Horrible Customer Service

In december 2012 I purchased 3 copies of Bitdefender.

One copy was installed on my laptop, the other on my boyfriends computer. We're keeping the third around in case either of us gets an extra device.

Last week, my laptop crashed. The device was completely inaccesible, which made it impossible for me to retrieve information or deinstall any products. The only option I had, was a fresh new windows installation. After my laptop was set up again, I wanted to install Bitdefender again but I'm afraid that it will use up the third copy as I did not get to use their official deinstallation tool.

I contacted customer service with my question, and I got a reply telling me how to deinstall and reinstall the product.

I replied kindly that, as stated in my first message, I did not have a chance to deinstall the product.

Within the hour, I received a new message from the customer service. They told me that I need to install a support log tool for analysis and provide them with a screenshot of my situation so they could help me further.

Since I'm running a fresh installation and have not even yet tried to install Bitdefender, doing so will give them no more information than my emails have already given them. Screenshot what, my cleaned up desktop?

It seems they dont even to bother to read the emails and are just replying in standard formats, available to their customer service. <img class= " />

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Nesivos

In december 2012 I purchased 3 copies of Bitdefender.

One copy was installed on my laptop, the other on my boyfriends computer. We're keeping the third around in case either of us gets an extra device.

Last week, my laptop crashed. The device was completely inaccesible, which made it impossible for me to retrieve information or deinstall any products. The only option I had, was a fresh new windows installation. After my laptop was set up again, I wanted to install Bitdefender again but I'm afraid that it will use up the third copy as I did not get to use their official deinstallation tool.

I contacted customer service with my question, and I got a reply telling me how to deinstall and reinstall the product.

I replied kindly that, as stated in my first message, I did not have a chance to deinstall the product.

Within the hour, I received a new message from the customer service. They told me that I need to install a support log tool for analysis and provide them with a screenshot of my situation so they could help me further.

Since I'm running a fresh installation and have not even yet tried to install Bitdefender, doing so will give them no more information than my emails have already given them. Screenshot what, my cleaned up desktop?

It seems they dont even to bother to read the emails and are just replying in standard formats, available to their customer service. " />

I have a number of computers running W8-Pro. I have done a fresh install of W8-Pro more often than I care to remember and have never had a problem re-installing BD W8 Security and re-registering the reinstall with my license. It appears that BD keeps a count of the number of active devices using BD W8 Security. With BD this is actually pretty easy because of how it is designed.

Good luck

Anahid

Thank you for the reply! It's still kinda sad that someone on the forum needs to give me an answer, instead of their own customer service.

I'm certainly going to try it out and see what happenes

Georgia

Hello Anahid,

Sorry to hear about the negative experience you had with our customer service dept. We will make sure this situation won't repeat in the future. For that, I kindly ask you to post here your ticket ID. I wasn't able to find it in the emailing system based on the email address you used for the forum account.

Now, on to the topic: it does not matter if you managed to uninstall Bitdefender from the crashed PC. Licenses are counted per PC, not per installation. You can install Bitdefender as many times as you want on the same PC using only one of your 3 licenses.

Also, the license key is transferable. Therefore you can install Bitdefender on other computers as long as you have only 3 installations running with the same license.

Rest assured you still have 1 extra user left on your Bitdefender license key.

However, all the users included on a multi-user Bitdefender key expire at the same time. What really counts is the activation day on the 1st computer.

Please feel free to reply with any additional questions or concerns about your Bitdefender product, I will gladly assist you.

Thank you for your valuable feedback and have a great weekend!

CFLCarmel

If you think the customer service is horrible now, please read this thread: http://forum.bitdefender.com/index.php?showtopic=45111

In that thread I and a number of other people go over Bitdefender's Auto-Renewal Scam/Fraud. Unless you read the fine print when you enrolled (who really reads all that?), Bitdefender will keep your billing information on file and charge your card an undisclosed and unadvertised amount in a year to keep you current. If you try to get your money back, they make it difficult and in some cases impossible... and you'll hate the customer service even more than you do now.

I'd recommend dumping Bitdefender, and don't just uninstall it like I did, you actually have to call the horrible customer service department and beg to be taken off of the Auto-Renewal Scam/Fraud Customer Theft Program, or else they will just keep charging you without warning, without notice, and at undisclosed amounts.

