A lot of my clients are small firms or individuals. Often times, when they need a piece of software installed, they have me buy it, install it, and charge them for my cost. This works most of the time….except for this new “auto renewal” policy for Antivirus/Antispyware software.
Don’t get me wrong; I am fully behind making it as easy as possible for people to be protected. My problem is that in the above situation, the AV software is on my credit card, and if I do more than one, it is an administrative nightmare to try to track whose AV is being renewed on which date. So, typically I buy the software, jump through the hoops to cancel autorenewal, and then let the client contact me in a year (or two).
Enter Microsoft’s “OneCare” software. You cannot (as near as I can tell), cancel the auto-renewal without also canceling the subscription! So, when I purchased it last year for a client, I made a mental note to cancel at the end of the 365.
Of course, life being what it is, I promptly forgot that note until I got notice today that the subscription had been renewed. Then the real hoop-jumping began. Here is how you cancel support should you find yourself in this position:
1. Login to your account at https://billing.microsoft.com
2. Click the service you want to cancel
3. Click the “Cancel my service” link
4. Look at the amazing list on the right of the services you can cancel, and then wonder why this list cannot figure out what service you are trying to cancel automatically.
5. Pick out the service (in this case, “go to the Windows Live OneCare website”)
6. Click “Cancel your OneCare subscription”
7. See that you have to call someone (1-866-ONECARE)
8. Run out of the house, because you are now late due to all of the clicking
9. Realize that you forgot to write down the number, and then drive while trying to remember if it started with 1-800, 1-877, or 1-976
10. Lookup MS Techsupport number in your phone (because you have it programmed in there) and spend 15 minutes trying to get a live person
11. Finally get a real number: 1-866-672-4551
There. That wasn’t so bad after all!