So Symantec's PR agency read my post and they put me in touch with a woman named Jean on the company's Executive Consumer Relations Team. Jean is one of those people that restores your faith in humanity: a customer service person who is patient, polite, prompt and -- most importantly -- knows how to get the answer to your question.
Anyhow, it took a bit of digging, but she had some embarassing news for me: I was totally wrong. Symantec hadn't renewed MY Norton AV subscription. It turns out that my wife, Anna, had decided to treat her brother to Norton around the same time I was doing that story. She signed him up for an account, but paid for it with our credit card, and that's the account that was renewed.
Here's the thing, though, Anna had no idea that she was entering into an auto-renewal program.
Symantec's support should have never stopped answering my emails. They should have escallated when I asked them to, but the lesson here is, as always, caveat emptor. Watch what you're really getting into when you're shopping online, and look out for those notifications. I still don't like the steps you have to take to opt out of auto-renewal, but Symantec isn't guilty of anything worse than crap customer support here.
By the way, one problem I had was that it was hard to find a phone number for support on Symantec's Web site. Jean says
online chatis the best way to resolve your issues, but she also gave me this info for those of us who don't get access to that special executive support staff.
SYMANTEC SUPPORT OPTIONS
CUSTOMER AND TECHNICAL SERVICES: For issues related to Subscriptions, Product Activation, Downloading a Product, Returns, Product Manuals, or Rebates you can call Symantec Customer Service at 1-800-695-0678, or visit the following URL:
http://www.norton.com/support
TECHNICAL SUPPORT: For Technical issues related to your Symantec Product you can either use the Symantec Knowledge Base or contact a Symantec Support Representative (accessible by Live Chat, Email, and Phone).
THE KNOWLEDGE BASE FOR ALL 2008 products is:
http://www.symantec.com/norton/support/selectproduct_ts.jsp
VIRUS REMOVAL: For Virus or other Threat related issues on your computer, Symantec provides a fee-based consultation service at 1-877-832-2811 ($39.95 or $69.95 per incident), or at 1-900-646-0004 ($4.95 per Minute). As an alternative to paid support, Symantec also provides all the self-help tools you need to deal with a Virus or other Threat. Please visit the following URL’s for assistance with your virus removal options:
http://www.sarc.com/
http://www.symantec.com/techsupp/home_homeoffice/index_virus.html
TECHNICAL SUPPORT: For Technical issues related to your Symantec Product you can either use the Symantec Knowledge Base or contact a Symantec Support Representative (accessible by Live Chat, Email, and Phone).
Symantec Priority Care service 1-866-200-0892 (United States)
(this service is charged $69.95) 1-800-200-0794 (Canada)
The Symantec Priority care website is:
http://www.symantec.com/home_homeoffice/support/premium_support.jsp
The Knowledge Base, Live Chat, and Email options for support are available by visiting the following URL:
http://www.symantec.com/techsupp/home_homeoffice/?src=hho_us
To chat with a technician:
http://live-symantec.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/live_symantec.cfg/php/enduser/live.php
To email a technician:
https://symantec.iseva.net/Symantec_support.aspx
