ESET Support is Horrendous

I only use "horrendous" in the title as anything else would be frowned upon in pleasant company. As quick background, I'm an American living in Japan with a 2-year subscription that is about to run out on 12 Oct. When attempting to renew for an additional 2 years, here's what happened.

- 16 Sep: Go to ESET, go to the "Purchase" page, and get a redirect to the "host country page" which, since I live in Japan, is in Japanese. No back link to an English page, I guess no thought was put into that. So, shoot off an e-mail to ESET informing them of this problem and requesting a solution.
- 20 Sep: Get a response from ESET e-mail support, which within 4 days appears to be better than most from the threads I've read, saying I have to call for the problem to be handled. Hmm, I live in Japan and an international call adds to the cost of my subscription which I'm trying to avoid. I e-mail back stating I'd prefer an Internet solution to avoid the added expense, isn't this possible?
- 23 Sep: Get a response from ESET. No, you have to call. Please contact us as soon as possible.
- 29 Sep: Call ESET my next day off. My Monday is their Sunday, and they're closed on weekends. I guess the e-mail stating "contact ASAP" failed to mention there are actual office hours to do so. Money wasted on that call.
- 8 Oct: Next chance I have to call from Japan to meet ESET office hours results in a somewhat limited wait of 10 minutes on hold, which, of course, I'm paying for. Friendly gal takes my credit card info, all seems good until I get an e-mail stating my credit card wouldn't go through. It seems, even though I ordered through ESET on-line 2 years ago using this same credit card and address, their credit card processing no longer recognizes military "AP" addresses, and I'm instructed to call back a THIRD time to rectify the problem. Gal answers quickly and is again friendly and helpful, says she will forward this problem to a technician to resolve. Money again spent on two international calls, still no ESET renewal.
- 9 Oct: still no resolution, so send an e-mail requesting status.
- 10 Oct: still no ESET renewal and no response to my e-mail, so call internationally for a FOURTH time. The rep pulls up my info and says it's "being worked" and if not resolved by the next day to CALL AGAIN. I state I don't want to have to do that as these calls are costing me money and adding to my renewal price. God bless him, he's quite understanding and assures me this problem will be resolved. But, he advises me, if it's not please call us back.

Unfortunately, I'm out the door for early work at 0400 on 11 Oct and unable to call ESET. Come home hopeful of a response from ESET and two new years of anti-virus protection, the crickets are chirping.

So, now it's the weekend which ESET doesn't work, my subscription runs out tomorrow, and after 3-plus frustrating weeks and multiple contacts with ESET support via e-mail and phone I have no renewal. OK, I'll be honest, I'm pretty ticked off about this. Not only is their Web renewal process hosed for Americans living overseas (never, ever had this happen to me before, there's always a back link), the exact same credit card I used 2 years ago, as I previously stated, is no longer recognized. What gives here? I really don't wish to switch away from NOD32 as I'm comfortable with this product; plus, I really don't want to go through the hassle of finding something else and trying to uninstall one anti-virus product and installing another. Just give me my renewal already, OK?

Am I asking too much here, or seem out-of-line?

Thank for listening to my rant.

Randy

 

There is lots of other products that may work better for your location.
Besides, i wouldn't even bother from the point where you had to call them for the first time. You could most probably get a full license for those phone expenses...

 

If you still want to renew your license, here's a direct UK link so that you can avoid Japanese... Any further calls are total waste of money.

 

Hello,

what about this page?

 

Thanks for the responses thus far, they're very much appreciated. Kosak, I tried your link, it took me straight to the Japanese page, unfortunately. doktornotor, I tried your link as well, but my subscription info wasn't recognized. Maybe it's based on country of the original subscription?

Well, my NOD32 subscription ends at midnight, maybe around noon tomorrow if the license is based on U.S. time zones. This is just so unfortunate, and much more complicated than it needs to be. What a joke ESET seems to be, especially since I've received no response or commiseration from any ESET reps that may be on this board.

 

This one may work for u,

http://www.betterantivirus.com/

It's US based but i recall reading other threads here where folks have purchased or renewed from other countries.



snowbound

 

Thanks, snowbound for the link, which seems to be a plausible option; however, ESET has my credit card info and I don't wish to place concurrent orders until I have resolution from ESET. But, if I don't have resolution by the end of the week, I'll cancel my order from ESET and try to order from the link you provided (I wish I had this 3 weeks ago!).

I just zapped of the e-mail below to ESET. I don't wish to air dirty laundry so much as to provide a caution to those who may find themselves in my situation. As I state below, I implored the last ESET rep I corresponded with to ensure this problem was resolved prior to the weekend beginning. At the time I forgot it would be a 3-day weekend, which makes it even more criminal that no resolution was achieved. Also, even though I told the ESET rep I was calling internationally, he advised me to call again the next day if no renewal e-mails were received. Arghh! Anyway, I was out the door for work at 4:00 A.M. the next day so I couldn't call, and now I have no subscription. Is ESET actively attempting to piss me off?

