Avast WEBforum
Consumer Products => Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security (legacy Pro Antivirus, Internet Security, Premier) => Topic started by: REDACTED on December 31, 2014, 07:57:50 PM
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First off, let me say I have been using Avast for a few years now and I think it is, generally, an excellent product, from a technical perspective.
However, customer service is a far different story. I recently received an email informing me of an upcoming draft against my bank account for a subscription which I no longer use because I have replaced the computer. "No problem," I thought naively, "I just call them up and ask them to cancel this subscription."
ONLY YOU CAN"T DO THAT!
When you call support and attempt to receive help with a billing issue, you get a recorded voice saying that all billing issues must be submitted online. So I did that. And watched as my case was promptly ignored. I updated the record with a new request for service. Also ignored. Now I have updated the request again, 10 FREAKIN' DAYS AFTER MY ORIGINAL REQUEST.
Apparently, our society has now progressed to the point where corporations can continue to bill us for services we do not use and they are not required to offer us any workable recourse to object. Can anyone here say "Class Action Suit?"
To the moderator of this thread: You have ONE chance to redeem your company's reputation. Contact me. Personally. Deal with this problem. Show me your firm is not a bunch of crooks. PLEASE.
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Submitting multiple ticket/changing a existing one will put you back to the bottom of the stack as has been explained many times before.
Also many times explained already that you easily can disable the automatic renewal.
Find your order, remove the tick in front of the automatic renewal option.
Please use the search option before posting.
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Tried that, doesn't work. Is anyone going to help or not?
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What doesn't work ?
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Eddy,
Are you employed by Avast? If not, you can't help. Please don't muddy the waters any further. If you are an Avast employee, call me. You should be able to access my records.
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Auto-Renewal Plan Terms
By completing your purchase, you have authorized Digital River to automatically renew your purchased license for successive renewal terms equal in length to your initial license term but no longer than 1 year, at the then-current renewal license price (plus applicable taxes) using your payment information provided for your initial purchase, until you cancel.
At least one email will be sent to you to remind you of each upcoming renewal. The Digital River Terms of Sale and Privacy Policy will apply to each renewal transaction. You also agree that Digital River may, upon notice to you, transfer your responsibility for the processing of renewals of your purchased license under the Auto-Renewal Plan to Avast Software a.s. (“Avast”), in which case Digital River will transfer your billing information to Avast or their payment processor, and Avast’s terms of sale and privacy policy provided to you in Avast’s reminder email will apply to each renewal transaction.
You may cancel your auto-renewal plan at any time by logging into the My Subscriptions portal (access information are included in this email or on the Customer Service Help page), selecting your product, and selecting the option to disable automatic renewal.
Also, I'm not employed by Avast....just someone trying to help.
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I appreciate the effort, Kochs, but the issue here is good corporate citizenship dead? Still waiting to hear from moderator - or someone with a smidge of conscious.
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No-one will call you.
That is not how it works.
Just do as I said and the automatic renewal will stop.
https://www.findmyorder.com/sstore?Action=DisplayHomePage&SiteID=findmyor&Locale=en_US
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If it's possible to do so in your country, you should also cancel the authorisation with your bank.
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OK, let's make this clear. Here's a scenario for you.
I advise a friend to use this product. He signs up for automatic renewals, and he is very happy with his purchase. Then he moves away. A year later, his computer is deemed too old and decrepit for his current needs and he replaces it, and buys a new product license for his new computer.
Two months later,there's a charge on his credit card for renewal of his product on the old computer. After much head scratching, he finally figures out where this came from and calls up to cancel. But he can't. All anyone will do is refer him to the web site. Unfortunately, his old email account is tied to his old ISP in another state and the account doesn't exist anymore. So it's freakin' impossible for him to cancel his subscription.
Does anyone see the problem here? Is there a line item in Avast's business plan labelled "Income from undead customer accounts"? There's got to be some level of responsiveness of a company to it's customers' needs, and frankly Avast's is substandard, to put it in terms socially acceptable in mixed company. So let's hear from someone who wants to defend against such corrupt practices.
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If his license was still valid, he could have used that one the new system.
To stop the automatic renewal, just go to the site I gave you.
Login and disable it.
There are also links that tell you what to do if you can't login.
E.G. If you don't remember the order number.
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I went to the site. The options are to
1) provide an order # and password or
2) Provide an email and the last 5 digits of your credit card
Now if you have the order number (presumably on the credit card statement AFTER they've already billed you and taken your money), but don't remember your password, you're hosed. They'll only send reset information to the email address on record, which no longer exists. And option two likewise relies on the use of a defunct account (assuming you don't mind entering credit card information until you hit on the one you used for the initial transaction - if you'd prefer to keep the charge from hitting in the first place).
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There is ofcourse the "Contact Customer Service" option.
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Contacting "Customer Service" is how this all started in the first place. My point is that there is no customer service here. All there is is a stone wall designed to block customers from getting assistance.
So let's recap. If you ever have a billing issue with Avast, don't waste 10 days waiting for a response that won't ever come. Instead, cancel your credit card (and set up new payment options with socially responsible merchants you DO want to continue doing business with) and start a long, laborious process to get a refund if they've already taken your money. Sounds like a plan to me!
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Oh, and nevermind that this should have been resolved with a single phone call, 20 minutes tops, including hold time.
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The original poster does have a point. I am a free user, I don't expect customer service (I'm not paying for it) and I will come here if I ever need technical assistance ... but if I paid for the product I would expect to be able to contact Avast with any customer service issues or for technical support by phone or online and I certainly wouldn't accept ten days to respond to a ticket (and it's not clear that they're even much good at meeting that).
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Hi, I'm sorry that processing your request take so long. We'll look at it.
You are right that Customer Care/Service should take care of those cases that you mentioned. For those who prefer self help there are articles http://www.avast.com/en-us/faq/AVKB126#artTitle or http://www.avast.com/en-us/faq/AVKB136#artTitle
Happy New Year!
Lukas
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Aloha, I just got an email the other day saying AVAST is going to automatically charge me more for the next billing. I called and got a rude woman named Ruth, arguing with me about the renewal button. Then I went online and deactivated my renewal. I want my billing information deleted but no one is willing to help from AVAST. The site is only for tech problems. I have made a complaint at the Better Business Bureau, I have cancelled my credit card and I am going to spread this online. AVAST is doing illegal business in the US by charging double the amount for a renewal and not telling customers about it in the first place. I hope they go out of business.
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Heidi, I can confirm that your autorenewal is set to OFF now. Your credit card won't be charged.
I'm confused now. You said that " I just got an email the other day saying AVAST is going to automatically charge me more for the next billing" but later you complain about avast "not telling customers".
I'm really sorry for your experience with Ruth on phone.
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For some reason this auto renewal is not brought to the attention of the customers until we get an email or charged a year later. AND THE CHARGE AMOUNT IS DOUBLE THE COST OF THE ORIGINAL CHARGE. I have two purchases on AVAST and I could only turn one off because I don't have the password for the other. The site will not let me in to my past purchases without some password, which AVAST said they would send to me in an email and I have not seen the email yet. Also, AVAST is not even supposed to be saving our CC# information unless we allow it. I have been online long enough to know how it is done legally. My credit card sites are very professional and offer information about saving my CC information and they make it clear about their auto renewal programs. Avast is not doing this legally. Customers must be notified of the CC# being saved and an auto renewal button in ADVANCE. You cannot just tell us it is there a year later. I have been with AVAST a long time and I have never seen them do this before. This company seems to be getting a bit too shady for me. I am out of it. I am not the only one complaining about these strange charges, just look at the customer complaints on FB and this forum. I have reported these bad business habits to the BBB. I hope they look into it.
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You are wrong about several things.
Every company is allowed to store certain info about your credit card if you use it to pay something.
- The card holder’s name
- The card’s account number
- The expiration date
- The Card Security Code (CSC), also called the Card Verification Value (CVV)
Info like SSN is not allowed to be stored.
IIRC, in the confirmation email after my purchase the auto-renewal was mentioned.
I also already saw it on the website when before ordering.
It is just a matter of reading what is on the screen/site.
There is nothing for the BBB to look into since avast hasn't done anything wrong.
just look at the customer complaints
You are forgetting that people who have a problem are posting, but that it is very rare that someone who hasn't got a problem is posting saying so. That makes it look like there are a lot of complaints while in fact only a few do.If everyone who doesn't have a problem with the auto-renewal would post here there would be 100(?) million posts more here.
I could only turn one off because I don't have the password for the other.
If you made the payment through Digital River, contact their support and they will help you.
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"Every company is allowed to store certain info about your credit card if you use it to pay something.
- The Card Security Code (CSC), also called the Card Verification Value (CVV)"
Sorry but the Merchant may not store that part of the information.
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- Avast itself doesn't store any data about your credit card. All payments are processed by payment providers which are taking care of it. And they are folowing exactly the same policy as any other institutions working with money. You can read the whole document at - https://store.avast.com/store/defaults/en_US/DisplayDRPrivacyPolicyPage#informationSection
- about different price for auto-renewal - the prices are changing all the time. Sometimes you buy avast in a promotion or with a discount. Unfortunately, prices aren't fixed (almost everywhere, right?)
- about email/login - we are working on improvement of the process. However some authentication will be always required. If our articles won't help - https://www.avast.com/faq.php?article=AVKB136 and https://www.avast.com/faq.php?article=AVKB126, then you can always contact us at support.avast.com (or go directly to https://support.avast.com/Tickets/Submit/RenderForm/27/&cls01&ptf01&lic01&scr06
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I was double billed and have not received an answer to message. Why is there no live person to help with these kind of issues.
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I was double billed and have not received an answer to message. Why is there no live person to help with these kind of issues.
Hello,
where do you sent the message? If you have ticket ID, post it, please.
Milos