Bit Defender Support

Agree. Customer service is appalling.

Like many others I've had numerous problems with 2009. After many attempts finally got a reply- same reply as I've had many times before- which is basically uninstall everything on your computer which isn't BitDefender. This didn't work so next advice was go back to using 2008. Great stuff. That fixed it.

Then tried to renew a licence for BD on parent's PC. Tried numerous times and get same "cannot be processed" message. Sent a mail to customer services for advice- no response.

A buggy product and terrible customer services. Not a good combination.

Can you define what means the word SUPPORT for you?

Do you want someone to come to your house and install BD for you?

Do you want someone to come and look if your computer is properly set up or if the operating system si not corrupted or if some hardware component is not defective?

What was the problem that they didnt helped you with?

I want a product I've paid for to work. This doesn't.

The problem was my PC hanging when using 2009. Causing me to restart my PC. Remove BD and it doesn't happen. Install it and it does.

The fix was to remove a number of other bits of software which may be causing a conflict. Didn't work. Next fix was to revert back to 2008.

I'm not a Beta tester. I'm a customer who has bought a product which doesn't work.

Can you define what means the word SUPPORT for you?

A reply to multiple reports of a "critical error" at least an acknowledgement that they even received the error report. Acknowledgement that they received the email through their support infrastructure. You know the VERY basic level of support expected for any professional product.

I bought this POS on the recommendation of a number of reviews, installed it on a new HP desktop and the freakin thing does not work. I have had absolutely no response from BD at all, from the level of angst in this forum alone I suggest they have MAJOR support issues. If I supported my customers like BD does I would have been out of work long ago.

Can you define what means the word SUPPORT for you?

Do you want someone to come to your house and install BD for you?

Do you want someone to come and look if your computer is properly set up or if the operating system si not corrupted or if some hardware component is not defective?

What was the problem that they didnt helped you with?

Good question and coming from a security suite that is used to protect personal data from identify theft and no telling what valuable information that is installed on someone's pc (including myself). The bare basics of support is at least the company acknowledging back to the customer that they at least received the support question and reply back that they are working on it and keep the customer up to date on fixes. That is just the bare basics right there. Unfortunately with bitdefender, you go to the automatic chat, send them some data and they reply with " will get back in touch with you response (doesn't say when or if ever)." Do not even consider email as it takes them about a week to at least receive a reply back. A prime example for me is when after finishing up a game and clicking on the bitdefender system tray icon to turn off game mode; it turned back on to regular protection mode and all of my security settings were on. Have bitdefender set to not update when in game mode so after coming out of it, it updated itself as normal (no issues there). After bitdefender updating, went to new egg and shopped online. Later did I realize that the bitdefender protection services were not running and the firewall protection was set to off due to the services not running (when you install bitdefender internet security 2009, it turns off windows firewall for you due to it having an advance firewall). The system tray icon was still red and no pop up messages appearing asking me to reboot or anything of that nature. Immediately after coming out of game mode, checked my security settings and everything was just fine and let bitdefender continued on updating itself. The issue here is that, a. Was promised a protection suite that provides protection constantly even after updates (yes I have warning messages enabled and usually do receive the gray tray icon when something is not working properly) and b. the documentation help files says that after turning off game mode, your security settings will return back to what you have them set on. So I was browsing/shopping online without any protection when bitdefender was suppose to protect my pc.

It is not necessary to have someone come over to your house and set up a software "firewall/security suite" since it should be self explained and everything mention in the help menu/file. If a hardware firewall, maybe since they are more complex and provide better protection.

You can easily test whether or not your Operating System is corrupt or your hardware is faulty from the numerous amounts of test programs out there. Memtest is a common program used to test memory and after running it for three hours and no errors show up, your memory is just fine and the fault is in bitdefenders programming. Western digital, Seagate, etc almost always offers an easy, sometimes just a launched .exe, program that can test your hard drive for faulty errors. It is very easily to blame a hardware fault/incompatibitly or Operating system issue instead of just 'buggy" software. Bitdefender might not be compatible with every pc build out there, but it does need to be compatible with the latest hardware/Operating systems out there due to eventually everyone upgrading to it.

For me, receiving the internet explorer page fault error and linking to bitdefender files after an update. Waiting to hear a reply back from Tech. Support on the issue.

It's mostly because of the holiday season on this one. My own office is deserted. There are like 4 people in my office including me. I don't know what's the ratio for working/on vacation in the support department, but if it's like ours, I'm amazed that we're still getting malware support cases over here.

Can't wait for everybody to come back to work. Then I can take some days off myself:p

As for the trial, I believe you can try contacting live support our website and request another trial until your questions get answered.

Thank you for trying BitDefender.

I figured that it was the holidays. My questions were not very serious. One was about the setting to enable real time mail and I believe that you've explained that it's a known GUI problem and the status is actually on. Another question was about limiting access to a second user on my PC. I wasn't

able to find out but I did find a way to set a password to change the settings so that's fine.

