Gnomie Ken Goldstein of Computer-Aided Technologies International, Inc. writes:

Aloha, Chris:

I just read the blog on the other poor sap who got burned by Symantec, and that prompted me to drop you a note.

My company had (not “has”) been a Symantec reseller since the early DOS days, 1986 to be exact. When Peter Norton was at the helm, I could expect almost real-time response to any problems with his software, via his toll-free number. But today, Symantec just isn’t worth the trouble to deal with.

I should first mention that I first started using computers in 1959, have my doctorate in Systems Engineering, and hold various professional certifications like MCSE and CNE. The major Symantec problems started arising with Norton AntiVirus 2005. As a computer consultant, I had always advised my clients to keep the latest version of NAV on their computers, usually through a suite like Norton SystemWorks, but after the first dozen panicked calls, I wasn’t blind enough to miss the pattern.

As I had not upgraded my own copy of NAV from 2004 at that point, I took one of my in-house computers (a Pentium 4 running Windows 2000 Pro) that was running perfectly with NAV 2004, and imaged it using Ghost. I then carefully followed every instruction that came with NAV 2005 and installed the upgrade. After several reboots, I found that the CPU usage was averaging 72 percent without anything else running. I then started in Safe Mode, where the CPU usage dropped all the way down to 70 percent. Hmm, big problem there.

I ran MSCONFIG, and double-checked that nothing unusual had been installed by NAV – nope, nothing at all. Just for grins, I did the same procedure on an old Pentium III laptop, but stopped when the CPU usage refused to go below 99 percent no matter what I tried. I decided to place a call to Symantec reseller technical support, and shouldn’t have been surprised when I eventually got a voice prompt to leave my company name and the reason for my call, as they were “experiencing high call volumes.” I waited for a few days, but after no response, I e-mailed a Symantec technician who I knew, gave her a brief explanation, and asked for a quick return call. Hoo-boy! Did that open the gates of hell!!

Within an hour, I got a call back from a person identifying himself as Symantec’s Director of Quality Control. But Mr. QC wasn’t calling to help solve my problem, oh, no – he was calling to tell me how uneducated I was, how my equipment must be completely faulty, and how I probably hadn’t even installed my operating system correctly or bathed lately. Being a martial arts instructor, Chris, I was torn between ripping him a new orifice (verbally or physically, his choice), or trying to get a word in edgewise. He finally ran out of vituperative phrases, and I asked him whether anyone else was having the same problems. He screamed that all the resellers he had spoken with so far were all as uneducated, etc. as I was, and slammed down the phone.

I guess I got my answer.

So I reinstalled everything on my P4 using the Ghost image, and found the CPU usage was down to its normal and expected 2-3%, running happily with NAV 2004. I then called back the dozen clients who had followed my recommendation to install the latest NAV, and told them that I would be happy to come by and remove all traces of Symantec products at no charge, and to install the free version of GriSoft’s AVG until we could decide on a permanent anti-virus solution.

You probably won’t be surprised, Chris, when I tell you that Symantec didn’t renew my master reseller contract, will you? Or how little I cared. Keep up the good work.

[tags]bad customer service, customer dissatisfaction, substandard service[/tags]