**BEWARE** the 'bonus' offer....

MickeyT9

I'm infuriated by the renewal process - EVERY year....

I recently received a renewal 'offer' from Bitdefender with the Subject line:

"Strike while the savings are hot"...

in the body of the email was this wording:

"Renew your subscription early and save big on Bitdefender, named "Outstanding Product" by AV-Comparatives."

The email takes me to a link for a renewal subscription of $99 AUD for my 'Family' pack... I 'almost' pushed **pay** on the offer, but got distracted... then, some time later, happened to do a websearch for Bitdefender....

and to my shock and horror.... I found I could buy the 'same' product for $79 AUD...!!!!

Seriously? This is how you look after your valued customer?

Offering them a more expensive renewal??

I don't know what it is... whether I'm a complete idiot.... or, Bitdefender's left hand, doesn't know what the right hand it doing.....

EVERY single year, I have some 'issue' like this with the renewal process.... for an IT company.... it is beyond belief, to be dealing with these issues....

Extremely poor form.... everyone needs to really dig around before being sucked into marketing B/S.

MickeyT9

I can't make this stuff up....

After all of this... I've just opened my email to find...

"Hello,
We've noticed that you recently purchased and activated a new Bitdefender product. However, the automatic renewal option is still enabled on your old Bitdefender Family Pack product, up for renewal on March 25, 2022.
To avoid charging your account twice, we will cancel the option on your old product on February 21, 2022 . This will not affect the functionality or validity of your current subscription."

Seriously?.... So.... 'WHY' did you send me an email 'baiting' me to "strike while savings are hot"??....

Your database, doesn't have the brains to cross-reference subscriptions that are 'existing'... and subscriptions actually coming up for renewal?

For an IT company.... you're a pack of incompetents...

Alexandru_BD

Hello @MickeyT9 and thank you for reaching out to us.

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.

If the auto renewal option remains active, your Bitdefender subscription will be automatically extended and this will keep your defenses activated without interruption for all devices covered by your current subscription.

Please keep in mind that, whether you want to activate the renewal option or disable it, you can do it anytime. 

This option is enabled by default when purchasing as to not compromise device security. At the same time, it is a widespread option in the Antivirus industry and has been implemented as a result of customer requests.

However, we understand that some users do not want this option to be active, and that's why we provide our customers with many ways to disable it, either following automated notification or by contacting our Support Teams anytime.

You can cancel the automatic charges for your subscription by loging in to your Bitdefender Central account, by accessing your 2Checkout account 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.

The automatic renewal pricing is not linked to ongoing offers, discounts and promotions available at our official website or at different points of sale throughout our Partner Network and 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 made 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 Bitdefender products and services are sometimes offered with a discount during the online aquisition. The discounted price is valid for the first year of subscription and this means that, for subsequent renewals, the full list price will be applied. This information is also displayed prior to the actual purchase on each product page, as shown below:

Thus, the renewal does not assume a price increase, but the actual list price of the product that was initially purchased with a discount. For example, you have ordered the Family Pack in 2021 with a 72.73 AUD discount. The next renewal was set to take place in March 2022 for the full list price of 99 AUD. And you have cancelled this and took advantage of the early renewal price, which is great.

Early renewal offers are being sent closely to the expiration date, so that you can benefit from a discount.

Bottom line is, should you not wish to have the subscription automatically renewed, you can disable the feature and take advantage of the discounted prices. The benefits of the automatic renewal are there, as you won't have to worry about running out of protection and it won't be necessary to place a new order each year. But this comes at the full list price.

I hope the information is helpful, kindly let me know if you have any questions.

Best regards.

Alexandru_BD

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/306163#Comment_306163

The notification you have received refers to the previous subscription. Each Bitdefender subscription has its own renewal flow, notifications and billing cycle. 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) or even different products, with the scope to protect more devices.

Your previous Family Pack subscription J8I6N3NEBO has been disabled and you should no longer receive expiration notifications for it. And yes, in the event a new subscription is purchased manually, the automatic renewal feature of the previous one must be disabled, to avoid double billing.

Subscription involves continuity and this can only be achieved by the automatic renewal feature. With an early renewal, a new activation code is created, a new notification flow as well, a new renewal flow comes in place and basically a new subscription is created. Note that there are two activation options in Central at the moment, you can either EXTEND the current subscription, or activate the new code in PARALLEL, to protect more devices.

I am at your disposal to provide further clarification in regards to subscription management and billing, if necessary.

Thank you and stay safe!

