Consumer users of McAfee’s antivirus products who found their service contracts auto-renewed for another year will now be able to end their contract

McAfee to change terms of auto-renewing consumer plans

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2021-05-25 13:30:03

Consumer users of McAfee’s antivirus products who found their service contracts auto-renewed for another year will now be able to end their contracts and obtain a refund for the remaining months, following a Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) judgment.

The right to a refund will also be backdated for those who were refused refunds in 2020, and McAfee has also agreed to make the process for turning off auto-renewal more straightforward, said the CMA. It will also have to provide clearer upfront information on service pricing, and make it very clear that the auto-renewal cost for the second year is higher than the purchase price.

This comes at the end of a major investigation into the antivirus software business, prompted by a so-called “super-complaint” brought by Citizens Advice, which found evidence of long-term customers overpaying for cyber security services amid concerns that many suppliers’ terms and conditions were unfair.

“People should not be tied into auto-renewing contracts for products they no longer want or need,” said CMA chief executive Andrea Coscelli. “Because of our investigation, it will be easier for McAfee’s customers to get money back if a contract renews when they didn’t want it to.