Complain about a product or service

McAfee - "Free Trial"

Mary of Barnegat NJ (05/01/08)
Paid $79.99 for Mcafee total protection for my computer--it had a $35 rebate---sent them everything they asked for--Got an e-mail back invalid[missing proof of previous owner] Bought it at Staples---no manual in box--which they are saying is proof of previous owner..They took my money and I got nothing for it..I will never buy another mcafee product.

I'm out 35 dollars......

Frank of Burien WA (08/30/06)
Long story short; When our 3/month trial with mcafee ran out, our email program became totaly disabled.Mcafee told us it was to protect us againdt viruses. Mcafee told us when we re-subscribe, the problem would be fixed. Well, we can only receive email, but can not send it. We had option #1 free tech chat to fix, or option # 2 real lve person on phone at $3.00 per minute. We opted for option # 1, Why should we have to pay for something we are already paying for, and they mcafee caused the problem in the first place. The chat process turned out to be a disaster. After four chats, each lasting about one hour, and one supervisor, and three regular tech. people, the problem still persists. Our email is very vital to us: We use it to cantact our customer base regarding their insurance contracts, and we are now in a very cumbersome position because of this no service from Mcafee.Our EMAIL capabilities are being held hostage for ransom.

Rjk of Gaithersburg MD (08/25/06)
My new Dell laptop came installed with McAfee, which I either have for a year or on a trial basis (can't tell from any of the McAfee info). Guess what? Although the indicators say that it's installed and working on my computer (all green bars), I'm unable to register the product which means updates are impossible. This wouldn't be so bad if McAfee popups weren't a continuing source of annoyance (and cannot be closed without going into Task Manager) - plus, it keeps telling me to register my product. When I attempt to, it says I'm already registered and I need to log in. So I try to log in and it sends me right back to the same log in site.

My email address and password are correct (I've had it sent to me twice now by McAfee, just to be sure). This product is nothing but an annoyance, and at this point, I don't even know if I've actually got virus protection or not. Oh, and there is NO phone number on the website, despite assurances that a user will learn how to contact us by phone. Norton, here I come.

My brand new computer was almost immediately infected with a virus, no doubt due to whatever is wrong with the McAfee application. $100 later, I'm wiser but still cannot get satisfaction from McAfee, nor can I find a human to speak with.

Michael of Richmond VA (01/29/06)
I boght a new Toshiba and McAffee came installed free. The free install ad 4 viruses. I bought versions of McAfee security and antivirus to correct the problem. Now McAfee says my free trial ends in 15 days.

What, did they forget my purchases to fix the problem they gave me for free?

Is this a clever marketing technique?

Scott of Florence SC (11/26/03):
I recently purchased a Dell Dimension 4600 which came with a 90-day trial version of McAfee VirusScan and Personal Firewall Plus. When the trial period ended, I received three emails from McAfee to renew my subscription. In considering this renewal, I visited their online store and saw that for the same price, I could purchase the Internet Security Suite, which offered more features, for the same price.

I decided to purchase the suite and opted for the “download” version, at a cost of $69.99. This product never did work; the first problem I encountered was that the VirusScan component of the package continued to recognize the expired trial version; would not initialize and continued to ask me to go to the web site and renew my subscription. Countless hours were spent reading McAfee’s FAQ database but finding no resolve. I then turned to their online “chat” help (I am NOT willing to pay the $2.95 minute fee to talk to their “help” desk). This turned out to be one of the most incredibly frustrating experiences of my life. The help is scripted, and of no use at all. I did not matter what I said, in the end I would get a popup of one of the FAQ data sheets that I already read and tried. In some cases, I even had their help desk folks “hang up” on me!

Some of the remedies to this problem were to change and or delete registry files, change or delete .ini files, opening my computer in safe mode and attempt deleting and or renaming files. I am employed in IT for a very large company, and though these operations are not unfamiliar to me, I realized we were digging down pretty deep to attempt to resolve this problem. It also occurred to me that these kind of remedies (none of which worked) would be very intimidating to the average computer owner.

In the end, not only do I have a product that does not function; but the many, many remedies offered by McAfee have completely destroyed the computer’s original configuration, and has degraded substantially its performance. In fact, it is pretty near impossible for me to even establish an Internet connection, and if I DO, I can pretty much count on getting booted off within 15 minutes. This has been going on now for days; and when I pause, and put my anger and frustration aside and think about it, I cannot believe that a company could or would treat a customer with such disregard and downright rudeness.

As a last straw, I sent an email to McAfee’s billing department requesting a refund of the $69.99 purchase price; days passed and I received no response. I then called their billing department ... NOT a toll free number ... and got the recorded “We value you as a customer, please hold for the next available associate to assist you” message. Curious how long THAT might last, I calmed myself and sat back and listened. One hour and forty-five minutes passed, and NOBODY picked up the phone to help me ... I never did get through to the billing department!

Several days passed and I FINALLY received an email response from my original request for a refund: “Dear valued customer, we are sorry but we cannot process your request for a refund.” Who would have seen THAT coming!?! They suggested I contact the place from where I purchased the “product” and listed links to several third party software vendors; none of which was their address. They also suggested that I call this phone number for further assistance ... the same number I called and listened to the recorded message for almost two hours. Call me crazy, nutty and wacky if you will, but I am NOT eager to dial THAT number again!

In the end, I have purchased a product that does NOT work. I have rendered, with the help of McAfee’s “tech help”, a brand new computer pretty much worthless. I have wasted MANY hours trying to resolve this, to no avail. I have been treated with disrespect and rudeness by virtually everyone I have contacted at this company. I cannot use the defective product I was sold. I cannot seek a refund. I cannot even get a fresh download of the product even though it has been less then 30 days since my original purchase (according to their policy, I am entitled to additional downloads within a thirty day period). Is this not just plain THEFT?

Andy of Dunnellon FL (10/9/03):
Have bought one-year subscription for anti-virus and firewall protection on 21 September. On 30 September, I repeately sent several email requests for a full refund to McAfee different e-mail addresses. To date, have not heard from McAfee. Their paid long-distance number is a joke: no one answered after a 30-minute wait.

James of Denver (9/11/03):
I tried the 30 day free trial on the antivirus and don't like it. My bill should be just over $28.00 but is now over $47.00 a month. I want the antivirus of McAfee/AOL off my computer.

Saskia of Herent, Vlaams Braba, Belgium
I signed up for a package comprised of the VirusScan Online Annual Subscription ($24.95), Personal Firewall Plus Annual Subscription ($29.95)and the Privacy Service Annual Subscription ($14.95). But the software did not work properly so I requested for a full refund - within 30 days as stipulated. They did pay back the Personal Firewall Plus Annual Subscription and the Privacy Service Annual Subscription, the VirusScan Online Annual Subscription however was never paid back despite numerous reminders. McAfee seems to confirm the prejudice that a lot of European Financial institutions have about these companies.

Damage Resulting: Waste of money - waste of time.

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.