I have a computer repair shop. Avast was my AV of choice for 8 years. We installed it on 80% of the computers that came through the store. It's a good product. Good enough that I installed it about 3000 times without making a cent.
Today I had the opportunity to speak with customer service regarding a failed Avast update that necessitated removing Avast with the removal tool and reinstalling. The computer worked correctly when Avast was removed. Once Avast was reinstalled the license key would not work even though it had 6 months left. At this point I called customer support. They would not help, they simply wanted to upsell an online computer overhaul after sending a new license key that also failed. They were also incapable of using the tools that come with Avast.
Now I have to wonder about the ethics of a company that after getting paid runs the same scam that their product is responsible for removing. There were no problems with the computer until the Avast update corrupted the computer yesterday, but the CSR insisted that the start up errors, mostly logged in 2012, were the problem. He said I'd have to speak with an engineer to fix those problems before Avast would accept the license.
I know this computer. I know how it's used. I know the owner to be very cautious. The logs are always clean. This is an Avast related problem that Avast failed to help a paying customer with. They simply put on a front so that they could sell an unnecessary service instead.
I sell service. When one of the products that I recommend let's me down, it's time to vet a new product.
