Unpleasant Surprise

[polonus]

Hi popcorngal,

Better be to have come here first and having been shown the proper way than land somewhere where you do not want to go.
Hope you have found us now,

polonus

[mcgee2106]

I agree with the comments made herein concerning poor 3rd party tech support.  I have contacted Avast Tech Support twice in the last two days and spoke with two different agents.  BOTH times, I received an 'attitude' of "I couldn't care less about helping you with your problem, you are just another thorn in my side that I have to deal with each day - I hate my job" sort of attitude.  ..."hurry up and get off my line so that I can get on to the next call (that again I don't care about helping) - so that I can push the 'number of calls handled (stats)' up higher, even though I am not 'handling correctly/fully' the calls I Am getting.  Rude is not a strong enough word for it, and 'near' worthless is another good word for it.

Avast really, Really needs to monitor their 3rd party tech support Better than they apparently are - especially since Avast is not offering any other alternative to us - their customers.  Avast NEEDS, repeat Needs, to make their own test calls to this 'service' (questionable); then IF they find that enough of the calls are being handled 'ok' - although probably not to the 'level of quality' that they should be, And they choose not to cancel the 3rd party contract - then at the Minimum, and for Avast's Own benefit of 'keeping customers'; Avast needs to INSIST that the 'individual agents' who are giving this type of poor, unacceptable 'service' be fired from providing Avast customer tech support - Because They ARE ruinning it's reputation.

These test calls should be made immediately, and continue until these problems are Solved; then after that - Continue to do close monitoring!! 

Avast has, in my opinion, one of the best software protection programs out there.  However your customer support stinks. 

...Also, it upsets me that we do not have Any way to directly contact via telephone 'customer service' concerning non-technical issues such as billing, account issues, etc.   We can only send an PM type message to Avast's 'contact' person, who eventually 'gets back' to me.

Please, forward these comments forward to your upper management  ....Not to 'just' your local management - the higher ups Need to know this!  You Are losing business, and recommendations to new potential customers because of it.  Thank you.  ..Mike

[twinsmamie]

Before February 19, 2013, I had been using Avast! for many years and had been completely convinced that Avast! was a great company and had recommended Avast! many times to family and friends.  NEVER AGAIN!  My experience with Avast! tech support was identical to Popcorngal's description - I am so infuriated that the tech lied to me about my so-called "corrupt hard drive" and that I had been "hacked" so that I could no longer connect to the internet without Avast!'s help to the tune of $169 annual fee.  My hard drive is NOT corrupt and I have NEVER been hacked.  The reason I contacted tech support was that Avast! was no longer automatically or manually updating the virus definitions.  The tech support actually told me that Avast! could NEVER update my definitions again unless I purchased the $169 annual contract IMMEDIATELY!  He refused to uninstall and reinstall my Avast! software. He continued to tell me that I could no longer connect to the internet.  My anger increased to a level that I was practically threatening him to make sure my computer was EXACTLY the same as before I contacted Avast!, and that I would be able to connect to the internet.  At that point, I was becoming convinced that Avast! was actually going to intentionally damage my system in order to force me to purchase their annual contract.  I contacted iYogi tech support who assured me that my system was not corrupt and had never been hacked.  iYogi fixed my problem without even uninstalling and reinstalling Avast!.  I am extremely disappointed because I had felt so great about having Avast! before this terrible experience.  It is such a shame that we are subjected to such dishonesty.  I don't know another reputable virus protector at the present time.  If anyone can recommend a good reputable trustworthy company, I would greatly appreciate it.

[bob3160]

Third party support isn't handled by Avast.
If you have a problem, visit this forum as you just did when you posted your rightful disappointment with the service
you received from the third party support provider.
If you want good support, get it right here from other avast! users who's only interest is in helping you get the most
out of avast!.
The protection avast! offers for your computer is second to none. The reason I'm still a very happy user after many many years.

[SayItAintSoJoe]

Before February 19, 2013, I had been using Avast! for many years and had been completely convinced that Avast! was a great company and had recommended Avast! many times to family and friends.  NEVER AGAIN!  My experience with Avast! tech support was identical to Popcorngal's description - I am so infuriated that the tech lied to me about my so-called "corrupt hard drive" and that I had been "hacked" so that I could no longer connect to the internet without Avast!'s help to the tune of $169 annual fee.  My hard drive is NOT corrupt and I have NEVER been hacked.  The reason I contacted tech support was that Avast! was no longer automatically or manually updating the virus definitions.  The tech support actually told me that Avast! could NEVER update my definitions again unless I purchased the $169 annual contract IMMEDIATELY!  He refused to uninstall and reinstall my Avast! software. He continued to tell me that I could no longer connect to the internet.  My anger increased to a level that I was practically threatening him to make sure my computer was EXACTLY the same as before I contacted Avast!, and that I would be able to connect to the internet.  At that point, I was becoming convinced that Avast! was actually going to intentionally damage my system in order to force me to purchase their annual contract.  I contacted iYogi tech support who assured me that my system was not corrupt and had never been hacked.  iYogi fixed my problem without even uninstalling and reinstalling Avast!.  I am extremely disappointed because I had felt so great about having Avast! before this terrible experience.  It is such a shame that we are subjected to such dishonesty.  I don't know another reputable virus protector at the present time.  If anyone can recommend a good reputable trustworthy company, I would greatly appreciate it.

