Avangate review: They receive payments and no support 111

I'm so fed up with them.

The only thing we can do is email them hundreds of emails and crash their server

All of you that lost your money, just keep email them the same thing again and again. Argh..

What goes around comes around and I'm sure they'll pay for taking our money.

Such a scam, shame on you and all above Avangate employees that commented.

My order (Nr. 9527006) was never completed, it was a simple serial nr. download for Live Interior 3D and my credit card was debited with the full amount

I wish you all burn in hell

Val

Dear Conrad Gamache,

Would you be so kind as in to contact us via email at support [at] avangate.com [dot] com in order to receive proper assistance?
We could not locate your online order placed with Avangate, hence we believe that your online order was processed by a different eCommerce provider?

it is advisable in these cases, when there is a product functionality issue, to address it directly to the software producer, in this case AVS4you, email support [at] avs4you [dot] com

Thank you for your understanding,
Avangate Support Team
www.avangate.com

my name is conrad gamache i just purchased avs and ain, t happy with it i would like my refund asap contact me online avangate pls

Dear Customer,

Would you be so kind as to send an email notification to support@avangate.com regarding the above described issue?
We would be more than glad to help-out.

If you prefer phone-contact, our phone numbers are listed on the Avangate website (www.avangate.com)

We are positive that this issue can be resolved easily if you contact us.

Thank you,

Avangate Support Team
www.avangate.com

I ahve a similar issue where I bought something fromavangate and it didnt work. Yesterday they charged $30 for "software" I have no idea about. Im pissed off and Im calling my bank on Monday to rectify this issue immediately!

>I believe avangate is trying to steal my identity with that information

There is absolutely no reason to "steal" identities this way. Stealing something, it is reasonable to do that secretly. Let's suppose that Avangate wants to use such identities illegally; how could they do that? And how could they to get away from responsibility? Neitherlands are not a country like Nigeria. :)

>Only a scam artist would ask you to email your drivers license and personal information
>to an email address in another country
This is a very, very profound idea. So PayPal, WebMoney and other payment services and VeriSign, Comodo and other certification services are scam artists. Thank you for opening us all eyes to that. :)

Don't believe this nonsense for a second people, they are just trying to sucker you in. Avangate = Scamgate, the worse payment gateway on the planet.

Only a scam artist would ask you to email your drivers license and personal information to an email address in another country, that is VERY UNSAFE, and this company is less than reputable.

If you see a website uses avangate move on to the next website.

Hi there,

I`ve managed to locate your online order and reviewed the incident. On behalf of Avangate I would like to apologize for this unhappy situation, it was clear that a refund should have been provided by Avangate on request, adding that our partners also offer a 30 days money-back guarantee. Given the above, your order will be refunded today; depending on your bank procedures, the funds should be available in your account somewhere in the next 48-72 hours. Please do email us if you need further assistance. Thank you for your understanding.

Also, I would like to announce everyone in our conversation here, that given your feedback we have decided to implement a NEW refund procedure in which Avangate will have a more hands-on approach. We aim to provide the highest level of service, hence, together with our partners, we are welcoming you to contact us for any problem related to the payment process or mitigation process on software related issues and refunds. Use support [at] avangate [dot] com for getting in contact.
As pointed in other replies, we provide a 24/7 service that is here to support your inquiry.

Market feedback is of utterly important to us.

Thank you,
Sorin HAZU | Avangate
Risk & CS Operations Manager
http://www.avangate.com

Hi, I recently purchased a symbianon application from Avangate, the payment was made and instead of recieving the activation code from Symbianon. com all I recieved was an email stating that I should buy and upgrade as the version I purchased of Call Manager is "full of bugs". I mailed avangate to request the code or a refund and they limit themselves to pass this on to Symbianon. When I mailed symbianon asking for a refund the reply stated "that I not be friend" for wanting to report the matter. Still have not recieved any confirmation of any refund. Watch out for both Avangate and Symbianon as it appears a scam . Be VERY CAREFULL with thes type of application proveiders and the resellers.

Do not listen to them when they tell you they serve thousands of people either, another lie. They only serve hundreds or thousands of single people that have borderline products. Take a moment and read all the complaints people, they are all about half working products all from non professional companies. Real companies use real payment gateways, if someone uses this payment gateway, avangate better known as scamgate, it means they are a very suspicious company.

There are no inconsistencies when you use the same computer 3 times and the same paypal account, the only inconsistency if your intelligence, or the lack there of

If i use a paypal account i'll let them handle the security, they are a far bigger company than your small office of five somewhere in the netherlands. There's no reason to tell me to fax my drivers licnese to use a paypal account.

Now it's time to start posting this complaint on thousands of websites with an auto submitter :)

Dear Sir,
Avangate is in the business of securely processing transactions, not in the business of stealing customer identities or personal information, hence we do not take into consideration your allegations as documented complaint.
Information requested is only used solely for validation of online purchases; is not stored or further used. Avangate is PCI DSS certified, meaning that all information is professionally handled . You can find more information about the level of security here at Avangate by clicking the following link:
https://secure.avangate.com/support/section.php?category=10&merchant=&template=&avangate_template=1#actualContent

I have identified your orders and reviewed the case. It seems that the verification procedure was triggered by inconsistencies detected in the billing form, inconsistencies that will not be revealed here. Your orders will be canceled as per requested. If you need further support, our HQ is indeed in the Netherlands, but we do have offices in US (you can reach our US phone number listed on the website for further clarification).

