Symantec Support Gone Rogue?

DigitalDame2 writes "PCMag Security Analyst Neil Rubenking has always praised Symantec's tech support. Lately, though, a number of readers have reported problems with chat support, so he investigated. Rubenking was trying to install Norton 360 version 3.0 on a malware-infested system when the computer crashed with a blue screen error. He connected with Symantec tech support and was told that they could fix the problem, but for a fee of $100! (Here is the transcript and screen-captures of the chat.) Even more, Symantec support suggested that he use a malware-removal tool that wasn't even made by Symantec."

Re:Maybe it wasn't Symantec Support???

[Urd.Yggdrasil]

It appears that he did from the screenshots. You can see in the background his desktop has that sort of "OMG YOUR INFECTED, BUY OUR PRODUCT" type text that rouge AV products use to scare people.

I suppose they're helping.. Kinda?

[jmello]

As a general rule when working with badly infected systems, the only guaranteed way to get it working again is to nuke and reinstall. Symantec is, I suppose, doing them a service by trying to help, but if a system is too far gone to allow Norton to be installed, it's most likely too far gone to save. Every client of mine that insists on going through the motions about not wanting to pay for a data backup or to get all of their programs reinstalled signs a waiver that states that I offer no warranty on the system or any of the work done on it. Surprisingly enough, most of the systems I get that are so bad that they require a nuke and reinstall were running Norton to begin with.

Re:Professional services cost money

[Varzil]

>>"The computer was simply too infected to allow the Symantec software to install." It's always wise to actually *READ* a story before commenting on it. One seems smarter that way! Those who read the story know that Norton's CD-boot "Norton Recovery Tool" was completely capable of cleaning up the system to the point where N360 would install.

this still happens?

[Gothmolly]

People still get malware, and still use Symantec products?

Re:Another outsourcing tragedy?

[rob1980]

Symantec did just outsource a bunch of their support. I wonder if they'll reconsider the move.

I was employed by a call center company to do tech support for a large ISP many years ago, and one summer they opted to get a second call center going down in Texas. Within a week there were at least one or two incidents where hard drives were reformatted just to fix stupid dialup errors, or something else went horribly wrong. Naturally, those incidents had to be reported to the company we were working for, but by no means they were going to terminate the contract they had just signed.

The short answer is no. They'll take that incident and use it as an "opportunity for training" to make sure it doesn't happen again.

Re:You get what you pay for

[ScrewMaster]

inux isn't popular because it's a fad. It's popular because it's a successful alternative that doesn't allow remote control by the bad guys.

Neither does Windows if you have a clue. The problem is, most users don't.

MS

[Joebert]

That's not as bad as the experience I had with Microsoft Tech support recently, I would have been happy if they tried to sell me something that works. My question was

I want to know if Windows XP Home will run on my AMD64 system before I open the box my neighbor bought and can not return it to the store

No matter how I tried to explain that, the only answer I received was that "Windows can only be installed on one computer per license".

I ended up getting soo frustrated that I swore at the guy on the phone and hung up on him before returning the copy of Windows and just going with Ubuntu instead.

Re:It could be worse

[mysidia]

I think it's pretty apparent that there's no way Symantec could afford to provide an engineer to "fix" all users' PC issues for them (caused by malware or not) that were so severe the software couldn't be installed, beyond giving basic generic advise.

The software would have to be much more expensive, if such help were included with it.

Their product is a cure for infected PCs, within bounds.

It will do just that, so long as the PC isn't broken such that symantec software cannot successfully be installed and run on the equipment without expert assistance.

If someone bashes down your front door, so you go buy a new high-security lock for it.. lock product advertised as "keep the bad guys out of your house"

Do you call up the lock manufacturer when the bad guy stays there and stands directly in front of the door in order to prevent you from installing it?

If something about your door prevents the lock from being installed easily, do you expect the manufacturer to pay for the locksmith to come over, figure out how to install it, and make it do what it needs to for you?

Perhaps if something's wrong with the electrical current that feeds your computer, the computer manufacturer, or the UPS manufacturer, should have to send an electrician, at their expense.

Why should it be any different, when the support issue is being caused by something unique about your PC, that you _did_ to mess it up, before bringing their product in? hmm....

Re:It could be worse

[roblarky]

I used to be a die-hard NAV fan. But last year I got infected while NAV was up to date and running with one of those bastards that's damn near impossible to manually clean. I eventually was able to remove it, got rid of NAV, installed AVG Free, right-away it identified the infected file on its first scan.

B-bye Norton.

Not to mention, I felt NAV's presence, I can never even tell AVG is on my system at all.

Re:It could be worse

[canUbeleiveIT]

The real problem with any security software is the old EYE DEE TEN TEE error. Consider the following scenario:

User (thinking to himself): I sure would like to whack off to some girl-on-elephant porn!
User finds and clicks the link for girl-on-elephant porn.
Security software: "H4xor696969Bestiality.exe is requesting permission to infect your computer, anal rape you and reduce your home to rubble. Allow or Deny."

So, what's Joe Computer User going to do? You *know* what he's going to do. And when he brings his computer to you to be fixed, he won't tell you what happened either. In ten years of fixing computers, I have only had two customers admit what they did.

Re:Professional services cost money

[cduffy]

After this comment, this person is not getting anything free from me. Paid product or not.

Then it's a good thing you don't do tech support -- letting comments the customers make do anything other than roll off your back is a good way to be thoroughly overstressed for the duration of your very brief employment.

(In a former life, I handled L4 support escalation when not working on development of the product, and spent plenty of time in the support office listening to L1/L2 folk on the phones. Customers don't call support unless something's wrong, and when something is wrong they tend to be angry -- fact of life, that).