McAfee

Hi Robin, and welcome.

Unfortunately most if not all computer manufacturers ship their systems with 3rd party software included (Google, Skype, Norton, Mcafee etc.). In doing so they receive a fee from these companies, which would be nice to believe helps reduce the cost of the computer to the customer :emotion-2:.

As for the automatic antivirus renewal, this policy seems to be commonplace these days, not just with McAfee, but others too such as Norton and ZoneAlarm. I certainly with you on this and find the whole practice quite sneaky indeed.

Some related links for you:

http://windowssecrets.com/comp/070517

http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2009/06/11/symantec_mcafee

http://service.mcafee.com/FAQDocument.aspx?lc=1033&id=CS40083

http://www.symantec.com/support/AR_enrollment.html

Welcome to the forums Robin :emotion-21:

McAfee, without any reference, debited my credit card by £50 to "extend" my licence.

:emotion-3:  How did they get your card details, to enable them to do that????

How can we get around this problem?

We're never going to stop system builders from pre-installing McAfee trial software - that's for sure!

McAfee obviously have a monopoly with major system builders, 'coz I've just bought my youngest son an Acer Aspire laptop, which also has McAfee IS pre-installed on it!

So the simple answer to your question is... don't give them your card details in the first place, then they can't possibly extend your subscription without your knowledge :emotion-55:

Well I was stupid enough to renew once!   I will not do it again.   In fact I think the whole thing tantamount to defrauding me as a consumer.   That is why I am so angry about it.

I only found out by accident that they had done it.   Rather amusingly my spam filter had junked their email informing me that they had extracted £50 from my credit card.   When I read it I thought it was a wind up.

Trying to get it rebated was a major pain in the back side.   They go out of their way to make it difficult.  The email they send to you comes from a "no reply" and no email addresses are listed on their web site.   Even when I got through to a live person they were totally unapologetic.

It all smacks of very sharp practice.   A classic example of a big business with no interest in the customer beyond extracting as much cash as possible form their wallet.

May their business decline and die.   It deserves to!

NB Dell is also not good at providing a human face...   But so far everything has run smoothly

Robin:

You actually granted McAfee the right to automatically renew when you paid by credit card, when you accepted the End User License Agreement, which is a contract.

Excerpt from their EULA:

 If you have provided McAfee with a valid credit card number or an alternate payment method, your subscription will be automatically renewed (and charged to the account you have provided) for another term at the expiration of your current term, whenever your local regulations allow, for a fee no greater than McAfee´s then-current price, excluding promotional and discount pricing. The new term will be for the same duration as the expired term unless otherwise specified at time of renewal. This renewal will be processed (and your card charged) within 30 days prior to the expiration of the term and each anniversary thereafter. If you do not desire to have your subscription automatically renewed, you must, prior to the expiration of your subscription term, inform McAfee of your intention not to renew your subscription to the Software.

From: http://home.mcafee.com/Root/AboutUs.aspx?id=eula

It's a despicably sneaky practise. Moral of the story: always read the EULA!