Jump to content

How does one remove autorenewal?


Recommended Posts

  • Staff

***This is an automated reply***

Hi,

Thanks for posting in the Malwarebytes 3 Help forum.

 

If you are having technical issues with our Windows product, please do the following: 

Spoiler

If you haven’t already done so, please run the Malwarebytes Support Tool and then attach the logs in your next reply:

NOTE: The tools and the information obtained is safe and not harmful to your privacy or your computer, please allow the programs to run if blocked by your system.

  • Download Malwarebytes Support Tool
  • Once the file is downloaded, open your Downloads folder/location of the downloaded file
  • Double-click mb-support-X.X.X.XXXX.exe to run the program
    • You may be prompted by User Account Control (UAC) to allow changes to be made to your computer. Click Yes to consent.
  • Place a checkmark next to Accept License Agreement and click Next
  • You will be presented with a page stating, "Welcome to the Malwarebytes Support Tool!"
  • Click the Advanced Options link

    welcome mbst.png
     
  • Click the Gather Logs button

    gatherlogs.png
     
  • A progress bar will appear and the program will proceed to gather troubleshooting information from your computer
  • Upon completion, click OK
  • A file named mbst-grab-results.zip will be saved to your Desktop
  • Please attach the file in your next reply. Before submitting your reply, be sure to enable "Notify me of replies" like so:

     notify me.jpeg  


    Click "Reveal Hidden Contents" below for details on how to attach a file:
     
    Spoiler

    To save attachments, please click the link as shown below. You can click and drag the files to this bar or you can click the choose files, then browse to where your files are located, select them and click the Open button.

    mb_attach.jpg.220985d559e943927cbe3c078b
     

One of our experts will be able to assist you shortly.

 

If you are having licensing issues, please do the following: 

Spoiler

For any of these issues:

  • Renewals
  • Refunds (including double billing)
  • Cancellations
  • Update Billing Info
  • Multiple Transactions
  • Consumer Purchases
  • Transaction Receipt

Please contact our support team at https://support.malwarebytes.com/community/consumer/pages/contact-us to get help

If you need help looking up your license details, please head here: https://support.malwarebytes.com/docs/DOC-1264 

 

Thanks in advance for your patience.

-The Malwarebytes Forum Team

Link to post
Share on other sites

Greetings and welcome,

Please refer to the information in this support article for details on how to go about opting out of auto-renewal for your subscription.  It includes contact info for both current ecommerce partners of Malwarebytes who handle license sales as well as billing and auto-renewals and if you still have trouble or are unable to determine which ecommerce partner handled your original purchase then you may contact Malwarebytes Support directly via the options found on this page and they will assist you further in looking up the information and getting you everything you need to opt out of auto-renewal for your subscription.

If there is anything else we might assist you with please let us know.

Thanks

Edited by AdvancedSetup
updated links
Link to post
Share on other sites

This does seem a bit shady, auto renewal enabled by default and no way to simply click a link on the account control site provided by the vendor (you) to disable auto renewal may well be against several state consumer protection laws. I know Connecticut for example requires a simple opt out method for automatic re billing for any service.

 

While you may debate the ease of this convoluted process, I am sure the Connecticut attorney general may well disagree.

 

You guys are usually way above board so this odd issue with easy re billing control seems out of character and should be very easy to fix.

 

 

computer sig.jpg

Link to post
Share on other sites

The main issue is due to the fact that Malwarebytes doesn't handle any of the actual transactions or charges themselves; like most AV/AM vendors, they use third party e-commerce providers to handle the purchase and billing for their products.  This is why Malwarebytes cannot currently provide a simple way to disable/enable auto-renewal in the subscription/license management interface or on the Malwarebytes site itself, because the billing/charges for auto-renewals will be handled by the e-commerce partner who handled the original purchase and who handles the billing each year for renewals.  It's not deliberately convoluted (though I would like to see an opt-out option on the initial purchase page, as I'm sure that's possible and would alleviate a lot of these issues/situations), it's just that Malwarebytes doesn't have their own billing/ecommerce department, again, like most other AV/AM vendors (this is why when purchasing an AV/AM product you're usually billed by someone like Cleverbridge, Digital River etc.).  The reason for this is most likely because it wouldn't make sense for an organization like Malwarebytes to try and reinvent the wheel by developing their own e-commerce platform to handle their license/subscription sales, especially since such third party organizations already exist which specialize in this very thing and already comply with all of the legal standards and requirements for privacy, security and payment data handling.  Attempting to do so on their own would be unwieldy, expensive and unprofitable, not to mention risky since, having no first-hand experience and specialization in this area, they would not be privy to the pitfalls already overcome by these established e-commerce providers/platforms whose primary focus is in this area.

