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John SmithJohn Smith 

AVG Scam Billing and Reusal to Refund

A year ago I bought an AVG product.  This November, I got a notice that I had been charged $129.99 for renewal.  It wasn't AVG though -- it was Digital River on my PayPal account.  I knew I had not purchased anything and I opened a dispute on PayPal.  I removed all my credit cards from PayPal for safety and called my bank and cancelled my cards:  Nightmare.  PayPal denied my dispute.  I still didn't know that it was AVG, the real villain.  I opened a dispute with my bank as well.  In the mean time, I found out that AVG was the real villain and I found a phone number and called.  They said that I had bought a product from them with an automatic renewal and that they had sent me a notice a month before charging me.  I sifted through hundreds of spam emails in my trash file and found an email from AVG that even when you opened it it says:  "No action from you is necessary."  It's not until you scroll down into the third page that you find they are going to charge you $129.99 for something you have no interest in and have not newly authorized them to charge you or for PayPal to pay them.  In the mean time, since I had made a purchase from AVG a year earlier, PayPal denied my claim and then, my bank (Bank of America) also denied my claim.  When I spoke to AVG customer service they said they would refund the $129.99 (after trying to get me to take the product -- still don't know what it is -- at a reduced cost to which I declined.)  I just wanted my money and to sever my relationship with AVG.  The rep said that I would be sent an email (I was) and that all I had to do was attached the declined dispute screenshots to the email -- which I did (both from my bank and from PayPal)  Then nothing from AVG.  I called PayPal who told me that AVG could easily refund my money regardless of the status of the dispute and that they, PayPal, could not close out the claim because the bank was actually the one that initiated the "chargeback" and that they would have to close the claim.  I called the bank.  I waited nearly 45 minutes to speak with someone who said that even though I had received notice that the claim was denied, PayPal would probably not received a closeout notice for 30 to 45 days!!!  So................ now I wait.  This is all over $129.99 BUT IT IT MY $129.99.  The upshot of this is:  1)  I would never purchase anything from AVG ever, EVER again.  They are thieves and untrustworthy scammers.  2)  I will not do business with PayPal.  They do nothing to protect you and your money.  (It's like saying you made a loan to someone a year ago and this year, they mugged me and the cops look the other way because you willingly gave them money last year.)  3)  I have  a 30-year banking relationship with BOA that is about to end because they also are willing to destroy this banking relationship over their ham-handed handling of a simple request and their refusal to deny the transaction (see #2 above)  4)  I will post this notice everywhere I can find a "bitch" website so everyone receives the word.

Midhun AloorMidhun Aloor (Foundever)

Hello John,

You've reached the AVG community support forum.
We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. This isn't the experience we wanted you to have had.
Upon checking, we couldn't locate any active AVG subscriptions or recently raised tickets under the email address you've used to contact us here.
It's possible that your subscription and previous ticket are registered under one of your alternate email addresses.
To locate your subscription and check the status of your refund request, we've sent you an email requesting further details.
Please check your inbox/spam folders to find the email and use it to get back to us.

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