An abandoned N360 key?

Norton Security | Norton Internet Security
1

Hello there, :smileyhappy:

 

This is a bit long, so i've made a summary at the end for those who aren't too concerned with details...

 

First off, I've read reviews of many security suites out there, and after all that i've decided to stick with Norton 360!

 

To continue, the price on the official Norton store is a bit pricey for me (at the moment), so I went out looking for bargains. After some searching I found a discounted version on sale by a seller on online auction site, which only sells activation keys only to keep the price down, so I bought it ASAP. It's for a one year subscription for one user only.

 

The feedback from the seller's pevious customers was really good, as he had 100% satisfaction rating. So it wasn't long before I received an acivation key from him. In the email, he had provided a link to download N360 trial version first, which can be upgraded to full version with the keys he'd provided.

 

So I intalled the trial first, saw that it works, and then created a Norton account through the N360 interface. After that, I activated the software using the keys he provided. Looks normal so far, but...

 

After I activated the software with the key, I found out that the suite's remaining subs is 611 days! Oh, and guess what? When I used the subscription status check, it also said that I am entitled to protection for up to 3 PCs!

 

So I emailed the seller back, and this is his reply:

 

 ===========================

thanks for the info and being truthful
well Norton group gave i just pass it to you so if it is for 611days then its your to keep it
hahaha dont worry it's their fault so not to worry ok...

its for you...to use as once activated it cant be undone...

 

===========================

 

Well, it appears to be nothing wrong, and I may continue using it anyway, but being a *cough* truthful person, I digged up a little and found out that my Norton acc info, the one that I used to activate the trial, hasn't been updated, and only shows the trial info.

 

So when I clicked the Account > Access Norton Account from the main interface, the browser opened and directed to the Norton Account page. And, uh, well, the email that appeared on the sign in page is not actually mine! It belongs to another email account that's not mine. And yet even now when I checked my real Norton Acount, it still shows that I am still subscribed to the trial version...

 

So chaps, what's going on here? I'm just starting using Norton now, and if all goes well, i'll continue and contribute to this site. :)

 

 

TL;DR

 

Bought N360 outside official store, and somehow obtained an apparently abandoned activation key tht doesn't registered to my email.

 

EDIT: I will also provide additional details as necessary. However, due to privacy concerns I will not reveal info on all emails involved.

 

 

 

 

 

2

Hello there, :smileyhappy:

 

This is a bit long, so i've made a summary at the end for those who aren't too concerned with details...

 

First off, I've read reviews of many security suites out there, and after all that i've decided to stick with Norton 360!

 

To continue, the price on the official Norton store is a bit pricey for me (at the moment), so I went out looking for bargains. After some searching I found a discounted version on sale by a seller on online auction site, which only sells activation keys only to keep the price down, so I bought it ASAP. It's for a one year subscription for one user only.

 

The feedback from the seller's pevious customers was really good, as he had 100% satisfaction rating. So it wasn't long before I received an acivation key from him. In the email, he had provided a link to download N360 trial version first, which can be upgraded to full version with the keys he'd provided.

 

So I intalled the trial first, saw that it works, and then created a Norton account through the N360 interface. After that, I activated the software using the keys he provided. Looks normal so far, but...

 

After I activated the software with the key, I found out that the suite's remaining subs is 611 days! Oh, and guess what? When I used the subscription status check, it also said that I am entitled to protection for up to 3 PCs!

 

So I emailed the seller back, and this is his reply:

 

 ===========================

thanks for the info and being truthful
well Norton group gave i just pass it to you so if it is for 611days then its your to keep it
hahaha dont worry it's their fault so not to worry ok...

its for you...to use as once activated it cant be undone...

 

===========================

 

Well, it appears to be nothing wrong, and I may continue using it anyway, but being a *cough* truthful person, I digged up a little and found out that my Norton acc info, the one that I used to activate the trial, hasn't been updated, and only shows the trial info.

 

So when I clicked the Account > Access Norton Account from the main interface, the browser opened and directed to the Norton Account page. And, uh, well, the email that appeared on the sign in page is not actually mine! It belongs to another email account that's not mine. And yet even now when I checked my real Norton Acount, it still shows that I am still subscribed to the trial version...

 

So chaps, what's going on here? I'm just starting using Norton now, and if all goes well, i'll continue and contribute to this site. :)

 

 

TL;DR

 

Bought N360 outside official store, and somehow obtained an apparently abandoned activation key tht doesn't registered to my email.

 

EDIT: I will also provide additional details as necessary. However, due to privacy concerns I will not reveal info on all emails involved.

