How to Cancel Norton Annual Renewal and Get Your Money Back in 10 Minutes or Less
- Comments: 63
- Written on: November 9th, 2009
When you buy the latest versions of Symantec’s Norton products, you are asked to establish a Norton Account.
This account retains the credit card information you used when you purchased your Norton (assuming you purchased or renewed online).
As a “convenience” to you, Symantec will automatically renew your Norton subscription when it is expiring using the credit card on file. It will appear on your statement as “Norton *Annual Renewal”.
But what if you did not want to renew, choose to buy an updated off-the-shelf version, or even switched to another security software provide
When Did I Agree to Auto-Renew?
When you purchased or renewed your Norton software online there was a small text notification at the bottom of the shopping cart page with a checkbox that you were required to check to complkete your purchase.
As in most cases, the devil is in the details, so if you checked without reading, you agreed and that is why your card got dinged for the renewal.
How Do Opt-Opt of Norton Auto Renewal?
The easiest way to prevent an unwanted auto-renewal is to simply opt-out. Symantec has made this inconvenient enough that many people may not do it, but it is not hard to do.
To opt-out, visit www.mynortonaccount.com and log in using the email address you used in your original purchase session and the password you were required to establish when you purchased.
Once logged in, click on the renewal center link at the top of the page and cancel the auto-renewals on the desired products.
What is the Easiest Way to Cancel a Billed Auto-Renewal?
Unfortunately, canceling is a lot more difficult than the automated renewal process. Thankfully, it can be done with the right information.
Here’s what you will need:
- The first 6 digits of your credit card number used for the renewal (if you have multiple cards on your bank account, you MUST have the one you used to buy initially)
- The last 4 digits from the same card
- The name on the card
- The expiration date
- The email address associated with your Norton Account (your log-in name)
- Your order number (in the event you are trying to cancel an accidental purchase)
There are 3 ways to cancel your Norton Auto-Renewal after it has been billed to your bank account.
- Call the toll-free number on your Bank statement – 1-877-294-5265
- Use Symantec’s online chat to cancel
- Fill out Symantec’s cancellation form
Call me a pessimist, but I don’t like to trust my refund to a fire and forget form.
I have tried the live chat option, but after a very long wait most of the associates did not know what they were doing and were unable to process my request.
After 5 hours of online chatting to get a $48.13 credit on my bank statement, I called the toll-free number.
The call made it to a live person in just a few minutes, and my refund was processed in 10 minutes.
Additionally, they removed the credit card information from my Norton Account all together so no other unintended renewals would happen in the future.
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- Comments: 63
It really grates my carrot that legitimate (or as close as an anti-virus business can get……I really have my doubts about the origins of viruses sometimes….) businesses have to resort to this kind of tactic to effectively steal your money. This kind of nonsense makes loads of people reluctant to part with their credit card details online, effectively ruining the party for many other, honest online vendors….
Those auto-renewal checkboxes are sneaky. They know that there will be plenty of people who completely forget about the auto-renewal. They are bound to get many people paying for renewals even when they don’t use the software anymore.
I have experienced such farce earlier as well (not with norton though) and I know how frustrating it is. It leaves such a bad taste in mouth and if Norton people are reading this, I seriously feel that they should analyse how many potential customers they lose bcoz of negative publicity from existing customers..
I don’t like lately Norton products. There were days that it was my favorite anti-spyware and anti-virus protector, but now it is too much for me. Their programs are making my hardware go slower and there is too much inside. Their programs should be much simplier.
I have had Norton twice automatically renew my subscription and I now know how to cancel the Automatic Renewal choice after reading your comments.
