Bitdefender Ethical Problem - Auto-renew And Keep The $ And Run

Steven Spencer

Hi,

I purchased a discounted Bitdefender in 2011 for about $5 or $10, and never installed it (these things happen). And there was no indication seen that there would be future billing, maybe they deep buried something in some fine print, a crooked technique.

In August 16,y 2012 Bitdefender placed an auto-renewal, with an email warning (which I did not see at the time and knew nothing about). The bill was $125 !

I saw it a couple of weeks ago. They claimed they sent 3 email warning, which seems to be a gross exaggeration, I dug up one. Anyway, email from companies that you are not using are simply ignored, as they are likely sales spam. The subject said nothing about taking $ "BitDefender Total Security 2011 expiration notice - renewal info". Very crooked. The "renewal" is for the 2013 product.

Dragos Barbu sent me back one vague letter "acknowledging" the request when I asked for a refund. "Your refund request has been acknowledged" and then going "blah blah" about the fine print. Nothing clear.

After that, my emails have not received any response.

At the very least the pro-rated period, about 3/4, in the future, should be refunded, preferably the full amount. Nothing has ever been used, and the whole policy of "opt-out" auto-renewal, especially for inactive "customers", is unethical.

Bitdefender has not responded to my series of follow-up emails, Avangate says .. go to Bitdefender.

I am ready to inform all the various puter forum that Bitdefender is not ethical.

Simple enough.

Let us see first if anyone will respond properly on this forum. At this point, I feel like the company is simply crooked. And if you think this letter is "hot", and you censor here, wait till I start posting on the security forums that you do not control, (if you continue being non-responsive). I have been as patient as possible.

Time for Bitdefender to get real.

And you should chuck the opt-out email auto-renewal, at the very least for non-active "customers".

Just because you are in Romania (as I understand) is no reason you have to be unethical. If this is left in the lurch, I will be asking Avangate to drop you as a sales agent, as well, pointing out that they are linked to your lack of ethics, in the public exposure of this policy.

Note: I have saved a copy of this forum post and a pic of the page.

Steven Spencer

Bayside, NY

Steven Spencer

Hi,

This is now being discussed on the Wilder's Security Forum.

Apparently this is a common Bitdefender trick, and you have to work all angles to try to receive back your money. After many emails I got a bland response from Ioana Bogdan " does not fit our refund policy" with no discussion about the tricky and unethical methods used to trigger the billing.

There are many elements to this Bitdefender billing trick. Avangate and Bitdefender finger-pointing and pretend games. No mention of auto-renewal with the confirmation email received at the time of original purchase. No email sent at the time of credit card billing. A blah subject line in the pre-billing email ... designed to be missed (they say they sent 3, it looks like one, and that from Avangate, not Bitdefender, with the blah subject line). Slow and unresponsive and vague answers to inquiries. Simply ignoring the ethical aspects. Setting the default to enable auto-payment without any clear indication to the customer when the "special" is announced. Changing methods of presentation (according to another forum post, Bitdefender has been playing games with this for years). Hidden techniques with hard-to-find popups at the time of original purchase to actually change the purchase. No real clear, responsible customer service head or company officer who will speak straight ... simply "technical support engineers" with no authority or responsibility, shills who obviously have been trained to try to avoid acting responsibly.

So the big discounts occasionally given at Bitsdujour or other places should be avoided. Too many tricks, and it is all designed to trip and trick a later billing.

Even worse, they will not even give a refund to the future, unused portion, to a person who has never installed the product.

What a disaster. This will be given a lot of notice, especially to those who might be a party this lack of ethics, like BitsDuJour, who are a party to the Bitdefender trickery. Also to governmental agencies (Bitdefender has an office in Florida, so the Attorney General there is a good possibility) and to payment agencies.

Please note: I do not having my $ taken under careful subterfuge and false pretenses and bureaucratic shuffling. I know the Romanians learned the art of bureaucratic shenanigans when they were under Communist rule, how to game the system. The better companies learned to join the ethical and responsible business world. Some are still with the same tricks.

Steven