You may cancel your Bitdefender subscription from Bitdefender Central or by contacting Customer Support at: https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/help/
Thank you for your understanding.
Autorenewal
Despite the title being maybe aggressive, this is a fair description of the reality I lived:
I am a Customer of Bitdefender since 5 years. I heard in the last months on many medias reviews about their aggressive and unfair way to auto-renew and the difficulty to get rid of these subscriptions.
I renewed today my Bitdefender subscription, and it could be the last time. Hopefully, I got a bit paranoid after reading the very bad press reviews and I used my paypal account dedicated to potential scammers instead of giving them my credit card info:
- Autorenew is not an option, it is an obligation, you cannot opt out during subscription
- Once I completed the subscription using my Bitdefender Central email address, unlike all the previous times, I did not receive a confirmation email !
- So, no proof of purchase. Happily, I have the Paypal invoice, but from a third party company (Digital River Ireland Ltd) and no mention about Bitdefender (I need to use it as proof for my taxes refunds, so it is unacceptable not to have the provided product mentioned on the paypal invoice transaction details...)
- Worst, for the first time, my Bitdefender Central account shows subscription active but under Payements, there is no entry for this new subscription: no way to cancel auto-renew in Central
- Support redirects to 2Checkout, but I need to login using the order number received by email. Since I never received an email and the subscription is not appearing in Bit Central despite using same email, I cannot get an order number
Hopefully, I went to Paypal and removed the Auto Renew from Digital River Ireland Ltd that forced it + removed the credit card from Paypal account, like I do for all my purchases from potential scam sources
Sadly, I never imagined that Bitdefender is now really in this category and the press medias were not wrong. It even seems that their selling aggressive modes are increasing.
I guess the usual answers are coming like "we're sorry for the inconvenience..., please contact the support...", but aren't these answers the same that scammers use ?
Hope you listen to your customers and you do change your selling modes before it is too late. This starts by giving the subscription service to reputable companies with a more user-freedom choice on how they sign-up for contracts.
All in all, really disappointing and a miserable level of aggressiveness in their selling service. Hopefully my subscription effectively activated the product despite no traces except Paypal
Answers
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Hi Member,
I am Flex (Bitdefender beta tester 2019/ 2020) but not a part of Bitdefender staff. I am really sorry for the inconvenience caused to you. If you want to disable you auto renewal service, kindly follow the below link
https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/answer/29081/
Additionally if you have some other issue or want to provide additional feedback or complain, you can always drop an email to bitdefender support staff at bitsy@bitdefender.com
If this helps kindly click on agree/ accepted.
Regards
Flex
Life happens, Coffee helps!
Show your Attitude, when you reach that Altitude!
Bitdefender Ultimate Security Plus (user)
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did you even read my post ?
I went through all steps: the order does not appear in central and I did not receive a confirmation email from 2Checkout so I cannot login to disable auto-renew there.
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Sorry for the misinterpretation. This is to inform you that the bitdefender forum is meant for limited support.
It is always advised to drop an email to bitdefender support staff at bitsy@bitdefender.com and since it is related to central and 2Checkout issue, they are the only ones who can help you further resolve your query and see to it that it does not happens ever again in future.
Regards
Flex
Life happens, Coffee helps!
Show your Attitude, when you reach that Altitude!
Bitdefender Ultimate Security Plus (user)
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Thanks phil9878. Same thing happened to me recently. Paypal advice worked like a charm. Have been a long term Bitdefender user but this had made me angry enough to not renew in the future. Very shady way to do business.
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Well, here's the feedback:
2Checkout : they have no info from Digital River orders !
Digital River: directs to Bitdefender
Official Bitdefender support: redirects me to a new account site for digital river orders: http://shop.bitdefender.com/FindOrderDE
The site asks for order num and a password :
- Order number not found or password invalid answer if I enter the order number and Central password
- reset password by email based on the order numer: accepted by I never receive an email
LoL, giving up and hopefully other users will think two times before buying
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Worse experience ever thanks to Bitdefender. The link with Digital River is extremely worisome. You cannot cancel the auto renewal option or update your credit card details. You receive invalid links but the problem is coming from you. You need apparently to click on those official links on an "incognito" manner (dixit Bitdefender team). Nothing works. Hopefully, the Bitdefender team managed to renew my subcription via 2Checkout. However, what they do not tell you is that your credit card details are immediatelly shared with Digital River, which charged you a second time. Guess what your second suscription with Digital River will not appear on Bitdefender Central. Also, please expect to receive e-mails in language that you are not familiar with. If you like German, you will enjoy.
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Automatically renew and taken 99.00 euro from my pay pal account without my permission I think I need Norton antivirus. I am really disappointed.
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Hello.
You can stop the auto-renewal for the Bitdefender subscription, by following these steps:
https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/answer/29081/
Just follow the steps as described in Method 1, because some users in the past reported that the steps from Method 2 didn't stop the auto-renewal.
From my personal experience, Method 1 did and still does the job for stopping the auto-renewal.
Regards.