Last year, I paid the bill, which went unnoticed on my Visa account, and bought and installed separate software, so I was covered twice by the same system! This year, I caught the automatic billing and did not install separate software. However, trying to contact Norton/Symantec is almost an impossibility and I don’t know if I will buy their products again. I certainly have cancelled the Automatic Renewal request which, by the way, I didn’t know I had! The way they get your renewal business is underhanded, in my opinion. Also, they keep notifying me that I have X number of days before expiry when I am paid up until August 2010. Thanks for your help as I won’t get caught this way again.
that is truly an awesome advice and I could actually appreciate it very much for being a victim of their sneaky ways, cheers
Thanks for advice, I think that soon I resign from Norton, because it is to “heavy” for procesor. I Change it for Avira – heard that Avira is also good and free.
@Barrett.. I have tried contacting them too for support and have had really some hard time.. but then its easy to understand given that so many people do use their products..
@Barrett.. I have tried contacting them too for support and have had really some hard time.. but then its easy to understand given that so many people do use their products…
I work for a credit card company/bank and Norton does have an automatic renewal, but you have 60 days to call and cancel with them for a full refund.
This automatic renewal stuff gets so annoying! I know it’s probably a great business or money maker. But, really come on! If I would want to renewal so badly leave it up to the actual customer to renew instead of just automatically ripping me of each year. Great post and this helped out a ton!
Thanks again!
I understand that auto renew can help a company earn extra cash but as a consumer I hate annual renewals. Thanks for this awesome tip.
I have had Norton twice automatically renew my subscription and I now know how to cancel the Automatic Renewal choice after reading your comments.
There is no UK contact number and the US number was engaged when I tried it. The call back form asks for a US format number and wont accept my UK number. I eventually used the ‘chat’ support – the assistant, Raja Gopal, was very polite and efficient and although I had to wait a few minutes he processed the refund and told me the auto-renewal was also cancelled for the future.
I don’t like lately Norton products.
I don’t like lately Norton products. ….
I had this problem with Norton taking re-newal fee from my bank account without even asking me. I then used their Symantec’s online chat, here i was able to cancel and get my money refunded, although it took about 1 week to show as a credit on my bank account. And this also cancelled future automatic renewals. This did really work, I suggest to try it.
Thank you so much for this information. It was extremely helpful and thanks to your advice I managed to cancel the auto renewal in about 5 minutes. I used the chat service. It was easy. Thank you so much!
My teen-aged daughter just had this happen to her checking account, same thing. I tried calling the toll-free number but was on hold forever and finally hung up. I used the above link to chat online and the problem was corrected in about ten minutes, and they made the appropriate changes so it wont happen again. Unfortunately this caused her to be charged an overdraft fee, so more paperwork at the bank to get that fixed also. Sigh… but the above information was extremely helpful in showing us how to get the problem fixed in a timely manner- thanks!
An absolute horrible experience with Norton. Recently received a charge for an auto renewal on a computer that fried 8 months ago. Been trying for 3 days now to get in touch with them. 60 to 90 minutes on hold each time with no pick up. I can’t email them because I don’t have all the info from the dead computer. Never again.
Last year, I paid the bill, which went unnoticed on my Visa account, and bought and installed separate software, so I was covered twice by the same system! This year, I caught the automatic billing and did not install separate software. However
Thankx good advise – I didn’t have all the information, but when I called they found it after a few minutes of searching and have reversed the charges. Like so many others I missed the checkbox (pretty unusual for me). I switched to ESET NOD32 (because of Norton’s heavy processor use on start-up as others mentioned) over a year ago, so I was surprised to see the charge on my account. It further surprised me because it was charged to an expired CC, how did that happen?
I used chat and was told I would get a refund and my subscription canceled .
This was 3/25/10. Let you know what happens. Amazing comments, but really
describes Norton’s incredibly awful customer service. Should be sent to the CEO.
Whenever I log into my Norton Account, I do not have any way of deactivating Auto Renew. Has the Norton Account page changed recently? When I tried to use the form, it said that it couldn’t accept my order number because the number had to be all numerals and the first two characters of my purchase were letters. Do I just delete the letters? Does anyone have a screen-print walkthrough for this process? Thank you.
This kind of nonsense makes loads of people reluctant to part with their credit card details online, effectively ruining the party for many other, honest online vendors.
