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Report: #1286178

Complaint Review: Volcy Ventures Consulting LLC - Austin Texas

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  • Reported By: S. H. — Laguna Woods California USA
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  • Volcy Ventures Consulting LLC 700 Lavaca Street, Suite 1400 Austin, Texas USA

Volcy Ventures Consulting LLC Volcy PC Support Extortion, NOT Tech Support! Austin Texas

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On Jan 25, 2016 Volcy PC Support called my 86-year old partially disabled aunt, from the phone number (855) 229-7417 claiming to be AVG.  My aunt trusts AVG as she has a longtime paid account with them so she believed that Volcy was AVG as they represented themselves.

Volcy took remote control of her computer and installed a bunch of software under the pretense that this was necessary as they had detected that her computer was under attack from Russian hackers.  Volcy (as AVG) claimed this work was necessary to keep the computer safe.

She was on the phone with Volcy took her credit card information and charged $355 to her card for the "work" they performed.  They called her again the next day from the same number.  Volcy's technician, "Gary" was on the phone with her and Volcy, claiming to be AVG, and again connected to her computer.

At that time her computer was still working.  Then on February 4, 2016, Volcy (as AVG) called from a new number, (888) 451-1603.  During these calls Volcy convinced her to purchase a lifetime protection program for her computer for the price of $799.  They connected to her computer again and did more "work" to fix her problems.  While in control of her computer, they printed a document for her using her computer and printer with instructions for how to pay the $799 by check, the names of additional Volcy contacts, and phone numbers.  They asked her for her check number and she made the check out for $799 and provided the number to them.  They told her they would refund the $355 to her Discover card once they received the check.

While they were connected to her computer on February 4, unbeknownst to her, the technician set a startup password on her computer, preventing the computer from starting up at all without entering a password that only Volcy knows.

On February 5th and 6th, she called the toll-free number Volcy had given her to ask about the refund, the number they gave (888) 608-9991.  She inquired about the refund to her Discover card.  They promised to refund once the check for $799 was received.

On Sunday February 7, I called the number for Volcy given on the Discover card bill, this was the number they originally called from:
(855) 229-7417

I spoke with Sean at Volcy.  He assured me they had "fixed" her computer and the $355 they had charged her was for the repairs they made.  When I questioned specifically what was installed, they said AVG antivirus software.  I had personally installed AVG for her on the computer a month previously and activated it with her paid AVG licenses so this was blatantly untrue.

I asked for a refund of the $355 and the startup password they had set.  They looked up the account they'd created for her and told me that the charges were legitimate for their work.  Then Sean got angry and refused to speak with me any more, he insisted on speaking with her directly.

This is the information about the companies and indiduals who are now trying to extort money from her in order to restore access to her computer:

The company who charged her Discover card and represented themselves as AVG:

Volcy PC Support
700 Lavaca Street
Suite 1400
Austin, TX  78701
855.229.7417
http://volcypcsupport.com

Volcy is in Texas, but they wanted the check mailed to a Mailboxes Etc. PO Box in San Leandro, CA.  This additional information was on the document they printed out for her on February 6:

Mail a check for $799 to:

Avangatee Services LLC
699 Lewelling Blvd #146/293
San Leandro, CA  94579

Customer ID:  xxx x xxx

Phone:
888.608.9991
855.662.9936

Tech:  John Watson
Billing:  Jessica Wakefield

Billing and Security Team:  Sam Jay
855.662.4438

It is going to cost a minimum of $400 to have a technician repair her computer and get it running again, with loss of data.  They deleted all the system restore points and the Administrator account for the machine, so a Windows Refresh is not possible, it is going to require a from-scratch installation.

More information here about Volcy:

bbb.org/central-texas/business-reviews/information-technology-services/volcy-ventures-consulting-llc-in-austin-tx-1000104896

newsradioklbj.com/news/austin-local-news/bbb-investigation-consumers-allegedly-misled-paying-hundreds-dollars-tec

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 02/08/2016 08:45 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/volcy-ventures-consulting-llc/austin-texas-78701/volcy-ventures-consulting-llc-volcy-pc-support-extortion-not-tech-support-austin-texas-1286178. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

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