Author Topic: CHANGE YOUR MARKETING PHILOSOPHY OR I'M GONE!  (Read 11141 times)

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CHANGE YOUR MARKETING PHILOSOPHY OR I'M GONE!
« on: June 17, 2014, 02:57:33 PM »
I've been a loyal AVAST user for 10 years. . .2 years as free, 8 years as a paying customer. I decided to upgrade to the pro version because for two years Avast protected my valuable property and did it for FREE. I said to myself, I WANT to do business with a company that approaches its customers that way. . . service FIRST. . .customer interests FIRST.  That WAS Avast then. ...but this is Avast NOW. I began to notice a change in philosophy, it seemed. I noticed it first when I had an issue that required technical assistance from an Avast techie. She was very nice and asked if she could have access to my computer, to which I readily agreed. As she did a internal scan, suddenly her focus shifted from the problem at hand, to my URGENT need to sign up for Avast's new technical support upgraded at X amount of dollars per year. Her tone about all the problems she was finding in my computer was as ominous as a cancer specialist. Having been in sales myself. . .I immediately recognized the sales technique she was employing. It's called "bringing the pain." You "bring the pain" to the customer and get them so filled with anxiety that they virtually beg you to save them at any cost. She was "bringing the pain". . not really focused on what my needs were nor about my originally stated issue. I was surprised and miffed. I felt a very important trust was violated and I complained to Avast about it. At least techies should be techies first, THEN salepeople, maybe, later. . . but I assumed it was an aberration and forgot about it.

Then I began to notice the pop-ups.. . .the false "alerts and warnings" that appeared to be a manifestation of the protection I was paying for, but upon closer inspection was nothing more than what I had experienced with this techie from before; except now it was the Avast system itself that was bugging me. Avast has chosen to "bring the pain" and to use their own system to attempt to constantly market to me. "WE HAVE FOUND A DANGEROUS PLUG-IN". . so the solution? I can only use Bing or Yahoo. . .a nice backdoor CHA-CHING for Avast from Yahoo and Bing for every switch, apparently. . .or the "WE FOUND 17 INSTANCES OF GRIME. . . REMOVE IT NOW. . .click. . .up pops the advert for GRIMEFIGHTER. . .

My conclusion is that I cannot trust a company or a protection system that would intentionally attempt to leverage the sacred trust they have built with the client. I cannot trust a company that attempts to exacerbate the natural anxiety one feels over potential threats to their system with false fear-driven warnings whose sole intent is to "bring the pain" and up-sell the pigeon.

I have expressed this concern and my conclusions through various channels. . . I have NEVER received any response. It says to me that whoever their marketing genius is. . . he is here to stay. . and that's the NEW Avast. . .love it or leave it. . . .and for that reason. . .I have chosen the latter.
« Last Edit: June 17, 2014, 03:01:05 PM by Mcbuff »

Offline Pondus

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Re: CHANGE YOUR MARKETING PHILOSOPHY OR I'M GONE!
« Reply #1 on: June 17, 2014, 03:01:36 PM »
the phone support is not done by avast   :-\

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Re: CHANGE YOUR MARKETING PHILOSOPHY OR I'M GONE!
« Reply #2 on: June 17, 2014, 03:12:27 PM »
Listen to Mcbuff. 

You developed a good following based upon your service-first philosophy.  Now you are abusing the trust that you have built over the years

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Re: CHANGE YOUR MARKETING PHILOSOPHY OR I'M GONE!
« Reply #3 on: June 17, 2014, 03:40:30 PM »
the phone support is not done by avast   :-\

True, but Avast is one who hired this group and they are staking their name/rep on their actions.
Also, Avast is one putting all these "extras" in their software to protect (?) the user.

Frankly, I do custom install and only choose the A/V......Avast has proven to me their "other" efforts (code) have potentially even more destructive effects than just annoying pop-ups. 

Obviously Avast is trying to maximize their $$$ by pushing other avenues of income but the question becomes are they approaching or have the crossed the line of trust ?......each users opinion for sure.

Offline Pondus

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Re: CHANGE YOUR MARKETING PHILOSOPHY OR I'M GONE!
« Reply #4 on: June 17, 2014, 03:54:21 PM »
Quote
True, but Avast is one who hired this group and they are staking their name/rep on their actions.
yes and there are multiple posts in the forum about it


Quote
Also, Avast is one putting all these "extras" in their software to protect (?) the user.
extras you dont want can be removed from ad/remove programs > avast > uninstall/change > un tic the stuff you dont want

« Last Edit: June 17, 2014, 03:56:17 PM by Pondus »

Offline TrueIndian

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Re: CHANGE YOUR MARKETING PHILOSOPHY OR I'M GONE!
« Reply #5 on: June 17, 2014, 05:52:12 PM »
There is version in beta/testing mode that will be out by the end of this month and that will surely fix this,see:
https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=150784.0

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Re: CHANGE YOUR MARKETING PHILOSOPHY OR I'M GONE!
« Reply #6 on: June 17, 2014, 06:35:07 PM »
the phone support is not done by avast   :-\

What difference does that make?  Avast is obviously working with them in some way, shape or form... it's not just some random company picking up the phone.