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Well, read my first post
The support just send you from one provider to another
I recently added a new license again. The option to auto-renew is well hidden and easy to confuse when you subscribe. But other brands like Google, Amazon and MS just do the same to let you auto-renew.
The bad part here is that it is nearly impossible to cancel auto.renew depending from where you subscribe, like if from digital river
So, always use paypal, and block them there. If they ever drop paypal, switch to a new antivirus brand
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Hello @Lamaji,
The Bitdefender security solutions come with an automatic renewal feature that allows you to conveniently retain your protection when your Bitdefender subscription expires, without having to go through all the motions of manually renewing your cyber-security solution.
Please keep in mind that, whether you want to activate the renewal option or disable it, you can do it anytime.
You can cancel the automatic charges for your subscription by logging in to your Bitdefender Account and disable automatic renewal, or by contacting Customer Support at: cancel@bitdefender.com
If you have agreed to permit Bitdefender to automatically renew your subscription by charging a valid credit card number which you have provided to Bitdefender, your subscription will be automatically renewed prior to the expiration of the term and each anniversary thereafter for a fee no greater than Bitdefender's then-current price, excluding promotional and discount pricing.
This means that, if you have purchased a discounted subscription in 2020 at the price of 50,00 EUR (with a discount of 41,32 EUR), this price is valid for the first year of subscription only, as stated on the product page. Subsequent renewals will be applied at the full list price of the product or service you have purchased and it will not include any ongoing discounts or campaigns at that time.
For this reason, we are trying to offer our customers the opportunity to manually renew at favorable prices during the subscription period.
The price at which the auto-renewal is applied can be seen in automatic notifications, so that any customer has the opportunity to request either the deactivation of the option, or a more advantageous offer.
The automatic renewal feature is widespread in various industries, including the antivirus one. Regarding the competitor you mentioned, it can be observed that they use the same business model. Screenshots are taken from the official product pages:
I am sorry to hear you have been dissapointed by the renewal price, but please keep in mind you may always request a refund within 30 days of the renewal date, by sending an e-mail at refunds@bitdefender.com.
Regards
Premium Security & Bitdefender Endpoint Security Tools user
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Hello @phil9878,
Concerning the automatic renewal feature, please see my comment above.
Bitdefender does not sell the products and services available on the official website directly, but with the help of trusted partners. Depeding on your location, the orders are processed either by 2Checkout or by Digital River.
Regardless of this, the refund requests can be made directly to Bitdefender, using the same contact channel: refunds@bitdefender.com.
The only scenario where you could be redirected from the vendor to us when inquiring a refund, is when there is an open chargeback/block on the order and this can be either a new purchase, or a renewal that took place.
Here's why it isn't a good idea to open a chargeback:
If you contact your bank/credit card issuer or PayPal in order to initiate a chargeback, the process becomes a lengthy one and the final resolution will be received after 90-120 days from the opening date. This is why we recommend reaching us first for a faster resolution.
Chargebacks are shopper requests for funds reversal made directly to the bank/PayPal, possible only if the payment was made using a credit/debit card or PayPal. Such chargebacks can be initiated by the customer in the event an automatic renewal was applied and they disagree with the price. This is when things get complicated.
- You initiate a dispute – it takes up to 15 days for the request to reach 2Checkout / Digital River (our billing and payment processors).
- 2Checkout responds by providing the required documents to the bank – the maximum amount of time is 90 days.
- The bank will send the final decision – based on the details received from both 2Checkout and you, the bank offers a resolution to the dispute – up to 30 days.
- Our payment processor is notified about the chargeback resolution.
For future reference, my best advice is the following:
- in the event you do not wish to have your protection renewed automatically, simply disable the feature AFTER the intial purchase. Simple as that.
- In the event the automatic renewal has taken place already and you are not satisfied with the renewal price, DO NOT open a chargeback/dispute on the order and contact the Support Teams instead. This will ensure a smooth refund process with no hiccups or delays. Otherwise, the dispute must first be canceled for the funds to be released and this may take a while.
I hope I was able to shed some light on this.
Cheers
Premium Security & Bitdefender Endpoint Security Tools user
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Thank you for your input.
My expierience was completely different. When ordering with digital river, it was impossible to cancel the auto-renew, either on your site or following the procedure stated by digital river. The procedure just fails saying there is no trace of the account. The different support emails never helped to cancel the auto-renew.
The only way was cancelling the order in paypal. After one year, I received a few emails that the renew failed and then I was left in peace.
Now, I only order using Paypal, I try to check carefully to avoid auto-renew during order, etc..
A final note: cancelling and making a new subscription is by far cheaper, sometimes +30-40%, than a renew !
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Hi @phil9878,
You are most welcome and I'm really sorry to hear that you've had this unfortunate experience. Usually, the automatic renewal feature is pretty straightforward and easy to cancel. To enhace transparency, the feature is also mentioned on the product pages and in the shopping cart, prior to the actual purchase. Cancelation steps are available as well.
Each Bitdefender product has a standard price list and depending on the various campaigns or means of sale, discounts may apply, but the initial list price does not change. The vendor does not have a record of ongoing discounts and as such, a discount can be granted at aquisition only. Since subscription management and future renewals are managed entirely by the vendor, the full list price is applied for each renewal event (unless stated otherwise, at some point we had campaigns that ensured the same renewal price for the next billing cycle).
