BEWARE OF CUSTOMER SERVICE FOR YOUR ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE

My anti-virus software is Bitdefender Internet Security.  This is level 2 of 3 of their products.  Their top line anti-virus is Bitdefender TOTAL Security.  I used Bitdefender for 2-3 years and have been satisfied, and I have 209 days remaining on my current product.

I bought a new computer this week – one that came with McAfee.  Had that one before, didn’t like it, and won’t buy it again.  I wanted to transfer my Bitdefender to the new machine – and you’d think that would be simple enough, right?

Went to the BD website, found the download area, found the ‘INSTALL BD INTERNET SECURITY ON THIS DEVICE’ tab and clicked on it.  When the download finished, I clicked ‘install’…. So far, so good.  First thing it did was UNINSTALL the McAfee trial version that came installed on my computer.  Then BD installed itself, and upon completion, I saw that I had a 30-day trial version of BD TOTAL Security – and it was going to cost me $79 for a year’s subscription.

I was afraid to uninstall and try again, because my computer would be unprotected while I returned to the download location – not a good thing.  I went on my old computer and sent an email asking for help.  Got the automated response with a ticket #.  Not being a patient person, I Googled Bit Defender Customer Service….and the third site in the search said: Support for Bitdefender….and had a phone number.  Called it and that’s when my trouble started.

A nice lady took remote control of my computer after I explained my problem…Now this is not the first time I’ve had a tech do this, but it was the first time I had one open my email, open my control panel, and open Microsoft Office.  After much tinkering, she uninstalled the BD trial software and reinstalled it – using the same site and button I had used.  All the while she’s talking about what a wonderful computer I’ve bought – latest thing – should last me 20 years, said I needed to have WIN 8.1 ‘serviced’ and ‘cleaned’ every 90 days to keep it running properly.  She suggested warranties for hardware AND software and said lots of companies offered these.  In the meantime, I see that she has ALSO installed BD TOTAL – same as I had done. 

Hmmmm…. Houston, we have a problem.  She again uninstalled this trial software….  And THEN she started really humping THEIR warranty ‘special offer just for me’ and BINGO, that’s when the light came on.  As politely as I could be after being on the phone with her for nearly two hours, I said I couldn’t buy anything today – that I had to get this computer paid for first. 

I then asked her to spell her name for me, which she did, and I asked her who she worked for.  Her reply:  iYogi – we do tech support for Bitdefender.

She became very aggressive with her sales pitch as she uninstalled and REINSTALLED the software – with the SAME outcome – the BD TOTAL trial was on my computer for the 3^rd time.  I asked her what the heck was going on, and she AGAIN uninstalled the trial version.  She was angry, and so was I by then, and she asked me which warranty I wanted to buy, and I finally told her I was NOT buying a damn thing from her….. at which point she hung up on me!  AND I HAD NO ANTI-VIRUS PROTECTION OF ANY KIND ON THE COMPUTER!

By this point, I could download BD’s trial program with my eyes closed, and I did this, installed it, and scanned my NEW computer.  BD found three potentially dangerous items on my computer and upon further examination, seems they all appeared on the computer during the time frame I was on the phone with iYogi.  I saved the ‘report’ in a Word doc and BD quarantined the files.  I have found 6 more files with the word ‘iYogi’ in them and either deleted or uninstalled them.

While that was going on, I went back to the old machine and fired off a scathing letter to Bitdefender telling them what had happened.  They replied immediately that THEY HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH iYogi.

Being curious, I Googled McAfee Customer Service….. second in line of the results was…. iYogi with a different phone number.  Repeated with Kaspersky – second result again…. iYogi…. With yet another phone number.  The way they identify themselves is misleading.  BEWARE….. iYogi is all about selling a product and NOT fixing yours!