McAfee, Symantec Agree to Change Renewal Practices

If you’re a subscriber to McAfee or Symantec’s security software, you’ve probably noticed automatic charges for renewals on your credit card, even when you didn’t request them. Look for that practice to change, now that the two companies have agreed to pay $750,000 in penalties after settling charges stemming from an investigation by New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo.

As part of the settlement, the companies must clearly disclose any automatic renewal programs, as well as provide easy and transparent methods for opting out of such programs.

The companies also must disclose how long they will provide updates before a charge is incurred, provide a refund to any customer who requests it within 60 days of being charged, and pay the Attorney General’s office $375,000 each in penalties to settle any claims made by consumers.

 “Consumers have a right to know what they are paying, especially when they are unwittingly agreeing to renewal fees that will not appear on their credit card bill for months,” said Cuomo. “In other words, no more hide the ball with renewal fees.”—William Dilella

Comments

[David]

Here it is October 2009 and I have just received such an automatic charge from Symantec with no notice or approval by me. Difficulty in resolving seems to still exist. Customer service number has recording stating that autocharge is to continue virus updating service until expiration date (in 3 months)! I was considering change at that time but I think this is partially designed to prevent that.

[Kathy]

I agree, too. The 1st commenter makes a good point also with the difficulty in contacting the companies. I have had very bad experiences with Symantec in this regard. As a matter of fact, I was unable to stop Symantec from renewing my account because I could not find a way to contact them. Thank you, New York State.

[Kelly]

I agree and feel that the computer/software industry has long taken advantage of their customers by burying disclaimers and automatically charging customer credit cards. Even when renewing after being a loyal customer for years it is difficult not to slip into a upgrade trap. While attempting to renew manually, you must step through multiple pages in a process that may not be consistent with the buyer's original request i.e. suddenly you see something that looks like free additional features you would get with your order and ultimately end up paying more. Most people find it too time consuming to contact the vendor to complain or to get their money back, due to the lack of phone contact information available (buried in hyper links) so they simply let it go.
As with truth in lending, there should be online truth in advertising.