Lying to push ESET antivirus

VPN
1

I’m a fairly regular shopper at Microcenter in PA and have been for over 20 years. Working in IT it’s my go to location to send people asking for hardware and device recommendations because I never had a salesman try to sell me something I didn’t need or flat out lie to me to try and make the sale… until today.

Stopped in today to pickup a Legion Go and a VR headset for my son. At checkout the sales rep told the guy in front of me his son couldn’t do school work without an Office 365 subscription and that he needed antivirus because otherwise he would be without protection on the device (partly true except it was windows 11 which comes with defender) and was pushing the ESET despite the guy buying an open box refurb because it was cheap. I was up next and told him I wanted the 2TB go. First he tried to push the protection plan and then the antivirus. I said I don’t need ESET because I use defender, at which point he told me defender is not safe and my credit card information would likely be stolen just like his if I use that. I told him that’s not accurate but just wanted the device. He continued to try once more and I said no thanks.

I put it on the survey as well - but if the PC sales guys are pushing this crap that aggressively, it makes it very hard to recommend them to users who otherwise are going in trusting them for feedback when they buy their computers - especially some of the people I’ve been sending in who have little to no experience aside from using their work devices which we configure and are locked down heavily.

2

The catch is your complaint is going to the same manager who wants to push the sale.

3

It’s kind of the nature of sales, they have quotas that I assume need to be meet.

4

They definitely shouldn’t be fear mongering like that. It is nice to have extra protection and a warranty. But a no is a no.
Some people want it, others dont.

5

When I worked at MC this is exactly how they wanted us to be. There’s a reason I’m not working there or in any sales position anymore. You can make good money doing it but the people that made the most money in sales were always the most dishonest.

6

Hi! at microcenter there is a VERY strong incentive to sell AV and Office as our commission rate is based off of Attachments( keyboard + mouse, when buying a computer) ESET, Office, VPN. You will actually lower your commission rate month by month if you don’t sell it, Microcenter as a company wants 5% of units sold per salesman to have ESET and right around 5% on protection plans. If you don’t make sales with attach you will get yelled at or even transferred out of a department

7

defender is not safe and my credit card information would likely be stolen

Wow using fear is a new low.

8

Defender is really good nowadays. I use with Hitmanpro. Alert together or Roguekiller antimalware portable version.

9

Defender is mediocre at best. Many people that shop at micro center are not tech savvy at all and will end up getting a virus because they were not running AV software.

I can hardly blame the sales people for trying to sell a legitimately good AV software because it’s not right to assume everyone is a tech guru

10

Bro, not sure how you’ve never seen this before. It happens frequently, I used to have to push stuff similar to this at sales jobs back in the day. Just gotta say no.

11

Defender does not offer the same protection as ESET. I have seen ESET catch things that slipped past Microsoft detection and that is with E5 security.

In reality being upset at someone pushing ESET when a person has defender would be like being upset for people buying home security systems becuase they have locks on their doors.

12

Defender has served me quite well for the past 13 years. When Norton became a system hog and I dumped it, I was a bit nervous. Have had zero problems.

13

Typically the people operating the registers do not works the sales floor. A couple might be crossed trained for emergencies. But the sales floor guys are different.

Now if it wasnt a true cashier then it could have been some customer service rep type of person.

sounds strange. real sales floor guys want to put their stickers on hardware and never even comment on software.

some kind of customer service initiative or contest perhaps? sounds really out of character wonder if it was just this 1 person or what the deal is

14

Microcenter staff are paid by commission

15

They make very little hourly and survive on commission sales from everything.

16

I’m pretty sure I go to the same MC as you, since there is only one in PA. I’ve never had that experience at checkout, always been in and out with no issues. I do find that the employees are particularly pushy when you are looking at something expensive like pc parts or a 3D printer, but don’t gaf about you if are in the back section looking at electronics components or cables and still might need help. I guess that’s what you get when you shop at a commission based store, but I’ve had better customer service experiences at other stores that still pay commission. I really feel some employees customer service at MC is only based off the commission they’ll receive if you buy it

17

Every time they try to sell me the warranty, I just no and they stop asking. Never had the antivirus asked on me yet.

18

I haven’t used antivirus in years, it just slows down your computer and doesn’t catch anything.

The only one that actually works from my experience is Malwarebytes.

Norton, McAfee, and a few others are worse than a virus. They will literally destroy your computer.

19

Unfortunately, the vast majority of (successful) salespeople are scummy.

20

This is disappointing to hear, I go to the PA Microcenter when I’m in a pinch, or for the specific stuff. I recently got a 3D printer there and had 0 issues, nobody tried pushing any upsales on me, I’ve never really had a bad experience there.