Norton products have been among our favorite security tools for years, in part because they've provided strong support. But readers have started to complain about chat support, so I investigated. The results were troubling.

I've praised Symantec's support, especially the integrated chat-based support introduced with . Their support agents did a great job handling some problems that came up during my evaluation of that suite. Lately, though, a number of readers have reported problems with chat support. One asked for help because he was concerned that the threats Norton found were merely quarantined, not removed. The chat agent could have explained how to delete items from quarantine, or even demonstrated how using remote control. Instead, this agent insisted that the only recourse for full removal was an extra-cost session with a consultant. Another reader got worried when a chat agent performing remote-control cleanup used an unfamiliar non-Symantec program.

I didn't get a lot of detail from these readers. Based on my own previous, positive sessions with chat support, I wondered if they might have just misunderstood the situation. But my new experiences while evaluating opened my eyes to the magnitude of the problem. Did Symantec switch outsourced support companies? Has the chat support team gone rogue? I can't say for sure what's at the root of the problems, but here's what happened.

Pay For Play

For my evaluation and review of Norton 360, I installed the product on a dozen malware-infested systems. Most installed and ran flawlessly, but one system had a blue-screen crash during installation. On restart the Norton 360 installer gathered and analyzed error logs, then offered a link to support. I was impressedmost products don't have such resilient installers. I followed the link and initiated a conversation with chat support agent Mohanakrishnan (at least he didn't claim his name was Bob).

Mohanakrishnan asked some questions and (with my permission) took a remote-control tour of the system. He pointed out one blatant malware symptom: a big screen from a rogue antispyware program claiming it had found terrible problems and offering to fix them, for a price. He escalated me to another support agent in the Virus Removal Department, after verifying that I had a valid registration key. Sorry, if you get stuck during a trial installation, chat support is not available.

Prajith, the second agent, asked a lot of questions about my online activities but didn't bother to remote-control the system. He suggested I "remove the infection immediately." I pointed out that was my intentionI'm trying to install Norton 360 so it can remove the infection. He continued that "expert consultants will do a complete diagnosis of your system, and troubleshoot any malware present on your computer." Only after I agreed did he add that this is a for-pay service and ask if it would still be OK. He didn't state the price, but later research revealed that it would have been $99.95 to get this $79.99 product installed.

Naturally I said no, I already have a license for the software, I just want to install it. He declared that I had only bought "the software, updates to the software and for the virus definitions," not a guarantee that the software would install. I asked repeatedly for a solution other than paying extra but never got anything resembling an answer. Eventually, I ended the chat, carefully saving the transcript and a screen-capture movie I had made of the entire interchange.

Norton User Forums to the Rescue

Simultaneous with the release of the new Norton 360, Symantec brought its Norton User Forums Web site out of beta. The company was anxious for me to try it, so this seemed a perfect opportunity. I registered and posted a description of my problem in the user forums. Within an hour I had the correct answer from a forum volunteer: If Norton 360 won't install due to malware, use the Norton Recovery Tool to clean up the system first. Those who've bought the boxed product can just boot from the disk. Others can download an ISO image of the tool, burn it to a disk, and boot from that.

I downloaded, burned, booted, supplied my product key, and let it run its scan. It detected and removed many threats, and reported that a couple couldn't be removed. A second scan cleaned those up and I was ready to boot back into normal Windows. Now that's the right solution! Symantec confirms that the chat agent's behavior was incorrect. "The support agent should have directed you to the free Norton Recovery Tool as a first step. It was an error on his part." The company went on to say "We have shared this situation with executives on our support team, and we will ensure all customers are informed of these free options [Norton Recovery Tool and Norton User Forums] with regard to virus removal." To prevent such errors in the future, the team is "increasing agent training and creating stricter instructions for agents to better communicate free malware removal options." I hope so!

Taking Unfair Credit

As it turns out, the story doesn't end here. The Norton 360 installer still wouldn't complete its job. On every reboot, the app went through its whole rigmarole again, collecting and analyzing log files and sending me to tech support. It wouldn't complete the process and I couldn't uninstall the incomplete program. Once again, I followed the links to chat-based tech support.

Murugash, the chat agent, remote-controlled the system and verified that the Norton 360 installation was stuck. No problem. He downloaded the Symantec Norton Removal Tool (SYMNRT) to my test system. This is Symantec's answer to uninstallation problems that were common with older program versions. It removes all trace of all Symantec products. After running it he offered to "run a scan from the Norton security scan" to make sure all threats are gone. I asked if this is necessary, given that I've already scanned the system with the bootable Norton Recovery Tool. He said "it is a deep scan just from a online Norton program," so I let him do it.

To my surprise, he downloaded and ran the free Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware utility. This is, of course, not a Norton program by any stretch of the imagination. It did find a few traces of various threats left behind when the CD-based scan wiped out the executable parts. Now, don't get me wrong. I have no grudge against tech support using free tools from other sources for cleanup. It's a fairly common practice. I just resent it when they pass those tools off as their own.

I went back to Symantec for an explanation of this misrepresentation. They said "We escalated the matter to our Support team and they are highly concerned that an agent used a non-Symantec solution to scan/clean your system. As you would expect, Symantec has its own products and internal tools at its agents' disposal and it is proper protocol to use these tools when helping customers. Please be assured that the actions of this agent are not typical and are being immediately addressed." Again, I hope so.

Keeping Them Honest

As far as my testing went, everything worked out fine in the end. Three rootkits (one of which falsely presented itself as an antispyware utility) were totally cleaned from the problem system. Had I believed the chat agent the first time around, though, I would have shelled out big bucks just to get the program installed.

If you have problems with Symantec's chat-based support, let me know. Symantec says the support team now knows what they should do, but I can't assume they all got the memo. I'll be kicking assumptions and taking names. I especially want to hear about chat sessions that funnel you inevitably into paying for "expert consultation" or sessions in which the agents misrepresent third-party cleanup tools as being Norton or Symantec tools.

Here's what you do. Stay alert after you click the big End Session button and take the option to view a transcript of the chat session. Copy and paste the transcript into a document, save it, and attach it to an e-mail message directed to [email protected]. Include a description of the problem you were trying to solve and any other information that might be helpful. I really like chat-based support when it's handled correctly, so I'm just going to make sure this group does it right.

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