"Tech Advice Sites: Free or Fee?
Paying the price for online tech support.
Anne Kandra
From the November 2000 issue of PC World magazine
Posted Tuesday, October 03, 2000
If you've ever needed tech support--and who hasn't?--you know what it's
like to spend hours on hold. Maybe you've already turned to the Web for
help, where many sites offer free or fee-based service. But when it comes
to online tech support, don't pay for what's already free.
A reader recently complained that Email The Tech.Com, which charges up
to $40 a year for "unlimited tech support," lifts most of its information
verbatim from reputable, free technical advice sites such as Tom's
Hardware Guide. A visit to Email The Tech confirms the reader's
observation. The site even acknowledges that "All of [its] resources come
from very popular rated sites." Tom's Hardware Guide was not aware that
Email The Tech was taking its information and charging money for it. Since
many tech advice sites offer their information for free, why should anyone
fork over $40 for the privilege of reading it?
Email The Tech itself raised more red flags than a used car lot. I noted links
to the likes of "EZ cash." And how was I meant to interpret the puzzling
promise "We don't give out fraud information"? Contact information--once I
found it--was limited to a post office box somewhere in Mississippi. My
attempts to contact the principals went unanswered.
If you have a problem your PC vendor can't solve, there are tech support
sites you can turn to without spending a nickel (see "Free Support
Free-for-All" ). Whether a site is hawking tech support or travel tips, do
some investigating before you offer up your plastic. Read a site's policies to
make sure the information it's selling isn't available elsewhere for free. Be
wary of sites with links to items like get-rich-quick schemes and that don't
provide a company address, phone, and e-mail."
pcworld.com |
