Tech Advice Sites: Free or Fee?

Anne Kandra

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.

Heads Up

EFax, Where Are You? Frustrated by lapses in service, EFax.com customers, who pay $4.95 a month to send and receive faxes and voice mail via their PC, complained of delays in sending documents and, in some areas, receiving them. The service was also unavailable for two weeks in parts of Colorado, Maryland, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Washington. EFax.com posted service updates on its Web site, citing a power outage as one of the causes of the problem. Web Pharmacies Get FTC Fix: The Federal Trade Commission is cracking down on sites that sell prescription drugs without performing standard pharmaceutical checks. It charged several sites, including Worldwidemedicine.com and Focusmedical.com, with fraudulently claiming to have on-site medical and pharmaceutical facilities and with violating privacy and disclosure assurances. The charges have been settled, but it's best to see a doctor in person to get a prescription. If you fill it online, do so with a reputable site such as Drugstore.com. AMS Goes O-U-T: In July, I warned that things weren't looking good for notebook manufacturer AMS Technology; AMS has now shut its doors and filed for bankruptcy. Contact Mitac at 949/789-0100 for support info.

Letter of the Month

We Purchased Symantec's Norton SystemWorks 2000 to upgrade the Norton AntiVirus and Utilities programs that came preinstalled on our Dell PC. Symantec offered a rebate, so we downloaded the rebate form from its Web site. The vendor required either the first page of the manual or the original CD as proof of purchase. Since Dell preinstalled the software and we have neither a manual nor a CD, how do we furnish proof of purchase to get a rebate?

Jim and Maggie Coulson, Norfolk,Virginia

On Your Side responds: In the rebate game, preinstalled, OEM (original equipment manufacturer) software plays by a different set of rules. Genevieve Haldeman, group manager of corporate communications at Symantec, explains that its rebate program "is designed for customers who own a previous retail [boxed or downloaded] product." However, the company's order desk and online upgrade center can offer prices equivalent to what you'd pay after rebate for the retail version. Bottom line? Ask your PC vendor if you are entitled to any rebates.

Gotten a raw deal? Or a great one? E-mail the details to onyourside@pcworld.com.We'll investigate complaints and publish items of the broadest interest. Anne Kandra is a contributing editor for PC World.