Symantec Customer Care Needs Total Overhaul
Updated: 21 May 2010 | 2 comments
Does anyone have any contacts at Symantec that is both empowered to correct licensing issues and also interested in customer goodwill? How are these people contacted?
Never in my experience as a network administrator have I dealt with a company that has made it so hard for a customer to purchase, license and activate their product. I won't even elaborate on the licensing portal issues.
I have talked with the Sales, Customer Care, VIP Renewals departments, and have had items referred to departments that are so ultra secret that even Symantec Customer Care agents do not have access to their phone numbers. I must say that most of the customer care representatives have been polite and have tried to help, but they are not empowered to fix the problems that we are experiencing. I am, however, still waiting to find someone at Symantec that will take complete ownership of the problem and will see it through to resolution. One individual has come close, but the jury is still out. Follow through has been weak.
I am embarrassed to say that I have spent almost two months, at least 20 hours on the phone and much more than 20 additional hours researching and corresponding via email. It is a real shame that so much of my time and also that of Symantec customer care agents' was totally wasted over a couple of hundred dollar discrepancy. Most companies would have apologized, corrected the issues, and written any discrepancy off as a loss in order to keep customer goodwill. In the long run, Symantec would have actually have been ahead to have resolved the issues in the beginning by freeing up the personnel resources for other tasks. Instead, Symantec has created a very frustrated customer and risks all current and future business of my institution.
The most complex problem deals with a BackupExec Exchange agent. Symantec and Veritas has collected three years of support for an agent that they now say was not available for upgrade. They are correct that the product had expired, but Veritas (before the Symantec purchase) was willing to reinstate the support. We purchased two years worth of support for each of our Veritas products - one for the current year and one for the following year. All products were documented correctly with the exception of the one lone Exchange agent. Symantec Customer Care agents have confirmed that we have purchased the support, but it was never applied to any product. I have real problems understanding how the Symantec databases could even allow product support be entered into the system without being associated with a product.
This agent upgrade is only one of the many problems that we are experiencing. Our reseller probably does not understand the Symantec order process. I don't know if Symantec understands the process.
- We have been assigned four or more accounts for our institution. A new account is created every time a purchase is made with a slightly different name.
- Many of our support contracts have not been properly matched to the appropriate product.
- Many expiring support dates are not correctly entered into the system.
My expectations are simple. I just want to the Symantec database to reflect the correct products and expiration dates for all items purchased.
Some of these issues are in process and may have already been resolved. No customer should have to experience the nightmare that I have been through these past two months.
I want to state, in closing, that my problem has not necessarily been with those individuals who have tried to help me. Athough follow up could have been much better, the system is broken -- it cannot be fixed -- it must be totally replaced.
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I apologize for the licensing ordeal and I'll do my best to try and assist you. Please check your private messages on this forum for information on how we can address your requests.
Thanks,
Dano Oliveira
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