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2.7

Avast's free trial is a scam! (It took a lot of my time to figure out how this scam works).

To avoid getting sued by Avast, I stipulate that I am describing "my experience." There are horrible reviews of Avast all over the internet so the company doesn't seem to care about suing anyone). You have to provide your credit card info to activate the "free" trial. Their site boasts you "will not be charged" until the end of the trial period and Avast will also "send you an e-mail warning you that the trial period is going to expire soon." That sounds good. My experience was, after giving them my credit card info to activate a "60-day free trial," a $49.99 fee appeared on my credit card immediately.

I didn't worry about that because I THOUGHT Avast would refund my money if I cancelled before the 60-day trial ended. 50 days later, when I canceled the trial and tried to get the charge removed, Avast's reps told me two excuses why they could not refund my money. The first one was you missed the deadline to cancel. "You didn't sign up for a 60-day free trial you signed up for a 30-day trial.

Avast ONLY offers 30-day free trials." (Internet sources for getting Avast's free trials reveal 60 and 90 day free trials are out there). Here's the bottom line on how their free trial scam works. The fine print on the contract states you are also agreeing to "auto-renewal" of the anti-virus protection at the end of a year. You will assume that means,,,,,after a year passes, if you do nothing to stop it, you'll see a fee for renewing Avast's anti-virus software on your credit card.

But you are not worried about that. You just want to try it out and cancel during the "free trial" period if you are not happy. Wrong answer!! The second excuse Avast gave me as to why they could not refund my money was.....you signed up for two services.....a year's worth of virus protection AND a trial of the software with automatic renewal.

The company told me...."We have refunded your money for auto-renewal and the free trial. But we ARE charging you for the year of virus protection you put in your shopping cart." Don't try and figure it out. It makes no sense. Why would I sign up for a free trial at the same time I am signing up for a year's worth of virus protection that can't be refunded??

Avoid getting involved with Avast and save yourself a lot of time. Download Microsoft's "Microsoft Security Essentials" if you have a Windows 7 or Vista PC. If you have Windows 8, Windows Defender is installed on your PC. (Make sure it's turned on).

Both of Microsoft's free anti-virus protection services work extremely well.

P.S. I never received any confirmation email about my license key for the service. And I didn't get any “warning that the trial was ending" email.

When I called Avast, they had no record of my interactions in their database.

What does that that tell you?

Reason of review: Avast refused to refund my money when I cancelled their "free" trial..

Monetary Loss: $50.

Preferred solution: Full refund.

Avast Software Pros: Software works.

Avast Software Cons: Fraudulent practices, Could not get a refund.

Location: Glen Allen, Virginia

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Guest

Nagging AVAST popups will finally force me out.....but they don't seem to care.....

Guest

same experiences...I can't even find a copy of my Avast email...I've made multiple attempts to cancel, on only the 5th day of my trial...how do they get away with this?

Guest

I use Avast free. I had a bit of a problem a couple months ago when an ''update'' turned out to be an upgrade.

Luckily, I never supplied Avast w/ a credit card no..

All I had to do was uninstall the program (Revo) & re-install, & re-register (email addy).(They never email BTW.)

Stick w/ Avast free & you should be fine.You do get some pop-ups. Avira is also a good free AV.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-993862

You got to be joking.Stick with avast, they are the biggest crooks on the internet I canceled my account with them a month before it was due they still charged me and won't return my money.CROOKS,CROOKS,THIEVES THIEVES is all I can say. I have talked to different dept and won't give up until I receive a refund.

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