I was actually more interested in testing the support though. Anyway, thanks for the response. It's good to see a company presence in these groups. That's a plus.

I have a a BitDefender critical error for a couple weeks now and recieved only ONE automated email reply (versus about 5 error reports submitted plus 3 emails to customer service and 2 phone calls). The automated email said I would be contacted within 48 hours. Last time I checked 48 hours meant....well...48 hours, not 240 hours...

Can I expect to be contacted next week since the holidays will be officially over? Why wouldn't BitDefender simply send an automated email for the holidays saying please be patient at least. Or update the phone support message to acknowledge the fact that nobody will ACTUALLY answer your call since it's the holdays. Instead, they have no problem making you wait for close to an hour on hold before the music turns to a strange dial tone. Why offer 24/7 live telephone or chat tech support if it's just going to result in your customers being even more disappointed and aggrevated with your product?

BitDefender claims to honor a 30-day money back guarantee and I have requested on multiple occassions that I wish for them to complete my return. No response at all.

System specs: clean windows install (no previous antivirus software at all), athlon x2 4500, 3.25gm RAM, windows xp sp3. BD encounters a critical error at EVERY reboot. My money can definitely be better spent and I intend to get every penny of it back but we'll see just how honorable and professional BitDefender chooses to be through thos process. Wish me luck, I'm sure I'll need it.

I was with the same company for my virus protection for several years. Unfortunately, their 2009 version of their product was so buggy that it was not really operational. Add to that the outsourced technical support and it was ridiculous. I've been evaluating a couple of replacements, one of which was BitDefender. While the virus engine seems pretty decent with BD, the user interface seems to have problems. I've sent them a request for assistance and received only the automated response. This has been since around the 24th.

The other main one that I'm testing had less issues but I sent a support request as well. I've received responses that solved the problems. I have until the end of January to replace my old product but it looks like BD won't be my choice. I think that the response time from technical support is too long for this type of product. Even considering the holidays. Their online chat seems offline as well. I haven't tried the phone support though.

Most virus scanning products have evaluation versions. My suggestion would be to try evaluating a couple before purchasing them. You can google for a comparison and then try a couple based on your requirements. Try out the support as well. Then pick one that you like.

Not my area but I'll give some pointers. We do not outsource support calls and that's where the problem with availability comes from. Support centers are staffed 24 hours, but if there are too many support requests or if staff are tied up with enterprise support they might not be able to answer your request as fast. As I am told given the holidays, most centers are understaffed and given the large amount of mail phone support is not a priority.

As for the 2008 editions, you may grab them from http://download.bitdefender.com/windows/desktop/ depending on your needed distribution. You may use the uninstall tool found in the knowledge base if the 2008 edition will refuse to install after uninstalling the 2009 one.

Unfortunately as far as I know licenses for use with the 2009 edition will not correctly function with inferior editions but a trial should work. You should contact support on the matter.

As far as I can see, the trial version is the same as the full version so that shouldn't be an issue. There are some companies that offer free versions with less functionality but I don't think BD does.

I didn't really notice much of a slowdown after the initial install and deep scans. Most of the problems that I had was with the user interface part - showing that things were disabled when they probably weren't. I also wanted to know why it didn't find most of the tracking cookies that other products did.

Anyway, BD looks like a decent product. Since you already own it, you may want to stick with it.

Why would I want to stick with a product that says "BitDefender has encountered a critical error" every time I start my computer? I agree it's not a bad product, it just seems way too buggy to cost $50 and claim to be fully backed by a money-back guarantee and 24/7 tech support. Either way, I've had the product a couple weeks and encountered several items that BD could not resolve. The original virus that BD could not fix resulted in having to reformat. That 'No Action Possible" drop down box is quite frustrating.

It's just that you've already bought it. Anyway, when I wrote that, I assumed that BD would get it sorted but it's been over 2 weeks since I received their "You will get a response within 48 hours" reply to my questions so that may not be the case. I've pretty much decided to go with someone else who at least responds to their support requests. I'm a bit surprised that this lack of support was not mentioned in any of the comparisons that I read.

Hi Duane

I am experiencing the same problems.

It has been over 2 weeks since I have reported my first issue and no response in about 10 days. I reported a second issue on 1/1/09 and have not heard back yet. The second computer appears infected with the same virus as the first.

So I wonder:

- Why didn't Bitdefender catch it in the first place? My research revealed that it is a virus that is at least 6 months old.

- My experience is that Support is almost non-existent unfortunately.

I resorted to doing my own research and found a free version of the AntiVirus software Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware that has been documented numerous times as being able to solve the virus. I downloaded it and minutes my first PC was cleaned up and back to normal. This company allows a free download to execute whenever you'd like. Their pitch is if you liked their freebie then buy their Pro version which will allow realtime protection, etc.

So what now? Does anybody know the process for requesting a refund?

