My One-Hour Chat with McAfee's Tech Support

This is the text of a one-hour online chat I had today with McAfee's tech support. It is, unfortuantely, self explanatory. You'll see that at the end of this unhappy hour I was sent to "Tier 2 support." There, the problem was solved after a "mere" 25 minutes. And this is supposed to be state of the art. > Thank you for contacting McAfee Consumer Support. How can I help you? Customer: I have the McAffee security suite form Comcast and I need to reinstall it on a WIN7 64-bit OS. Comcast has switched to Norton, which I hate, and I want to stick with McAfee. Can you tell me if my current file will install properly and where to get a proper key? Jeethu: Hi David, this is Jeetu from McAfee Technical Support and I would be assisting you today. Customer: OK Jeethu: As I understand you need to reinstall McAfee . Is that right ? Customer: The file I have BTW is DM-Setup-Serial.exe Customer: Yes Jeethu: David, not to worry. I will try my level best to help you. Jeethu: David, for verification purpose, may I have your home telephone number with area code first? Customer: You MUST be in India! :) Customer: 610.422.0048 Customer: 610.792.3329 sorry -- this is my HOME number Jeethu: Yes, David. I am from India. Jeethu: How do you currently connect to the Internet? (Dial-up, DSL, Cable, or Wireless) Customer: I could tell because of your British-isms. Customer: Cable Jeethu: Thank you for all the information, David. Jeethu: David, I am happy to assist you with this issue. In order to assist you better, I need to gather some basic technical information about your computer. I will send you a pop-up, please click on 'OK' to provide me the information. Customer: OK > representative Jeethu has requested system information from customer Customer. > customer Customer has sent system information to representative Jeethu. Jeethu: Thank you for providing system information, David. Jeethu: David, we would like to offer you a free remote session in order to assist you better with the issue. May I go ahead and take a remote access to your system in order to resolve the issue? Customer: You're welcome Customer: Sure. But I'm competent to download and install a file myself, if that's the plan. Customer: RU still there? Jeethu: David, I just want to check if any other software will block the installation. Customer: OK. Or tell me what you need and I'll get it for you. Customer: Do you need me to go to a URL and enter a code to get started? Jeethu: David, have you removed norton from your computer ? Customer: Yes. Jeethu: I was unable to locate your account with the e-mail address you had provided. Is there an alternate E-mail address, with which you might have registered your McAfee account? Customer: davidkirk@theprguy.com is the only one I use regularly. Perhaps it is my Comcast address, davidkirk@comcast.net Customer: Hello? Jeethu: David, now you may go to the website us.mcAfee.com and enter the Email Id davidkirk@comcast.net and start installation. Customer: OK. Standby Customer: What password should I use? Jeethu: The password of this email Id davidkirk@comcast.net Customer: I do not have a record of it. Do you? Jeethu: David , You may click forgot password under the login and you will get the password to your email. Customer: OK. I am waiting for that to arrive. Customer: Still waiting. Jeethu: David, did you enter the email Id in the forgot password box? Customer: ... and waiting Customer: Yes Customer: Can I simply download a trial version and receive the key from you? Jeethu: David, you already have a valid account with McAfee. It would be great if you install from your account. Customer: Jeethu, This call has now taken 25 minutes for what should be a an incredibly simple operation. I need to get this done as I have client work to accomplish. Can't you figure out a faster way? Customer: For example,, can I use the installation file I already have? Customer: Will it work on a 65 bit machine? Customer: Sorry 64 bit Jeethu: This could have been done in an easier way if you would have remembered the password ,David. Please check for your password and try installing later. Is that fine with you? Customer: No. I have checked for my password and I do not have it. Your system is not sending me a confirmation, although it has already sent me a notice of the service ticket that you and I are on right now. I don't need your admonishment, I need your help. So how do we get this done? Jeethu: David, we would like to offer you a free remote session in order to assist you better with the issue. May I go ahead and take a remote access to your system in order to resolve the issue? Customer: Yes. Jeethu: Now, you’ll be getting a prompt to give permission to access your computer, so in order to proceed with remote session in a faster way, please choose the option "Full Access to keyboard and Mouse". > representative Jeethu asked to share the customer's screen. > customer Customer accepted request to share screen. Customer: OK. What now? Jeethu: David,please check your junk email. Customer: There. Do you see it? > Clipboard sent by Customer accepted by Jeethu. > Clipboard sent by Customer accepted by Jeethu. Jeethu: David, you will only receive the mail in this email id davidkirk@comcast.net Customer: ALL OF MY EMAIL IS FORWARED TO THIS ACCOUNT. THIS IS THE ONLY PLACE I NEED TO GO FOR EMAIL. Customer: IF WILL LOOK AT MY COMCAST ACCOUNT YOU WILL SEE THAT I HAVE NO EMAIL THERE AT ALL Customer: Why did you set up this session? Are you going to solve this problem or not? Jeethu: David,but you have registered the account with the other email Id . This is why you are receiving in this mail Id Customer: I understand that. I am telling you that my mail for davidkirk@comcast.net is forwarded to my spamarrest account. Customer: What is so hard to understand here? Customer: Are you going to install the software or continue to harass me? > Clipboard sent by Customer accepted by Jeethu. Customer: Look at the screen. This is the McAfee installation file I have. Can we use it? > Clipboard sent by Customer accepted by Jeethu. Customer: Hello? > Clipboard sent by Customer accepted by Jeethu. Jeethu: David, do you remember the start date of the product? Customer: I can get the date of the file I have. Jeethu: Not that the date which you got the McAfee product through Comcast. Customer: Looks like October 8, 2009 Customer: The info you see on the screen is all I have. > Clipboard sent by Customer accepted by Jeethu. Customer: C'mon Jeethu Customer: Do you need to do anything with screen sharing? Customer: Are you planning to take any actions? Customer: Hello???? Jeethu: Please login the comcast site. Customer: I'm logged in already Customer: I've already been this route. There is no place to download the latest McAfee file. Jeethu: Can you just use the same password to login here which you used to login the Comcast site? > Clipboard sent by Jeethu accepted by Customer. Customer: I DID THAT ALREADY MANY TIMES AND I HAVE ONLY ONE MORE TRY BEFORE I AM LOCKED OUT! Customer: DID YOU SEE THAT? Jeethu: David, to help you better I will now transfer the chat to our tier 2 team . Jeethu: In case the session gets disconnected, we will try to contact you back. To ensure that we will be able to contact you, could you please provide me the following details. 1. The Telephone number at which you will be available: 2. Additional phone number, if any: 3. Primary & secondary e-mail addresses: 4. Convenient time for you to get a call back: 5. The time zone at your place: Customer: Fine. And I will transfer this entire conversation to my blog. > Clipboard sent by Customer accepted by Jeethu. Customer: 610.422.0048 Customer: 610.457.0010 Customer: davidkirk@theprguy.com Customer: davidkirk@comcast.net Customer: US business hours Customer: Eastern US Customer: Time: 1:01.:24. Unbelievable