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NoReally's avatar
NoReally
New Contributor
9 years ago

Cox Security Suite by Mcafee

In viewing my mothers banking transactions online I saw we had a charge for $42.51.  From McAfee. 

Amount:                   $42.51
Merchant:                  MCAFEE *INTEL SECURITY-866-622-3911 ,TX
Transaction date:       02/05/2016

Initially I was very confused since I have never bought anything from Mcafee as well as the fact I have never given them my mothers credit card information (and Mom doesn't really even know how to turn on the PC).  I logged into my McAfee account and it showed my "protection" had expired 991 days ago and indeed no credit card associated with my account.  So I called the phone number on the transaction and a nice foreign woman took my call.  She showed the same thing under my email address.  Suddenly it occured to me it must be the Security Suite from Cox.  She pulled up the transaction using the credit card that showed the charge and sure enough it has my mothers email associated with it  (btw my mom doesnt even know her email address and doesnt ever use it, I use it at times to pay her bills).  So near as I can tell, Cox slammed my mothers credit card through a third party SECURITY company designed to protect my stuff.  McAfee was never given that or any credit card by my mom or myself so it must have been passed to them by Cox.  The rep confirmed that indeed this was for an annual renewal for Cox McAfee that was billed.  She was nice enough to reverse the charge and cancel my "renewal".  

It was my understanding that the Cox Security Suite powered by Mcafee was free with my preferred internet service through Cox.

Is this not the case?  Is the "free" online storage also going to be billed to an account of ours?

I would like to caution Cox internet users that may have installed McAfee through Cox to check their bank statements carefully.  I am at a loss as to why Cox would engage in this highly shady if not illegal practice of giving a Visa number to a third party and why McAfee would put through a "renewal" on a card not given to them by a customer for a product that is offered for free. 

I would imaging that this post will be deleted but if someone could contact me to explain what is going on, that would be nice.

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  • AllenP's avatar
    AllenP
    Valued Contributor
    9 years ago

    A quick search shows many users complaining about bogus charges directly from McAfee, not charges put thru by Cox or any other ISP.  If you believe the reports, it's McAfee using old credit card records to charge renewal fees to former customers.  I'm not saying it wasn't Cox, don't know, but there are other possibilities. 

  • ChrisL's avatar
    ChrisL
    Former Moderator
    9 years ago
    @NoReally

    In all of the years I've been here this is the first report of something like this happening that I've seen.  We are not setup to accept payments on behalf of McAfee so I suspect this is related to something else.  My guess would be if she's used a retail version of McAfee in the past there is an old machine floating around somewhere that has her payment info on it.

  • louisfromMacon's avatar
    louisfromMacon
    New Contributor
    9 years ago

    For at least 2 years, every few months I get an annoying (flashing & beeping) pop-up on the screen saying my Mcafee Security Suite (from Cox) license will expire in 5 days & I need to renew it. When you call Cox Support, they refer you to Mcafee Support. Mcafee Support will only help you with the issue if you agree to let them charge $100 to your cfredit card.

    If you pay them they reinstall the software. They won't tell you this is the fix. I think this is an issue created by Mcafee to generate money.

    If you have this issue. Uninstall Security Suite & reinstall it yourself and save yourself a lot of time & $100.

  • ChrisL's avatar
    ChrisL
    Former Moderator
    9 years ago
    @louisfromMacon

    It sounds like you're reaching the McAfree retail support line.  We have a dedicated free support department for our security offering that can be reached by calling 888-556-0959.