Help with streaming from a tablet to TV

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Sounds suspicious to me. I mean, if your wifi is not properly protected, it is possible your neighbors are using it, but that should not prevent your Roku from connecting to the network as well. Most home routers can handle more than 16 devices, unless your router is misconfigured. How was he able to determine there were 16 devices connected? Did you give him your router login password? What router do you have? Is it your own router or one provided by your internet company? Is your wifi password protected? If not, it should be. If your Roku is placed relatively far from your router, it could be weak signal issue, too. Also, see this: https://support.roku.com/en-ca/article/208755728-i-am-unable-to-connect-to-my-wireless-network
 
Well the Roku tech called back. I now can get the Roku to work. But I still feel like I got conned. The person/company who "fixed" it was a third party I assume has an agreement with Roku. Has anybody else ever had this happen, or know of someone who needed a third party company to clean/condition your/their network in order to get Roku to work. I know the company did something because they had control of my laptop and I watched for almost thirty minutes as they scanned and cleaned things. Thanks.
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Sounds suspicious to me. I mean, if your wifi is not properly protected, it is possible your neighbors are using it, but that should not prevent your Roku from connecting to the network as well. Most home routers can handle more than 16 devices, unless your router is misconfigured. How was he able to determine there were 16 devices connected? Did you give him your router login password? What router do you have? Is it your own router or one provided by your internet company? Is your wifi password protected? If not, it should be. If your Roku is placed relatively far from your router, it could be weak signal issue, too. Also, see this: https://support.roku.com/en-ca/article/208755728-i-am-unable-to-connect-to-my-wireless-network
QP, Our network has always been password protected. Our neighbors have their own connection. The router is provided by Windstream. As far as the router being mis-configured, I have no clue but it's always worked in the past. The Chrome stick always worked with Netflix and I told the Roku tech that. I made sure it worked right before I installed the Roku. The Roku we got was the Roku Streaming Stick+. It's marketed as having 4 times the wifi range as other models. Regardless, our router is less than 50' away anyhow. You asked how he determined we had 16 devices accessing our network; he signed into my laptop and ran some tests. I sat and watched him do whatever it was he was doing on my laptop screen. He would occassionally point out files showing "unauthorized access". Then the pitch came. Since it wasn't a Roku problem, I would have to fix the problem or he could have someone fix it for the $99 I mentioned. I will be pi$$ed if this was not on the up and up and was a scam to get some computer outfit some business. I was caught between a rock and a hard place because I couldn't get the Roku to work beforehand. What else was there short of sending the Roku back? That's why I came on here to get some help/ feedback. I didn't know who else to ask. I appreciate the help.
 
As a other follow-up, I called Roku. They told me they never send someone to a third party to get their Roku service activated. Not sure how I got the "Roku" tech I got that used the third party company to supposedly fix my network. I have disputed the bill via AMEX and will see what happens.
 
Originally Posted By: Sierra048
Not sure how I got the "Roku" tech I got that used the third party company to supposedly fix my network.
Look in your browser's history. It should show you what website you went to, since it probably was not the official Roku website. I would also suggest you change all your passwords.
 
Today I received the Roku Premiere+ that I ordered from Amazon. Hooked it up and followed directions and got it working pretty easily. I didn't know Roku requires you to setup an account and give them either a credit card or a PayPal account info in order to complete the activation of the Roku device. I guess they want you to be a "customer" kind of like Netflix does and have a way to pay for view media if you choose to stream that instead of free content. The Premiere+ is awesome and one of their high end steaming devices. Got it for $65 on Amazon - Best Buy wants $100. Really like the remote and user interface. It streams flawlessly on a 4K HDTV and plays all the high end media formats (H265/HEVC with 10-bit/HDR color). The remote even comes with a set of ear buds that plug into the remote. https://www.roku.com/en-ca/products/roku-premiere-plus
 
Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
Today I received the Roku Premiere+ that I ordered from Amazon. Hooked it up and followed directions and got it working pretty easily. I didn't know Roku requires you to setup an account and give them either a credit card or a PayPal account info in order to complete the activation of the Roku device. I guess they want you to be a "customer" kind of like Netflix does and have a way to pay for view media if you choose to stream that instead of free content. The Premiere+ is awesome and one of their high end steaming devices. Got it for $65 on Amazon - Best Buy wants $100. Really like the remote and user interface. It streams flawlessly on a 4K HDTV and plays all the high end media formats (H265/HEVC with 10-bit/HDR color). The remote even comes with a set of ear buds that plug into the remote. https://www.roku.com/en-ca/products/roku-premiere-plus
Zee, I didn't have to provide a CC go get Roku account. I got dinged by the same process that Quatro Pete linked to right before your post. That is exactly what happened to me. The odd thing is that I was creating my account exactly like Roku wanted. I installed the Stick+, powered through a USB port, put batteries in the remote and turned on the TV tuned the proper HDMI port. Roku came up immediately and I started following the Roku instructions for creating an account. The second step was to enter the four character code/PW that was on the screen. I couldn't get the four character code to work to allow me to go any further. That's how the, I'll call him fake, Roku tech became involved via a chat icon. He even identified himself as a Roku technician. How they knew of my troubles I don't understand since I went to the website published in their startup guide, "Roku.com/Link".
 
QP, Yes I have changed all of our online banking passwords. I cancelled my AMEX card and I'm waiting for my new one to arrive. I'm not sure I ever want to use my laptop ever again. I turned it off and removed if from the internet. I think the thing that frustrates me the most is that I fell for this in the first place. While not technically savvy like a lot here, I'm pretty good with common sense and usually avoid nonsense like this. They were really smooth during the whole process especially the way they appeared to be Roku technicians at the right time when I had Roku up on my TV and having the troubles I was having. Now I'm wondering if they didn't cause my problem to begin with. Too much coincidence for me. Thanks for the great link above. I will use this as documentation to hopefully help my cause when disputing the charges.
 
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Originally Posted By: Sierra048
Zee, I didn't have to provide a CC go get Roku account. I got dinged by the same process that Quatro Pete linked to right before your post. That is exactly what happened to me. The odd thing is that I was creating my account exactly like Roku wanted. I installed the Stick+, powered through a USB port, put batteries in the remote and turned on the TV tuned the proper HDMI port. Roku came up immediately and I started following the Roku instructions for creating an account. The second step was to enter the four character code/PW that was on the screen. I couldn't get the four character code to work to allow me to go any further. That's how the, I'll call him fake, Roku tech became involved via a chat icon. He even identified himself as a Roku technician. How they knew of my troubles I don't understand since I went to the website published in their startup guide, "Roku.com/Link".
Have you got your Roku all up and running now? From what I understand, and it's talked about right on Roku's website (link below), Roku requires you to create a Roku account and provide a payment method (credit card or PayPal account) or the Roku device will not fully setup and work with Roku. From the link below: "When you activate your Roku streaming device, it must be linked to a Roku account. If you do not already have an account, you will be asked to create one. There are no fees associated with creating a Roku account, but you will be asked to provide a payment method, e.g. credit card. " https://support.roku.com/article/115004382968-do-i-need-to-create-a-roku-account-
 
Originally Posted By: Sierra048
I installed the Stick+, powered through a USB port, put batteries in the remote and turned on the TV tuned the proper HDMI port. Roku came up immediately and I started following the Roku instructions for creating an account. The second step was to enter the four character code/PW that was on the screen. I couldn't get the four character code to work to allow me to go any further. That's how the, I'll call him fake, Roku tech became involved via a chat icon. He even identified himself as a Roku technician. How they knew of my troubles I don't understand since I went to the website published in their startup guide, "Roku.com/Link".
My suspicion is that maybe you have some kind of malware on your computer that redirected you to a scammer site, even though you typed in the correct Roku address as shown in the start-up guide. Did you ever go look in your browser history from that day and see if there was some strange site listed? I don't think there is any way the real Roku site could be able to see your entire network and tell you if something was messed up or not - that was probably just a ploy to gain your confidence that something was wrong when there really wasn't. Letting them get on your computer is scary for sure. Better scan your computers for malware and viruses.
 
Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
Originally Posted By: Sierra048
Zee, I didn't have to provide a CC go get Roku account. I got dinged by the same process that Quatro Pete linked to right before your post. That is exactly what happened to me. The odd thing is that I was creating my account exactly like Roku wanted. I installed the Stick+, powered through a USB port, put batteries in the remote and turned on the TV tuned the proper HDMI port. Roku came up immediately and I started following the Roku instructions for creating an account. The second step was to enter the four character code/PW that was on the screen. I couldn't get the four character code to work to allow me to go any further. That's how the, I'll call him fake, Roku tech became involved via a chat icon. He even identified himself as a Roku technician. How they knew of my troubles I don't understand since I went to the website published in their startup guide, "Roku.com/Link".
Have you got your Roku all up and running now? From what I understand, and it's talked about right on Roku's website (link below), Roku requires you to create a Roku account and provide a payment method (credit card or PayPal account) or the Roku device will not fully setup and work with Roku. From the link below: "When you activate your Roku streaming device, it must be linked to a Roku account. If you do not already have an account, you will be asked to create one. There are no fees associated with creating a Roku account, but you will be asked to provide a payment method, e.g. credit card. " https://support.roku.com/article/115004382968-do-i-need-to-create-a-roku-account-
Zee0six, Yes it's up and running now. I've gotten to the bottom of my Roku problem. The clowns from a company called David Web Services run a website with a URL of Rokulinkcom.website. It's a variation of Roku's Roku.com/Link. That's how I ended up on their website. I put in Roku.com/Link in my browser as the start-up guide said and chose the wrong one. At a first quick glance I thought it was the right one but it wasn't. Once I went to that site, I was doomed. I believe they intentionally put the road blocks up/errors in so they could run their game. Pretty obvious; after getting error messages, their "chat" window pops up and a "Roku" technician, which is how he identified himself, offers to help. His conclusion, nothing wrong with our Roku, the problem is in the network and he can fix it, for $99. Not realizing I wasn't on the actual Roku site, I consented thinking I had no choice. Remember my opening post, I'm techically lacking. They did their thing and I ended up with my Roku account. They, I repeat they, got my CC info off my computer when doing their "fix" and used that to create my account. It's also how my CC info conveniently popped up when time to pay. Admittedly, and embarrasingly, this is when my radar should have been fully engaged as to something's not quite right here. As I said in an earlier post, I'm normally pretty aware of cons like this. It's just the way they seemlessly put themselves in the loop that made me believe it was Roku. After sleeping on it Thursday night, I got up Friday morning and called the number to David Web Services. Needless to say the conversation I had with whoever answered was less than pleasant. It sounded like the "Roku" tech from the day before. I told him of the documentation Quatro Pete provided and that I had already reported them to the real Roku support, as requested by Roku via QP's provided documentation, and disputed the charges with AMEX. He screamed something and hung up on me. An hour later I get a call from this miscreant saying he changed his mind and he's refunding my money via CC credit in the next *ten days* and to please not dispute it with AMEX since his accounting department had already initiated the refund. I just laughed at him. I told him he should pay me $99 on top of the refund for the wasted time, basically all of Thursday evening, and aggravation he put me through. I cancelled my AMEX card (waiting for a new one) changed every password we have that could touch us finacially, and will probably throw my laptop in the garbage (old and slow like me but still functional) due to what he did. I told him I didn't trust him any further than I could throw him. Bottom line, I was the idiot and brought this on my self for not being more aware, specifically the correct website. Lesson learned. Best case scenario now is that I do get his refund, after AMEX declines payment, and he grovels for his $99 back.
 
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Sorry to hear about your troubles. This is very unfortunate and I'm sure it put a big stain on your overall Roku experience, right from the get-go. I'm sure AmEx will take care of the $99 for you.
 
[quote=Quattro Pete]Sorry to hear about your troubles. This is very unfortunate and I'm sure it put a big stain on your overall Roku experience, right from the get-go. I'm sure AmEx will take care of the $99 for you. Well I can say we've had our Roku working for a day-and-a-half and have used it twice. So far we like it. Especially now that we can get more value from our Amazon Prime Video (one of the only extra perks we spend money on along with the $7.99 per month Netflix). We are now trying out the Roku and Chrome Stick at the same time to see if they can function properly at the same time. If so, we'll get rid of our DirecTV. It was frustrating, but again, it was my fault. I still have some doubt as to whether I typed in the wrong website or they have a way of directing people to their website. I've racked my brain out thinking back to Thursday and feel I did type the actual Roku website info in. I can't thank you, Zee0, and the other posters who listened and offered suggestions and advice. Your link to the Roku Support warning was great. Hopefully this thread will keep someone else from having to deal with these creeps.
 