T7

I think the point has been missed. I too, am a longtime loyal Bitdefender customer who continues to experience the same issue at renewal time. As the top rated IT Security company, it is very odd that you have not invested more in your customer relations. As suggested, I have turned off auto renewal for this exact issue. Your success relies on a strong customer base. Renewal should include the best discount pricing available at the time, without effort or question, as a customer accolade and continued loyalty. The failure is unacceptable and even offensive since these discount offers are offered everywhere else and to everyone else, proving the offered discount to your loyal customers would not inflict some threat to your financial security and stability. The idea I have to scour the internet to locate your current discounts is suggestive that you do not appreciate me as a customer and worse, that I am a sucker ;)

Alexandru_BD

Hello @T7,

I think customer relations have evolved quite nicely in the past years, because today the Bitdefender customers benefit from multiple ways of contacting the company, and also from self-service options for less time-sensitive inquiries. Considerable investments have been made to develop a modern Support ecosystem that can satisfy the customers' needs more efficiently.

The Support Center is updated with guidelines and answers to frequently asked questions, to help you find relevant solutions in a timely manner. This is the knowledge base that contains articles and common fixes for frequently asked questions and represents the self-service area available for all Bitdefender users.

This community is an environment where Bitdefender users, enthusiasts and fans can engage, exchange ideas, support eachother and share their knowledge and solutions. It is also a place of ideation and provides valuable feedback to our development teams. In the event a solution is not found in the Community, usually more information is required for troubleshooting, such as logs coming from the product and in some cases, remote intervention must be carried. This will help the engineers obtain a better understanding of the context and the circumstances involved. Such specific operations cannot be carried in the public forum, thus it is recommended to contact the Bitdefender Support Teams, for a detailed investigation. Here you will find 3 available contact channels, chat, phone and email/ticket.

Reflecting on my past experiences, I remember of companies where you couldn't even talk to a live person, multiple support options and contact channels were wishful thinking. Such companies still exist today.

I get your point and if we are talking about customer loyalty, I can tell you that it is highly appreciated around here, as customer satisfaction has always been the top priority. We work in an environment where reputation is key to keeping the front door open. Because of this business model where a discount is offered almost every time for new aquisitions (for the first year of subscription), a subsequent renewal discount cannot be applied automatically as well, because the subscription is set by default to renew at the full list price, as that's what it would normally cost.

So, you get a discount when you first purchase Bitdefender online, then its actual full price is charged in the event the automatic billing feature is kept on, at the due date. Because this subscription model cannot be changed, there are various campaigns available, also early renewal discounts that are being sent to customers, specifically to offer them a more advantageous renewal price, should they decide to renew protection manually with a new order.

The automatic renewal feature is undoubtedly convenient and does give peace of mind, it ensures a streamlined process of extending the protection, but it does come at a higher cost, but that's a price that you would have paid for Bitdefender anyway, IF no discount was ever available at the initial purchase.

Regards,

Alex

TaxiMagicien42

Good morning,

Allow me to intervene to bring you modestly my personal experience.

To begin with, I must admit that Bitdefender’s online (self-service) support center is one of the most complete I know. It is very well documented with videos and instructions unbelievably detailed and simple to understand for the "novice" user. This is not always the case for some publishers of "consumer" security products where the average user is sometimes left to himself. I won’t name any competitors here, but I’m thinking of an American publisher.

Finally, as far as I am concerned, (these remarks commit only me) I am not surprised by the "pricing policy" applied by Bitdefender. Unless I am mistaken and always from my personal experience, the competition does the same thing (even worse sometimes). 

Personally, I opted for automatic and early renewal to take advantage of the offers offered.

I fully understand and respect the choice of the user who refuses the automatic renewal.

Regards

garioch7

@T7 ,

I think that you make a valid point about customer loyalty being immediately recognized by BD at renewal time.

Renewal should include the best discount pricing available at the time, without effort or question, as a customer accolade and continued loyalty.

When my licence came up for renewal, I complained.

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/96527/renewal-options-are-dismal

I had to wait until 15 days before expiry before I was finally offered a fair renewal price, in my humble opinion.

I am very happy with BD Total Security, but I do think that BD should improve its renewal process for the reasons I cited and you have stated.

I am not an employee of BD, but I am a frequent contributor to these BD Forums. Fortunately for us, the expression of respectful divergent opinions is encouraged here. There is a recognition that dialogue with users is essential to the continued success of Bitdefender in what is a highly competitive market. For that, I do commend Bitdefender without reservation. I wonder how many other companies are as transparent and tolerant . . .

This is just my two cents. We are fortunate to have BD staff constantly active in these Forums, most notably @Alexandru_BD and @Mike_BD . They welcome all constructive dialogue.

Have a great day.

Regards,

Phil

Scott

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/333499#Comment_333499

Amen to this:

There is a recognition that dialogue with users is essential to the continued success of Bitdefender in what is a highly competitive market. For that, I do commend Bitdefender without reservation. I wonder how many other companies are as transparent and tolerant . . .

Both @Alexandru_BD and @Mike_BD have the grace and patience of saints. Well said, @garioch7

Alexandru_BD

😅 Thank you, this means a lot to us! 🙏