How to Cancel Norton Annual Renewal and Get Your Money Back in 10 Minutes or Less
- Comments: 18
- 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.
- If you liked this post, subscribe to my feed!
- Comments: 18
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!