It is still doing it

[CatherineE]

After doing the reinstallation of McAfee and removing Spybot, I watched my newest update download automatically today around 3:21 CST. After the download was finished, it had the little popup that said it had downloaded the upload. A minute after that, it said my computer was not protected. I watched it for another minute and did nothing, and then it went back to showing it was protected, without my ever having clicked "fix."

I'm not sure if it would have done this the other times if I did not click fix. Maybe the protection is up and it is just giving the unprotected message as an error? If not, my computer was vulnerable for a couple of minutes before going to "fixed" status.

I do wish McAfee would pursue this and reassure users of what is going on. I'm about ready to switch to Norton.

[kahekili]

And my husband is recommending that I switch to Norton (which his office uses). I've been with McAfee for years, and have never had anyone be so unresponsive as this latest chat session!

[silverhawk]

------------------------------------

[lazarskip]

The window stating I wasn't protected began appearing in March, maybe once or twice a week. It's just an irritation to need to keep reminding the software, 'Yes I am current'. I finally tried the on-line support but they shut me down after maybe 15 minutes - I thought it was because I didn't type fast enough...

I installed and ran Virtual Technician and it tells me it can't check my computer and it can't find McAfee products.

???

[CatherineE]

After two chat sessions and two email letters, asking that this issue be escalated to Tier 2, I got this back in my email. The phone number they gave me to contact is not a valid number and they made NO attempt to research the issue.

Anyone have any ideas or email/snail mail addresses of actual executives at McAfee? I'm really stunned that they get away customer service this poor. I worked in telecom for five years and troubleshoot fiberoptics, and we always had open tickets on known issues and could at least update a customer on what was going on!

From: McAfee, Inc. (noreply@mcafee.com)
Sent: Apr 25, 2009 6:39:58 AM
Subject: Re:Escalation (#6356-132311322-4826)

Dear Catherine,

Thank you for contacting McAfee Customer Service.

I understand that you would like your issue to be handled by our supervisor.

I feel that this issue would be best addressed by my supervisor and therefore I am escalating this to my Tier 2 customer service team. Our escalation team will be in touch with you within next 24 hours via e-mail.

I would like to apologize for the inconvenience this might have caused you. However, this is been done to ensure that you get an appropriate resolution for the issue.

Your Service Request number for this incident is 292822162. You can quote this number in your further contacts.

Please include your previous correspondence when you reply to this e-mail.

For all of your Customer Service and Technical Support needs, please visit http://service.mcafee.com

Sincerely,

Saranya D
McAfee CS-Tier 1

*****************************
April 25, 2009
Dear Catherine,

This is Mohamed the supervisor here.

I have reviewed your case and I understand that your computer is not protected and also you are getting security threats.

I see on your account that you are getting McAfee products through Cox so I would request you to contact them. Please contact McAfee support for Cox customers at 1-800-234-3993 in order to solve your issue; a team has been specifically set up to assist you with your issues.

I would like to thank you for your patience and understanding on this issue.

Please include your previous correspondence when you reply to this e-mail.

For all of your Customer Service and Technical Support needs, please visit http://service.mcafee.com

Sincerely,
Mohamed. M
McAfee CS-Tier 2

That's bad when the help number they give you is 1) with your ISP, not them and 2) IS NOT A VALID NUMBER.

!!!!!!!!!!!!

So frustrating. I'm more annoyed by the lack of anyone actually trying to help me than anything else. Anyone know anyone at PC World or CNET? They give McAfee pretty good online reviews, but I wonder if they have done any online articles on customer service yet? If we all wrote, it would be interesting to see if getting online software reviewers to look at this situation would make a difference...

[dougbroda]

Shuts off at least daily re real-time scanning. Have removed and reinstalled (following all instructions) twice. I'm gonna have to try tech support eventually, even if that's not exactly promising based on what is here.

[CatherineE]

I decided to quit asking for supervisors and go to the top. I think it would make an impression if everyone having problems and wondering if this problem is being addressed would email him since we're getting form letters and the old "reinstall" schtick from customer support. It's a shame it can't be handled without escalation, but it's been a month and this is ridiculous. It's also dangerous given the Conficker virus and other viruses out there to have security turning itself off if you're not standing right by your computer to monitor it! Enough is enough. You guys do what you want, but there is strength in numbers, so I encourage everyone with this problem to forward it to the top.

