Complaint Review: Avangate

Beware when dealing with this company.  If you are purchasing software from companies like: Bitdefender, Ashampoo, ABBYY, Advanced SystemCare, LoJack, Paragon, DriverMax, AVS4YOU, ConvertXtoDVD, Aiseesoft Video Converter, Atomic Email Hunter, Movavi Screen Capture Studio, VSO Downloader, and dozens of other lesser known programs; then you will surely be involved with Avangate.  Avangate is the company that will be collecting your dollars and will then pay the software company. 

Avangate will also keep track of when your software expires, and if by chance you clicked on the automatic renewal feature of the software company, then Avangate will go after your credit card or your method of payment and will collect or try to collect the FULL AMOUNT of the renewal subscription even though they (Avangate) may be selling the new version for less money; and even though the Software company itself may be offering "deep" discounts for the same new software. 

For example:  Avangate wants to charge me $89.95 for a one year subscription to Bitdefender Total Security, but on their own website, they are selling this for $79.95.  But (((competitor's name redacted))) is offering me this exact same product for $39.95.  Big difference don't you think?

Another MAJOR problem.  Avangate will remind you  of the renewal; they will advise you of the charges; they will even send you a bill.  However, if you  cancel the renewal with them and your renewal date passes, they will still want their money.  How is this possible?   Simply this:  they claim that cancellations must go directly to the software company.  The exact wording that they use is:  " To cancel an order placed in the Avangate system, you must contact the software author from which you purchased the software."

Thus even if you cancel with Avangate, you are screwed!  If you did not cancel with the software manufacturer then you are out of luck.  How is that for being "Customer Centric" as they describe themselves?

Yet another problem I encountered:  When I placed an order with Auslogics.com for a driver updater, I was billed by Avangate.  I also received an e-mail from Auslogics through Avangate giving me the activation code.   HOWEVER, before providing the activation code, the e-mail advised me to:  ACTIVATE YOUR SOFTWARE BY CALLING ONE OF THESE 24/7 NUMBERS 1-844-287-3439 (toll-free for USA and Canada) 1-800-709-875 (toll-free for Australia).

It turns out that the US/Canada number connects you to an individual who NEEDS to enter into your computer to do the activation.  Following is my complaint to Auslogics concerning this vile, deceptive, and underhanded method to elicit more money from a customer:

I purchased an Auslogics Driver Updater today (4/21/15)) and I received a message from Auslogics which provided the License Code, but it also stated that I should call 1-844-287-3439 to "Activate the software".  When I did that, I was connected to a technician in India (see Correction below) who wanted to get on line access to my computer to "activate" the program.  While doing that, he also went into my system and files,  and researched all active programs and applications.  He then got his supervisor on line who stated that I had 10 problems with my computer, and that they would fix my problems for $30 each. 

He also offered that they would provide lifetime warranty on my computer and would fix any new problems that come up.  I reluctantly agreed to this (as the referral had come from Auslogics) and because my computer was running fine but a bit sluggishly.  I then provided them with my credit card information. 

However, before I hit "Submit" on the credit card, this supervisor (which I later found was with Tech Live Connect - and they are in India) further informed me that I also did not have anti-virus security (although I have all the anti-virus protection I need via several programs). 

Then he (the individual from Tech Live Connect) went into a long, long, long, un-interruptible sales pitch about what retail stores charge for anti-virus programs, and that his company would provide security for up to 3 computers for another $300.00 for 2 years. He would not let up nor continue with the activation unless I agreed.  He became so obnoxious and so insistent that I had to tell him that I absolutely did not want any extra services.  Yet he still would not stop and kept up the severe pressure. 

Finally, I told him that I did not want ANYTHING at all from his company and that I did not want him to charge me for the activation either.

However he indicated that they were already working on my computer (even though nothing was being done on it since I was still on it), and that the charges were non-cancellable.

He became so obnoxious and so rude, that I had to shut the computer off and hang up on him.

They tried calling again but I have not answered.

I am furious about these HIGH-PRESSURE sales tactics and I definitely will write about them in various consumer oriented web-sites.

Correction:  In the first paragraph I stated that the first individual with whom I was connected was in India.  I am now not sure that it was India since he used a program through uis.edu which is with the "university of illinois at springfield online".  Thus he may have been a student at the University of Illinois.  However, the second individual was with a company called "Tech Live Connect" which does appear to be in India but may have an office in the US.  

All in all, I would be very wary of ever dealing with Avangate again.  I have requested that discontinue any automatic renewals on ANY of my software, but I doubt if they will honor my request.

By the way, I tried to find any information at all about Auslogics in Australia and hit a complete unpenetrable brick wall.  I could not find who is their management, who is it owned by, who runs it, etc.  They have a lot of programs that are "very invasive" into your and my computer, and it would be nice to know to whom we are entrusting the inner workings of our computers.