The Catch-22 of software subscription renewal

Norton AntiVirus showed that my subscription was running out, so I selected the link and it showed a "Renew" button. I pressed it and a dialog box opened showing the Norton AntiVirus application. So I clicked "Next" and was presented with a request to enter a subscription key. After some hunting around I found a key that I saved from last year. But that didn't work. I looked online and it showed me how to find product information from the original NAV window. I tried the product key; no good. I tried another number in the properties window; no good. I called the help line and waited ... .... ....

I told the customer service rep how frustrated I was by the dialog box was asked "William, why do you get frustrated?" OK, I said, he's not listening to me. But he did offer to help. He asked me for the version number of my software and I looked at the properties sheet that was open. There it was; I said "Version: 11.0.16.2" He said "that's not right." I said "it says "Norton AntiVirus Version". He said "it's not right; do you have NAV 2005 or NAV 2004"? Hmm ... "I see it, it says NAV 2005 on the top of the window". But we need to look at the "General" tab to determine that I have NAV 2005, with a copyright of 2004! 2005, 2004, now it's 2006; is someone keeping track? Evidently, things are OK, because I get my subscription renewed.

It turns out that the first dialog needed the renewal subscription key in order for me to renew. I asked the service rep if it doesn't seem misleading to show a "Renew" button that leads me to a dialog that I can't complete. The service rep left me with this comment. "William, let me give you a hint: next time, when the application says 'Renew' don't click 'Renew'; go to the website"

When Jimi Hendrix asks me "Are you experienced?" I can now say "Yes!"