Help - what to do, credit card order gone AWOL???

[Dennis]

Hello,

I am looking for some advice on how to proceed with a credit card order where I have been charged but the goods have not arrived and I cannot get any action from the supplier.

The supplier is Symantec (Norton).
The software products are web upgrades to Norton Internet Security and System Works.

• I placed the internet order on 9th Feb 2006.
• Received order conformation 10th Feb.
• Received back order notification 12th Feb.
• Received notice that products were shipped 8th March.
• Received notice 12 March that products were NOT shipped - Symantec error.
• I cancelled the order 12 March.
• Symantec notified me they had shipped the products and charged my credit card 14 March.
• Symantec stated (15 March) that products had been sent via UPS Australia.
• I contacted UPS Australia who said this was not the case.
• I contacted Symantec (24 March) who said it was an error and goods would arrive soon.
• No goods.
• I contacted Symantec (29 March) who said I would be contacted in 72 hours.
• It is now almost 120 hours and nothing.

Does anyone know of a course of action with my credit card company, or am I doomed to suffer at the hands of Symantec for an eternity?

Thanks

Dennis

[Volans]

G'day Dennis,

I'm not too sure on what you can do with your credit card company but I would suggest to keep hammering away at Symantec (frustrating though that will probably be). Go as high up the chain of command in that company that you can. It is good that you have appeared to have kept records of dates and times of notifications as this will help your case a great deal.

Best of luck!!

Peter.

[cjmarsh81]

Contact the credit card company. They have systems in place where they can refund the money to you and then retrieve it from the suppliers. I think nearly two months is sufficient cause to pull out of the transaction. I know Visa and American Express are meant to be pretty good with situations like these. As big as symantec is, they do not want large credit card companies breathing down their neck.

[Dennis]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I just e-mailed the Symantec Senior Vice President, Worldwide Services and Support, so will allow him a couple of days to respond before contacting my CC company.

It seems I have fallen into one of those corporate black holes.

Cheers

Dennis

[ving (David)]

dark in 'ere....

yeah keep at symantec till they give in ]
good luck

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

They may well have sent it Dennis. I know it doesn't help you atm but this might help lighten the feeling.

A couple of years ago I purchased online an OCR program from Europe, It was about $300 Aus so not cheap. Well I waited and waited, they said it would be about 6 weeks but being a newbie at internet buying I accepted that. After 2 months I contacted them again and they assured me they had sent it. A month later I contacted them again and again they assured me they had sent it. This went on for 7 months (I still have all the emails). Finally I had had enough (I am a very patient person normally but even I have my limits) and requested my money back. They said np that all I needed to do was email them a scanned signed Affidavit stating I hadn't received the disc and they would refund my money. I did as they asked and by the next week my money had been returned. That was on a Tuesday (important to keep records like this) and I kid you not, without a word of a lie, the Disc turned up on the Thursday. True story! I couldn't believe it! Now that left me with a quandary. I had already sent the affidavit (which was correct at the time) and had been refunded the money. Do I send the disk back, repay the money, or keep my mouth shut. Sometimes I am just too honest

I know it doesn't help you but it's a good story and you stuff really could be in the mail.

[Dennis]

Hi Paul

Wow – I’m afraid you are a much more patient person than I am.

In this case, what concerns me most are the series of contradictory e-mails I have been receiving from Symantec. One day they say the software products have been shipped, the next they haven’t and then that the order has been cancelled. On top of that, Symantec provided me with an embedded http link to UPS Australia with a reference number and a tracking number that UPS did not recognize.

I then contacted UPS who did a search on my name and address within their system, which reported no matches.

Clearly something has gone badly wrong at Symantec so I am pursuing this to bring to their attention that their systems and processes are just not working when it comes to my on line transaction.

I have been through the full range of emotions and to minimize the risk of just being bad tempered and flying off the handle, I always try to temper these feelings with the knowledge that I am living in a wonderful country, part of a free society, with a roof over my head, a (too) full stomach with no one shooting at me or dropping bombs on our home.

So, I too will be patient but have set in motion the wheels of the customer complaint process to provide Symantec with some objective evidence that their systems are not working. Hopefully this will avoid a repeat for the next unfortunate customer.

It’s lucky that I do not rely on my notebook computer for connecting to the internet as without the Symantec software, it has been dormant for almost 8 weeks now, apart from grabbing the odd avi of Jupiter of course.

Cheers

Dennis

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Why not download AVG in the meantime, and if your Symantec is for firewall as well download Sygate. Both free and both have worked fine for me. At least you'll be covered until the new Symantec turns up.

[Dennis]

Hi Paul

Thanks for the info, much appreciated.

I'm running Symantec stuff on our other two PCs so I'm resigned to toughing it out, just to avoid the hassle of downloading, installing and then un-installing other SW when the Symantec stuff eventually arrives. I’ve got used to Symantec, so when they finally cough up the goods, I’ll stick to that environment, although I must say it has been a little touch and go over the last few weeks.

In reality, I am very careful and hygienic with where I go and what I do on the web, and I also have a router which has a hardware firewall, so all in all, it’s not too much of a drama, more of an inconvenience. I use the Notebook in the back garden and it is nice to be able to browse IIS and do e-mail whilst also collecting photons, hence the need for some AV product on the Notebook. One nice feature of the Symantec Firewall is that I can prevent executables from accessing the web unless I allow them via a firewall rule, although I’m sure the other competing products do the same thing too.

It will be interesting to see if my e-mail to the Symantec V-P gets through!

Cheers

Dennis