Indeed, PayPal is a very good payment method in my opinion and it's here to stay. Being different vendors, 2Checkout and Digital River have different accounts created for the user whenever a first purchase is made, but their purpose is the same, to provide the user with the necessary tools for easy subscription management.
A subscription does have some advantages, such as continuous protection and peace of mind and you don't have to go through all the steps of manually renewing your subscription, such as entering a new activation code and so on. But it does come at the full price and with a manual renewal, you can take advantage of early renewal offers that are being sent to you, or even check the official website for ongoing campaigns. In some cases, special offers can be found at Trusted Resellers as well and usually these are unique and may be bundled with other useful services.
Cheers
Premium Security & Bitdefender Endpoint Security Tools user
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Thank you for the feedback, I clearly understand the subscription / autorenew implications. For some enterprises, it is by far a more convienient way.
However, just ensure that third party vendors like Digital River offer a real way to cancel the auto-renew, instead of asking the user to wait and then open a reclaim at Bitdefender once they are billed. In my expierience, there was just no way to cancel the auto-renew for them, even after writing to Bitdefender support. They sent me two times back to digital river which did the same, asking me to address my issue to Bitdefender... And it seems by far I am not the only one concerned
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Well... Myself I just had Bitdefenders auto renewal perform 13 transactions. And support has so far been very very quiet about it..
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Since the support has been very, very quiet, maybe @Alexandru_BD (who works for Bitdefender) can you give you more details on your issue with the 13 transactions.
Regards.
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Hello @Erda,
Your inquiry was escalated to the 2nd Tier of Commercial Support on Friday and will be addressed shortly. Surely there has to be a misunderstanding there, as I can see that several renewal attempts were declined or left unfinished and the most recent successful automatic billing took place on September 7.
My colleagues will provide further assistance on the matter.
Thank you @Gjoksi for the heads-up.
Regards
Premium Security & Bitdefender Endpoint Security Tools user
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4 years since the first post and here's 2024 expierience
During online order on Bitdefender.fr site, you cannot opt-out of autorenew
If you click on Autorenew option in ordering process, you get a dialog with one option: Confirm
The dialog informs you can always opt out later in Central if you use same email
I used same email. I received an email confirming autorenew is activated and how to disable it
However, in Central, as usual, since 4 years, there is no option to disable it on your new license
In paypal, I noticed they changed their partner: Verifone Payments B.V.
So, their unfriendly methods continue and they always argue of technical issues while it is clearly an abuse method
Either use a one time credit card, a paypal account (and disable manually the autorenew subscription in paypal) or move to more honest companies like Kaspersky, AVG or eset
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Welcome back @phil9878.
As always, I'll do my best to address your concerns one at the time.
- During online order on Bitdefender.fr site, you cannot opt-out of autorenew - that's correct, but you can opt-out anytime afterwards.
- If you click on Autorenew option in ordering process, you get a dialog with one option: Confirm - Precisely, the customer must give their consent to be enrolled in automatic renewal, so this is normal.
- The dialog informs you can always opt out later in Central if you use same email - That's also correct.
- However, in Central, as usual, since 4 years, there is no option to disable it on your new license - Here's a screenshot of my Bitdefender Central account. The automatic renewal preferences are displayed under the 'My Payments' tab. If, for some reason this tab is not displayed for you, then this should be further investigated. Normally, after the order is placed, it may take some time for the information to be updated there. Again, if it isn't, you should follow up with the Bitdefender Support teams for further assistance.
Here, I've just canceled this subscription just to show you how it works:
And this is the final confirmation screen:
So, as you can see, it works to cancel the Bitdefender subscription seamlessly from the Central account and I'm not sure exactly why this is unavailable to you. Of course, in the event this cancelation method doesn't work for some reason, you can also manage your automatic renewal feature preferences directly from your 2Checkout/Verifone account.
5. In paypal, I noticed they changed their partner: Verifone Payments B.V. - The name has changed, but it's the same vendor. 2Checkout (formerly Avangate, now Verifone) is the authorized vendor of products and services sold on the official Bitdefender website.
6. So, their unfriendly methods continue and they always argue of technical issues while it is clearly an abuse method - I have to respectfully disagree with you on this one and I think there's an actual issue with your account. The automatic renewal feature is widespread in the antivirus industry and it's absolutely legitimate.
Here are two subscription model examples of some of the antivirus vendors you have mentioned earlier:
Regards,
Alex
Premium Security & Bitdefender Endpoint Security Tools user
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Exactly the same experience as Phill with Digital River. Alex "my payments" tab is just unavailable on my side… I can see my subscriptions but no payments tab… When I connec to Digital River account, I can see my subscription bill but the option to manage it is just a redirection to a blank page. Your subscription cancellation process is just a joke. I like your product but it's the last time I renew and won't advertise for your product anymore. Gladly I paid with paypal and was able to cancel renewal there…
It's really a poor customer experience for a "number 1" antivirus company…
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