Don't choose this ripoff company, Cyberdefender, when seeking online security proactive software. First red flag: when one does a search for security software, the Cyberdefender name comes up TEN times, sprawled all over the main search engine listing (page). They promise you a free trial, (2nd red flag) which, when one tries to use it, it doesn't function (3rd red flag); instead they ask for $29.95 for the low level program. (This should be the 4th red flag.) At this point, one has invested so much time fooling around, that surrendering the $29.95 doesn't seem like that much to ask. The problem is that they are now requesting your credit card number to pay this. DON'T GIVE IT OUT; you'll never get it back.) Next, in following the simple directions to scan for viruses, etc., the program still doesn't deliver function (5th red flag), even after paying, so ne becomes frustrated enough to call their customer service telephone number to demand a refund. This turns out NOT to be Customer Service at all (or Billing), but their Technical Support guys in India, at which point the Tech obligingly bends over backward to charm you, promising to spend however long it takes to make their software work on your computer. You protest that you just want your money back, that you have a bad feeling about the whole thing.in response, he promises you the moon, talking you into letting him to take over your computer on-line, entirely. You watch your mouse cursor jump across the screen to change your personal settings, while he downloads other free software programs to your computer, deleting your other programs, etc. VERY RISKY, as it allows Cyberdefender to take control of everything on your computer. Believe me, folks, they have this scam down to a science. The technician soothes you, promising and assuring you that you can easily get your money back if the software doesn't work with your computer, providing you with the Billing Dept. Address in Los Angeles, when you ask for it. What he is really after is your commitment to spend $169.95 for a year's worth of his technical support service, which, after many hours of his working with you and your computer, you feel is probably worth it. (After all, he is so nice.) So he promises to refund you the original $29.95 when you commit to a year's worth of technical support service for $169.95. (They already have your credit card number, anyway... And he thinks you are rich because you are an American. Little does he know that you don't have a job now, because they have taken so many of our jobs from us, over there in India.) The call finally ends with his promising to call you back the next day to see if everything is still working alright, which, in my case, it wasn't. The next day I did receive a call from him, and this impressed me, but the software still didn't work. I kept receiving Cyberdefender pop-ups announcing that Cyberdefender would have to shut down... Repeatedly throughout the day (I am am online student). I did not have another 7 hours to spend with him on the phone this time, so I opted to cancel the Cyberdefender, at which point he says that is ok, but he is not the one who takes care of that.) By the way, the Terms in their online agreement explicitly state that customers have ten days to request and receive a legitimate refund, but forget about it if you try to exercise that right! You will never receive a response from them, let alone your money back. No matter how many phone calls one makes to straighten it out, they refuse to send you any online confirmation with $'s and detail. What they will do is to stall you, promising you what they have no intentions of delivering (4th red flag). I spent more than eleven total hours of my time trying to work with these guys to gain satisfaction, but to no avail. No one was successful in getting the software to function to make it do what it promised, so I didn't want the Cyberdefender product, or the technical support to go along with it, so I asked again for my money back. They argued that in one call I had already received 7 hours worth of technical support service, and, might I add, they had 7 hours of my personal, valuable time, as well, in trying to cooperate with them to get their product to work. Even though the technical support guy was getting paid by the hour for his time, what about MY TIME? I was receiving no pay for the exchange of time. The time spent should never have been necessary, however, if the product had functioned properly, in the first place. They talked me out of the original $29.95, promising to refund me a full $140.00 of the $169.99, but WOULD NOT PROVIDE ME WITH A CONFIRMING EMAIL, no matter how many times I asked. I spoke with their technical support supervisor, "Sandeep, " who promised me that he had made a call to the Billing Dept.in California, and that they had approved my case, and that I would see the $140.00 refund on my credit card statement when it arrived in. Many days later, when the statement arrived, only $70 was refunded, which is only HALF of what was promised. After making three or four more phonecalls to straighten it out, both to their 800 tech support line and to their Billing Dept.in Los Angeles, they still would not provide me with any written confirmation of what they were agreeing verbally over the phone, so I had to resort to calling Capital One, my credit card company, to dispute/vouch for my cause, at which point, my account went into dispute mode, & the card was froze so that I could not use it to buy gifts for my husband or children, right before Christmas.
Thank you, Cyberdefender!
0 comments