There were a couple of posts from a reader by the name of George who is just a bit upset about the way he has been treated by Symantec. Maybe others can comment and share their experiences, whether good or bad. George stated in his comments:

To PC users and IT professionals everywhere.

Here are 25 reasons to avoid using or dealing with Symantec.

1. visa billed 3x and no product provided.
2. ONLINE FRAUD!!!
3. Symantec online renewal automatically added items to purchase I did not order nor want.
4. Symantec tries to invade your privacy by sneaking in spy ware to its products.
5. SYMANTEC denies there is spy ware in its products, yet when pressed the knowledgeable people admit that this is routinely done!
6. even when you do not want the spy ware, Symantec states it is imperative that they access your computer via active x-control, and their hidden spyware
7. active x-control – Symantec tries to sneak this in via their downloads. They should know better, but they make huge efforts to hide this
8. there are no viable contact phone numbers on their products nor web site to speak to a person who will provide any sort of help
9. after Symantec takes your money, the best that they offer is to charge more money to your credit card to PAY for customer service which is easily one of the worst in the corporate world – anywhere. The whole concept is that the customer service would not be necessary of Symantec were honest and above board.
10. Symantec makes huge efforts to take your money and NOT deliver a product or service.
11. the only way I found a valid phone number was in the yellow pages.
12. customer service at Symantec head quarters, was a private security guard answering phones. He very clearly expressed is frustration at having to field similar calls all day long from other clients who have also been ripped off, then treated poorly, dishonestly and shoved aside.
13. Symantec knowingly and deceptively takes your money and then blocks all attempts at getting a refund or service for their sloppy or is it fraudulent products service offerings
14. in trying to sort this out I have been transferred and put on hold 19 times.
15. if you are lucky enough to get a customer service rep. they act real stupid and pretend that they have never heard of this problem before , and they state that they are the supervisor, or even dept. manager.
16. Symantec customer service reps refuse to identify themselves, their bosses, and most important any form of reference for follow up.
17. Typically after holding 30 minutes or more ‘due to unexpected call volume” – which seems to be the case as far back in time anyone I spoke to, about the severe service shortcomings at Symantec, you get transferred to a deadline or they simply just hang up.
18. typical answer from call center. ‘not my job’,,, never heard of that’, someone will get back to you . and always they want your credit card number to charge at their leisure, not guarantees, just blatantly phoney promises and more sales pressure.
19. promises from Symantec staff claiming to be supervisors and dept managers have been found to be 100% false. Symantec had ever followed through on a customer service promise to solve a problem and call back within the 15 minutes to 48 hours range they state.
20. Symantec cannot be trusted.
21. after being transferred to 7 different numbers, and 17 different people, and put on hold for up to 2 hours and 52 minutes, I finally got a person on the phone who refused to identify himself.
22. Most of the staff were in a far off country. they had extremely poor communication skills. Sloppy English, thick accents, and to the person – very poor listeners. They sounded like a sweat ship full of used car salespersons knowninlgy flogging products and services that are not as advertised, substandard, or simply non-existent (customer service, refunds, tech help etc)
23. typical answer summed as follows; after several hours of denials, transfers, and out right lies, you get a person who can barely communicate. They will only talk to you if you give them more money first.
24. They always refuse to escalate any issue. To the person they have provided only broken promises and in many cases outright lies about the products and services.
25. the over paid executives at Symantec or ‘never available’ do not have names, are always in hiding, You cannot find a person at Symantec willing to commit their job to keeping a promise. They take your money anonymously and hide behind huge bureaucratic barriers to avoid having to take any responsibility for the false advertising, broken promises and outrageous lies made by their staff.

George later added this:

Is there someone who wants to start a class action. i’ll be first to sign up. Symantec is crooked to the core. those responsible should be jailed.

Comments welcome.

Original posting of comments are here.

[tags]symantec, reader, upset, treatment, [/tags]