I recently had a run in with Johns Creek Software, who via Sami (Web of Trust), informed me they were not best pleased (to put it politely) that their sites had been classified as fraudulent. The sites in question are;
nortons.com
nortons2009antivirus.com
nortonsantivirus2009.com
nortonantivirusdefinition.com
Unfortunately, all efforts to prove otherwise, had not gone so well. Johns Creek Software did not reference anything on their site, other than a claim of being a partner (something we all know is a very easy claim to make), and Symantecs partner website did not list them. So in a last ditch effort, Sami fired off an e-mail to Symantec, as did I, and I followed up with several phone calls.
The last contact I had, was with Symantec's online chat, who advised that I give them a call instead. This did indeed go well - but also proved that someone in Symantec US is clearly not talking to the UK office.
The reason for this? I spoke to Ravi Boojary at Symantec (UK, +44 (0)20 7616 5813), and asked if Johns Creek Software were the registered partners that they claimed to be. His response was a resounding no, they weren't. Because of this, both myself and Sami responded to Johns Creek Software informing them of what Ravi had advised me. Little did I know, Sami was to receive a response 3 days later, from Lillibeth González (Symantec US), this time informing us that they ARE infact Symantec partners.
I do not know why Ravi told me otherwise, perhaps he's not got access to the US records? In which case, he should've told me such, but either way, this does not bode well, and certainly does not look good. I do not like being made to look like a liar, which in this case, is exactly what Ravi has done, and is something I'll be taking up with him, especially as this got a little too close to a law suit for my liking.
So whats the moral of this story? Quite simple really - the security companies with offices in different countries, need to get their damn stories straight, and need to start double checking with each other when they get queries (if this means things take a little longer, then fine - aslong as it'll allow prevention of confusion and in my case, extreme frustration).
Sunday 21 December 2008
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1 comment:
As a founder and CEO of Johns Creek Software I would like to mention some points about this encounter.
Johns Creek Software as nortons.com has been a Symantec Partner since 1997, long before the "Partner Program" came into exsistance.
We are not listed in the public version of the Symantec database because we do not do work with corporate customers and do not want to be contacted for that work. Norton software is mostly a consumer product and we support our customers directly, not via PartnerNet.
The fact we have proper use of the logos and sell genuine products through an e-commerce site that is an authorize.net merchant and GeoTrust reistered site is enough for most people.
Symantec would do something in a hurry if we were bogus. They are the largest Internet Security company in the world and do not tolerate any monkey business with logos or products.
The lesson here is a clerk that looked up something did not know the question and how to answer it. He is totally unaware of how our relationship with Symantec works.
I did come down on WOT administration for providing information that was unverified, wrong and hurting our reputation. I apologize if I was too strong making my point.
It is all straightened out now and WOT is providing correct information. I appreciate their quick response. They solved this issue in less than a week.
Best regards,
Steve Cheatham
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