Anyone know how to get a real person to respond to a renewal question?

Norton Security | Norton Internet Security
1

According to my account, I am about 23 days short of expiration for Antivirus 2010. Norton has attempted to autorenew my account, but have my old credit card number, and although their email telling me I'd been autorenewed doesn't acknowledge this -- they won't get paid by my credit card company -- because the card they are using is no longer valid.

 

The fact is, I don't want to auto renew, I've actually purchased a copy of Internet Security 2011 and don't need to renew Antivirus. Nathan the "virtual" customer service agent, cannot comprehend this. I need to speak to a REAL person -- and nothing on the Norton site tells you how to do this. I've had similar experiences before when I could not get Symantec's technical support people to respond to a question/issue about auto-launched full system scans.

 

Can anyone tell me how to get through to Norton? Or am I stuck with Nathan, the bot customer service agent? If it is the latter, it may be time to go to MacAfee. 

2

Hi mrgem

Real people do exist here :smileyhappy:

Some of us are just users like you and others are staff

Try this link to the customer service chat feature

http://us.norton.com/support/contact/contact.jsp?pvid=cs

They can help you get things back in order

Let us know how it all works out. And Don't quit visiting just because you don't have any problems

3

I'll try it, Dick, and let you know the outcome.

 

GEM

4

Dick -- Just an FYI...Cust Service person was polite and eager to help, but could not resolve. She referred me to my credit card company.

5

It sounds as though she did not get the point that you wanted to be removed from auto-renewal.  There may have been a bit of a communications gap.  Perhaps a more explicit "Please cancel auto-renewal" would be in order.

6

OK...This is the resolution...it took a while, but on balance, the outcome is satisfactory.

 

Two customer service reps and a couple of hours of painful (for the CS reps, that is) discussion later, we have resolution.

 

My problem was that Symantec had auto-renewed me for another year of NAV and that was never my intention. They'd charged an old (no longer valid) credit card account that had been closed last year. I'd actually already purchased a new copy of Internet Security for all 3 of my computers, and no longer needed to run NAV.

 

I could not figure out how the auto renewal actually allowed them to charge my account.

 

I found out that Symantec had done what is called in the credit card industry as a "force post." That means they override the authorization process and just send in the charge to the credit card issuer without having been authorized.

 

I asked for a credit because I did not intentionally authorize automatic renewal and actually had already purchased replacement software on my own.  I knew that force posts are frowned upon in the credit card industry. They virtually guarantee the cardholder wins if the charge is disputed.

 

But I did not want to have an adversarial confrontation with Symantec (because I like their products) and decided to work with them. That is when I tried Nate, the robot CS representative and could not get an answer. That is also why I posted here.

 

So long story short, the gal at Symantec, walked me through the install of Internet Security, deleted NAV from my computer, and got me registered as an IS subscriber for 2 years (thus avoiding giving me a credit for the renewal of NAV that was not wanted). I would have preferred a credit, but the 2 year (plus an extra month for the hassle) was good enough.

 

Now...With a little luck Internet Security will not cause the loops (and subsequent 100% CPU use) that NAV used to cause. Norton AV has always worked well for blocking viruses and identifying stuff like tracking cookies, but it had that one defect, that was maddening if you walked away from the computer for a few minutes and the software decided to launch an "idle time" scan.

 

A perfect solution? No...but close. Thanks for the link, Dick.

7

Thanks for the feedback. Glad you succeeded in resolving it albeit differently.

 

I think waht the first Customer Support rep was saying was to entere a dispute with your credit card company so that the CC company would credit the charge back to your account and they would recover what they'd paid out -- if already transferred -- by a debit against the merchant's account with the credit card company.

 

This a very normal procedure that does not necessarily reflect badly on the merchant -- although it did in one case where we had a water treatment unit installed and it was not the brand or model that the order paper specified which was on a form of the correct supplier but the merchant was no longer an authorized distributor....! We got a refund on the spot and the manufacturer got the local authorized distributor to come and replace the unit which stood outside out garage for a while waiting fo the rogue to collect and when it wasn't wen to the dump!

 

But I've also done it under "harmless" circumstances like yours.

8

mrgem wrote: A perfect solution? No...but close.

Hello mrgem

 

Please review / verify your Norton Account information 

Products | Order History | Profile | Automatic Renewal

 

Customer Support upon request will remove your billing info from your Norton Account & you may cancel your registration in the Automatic Renewal Service at any time.

Please see this related information.

Thank you

 

9

bjm -- Thanks for the info...Found all of that out in my exchange with Nate the robo agent. The problem in my case was that I'd already been successfully charged for the renewal by the time I found out -- which is evidently the default.

 

I understand from a software vendor's POV, there are advantages (like no potential lapse in service upon expiration), but I never would have knowingly chosen that option, had I been presented with a clear choice. I just don't assume I'll be happy with software a year after buying it -- even from a vendor with whom I have a 20-year relationship.

 

It also rubbed me the wrong way that both my Credit Card Company and Symantec worked together to get the charge put on my account -- even though the account they had on file was a closed account. I understand there are services that automatically give vendors updated information when an account is lost or stolen, but that is a very risky practice (fraud potential) and one that I'll be asking my CC issuer to discontinue for my accounts -- immediately.

 

As I said, overall, it was a reasonable resolution. Just wish I hadn't been enrolled in autorenewal to begin with.

 

Thanks to all for their advice and comments.

 

GEM

10

Hello Gem

 

NIS 2011 also includes NAV 2011. You will have Idle Quick Scans every time a new Antivirus definition update comes out. Since it is a new program to you, please go thru the settings and make adjustments if you so wish. Thanks.