VIRUS PROTECT MOVE TO NORTON and Reduction of Licences

[AlbertSnodgrass1]

Exasperated by the number of licences for the BT VP after it moves to Norton in March. My current package says 15, and this has a year to run. My BT VP on my laptop now says 2. The BT website says 2. The BT Helpdesk told me it was 10 ( where did they get that from)? My contract clearly states 15, so are BT obliged to provide 15 until the end of contract? Any lawyers out there that might advise?

[AlbertSnodgrass1]

Worried by this change to Norton… My current package has 15 free licences to VirusProtect AND USING 5 of them. BUT recent BT change to Norton Virus Protect gives only two licences unless you are on the most expensive Broadband packages… this is to change fully on 31 March 2022. However, a lot of us have it stipulated in our contracts that we have 15 licences. So will this be a breach of our contracts if they are still operating after 31 March? The Helpdesk at BT could not help, as they had no clue what will happen!

[JohnC2]

Hi @AlbertSnodgrass1, thanks for your post and sorry for the confusion over the number of licences. Have a look at message 7 from NeilO on this thread: https://community.bt.com/t5/Broadband-Extras-Apps-from-BT/Licences-on-BT-Virus-Protect/m-p/2181906

Cheers

John

[AlbertSnodgrass1]

Thanks Moderator. Helpful, but I would like to know what will happen to the number of licences after March, when VP migrates to Norton. I cannot get an agreed answer from anywhere. My best offer at the moment from a girl on the Helpdessk was 10. My worst was two- which is on the BT website. Please try and get a definitive answer.

[licquorice]

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@AlbertSnodgrass1 wrote:

Exasperated by the number of licences for the BT VP after it moves to Norton in March. My current package says 15, and this has a year to run. My BT VP on my laptop now says 2. The BT website says 2. The BT Helpdesk told me it was 10 ( where did they get that from)? My contract clearly states 15, so are BT obliged to provide 15 until the end of contract? Any lawyers out there that might advise?

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Not a lawyer, but as Virus protect is a free bonus to your package which you are not actually paying for, I would politely suggest that your entitlement to any at all is absolutely zero and any you do get is a bonus.

However, from a PR point of view, it doesn't look good if the number of licences is reduced.

[JohnC2 · Accepted solution]

Hi @AlbertSnodgrass1, there is no change to your licence entitlement. Customers will still be eligible for 2 or 15 BT Virus Protect licences as they are currently. They also get five licences for the Norton Password Manager. The only difference is that these products will now be provided by Norton. 

Cheers

John

[AlbertSnodgrass1]

Thanks licquorice… just getting a bit worried… as you say it is potentially a PR issue, but then to be fair to BT it might by March respect these commitments … it is certainly one of the reasons I opted for their package.  I just wanted some reassurance. I only need 4 licences at most and have spent ages trying to find if I will still have them.  I wish they let their poor helpdesk people know what is happening. My poor girl was lovely but admitted she was clueless about this.  You can app. purchase more licences from BT after March at £4 a month, but this seems a poor deal (£48) - I discovered that students and many office workers can get a full year package for three machines from Norton for £20.  I am no contract lawyer either…  but if it is  part of an advertised package that you purchase, and have still that package, isnt it part of the contract between two parties? Have to ask Martin Lewis!

[AlbertSnodgrass1]

Thanks Moderator. Very reassuring. 

[jennygoodwin2]

Hi John,

Hope you can help me.

I logged into my BT account to check my bill and it came up saying that BT Virus Protect needed to be upgraded to Norton from Mcafee. My package had 3 devices protected with Mcafee with extra devices can be added as and when, up to 15. 

I installed Norton on 2 of those devices and went to do the third - asked me to remove Mcafee which I did, got to the final step after it installed and then it said Norton didnt have any licences available and asked me to either transfer a licence or buy another subscription. We then looked back on BT and it said only 2 devices were able to be protected unlike Mcafee where we had 3 devices (and could protect more if needed under my package). 

I am not very happy about this at all. We have not been notified at all from anyone at BT, no emails etc, nothing. I now have 1 device which has no protection on whatsoever because we have obviously uninstalled Mcafee as we were downloaded Norton. I have spoken to someone on the online chat and they were not very understanding of my issue that the packaged has been reduced, without any prior warning.

Is there anything you can do to help me? They said I need to upgrade my broadband but I dont want to do this as I only need 1 extra device and therefore do not want to pay an extra £4 per month for 15 licences when I will only be using 1 of them. My main concern is that I wasn't informed and looking online, it only states on the 'how to get BT virus protection' page that any existing customers need to take action which i'm not exactly going to see when I already have virus protection and therefore I wouldnt need to search anything about it. I only found out when I viewed my bill otherwise I would be none the wiser that my Mcafee wouldn't of been supported. 

Any help will be much appreciated. 

[AlbertSnodgrass1]

This post is so worrying again, Jenny.  The moderator assures us all above that there was no change in the number of licences from the ones allowed by the current allowances and under current contracts. So this advice deffo now appears to be inaccurate. BT HAS to come clean and communicate this to all its broadband customers, and it has not done so. 
I go back to what I posted earlier - that from end of March, BT is likely to be in breach of contract for all of us who have continuing contracts - if they have unilaterally changed their side of the offer.  Also, I would point out that most folk can (with a bit of effort) find Norton AntiVirus on offer (at least for three licenses) at far cheaper than the £50 a year being asked for the BT Norton extras!!!