Oh Why Symantec?

I always find it amusing when a big company starts doing whatever the hell they want and then get a slap on the wrist only to repeat the same mistake. Automatic renewals are great for those people who like just setting it and forgetting it, but for people who are more tech savvy it is simply annoying if you had planned on switching, in this case, anti-virus vendors. In my experience, once a company has charged you for a service it is a bigger pain to get them to do a charge back than it is to live with the annoying software for another year. This is one way that these companies keep their customers. These companies seem to think that if I charge a customer then that person will keep the service simply because it is a bigger pain to get the money refunded, remove the program, and then install the new anti-virus.

As far as anti-virus software goes, everyone needs it and some people do not realize the ramifications of not having the software. So, the result is that with these automatic renewals the "tech dumb" customers will remain protected. It a win win for the company and those types of customers. However, for people like me and those of us who are tech savvy it can just be a big pain. I personally think that Symantec is an ok company. My college campus has used their software for years and as a result I have as well. Often, though, I wonder why the university insists on paying for anti-virus software when they could get a product that is just as good through AVG or Avast (both are free anti-virus solutions).

For those of you who think that you get what you pay for that is true. These companies market their anti-virus software as free, but then they also have pay to use versions because those versions have more security and are the company money makers. The versions that you pay for are the free version plus other features such as email scanning and SPAM filters. I feel that anti-virus software should be free and if you want the extras then you should pay for the extras. However, I do not feel that software companies should charge your credit/debit card without notifying you at least 24 hours in advance, which is exactly what Symantec didn't do and why a class-action lawsuit has been served to them.