It's the same reason, for example, that Malwarebytes uses third party CDN (Content Deliver Network) providers for handling their database and program version updates rather than attempting to build and maintain that infrastructure themselves.  Malwarebytes is focused on stopping malware, so they leave these unrelated but essential functions to third parties who do specialize in these areas and functions.

At least that's my take on it.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Regardless of issues involved, here is a site which states the basic facts. State law does not care if you need to make a tough decision, the law is the law.

 

Several states California and Connecticut  along with Illinois and Oregon have extremely strict laws regarding auto renewals.

https://www.lemberglaw.com/auto-renew-state-laws-a-comparison/

 

computer sig.jpg

Link to post
Share on other sites

I read the page you linked, and as far as I can tell they are in compliance with California law (the most strict and all-encompassing of the states mentioned as far as I could tell).  Here's an image of the purchase page for 2checkout/Avangate (the Cleverbridge purchase page should be quite similar if not virtually identical with the exception of the company-specific info of course):

auto-renewal.png.2e47fafe024f2ae6ca6129988380e54e.png

I circled all of the relevant info in red which I believe relates to the requirements stated in the article you linked.  Company contact info for refunds, their policies, support etc. as well as a clear statement regarding the auto-renewal enrollment as well as an additional info tooltip icon which, when you hover your mouse over it, provides additional explanation/information and instructions on disabling it (you should be able to disable it via the My Account feature just as you can change your payment info) though someone from the staff may have to verify as I've not used the My Account feature myself and I've only got a lifetime license so I can't check how it handles subscriptions/auto-renewals etc. and I've just been going off of the info provided in the support article I linked to in my reply above.

Link to post
Share on other sites

This was more just me throwing in a comment based on what I see in my account. I am not contemplating filing suit merely explaining that I do not see a link on the Malware bytes page that lets me cancel auto renew and no phone number to call for this service. I honestly can say I do not recall which processor was used when I originally paid about 2 years ago and forcing people to try to figure that out does not seem simple is all I am saying.

How Malware Bytes chooses to handle their internal politics aside, it seems a simple fix as I said to make sure no one will ever complain, put in a link to click on the my account page that will help the user cancel auto renewal and you are the good guys and no one ever asks how to do it in forums ever again.

I can not see a downside to this unless you rely on people renewing without explicit authorization because they simply can not figure out how to stop it, which as I said is shady.

computer sig.jpg

Link to post
Share on other sites

Strongly agree with kliebor, because to turning off the "auto renewal" feature for Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Premium subscription should be a right given in a straightforward, easy and not time-consuming manner. And this is not the case. I've been spending hours, trying to find the way for and maybe finally I did it, but it is ridiculously complicated and made or left difficult for the client: not acceptable for me. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

I too agree strongly with kliebor, and with gpsail.  My account went through the payment vendor Cleverbridge, and it took nearly an hour to navigate through the online maze to send them a message--yes, a message--requesting that they cancel auto renewal.  Who knows what they'll do with my message.  Come on Malwarebytes people: you have an excellent product that saved several of my computers when no other anti-malware product could.  Don't ruin it with 3rd rate payment vendors.

