I hate outsourcing

So I saw a charge I wasn't expecting on my credit card statement. I dug into it a little and found it was a renewal for Norton Antivirus; which I carefully told them I didn't want an annual renewel on when I bought it and which I haven't used in over four months.

Oh well, mistakes happen. The charge had a phone number associated to it, so I called them.

I probably would have done better to open with "How's the weather in India?" It was probably a bad sign when the recorded message at the start of the call included "If you're calling about an unexpected charge on your account..."

Well, I get a person and explain my problem. I have a hard time getting through this guy's accent, and I have a hard time believing his name is Steve.

"I need your email address to look up your account."

"I'm not sure which email address you'd have on file for me. Can you look up my account some other way? Say, with the credit card you charged to?"

"Your email address is mandatory."

We go a few rounds on this. After a few tries, it turns out they have me under an email address that is no longer active, but I can't seem to get that concept through to him. My email address is my email address, and no one can change it.

After a while, I ask to speak to his supervisor. I think it was when he asked me how much had been charged that put me over the edge - if you looked up my account, isn't the charge you just made listed?

"My supervisor is busy."

Oh, this just keeps getting better and better.

Well, he doesn't understand the "hold" function on his phone either, but after listening to him type for about five minutes, he announces that he's cancelled the renewal and credited my account.

I'd love to fill out a customer feedback form, but they'll be sending it to my inactive email account.