If I enter a new activation code, when does my subscription take effect

My sunbscription to Bitdefender has expired and I have purchased a new activation code. If I enter a new activation code, will the subscription start on the day I enter it, or on the day my last subscription expired?

The reason is that my old subscription had two expiration dates, somehow. I was getting emails telling me my subscription was expiring on different dates a few months apart so I waited until both dates past and I want to start on a new single date. If it's going to renew at an old date, I am going to open a new account under a different email address.

Rob

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Alexandru_BD

Hello @robsue and welcome to the Community!

If you have purchased the product from the official Bitdefender website, your subscription automatically begins at the purchase date, regardless of the Central activation timestamp. If you have purchased a license from one of our Trusted Partners, the validity countdown will begin after redeeming the activation code.

Let us know if you have any questions.

Best regards.

robsue

Your renewal system is very unclear and confusing. I have no idea which of the two dates you have in your system will apply to my renewal, and I don't want to sign up for a mystery renewal date. The new code says I can use with an existing account or create a new one so, to avoid having two dates again, I will create a new account.

And as for the timer starting the day I bought it, rather than the day I activate it, means your product would be totally unsuitable if I chose to give it as a gift to someone.

I wish you would change to a consumer-friendly instead of Bitdefender-friendly renewal process. I must admit it calls into question the trustworthiness of your product.

robsue

Ok, I have created a new account and activated the product, and it has used today as a start date, which is exactly what I wanted. Now, is there a way I can change the main email address on the account to the email address I have abandoned, or will that re-introduce problems?

Alexandru_BD

Hello,

I hereby confirm your Bitdefender Family Pack subscription is active and valid until 2023/02/10.

You can change the email address associated with your Bitdefender Central account, but if you wish to revert to an e-mail address that has been previously registered, this must be deleted first, to allow the "transfer" of the existing account to it. If you wish to proceed, kindly send me a private message with that e-mail address, I shall delete it and I will provide you with steps on how to change the current e-mail address to the previous one. Alternatively, you can keep the new Central account as it is, but it is recommended that we still check the old e-mail address as well, to ensure there are no renewals in place and also to cancel any irrelevant notifications from the vendor's end.

There are two scenarios where you may encounter a discrepancey of the expiration dates displayed.

The first one takes place if the subscription was adjusted by our Support Teams, for example its validity has been extended, but this has not been correlated with the expiration date in the billing platform, due to a human error or other reasons. What happens here is that, while Bitdefender will have an expiration date and this will be displayed in-product and in Central for the respective subscription (this would reflect the correct validity), you may receive expiration notifications with the wrong expiration date from the vendor's side (2CheckOut or Digital River, depending on the website of purchase).

The second scenario in which different expiration dates can be encountered is when there are multiple subscriptions in the Central account. A single Central account supports the activation and usage in parallel of multiple subscriptions valid for the same Bitdefender product (e.g. Bitdefender Total Security for 5 devices and Bitdefender Total Security for 10 devices) and also supports different products (e.g. Antivirus Plus and Internet Security ), with the scope to protect more devices. In the event parallel subscriptions are running in the account (this was not possible before), each subscription will have its own billing cycle and expiration date, according to the date when it was purchased. If the subscriptions were purchased on different dates, they will display different expiration dates and these will also be reflected under the "My subscriptions" tab in the Central account. Needless to say they will have individual notifications.

The renewal process is widespread in the Antivirus industry and essentially all Bitdefender products are subscription-based, similar to streaming services. The validity countdown adjustment for the activation codes was a necessary step towards this new subscription model, that will enhance the user's overall experience and will also allow further subscription developments. For example, if we take a scenario where the activation codes are eliminated entirely and the product activation only assumes a valid e-mail address and Central login, this would mean that the subscription will start, as it does now, straight after the purchase, because it will no longer by conditioned by a call to activate a code.

Let me know if this information is helpful and if you wish to change the e-mail address currently associated with the Central account, I'll be happy to help.

Best regards.

robsue

Hi,

Thanks for your reply. I have managed to transfer everything as required and it seems to be working as it should.

Thanks, too, for the explanation as to why I may have duplicate dates. I must admit that has been a cause for frustration for two years now and I was tempted to cancel both the subscriptions I manage. I really think you should put some sort of check in place to make sure your separate databases are synchronised, as it does call into question your credibility. Hopefully it will work as expected from now on.

Regards,

Rob