Possible Dell Scam?

[RollTide]

So I recently ran into some trouble with my laptop. I won't go into details but anyway, I called Dell support. The call ends up getting me nowhere and at the end he begins talking about buying a protection plan. When I reject the offer, he starts giving me some crap about "Do you really think you can fix this problem on your own." Which seems like an odd thing for a tech support guy to be saying to a customer.(Red Flag Number 1) The next day, I get a call back from a strange number. The guy claims to be from Dell(A supervisor or something) and tells me he researched my issue more and wants to talk about it if I have my computer on. I said I didn't, and he immediately says he'll call back later and hung up(Red Flag Number 2).

Which brings me to earlier today. With still no luck figuring out my problem, I decide to call Dell again as I found the CD they had asked about during the first phone call. After about 15 minutes on the phone and no resolution(including tell me I had the wrong CD although I'm positive it's the right one), the techs next suggestion was to purchase a protection plan. This is where it got wierd. At first he gives me a few prices depending on the length of the plan. In this case, one year, 200 dollars. I reject the idea and he "confers with a supervisor." Now he lowers the price to 169 and throws in "25 gigs of memory." Again I say no and hang up. In the 4 hours since the phone call, I've recieved 4 phone calls back from "Dell"(Red Flag Numer 3). In the last one they mention the protection plan and say they lowered the price to 39 dollars(Red Flag Number 4). Nevermind that in all the years of dealing with Dell they've never once called back later, but on what planet does a company have such a drastic drop in price. It was almost as though they HAD to have my credit card number. When I asked a question regarding the price drop, he hangs up(Red Flag Number 5).

I did a little googling and the website he wanted to use to remote control my computer was run by iyogi, which after checking it out, is a shady business in itself. Thankfully the problem I'm having also prevented them from gaining remote access. So I guess my question is, has anyone experienced anything similar? Am I just being paranoid or is something strange going on? Like I said, up until now I've never had Dell call back. Let alone 4 or 5 times in one night.

[Brytallica]

Sounds like someone is intercepting/forwarding Dell phone calls and trying to trick you into giving out credit card information. Either the number you are calling is bad or someone that is supposed to answer the phones for Dell is part of the scamming party.

[Djinni]

Are you sure your calling the correct number?

Since you are calling them, there shouldn't be much need to check the authenticity of the person on the other end. But I would make sure that you have the right number.
Sounds to me like your through to Aftersales support rather than Tech Support.

As for Price drops... you get that quite often with large companies trying to push a sale. As the Price markup is so high to begin with they can drop it ALOT and still make a profit.

(Insurance would be a prime example. I can usually get my Car insurance down £1,000 or so just by talking to a supervisor before agreeing to buy anything. (I usually get quoted £2,500 or so) This year I was quoted £2,350 I'm actually only paying £870.

[RollTide]

Sure you got the right number? Is it possible the call is being redirected or intercepted somehow?
Make sure you get the number from their site if possible. If you got it from your support info, it may be out of date and might have been taken up by someone else.

This was something that crossed my mind as well. In the past calling Dell has involved dealing with the automated service first. These calls have gone straight through to a person. But they are claiming to be Dell and for the most part have seemed to fit the part.

[ThatCanadianGuy]

Did they sound Indian? Dell customer support is based in India. There could be somebody intercepting the call and trying to get credit card info like it was mentioned above.

[Cyclonus]

1. please don't tell me you just googled "dell support number" - if so you probably went to some phished site.

2. The CD part seems like the hook, "I don't have my CD" "So i will need to remote into your PC since you dont have it".

3. "Free 25gigs of RAM " That in itself is the biggest flag, Firstly 25gig amount of RAM is ridiculous, and i'd doubt any laptop has enough DIMMS to even use such a high amount of memory. Not to mention the cost of that.

[RollTide]

Did they sound Indian? Dell customer support is based in India. There could be somebody intercepting the call and trying to get credit card info like it was mentioned above.

They were definitely Indian.

@Cyclonus, No, this was a number out of the manual.

[Cyclonus]

Is the manual an official looking DELL manual, im starting to think maybe you bought your PC from a 3rd party dealer, who has probably gone bankrupt and sold the number to one of these companies...

Is the number on the manual a sticker ?

Also, if you dont mind can you tell us your location (State / Country) and i'll look for a number and we can check it against yours.

Also, have you googled the number you are ringing, if it is a scam, im sure you arnt the first.

[RollTide]

Is the manual an official looking DELL manual, im starting to think maybe you bought your PC from a 3rd party dealer, who has probably gone bankrupt and sold the number to one of these companies...

Is the number on the manual a sticker ?

Also, if you dont mind can you tell us your location (State / Country) and i'll look for a number and we can check it against yours.

Also, have you googled the number you are ringing, if it is a scam, im sure you arnt the first.

This laptop in particular was bought at Wal Mart(Lol). It's pretty basic. But I did go check the number, it's definitely a scam number. Just a quick google search came up with some bizzare links involving iyogi and fake dell addresses. The good news is, they couldn't get any information out of me and couldn't get remote access into the computer when they wanted to. Feeling quite stupid atm. The number was scribbled onto the manual so I'm assuming someone around here tried using it before as well and wrote it down.

[Angelshifter]

This laptop in particular was bought at Wal Mart(Lol). It's pretty basic. But I did go check the number, it's definitely a scam number. Just a quick google search came up with some bizzare links involving iyogi and fake dell addresses. The good news is, they couldn't get any information out of me and couldn't get remote access into the computer when they wanted to. Feeling quite stupid atm. The number was scribbled onto the manual so I'm assuming someone around here tried using it before as well and wrote it down.

Was the seal broken on the laptop when you bought it? Walmart's policy is to Never ever sell a returned computer, however if one of the electronics associates were in on this little scheme, then they easily could have opened up the laptop and swapped the manuals. If a returned laptop made it back to the sales floor it would have involved both the customer service desk sending it back to electronics, as well as the electronics associates putting it back into the case. It would have had to pass through a minimum of two people for a random scammer to get this thing back in the store for sale. Also this swap could have happened anytime between when it was sealed i the box at the factory to when it reached Walmart. I'm feeling the shady electronic associate angle.

[llDemonll]

1-800-www-dell

[Milkshake86]

1. please don't tell me you just googled "dell support number" - if so you probably went to some phished site.

2. The CD part seems like the hook, "I don't have my CD" "So i will need to remote into your PC since you dont have it".

3. "Free 25gigs of RAM " That in itself is the biggest flag, Firstly 25gig amount of RAM is ridiculous, and i'd doubt any laptop has enough DIMMS to even use such a high amount of memory. Not to mention the cost of that.

25gigs of memory is more than likely refferring to the insurance, i.e they will hold your OS and Files securely for a repair. 25gigs is not a valid amount of RAM in anyform that you could achieve unless u have like 3 8 gig chips and a single 1 gig chip

[Major Poy]

I would never buy anything the military purchases from.

[insmek]

I would never buy anything the military purchases from.

This made me lol. With how long contracts can take to execute, by the time we get "new" computers in they're 2-3 years out of date--and that's the Air Force. Spending the summer on a Marine Corps installation, it was a big deal for them just getting a push to Windows Vista.

And don't even get me started on the printers they buy.