PC PhoneHome (a program marketed by Brigadoon Software) is advertised on the Internet as a security product with sophisticated after-sales backup. It sends "stealth" emails each time the computer goes online so that, if it has been stolen, it can be tracked down in conjunction with the police as part of the Brigadoon after-sales service. Brigadoon claim that PCPH can even resist a soft format of the hard drive by thieves. They claim to be protecting millions of computers worldwide, and to have retrieved thousands. The protection offered is now questionable.

Having tried a copy of this some years ago I decided to try it again in 2009, when Brigadoon were offering a multi-user licence. I was disquieted by the results.
On the plus side, Brigadoon provides clear instructions on what they call "hardening" of the computer. This consists of important (but basic) security precautions regarding passwords and preventing others to bypass the computer's operating system and boot directly from CD. But this user "hardening" appears to be what prevents formatting of the hard drive, rather than any inherent property of the programme.

More importantly, I found its "stealth" message information was not as advertised. In their instructions, they highlight in RED the IP information crucial to pinpointing the computer's location. In the messages from my PCPH, the IP was just "0.0.0.0" and the relevant service just "LOCAL SERVICE". This information remained unchanged when my computer was on another network in another city. It seemed useless.

I wrote to Brigadoon on 13 March, asking if there was some problem with the function of my software. I received no reply. On 11 May I wrote to Brigadoon's Vice President (Mr Tim Albright) asking for an explanation before I took the matter further. He scathingly wrote that I should have read their installation notes more carefully and claimed these said that the crucial information was not in the body of the "stealth" e-mail but in the header. His attached copy, contradicted him and supported what I had understood.

Later he also contradicted himself. He had first claimed having a record of my inquiry having been answered; later he claimed that despite "meticulous records" they had no record of my March inquiry. His support team then proceeded to spam me with irrelevant correspondence going back to my original inquiry in 2002, as though trying to prove they had not received my March inquiry.

This appeared to be an evasive approach, making me suspicious of a possible scam, and Googling "PC PhoneHome" produced some disquieting reports (including one item claiming that one of the principles of Brigadoon was involved in criminal activity). There was absolutely no independent support of their claims. All of the reviews that I read were quite superficial, relying on Brigadoon PR.

I asked Mr Albright to demonstrate (using a specific "stealth" e-mail from my machine when it was out of town) either to demonstrate that he could determine the network that I was on at that time, or to explain what was the problem with the software. He referred the matter to his technical support, who failed to do what I asked. Instead, they sent header information that could easily have been obtained from my e-mails of inquiry!

I have heard nothing from them since 14 May 2009 when I reminded them of my request for a demonstration of the correct function of their product. I had asked them for a refund if they could not do so. Is this a scam?