I recently had a very similar experience. I purchased and downloaded Avast internet security software on 1/20/13 from Digital River, Inc., an authorized reseller of Avast (whose website appeared to be the official Avast website.) After three unsuccessful attempts to install the software license, I called the customer support number. After the rep (who said his name was "Garvin Peart") made numerous unsuccessful attempts to assist, he stated that Avast had a group of Microsoft-certified technicians, any one of whom could definitely resolve the license installation problem. He also stated that my computer was currently at high risk of crashing any moment--especially since I also had Windows Defender installed, which was "causing problems by competing w/ the Avast software"--and that he urgently recommended I purchase one year of full Avast tech support for $169.99. By doing so, he stated that a technician would contact me within 20 minutes. I asked for the names of these technicians and who they were employed with; I was told they were with Avast and that the ones currently on duty were Dan, David, Orlando, and Marcello. I asked for the full name of the technician who would contact me, and was told "Dan Chang". Based on my research of Avast's reputation, I had no reason to doubt what Garvin told me. I had him reiterate the tech support terms before agreeing to have my credit card charged in the amount of $169.99. 

Sure enough, "Dan Chang" contacted me within 20 minutes. Over the next 3 hours, he attempted over and over--to no avail--to use the exact same approach as did Garvin to resolve the licensing download issue. Mind you, I was on the phone with him the entire time, following his instructions as he attempted to access my computer remotely. This ordeal was made even more challenging due to our different accents, which made our conversation even more tedious as we each kept having to ask the other to repeat himself. 

After three hours and no progress, I'd had enough and politely excused myself so I could hang up and confer with my significant other about cancelling the service. Three days later I contacted Avast and requested a refund for both the internet security product and the tech support service. After resisting numerous runarounds, I finally received a refund confirmation email on 2/4/13. I eventually received a refund for the software license; however, I never received a refund for the $169.99 representing one year of tech support. Numerous detailed emails to the company (Digital River, whom I assumed was Avast) to try and resolve the matter only resulted in nebulous replies expressing complete oblivion to the tech support issue, Finally, after persisting in my efforts to obtaino a full refund, the latest email (received today from Leizl C. from Digital River) stated, "Avast contracted a different company who handles their technical department." Like paychecks in the wake of the fiscal cliff, this pearl of wisdom arrived a day late and a dollar short.

Outsourcing a service does not relieve any business of ultimate accountability for the results produced (or not) by that service. As such, I hold Avast fully accountable for the fact that I'm still out $169.99 plus 3 hours of my valuable time, with absolutely nothing gained from my investment (except a bitter lesson learned).

The Avast tech support phone number I was given is 877-204-9327; however, numerous attempts to reach someone at this number only result in an automated outgoing message ("Thank you for calling Avast Technical Support"), followed by being placed on hold while the same dreary song is played over and over for 30+ minutes. I'm actively pursuing other options in my mission to elicit a full refund. Meanwhile, anyone know the name/contact information of the company Avast had contracted with to provide tech support services as of 1/20/13? Thanks!

[betsym]

I'm having the SAME problems! I purchased Avast Internet Security after having had the free version for a few years and the minute I upgraded, I could no longer access the internet. I called the tech line and I got the same crap about needing to purchase the $169 year-long support package and then they wanted remote access to my computer where they proceeded to make things much WORSE! Twice they worked for about an hour and then just disappeared, leaving the job undone and my computer unprotected! I think that while they were telling me that my computer was so "damaged" they were causing most of said "damage" themselves! It sounds like they are trying to scare people into buying their support program and, by causing the damage themselves, they almost make it impossible NOT to! They count on most of the public being ignorant about just what it is they are actually doing while on remote access in somebody's computer BUT, once they've scared the customer into paying their fees and they get the money, they leave it all in a mess, thinking that it will be just as impossible to get a refund. That's what we've got the Better Business Bureau and the State Attny General's offices for! This is FRAUD people and folks can launch a class-action lawsuit. I know that I'm reporting them AND getting a lawyer on it if my refund isn't back in my account by tomorrow morning!Avast may not do the 3rd Party Tech support but they have to be associated with them since those are the numbers for support obtained through Avast and they should be responsible for keeping track of their customer service! No company is going to source their tech support to somewhere in India and not keep track of how their treating consumers if they really cared about their customers!

[VojtaN]

Hello,
once again apologize for late response. I personally contacted our support partner and they will get back to you ASAP.

Regards

V. Nekvapil

If you are happy with Avast don't let someone who was in a bad mood ruin your opinion. 

I agree with your statement, but...

Having  an encounter with a person who is in a bad mood or being rude is much different than having someone in technical support trying to convince me my hard drive was going to crash unless I shelled out $169.00.  The guy wasn't being rude. He was trying to convince me I needed to cough up money to fix something that wasn't broken, which IMHO is something much more unpleasant and a good reason to lose confidence in a company. 

