Consumer-unfriendly Avast instruction email after purchase of product

[system]

Dear Julia Szymańska:

With your instructions, I have managed to insert the license-file-link into the product and receive a confirming message. And I’ve just double-checked; the installation is indeed licensed to me at my main email address.

But the process is neither exactly as you describe, nor is it at all what is described in the confirming email I received after I purchased the 2-year subscription.

I have been trying to complete the process ever since I received the email, 1/23/10 (today is 1/29/10), and I can tell you that the email’s instructions either are wrong or important information I needed is left out.

Double-clicking on the License.avastlic file link results in a pop-up “run” box that does not run, but results in the message “C:\documents and settings Ronald & Sharon local settings temporary internet file content IE5 S72B1G3H license [1] avastlic is not a valid avast license file.”

Since there no other instruction is offered, this instructional email results in a situation that perfectly describes “crazy”: repeating the same process over and over while expecting a different result.

This is not consumer-friendly.

I don’t know why the simple procedure described doesn’t work (I just tried it again – same result).

Your manual instruction did work, though it’s not as simple as your directions, there are interim steps.

This was going to be the last day. This morning I have been running a complete scan of my computer, preparing to unload the trial product and download the free product, after which I would have visited Pay Pal to request a credit for the price of the upgraded product I purchased but couldn’t license.

So you have saved your employer a bit of money, and I thank you for being kind enough to respond to my email.

BUT… though I like the Avast products we’ve used so far – many nice features – I am not at all happy about having wasted so many days trying to create a solution to the problem of not being able to license my new product because of instructions that don’t work.

This is not a consumer-friendly process, and the fact that I had to use the sales email help page to get an answer from a real person, having found nothing whatever on the Avast “help” or other pages, and not being inclined to spend days reading forum entries, forces me to the conclusion that this experience has been a travesty of “customer service”.

Please pass this complaint up the line.

I know the problems at the site have nothing to do with you and you are competent and helpful, which I appreciate, but I want to stress again, the whole procedure of marrying the license to the downloaded product needs rethinking and redesigning.

Thank you for your help. You deserve a raise.

Sincerely,

S.R.
aka “a not-so-happy customer”

[system]

I have no idea what this message is about.
I know nothing about ‘insert’ or ‘license file link into product’.
I have no time to read this or any other lengthy posts.
But I DO SEE some key words that apply to me:
“… process is (not) exactly as you describe…”
“… I have been trying to complete the process ever since I received the email … and I can tell you that the email’s instructions either are wrong or important information I needed is left out…”
“This is not consumer-friendly.”

Re my own problem, I hardly know where to begin.
Avast has found many viruses. But your instructions on how to process the viruses are not accurate. Your statements in your instructions do not match what I see on-screen. Things you say are there are not actually there. Options you say I can select are not really there. Buttons you say I can push (‘Apply’) are grayed-out/disabled. So in trying to apply the few options I DO see & CAN select don’t get done when I try to push the button.

ALSO:
Re your technical support. It’s absolutely DREADFUL. I can’t log in- you say I am not registered. I try to send my confirmation number, now you say I AM registered. Everything I try says some ‘Error occurred.’ and I can’t get my question found or asked or submitted. My experience here is truly awful. Even as I tyype this the screen jumps around; gives me ethings I don’t ask for; and hides what I tyope from me. I can’t see what I write!!!

@hazeleyes post:1

Dear Julia Szymańska:

With your instructions, I have managed to insert the license-file-link into the product and receive a confirming message. And I’ve just double-checked; the installation is indeed licensed to me at my main email address.

But the process is neither exactly as you describe, nor is it at all what is described in the confirming email I received after I purchased the 2-year subscription.

I have been trying to complete the process ever since I received the email, 1/23/10 (today is 1/29/10), and I can tell you that the email’s instructions either are wrong or important information I needed is left out.

Double-clicking on the License.avastlic file link results in a pop-up “run” box that does not run, but results in the message “C:\documents and settings Ronald & Sharon local settings temporary internet file content IE5 S72B1G3H license [1] avastlic is not a valid avast license file.”

Since there no other instruction is offered, this instructional email results in a situation that perfectly describes “crazy”: repeating the same process over and over while expecting a different result.

This is not consumer-friendly.

I don’t know why the simple procedure described doesn’t work (I just tried it again – same result).

Your manual instruction did work, though it’s not as simple as your directions, there are interim steps.

This was going to be the last day. This morning I have been running a complete scan of my computer, preparing to unload the trial product and download the free product, after which I would have visited Pay Pal to request a credit for the price of the upgraded product I purchased but couldn’t license.

So you have saved your employer a bit of money, and I thank you for being kind enough to respond to my email.

BUT… though I like the Avast products we’ve used so far – many nice features – I am not at all happy about having wasted so many days trying to create a solution to the problem of not being able to license my new product because of instructions that don’t work.

This is not a consumer-friendly process, and the fact that I had to use the sales email help page to get an answer from a real person, having found nothing whatever on the Avast “help” or other pages, and not being inclined to spend days reading forum entries, forces me to the conclusion that this experience has been a travesty of “customer service”.

Please pass this complaint up the line.

I know the problems at the site have nothing to do with you and you are competent and helpful, which I appreciate, but I want to stress again, the whole procedure of marrying the license to the downloaded product needs rethinking and redesigning.

Thank you for your help. You deserve a raise.

Sincerely,

S.R.
aka “a not-so-happy customer”

[system]

Wow, ummm…you certainly make it sound bad. Did you install Avast! on an already infected system? It is good at keeping you from getting infected but problems might arise from trying to use it to disinfect an already compromised pc.

Basic info helps troubleshoot your problem. What Avast! version are you using? What OS? Any other security programs installed on same pc?

This is the forum’s malware removal specialists guide, if you are badly infected you might want to give it a read>>http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=53253.0

Avast!'s company support aside, you have found the right place to come for help in this forum, full of knowledgeable users and monitored by Avast! team, willing to try to help.