Before I get into this tirade I'll preface it with the fact that BitDefender itself is a good security product. I've been a paying customer for a couple years and own several licenses, and additionally have recommended / assisted several family members, friends, and clients with the purchase and install of BitDefender and I help manage at least 12 licenses now. BD is a solid security product that provides excellent protection. I'm a 45 year old man with a 20 year career as a web server administrator, which puts me in the position of frequently helping people with advice and assistance with their PC security needs. After many years of recommending / installing AVG for them, about two years ago I began recommending and and assisting with the install of BitDefender for certain friends / clients as a stronger alternative.
So now that you have some solid background and clarification as to my credibility and some positive words from me about the product; it's time to address the negative aspect of BD...
The BIG PROBLEM is with your customer service regarding purchases and license renewals, and the "tactics" implemented therein.
Here is just one recent example:
On July 20th I assisted my 76 year old mother with her free update from BD Antivirus Plus 2013 to Antivirus Plus 2014 and during the process the BD application offered a $29.95 one-year renewal offer via direct pop-up from the application, and we decided to take the offer. We clicked the renewal pop-up in BD Antivirus Plus and made the purchase, and received a new key instantly.
However, upon trying to active the new key BD Antivirus Plus displayed a message that the key was "not valid for this product". We were given a BD Total Security Key instead of the Antivirus Plus key. For some unknown reason, even though we made the purchase directly from the BD pop-up offer in her Antivirus Plus, BD's system assigned the renewal to be for Total Security instead of Antivirus Plus. (And to be clear - it was definitely a RENEWAL offer for her Antivirus Plus, NOT and "upgrade" or "change product" offer).
We immediately called the BD support phone number and from there it went downhill quickly.
When we explained the situation above to the BD support agent on the phone and requested a correct key for Antivirus Plus, he told us that he could not provide that and he would need to refer us to the "appropriate department". We asked to speak to the "appropriate department" immediately and he told us that is not possible, and that we are not allowed to speak to the "appropriate department" on the phone. He said he would need to create an internal ticket and that we would be contacted in a few days.
We told him that was not acceptable and demanded the corporate phone number. His response to that was; and I quote - "I can give you the corporate number but calling them would be useless".
At that point we demanded an immediate refund, but received the same response - that he could not provide a refund either (in addition to not being able to provide us a correct key to activate the renewal license), and that he would escalate a ticket with our refund request to the "appropriate department" and that we would hear back from them only in email in a couple days.
As you can imagine, that whole scenario created stress and anger on our part. However we agreed upon the refund and accepted the (ridiculous) fact that we would have to wait a couple days for an email confirming the refund.
That was on July 20th.
Finally 2 days later...
On July 22nd she received an email from an agent in the "appropriate department" stating this - "I have taken note of your refund request, and I would first like to offer our
assistance in regards to this matter" and that " it would not be a problem to change your current product with the inferior one, for no additional costs".
So basically instead of just honoring the refund that we demanded on July 20th, on July 22nd BD offered to provide us with the correct key and asked us to respond once again.
She (my mother) responded the same day, July 22nd, stating - "Send me the correct license key for a 1 year renewal of my Antivirus Plus application *today* " and "if you cannot do that then just do the requested refund".
Pretty simple, right?
Not so...
On July 23rd (today) she received a reply from the "appropriate department" stating (among other things) this:
"upon further checking your account, I noticed that you currently have an Antivirus Plus which is due to expire this October. My recommendation is the following: since you already paid for a renewal (29.95),
I could extend your current subscription with one year (corresponding to this renewal). Plus, I will also offer you the installation steps for the New Bitdefender (the 2014 version of Antivirus). "
Does anyone else here see the CIRCLE-JERK pattern forming here??
FIRST of all - She is already updated to Antivirus Plus 2014 (free update since she had current licenses), and all she did was click the Renewal pop-up directly from her BD Antivirus Plus application.
SECOND - We asked for the corrected license key over the phone on July 20th and when they would not provide it we demanded a refund on July 20th. The agent confirmed over the phone and via email that he escalated that request on July 20th!
THIRD - When she responded to them yesterday and made it clear that she wanted the renewal activation immediately and if they could not do that then honor the refund request, so WHY yet another email today still dragging this out and offering her "choices".
FOURTH - If "Sales" is responsible for handling these license issues, why is it that even after taking a customer's money the customer is not allowed to speak to sales?
Bottom line - although the BitDefender product itself is good, dealing with their customer service is an absolute nightmare and will drain the life out of you as you spend days going back in forth in redundant emails, not allowed to handle a simple situation over the phone with the "appropriate department".
My mother has responded to their email this morning letting them know that if this is not resolved today she will be filing a chargeback with her bank.
All of this could have been easily avoided and the really sad thing is that this is not the first time I've seen this happen first-hand, and just recently one of my clients whom I recommended BitDefender to went through a similar scenario and took a refund and switched to Microsoft Security Essentials just because of the sheer hassle. But don't just take my word for it - a simple search of these forums show plenty of other consumers going through the same kinds of hassles with BD customer service.
After almost 2 years of recommending BD to friends/clients/family, I am no longer recommending it. It's not worth the time and hassle of helping them deal with this sort of repeat scenario. This product is supposed to provide solutions and security for people - not force them to spend a ton of time just trying to get what they paid for and dealing with extremely bad customer care practices.
BitDefender - wake up and smell the sales you are losing due to poor customer care.
