When waking up my computer a couple of hours ago AVAST indicated I wasn't protected and I got a message I needed to renew my subscription. I thought my subscription should still be valid but finally gave up trying and paid for an extra year...
When I received a new licence file I tried to install it and received a pop-up that it was corrupted. In the e-mail there was an AVAST support phone number which I called and after a while the person asked me to give him remote access to my computer, claiming that the problem came from my computer. When I told him my computer was less than a year old he claimed it may already be outdated...
And again he asked for remote access.
I thought AVAST staff were not supposed to ask for remote access:
https://blog.avast.com/2014/02/20/dont-be-fooled-by-support-scams-get-real-support-from-avast/Weird enough the phone number I dialed seems to be the same number as indicated by AVAST in case of licence troubles. The guy also told me my AVAST premier had not expired and was still valid.
I refused remote access and did a "computer restore to a previous date" after which AVAST was working normally.
1) Why AVAST first told me via a pop-up that I needed to renew my subscription and forced me to pay?
2) How can I know that an AVAST rep is a genuine rep, especially after he refused to give his full name?
3) Has an AVAST rep the right to say a computer is outdated when it's less than a year old and gets regularly maintained?
4) Are we supposed to give remote access and what guarantees us the result of that...?
5) How do I get a refund?
6) Because the communication with the AVAST person was totally awkward I decided not to trust him and also canceled my credit card to anticipate further trouble...how to solve this mess?