Thank you so much, the direction and phone number was spot on and it did indeed take less than 10m to not only get the charge reversed, but they also processed the opt-out for me.
Yous is now an RSS feed shortcut on my laptop and phone!
give me my fucking monny back!!!!!!
you freaking rock! i googled the phone number on my credit card, found your site and got my money back. thank you so much! this is what the internet is all about.
amazing…after speading 30 minutes on hold I googled the phone number and found this…it took about 45 seconds to complete. THANK-YOU
Thanks – this helped so much. I logged into my account and canceled the renewals! I hope that Norton changes this “auto” renewal. Why can’t they send emails and ASK their customers is they want to renew? If the product is as good as they claim, then we would all renew by our own choice. I have one more year with Norton, then I’ll go into a store and buy my own product without auto renewing!!! Thanks for this article – it was so easy to cancel.
THANK YOU! after 15 mins on hold my issue was resolved. amazing!
Ihave been on here for an hr and the problem is all i want to do is cancel the order 480-836-0280AZ the sum is90.03and my annual re newal is 59.77i will keep it. A dorman
Thanks for the advise.i gave them a call after they charged me 69.99 and overdraft fee of 35.00!!! from my bank and they refunded everything even the overdraft!!woop woop.but still its such an inconvenience to have to go trough this. later and good luck.
I was annoyed to find the automatic renewal on my credit card, but Norton was polite and accomodating on the phone. Of course it took 20 minutes on hold, but at least it’s done and won’t show up again. I agree this is a nasty tactic and they need to make sure people understand what they are signing up for.
I just got hit with a charge too…been on hold for 25 min now. HOW ANNOYING!
I was on hold for 90 min, then had a 40 sec conversation and got my money back!
Last night I reviewed my credit card bill and saw the charge. I contacted them at the number on the credit detail and they agreed to remove the charge. I reviewed old credit card statements and saw they had also charged me in 2009, 2008 and I’m sure in 2007 but I can’t access statements that old. Their customer service representative told me he couldn’t do anything about the old charges and my credit card company said they couldn’t do anything about charges older than 60 days. I haven’t used norton since late 2006 or early 2007 but have paid for 4 renewals! An expensive lesson learned the hard way.
I just saw on my bank statement that you deducted $65.31 for The Norton Annual Renewal. I want to cancel my annual subcibtion as I no longer have a regular pc, which makes the use of Norton unneccesary. Please send me a confomation that the subscibtion is cancelled and return the money I paid. Hopefully the problem will be solved now. Sincerely Berlinskaya
I want a refund for 3 automatic renewals that were charged to my credit card. I understand I have 60 days and all 3 qualify. None of the programs have been downloaded sodo not need renewal. Jan. 28, 2011 $54.11: Feb. 9, 2011 $64.94 amd Feb/ 14. 2011 $64/94. When can I expect the renewal and what else do I need to do. Myra Brhlik
I had this renewal unoticed for 4 years, in my husband’s account, the one I barely check. I called and they gave me the $44.99 refund (the lastest charge) but they could not refund for the past years, however they did offer me to download the latest Norton with a free subscription of 2 years… I thought it was strange that they wanted to remotely connect in my computer to download. I asked for them to email me the offer and links, but he said he couldn’t do it like that. I already have an anti-virus, and after reading so many of you saying that Norton slows computer, I declined their offer… oh well…
i try the trial verson and it crashed my computer and was charge when i look on my bank account charge of 79.99 still pending refund after being run around thanks for fyi info on how to get refund thank u for the help
I dont think its right I been trying to get ahold of these people to get my money back and no one will answer the phone. I purchased a norton product and didnt want to renewel at all. It was taken out of my card in feb 9 2010 $69.99 and I would appreciate it being put back on my card. I am giving this 3 days to happen and if not I will be contacting a lawyer. I am a single parent and I dont have that kind of money for people to steal it from me. I didnt even know it was taken out intil I just noticed. Christine Uphold.