Shame on this company and everyone who works for them. Shame on them all.

Foster149

In that thread I and a number of other people go over Bitdefender's Auto-Renewal Scam/Fraud.

Shame on this company and everyone who works for them. Shame on them all.

This has been a standard practice with a number of leading antivirus companies for at least a decade. They don't want you blaming them (or suing them) if your computer is infected after your subscription expires and before you remember to renew it. If you've never seen it done before (which doesn't mean you haven't "agreed" to it before in other software) then it's understandable that it comes as a surprise when it shows up on your credit card statement. I remember when my best friend discovered this about Trend Micro almost 10 years ago - "apoplectic" would be a good description.

So before jumping ship on Bitdefender, be sure to read all the conditions set out by its competitors. After shopping around you'll probably discover that it's a pretty standard agreement in this particular industry. As for the question "And who really reads all that?", the answer includes anyone whose been surprised at least once, and that would include me.

stagedoor

This has been a standard practice with a number of leading antivirus companies for at least a decade. They don't want you blaming them (or suing them) if your computer is infected after your subscription expires and before you remember to renew it. If you've never seen it done before (which doesn't mean you haven't "agreed" to it before in other software) then it's understandable that it comes as a surprise when it shows up on your credit card statement. I remember when my best friend discovered this about Trend Micro almost 10 years ago - "apoplectic" would be a good description.

So before jumping ship on Bitdefender, be sure to read all the conditions set out by its competitors. After shopping around you'll probably discover that it's a pretty standard agreement in this particular industry. As for the question "And who really reads all that?", the answer includes anyone whose been surprised at least once, and that would include me.

Having just renewed, it is actually impossible to get the product WITHOUT enrolling in the auto-renewal process. This is very bad form - there should be an opt-out box so that clients have a choice. Currently it is a laborious process to e-mail (often several times) to opt-out and get a confirmation.

Bad practise.

Nesivos

If you think the customer service is horrible now, please read this thread: http://forum.bitdefender.com/index.php?showtopic=45111

In that thread I and a number of other people go over Bitdefender's Auto-Renewal Scam/Fraud. Unless you read the fine print when you enrolled (who really reads all that?), Bitdefender will keep your billing information on file and charge your card an undisclosed and unadvertised amount in a year to keep you current. If you try to get your money back, they make it difficult and in some cases impossible... and you'll hate the customer service even more than you do now.

I'd recommend dumping Bitdefender, and don't just uninstall it like I did, you actually have to call the horrible customer service department and beg to be taken off of the Auto-Renewal Scam/Fraud Customer Theft Program, or else they will just keep charging you without warning, without notice, and at undisclosed amounts.

Shame on this company and everyone who works for them. Shame on them all.

I have felt the need to contact BD support on one occasion during the five months I have been using BD W8 Security. I had several questions. I don't recall if I was having a problem or whether they were general questions about BD W8 Security. I sent them an email. They responded promptly. Included a link to a file that had all the answers to all my questions.

I thought the support was very good. Others may have or may have had a different experience.

flac2000

Nesivos are you sure your not bitdefender in disguise.

Bouncer

I thought customour suport was good, until i noticed i had a real problem.

As said in my other topic (where nobody from bitdefender responded on so far) i have no search advisor, i have it but it rates only a few sites so its USELESS!

I got a answer this week to instal there tool because , they say there are left overs from the old bitdefender so they wanna check how and what so they can fix it.

But thats impossile because i already did a complete reinstal of my computer first and than installed bitdefender , when i asked about how that could be the issue they stopped replying AGAIN.

I dont want to use a freaking tool and send it to them and all that, its my work pc it needs to stay clean not all that noncense installed.

Never had this problem with Mc Afee.

I feel like i wasted €80,- on this product because i cant use Google safe.

Gonna try it on a new laptop that i got today and if it doesnt work on that one either i wil demand my money back and get another antivirus.

Georgia

Hello,

@ Bouncer: please read the response written here-> forum.bitdefender.com/index.php?showtopic=45888

@ stagedoor: Thank you for your feedback! Did you manage to disable the auto-renewal feature for your latest Bitdefender purchase? Please let me know as I can help you with that.

stagedoor

Hello,

@ stagedoor: Thank you for your feedback! Did you manage to disable the auto-renewal feature for your latest Bitdefender purchase? Please let me know as I can help you with that.

