Bitdefender
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Level II support -- weekdays only, and they disappeared when the going got tough
I spent threed ays locked out of my Android phone. This is my top-line assessment of the Bitdefender experience during this period of time. The three day period spanned from late on a Friday, until late on a Monday. At that point, I aborted the mission of realistically obtaining assistance in a meaningfully timely way, and I effected a factory hard-reset of my phone by myself. This itself was not without its longer-lasting negative consequences, as I'm still trying to re-build things as they were. But waiting for Bitdefender Technical Engineering Support (i.e. Level II Support) to reply to my pleas for assistance in a timely way, was causing more stress and anxiety than it was worth. Consider this an effort to contribute to due-diligence in decision-making for persons considering using Bitdefender. Hopefully you can go in to the decision-making matrix with 'eyes wide open.' FRONTLINE CHAT WORKERS The individuals staffing the 24/7 real-time chats are empathetic, efficient, and enthusiastic in their attempts to find solutions. However, the scope of what they can remedy is seemingly limited. I wish they had volunteered that Level II Support is not available on the weekends. This could have completely re-shaped my experience. WHEN THINGS GET COMPLICATED, LEVEL II TECHNICAL SUPPORT ENGINEERS SUDDENLY DISAPPEAR Complex and/or atypical cases are bumped up to 'technical support engineers' The one such 'technical support engineer' I dealt with proved to be useless in assisting me. Why? Not due to technical incompetences. Rather, he went AWOL/Silent when I shared a screenshot with him demonstrating that contrary to his assertion, my interface was different than the one he was describing. Further, I was inquiring about suggested next steps. In other words, when the proverbial '!@#$ hit the fan' in terms of complexity, suddenly he wasn't quick to answer. UNPROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION I don't expect miracles, but he could at least have demonstrated the professionalism to admit that there was an issue to which he may not have an immediate solution, and the next steps he anticipated trying in an effort to remediate the situation (e.g. confer with XYZ colleagues, and that I could expect to hear back in ABC time-frame, etc.). This would have helped to set realistic expectations. When instead I received no reply whatsoever...put yourself in my shoes (after 3 days of being locked out!), and ask yourself how you would feel? ROMANIAN BUSINESS HOURS It seems that 'technical support engineers' are staffed primarily or exclusively during Romanian business hours. Even during Romanian business hours, any assurances that a case has been flagged as warranting greater urgency, were seemingly meaningless. NO WEEKEND SUPPORT BEYOND STANDARD CHAT 'Technical support engineers' are not staffed on weekends. At the end of the day, following way too long periods of non-responsiveness, and despite my request that someone at least assist me with a real-time walk-through of my attempts with a hard reset (i.e. I was encountering a 'NO COMMAND' error message when attempting a factory hard-reset), I decided to troubleshoot this myself. I believe that with more transparency and honesty about the limitations of access to 'advanced' technical support, I could have been spared three days worth of stress and anxiety. I resent this deficit of transparency and honesty. Especially for a product tied to security, it would seem unwise to breach my trust. Moving forward, if I again require support, I will collaborate with entry-level, real-time chat support, and if my problem is not then solved, I will then proceed directly to a hard-reset. I won't waste time waiting on 'technical support engineers.' I do not see myself renewing my subscription when it comes due. I will try to find other solutions to remedy my security concerns, whether that means exploring different 3rd-party applications, or security measures native to Android itself. Moreover, I will have either further impetus to explore whether my understanding is accurate that a closed ecosystem such as iOS may be more secure than Android, thereby expediting my migration to iOS, to avoid a reliance on products such as Bitdefender. Maybe you are generally more tech-savvy than I am. Maybe you won't be in a situation where other people depend on being able to reach you by phone, and delays won't matter to you as much as they do to me. Maybe you are more experienced than I, and therefore you have already tempered your expectations of tech support generally, including how fast/slow they respond. And if not, then I hope this review is helpful to you.