Of course in retrospect, I probably wouldn't have been quite so disillusioned with Avast if I'd known I was dealing with someone from third party support help. Also, with the subsequent responses I received from customer service, I will be renewing my Avast license, instead of going with another company. 

[popcorngal]

@betsym, @SayItAintSoJoe, @twinsmamie, @mcgee2106

Sorry to see there are folks still having to go through the 'unpleasant surprise' I did. I'm hoping the person who contacted me, (see below) has contacted you as well and you all are getting some assistance. Since I don't believe I gave the person's name that I spoke with, I'll add it now. All he said was "Joe," and unfortunately for me, I didn't think to get a last name.

In addition, in my last comment I mentioned that I was planning to renew my license, but am once again wondering if that's such a good idea.

When I noticed there was an update, Avast 8, I downloaded and installed it in the morning with no problem. Shutdown my computer that night and still everything was fine and I'd not encountered any trouble. My normal morning routine includes me turning on my computer and then wandering off for a while to get a few things done before sitting down at my desk. So, imagine my surprise when I come back to find that Google Chrome had not only been installed on my system, but also been set as the default browser.

Since I'm usually careful to look for annoying add-ons when installing anything on my system, don't really know how this happened, because I truly don't recall seeing any box to check or uncheck about whether I wanted Google Chrome to be installed. However, apparently I missed something, because otherwise that would mean Google Chrome was included with the update without asking for my approval. Right? Because that would be a very snarky thing for any company to do and in my opinion a rather good reason to be highly ticked off.

I'd certainly be interested to hear from anyone that might have had the same thing happen, even though I know that I'm straying away from my original topic. But, since my last comment was dealing with whether or not it would be a good idea to renew my license or look for another AV program, figured I'd go ahead and mention what happened here. For the time being I'm willing to believe it was my own fault for not looking more carefully at what I was installing.

Hello,
once again apologize for late response. I personally contacted our support partner and they will get back to you ASAP.

Regards

V. Nekvapil

[bob3160]

The following would have prevented that from happening:

http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=93544.msg906287#msg906287

May I suggest that you never use the default option on any program you install.

[popcorngal]

The following would have prevented that from happening:

http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=93544.msg906287#msg906287

May I suggest that you never use the default option on any program you install.

Thank you for the prompt response, though after watching the youtube video via the link you provided, I didn't notice anything relating to Google Chrome on the custom install.

Doesn't mean it wasn't there on my install. I was updating on WinXP platform with the paid Internet Security version, since my prior version was already licensed for that. Because my memory isn't all that great and I did this update a few days ago, can't honestly say I remember clicking on Express, since normally I do use 'custom' if that's offered when I'm installing anything on my system, having learned long ago that's always the best choice in order to prevent 'unpleasant surprises.'

Since it was easy to uninstall Google Chrome and reinstate Mozilla as my default browser, I'm not terribly upset, just annoyed. My main point in mentioning the incident was wondering if anyone else had experienced the same thing. If I want more of a response to my 'wondering', I really should post a separate listing, because this issue doesn't have any real connection to my original topic.

[bob3160]

Thank you for the prompt response, though after watching the youtube video via the link you provided, I didn't notice anything relating to Google Chrome on the custom install.

That's because I uses Chrome as my default browser and also have Google Drive installed.

[DavidR]

Thank you for the prompt response, though after watching the youtube video via the link you provided, I didn't notice anything relating to Google Chrome on the custom install.

That's because I uses Chrome as my default browser and also have Google Drive installed.

Well it is certainly there on an install custom or normal as it is in the first screen before you select the type of install, see image, click to expand. But you have to have seen that and unchecked the options if you didn't want it.

[popcorngal]

Thank you for the prompt response, though after watching the youtube video via the link you provided, I didn't notice anything relating to Google Chrome on the custom install.

That's because I uses Chrome as my default browser and also have Google Drive installed.

*laughs* Well, that would make a difference, wouldn't it?

Thanks for providing me with a nice hearty laugh.

[popcorngal]

Thank you for the prompt response, though after watching the youtube video via the link you provided, I didn't notice anything relating to Google Chrome on the custom install.

That's because I uses Chrome as my default browser and also have Google Drive installed.

Well it is certainly there on an install custom or normal as it is in the first screen before you select the type of install, see image, click to expand. But you have to have seen that and unchecked the options if you didn't want it.

I must have been half asleep when I did that install because I really don't remember doing much more than downloading. The image shown doesn't look familiar at all.

So, while I'm a little worried about how bad my memory actually is, at least I don't need to wonder about whether Avast was trying to be sneaky. 

[DavidR]

I don't think is is trying to be sneaky, but I'm no fan of opt-out options.

I believe it should be opt-in (we have had that discussion many times), that way if for whatever reason, omission by the user or a problem in the installation/update and not seeing the screen. The user doesn't end up with something they don't want, invariably they blame avast regardless whose or what was at fault.