FURIOUS about auto renewal price.

dschmid4 · ‎09-22-2012

I was just charged $84.79 for automatic renewal for Norton 360. Equiv price on website is $59.99. I am VERY ANGRY that Symantec would GOUGE existing customers and not give them the best/fair pricing. I contacted customer support, and I cut/pasted the dialog below. Norton lost a customer.

You are now chatting with Edzon.

Edzon: Hi. Welcome to Norton Support

Edzon: I can see that you were charged automatic renewal

Dan Schmidt: I was charged for automatic subscription renewal to Norton 360. Charge was for $84.79 under transaction number: APxxxxxxxxxxx. I would like a refund.

Edzon: Hello Dan

Edzon: Let me check Dan

Edzon: I can see that you were charged on the 13th of September

Dan Schmidt: Why is this taking so long? [note: several minutes past]

Edzon: Still processing it Dan

Edzon: Refund will take 2 - 5 business days

Edzon: Case number is xxxxxxxxxx

Edzon: Is there anything else?

Dan Schmidt: Yes.

Edzon: What is it Dan?

Dan Schmidt: Can you tell me why I can purchase an equivalent renewal on your website for $59.99?

Edzon: Let me check

Edzon: It depends if Norton offers it now

Dan Schmidt: http://us.norton.com/upgrade-center/promo?trf_id=symcom&inid=us_hho_navbar_upgrade_to_center

Edzon: You can purchase it from there Dan

Dan Schmidt: I know. So a loyal customer like me is charged $84.79. It requires my own intervention to identify that I only need to pay $59.99.

Dan Schmidt: Why?

Edzon: Dan the usual price of Norton today is the price that you were charged automatically

Edzon: But you have an option if there is a promotional offer

Edzon: You can purchase it online

Dan Schmidt: Edzon, I'm sorry but you do not seem to understand. You should have given me the $59.99 price in the automatic renewal. If I hadn't taken the time to search your website, I would not have known about the reduced price. This is very poor customer service. Even worse, you do not seem to even acknowledge the error.

Edzon: Dan as much as I want to give you information about auto renewal price

Edzon: The auto renewal price comes from the recent price of the product even though it show $59.99 on the website. That is why you can purchase it online for much cheaper price because of the promotion

Edzon: If you want you can contact our support number so they can assist you for that

Dan Schmidt: This is a very good example of how NOT to treat your customers. It is the reason I will switch to a different product. I will cut/paste this session, and I will be sure that others on forums and facebook, etc. understand how Symantec is treating their existing customers. Unfair

peterweb · ‎04-17-2008

dschmid4

There are many threads here about the renewal price vs a new purchase of the product. The main reason is that Norton cannot compete on price with its' sales partners, or no one would sell the products for them.

The link you show in your transcript is for a new purchase of N360, not the renewal price.

Renewals with Norton are not usually the least expensive way to keep your subscription current. If you shop around online, I'm sure you get an even lower price for the same product.

Shop around and purchase from a reputable seller/retailer, then enter the product key when you have only one or two days left on your subscription. If you enter the key early, you lose whatever days are left on your subscription.

Be sure the retailer is known/reputable, because there are many cases of being sold an already activated product or expired product key.

Things happen. Export/Backup your Identity Safe data.

dschmid4 · ‎09-22-2012

This has nothing to do with Symantec resellers. Per the link I provided (for an upgrade), Symantec is ALREADY selling the product at $59.99. There is no reason for them to charge more for an auto renewal. They count on numerous customers who don't take the time to investigate like I did. Very poor business strategy and a focus on greed vs. fair customer service.

This will cost Symantec much much more than they tried to steal from me. I'll be sure others understand what they are doing.

peterweb · ‎04-17-2008

dschmid4 wrote:
This has nothing to do with Symantec resellers. Per the link I provided (for an upgrade), Symantec is ALREADY selling the product at $59.99. There is no reason for them to charge more for an auto renewal. They count on numerous customers who don't take the time to investigate like I did. Very poor business strategy and a focus on greed vs. fair customer service.

This will cost Symantec much much more than they tried to steal from me. I'll be sure others understand what they are doing.

I understand you being upset with the pricing from Symantec. Maybe a Symantec employee can chime in here to explain why the renewal is almost always more expensive than purchasing a new product.

The upside of your support experience is the fact they did not balk at processing a refund for you, as you were not satisfied with the service.

Things happen. Export/Backup your Identity Safe data.

huwyngr · ‎04-13-2008

Peter,

In general Norton Staff do not join in discussions about pricing and commercial matters since these Forums are dedicated to Technical Support for the products.

The value of the Norton Staff to us usxers here is that they are deeply involved in developing the programs themselves.

Marketing is a quite separate function although one hopes they monitor what is going on here

In fact I have seen evidence of Norton Staff passing on to Marketing occasions when the prices are out of step -- and I recently posted internally screenshots based on what a user encontered and what happened to me when I explored and found two different prices for the same product depending on how you got to the information .....

Life is too darn complex ....

Hugh