I found that Bitdefender damaged my SSD and also put a partition in it which I've never heard of any other antivirus doing, also using SafePay. I found it sometimes freezes and you're just stuck on a website. Think I now need a new SSD and I won't be reinstalling Bitdefender
Purchased Bitdefender VPN Premium and loaded it onto my laptop. It loaded ok and was working fine. Tried to load it onto my other 2 laptops and that's when the trouble began. It would not load the VPN Premium which I paid for but instead loaded… Read more
their free VPN which is restricted. I attempted to contact them as they did not give me any activation code with the purchase which you need to load onto other computers. They still have not got back to me. I followed their instructions online and still o contact from them. Now when the VPN connects on my computer, the only one the VPN will work on it wont allow me to connect to my email,or some sites. The only way to even write this was to turn the VPN off to connect to the site. I have requested assistance from them but none has been forthcoming so I have canceled all 3 subscription renewals with them and do not recommend them based on their poor performance in assisting you when you run into a problem.
Follow-up · Not a word from Bitdefender, nothing. Obviously dont need business, the only way I can get onto some sites is to turn off bitdefender VPN, it absolutely hopeless.
THIS YEAR (2026) THEY TOOK subscription "PAYMENT 3 WEEKS BEFORE DUE DATE" - LAST YEAR PAYMENT WAS TAKEN "1 WEEK BEFORE DUE DATE. " This would be breaking rules under "Australian Consumer Law" - done without permission of the customer. Every other subscription we have - payment occurs on the expiry date unless cancelled. WILL NOT BE SO TRUSTING ON… Read more
THE NEXT DUE. Just noticed they only score 1.6* - looks like there is more? Must be losing customers to employ illegal practice!
WILL CANCEL BOTH SUBSCRIPTIONS IF DONE AGAIN!!!
Reviews with attachments
Too Aggressive & Auto Cancel is Tricky – I've had so many problems with websites and emails links that are not able to be accessed. And trying to work out how to actually put an exception in is a nightmare and then it still doesn't allow access. You really need to be a tech expert for this stuff. Sure it protects you, but that's because you can't access anything. And as other have… Read more
complained there is no easy way to cancel your auto renew. I thought I'd cancelled and I saw where I was tripped up and where most other people I think can get out. You think you've cancelled and they throw up an offer, I forgot to click on the Cancel subscription and continuous protection bit at the bottom. I fell for it once, by the time I cancelled the next one I'd worked out you need to keep telling them to cancel. Now I just have to wait and see what they do when the renewal time comes up.
Very bad sales tactic that makes me decide to stop using it – I have already disabled auto renewal a years ago. But they still attempted to charge my credit card. Fortunately, the card expired and they could not charge. As there are no discount for auto-renewal ($179.99), I bought a 12 month subscription online at a good discount (AUS69.99). I was able to use it to extend my subscription for 12 months. But… Read more
right after they got my card details from the purchase, they charged another $179.99 to my credit card without me updating any card detail on my account. This is as good as stealing as the charge was never authorised. When I wrote in for a refund of the 2nd charge, they counter offered me an additional 18 months of subscription. This doesn't add up if one use common sense. I have made up my mind to change to another internet security suite. So what if they are rated amongst the top. The experience is never pleasant and they are obviously very greedy. The amount that I was charged is higher than the invoiced amount. I ended up being charged an additional 3% without any explanation.
5.5 star program!! – I downloaded and executed something suspicious but Bitdefender came right through and stopped it!! It even showed me a time line of what could of happened if I didn't have this amazing program!! If I could give it 5.5 or 6 stars I would. Thank you so much Bitdefender!
Will slow down your PC. Don't even try to have a look at it. Use windows defender! It's more than enough – Once you buy the subscription, they will make it so hard for you to cancel. It's not just signed in and cancel. It will link you to another site,... it's more than 10 steps to actually enter the place where you can actually manage the subscription. But it's not only that because my subscription is associated with 1 product, so I cannot remove my… Read more
Bank Card from that subsite, they called it "secure.2co". Why would they want or why would you want your bank card to stay online?
Look at the picture I attached, I went into the step where I just need to click and remove but It didn't let me. WHY? I'm so angry at this fken asshole design!! These companies are fken illegal.
Let's talk about the product. I'm having an i7 8700k, 2TB M2 SSD and 32GB Rams. Looks, like it's not a beast in this current day but it's a decent system. It slows your PC down especially when starting up, I did research online and all the marketing strategies they did said Bitdefender was the best. I purchased it for the best, not for a crappy product. VERY DISAPPOINTING.
