Awful support and big surprise! A license must be purchased for Kapersky & Acronis!

If I had to do this all over again, I would NOT have upgraded from version 4 to 5. In fact, if I were to upgrade to version 6 when it eventually comes out (not sure I will ever upgrade again, as you will see why later after my call to support) I probably will buy a box package at my local Future Shop or Staples here in Canada. Yup, I will pay more because I never want to go through this total waste of time again.

My saga started when I decided to upgrade following yet another reminder to do so by Parallels. I clicked on the link in one of their ubiquitous e-mails, purchased the upgrade (which is supposed to include Parallels security/Kapersky as well as some Acronis products). I also ordered the backup CD for an extra 10 bucks (glad I did, as you will see later). Downloaded the upgrade, installed it and everything seemed to go fine.

I also decided to print my invoice and receipt and that's when the problems started. I could not print my invoice nor my receipt because, to my surprise, there was no order number and I kept on getting prompted with an error message telling me I needed an order number in order to print and to contact Support. Guess what, their ENTIRE support system needs this order number it seems (no order number = no online chat for example). Yet, I had a new serial number which worked, as well as my backup CD which I received a few days later and, fortunately, I had printed the Safari page when I purchased, so I could end up using this as a last resort. I ended up sending it along to "prove" that I had indeed made a purchase.

So, I e-mail Parallels on Dec. 28 (the day after my purchase) to get my invoice and receipt, then again at the end of the day on Dec. 29 because now my new version of Kapersky (I had the old one from Parallels v.4 which I removed when I installed the so-called "complete" upgrade) wants an activation code (yeah, I know, remove the old version, install the new version and everything "should be" OK. I read about it on this forum, but as in some cases for others, this did not work for me. My version expired eventually on January 20th, 1 year after my purchase of Parallels 4). I get an acknowledgement e-mail from Parallels and a promise for a contact shortly.

I got a reply to my request for support, as follows:
"Dear Lyle,
We apologize for the inconvenience, to receive the appropriate assistance for this matter, please contact the US customers service at css@avanquestusa.com
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year
Best Regards
Ian Somerville
AVANQUEST, Service Center".

What? When I check, Ian is correct, somehow I ended up on the UK site, so I check the update link again from a "Parallels Upgrade offer" e-mail ... and it brings me AGAIN to the UK site. Interesting, eh? Something is not working on their end for sure.

Ok, I decide to follow Ian's advice because Kapersky needs its activation code and I want a receipt. I write the USA on January 19th and get an acknowledgement and promise to get back to me.

I heard back from them all right:
"Hello,
Thank you for contacting Avanquest Customer Service.
I was unable to locate an order in the system. However, I see that you may have placed this order with our UK website. If this is so, please contact them directly at infouk@avanquest.com, they will be happy to research this for you.
Thank you,
Scott
Avanquest USA - Customer Service
Phone: 408-886-6383"

Nice reply eh? No one wants to help me! The UK tells me to contact the States, and the States tells me to contact the UK! All I want are my activation codes for Kapersky and the Acronis products (Disk director 10 and True Image 11) and my invoice and receipt printed on my end.

Oh yeah, here's another issue, your "complete upgrade package" which promises Kapersky Security, Acronis Disk Manager and Acronis True Image cannot be downloaded - you download Kapersky via the Parallels toolbar, but you need the backup CD to get your copy of Acronis as it cannot be downloaded it seems (at least, I could not find it after 15 minutes of searching on their site). Good thing I ordered the CD because otherwise, I would not have the 2 Acronis bonus products.

But wait, the saga is NOT finished! I want my codes, so I call Customer Service at (408) 886-6383. Press 2 to get support AND a recorded message tells me to hang-up and call (818) 591-6245. What is this? Geez. I do not appreciate how this is wasting my time this way.

I call (818) 591-6245. A very nice man answers, tells me to uninstall Kapersky and reinstall. When I tell him that I have already done this, he tells me that this is an issue that sometimes happens with customers who had Parallels 4 previously installed. He apologizes and tells me that actually, they are Nova Development and they sell the product online. It seems that I need to call (888) 811-2489, which is actually Avanquest, makers of Parallels version 5. Well, I called them at 11:15 AM, its now 12:10 PM and I am still in the queue. Real nice fast service eh?

12:18 PM - I just got through. Guess what? If you purchased the upgrade, and you already have Kapersky installed, the upgrade does NOT include a license anymore for Kapersky. You have to purchase it.

What?!!! The upgrade e-mails states that you can only upgrade IF you already have version 4 installed and that it includes Kapresky and Acronis also as bonus software. What the e-mail does NOT tell you is that if you installed Kapersky with version 4, it will not work with version 5 because you need to purchase a new license. I think that this is misleading advertizing, but that's just my opinion. I might talk to a friend of mine who works with Consumer Protection in Canada just to get his opinion though. Then again, is it worth it?

So I ask for just an activation code for Acronis, because I have never used this product on my XP partition on my MacBook. Paraphrase: "Sorry, I cannot help you with that because the license for Acronis, even though you never installed it, is expired!" Wow! This I cannot accept, it's a stupid policy that drives good customers like me away.

Side note to Avanquest: I have another unopened box for my MacPro that I never got around to installing and I will not upgrade it to version 5, not after this fiasco in customer service and support. Since our entire household is moving over to Macs over the next year as we replace older computers, this means that Avanquest is probably going to loose a client that was looking for 5 licenses.

12:23 PM - put on hold because I insist on on talking to someone higher in the chain of command. I am told that I am NOT allowed to talk to a supervisor, its their policy. Wow! I am super polite, I am not yelling, I am not swearing and this is their customer service? The poor guy on the other end just keeps on repeating himself and tripping himself up when he tries to explain his company's policy. He must feel terrible about how his company treats customers, but of course he cannot tell me this. As for version 6? I like the product, but after this, I am not sure if I want to do business with this company again.

Final irony - All of this was triggered by an inability to get a copy of my invoice and a receipt for payment (which is still not resolved, since neither the USA or the UK offices want to resolve this). I replied to Scott but he never got back to me and as a consequence, I have no invoice and no receipt, but at least the charge shows on my credit card statement.

Its going to be interesting to see if this post will be accepted and it would be nice to hear back from someone at Avanquest. I think that its somewhat immoral to offer an upgrade with bonus software that seems to have a license included but actually does not. I would have avoided all of this effort and energy if they had simply specified in their upgrade invitation that the bonus software would not work if you already had a license that had expired while using version 4.

 

I'd de-install Kaspersky and use Windows Security Essentials. It's free. Sounds more practical to me.

 

There is nothing great about the "free" software. Not even top-rated vs. free software. I recommend for AV Avast, free edition which scores very high and has an easy interface, and vs. Windows woeful firewall, Online Armor, free edition, also highly rated.

 

Just be honest, please, Parallels.

I answered, yes, if Parallels promises free software, they should give us the new license, but I would be fine with not getting it -- if Parallels was just clear and honest about it.

I am still waiting for a Parallels team member to let me know if it's the case that I don't get an extra year of Kaspersky with my upgrade package. If they just explained it clearly initially ( or even in a FAQ on the site), I wouldn't care. I agree, Avast is great and free. Who needs Kaspersky? I happily used Avast in my Parallels 3 build. For $40 I'm happy to just get my upgrade. Just don't waste our time, Parallels, by keeping information hidden.

Oh, and don't pretend like I'm number one in the chat queue for 35+ minutes. I realize each of us individual buyers don't bring a lot of revenue, but this is absurd.