@Christine
Symantec does not monitor this blog, so you might try the online chart option instead of phone. They are not going to refund it unless you get in touch with them.
Wonderful advice on canceling autorenew. It worked like a charm. Easy and simple. Thank you so much for your post!
For information on cancelling auto-renewal, call this number 877-294-5265.
The gentleman that we spoke to was very helpful, beleive it or not. Our auto-renewal is cancelled and we will be refunded for a charge that shouldn’t have been. We were charged for another subscription after having purchased the same in January of this year. Press the 2 key option.
hi guys i need nortan annuwal renuwal contact number.does anyone know number plz tell me ……….
Thor, thanks for the advice. Norton debit my bank account for renewal of a subscription that I didn’t want and new nothing about. I was faced with obtaining reimbursement and demanding that my credit card data be removed from their system. Your advice given above worked well. I chose option one (called the 877 number) and in less than a minute had someone on the line. They were polite and reasonable, refunded my money, cancelled my subscription, and removed my credit card data from their system. They even sent an e-mail confirmation along with a confirmation number. At least they are an honorable company. I don’t think they were trying to rip me off…I think it was just an unfortunate glitch in the system. Thanks again.
Thanks for the clear and precise information. Works like magic. I have just cancelled my Norton subscription and got a refund, through a chat session. Hats off to you
Does anyone know that number to call if you’re not from the States? I’m living in Australia now. Thanks
Ignore that – sorted via the online chat! Thanks
Wow. Thank you. I have not used them in over 5 years and randomly I noticed the charge today. I am baffled. How in the world do they charge you after nothing for five years. How can this even be legal? I canceled it through my bank and am glad this information is online. I love the long wait time on the phones. They are not going to deter me. I will wait thirty min. if I have to. I can not believe that they get away with this.
I was caught by the auto renewal twice and was told only this time can be refunded. If I do not get any happy answer I will report to the fair trading office in australia.
How many people got caught from Norton. We need to complain !!!
I will do it Monday.
I was charged for a Norton Product used by my previous employer. A refund (and Auto Renewal cancellation) was easily obtained by using the CHAT facility on the Norton website. The whole thing took about 10 minutes at no cost to me. I was also offered a very good deal on a another year Anti Virus as a sweetener but didn’t need it.
Automatic Renewal – After a great deal of lobbying by disgruntaled customers the South African government has against “automatic renewal” and outlawed it in early 2011. Maybe its time for the rest of the world to follow suit.
Thx for posting this information. After going through “Are you sure routine?” the cancellation process went very well. Good job!!
I got a refund with no hassles at all by calling the USA number 1800 695 0678
I cancelled my auto renewal for Nortons and was still billed!! Then I had to ask for a refund. Be very careful about giving out your credit card details to Norton. They are very sneaky.
Nice customer service Norton. My mother passed away in June 2011. This month I received a credit card statement for a visa card that I’d not yet been able to close due to probate. I had cleared all outstanding amounts on the card following her death, so I was surprised to see an auto renewal fee for Norton AV. I called to have the charge cancelled, but they said it is outside the 60 day reversal period… cute. I am sure my mother is getting good use of their AV product in heaven… That is yet one more example of why I will not permit anyone I know to purchase Symantec products.
i want to know why , you guys still taken,, money from my account , i want to know how i can get my money back dont think that is fear,,
you guys just go in my account take out money without contacting, the person, why taken off money from my, account,m i want to know who i can talk to,,
Seriously, for the one millionth time… I am not Symantec. I am not taking your money without asking. We advise you NOT renew online but instead do it through us so we can cancel the auto-renew feature. READ THE POST and you will get all of the information you need to know.
i need some one to contact, me i dnt have norton , so where is that an who gives you guys rite, to keep my account number, on your file that is a crime,,
i have just cancled my renewal with norton chat, vipin was exellent in sorting
it out for me, as i had changed my email address, i hadnt informed them, so
therefor i didnt have an account to cancel,