Besides, all the ads will pop up in your windows (Buy VPN not it's on sale) FFS. I'm not really a friendly guy who comes to ads but purchased something that is over $100/y and there are custom ads showing in your windows! IMAGINE
Full of Advertising on Paid Version – This product is continually showing messages and popups even in the full paid version. Each time I access a website or enter a password in the browser on my PC it displays a popup box with offers to buy the Password Manager. It is a similar story with offering the VPN service. When I pay for a full version I dont expect ads or continual… Read more
upselling. I contacted BitDefender customer service for refund on the 09/11/2022 but have not received a refund only emails asking for clarification. I have raised a case in PayPal.
As per Bitdefender Guarantee Bitdefender offers a 30-day money-back guarantee! If you are not completely satisfied with your Bitdefender renewal or with your new purchase, the easiest way to receive a refund is by contacting your vendor or our customer service team.
Latest follow-ups
Don't use Bitdefender – Bitdefender requires the user to constantly check the features are working. On Samsung devices we have to turn the protection back on, and redo permissions, every time the device updates. Like everyone else, I have found the VPN to be glitchy plus… Read more
it blocks access to so many sites that it makes research impossible. I have also found their available help to be useless and am dreading their stuff around when I cancel my subscription, which will be when it comes up for renewal as cancelling during the subscription period sound like hell.
Follow-up · As you can probably guess, we've never gone back to Bitdefender
Their service is absolutely abysmal. In fairness, the antivirus and other features of their internet security seems to be quite good, and the price I paid was pretty reasonable. HOWEVER, there are numerous (seriously, there's a lot) of bugs. For… Read more
example, my VPN turns on when I start my Laptop (despite this option being turned off in Settings) and every time I disconnect, it just reconnects. I have two screens, and when I open Safepay up to log onto my Bank (for example) it displays on both screens; why? Kaspersky (which I had before Bitdefender) only opened on 1 screen, so it's possible I have emailed them many, many times about the issues that have been ongoing for 7 months now, and all they say is they'll pass the feedback on to their development team, but nothing happens. Nada. Zip. And Netgear is not much better; I originally purchased a pair of Orbi routers and Netgear Armour (Bitdefender) came with a free trial, which I then paid money for a renewal. On contacting Netgear (given it was actually them that I paid) they simply throw their hands in the air and say you have to contact Bitdefender. Pathetic. There must be better service providers somewhere in the World, surely. I guess you get what you pay for (though Orbi routers are NOT CHEAP)
Follow-up · Ok, a quick update to address several queries. The security features with this product, I feel, are good. You have a VPN, you have Safepay (to use whilst you're using your internet banking, for example) and several other features including programmable scans. Everything in terms of the security features appears to work well - as far as security… Read more
Recent reviews
It's a good antivirus and VPN service but whatcha out for their auto-renewal process.. my subscription more than doubled without notice, they offer you all types of nonsense products like double the prescription time but they can always change their minds down the track. In my opinion they aren't worth the stress and are very dodgy.
THE CAPTIVE CUSTOMER Most virus software providers give a honeymoon discount to get you signed up for the first year with AUTO RENEWAL as default. With sneaky marketing tactics they make it difficult to cancel the auto renew option later at double the cost the following year. Bitdefender says you can cancel auto renew anytime, by following a… Read more
convoluted process to find the elusive cancel Auto Renew - CANCEL button, However from my recent experience, this button doesn't appear anymore as in the past, maybe to deter those who choose the first year discount package. I spent over an hour to find this button by carefully following their instructions without success. I spent another hour or more sending emails, chat conversations with an AI computer to finally get a real human support person to cancel my renewal. Beware of this customer acceptance trap. This is a bad experience outcome for anyone considering signing up to their discount software. Some report that they are still being billed for cancelled subscriptions. Seems like Bitdefender wants to make their loyal customers locked in quickly - but then to become their Non - exit customers. Not good
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I paid for the subscription for one year. Then i noticed on renewal it was doubled and taken from my account (read fine print) the company is based in norway, so you can't just call (I'm in australia) many emails later, and promises to double subscription time, or refund and I am still waiting for a return of my money, yet $160 out of pocket and… Read more
they automatically removed the anti virus. They were so quick to remove the anti virus protection but, I'm still waiting for the return of my actual money. Buyer beware. It may be rated highly for anti virus, but the customer support and response is appalling. I will never use this company again because of the lack of integrity of their customer support team.
