I'm dumbstruck

  • 29 April 2019
  • 8 replies
  • 401 views

Userlevel 1
Badge +3
What type of logic is behind offering a free trial of a product, then crippling it by 60 - 70 percent? A trial is supposed to give you a good feel for what to expect, on the chsance you may choose to take the paid route.

Normally something like this wouldn't cause me to become upset in any sense of the word... maybe a bit confused and depressed at the state of society this practice demonstrates. But the fact that they've wasted a good amount of my time on researching, downloading, and installing a product that barely functions as intended, is bordering on infuriating considering what could be at stake.

Maybe the fact that it's marketed toward gamers makes them feels as if they can half-ass it like so many game publishers and devs as of late.

Well, although I am an avid gamer, you've lost a potential business customer. The only reason I downloaded the Gamer edition was due to the fact that it's the only edition that offers a trial - which in hindsite should have tipped me off to some shady - if not dimwitted practices.

Why cripple a trial version? Whoever proposed the idea, and whoever OK'd it, may want to reevaluate their cognitive abilities.

8 replies

Userlevel 7
Hi ThaKevMan

Welcome to the Community Forums (but perhaps for not for long it seems...😞)

I have to say that I was not aware that the trail version was 'crippled', as you put it. Would you provide more detail as to what this 60%-70% is made up of, as it would be worth getting that checked with Community Management to see if they have any comments to make.

As far as I know you are not correct about the Gamer version being the only version for which a free trial is offered; the below is a copy/paste from the Internet Security version webpage:

"What to Expect with a Truly Free Trial

We know you have a lot of options to evaluate when deciding on internet security software. You want the product with the best performance, features, and functionality. We think you'll find that with Webroot.

That's why we’re happy to offer free trials of our virus protection software, no strings attached for 14 days. So go ahead, start your free trial today."

Hence my request for more details as to what yo are seeing as 'crippled'? I am sure there must be a logical explanation as to what you are seeing.

Awaiting your response.

Regards, Baldrick
Userlevel 7
Badge +36
As Baldrick mentioned, would you mind expanding on what you mean by "crippling the trial by 60-70%"? The trial is the full software, but for a limited time. Perhaps if you shed some more light on what you mean I can better understand.
Userlevel 7
Thanks Lara, I am glad to see that I am not incorrect in my assertion. It will be interesting to here what the answer is re. the 'issues'.

Regards, Baldrick.
Userlevel 1
Badge +3
I do apologize for the ranty sound of my post from last night. I was very tired my frustration with the trial seemed to be the straw that broke the camel's back of my very long and stress full week. I'm typically a very analytical and cool-headed person.

A few hours later I was able to find other trial versions across the website that I had somehow overlooked, so I was definitely wrong there.

As for the trial program it's self, after installation and a restart, I opened the program settings to configure it to my liking, and every component that has anything to do with real-time protection was disabled, and greyed out. When I clicked on a help button to see what the issue may be, I was taken to a webroot web page encouraging me to create an account. I thought it was a bit annoying to have to create an account to enable those features, but I tried anyway...

But within the first few lines I realized it wouldn't allow me to do so without a product key, which of course requires a purchase.

At that point, I would normally do a bit more research to find out the logic or strategy behind that, but instead I immediately uninstalled it and moved on to something I'm familiar with and trust.

I suppose it could have been a Windows error (all real-time process being disabled) but I was too exhausted to dig any deeper.

Any ideas regarding that?

Thanks,
Kevin
Userlevel 7
Badge +36
When you requested a trial, it should've showed a screen with a keycode. Did you see this page? Also it would have emailed you the keycode to whichever email you used to request the trial.

Userlevel 1
Badge +3
When you requested a trial, it should've showed a screen with a keycode. Did you see this page? Also it would have emailed you the keycode to whichever email you used to request the trial.


Yes Lliddell, I was offered smething along those lines, though I don't remember the exact nomenclature off the top of my head. I do remember attemption to use is and realizing immediately that it wasn't what they were looking for.

In all honesty, it wasn't that big of a deal for me in the grand scheme of things. On a typical day I wold have walked away just slightly south of neutral regarding the product and made a mental note to give it another shot down the road in case this was just a bad fluke.

I certainly appreciate everyone reaching out to me however. I honestly didn't expect any replies, though I thought if there were any, they would be the typical, beratement without any compulsion to find out what the problem really is.

So in the future, even if I don't fully switch for some reason, I'll still likely be making frequent apperence here in these forums. =)

Best,
Kevin
I certainly appreciate everyone reaching out to me however. I honestly didn't expect any replies, though I thought if there were any, they would be the typical, beratement without any compulsion to find out what the problem really is.
Yeah, @Baldrick is good that way. So is Lara (@LLiddell).

Glad to hear you felt your interaction with us here was positive ☺️.

Maybe hear from you again in the future sometime...

And I do hope you are able to get that trial version working properly (something must have gone wrong as normally installing the trial version should work flawlessly). If you have any probs relating thereto, don't hesitate to contact Webroot either through a ticket or by phone.
Userlevel 7

When you requested a trial, it should've showed a screen with a keycode. Did you see this page? Also it would have emailed you the keycode to whichever email you used to request the trial.
Yes Lliddell, I was offered smething along those lines, though I don't remember the exact nomenclature off the top of my head. I do remember attemption to use is and realizing immediately that it wasn't what they were looking for.

In all honesty, it wasn't that big of a deal for me in the grand scheme of things. On a typical day I wold have walked away just slightly south of neutral regarding the product and made a mental note to give it another shot down the road in case this was just a bad fluke.

I certainly appreciate everyone reaching out to me however. I honestly didn't expect any replies, though I thought if there were any, they would be the typical, beratement without any compulsion to find out what the problem really is.

So in the future, even if I don't fully switch for some reason, I'll still likely be making frequent apperence here in these forums. =)

Best,
Kevin

Hi ThaKevMan

Apologies for the late response...pressures of the day job have kept me away recently. 😞

No worries...all are welcome and yours was a positive (if some what frustrated 😉 sounding) & legitimate request for information on WRSA.

Not sure what your current position/status is re. WRSA and your trialing but if you do indeed decide to go/stick with WRSA and run into issues then we are always here to help if we can.

All the best, Baldrick

Reply