Offline Pondus

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Re: CHANGE YOUR MARKETING PHILOSOPHY OR I'M GONE!
« Reply #7 on: June 17, 2014, 06:52:06 PM »
Quote
What difference does that make? 
A lot .... most of think the service would be much better if they did it themselves .... i guess it is a money issue






Offline leftisthominid

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Re: CHANGE YOUR MARKETING PHILOSOPHY OR I'M GONE!
« Reply #8 on: June 17, 2014, 07:07:27 PM »
The avast! phone support people are downright incompetent.

A while back I called them about my.avast.com not updating quick enough, and they wanted access to my computer to see what was the problem with their server not updating. (It was a relatively benign problem, it did eventually fix itself)

Then a few days ago, I noticed when you click on the my devices button in the avast! GUI you get a server error (see http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2180346/question-avast-users.html). I had recently uninstalled and reinstalled avast! since Software Updater was in a glitch and it kept trying to update my up-to-date Java. When the server error first appeared, I then re-uninstalled and re-reinstalled avast before checking my other computers. I then noticed the error appeared on all three of my computers. At some point along the way, I kept typing in my avast password wrong, so I didn't know whether this was an account security issue or a genuine server issue. I tried to call avast support to get the answer... The condescending, incompetent, /* self-censored phrase*/ on the phone was telling me to redownload my license and reinstall avast!, I told him I had already did that, and the idiot told me he was telling me to do something different...

All the idiot had to do was put me on hold, contact IT, and confirm that there was a server issue, but in all his incompetence he could not think to do that and instead decided to condescend upon the consumer... Per the Tomshardware thread (I posted there because this place was down), it became clear it was a server issue.

Never calling avast! support ever again. They all need to be fired.

Offline Para-Noid

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Re: CHANGE YOUR MARKETING PHILOSOPHY OR I'M GONE!
« Reply #9 on: June 17, 2014, 11:31:29 PM »
Contacts concerning third party support are...

nekvapil(at)avast(dot)com   or    riley(at)avast(dot)com
Dell Inspiron, Win10x64--HP Envy Win10x64--Both systems Avast Free v17.9.2322, Comodo Firewall v8.2 w/D+, MalwareBytes v3.0, OpenDNS, Super Anti-Spyware, Spyware Blaster, MCShield, Unchecky, Vivaldi Browser and, various browser security tools.

"Look before you leap!" Use online scanners before you click on any link.

Offline bri

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Re: CHANGE YOUR MARKETING PHILOSOPHY OR I'M GONE!
« Reply #10 on: June 18, 2014, 01:27:45 AM »
Avast are well aware of the problems(scam)with the 3rd party support and yet nothing is done about it,unbelievable.It will keep driving more and more users and potential paying customers away.It must be a money thing because it is beyond me how they can sit back and keep letting it happen.

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Re: CHANGE YOUR MARKETING PHILOSOPHY OR I'M GONE!
« Reply #11 on: June 18, 2014, 02:01:24 AM »
the phone support is not done by avast   :-\

This may be so but in the End Avast is responsible for EVERYTHING that carries it's name.

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Re: CHANGE YOUR MARKETING PHILOSOPHY OR I'M GONE!
« Reply #12 on: June 18, 2014, 02:54:45 AM »
So what are we to do?  What is a good alternative to AVAST?  What is better?

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Re: CHANGE YOUR MARKETING PHILOSOPHY OR I'M GONE!
« Reply #13 on: June 18, 2014, 10:46:15 AM »
just to add my 2 cents to this : because of other issues which I felt were bugs and not dealt with - I won't go into details here, I have posted in other places ; I finally lost patience. Similar to the OP I had the free version when it was EXCELLENT and felt I should pay because fair's fair...why is it in the land of software that the best things really are free

anyway I have tried several alternatives in the meantime, BitDefender , AVG etc but I have settled on Ad-Aware (prev. they did malware only, but now do an antivirus as well)

It is low on resource usage, simple to use - just tried to be an antivirus, not really into too many fancy bells and whistles. When I installed I avoided adding toolbars etc to my browser, I don't think they're necessary

It is the free version, but if I'm still happy after a month or so I will donate or upgrade

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Re: CHANGE YOUR MARKETING PHILOSOPHY OR I'M GONE!
« Reply #14 on: June 19, 2014, 05:18:37 PM »
and those ads are really irritating... asking u to buy avast... Any sane person wanting to buy would buy it, and this popping ad is not going to convince some one to buy it.. It just irritates... like the youtube ads... sometimes frustrates me and feels like real viruses are a lot better than this :P Just kidding.