.

One company whose after sale technical support is sorely lacking is Giantmatrix (www.giantmatrix.com) whose product "Anti Tracks" offers consumers hours of software frustration, little or no product support and of course questionable marketing strategies.

In November of 2011 I purchased an  online version of Anti Tracks from Avangate the seller of the software. I received an email notification that once my order was confirmed I would receive the payment receipt and "detailed product licensing information" in separate emails.

The followup email I received informed me that I should register my product at the Avangate website (www.avangate.com) so that I would be able to view my order details, gain access to my online shopping history and "re-download licence keys/codes".

An email indicated the download site to obtain the program. No product codes were ever included with the emails. At the time I thought nothing of that fact and installed the program. That was my first major mistake.

The program loaded successfully and promised to protect my identity and personal information online. After I initiated the program two things happened which I did not expect:

1.  I was unable to access any website due to server failure.
2.  My computer crashed and I had to do a computer restore.

I had to perform a computer restore two more times after the initial software conflict. I had downloaded a copy of the program and placed it on a DVD for safekeeping. When I installed this copy the computer once again locked up. An onscreen error message informed me of an error occurring because a product cover page was missing.

I sent an email to the customer support team and told them my situation. I also told them that I had not received the licence keys or special codes in any email from them. I requested the product codes to unlock the product.

I received a short email telling me to go to another website and download another version of the program. No product codes were included at this time but the name of the program was listed a "Anti Tracks - complete version". I still do not know what that means.

Naively I followed their instruction, downloaded the program and hoped for the best. Again my web browsers were unable to access the Internet due to server errors. Two more times the program crashed my computer due to software complications.

I again contacted customer support and have  been waiting now for a reply for about two weeks. Apparently a customer has to purchase "download protection" from the company to avoid such frustrating situations. A reputable company should have to resort to this type of after sale customer extortion to ensure that their product will continue to function as promised.

 In the past week or so I wrote to the sales department at Avangate asking for a refund for the product. I also sent an email to Gianmatrix explaining my frustration with both their problem plagued product and shoddy technical support.

From this experience I have learned not to trust an online software company who requests that a customer purchase "download insurance portection" to guarantee them the right to have future downloads should their product fail to perform. 

This is definitely a situation of buyer beware. The best policy is to do your online research about those companies who toot their own product horns a little too briskly. 

Should Friends Email Friends Chain Letters?

"A lady inserted an 'ad' in the classifieds: "Husband Wanted". Next day she received a hundred letters. They all said the same thing: "You can have mine."

Have you ever received a chain letter emailed from a long time and trusted friend that was so compelling, intriguing and inspiring that you seriously wrestled with the notion of whether or not to send out a copy of this letter to your own close friends and people you care about?

I recently received such an email invitation from an old friend I had worked with and trusted for the past 20 years. The subject line of the email read "thinking of you". The opening line of the letter instructed me to read the content carefully and pass it on to people I care about.

An effective chain letter is somewhat similar to the advertising content of an  infomercial viewed on television. The opening lines of the letter immediately attract your attention. The content is both visually appealing  and emotionally captivating. The message is repeated constantly and subtly throughout the body of the letter.

A person has a difficult time deciding if the letter should be deleted from their mail box or saved and submitted for future reference. In this instance the sender's credibility had an impact on my decision.

This chain letter offered both a blessing and a warning. There were three pictures of religious content spread throughout the letter. If I read the letter, followed its directions and sent it along to people I knew and cared about I would be granted many blessings and good health.

If I decided to disregard the letter and delete it from my email there could be dire consequences for me. The chain letter had already been distributed to over 400 recipients all of whom had faithfully followed the email's instructions. Would I be brave enough to delete this message or wimp out and follow the crowd of believers?

The purpose of any chain letter is to inspire the reader to take some form of action either negative or positive. A few of the more dire consequences of  ignoring the letter were generously sprinkled throughout the middle of the letter. The positive side of following suite and emailing the letter was also highlighted. 

A person's gullibility, overall superstitious nature and in this instance religious beliefs come to play in making a decision. The reader notices that the number of past recipients is prominently listed near the end of the letter. This number could be fabricated since the person who sends you the letter cannot be a recipient of the same letter from you.

This type of chain letter is relatively innocuous and in a sense intimidating. You realize that a friend who cares about your welfare is sending you this letter.You also appreciate the fact that after you have read the letter you are left dangling there on your own and need to make some kind of decision.

Many chain letters are somewhat akin to the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. The player tries to make some sense of the piece of the puzzle he/she has and tries to connect with someone else who may have the needed piece they need to complete their skewed portrait of reality.

In case you were wondering I deleted the email and appreciated the underlying sentiment involved from the person sending it to me. The intent of sending me the email was undoubtedly honest and caring. 

 Realize that other forms of chain letters can be much more manipulative and coercive in nature. It pays to use common sense when responding to these electronic messages.

