Every time my husband or parents have to update their Norton Anti-Virus subscriptions I get irate. Their upgrade process is so confusing and I am confident that iit s inentionally designed to get people to buy more than they need when they upgrade. For example, when Rich gets into the upgrade path from NAV 2003 it shows him only three options: 1) update NAV2003 subs for $24.95 with no more tech support, 2)update to NAV 2005/ PasswordMinder bundle for $39.95 or 3) a 3-pack of NAV 2005. There is no link anywhere on that page to find any other options. He doesn’t need Password Minder. So instead we go directly to the Symantec site and choose Products then Upgrades. We say we have NAV 2003 and want to upgrade. It shows us our options. NAV2005 and Norton Internet Security. In the NIS block it says “protect yourself from x y and z viruses” as though you get that with NIS and not with NAV. Additionally, NIS basically does what Windows Firewall does, doesn’t it?
In the grid showing differences it does not have “windows 2000/NT/XP” checked for NAV 2005 but it does for the other. I patiently make my way through to order the upgrade to NAV 2005 with subscription and it’s only $5 more than renewing the NAV2003 subscription. That’s cool. Then it shows him another option – renew for 2 years, not just one, for only $5 more. That’s good. We won’t have to go through this nonsense again for 2 years. Then the checkout screen finally arrives and it is $41.95 instead of $35.95. They ahve added a 60 day download option in case I don’t download it today. I uncheck that and update the cart back to $35.95.
This is just SO aggravating and they have used this trickery for years. Remember when you bought the program and paid $3.95/year for virus subscriptions? I know there are SO many more viruses for them to keep up with and I don’t have a problem with paying more for the virus subscriptions. But it ticks me off that it’s this confusing for someone like me – imagine what an average home user goes through.
www.acehaid.org