Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Outrageous Behavior By Norton Chat Tech

I suspect my computer to be infected with malware or spyware. I finally went to the Symantec site and sought help from Norton in a chat. I have Norton through Comcast.

My brother holds the account as my ongoing birthday present. This has presented problem after problem if I have any customer service issues. Comcast does not consider me their customer. My brother told me he did add me to the account, well over a year ago. Comcast says "No he didn't." I tend to believe my brother more than some stranger at Comcast.

So the issue rages on.

My chat with the Norton security rep froze up very quickly. He had requested my land line number and my cell number in case of disconnect. I thought that was slightly strange. He later called me, way later, a couple hours later, to say I'd need to pay to get further information or help. I said "Thank you, but no thank you." And hung up.

This morning, however, my cell phone rings. I haven't used the thing in days. Maybe a week.

I find it, finally and answer. It sounds a lot like "Bichu" the Norton tech guy--barely understandable Asian accent. He does not ID himself however as a Norton or Symantec employee, but rather wants to know if I have my laptop or PC on and that my system is virus infected and he needs access to my laptop. I don't have a laptop. I am freaked out at this point. This to me is a threat, a Norton employee calling me off hours, a man who had on the job access to my personal information from having access to my computer yesterday via the chat. Now why is he calling, to garner further information to rip me off? That is totally what I suspect. I ask again, for a name and reason he is calling. He again claims I have a virus and he needs access to my laptop and PC right now. I repeat my request for his name and company. He hangs up.

I am shaking by now with anger that Norton's own employees are engaged in such behavior and that a Internet security company is employing thieves and endangering its own customers. I try to find any way to contact Symantec or Norton, via phone, other than customer service, which takes hours to get through on, and only leads to some foreign country where the culprits work, in call centers.

I can find no phone number, just a couple of corporate Symantec e-mails. I e-mail a corporate in charge of Internet security. That's her title.

Then I call Comcast. The phone tree to find a human being is so branched out it takes a very long time and two calls to find a human amidst the branches.

Then it's the same old problem. I'm not really their customer. My brother is. They won't do anything for me, because I'm not their customer. The only thing they will do is transfer me to Norton. I ask if that will transfer me to some foreign country call center. She said it likely would, but to ask for a supervisor. Norton's customer service phone tree is shorter but they warn the waits are exceedingly long and why not go to their website instead and get help through a live chat.

Yeah right. Probably with "Bichu", who then will call you later to intimidate you into letting him back into your computer, which he's already trashed out and peered into, as a criminal employee of an Internet security company.

Of course, in the back of my mind, I have this shining hope always, in any shady encounter. I think, "Maybe he's some gallant young man in a foreign country who called me on his own time to scan and clean my computer." Then I think, "Yeah, right." And slap myself across the cheek a couple of times. My desire to find honesty and shining human behavior often outweighs my common sense and historical interactions. I have to slap myself to keep in the real world, which is a vicious jungle, not some fuzzy help old ladies across the street Mayberry land.

Goodbye Norton. I'm trashing you. You're off my computer now.

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