HUGE price hike!!!!

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

I used free avast for years and found it to be a very good virus program.

In 2014 I decided to contribute to the cause so to speak and upgrade to a paid plan.

I signed up for the 3 computer 39.99 plan. An acceptable price and til then I was very happy with the service. Worth the $$.

Then, the next year the price jumped to $55. I bit the bullet and went with it anyways. The next year it was the same price. Ok, seems reasonable I guess. I did notice that they have snuck “ads” for upgrades into the software…“your pc is running slow…click here”…so they can try and sell you the next level up I guess. I hate that garbage.

Anyways, THIS YEAR, as I was paying my credit card bill, I found that they charged my credit card via auto renew for this year…it has more than DOUBLED since 2014 to $85.59.

I never saw an email prior that justified the huge cost increase and as far as I know, I have the same plan I have had all along. Got no justification for the huge increase. Just the new bill.

THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE and I want to find out why it has jumped so high. At that price, I will go back to the “free” version or use another provider.

This reeks of what Photobucket just did to users…offer a free service , then lure them into paid plans, and then at some point jack up the price once they are hooked.

I submitted a “ticket” to AVAST and hope to hear back soon, though I am sure all i will get is the corporate speak of “we have ongoing cost increases to cover blah blah blah”.

NOT a 60% jump since last year!!!

Anyone else have this happen to them?

Since this is AVAST’s forum, I wonder how long my post will stay up? LOL

2

No one will delete your post, just don’t keep repeating the same post in other topics.

3

Yeah, as I explained via PM, I have been down this road before and have seen several posts on this forum of having tickets go unanswered.

In my experience, sometimes it takes posting in several spots to get any attention from the company being complained about.

Maybe Avast is different and that would be a welcome change from par.

As a user and admin of various forums for decades, I understand forum etiquette…but I also understand that some companies do NOT have great customer support. I don’t want to wait two weeks to wait and see if a couple of duplicate posts will get quicker action because someone who can help finally sees it.

You can understand why I am ticked off I hope. I feel that my faith in Avast has been taken advantage of. I am not a fan of money grabs.

If and when Avast rectifies the issue I promise to go back and cleanup any posts that appear redundant.

4

And FWIW , one of my “duplicate” posts WAS just deleted…so I see the company can delete posts quickly…I hope they can respond to and rectify my concern quickly as well. :slight_smile:

5

It was me who deleted the earlier post which is what I discussed with you about multiple posts.

As mentioned in the other topic and by pm I’ve reported it for you, things may be a little slower over the weekend so patience is the key :slight_smile:

6

Thanks. But again, if you are not an Avast employee who can directly help with my issue, I would very much appreciate it if you could leave my posts for now. As I said, I would be glad to clean them up once its rectified.

“Duplicate” or not, as I said I have seen folks complain about tickets getting lost etc…and someone from the company seeing their posts here jump started the process.

Not to mention, folks in a community should have the right to commiserate on issues – sometimes it is the only way that companies get the message that there is an issue…just sayin.

You said you reported my post – assume that will help, so thanks very much for that.

7

As mentioned posting multiple times gets messy and better to focus each individuals problem in their own topic, it actually gets things done faster.

8

Well, as I said…I sure hope Avast is as concerned about retaining a very long term and loyal customer as they are about keeping a tidy forum. ;D

This isn’t just about keeping a tidy forum to me…This is about trust.

I realize you dont know me Craig …and as a user given moderator duties you feel you have the duty to ward off evildoers who would want to taint the Avast forum. There are a lot of boneheads out there just looking to make a company look bad. It is partly your charge to consider that possibility.

I get that. As I said, I go far enough back to have run a BBS in 1990 on an Atari ST computer with a 1200 baud modem…before web forums were even a thing. I know what its like to want to keep things organized. SO I get it.

But sometimes it should just be about users wanting help ASAP and not having their please for help deleted prior to an issue being fixed.

What harm would my “extra” posts have caused to just lay there til “after the weekend” until I could be satisfied that an actual employee would see my gripe?

Kudos to you for being johnny-on-the-spot and getting my “unnecessary” posts cleaned up even though its the weekend…but to a customer, seems like billing issues for good customers would take priority over that. My excess posts are cleaned up, but I still wait for my issue to be resolved.

Cant you see why that affects my TRUST in Avast?

For years I trusted Avast with my online security…did it work better than any other? Who really knows…but aside from one or two issues, which I cant blame on Avast specifically, it has worked well…that’s why I bought into the software and even broke my “never use autorenew” policy. Because I figured I could trust Avast…with my security and my credit card number.

Well, just one autorenew cycle later, I get stung with a 60% hike with no prior notice as to why.

And then when I posted my admitedly angst-fueled comments on the forum trying to get quick help, some get removed immediately but my wallet is still light the same money.

You can understand why that doesn’t set well, right?

It makes me wonder what other user comments have been “cleaned up”. Not accusing anyone of anything, just saying that that is the vibe I get…especially when my initial issue has not been addressed by anyone yet.

Isn’t that what community forums are about? To share experiences and commiserate? It just so happens that a couple other users have similar experiences and I shared mine on their thread…muddy the thread? Perhaps…but now will that user ever know he isnt alone? For the sake of “thread purity” the “community” aspect is lessened. IMHO of course.

I will wait til early next week and hope for a quick resolution. I already expended more time and energy than I should have to invest into this, including a dispute filed with my card company just in case this takes the weeks that some users seem to complain about.

We can differ on how a forum “should” work…and you’re a moderator and moderators have the “creds” here so I cant fight that. I am , after all, “just” a user with 6 posts.

But I AM a user with a decade or maybe more of being an Avast user. That oughta count for something. Hoping to continue being an Avast customer.

9
What harm would my "extra" posts have caused to just lay there til "after the weekend" until I could be satisfied that an actual employee would see my gripe?
In general: If some info is posted in one topic, some other info is posted in another topic and additional info may be posted in a third topic then the one that is going to help need to search around the forum before he get all info .... could be chaos

Not saying it was the case here but it is always best to keep it all in one place :wink:

10

@ dave-zman
Your original request for refund was reported almost immediately. Despite the fact that you actually hijacked another user’s post.
https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=206122.msg1411709#msg1411709
Polluting the forum isn’t really a good way to encourage anyone to go out of their way in the future to help. :slight_smile:

11

As mentioned previously your posts weren’t removed as a way to silence you, we are are trying to direct help to you quickly and if spread all over the forum this just gets confusing for people to follow.

As Avast users we also voice our opinions when we’re displeased with billing/advertising/3rd party phone support etc so don’t feel like you are alone, we are here to help :slight_smile: