CONSUMER WARNING: ***DO NOT BUY BITDEFENDER COMPUTER SECURITY PRODUCTS, THEY USE UNETHICAL BUSINESS PRACTICES AND PARTNERS (AVANGATE) TO DEFRAUD CONSUMERS***

For a business that is about providing computer and internet security software, it's truly appalling how they conduct their business in a very deceitful way designed to overcharge/double bill the customer for their software products.

Bitdefender uses Avangate as their online e-commerce service. They catch consumers with the Auto Renewal option, when buying and registering new software products.

The Auto Renewal option is selected for you as the default and early renewal notices are also selected for you. Consumers have to look very hard in the fine print to be able to understand the procedure or to remove the Automatic Renewal.

How they work:
1) Four(4) to eight(8) weeks before the Auto Renewal date, early renewal emails are sent to the customer offering another year of security protection for your pc and/or internet, at a 50 - 75% lower cost than the Auto Renewal.

2) As a consumer, you may think this is a good deal and decide to buy the early renewal.
Here is the deceit: You think the early renewal will extend your current Bitdefender software license and the Auto Renewal date would be flagged such that it won't renew because you have renewed early. Unfortunately that is not what happens.

3) Your early renewal is actually a separate license for the same software that now expires on a different date. Your original purchased software will remain with a valid license to the Automatic Renewal date. 7 days before the Automatic Renewal occurs, an email will be sent as a reminder. If you recognize it and try to get it cancelled through email or support, Avangate will most likely ignore it.
The Automatic Renewal will occur on the specified date and your credit card is charged the full amount! You now have 2 active licenses for the same software.

4) Getting Bitdefender / Avangate to refund you for this deceitful double billing is difficult, despite the handful of support options and contact information that comes with the invoice or early renewal emails. Their customer service will initially sound professional and helpful in dealing with your complaint and refund request. However this is likely a stalling tactic and they will offer incentives of additional years license subscription or discounts on other software. Once customers get through that stuff by sending emails declining the offers and making it clear that the full refund is the only solution for you, Bitdefender / Avangate may stop their communications with you. Or they may come around to doing the right thing after a lengthy period up to 30 days.

Bottom Line: This sales practice is unethical, unprofessional, and exploitive towards consumers. They likely hope that many will not notice and let it happen, that likely happens to the majority of users.

For peace of mind, the RECOMMENDATION is SIMPLE:

Do not buy Bitdefender products and do not buy any software products that are sold through Avangate.