So what now? Does anybody know the process for requesting a refund?

I have put in several emails to Customer Service, some of which came back via an automated reply saying that my emails were flagged as spam in BitDefender's inbox. Great. I tried calling, to no avail and much time wasted.

I don't think there IS an official process for filing a refund. I think if you have ANY contact at all with BitDefender support then you have gotten further than most, and frankly at this point if I ever do get a refund I'll be very surprised.

I will definitely keep you updated if I get anywhere with this, also, if you happen to get a hold of anyone please make a posting so that we know that BitDefender support staff actually exists.

Art Vandelay ,whats your problem, maybe you can get help here ,on the forum?

Apart from licence problems ,i personally(home user)don t need to much support and it may be also unproper to call support without really needing it ,just to see if it exists.In 99% percent of the cases i solved my computer problems by myself.I think the web (including this forum) has enough info to use ,before asking for support ,blocking maybe someone that really needs it.

Many of the software problems are generated by faulty hardware ,overclocking(that may generate unexplainable errors) or improper computer setup so maybe first time we should look at our hardware setup,OS and drivers and then ask for BD support.

BD says that they have 24/7 support. It's one thing to come here to see how the system works or for

some non critical issues but maybe the OP's issues are not so trivial. And I also don't agree that he should

expect the support to be responsive. After all, that's part of the package. 2-3 weeks without a reply is

not acceptable IMO.

Agree. Customer service is appalling.

Like many others I've had numerous problems with 2009. After many attempts finally got a reply- same reply as I've had many times before- which is basically uninstall everything on your computer which isn't BitDefender. This didn't work so next advice was go back to using 2008. Great stuff. That fixed it.

Then tried to renew a licence for BD on parent's PC. Tried numerous times and get same "cannot be processed" message. Sent a mail to customer services for advice- no response.

A buggy product and terrible customer services. Not a good combination.

reply

I had a lot of problems since BitDefender 8. In 2008 I have bought and installed BitDefender 2008 Internet Security and I had an incredible number of problems. Now I have Bitdefender 2009 Internet Security and, after a lot of problems, it's seems to work perfectly.

Of course I have called Bitdefender Support many times, and I have to say that they replies are very fast (only one time I have waited for about a week).

Unfortunately I have to say another thing: the only solution I have heard was to uninstall and reinstall the program, this is a solution I can find from myself without contacting Support Service. Other times I have heard that my issue could be solved with an "update in the next few hours"; of course the updates never solved anything.

Other times they said me that other security solutions installed in my computer (Spywareblaster, Spy Sweeper or Bitdefender) was in conflict with Bitdefender and I had to remove all of them; of course after removing the issues remained.

Finally I can say: for me Support Service answer very shortly, but problems always remain.

I have to agree here, support is abysmal.

I emailed support 5 days ago and previously a couple of times before, no reply by email at all - I had renewed my BD to Antivirus to the 2009 version - was having a lot of trouble, spoke to 'customer service' if that`s what it can be called - was asked to do a screen shot, find the 'sysdump' etc, sent these off, it has to be noted that I was in the middle of installing the new product and had no other antivirus on my machine as the 2008 version had expired - no response whatsoever - in the meantime I had sorted the problem myself, with great difficulty and much stress - sent another email this morning to ask why they hadn`t replied and received yet another request to find the 'sysdump' etc and send them off - this has to be a joke!

BD has a really good piece of software and selling it, but the back-up is appalling - no help whatsoever, so what are we supposed to do?

Some of the problems may only be small ones and some are large ones, but for someone who has not much computer experience must be tearing their hair out, I feel so sorry for them. They spent good money on something which to them is useless.

To tell you a story about a friend of mine whom I recommended BD to them, they bought 2 copies(this was last year), they both had laptops and installed the products on both machines, needless to say from that point onwards neither have been able to use their laptops! They were both in business and needed their machines - both had to buy new laptops, at a cost of some 1500 pounds - again support were very unresponsive and when I finally told them that these laptops were rendered useless, we never heard another word from BD...........................

To me personally, BD products are great, only if you know what you are doing, even then it is difficult, but the products should have a very good support team for people who do not know about computers, people who are there '24/7' as it states on the website, this is false advertising!

Thats what I am afraid off have also bought a new pc and installed BD TS on it and thats why I am afraid to edit the registry as suggested to make the programme work

Surely you don`t have to mess with the registry to put this right, what did they advise you to do?

BD seems to have problems when there are remnants of other security programs hanging around.

Maybe they told him to remove some keys that didn't get removed from a previous product.

On one PC where I tried BD, it had Trend Micro installed and BD basically crashed the system when

trying to install. I had to reboot in safe mode and clean up. Then it seemed to worked.

See http://forum.bitdefender.com/index.php?showtopic=11141

You don't have to delete stuff from your registry yourself if you don't want to. There are plenty

of registry cleaners around. CCleaner is a freeware one that works pretty well.