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

Please visit this thread https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=222460 posted at your official forum on Wilder's Security Forums for the ordeal I've been through trying to get my subscription renewed. This experience has been frustrating beyond belief, especially since I believe you'll find I was one of the early adopters of the NOD32 2-year renewal plan, ordered at the time on an Internet page that was in English and with a credit card that now cannot be processed without "technician" involvement (per two conversations with ESET reps). And, obviously, since I have yet to receive renewal, even that "technician" either was unable to process the order or, more disgracefully, ignored my urgent need for renewal prior to starting his weekend. I adhered to your e-mail response to me with the admonition to "contact us as soon as possible," which, in the end, seems not to extend to your own urgent need to process my subscription in an expeditious manner.

Since 16 September, which included four international phone calls and four e-mails to your support system, I have diligently endeavored to renew my subscription for an additional two years. These endeavors resulted in no fruition to my ultimate need--active anti-virus and anti-spyware protection from a company I've employed for several years now. I therefore respectfully request correspondence with someone higher in the ESET heirarchy that can respond to my needs, which does not include the recipient of this e-mail, no calls to ESET sales support, and no further involvement with "technicians", all whom obviously were unable to resolve this problem.

Can I get my 2-year renewal already without further complication? Prior to sending this e-mail I checked my subscription and received an "Invalid User Name or Password" error, and my updates will not process. That leaves me without protection while ESET is on the weekend, which I stated to the last ESET rep I talked to when I implored him to ensure this problem was rectified prior to ESET going off-line for the weekend. Oh, and it's a 3-day weekend, isn't it? Thanks ESET, for putting my Internet security at risk by your deplorable tech support.

And, to add insult to injury, my subscription ran out before it was scheduled to expire, by about 5 hours Japanese time, 20 hours if the subscription is based on Pacific time where ESET is based. This is getting so ridiculous.

Thank you.

 

I am one of them, superb to deal with.

 

I thought there was a grace period after expiration(month?).

If so, u should still be protected.



snowbound

 

For renewal of license? Yeah, 30 days according to their website. For definition updates, nope, no grace period.

Really no idea why this would be so, given the fact that the worldwide licenses needs to be known to ESET as you wouldn't be download your product updates from their mirrors. Shrug... not for me to answer, I'd suppose ESET stuff is monitoring their official support forums at least to answer this.

 

Hello,

Can you please send me via PM (private message) your username (the part of your license which begins with AV-####### or EAV-#######), the email address you used to when you ordered the license and, if different, your current email address and the case number(s) of the tickets opened with ESET's U.S. support office?

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

 

Just a quick update to this situation, for those who may be interested. Thanks to Aryeh my subscription has been updated to 31 Oct to afford ESET the time needed to rectify this problem; however, another week has passed and I still do not have the 2-year subscription I've been actively attempting to purchase for 6 weeks now.

I'll be more cautious next time and not place an order from Mars.

 

Doesn't sound like it's really resolved at all. IMHO, if a company makes it that hard for you to give them money, they don't really want it and don't deserve it.

Also, if their product is so difficult to de-install cleanly (like some Symantec ones) that's another reason to not have it on my system in the first place.

For the measly cost of the update, after all you've gone through with the international calls, etc. the only way I'd leave the product on my system would be if they did the right thing and renewed you for free. Besides being the right thing to do, it would show they care about keeping loyal customers, etc.

 

A last post to give a final update. I received an e-mail from ESET support directing me to a Japanese representative, which I declined. For those of you who don't follow the currency markets the dollar is at a 13-year low against the yen, which no doubt would be the method of payment if buying from a Japanese distributor. I've already spent enough in telephone costs, and have to stop the bleeding somewhere.

Upon receipt of ESET's less-than-optimal solution I started looking elsewhere. snowbound, your betterantivirus.com link worked like a charm, and I sincerely thank you for a viable, easy solution. Perhaps ESET should partner with them to provide customer service in those instance they are themselves unable to do so.

I don't know what's more pathetic--ESET's horrendous customer service or my desire to put up with such crap to remain a loyal ESET user. That I like this program is without question, but I guarantee my renewals will be done through betterantivirus.com vs ESET themselves.

Thanks to all who've lent a sympathetic ear, and a special thanks to those--particularly snowbound with a nod to The nodder--who offered solutions in this seemingly never-ending renewal odyssey.

Randy

 

Randy,
I'm glad you are sorted now.
I very strongly believe in recommending those people / companies who provide excellent support, who are excellent to deal with.

It makes all the difference when dealing with them as you know they can be trusted 100%.

Now, do you want a list of those I found to be the opposite, sorry, there's not enough space to list them.