Link to post
Share on other sites

While I completely agree it should be trivial to cancel auto-renewal, I cannot agree that the e-commerce vendors Malwarebytes is using are "third rate".  They are among the most widely used vendors in the industry with some really massive clients.  That said, I would like to see more up front info about who to contact and how, especially with regards to tying your license key/subscriptions to the appropriate vendor/contact info, both in-product in the My Account/Account Details tab of the main UI and online in the My Account web interface/cloud subscription management system, however I do believe that it mostly comes down to current technological limitations of the license activation/subscription management system which is run by Malwarebytes (i.e. I don't believe they currently register which payment vendor you used for your purchase/is handling your subscription and whether auto-renewal is active or not).  I believe they could accomplish this, but it might require changes to the way they dispense keys to the vendors which may slow the process of provisioning license keys, especially since they'd have to do the same thing for any reseller and retail products, which could get quite complicated really fast, especially once you factor in the business side of things and all of the various product skus that exist there.

Still, I am recommending that they attempt to streamline this process to make it less of a hassle, because no one wants to jump through a ton of hoops or have to dig for information when they are trying to modify or end their subscription in a perfectly valid way.  I am also still a proponent of including an optional checkbox on the purchase page to enable new customers to opt-out of auto-renewal up front to save them that pain of having to go through the entire purchase only to have to return to the e-commerce vendor to cancel that service.  I get that it is a convenience for those who want it and prefer the "set-it and forget-it" approach, but for the rest of us who are more picky about how, when, from where, and to whom our money goes each month/year etc., it can be an unnecessary and unwanted process to have to go through.

Anyway, thank you for the feedback everyone.  I have provided these requests to the team for review and consideration, so lets just hope that they keep them in mind and act on the ones they are able to in a timely manner, but please keep in mind that if I am right about the potential complexity of much of this situation, it probably won't be an overnight change, so please try to give them a chance to do this right and hopefully find a compromise that works for all parties involved, including of course especially you, the customers.

Thanks

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...
22 hours ago, kirangnvs said:

gpsail - Please let me know the instructions to Cancel Malware bytes Auto renewal. These a-holes are ripping off customers by not providing an option to cancel subscription.

Dispute it with your credit card company. Have them issue a charge back. If enough people do this maybe Malwarebytes will force these third rate companies to make it easier to cancel auto renewals instead of making customers jump through hoops.

Link to post
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, ram1220 said:

Dispute it with your credit card company. Have them issue a charge back. If enough people do this maybe Malwarebytes will force these third rate companies to make it easier to cancel auto renewals instead of making customers jump through hoops.

Other than simply sending the vendor an email requesting that they cancel auto-renewal for your account, what else are they requiring customers to do?  I'm genuinely curious as I've never been through the process myself, I simply assumed that's all there was to it based on what I've read.  Is there other red tape/procedures they make customers go through in order to opt-out of auto-renewal for their accounts?

Link to post
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, exile360 said:

Other than simply sending the vendor an email requesting that they cancel auto-renewal for your account, what else are they requiring customers to do?  I'm genuinely curious as I've never been through the process myself, I simply assumed that's all there was to it based on what I've read.  Is there other red tape/procedures they make customers go through in order to opt-out of auto-renewal for their accounts?

They shouldn't be automatically opt-in in the first place. The customer buys the product. Then they are automatically opted in by the 3rd rate company. Said company then makes it nearly impossible to then get auto renewal canceled. And if you think the 3rd rate companies make it easy then you need to read some of the posts here in these forums about people having to jump through numerous hoops.

Link to post
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, ram1220 said:

They shouldn't be automatically opt-in in the first place.

My .02  worth and I do not work for the company. As much as I hate auto deductions, The point is to keep you protected without intervention. (set it and forget it)

 

11 minutes ago, ram1220 said:

Then they are automatically opted in by the 3rd rate company.

Those companies are not 3rd rate as you say. They are just doing what Malwarebytes has hired them to do. Just like when I set up Paypal to bill some of my clients for recurring billing for some of my services. They are just doing what they are contracted to do. You should note that your credit card bill will give you the name of the billing company and a phone number as well.

When you sign up/purchase a yearly subscription product of any kind from any vendor you are agreeing to this continued billing. That is what subscription means. There are only a handful of companies today that sell a product much less a security product that has a one time cost with updates "forever". That thinking is the fastest way for a company to cease to exist.

