Read this if you use Kaspersky Internet Security (applies to all Kaspersky security programs and subscriptions)
Here at Personal PC Care, we have always encouraged our customers to invest in the best security available, and that usually turns out to be one of the Kaspersky products. This blog isn’t about dissing Kaspersky products, we still maintain that Kaspersky offers some, if not the best security that money can buy. The problem is “WHEN AND HOW YOU BUY IT”…When you purchase and install Kaspersky products you need to be aware that there is a small tick box, preceded by an even smaller type box, that already has a tick in it. If you take the time to read the innocuous-looking text you will find the tick box is in fact ‘an acceptance of auto-renewal. This would be a problem if Kaspersky auto-renewed its products at the price you originally paid. You may have got the internet security or total security version at a bargain price, £10, £15, etc. As is the way with large companies, things are never that simple: What they in fact do is auto-renew each year at the full retail price of the product purchased, usually about £50. The use is not made aware of this until after the auto-renew has taken monies from their account. This can work out to be a very expensive lesson to learn, especially if you’ve purchased several for friends and family, it could result in hundreds of pounds being transferred from your account. This is either Kaspersky conning you/us or Digital River, I suspect the latter.
The remedy:
Cancel the auto-renewal: Follow this link:
it will take you to Kaspersky’s auto-renewal cancellation page (the page looks as though it’s been nailed together in someone’s basement, with the creator hoping that it never gets to see the light of day)…A page that Kaspersky could have made much easier to find. I get the impression, from the amount of time it took to actually track down this page that they really, really, really don’t want you to find it.
I urge you to check your bank account/s and make sure that this and other unscrupulous company/s aren’t siphoning monies out of it without your knowledge. If you find that this is happening or has happened to you recently or in the past please contact the vendor and vent your anger and also report them for not disclosing why the Auto-renewal tick box has already been ticked and what the cost of Auto-Renewal will be (can work out to be 5 x the original cost).
I have come across similar issues and problems before and the company ‘Digital River’ have cropped up in all of them.
A big thanks to Adrian who replied with an update to the ‘Kaspersky auto-renewal scam’ (see below) 04/09/2017
Adrian
Hello,
I read your article on Kaspersky’s auto-renew with interest:
https://www.personalpccare.co.uk/2017/02/08/kaspersky-auto-renewal-scam
It’s actually harder than that. I went to the link but it asks for an order number and password “supplied with the current email” that they did not supply, or an email address and password that I don’t remember providing and when I clicked on ‘forgot password’ it said ’email not supplied’. The only way I could get it disabled was by writing to their customer service dept (even the instructions given to me at purchase do not work because these options do not exist: “Under the section headed Please Select a Subject:, select Subscription Request in the drop down box, then select Please cancel auto-renew on my subscription”.)
BUT the worst thing of all is their renewal scam – if you click on their pop-up or email RENEW NOW link, unless you are very very careful you end up buying a completely new version and lose the remaining days on your existing licence. The URL of the page contains the words RENEWAL so this is a deliberate switch and bait scam to rip off existing customers. Not only that, but unlike ‘normal’ software, the new licence applies from the day you buy it, not the day you download or install it.
I would be grateful if you would please update your Kaspersky renewals warning page to include all of the above.
Adrian.