SALLY SORTS IT: My anti-virus cover ended in 2017 but McAfee kept on billing me

I recently logged into my account at software security company McAfee.

My account showed that my HP laptop’s antivirus and internet security had expired in January 2017.

I called the company to ask why, if it had expired, they were still charging the annual subscription fee for my Nationwide credit card every June since 2018. I requested a refund of the £570 charged over the years.

At first the call operator told me that I must have been scammed and that the company had not received these payments, but upon checking again, he said that the money had been received.

They only offered me a refund for one year’s payment, which is unacceptable considering I had no protection in all the years I paid for it. Can you help?

San Francisco, Teddington, Middlesex.

Sally Hamilton responds: I was hoping this would be one of my easier cases to solve.

This turned out to be a naïve hope, since when I tried to email McAfee, it was as if my missives were themselves the viruses that their security software promises to keep out of a customer’s computer system.

I emailed four times over four weeks. Four times I received an automated response that led me to believe that my query would be addressed “as soon as possible.”

Customer service also needed my customer number and since I’m not a customer I couldn’t move forward.

Despite this, I received a phone call from a customer service person, but they couldn’t hear me and that’s why they cut me off. Argh.

I resorted to contacting the CEO of the company directly. Greg Johnson is the CEO of McAfee in the United States.

I sent an email to his address, which I guessed (correctly, as it turns out) and copied to the same press office that had promised to contact me. I requested that the full amount be refunded.

Lo and behold, a few hours later, Greg responded. There was an apology and a promise that he was ‘stepping up’ [my] request to our customer success manager.’

This job was new to me and I had enough fun to calm my initial irritation. My new contact quickly arranged your £570 refund. Success.

During the investigation, McAfee discovered that his family had not one, but three accounts. The second was the problematic one.

It was set up with a misspelled email address and was never activated, but you were charged incorrectly using the same bank details as your first account (which you canceled in 2017).

A spokesperson says: ‘With thanks to the Daily Mail, and after a thorough investigation and discovery of the account with an incorrect email address, we were able to confirm that the account had not been activated and provided a full refund to SF last month. ‘

Birthday trip ruined by illness

My wife and I are over 70 years old. I saved my extra pennies to treat us both to a weekend at Potters Resorts Five Lakes in Essex, to celebrate his birthday. The price of £1,193 included drinks, food and entertainment, as well as £15 insurance.

Upon arriving at the resort on June 9, we were asked to check-in early, at 2:00 pm instead of 3:00 pm, only to be told to wait for the staff, who would give us a package containing the itinerary of our stay.

In addition, they gave us a brochure in which we were informed of the measures we should take in case of discomfort. The staff did not elaborate on this, but there was a number to call for help.

The first night went well, but the next day, after lunch, we started to feel sick. That night we couldn’t eat the food we had paid for. We went ahead and went to see the show, only to be told there were technical problems.

That night my wife fell seriously ill and remained ill for several hours. Then it was my turn. We tried calling the number on the brochure several times, but no one answered. At 6.30 we managed to inform the night manager of our illness and told him that we had decided to return home.

So at 7 in the morning on June 11 we left, two days early. We had paid almost £1200 for a day of food and (not much) entertainment.

The night manager assured us that they would take care of the refund and that they also had other guests to review. The compensation offer we received was £393.

If the resort had given us all the information and offered us the option to rebook based on the disease outbreak, which they appear to be fully aware of, we would have done so. I feel like we should get a full refund.

BM, Essex.

Sally Hamilton responds: Your tale of woe made me feel queasy, although not to the same degree that you and your poor wife felt on your shortened birthday trip.

I reviewed the Potters Resorts booking conditions and found the following: ‘Your booking is accepted with the understanding that norovirus and/or similar contagious insects… may be present in the general general population and may affect any public space, and they are out of our reach. control.

“Your vacation contract is issued with the understanding that the business operates as one of those public spaces and therefore cannot be immune to the potential of norovirus and/or similar viruses.”

Norovirus is obviously something of general concern for the company and, I’m sure, for many vacation companies. It’s fair enough for a resort to protect itself from the sea of ​​complaints it would inevitably receive after a norovirus outbreak, but I felt like you and your wife were being sent like lambs to the slaughter by not being informed of your presence at the resort. at the time you registered.

While norovirus is not dangerous for most people, it can have more serious consequences for older people or those with underlying health problems. As he had been treated for cancer, which left him with compromised immunity, and also suffered from a heart condition, he felt he had been put at risk.

You had issued a Freedom of Information request to the council, confirming that you had been informed of the norovirus outbreak on the day it occurred, and that the UK Health Security Agency and Maldon District Council had advised the resort to closure by a ‘firebreak’ from June 19 to 23 to allow for extra deep cleaning.

For me that was enough to get a full refund. However, Potters Resorts only offered £393, which I suspect is all the insurance sold by the resort would pay for the reduction. If the resort had not been aware of the outbreak when you arrived, they might have accepted this. But allowing him to register knowing the virus was present was not acceptable.

I asked Potters Resorts to investigate your case. A couple of weeks later, the £1,193 he had paid returned to his bank account. You were happy.

His experience is a reminder to all tourists that purchasing your own travel insurance is essential.

• Write to Sally Hamilton at Sally Sorts It, Money Mail, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or email sally@dailymail.co.uk; include the phone number, address, and a note addressed to the offending organization giving them permission to speak. to Sally Hamilton. Please do not send original documents as we cannot be responsible for them. The Daily Mail cannot accept any legal responsibility for the responses given.