As a reseller of Malwarebytes, the keys I purchase(the keys do not auto-renew and come from the same"3rd rate" vendor the rest do), it is up to my clients to either renew thru the program and thus agree to the auto-renewal for all future billing or call me and purchase a new key for another year without the auto-renewal.

 

 

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

I do not consider the companies third rate, I do consider the customer service of both of these billing companies horrible. Malwarebytes if actually paying these companies anything for this horrible service should demand far better from these companies and that is what most of us are beating around a large circular bush about. I honestly like auto renewal, until I don't. When this first came up and I found out I need to go to a third party at all I thought that was terrible and as I said at the time I had no idea who that third party was as MWB uses multiple processors. This adds another layer of, in my opinion, unacceptable complexity to this issue. 

 

I stated this before and I still believe this, MWB can be the complete customer service star here by just informing their processors they must:

 

  • Provide Easy opt out (They are paying these companies, they have the leverage)
  • The Opt Out must be totally web based
  • MWB should track the company used to have each user pay and a link should be on the users account page to a direct link that lets the end user shut off auto renew.
  • There should be a positive confirmation in the form of a notice on your account page that your key will not bill for auto-renew.

 

Anything less is not easy and not acceptable for a company that says they are out to protect users. So many other companies have this, hell every MMO game in history has this, even the small ones. All the A/V companies I have ever dealt with in my life does as well, and I have used more than a few over the years, Webroot, McAfee, Norton, Kaspersky, E-Set, Trend Micro and Panda all have this ability. Time to join the rest of the community and get to modern billing.

computer sig.jpg

Link to post
Share on other sites

Tx Kliebor for your persistence in demanding an easier way to opt out of auto renew. I was just considering buying MWB for multiple devices but now I'm not sure. Its not as simple as they make it sound in the ordering page! A mean sales tactic!

Link to post
Share on other sites

I will say that I have two keys now, a much newer key and a much older 5+ year old key. The newer key is much better it has a cancel subscription link and can have computers added and removed from the subscription, their newer billing is now much improved. I had to get customer service to cancel my old key's renewal for me and I will add my pc to the newer key once the current old key expires. 

I think they have listened and I am glad, so if your only concern is cancellation/ability to turn off auto renewal it seems that is resolved.

computer sig.jpg

Link to post
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, kliebor said:

The newer key is much better it has a cancel subscription link and can have computers added and removed from the subscription, their newer billing is now much improved.

That's good to hear.  It sounds like they've made it easier to manage now and I'm glad.  I did submit all of your feedback from this thread to the Product team, so hopefully this process will become even more streamlined in the future.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I can't believe that the so called experts and trusted advisers can't give a straight answer to a simple question like how do I disable auto renew. The best you can provide is a link to a labyrinth page that leads to no useful information on the relevant subject. I sent a request to the Cleverbridge support team from that page three weeks ago and so far have not received a reply. If I can change my payment method in My account with the click of a mouse key then why can't I disable this dodgy arraignment the same way? And for the forum gurus supporting this shonky practice, shame on you.

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

The trouble is that all billing goes through a third party, not directly through Malwarebytes so sadly it is what it is and there is no clearer answer to give.  You have to contact whichever e-commerce processor handles the payments for your account and let them know that you want to disable autorenewal.  That's why the link we provide gives all the contact info for both e-commerce providers.  While ideally providing this functionality in the same place that licenses are managed would be much better, it simply isn't possible at this time because that system doesn't connect directly with the e-commerce partners that handle the payments/billing for all accounts.  Hopefully someday they will be able to connect it in that way, but it would be a bit complex since there are more than one handlers for payments so it would need to not only know your license info, but also which e-commerce provider is handling billing for your account and connect directly to whatever system they might use for that sort of thing, and that is assuming they even have some kind of web based automated subscription management system (I don't think they do, and this is probably why it still has to be done by contacting them directly and still hasn't been automated).

Link to post
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
Back to top
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

This site uses cookies - We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.