Auto renewal!!! , do not have anything to do with this product. I have cancelled it so many times and keeps popping up. I have no idea what the positive reviews are all about?!?
By the looks of online virus protection reviews, Bitdefender rates highly. Customer support on the other hand is atrocious. Auto renewal price set very high, contact chat but they refer on by email for someone to get back - waited 5 days the first contact. Now waiting on them to adjust the incorrect renewal date they added to my subscription. I… Read more
purchased a renewal and token already but don't trust them not to auto renew at the high price. There is no way to remove my visa details from their site, then they tell me I have to contact a 3rd party to remove my visa details from Verifone. For a program that is meant to protect, I find their systems do not give me confidence. I had Bitdefender Total Security, expiring Dec 28, purchased Bitdefender Premium Security for $99, account says auto renewal of $229 on Nov 20 next year. So lost a month's cover, can't remove my visa to avoid being double charged (it has happened once before) and don't understand the supposed extra cover I purchased because I gave up waiting for sales after 5 days, after a useless chat referred my renewal by email
Avoid this product!! They are dishonest when it comes to the auto-renewal. I have cancelled the auto renewal 17 days before the expiry date, yet they charged me for a new subscription 1 day after I have cancelled. I received a confirmation mail stating that the subscription was cancelled, as well as a cancellation confirmation on the website where… Read more
I cancelled my subscription. I have mailed them to request a refund, but I received an email from [Name Removed] informing me that they want to offer me a 2 year subscription for the money they charged to my account. Alternatively they offered me a 50% refund. I responded informing that I do not want the subscription, and that I need a full refund. They are now sending me an email every day stating that I did not respond to there offer (Extended cover or 50% refund). I keep on responding to their mails, and every time I get a response showing that my mail was delivered. DONT FALL INTO THE SAME TRAP I DID. Don't buy this product, and don't give them your credit card details.
Hello,
My name is [Name Removed] and I am reaching out to you on behalf of Bitdefender, from the Retention and Loyalty Department. I've picked up your refund request today and I'm happy to help out.
We apologize for any inconvenience caused. However, there is an explanation for this situation:
Your Bitdefender Total Security was auto-renewed as this feature was enabled on your subscription when you made your initial purchase. We strive to deliver the best service and with this feature, we want to make sure that your devices and data remain protected against the latest cyber-security threats and that is why your subscription was extended.
As a valued customer, we'd really love to keep you on board, so what do you think about a 1-year extension to the value of your product at no extra charge? This means that you will have a total of 2 years of Bitdefender protection, valid until Nov 2, 2027. Your protection would continuously be kept up to date, getting the latest product updates and virus signatures, alongside free support 24/7.
OR Alternatively, we can issue a partial refund, which would mean that you will benefit from the promotional price of 44.99 USD, which would give you 1 year of protection.
Please be informed that your product can cover up to 3 devices (Windows, MAC, iOS, and Android) and the protection can be transferred from one device to another anytime you wish and it can also be shared with friends, family, etc.
Before making your decision, I think you might be interested in knowing that the latest tests and reviews reconfirm Bitdefender as the number 1 security software available. Your private information, your credit card details, or family pictures deserve protection by nothing less.
Please drop us an email after you've made your decision. Meanwhile, I'm always here to help if you have any questions.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Have a great day and stay safe!
Kind Regards, [Name Removed] Retention and Loyalty Specialist bitdefender.com/trusted Support Center | YouTube | Community
Be very careful and aware of this company, especially with regard to sign up and card details. I tried a subscription yesterday, having read multiple reviews as being very good at preventing fraudulent activity etc. The payment, although entered successfully with the details would not go through , to my financial institution for approval. Having… Read more
contacted Support at Bitdefender, I was told that it was rejected by my bank; and therefore I contacted my bank to ascertain why they had declined my transaction. The bank put me through to the fraud section, who advised me that the transaction had not even been seen by the bank and that it was in fact Bitdefender who had the problem.
Having read the ratings and the number of poor ratings, especially to do with renewals and signups; I now wonder whether the ratings online from the so-called professional reviewers are in fact, honest and accurate. It is one thing to review only upon the ability to prevent viruses and fraudulent behaviour, however there seems to be a large hole in their reviews when it comes to honesty of companies and their behaviour as to renewals. Maybe, the reviewers should look at customer reviews the good and the bad before passing a company as being one of the top security businesses, and protecting customer financial and personal information.
