Is Avast Support phone line just a sales line now - shame on you Avast!!

[Asyn]

Thanks Zorgon.

[schmidthouse]

Thanks Zorgon.

+1 

[avast@@dvantage77.com]

A lot of people have left avast! in the last couple of months!

[schmidthouse]

A lot of people have left avast! in the last couple of months!

Care to elaborate.

[bob3160]

A lot of people have left avast! in the last couple of months!

You make it sound like something sinister which it is NOT.
A lot of people leave from a lot of companies all the time.
Sometimes for advancements, and sometimes for other reasons.
I know I've had more that one job in my lifetime.
(I've also never not had a job unless it was supposed to be that way.)

[avast@@dvantage77.com]

NOT sinister, just lost a lot of internal support guys

[lukor]

Hi, from the inside it doesn't seem many people have left (not only recently but measuring the entire history of avast as a company).
Regarding Mr. Riley, it's not the first time he has left Avast, as you can see from the posted linkedin profile.

[schmidthouse]

Thanks for the input lukor. 

[Lisandro]

A lot of people have left avast! in the last couple of months!

We're all here for 13 years

[REDACTED]

Well - I have an update and not a very happy one I am sad to report.  Avast support simply called the customer up - despite my asking them to refer the matter through myself and asked her

"Is everyting okay now"

She replied

"Yes - but only after I paid a computer repair shop to sort the mess out"

No offer to compensate her for their mistake / lack of ability to apply her licence file.  She is now out of pocket.  If she had been an existing customer of mine I would not have charged her of course but being a new customer that phoned my shop up  and asked to drop her machine off for a check I have.  I would have expected Avast to offer her at least a free extension to her subscription to cover her outlay.

This has soured my view of Avast to be frank.  I will not be installing it for customers any more  - I will look to another solution.
Bearing in mind I probably install it 4 times per week - Avast will lose out on all the revenue.  All that because they were all too quick to try and extract money out of the poor lady rather than actually fix her genuine support issue.

As I said - Shame on you Avast!

[REDACTED]

Update.  They have promised to give her a 2 years free licence so fair play for that.

However - the hard sell is not really appropriate when a customer (already paying customer) calls up for a problem with her license activation.  I hope they address this aspect as I have been a fan and friend of Avast for many years but that stinks. 

As a fairly young, forthright and savvy IT professional I used to often make the mistake of thinking that "A sale is a sale" and "its a dog eat dog world so it's all fair game". As I matured I realised that this was not really how things should be.

Avast need to remember that a lot of their customers are not such savvy or forthright people and can feel quite threatened and befuddled by a young and hungry sales/support person on the end of a phone. They are often also too polite to complain. 

I would always ask - would I be happy if someone treated my grandmother or grandfather the way I am treating this person on the phone? If not then for goodness sakes re-evaluate your approach.

[schmidthouse]

And so it goes.
In my World I have come to know, Most all Corporations are not user friendly! They are Profit motivated NOT Customer Satisfaction motivated.
With these corporations, customer service is a necessary evil, something to deal with while we make our millions.
Your power is your money, how you spend it , where you spend it AND on what you spend it. SOOOOOOOO exercise your power.

[Lord_Ami]

It's just ridiculous that they rip people off by going to TEMP files and saying that these are harmful. I'd tolerate these "support" companies more if they did actually investigate computer for real problems (for example check HDD SMART monitor) and find something that is worth repairing. But they don't. They take random files/reports and scare users based on those.

I'm not talking about Avast but 3rd party support that is offered.

Oh well, money.

[REDACTED]

The problem is Lord_Ami that you are describing EXACTLY what Avast support did.  You might not be talking about Avast but I certainly was :-)

[Lord_Ami]

The problem is Lord_Ami that you are describing EXACTLY what Avast support did.  You might not be talking about Avast but I certainly was :-)

Yes but this "support" via phone is not Avast but 3rd party company that has partnered with Avast to offer free support (and offer paid services). Well they too have to make money but the scheme is really disturbing.