 

If You Must Steal Become A Robin Hood

"I must confess to such an abhorrence of fraud in business that I am always most unwilling to come to a conclusion that a fraud has been committed, and I have very strong views with regard to what is the legal definition of fraud. It seems to me that no recklessness of speculation, however great, and that no extortion, however enormous, is fraud. "

• Brett, L.J., Wilson v. Church (1879), L. R. 13 Ch. 51.

 

Jesse Willms, a reportedly intelligent and ambitious 24-year-old   millionaire entrepreneur, lives in a swanky $2.6 million "party house", drives a red Mazda 3 automobile, has been described by neighbors who wish to remain anonymous as being "a good kid who lives a party lifestyle".

The Sherwood Park Alberta Canada resident is also being sued by the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for allegedly scamming consumers around the globe to the tune of $450 million. Many have proclaimed him to be a modern day version of the Robin Hood who lived in Sherwood Forest and robbed the rich to give to the poor.

The FTC claims that this modern day villain since 2007 has garnered more than $467 million from his websites companies online customers in Canada, the United States, Great Britain, Autralia and New Zealand.

This was done through web offers which gave consumers supposedly free trials of products like teeth whiteners and weight loss pills.

Consumers would agree to pay only the shipping and handling charges for the items but soon realized that their charge card accounts were being debited upwards of $70 for continuing monthly membership fees to many of Willm's owned companies.

If you have bought any of the following products and had charges you did not expect -

AcaiBurn
Max AcaiBurn
Pro AcaiBurn
Ultra AcaiBurn
Extreme AcaiBurn
AcaiBurn Plus
PureLift Cream
PureCleanse Max
PureCleanse Pro
PureCleanse Ultra
DazzleWhite Pro
Dazzel White
Credit Report America
Make Google Cash (makecashfastwithgoogle.com)
Earn Cash from Grants
WuYi Source Tea
EasyWeightLossTea

the company who sells them is:
Just Think Media / 1021018 Alberta Ltd

The FTC suit claims Willms uses deceptive advertising, false celebrity endorsements and other forms of product misrepresentation to market and sell his products.

His companies have failed to refund customers their money after they learned that their accounts were being tapped for a lot more than stated in the advertising copy.

He started many of his businesses as a teenager and has owned companies under a number of banners including JDW Media LLC, Just Think Media, e-Direct software, Swipe Auctions and a recently launched Tera Marketing Group (TMG).

Willms has reportedly donated more than $200 thousand to local and international charities and many people are describing him as a type of modern day Robin Hood. But the Robin Hood of folklore lived in the woods with his men and not in an expensive party residence geared towards an upscale active lifestyle. Besides, what percentage of the $450 million dollars is this charitable donation anyways?

The other RH also robbed from the rich and gave to the poor. Somewhere in the overall mistranslation of things Willms has apparently neglected to consult not only the history books but also his conscience about the definitions of right and wrong.

Sherwood Park Alberta is a prestigious area filled with lavish country estates, new moneyed millionaires and established family histories.

It is unfortunate that even in this lap of such economic plenty a low level bottom feeder can easily set up shop, establish an identity and then , without any qualm of conscience, proceed to fleece unsuspecting and trusting customers out of their hard earned cash.

Phony Hotmail Alert Meant To Intimidate

The following email was sent out on Thursday April 22, 2011.

The intent of this somewhat official looking email is to both intimidate the gullible and lull the unwary into providing highly personal information from those folks who do not recognize it as being phony, badly written and highly coercive in nature.

This type of phoney baloney email makes the circuit about once a year . The intent of the creators of such a sham is to effectively lure enough naive and unsuspecting people into providing the information requested.

Protect yourself and your online personal information from this type of exploitative email trash by deleting it from your inbox and if you feel angered enough write an email message to the real Hotmail Support Team to report this type of criminal activity. Do NOT use the email address supplied by the originators of this email.

  =========================

Dear Account Owner

 

CONFIRM YOUR WINDOWS LIVE ACCOUNT SERVICES. VERIFY YOUR HOTMAIL ACCOUNT NOW TO AVOID IT CLOSED !!!

 

This is email from Windows Live Hotmail® and we are sending to all account user for  safety. Due to the anonymous registration of our account which is causing congestion to our service, so we are shutting down some account and your account was among those to be deleted,so the purpose of this email is for you to verify that you are the owner of this account and you are still using it by filling the information below after clicking on the reply button:

User Name:

 

Password:

 

Date Of Birth:

 

Country Or Territory:

After following the instructions in the sheet, your account will not be interrupted and will continue as normal. Thanks for your attention to this request. We apologize for any inconveniences.

Account owner that refuses to update his/her account after 48 hours of receiving this warning will lose his or her account permanently.

 

Sincerely,
The Windows Live Hotmail Team

 

====================

Is This Hotmail Request Real or Bogus?

