Hi, I have been a long term user of your products for 15 years now, I have always been pleased with your program and even managed to get your endpoint system installed at work.
I have noticed an annoying trend that you have of forcing other products on to people, either scanning peoples PC,s and telling them they have dangerous browser plugins Like Adobe… How can adobe be dangerous? and as an adobe user why would i want to replace it with your particular plugin that undoubtedly makes you money but is no use to me?
Also i would like to ask where you think you get off trying to piggyback other programs like chrome on to a paid for product installation? I can tolerate it on free stuff, but if ive paid for a product i dont expect that provider to try to sneak in other programs to clutter up my PC for their financial gain.
The last straw, (for im now looking for a new virus protection provider) is the persistent popup advising me that my subscription is about to expire… im not stupid… i dont have the memory of a gold fish… i dont need reminding 4 times a day that my companies virus protection is about to run out… Its my job to renew it and i will do it when it suits my workload not yours.
So what are you going to do to retain this customer??? anything?
I have noticed an annoying trend that you have of forcing other products on to people
avast is not forcing other products to people. It is the peoples own choice to get/install them or not.
either scanning peoples PC,s and telling them they have dangerous browser plug-ins Like Adobe....
The BCU is not saying it is a bad plug-in, it is saying it has a bad reputation amongst the avast users.
and as an adobe user why would i want to replace it with your particular plug-in that undoubtedly makes you money but is no use to me?
avast doesn't have a Adobe (compatible) plug-in.
If you are talking about the PDF plug-in.
It is very well known that for the last years it hasn't been free of serious security flaws.
Also i would like to ask where you think you get off trying to piggyback other programs like chrome on to a paid for product installation?
It is the users own choice to install Chrome (and set it as main browser) or not. avast is not forcing anyone to do so.
The last straw, (for im now looking for a new virus protection provider) is the persistent popup advising me that my subscription is about to expire... im not stupid.... i dont have the memory of a gold fish.... i dont need reminding 4 times a day that my companies virus protection is about to run out.... Its my job to renew it and i will do it when it suits my workload not yours.
Most people have no clue about when their license is about to expire, that is what the reminder is for. You can simply extend your current license.
You can really easy disable pop-ups in the settings.
Don’t blame avast if you haven’t done so.
Don’t blame the tree for being there if you drive into it.
Just want to point out, the Endpoint Protection products do not include the pop-ups and software updater. Those are features of the consumer products only.
I’ve noticed the same thing, I look like a jerk when I buy a product for a customer, only to have them call me and then tell me that their antivirus is telling them they’re not protected. These are tiny shops where you’ve got an office where there are say 4~5 computers and you don’t want to go the whole console route.
The other thing is that I noticed on a renewal from Nexway? (Who the hell is Nexway?) They tried upselling the customer on a remote troubleshooting package. To the tune of $170 some odd dollars in addition to the Avast renewal. After I heard this, it was the final straw.
I had decided to recommend Avast to my customers in the past after constant issues with McAfee and Symantec, at the time circa 2007 Avast was small, fast, and caught viruses.
Unfortunately their business model has morphed into something Frankenstonian and it’s time to find something different.
Here is my Frank Costanza’s list of grievances with Avast and why I’ll be recommending a different antivirus package.
Opt-In Billing. I visit a lot of customers who I might not visit again, or might not visit again in 2~3 years. I want to get them protected, and not have my credit card billed continuously. I don’t want to have to remember to opt out each time. Don’t take the cheezy way out and parasitically bill cards Avast, it’s just not classy.
License issues, whenever I want to merge or split, or add licenses I try and find a place to do this, I ask on the forums and I get replies from all sorts of RESELLERS who can do this for me. Uh no, I want the company I paid to be able to do this, and without having a bunch of third parties soliciting me for stuff. It’s plain ol unprofessional and smacks of hoakeyness.
Upselling on paid products, it’s one thing to upsell or bug the customer on a free product, but after paying for a product for 2~3 years and pestering the customer about additional features? Cmon Avast, that’s lame. Why are these “Features” on paid consumer products? I’ll find a solution that doesn’t annoy me after paying for it. As Donald Trump said, “Your fired!”
Partnering with creeps who try and foist dubious “services” on the customer. I had a customer (One of the ones who I don’t visit often) self renew their expiring Avast subscription. Somehow Nexway got involved and finding the renewal key was a nightmare. Not only that, but the helpful folks at Nexway offered to repair the customers registry (to the tune of 170 or so bucks) because that was also an issue their technicians had uncovered. Why Avast would partner with a company that does this kind of thing is beyond me. Just google Avast Nexway and you’ll see what I mean.
It seems like Avast is in a place where it wants to expand and offer all these features but is somehow mired in this morass of resellers, middlemen and cheezy business practices. This is why I just can’t recommend Avast any longer. It’s too much of a circus and I hear the calliope bellowing away any time I go near their website.
You can tell me till your blue in the face, that all I had to do was this, or this, or that to not experience the problems I’ve just recounted. But the funny thing is that I can spend my money with a professional, reputable antivirus company and not have to deal with any of the aforementioned issues either.
Yes that can be a pain, but a good Reseller will always go to bat for you and handle issues like this. I highly recommend buying from the reseller channel for this reason alone (Support).
For the future, look into the new (FREE) Avast for Business! Its a cloud based product for small businesses where you do not want to deploy the Endpoint Protection, and offers the same management.