I was waiting until I had activated the new subscription - currently I have a month left on the old. I am not sure if it is possible, but I did not want them to cancel the unactivated new subscription as part of the opt-out process.

I have little faith in their abilities .......

stagedoor

I only visit this forum on occasions, and I have just read your reply to auto-renewal on another - now closed - thread, which included a screen shot of the renewal page with the box to tick for auto-renewal. Please be aware that when we purchased our 2013-14 subscription (yet to be activated) that unless you ticked the box, the the program would NOT progress to confirmation - i.e. there was NO choice.

My secure credit card payment confirmation even includes the statement - in red :-

"Please check the the 'I have read the Auto-Renewal Terms and Conditions' checkbox to continue with checkout."

Without checking this box you CANNOT complete the purchase.

It was a year ago but I think it was the same situation in 2012, and cancelling the auto renewal with DigitalRiver was not a simple process - we did it eventually, but it would be a FAR better practise to give customers the choice of OPTING-IN to auto-renewal with whatever warning you choose to make about the possibility of being un-protected if your subscription lapses.

Pastorelli

I deeply regret of buying the license i never had issues with Norton. bitdefender have a really weak bug fix workaround and the worst tech support i ever had to face, even worse than phone companies. I was fooled by the anti virus reviews, but aparently is the very only product that works.

Nesivos

Nesivos are you sure your not bitdefender in disguise.

RFLMAO

I don't even know where Bitdefender offices are located. Are they a virtual company based in the cloud?

LukacsB

Hello,

"I'd recommend dumping Bitdefender, and don't just uninstall it like I did, you actually have to call the horrible customer service department and beg to be taken off of the Auto-Renewal Scam/Fraud Customer Theft Program, or else they will just keep charging you without warning, without notice, and at undisclosed amounts.

Shame on this company and everyone who works for them. Shame on them all."

Having bad experiences with BD customer, technical service it does not mean that BD software is good for nothing. There are many people who like BD, and there is no antivirus software without problems. That customer and technical service need a radical improvement is true. And I think that BD is aware of it. How long it will take to fix it I do not know. To spell shame on all those who work for this company is wrong because the problems(auto-renewal) are caused by bureaucratic system that is so prevalent in our world. Regarding the technical problem(bugs) BD team must work quickly to fix them in order to satisfy the customers. I hope that with launching of the new product, BD will change its way in dealing with users frustrations and disappointments.

LukacsB

Auto-renewal can be cancelled. Email to CustomerService@digitalriver.com. I did and Digital River unticked the auto-renewal and sent an email with all the details.

Georgia

Hello,

@ Pastorelli: Please open a single thread for the same issue. We've already contacted you in regards to this situation.

Please check our response here:

http://forum.bitdefender.com/index.php?sho...st&p=189238

To all our customers who would like to disable the automatic renewal service, I recommend you to contact us directly via this link:

http://www.bitdefender.com/en/Main/contactEmail

More information is also available in this post:

http://forum.bitdefender.com/index.php?sho...st&p=177727

Thank you all for your constant feedback!

Voidstudiosjoe

I used to use BD years ago, it was great, and CS was good. I recently tried 2016 and had nothing but trouble. I was infected multiple times under strict protection rules. BD also could not remove the virus or malware. It couldn't even detect them where multiple with programs could. I build computers for a living and know exactly what I'm doing. The program is fundamentally flawed. It may be fine for casual users sometimes, but I didn't recommend it. It also wouldn't let certain drivers install, and blocked windows updates. There is no way to specifically allow either. I tried to get support, just to say that I tried, though I knew what was going on already. When I finally got in touch with someone, they ignored my list of things I tried already, and my tech qualifications and proceeded to run me through hours and hours of pointless "going through the motions" ultimately blaming everything else...the drivers, programs, windows, and the ever changing virus database. I requested a refund by phone and email, they delayed until it was out of my refund window. I received NO replies until after, and that reply was that they were closing the ticket. Bitdefender is very flawed, lacks the flexibility it once had, and lacks good customer support by qualified individuals. Never again.