 I recently received the following Hotmail request in my email asking me to provide personal information or else my account will be discontinued. The email itself is listed at the end of this brief article.

For years  I always believed that outfits like Hotmail would not blatanly request such information no matter what the conditions.

In this photo Brad Smith (L) senior vice-president and general counsel of Microsoft watches as New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer speaks at at press conference December 18, 2003 in New York City.

 Spitzer filed a lawsuit against some of the world's largest spammers for sending emails to consumers while hiding behind fake identities, forged email addresses

Please let me know if you have received a similar request in your hotmail in box and what you intend to do to rectify this situation. For myself I am going to delete the email and treat it as a bogus request.

The poor use of the English language, faulty syntax and a few other give away clues forces me to suspect a non english speaking person(s) are perpetrating this fraud.

Be careful with the emails you reply to and protect your personal information from unscrupulous individuals.

 

The following email could be fraudulent and invasive:

============

update and Verify your Account

Windows Live Hotmail Alert !!! SEPTEMBER-28-2010

CONFIRM YOUR WINDOWS LIVE ACCOUNT SERVICES. VERIFY YOUR HOTMAIL ACCOUNT NOW TO AVOID IT CLOSED !!!

Dear Account Owner,

This Email is from Hotmail Customer Care and we are sending it to every Hotmail Email User Accounts Owner for safety. we are having congestion's due to the anonymous registration of Hotmail accounts so we are shutting down some Hotmail accounts and your account was among those to be deleted. We are sending this email to you so that you can verify and let us know if you still want to use this account. If you are still interested please confirm your account by filling the space below.Your User name, password, date of birth and your country information would be needed to verify your account.

Confirm your E-mail by filling out your Login Information below after clicking the reply button, or your account will be suspended within 48 hours for security reasons.

* User Name: ............................

* Password: ...............................

* Date of Birth: .............................

* Country Or Territory: .................

After following the instructions in the sheet, your account will not be interrupted and will continue as normal. Thanks for your attention to this request. We apologize for any inconveniences.

Sincerely,

The Windows Live Hotmail Team

 

 

============

 

Have You Ever Been Duped By An Irresistible Internet Scam?

The phrase , "there is a sucker born every minute",  is often attributed to P. T.  
Barnum a late nineteenth century American showman and is generally understood to mean that there are and always will be a lot of gullible people in the world.

The implication of the phrase is especially relevant these days thanks to increased computer use and ease of Internet access. The number of people visiting different internet sites is growing and these same folks are constantly having money making schemes, dreams and opportunities thrust shamelessly in their faces.

When visiting the Internet a person has to be especially careful about what is revealed and accepted as being real and legitimate. Many friends and family members have too often been swindled and hoodwinked in the past by fast buck artists and light fingered conmen who use the anonymity of the internet to hatch money making schemes for themselves and dupe gullible and naive individuals.

Admittedly, people should be more disconcerting when they are invited to take part in an online offer that is described as a " once-in-a-lifetime opportunity". Unfortunately many online visitors tend to abandon their usually cautious natures and become opportunity seekers eager to make easy money with minimal effort. Con men tend to ferret out and dupe these easy marks.

The fear of being duped on the internet prevents many people from purchasing any service or item even if the site is verified as being legitimate. A modicum of caution is laudable but an unusually high fear of being taken advantage of  tends to sour personal online experiences.

The number of internet scams are indeed on the increase and anyone can be tricked by the wording of a slick yet devious web site offer. Seniors are especially vulnerable to all the flimflam offers being presented in cyberspace.

The number of seniors going online these days has increased due to the greater availability of computers and the ease of navigating one's way on the electronic highway.

The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) reported that seniors have become the fastest growing segment of the internet community. Many geographically isolated seniors and boomers with a limited social support network flock to the social net sites.The increasing number of Baby Boomers add to this number on a daily basis. This fact only adds to the trove of potential victims.

Many seniors keep in daily touch with family , friends and relations via the many email services and this same email system brings daily email notices to their online mail boxes. The ads are both appealing and irresistible and seniors with their intellectual guards down are often easily duped.

Would anyone readily admit that they had been seduced and easily conned by an internet offer that was too good to be true? Of course they would not admit such a thing to their friends and family. After all, they do have their reputations and credibility to protect. Ego does play a major role in suppressing the hurtful truth.

Occasionally though the truth does leak out. One person admitted that she did lose money on an online vacation club she and her husband joined. She thought their promotional methods were outright deceptive and dishonest.

She posted her experience on a Yahoo site and received three thousand hits from other folks who had gotten equally scammed. She admitted that she did not do her homework and research the club thoroughly enough. The offer was too good to be true and unfortunately she got scammed.

It pays to spend time online and research any opportunity that does seem too good to be true. Losing money due to personal laziness and being swindled because you did not do your homework will cause you to view the internet in a negative way.