Sadly AVAST has gone the arrogant route of keeping as far away from their clients as possible with some concerning consequences from my experience - if anyone here can reach the unreachable please advise them of this.
I renewed my Avast Internet Security software for 3 computers on the 22nd May and got an email advising that it was successful. Activation was 1st June. Last night at 10pm I got a notice that my firewall had been turned off and the software program was not working. I went into the software and it showed that the program had expired. I went into my account on Avast.com and it showed that the renewal had taken place and I was now licensed till 2018 with 3 computers showing up. I clicked on the activation code and copied it, went back into my software and inserted it to be told there was an error. I repeated this several times same result, went to support and got sent to FAQ none of which addressed the issue. Eventually I rang the 24/7 number (it is now 11.30pm in Western Australia) and was told if I was out of the US I would be charged and went through the number responses only to be told to go to the FAQ section, I go back and search thru the website again even clicking on Contact An Agent where I am able to put in a support ticket (luckily) which I do knowing that it would be days if not weeks before I got a response from past experience - by this time I am getting very annoyed. I eventually rang the number again and was told it was a charged call since I was out of the US and I elected to go for Premium software support. I was put on hold… eventually a guy from the Philippines answered the phone got my verification details, got remote access to my computer telling me they were a Diagnostic Service. I explained what I had done and he just repeated everything eventually giving up and telling me to uninstall and reinstall the program - exactly what the FAQ had said. It is now 12.45 and I have been on a billed call for over half an hour. I duly did this and still the same problem. I rang the number again which was now a different number and this time I was not told I would be charged, a girl came on the call and we went through everything again repeating exactly what I had done, the other guy had done and she also had no idea what she was doing.
Now the game starts and it is 2am - On one of the lengthy waits while she is checking something (conferring with her associates) I go into my control panel, security and see that the new installed software that is now on trial is switched off even though it tells us it is activated. When she comes back I bring this to her attention. Now we have 2 problems. She tells me she will pass me to a AVAST technician who I will need to pay to fix up my computer - now I am concerned been there done that and got hacked. I tell her I will not be paying any technician I do not know to sort out a problem with an AVAST software program that had been working just fine up until the 10pm that night so forget that one and focus on getting the activation working, she was very insistent and the more she was insistent the more concerned I got. Eventually she said she would need to put in a support ticket to the billing area and when I showed her I had already done that with the acknowledgement ticket, her voice dropped and I stopped the call as it was now after 2am.
Something said to me to check my other computer which was an XP windows and when I did I had the same issues but this time I went into the protection part of the software and saw that all the shields had been switched off - I clicked on them and guess what - they switched on again including the fire wall. I did not need to pay a technician to do that now, did I?
I went back to my laptop and found the same thing, switched everything back on and went into the control panel and everything was on again. I then did further google searching and found information on the “passive mode” and what it does (I had never heard of it before so it must have sneaked in with an update) … as I run Malawarebytes software as well I did further research for conflicting issues and there were none reported on google as they do different processes.
What kind of support people were they, kindergarten kids or hackers. Surely if they were working for AVAST and were diagnostic people they would know their programs they would have picked up exactly what I stumbled upon and did and what I found out myself eventually from google. I am now really concerned that AVAST has either had their website hacked with their 24/7 customer service or they actually employ this level of support. Further they have had remote access to my computer, and have my ID details and accessed my AVAST account which is now showing only 1 device instead of 3 and that machine is not the one I was working on with them.
Issue is now - how do I get this problem sorted as I am only on trial version with one computer and the other 2 computers the programs are showing expired when they have been renewed as did my laptop before I uninstalled and reinstalled.
If the AVAST account is showing the programs have been renewed then I would deduce that the issue is between their website software & the program not communicating properly. Google would indicate that this is a common issue so whay has it not been fixed???
If anyone can get me to a human being that is actually efficient and effective in getting this sorted I would be very appreciative. My faith in the support ticket is not very strong for a timely response -
I will check back for a response to this just in case as I have not posted my contact details. Thanks for any help that is out there.
Jo :-[