Do I have "sucker" written on my forehead?

Question

O.K. I know I am the master of getting ripped off. I try to live minimally but when it comes to car and computer problems I feel like I am always getting ripped off. Recently, I had a virus on my computer so after trying everything I could, I finally called a WELL KNOWN COMPANY that said they could help. I told them what I had already done and they reassured me with "we are professionals, relax and we'll take care of it". Well, they did EXACTLY the same thing I had already done and guess what... it didn't work. I talked to a different person at the same place the next day and he said "oh, I didn't realize you had THAT. We cannot remove THAT." I said "Well then why did you take my flippin' money?!?" He said, "sorry, no guarantees". More like no customer service. I feel SO ripped off! By the way... does anyone have a customer service telephone number that will reach a real, live, person who can do more than read a script (and most importantly issue a refund) at SYMANTEC?

I appreciate the suggestions concerning how to take care of the virus but I got into this situation because I was trying to avoid restore and for some stupid reason... oh yeah, it was free... I trusted Norton. Oh well. You live, you learn, you go back to the stuff you already knew. I prefer AVG, Ewido, Xoft and Hijackthis. I know there are many more great ones out there. Now I'm just really ticked that these people didn't know any more than me. They even directed me to do things that their site warns against. Now that I've taken care of it myself (restore) they keep insisting that I still have a virus but just don't know it.

Dear Oddball, (about 7 answers down) I could update this for days with what I thought were givens but this is it. If tyou must know it was bloodhound.mbr which to my understanding meant an unnamed virus found using blooodhound heuristics. Therefore, being in my master boot record I did not think restore would remove it but allow it to go on mimicking some part of windows. I explained that I did everything I knew and then called for assistance. They did that they did EXACT SAME THING (and charged for it) then told me next day to restore or call the manufacturer who subsequently told me to do the same thing. Um... am I looking at this the wrong way? I think I took total responsibility for my ignorance when I called them. They took no responsibility for their ignorance or lack of integrity when they kept my money after admitting that they knew they could not have done it but still took my money. PS-I won't call Phil. Read up on him. 'nuff said.

oh, I said restore but meant that I removed the OS.

Answer 1

If you charged this to a credit card, call your credit card company and tell them to cancel the charge and explain to them what happened.

Sorry about it.

Answer 2

Whoever mentioned calling the geek squad must be a 'special agent'. They 'optimized' a BRAND NEW COMPUTER ( it was purchased sealed, inside 'their' store & returned less than 15 hours later) BUT conveniently failed to notice that it was defective (dead pixel) AND WON'T REFUND THE $120 I spent on the so called labor I spent optimizing a $1400 dud. If you're already out money, I'd throw some $$ to the nice guy Phil? for even offering to help you for free, instead of down another possible drain (unless of course you have longer blond hair or nicer blue eyes-ohhhhhh, maybe that was it). The agent even compared it to fixing a car- 'mechanics don't refund labor, they refix it'. WELL GOOD LUCK IF YOU GET THE SAME ANSWER SYMANTEC GAVE YOU. If there is any 'agent' out there reading this, please, do the right thing, couldn't you have just look at a screen for 1 SECOND, that's all I needed to 'diagnose' it. It seems they simply keep your money because their POLICY protects them to do so(hmmm-lucrative). Even though the store refunded the defective gateway laptop w/ athlon 64, the geeks still get my benjamin but can't pick off a dead pixel? Dead pixel or compound fracture, I don't expect to pay labor optim a defective computer any more than I would expect my doctor to miss the bone sticking out of my leg but charge me an office visit anyway. Write Phil. It was my 'first time' with you geek squad..... do I even need to say the next obvious thought??? Phil, way to step up to the plate!!!

Answer 3

Yes. Because you don't know what you are doing, you blame others for your ignorance.

With the infectious Viruses and Spyware, of today, using a program in normal mode will not remove the infection. The hide parts in hidden files, folders and restore point files. When you complete a scan and removal, in normal mode, the infection is restarted or downloaded again by these hidden parts. This is why doing a system restore is almost usless to remove an infection. For this reason there are procedures to removing Malware infection that are as important as the program used for removal.

This MS site has the proper procedure for removing Malware infections. Although it is titled for Spyware, it is used for all forms of Viruses and Spyware. Just use the program you choose for the scan and removal.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/community/columns/bugbusting.mspx

Since you do not give the name to the infection, I cannot advise you as to the best program to remove it.

Answer 4

Yeah, Symantec isn't what it used to be. I think eTrust is better. But back to your problem. I have been lucky with restoring my drive to a previous date to rid myself of many problems and wish I would have purchased a Linux RedHat operating system.

Answer 5

If you run XP, you have system restore.

After restore, arm your system with trusted firewalls, reviewed by trusted tech sites like PCWorld, TechRepublic, PCMag.com.

Answer 6

dial 411 and call the geek squad.

Answer 7

i will help u if u message me,free