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Symantec Corporation Compliment - 21st Century Support - Online Customer Service
Online Customer Service - Compliment
We've been running Norton Internet Security on our computers for quite a number of years. During the last year or so, I've gone for support on three separate occasions.
From what I can see, Symantec doesn't offer telephone support anymore. But they do have an online chat system that you can initiate from their website. I think this is really smart. Instead of having to wait on hold forever to get help, you get a reasonably prompt response from someone who is probably concurrently working with other customers.
Now I've used this kind of chat service with other companies. Sometimes it's fine, sometimes you just don't get any response at all, and sometimes the representatives are just as useless and misinformed as the people on the phone (e. g. Dell and Hewlett-Packard). Each of the three times with Symantec, their reps. were able to address my issues very expediently. They actually know what they are doing.
For example, Norton was kicking up an error code recently. I looked it up on the Symantec website. The instructions said to download and run a removal tool and then re-install the app. I'm sure I could have done that except that the instructions were admittedly incorrect as to how you get your Product Key, which you need to run the installer.
I went to the online chat service. The guy didn't just give me my Product Key - he established a remote session on my computer, and did the whole re-install process himself. Instead of burning up my time, I was able to get dressed and ready to go out while the removal and install processes were running. And, I'm sure, he was able to work with other customers at the same time. It's a win-win.
He was even able to re-boot the machine after the install ran. Sure enough, Norton was reinstalled and showing no error conditions. The only abnormal thing was that the chat session had been restarted as well but there was no communication from the Symantec guy.
After seeing that things looked OK, I just closed out the chat window. But the Symantec guy actually called me, just to make sure things were OK. And he even extended our license for an extra thirty days.
Symantec has earned some loyalty with this customer.
From what I can see, Symantec doesn't offer telephone support anymore. But they do have an online chat system that you can initiate from their website. I think this is really smart. Instead of having to wait on hold forever to get help, you get a reasonably prompt response from someone who is probably concurrently working with other customers.
Now I've used this kind of chat service with other companies. Sometimes it's fine, sometimes you just don't get any response at all, and sometimes the representatives are just as useless and misinformed as the people on the phone (e. g. Dell and Hewlett-Packard). Each of the three times with Symantec, their reps. were able to address my issues very expediently. They actually know what they are doing.
For example, Norton was kicking up an error code recently. I looked it up on the Symantec website. The instructions said to download and run a removal tool and then re-install the app. I'm sure I could have done that except that the instructions were admittedly incorrect as to how you get your Product Key, which you need to run the installer.
I went to the online chat service. The guy didn't just give me my Product Key - he established a remote session on my computer, and did the whole re-install process himself. Instead of burning up my time, I was able to get dressed and ready to go out while the removal and install processes were running. And, I'm sure, he was able to work with other customers at the same time. It's a win-win.
He was even able to re-boot the machine after the install ran. Sure enough, Norton was reinstalled and showing no error conditions. The only abnormal thing was that the chat session had been restarted as well but there was no communication from the Symantec guy.
After seeing that things looked OK, I just closed out the chat window. But the Symantec guy actually called me, just to make sure things were OK. And he even extended our license for an extra thirty days.
Symantec has earned some loyalty with this customer.
Comments:
Posted by Anonymous on 2011-02-26:
Great review! That is definitely good customer service. I, for one, would not let *anyone* run my system remotely, but, I see that this worked out very well for you. I liked that you got a phone call after your system was rebooted :)
Posted by getoverit on 2011-02-26:
I appreciate the concern about letting people run your system remotely, Andrea. They do routinely promise not to extract any unnecessary information from your machine, etc. but it's a definite trust issue.
Posted by trmn8r on 2011-02-26:
Sometimes you have no choice but to let someone run your computer remotely, if you need help. Your only other alternative is to take your computer somewhere.
I use Symantec support once, which was a hybrid of phone/remote computer support. I had a rootkit. If I had another computer available, I could have probably researched the issue (rootkit) and solved it. I didn't, so I paid $99. They fixed the problem efficiently, and I wrote down everything I saw them do. I was subsequently hit 3 times, and using what I saw them do was able to correct the issue myself.
I'd use Symantec support again, no doubt. Good review.
I use Symantec support once, which was a hybrid of phone/remote computer support. I had a rootkit. If I had another computer available, I could have probably researched the issue (rootkit) and solved it. I didn't, so I paid $99. They fixed the problem efficiently, and I wrote down everything I saw them do. I was subsequently hit 3 times, and using what I saw them do was able to correct the issue myself.
I'd use Symantec support again, no doubt. Good review.
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