Spyware Doctor 5.5
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| Editor's rating | 
|
License | Free to try; $29.95 to buy | |
| Average user rating |
(2,451 votes)
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Limitations | See description | |
| Downloads | 18,608,054  |
Requirements | Windows 2000/XP/Vista | |
| Publisher | PC Tools | File size | 16.1MB | |
| Date added | January 10, 2008 | Alternate download links... | ||
Like having a key logger on your credit card
16-Mar-2007 05:22:12 AM
Reviewer: em31
Pros: The uninstall worked
Cons: Stay away unless you enjoy reading the fine fine print of the EULA. Once you know it is in there you can did and find it but otherwise, along with the initial download and "one year subscription" to "protection", they give themselves the right to AUTOMATICALLY CHARGE YOUR CARD NEXT YEAR without asking first.
Go check BBB.ORG - I wish I had done that first.
Even if you buy into the idea that some companies are engaging in the automatic renewal practice nowdays, the effort that seems to have been made by PCTOOLS to OBSCURE this from the end user makes the behavior HIGHLY QUESTIONABLE in this case.
STAY AWAY.
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Replies from CNET users
18-Mar-2007 06:29:37 AM
Reviewer: Woodys2
PAY NO ATTENTION TO THIS REVIEWER em31 HAS POSTED A FAKE REVIEW AND DID NOT DOWNLOAD SPYWARE DOCTOR......
18-Mar-2007 01:13:01 PM
Reviewer: em31
For the PCTOOLS representative who claims that I never downlaaded this product. I will be happy to make your company an offer. I give you back the original license key code from my download and you give me back my thirty dollars. Deal or no deal?
By all means I encourage potential customers to go to the PCTOOLS play a game of "how long will it take me to find the hidden language which permits PCTOOLS to charge your credit card every year"... If you find it at all you are good. Very good. It is hard to find for a reason. PCTOOLS don't want you to find it.
Finally, after you have been to the PCTOOLS website I also encourage people to go visit the better business bureau website and see if the company still has an "unsatisfactory" rating
23-Mar-2007 10:02:28 PM
Reviewer: Hongy098765
There may be other ways that I missed in which PC Tools communicates this to the user but as a paying user of Spyware Doctor I have seen the following:
1. Terms and Condition on the front state this. I never read them and I never read EULA, I am not even sure if it is in the EULA as you state. I quickly looked but couldn't spot it.
2. The product states its a yearly subscription product.
3. Before checkout there is a very visible paragraph on the terms of the subscription which states it will be auto renewed unless cancelled etc ... You really have to be blind to miss it. Its positioned very well with a good heading right next to the checkout button but if you missed it ....
4. Confirmation page states clearly its a yearly sub with 12 months intervals until cancelled.
5. Several confirmation emails very clearly state that it is 12 months sub with yearly renewals.
6. You do receive a reminder email from PC Tools weeks before the actual billing so you meant to cancel and forgot you can cancel before they bill you.
This is way more than my ISP and its only convenient for me that I don't have to go through the purchase process of 3 of their products every year.
If you missed all this have you tried writing to PC Tools and asking for a refund? I am sure they will gladly grant you one. They have been great with all my dealings with them.
I hope this helps.
29-Mar-2007 08:03:01 PM
Reviewer: em31
How disappointing but I will get to that in a moment.
For anyone following this thread I say this to you. Respect the power of the review, pctools have changed the wording on their website since my first review. Maybe it was coincidence and then again, maybe not.
Once again, go to the better business bureau and look them up.
If you got to the PCTOOLS site and click on the spyware doctor link, there is no way that I can see to buy a one year only subscription to this product. When you buy, you give them the right to automatically renew your subscription without seeking your permission to do so next year. If you want to terminate that agreement you have to make a separate effort to do so. That is if you know that you have entered into an automatically renewing subscription in the first place.
The wording on the front page of the website is ambiguous even in it's modified form. It says that you will be buying a...
"Subscription including all new versions, unlimited smart updates and customer support for 1 year"
Nothing about automatic renewals in that language. If you click the button you are straight into give me your credit card-land and since I have just canceled a card because my experience with the automatic renewal, I was hardly about to go down the road of giving them another one just so that I could get a look-see how non-obvious the automatic renewal language is later in that purchasing sequence. At the bottom of the page you will see these words....
"By buying this Product from PC Tools, you agree to our Purchase Terms, a copy of which can be found here."
I leave it entirely up to the reader to decide how much effort that they feel that PCTOOLS is really making to ensure that the potential customer understands the automatic renewal part.
20-Aug-2007 10:32:40 AM
Reviewer: Chainmail2006
And although they didn't pull it on me (I bought mine before this deceitful stuff started), it's wrong. Is it supposed to be on the owner to call "PC Tools" and tell them you don't want this application any more? No! They should email you and offer a renewal, not take it for granted you want one. This is bad business on the part of "PC Tools".
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