Recently, I worked with a client to address several issues with his laptop. One of the issues was that he was seeing repeated warnings from his Avast antivirus/security software, suggesting that he needed to take certain actions.
As I worked with the machine, I discovered that he had at least eight separate subscriptions to various Avast products, most of which were of dubious value to him, several of which were duplicates (he was literally paying for two separate subscriptions for the same software on a single machine), and some of which hadn’t even been installed or activated.
This gentleman’s experience is unfortunately common. Many antivirus/security software companies bombard their users with all sorts of dire warnings, carefully calculated to juice sales of additional products and services. What set Avast apart, at least in this case, was how difficult they made it to cancel the subscriptions.
The client agreed to my suggestion of simply getting rid of all the Avast products, and replacing them with my preferred product, Norton 360. Uninstalling all the Avast products and installing Norton was pretty quick and simple, as I’d expected. But when it came to actually canceling all the Avast subscriptions is when the real fun began.
Avast thoughtfully provided a website where users could log in, view the status of all their subscriptions, update credit card information, etc. And each subscription had a link or button for cancellation, but when we clicked on it we simply were shown a screen informing us that we’d have to call customer service to cancel.
Of course, Avast isn’t the only company that makes it easy to sign up with a few mouse clicks for a subscription that automatically renews itself, but not so easy to cancel that subscription – it’s a common anti-consumer practice. Where Avast distinguished itself is in what they put me through when I called to cancel. After I identified the client and the subscriptions, and explained that we wanted to cancel all subscriptions, the customer service person assured me he understood what we wanted and that he could take care of it for me. So far so good. He then immediately, and with no hint of shame or hesitation, turned around and attempted to sell us yet another subscription. When I interrupted him and said “no, no, no – we want to cancel all subscriptions and NOT buy another one” he became very soothing, assured me he understood what I wanted and could take care of it for me. He then pulled the same stunt as before and pitched yet another subscription. In the end, at least four times in a row he went through the charade of saying he understood we wanted to cancel and would do that for us, and then immediately turned around and tried to sell us another subscription.
After many painful minutes of this abuse, he finally cancelled all the subscriptions, and I could finally end the call. The silver lining was that the client actually qualified for refunds on two of the subscriptions (since they’d been purchased or renewed within the prior thirty days).
So, the bottom line is this: If you’re in the market for antivirus/security software, I recommend looking elsewhere than Avast. Any company that shows the kind of disrespect that I was subjected to by Avast isn’t worthy of your business. And when you cancel, keep an eye on your credit card statements to make sure (a) you receive any refund you may be entitled to, and (b) you’re not charged again for a subscription you’ve already canceled.