WARNING: McAfee is a SCAM - AVOID!

[HonestCustomer]

A few years ago my father had McAfee Anti Virus installed on his PC, it was slowing down his PC too much so I removed it and installed a different brand of anti-virus software.

He tried to cancel his subscription, emailing different McAfee addresses, but they would always tell him it was the wrong address. My father isn't very computer literate, but McAfee had made it as difficult as possible to find out how to cancel their subscription, they had hidden it away in an obscure location, which I eventually found for him when he told me about it.

Anyway, he wrote to their head office, explaining that McAfee had been taking £50 per year for software that was not installed, but they refused to pay it back, despite the evidence of him having tried to cancel using various different McAfee email addresses. They have refused to pay, time and time again.

We have given up on them now, but now it's time to warn other people of what's going on. These people do not care about their customers, they do not believe in giving back money that is yours. They are clearly being run by people who do not care about whether you have their product installed, but just about billing your bank account.

I'll be spreading this message far and wide on the Internet, to ensure that they lose many thousands of $'s, when all they had to do in the beginning is just be fair and give my father his small sum of money back.

[HonestCustomer]

By the look of things, there are 1000's of other people who have had the same experience

Something needs to be done about this, we need to get BBC Watchdog involved, the company should be fined for this criminal behaviour, people need to lose their jobs.

Edited April 19, 2012 by Maurice Naggar
external link McAfee site advisor removed

[David H. Lipman]

Would you like some cheese to go with your whine ?

[AdrianH]

It didn't occur to you to cancel the payments at the bank when the software was removed?

[DarkSnakeKobra]

Also why the heck are you posting about this here? Malwarebytes has nothing to do with McAfee and is not a complaint forum. Probably better to post on their forums.

McAfee is a legiment business. Is widely used and preinstalled on many new computers.

[prebben]

I don't use this AV because i find it bad, it doesn't help anyone.

[noknojon]

By the look of things, there are 1000's of other people who have had the same experience

You cannot make silly claims like this without 100% proof, and I have found that they are just like the many A/virus companies that offer a program for you to select from, if you wish to - I do not think any person forced your father to select this program from the large range available -

For money to be changing hands, he must have agreed to purchase a contract with the company for xxx months or years and that contract is usually legally binding for the term agreed to -

Ranting on unrelated sites will never change this, and I personally think AdvancedSetup should Lock this pointless thread -

[GT500]

If a company has taken money without providing a service, then you need to contact a lawyer and have them give that company a call. Posting about that company on random forums doesn't really help accomplish a whole lot, as the majority of people will dismiss your story (or simply dismiss you).

I am not a fan of McAfee, however they have been owned by Intel for a little while now (has it been a year yet?), and like many I have hopes that Intel will fix some of the major flaws in McAfee.

[exile360]

I agree with GT500 on this, and I'll also note that McAfee does what is called 'auto-renewal' for their subscription, meaning that, unless you contact them and tell them not to, each year they will renew your subscription and automatically charge your account. This is something they notify you of in the documentation you're provided when you purchase, and likely before doing so as well (for example, I knew about it even though I am not a McAfee user as I recall reading it on their website).

Many security software companies are doing this these days, as it is convenient for their customers, assuming their customers have not chosen to switch security software providers as it saves you, the customer, the trouble of having to keep track of when your current subscription is up, and then having to purchase a renewal for another year to keep your protection active.

[Rusrog]

The complaints against McAfee are the same ones that everyone has agasint the cable company, cell phone providers, most AV providers, the list goes on... They have more people in sales than they ever will in support or Cust Service. It's just the way of business these days.

Personally, I've been fairly impresed with McAfee. They seem to react as quickly as anyone to threats and their tools, like anyone elses', can be tuned to protect but can also be set to drag down speed to a crawl. It's all in the config.

[dayloncray45]

Well you all sound like Mcafee stock holder to me, Mcafee is a "SCAM " and you know it, I brought a brand new computer (PC) it coast me 500$ with tax and right away I stared getting pop ups from Mcafee saying I had a virus and my computer was going to crash within so many minutes if I didn't pay them 400$ to stop it,  they gave me a state side  PH number to call and I got a man in India, his name was  ahmed or something, So being naïve at the time I let him come into my computer and he stuck all kind of spy ware in my computer.  And I said I did not have 400$ and he said well give me 300$ and I told him I just got thru paying 400$ to buy it, and he said ( FOR U I MAKE DEAL, GIVE ME 250$). AND AT THAT POINT I GOT VERY UPSET AND I SAID, I make deal with you, give me 100$ and I let you kiss me ass. At that point everything went south, and to this day I still get their pop ups, not as many but I still get them. so I took my computer to school and let my instructor look at it, who teaches computers by the way, and he said there trying to screw you over, and he took out the spyware. So not long after that I started getting more Mcafee pop ups so I took it to my buddy who has a IQ of 130 and use to be the manager of Geek Squad at Best Buy. and a bachelors of (IT) as well.and as soon as I said Mcafee he said get rid of them. "SCAM"

[David H. Lipman]

This topic is 4 years old and just 2 years after Intel Corporation purchased McAfee.

As an old topic, there is no reason to dredge it up.  If you sincerely want to discuss McAfee AV software, please start your own thread.