 

 

 

 

 

3

Hi Spark,

 

If you are unable to use it the second time, you can reach our customer support team and they will let you know what's actually happening with your product key.

We guess, it might happen because there are possibilities where the retailer would have sold the same key with some other user in the same way you bought it and if he/she has activated the product with the same key before you activated then it wouldn't show up in your Norton Account and it would appear only in the Norton Account of the user who used the same key first prior to you.

 

Please use our Live chat support or the phone support for the purpose of reaching them.

 

Live chat: www.norton.com/chat

 

Phone support: http://www.symantec.com/business/support/contact_techsupp_static.jsp

Based on your geography, you can contact our respective phone support team.



Let us know after trying this.

 

regards,

Prasanna.

4

I think Prasanna has this right. Norton is selling 2- and 3-year subscriptions now, and all subscriptions cover three installs. So if you WERE in fact sold (fraudulently or just carelessly) a key multi-year key that had previously been sold to someone else, your install would be registered on their Norton Account as Prasanna says, and the days you're seeing on your subscription are the days remaining on the multi-year key since its original purchaser started using it.

5

Spark,

 

I suggest you check with Norton OnLiine Support via CHAT as indicated already -- they are helpful and can confirm whether it is fraudulent or a glitch and if it's a glitch they can correct things.

 

If it is fraudulent I'm sure they will want to know and probably have a procedure for going after sellers like this.

 

Assuming it is fraudulent then from your point of view it boils down to how did you pay for it?

 

If by credit card then once you know from Norton contact them immediately and start what they call the Dispute procedure; in my experience this results in an immediate credit back to your account for the charge and the company will go after the seller.

 

If you bought by some other route, eg PayPal, then do whatever they say to do in such a case but I can't advise you since I've never used PayPal or sBay to buy ...

 

Otherwise it's a learning experience ....

 

Please let us know how you get on ....

 

 

6

Hello again everyone,

 

I'm a bit preoccupied these days, so I cannot reply instantly/everyday, but i'll do it as soon as I can.

 

Anyways, thanks for replying. I'm sure it is not fraudulent. First off, i paid for the product through a public cash deposit machine so no credit card or paypal is at danger here.

Secondly, the seller has 100 positive feedback, if a sale is fraudulent before then there'll be a negative feedback anyway.

Lastly, I had also bought another software from the same seller, which is now genuine and fully activated. So the problem must've been a mistake somewhere somehow...

 

I haven't tried the any steps mentioned above yet, because where I am right now, it's kinda hard to find another computer (rural area):smileyindifferent:

 

Right now, im thinking of contacting the owner of the email that pops up when I access the norton account page from the link within the N360 product, or should I contact LiveChat directly instead? What info do I have to provide?

 

7

That's not the type of fraud to which we were referring. It looks as though the seller may be getting their "100% positive" ratings by selling the same Norton subscription at a "discount" rate to multiple customers, figuring that each will likely only use one or two installs. They pay once; they get paid two or three times...and as long as their assumption holds, their customers get a good, working product at a bargain price. Everybody walks away happy.

 

There's just one problem: the terms of the Norton license don't allow such disaggregation--which makes what appears to have happened here  a crime (fraud). That's why this is generating such interest--because you thought you were getting a full, legal, copy of Norton, which comes with three licensed installs; instead, you appear to have gotten something less. If the same Product Key was knowingly sold to multiple people, you and the other user(s), and Symantec, just got ripped off.

 

I'm giving the seller the (legal) benefit of the doubt because, in our system, they're innocent until proven guilty...and because, if I srtretch my imagination a little, I can envision a tiny, understaffed eCommerce reseller who "just sells Keys" for the reasons you indicated, sitting there with a box of cards with Keys on them, from which they're supposed to extract a card and put it someplace else once they've sold it...only on the particular day your order came in, the phone rang in the middle of processing it, and some poor clerk found out that their spouse/child/parent had just been hit by a bus and the card went back in the "Unsold" box in a tragic, panicked mistake. If that's the case, this should be the only license wholesaled to that reseller that has ever ended up split up in this way, and it'll all get sorted out.

 

But I think you can see what a stretch of the imagination constructing such a scenario requires!

8

Spark,

 

Please contact the OnLine Support via the CHAT link and they will be able to determine if there is something wrong with the KEY or the Norton database. That way you will know some facts on which to decide what to do next.

 

I certainly would not contact the sender of the email you refer to since again there is so much scamming going on and replying is a sure way to confirm that they have a live address! Again CHAT can tell you if that is valid.