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Sierra048 - sorry to hear you got scammed by those criminals. If it was me, I'd contact my state's Attorney General and any other office of authority and report this indecent in hops they wold go after and shut down these criminals. Scamming like this is getting completely rapid and out of hand. So I'm still curious if you still had to enter a credit card or PayPal account info in the actual Roku site when you created a real Roku account. From my experience when activating my Roku there was no way to create a real Roku account without entering that information as the link I posted to Roku's site describes.
 
Originally Posted By: Sierra048
They did their thing and I ended up with my Roku account. They, I repeat they, got my CC info off my computer when doing their "fix" and used that to create my account.
Sierra048 - forgot to ask. Did this miscreant (great word) also give you your Roku account log-in username (your email address) and password so you can see your real Roku account? If you can actually log-in to your real Roku account (if they actually created one for you), then you should be able to see your CC info there.
 
Zee0six, When they finished whatever it is they did, they called me back on the phone and said it was done. They asked me to go back to my computer so we could finish up. Keeping in mind I was still under the impression I was dealing with an actual Roku support technician, and before reading QP's link from Roku, he pulled up my AMEX card information on my computer screen. All of this information had to come from accessing our computer. I sure didn't give it to him. My card #, our address, correct expiration date, etc.., everything but the four digit security code on the back which I had to enter. Again, red flags and sirens should have been blaring at me. And they did create my Roku account (they had all the information they needed) using my AMEX card info. They had my email address from the "chat" session that showed up on the screen when I first stating having trouble with creating the account that I responded to. They even gave me my unimaginative Roku passwod, Roku1234. I've changed this along with every other password we could think of that could affect us financially. We cancelled my AMEX card. My new one will be here Monday. I have contacted the AMEX dispute team and they put me in touch with their fraud investigators. They assured me the charges would be blocked. They are going to contact this company and check them out. I hope I can find out what their story is. They also blocked this company from ever touching our account again with charges going forward. Other than getting more irate than I can remember, putting us through the hassle a cancelling my credit card and changing every password we have, the only financial loss I can see from this is having to replace our laptop. I don't know what they did for thirty minutes while they had control of it (I could watch the screen and see multiple programs running), but I will never trust it again. It sits in our study, unplugged, with the battery removed. I'll have to replace if with something else. I've learned a lot throughout this experience and I take some of the blame for it.
 
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Originally Posted By: Sierra048
the only financial loss I can see from this is having to replace our laptop. I don't know what they did for thirty minutes while they had control of it (I could watch the screen and see multiple programs running), but I will never trust it again. It sits in our study, unplugged, with the battery removed. I'll have to replace if with something else.
I would just do a factory restore on it. That will get rid of whatever they may have installed on it. No reason to dump it, IMO.
 
QP, Are you saying by doing a factory restore any damage they might have, not saying they did but again I don't trust them, caused could be safely negated? Respectfully, how would I know? Just knowing they were able to pull up our AMEX card info creeps me out. I don't have any CDs to put in to redo it. If we had them they were discarded or lost when we moved in 2015. The laptop is a eight year old HP Pavilion. I'm extremely grateful for your help. Would you chance it if you were me? I'm as far from a techie as anyone could be.
 
Originally Posted By: Sierra048
QP, Are you saying by doing a factory restore any damage they might have, not saying they did but again I don't trust them, caused could be safely negated? Respectfully, how would I know?
Doing a factory restore removes all programs that you or they may have ever installed to gain control over your machine or to track your activity. Without those programs on your computer, they cannot access your machine.
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Just knowing they were able to pull up our AMEX card info creeps me out.
This is something I don't fully understand. Did you initially enter your AMEX details when setting up your Roku account, before the so called Roku "tech support" got involved?
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I don't have any CDs to put in to redo it. If we had them they were discarded or lost when we moved in 2015. The laptop is a eight year old HP Pavilion.
Most laptops come with a hidden restore partition, so you don't need any CDs. You can access the restore menu by either pressing F11 when the computer starts up, or you could try following these instructions: https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c01867418
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Would you chance it if you were me?
Yes, I would. That is why I suggested it in the first place.
 
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