The email address of McAfee CEO David DeWalt is 'ceo@mcafee.com.' He also has a blog:
http://siblog.mcafee.com/?p=106

Below is my letter I sent him:


Dear Mr. DeWalt,



Congratulations on your new position with McAfee! You are brave to put your email out there for people to contact you, and I wouldn’t do this except I’m desperate for customer service assistance, as are multiple users you can see in the McAfee forums, and emailing CS and chat support is doing us no good. This correspondence on this email attached below, as well as the two .txt chat transcripts I saved, detail a problem I’ve been having since April 1st (other users noticed the problem in March) and the lack of response save form letters, advice to uninstall/reinstall (which doesn’t fix the problem) and the latest, giving me an invalid number to call (and trying to blame my ISP).



The problem in a nutshell: multiple users are reporting, along with myself, that since late March, starting with version 9.3, the security updates would download and the user gets a popup saying they have been downloaded and installed. Next, the McAfee icon says the user is unprotected with computer files and email. This lasts until the user clicks “Fix” (if they are lucky enough to be watching when this occurs) or after a few minutes, the message simply vanishes.



My question is: is this a known glitch in your security software and is my security really being turned off and my computer left vulnerable when updates are coming in, then switched back on? As you know, if true this would be a great opportunity for hijackers to exploit.



I’ve worked in telecom for five years, and when we troubleshot issues, we were NOT allowed to brush off customers in the manner your staff does. I thought you should view for yourself what it is like when users try to get help from your staff. I hope this email reaches you. I’ve been happy with McAfee up to the point when this problem started and I could get no one to tell me what was going on. I hope you are serious when you say on your blog “things will be different now” and that you can get someone to look at this issue. I don’t want to have to switch and buy new software if I don’t have to, or even make good on my threat to contact PC World and CNET to see if I can catch McAfee’s attention (I just now found your email address, so I’m hoping I need go no further with this).



Thank you for your time, and I hope you can help me and all the other users out there with identifying and resolving this security problem.



Sincerely,



Catherine E,

Frustrated McAfee user

Former telecom tech

[CatherineE]

I did get a phone call today from a very nice tech (in the United States, which was nice) and who assured me this is a known issue with McAfee and that while the popup message states the computer is unprotected for a few minutes, it is not actually turning off. They are aware of it. He wasn't sure when it would be resolved, but he said he was going to speak with management about finding some way to notify people of these known issues.

Hope that helps anyone else going through similar problems. I did get an 800 number to call, 866-622-3911.

I shared with him what going through the chat/email system trying to get customer support is like, and he said they are going to address that too, so hopefully it will not be as frustrating trying to get help in the future.

[kahekili]

Thank you, CatherineE for letting us know about this. My "chat" with the online tech made me feel that perhaps I had 'stoopid' tattooed on my forehead. Nice to know it's not so. I watched an update do its thing this afternoon, and immediately afterward the "you're not protected" popup showed its ugly face. I "fixed" it. Glad to know (I think) that the popup is inaccurate. (Makes me wonder just what else is inaccurate in McAfeeWorld...). Let's hope the telephone tech wasn't giving you McAfee's version of "I'm from the government and I'm here to help and oh by the way the check is in the mail."

[LauraCr]

Catherine, Many thanks for taking the time to post your adventures in attempting to get a simple software issue resolved. I note that this all happened for you last April. It is now 31st July (almost August) and this started happening for me yesterday. It continues this morning. McAfee have certainly not contacted customers in the intervening 4 month to advise of the problem. Furthermore I absolutely do NOT believe them when they say it 'appears' to switch off. If it tells you its off, its off - otherwise how on earth can you believe anything else it says ? When it says there is no virus, does that mean that there reallly is one ? It turns off for me every half hour or so and based on everything I have read here, I am not even going to bother trying to resolve this with McAfee as it all appears to be so much time-wasting for no result.

It is time that this customer of 4 years standing took her business elsewhere, somewhere where the customer is treated with respect.

Thank you again Catherine
Laura