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Antivirus Firms Short-Changing Customers

Posted by Soulskill on from the nickles-and-dimes dept.

Barence writes "Two leading security firms have been accused of ripping off customers by cutting short their antivirus subscriptions. AVG and Symantec are offering their own customers discounts on subscriptions via email or pop-ups, but the new subscriptions start immediately, 'short-changing' users who had months left on their existing deal. Both Symantec and AVG owned up to the practice, and said they had no plans to change their ways, instead advising their customers to upgrade as close as possible to the end of the subscription. However, the pair actively send out emails and pop-up messages that encourage customers to upgrade immediately."

14 of 205 comments (clear)

  1. It's all a scam by Monkeedude1212 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Honestly, I don't know what you get out of paying for these that you don't get out of free solutions.

    Has anyone ever had a controlled experiment where having the full paid for version of Symantec or AVG actually provided more security than their free counterparts?

    1. Re:It's all a scam by Machtyn · · Score: 3, Funny

      I think you're looking in the wrong places. Maybe you should advise them to use more hand sanitizer or to stay away from those street girls.

  2. Windows - Microsoft by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here's the best free anti-virus I have ever used on the Windows platform. And, it works better than Norton and McAfee.

    1. Re:Windows - Microsoft by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      it works better than Norton and McAfee

      Really setting the bar up high, aren't you.

    2. Re:Windows - Microsoft by socrplayr813 · · Score: 5, Informative

      Well that's a load of crap. I've used it on several XP installations with no problems whatsoever.

      Read the official requirements here:
      http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/resources.aspx?mkt=en-us&s=1#mainNav

      Find out what you need to know about installing and running Microsoft Security Essentials.
      Minimum system requirements for Microsoft Security Essentials

      Operating System: Genuine Windows XP (Service Pack 2 or Service Pack 3); Windows Vista (Gold, Service Pack 1, or Service Pack 2); Windows 7

              For Windows XP, a PC with a CPU clock speed of 500 MHz or higher, and 256 MB RAM or higher.
              For Windows Vista and Windows 7, a PC with a CPU clock speed of 1.0 GHz or higher, and 1 GB RAM or higher.
              VGA display of 800 × 600 or higher.
              140 MB of available hard disk space.
              An Internet connection is required for installation and to download the latest virus and spyware definitions for Microsoft Security Essentials.
              Internet Browser:
                      Windows Internet Explorer 6.0 or later.
                      Mozilla Firefox 2.0 or later.
              Microsoft Security Essentials also supports Windows XP Mode in Windows 7. For more information, see the system requirements for Windows XP Mode in Windows 7

      That covers pretty much any home installation, with surprisingly low resource requirements to boot. Get out, troll.

      --
      The confidence of ignorance will always overcome the indecision of knowledge.
    3. Re:Windows - Microsoft by interval1066 · · Score: 3, Informative

      And if your rather nervous about continuing to support the Microsoft Monopoly there's Avira, which I've been using for years for free.

      --
      Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
    4. Re:Windows - Microsoft by __aamnbm3774 · · Score: 4, Informative

      instead of opinions and conjecture, here are some numbers about which is better: linky

      Security Essentials is good, but I've been enjoying Avira without incident since this report came out.

  3. Best Buy also ripping off customers by spun · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I bought a laptop for my wife from Best Buy less than a year ago. Normally, I would never buy from them, but this laptop was on sale, and the best bargain we found. It came with a year long subscription to the horrible, horrible Webroot anti-virus program. Less than a year later, we saw a mysterious charge for $49.95 on the credit card we had used to purchase the laptop. Turns out Best Buy had thoughtfully resubscribed us, and only charged us a small fee for the service. Of course, I had uninstalled Webroot the moment we got the laptop home.

    We called the credit card company, and as soon as we said the words "best buy" they said "we'll reverse the charges, this happens ALL THE TIME." How is this not criminal fraud on Best Buy's part?

    --
    - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
  4. Re:Avast also by MrEricSir · · Score: 3, Informative

    You do realize there's a free version of Avast for home users, right?

    --
    There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
  5. Re:Stealing money via emai? by JonySuede · · Score: 4, Funny

    What are we paying these companies for again?

    protection ;)

    --
    Jehovah be praised, Oracle was not selected
  6. I have AVG free edition...almost definitely a scam by Dexter+Herbivore · · Score: 5, Interesting

    As the title of this post suggests, I have AVG free edition (yes, I know... it's bad). It's due to renew in 2 weeks with the new version. Amazingly, with only a short time to go on the free edition it detected a "generic trojan" for the first time (despite daily scans and relatively safe online behaviour) last week... just after the nag pop-ups started to appear. It recommended that I upgrade to the paid version. No online scan (eg. House Call from Trend Micro) seems to identify this heuristically detected "generic trojan" in my Sony-Ericcson phone management software. Convenient that it happens now, I thought. Guess who's switching to Avast? sarcasm Although maybe I should stick to this new version of Antivirus7... errrrr, I mean AVG. sarcasm/

  7. Not in my experience by DaveWick79 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    As a reseller of AVG, I have never experienced an upgrade license behaving in this manner.

    If the end-user is unintelligent enough to purchase a brand new license direct with AVG, of course they will get a brand new license that starts on the date they purchase it.

    However, if they renew an existing license, the license always renews from the existing expiration date, AND they often tack on a few extra days or weeks to the license. Even if they are renewing and also upgrading to a different version (say, Antivirus to Internet Security), the license is upgraded, they are charged the prorated upgrade price based on time left on the existing subscription, and then the renewal year(s) are added.

    So if you are getting short changed, it's your own fault, not the vendor.

  8. Re:Avast also by Beardo+the+Bearded · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You realize that MSE is tested as the best, lightest, cheapest AV solution available, right?

    I used to use AVG until it got spammy. Then I used Avast! until MSE came out and it tested better. (I use Linux and my brain as my main AV products...)

    --

    ---
    ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
  9. Story has been updated; companies now deny this by BBTaeKwonDo · · Score: 4, Informative

    http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/security/363322/updated-antivirus-firms-short-changing-customers says, "The two firms have now denied the claims"...