This is basically a rant so if you want only to read positive comments try back in a couple of days. It is probably obvious that I prefer Macs to Windows machines, but I do own and use both. I just tend to have more difficulties with the Windows OS.
This particular problem began about a week ago. I have been running Norton products as virus protection. My system alerted me that there was a problem so I opened the application (see below).
Now, I ask you if you were informed that your virus subscription had expired what product would you assume you had to reorder. It says NAV 2004 so I ordered another year’s subscription to NAV 2004 for XP.
Turns out I was wrong. When I attempted to submit the key, I was informed that the key was not valid. Had I clicked the link (Renew) I would have learned that I had actually purchased the wrong product. I should have purchased a subscription for Internet Security.
It turned out that last year I had upgraded my NAV account to an Internet Security account. So, I forgot and that may be my fault. I do think the screen display is misleading. It clearly says NAV 2004.
This is not my complaint. Once I realized the problem, I began to attempt to communicate with Symantec. I wanted to cancel my NAV subscription order. Communciating with Symantec is a challenge. The first thing I tried was a type of web form in which you enter information (your account, email, description of the problem, etc.) and they get back to you. That was now four days ago (no response).
Then I tried to call. The email I received verifying receipt of my order provided a phone number. I called. Forty minutes later my call was answered. However, it turned out I had somehow connected to the person responsible for Enterprise and not home issues. He asked that I send him a copy of the source I had used to find his number, but he could not help me. He fowarded me to another number, I selected option 2, and the line went dead. Who knows – perhaps my university phone line has some timer or something.
The next thing I tried was the chat support. My chat query resulted in immediate communication. This was good. After several comments back and forth, the tech person agreed with my assessment of the situation. I had probably ordered the wrong product. He would send me an email explaining how I should apply for my money back and I should then purchase the appropriate subscription. He was a nice guy, but it is now more than a day later and still no email. So thanks Abin Mammala – you still owe me an email.
I decided to chalk the $30 up to a bad experience and take advantage of the opportunity to offer a description of this experience to the world. This is a perfect case study of how not to impress a customer. I also removed the Symantec products from my machine. It turned out that the annual subscription to Internet Security was $40. This seems pretty high. After I installed Windows Service Pack 2, I had to disable several features (e.g., soft firewall) because they appeared to conflict with similar features in Internet Security. There also seemed to be no way to move back to just the Symantec virus protection product without starting over and purchasing another original product.
I did download Microsoft AntiSpyware Beta and turned back on the features I had disabled when installing SP2. I am not certain what Microsoft has in mind when the time frame for Antispyware beta expires. I may be attempting to purchase another subscription again. I guess I will worry about that in about a year. This seemed way too complicated and time consuming and I have no idea if I am now working on a secure machine or not.
Back to the Mac – I need to get some work done.