I will not use this product ever again. Unauthorized auto renewal nightmare, in two consecutive years. I have clicked to opt out of autorenewal, however, 30 days prior to expiry of my subscription they have again charged my credit card at twice the normal price. I have requested a refund and have not heard back. Why would I trust a company like… Read more
this with my internet security. If you give your credit card details to this company , expect a lot of grief like so many others have reported.
Due to the anti consumer practices we experienced while trying to cancel our auto renew and now being passed onto a “Retention and Loyalty Department” we will definitely be using a more consumer friendly product if and when we need it in the future.
I bought bitdefender from a shop. To activate it you have to put in your credit card details so when it runs out after a year it auto renews at full price which is more than twice the price as on Amazon etc. to deactivate you have to go through chat bots….jeez. Then eventually get a human maybe….then they give you a link to some website where… Read more
you can delete your credit card details. Is this a scam? You decide. Used to be the best of the best now just another company ripping off customers.
i wish there was a -5 for ratings, the only nice thing about this FREE to use App is it's colors, if it works so bad on FREE edition why the hell anyone would pay for such crap ! "QUICK SCAN" takes close to an Hour on 1 TB SSD drive ! (AVG does the same in 3min for example, and most of other Apps), and that's besides the PITB(pain in the butt) advertisements. don't waste your time get ANY other Apps you'll be better of.
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How can you trust Bitdefender. Generally i was happy with Bitdefender until it started self turning things off, such as Scam Alert & Web Protection and wouldn't allow me to turn them back on. This would be like this for a day or 2 I have encountered this many times whilst traveling in Asian countries where i really want the protection and also… Read more
back home in my own country. When i contacted Bitdefender they kept getting me to try different thing with no success I'm guessing that they don't have a clue. I am currently looking for another internet security provider.
I myself was charged for another years membership. Even though I had no longer had any Bitdefender software installed on any computer in the house. (Same I.P address) For around 10 months. Switched back to ESET. Due to it being far superior. Should not be charged for another year. When the software has been uninstalled from all my… Read more
devices. Bitdefender have internet servers. To pick up on this.
You can't do this to Australian citizens. When the country is now in recession.
We have a consumer watchdog . . . . . .
Constant annoying pop ups telling you that it is blocking/defending etc. It does NOT give you the option to turn them off, you can only limit some of the pop up notifications on your screen constantly. It is impossible to customise on the sites you visit when the url pathways have tails that change (don't talk about URL paths or domains, it… Read more
confuses the call centre staff)
What you can turn off and on in custom settings for annoying pop ups is very limited. You'll see in multiple posts across the net, this is an issue frustrating so many users.
After a long wait to get through to the call centre, unfortunately, they speak like broken robots repeating a script and were unable to answer simple questions.
Our favourite part was on different calls (by different people) they just hang up mid sentence if they don't know how to resolve the issue (yes, really). To be clear the conversation was kept polite without aggression/yelling etc.
difficult to install very hard to remove stops normal updates to code including steam games set up my recharge before i even installed the product forced me to find the install code while pretending they had sent it to me
Auto-Renewal Scam – It would appear that all anti-virus providers are now conning users into signing up for discounted subscriptions for their products and then charging "normal price" after 12 months. I always turn off auto-renewal for all subscriptions but Bitdefender cunningly removed the option from their site so you cannot cancel. They renewed my subscription… Read more
and charged my CC weeks before my 12 months was up and despite asking for a refund nothing has happened. How can you possibly trust a company that's supposed to provide online protection when they themselves are engaging in illegal activity themselves.
Terrible service – If I could give no stars, I would, terrible service my subscription doesn’t finish until the end of December but they took the money out two weeks prior without telling me and then I got a foreign fee charge, the number you call is in Australia, but obviously they are overseas. They do not have any duty of care and really just don’t care at all disgusting service and the operators are not very nice either.
Worst Ever – The worst anti-virus I have come across. Started off good, then turned off my WIFI all the time. Couldn't access trusted websites. Could not even access their help desk - kept blocking me. Tried a number of solutions till no avail. Had to turn off Bitdefender Firewall to access anything and even then, the VPN would kick in and cause problems even… Read more
when I had the VPN turned off it would automatically turn on. Deleted program and went to another program. Best thing I have ever done. Does not even deserve a 1 star rating.
Faulty – The worst antivirus software I’ve ever used. It messed up my firewall and prevented some websites, including Google, from working. As soon as I turn the software off, everything works again. I’ve never had issues like this with other companies
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