As pointed in an earlier reply, "All orders that are not delivered or delayed due to security checks are refunded. Refunds might take several days, depending on your bank procedures"
Please note that Avangate provides eCommerce services for thousands of software publishers, and our major concern is to provide a fast, reliable, secure service and customer support to all customers. I can assure you of our honest-mindedness in treating your requests.

Thank you for your understanding,
Sorin HAZU | Avangate
Risk Operations Manager
http://www.avangate.com

DO NOT USE AVANGATE. I just used them 2 times with paypal, on the 3rd time while using what /name removed/ says earlier, I used the same IP which comes up on a ip to location within 15 miles of my house (pretty close) and the same paypal email address and on the 3rd time they asked for my drivers license and utility bill.

I believe avangate is trying to steal my identity with that information, they are in the netherlands. I refused to provide the information (to send a $10 transaction too) and disputed the paypal claims.

I Have also had problems with Avangate
Purchased some software from recoverdatatools whic would not register and trial version was crashing during use.
Recoverdata tools 24/7 support line is NEVER open, i have tried over 100 times to use the online chat and also called both the New York and Mumbai numbers, the Indian one just rings and rings, the New York ones says no such number.
Sent LOADS of emails and no reply.
Spoke to Avengate who firstly wanted to email them asking them for support, asked me to wait 2 days, NOTHING
Called Avangate again, asked for a refund, said they will email the account manager and their support again, this time asking for a refund and call back in 2 days.
Called back, they have had no replies from either of the email contacts and no apparently it has to go higher but apparently they do not guarentee a refund despite all this and them getting their perentage and again i have to wait another 2 days.
Been 2 weeks now and still no working software and despite a 30 day money back guarentee and a supposed 24/7 support line, i am stillwaiting for a refund from them.
AND they are still selling this software for this company.
If they knowingly sell it after being unable to contact the company and the company is selling it with 24/7 support and can not be contacted by me or THEM then surley this is FRAUD. They can see the website offering 24/7 support that they can try by simply clicking on the support chat link, it rungs and then says nobody is available so why dont they stop selling it, if the company are still around they will get in contact pretty quick when the money stops arriving i am sure.

Thank you for your quick response. Within minutes of getting this response and less than 4 hours since this issue began, I have received my order, or at least, I have downloaded the registration key and applied it.

For the benefit of the readers, I will post my correspondence to Avangate and your reply. Before I do so, let me say that although I am pleased and surprised at your timely response, I remain disappointed that Avangate asked me for my passport, drivers license and other sensitive information -- that they have ABSOLUTELY NO RIGHT TO. I am also quite disappointed that in Avangate's response you made no explanation as to why Avangate asked for the information.

Additionally, contrary to Ms. Hazu of Avangate's claims, money was taken from my account immediately. I bank on-line and checked. It shows that the money was removed from my account within 15 minutes of my paying. Needless to say, I am glad I received my order.

Below is my correspondence to Avangate.

Hello Avangate:

I am currently on vacation outside the U.S.. I am staying at a major hotel that I had to provide my passport and credit card. You can always call me here. Regardless, I have reason to believe that your site is involved in and/or has been the victim of identity theft and fraudulent acts. See ComplaintsBoard.com and Paypal.

Please note that I would never send copies of my identification to anyone. I will not send copies of my license, passport, credit card, bills, etc. to Avangate or anyone over the internet. It is incredible that you would ask. I will not fax them to some unknown company either. I will not pay Avangate from my bank account or give you my account details.

I want the software and am willing to call you, fax you, email you from inside the United States. I have Paypal and can pay via that method, once you refund my money and say that Paypal is acceptable.. I can also provide you with the phone number associated with my credit card and you can call me to confirm the transaction. If none of the above methods suits you then give me my money back -IMMEDIATELY.

You can refund my money, immediately, by responding that you have done so. Otherwise, I will IMMEDIATELY report you to my bank and ask that the charge be reversed. I KNOW they will reverse the charge and investigate your actions.

Thanks
S. Jefferson
________________________________
This message had the desired effect -- I got my software. However, no mention of why Avangate thinks they can demand a copy of anyone's driver's license, passport, etc. No reason was given as to why Avangate decided to send my software. I am sure the letter had an impact.

Dear Mr. Shelton Jefferson,

I have located your Avangate order placed yesterday for DVDfab software, and indeed it has been marked for further risk-analysis checks. Please note that the authorized amount has never left your card-account; to explain the process further, upon receiving an authorization message from an issuer bank the amount gets automatically locked in the customer`s account. Only after the product is successfully delivered, is the amount substracted from the account balance.

You may check this information with your bank.

Hoping that some information that I posted above will put some more light into this unhappy situation, quoting:

""Additional order verifications are sometimes required especially for electronically delivered orders. There are cases where the customer IP address does not match the billing country [...] This might be your case also.
All orders that are not delivered or delayed due to security checks are refunded [canceled]. Refunds might take several days, depending on your bank procedures."

Also, since we do not encourage in any way order verification via phone (which we find highly intrusive) we opt for email contact when is the case of further order screening. Please note that the emails are legit and coming from Avangate, but do contain https:// 128 BIT SSL encrypted upload links.

Given your feedback related to your location corresponding to your billing/card info, I would like to ask you to contact us at support [at] avangate [dot] com as instructed, in order to notify us whether the current order still presents interest to you. Based on your feedback, your order may be reassessed and processed; the alternative is to instruct us to cancel your order.

As a general conclusion, a simple feedback in reply, would most surely lead to anyone`s order being successfully processed.

Thank you in advance for your understanding,

Sorin HAZU | Avangate
Risk Operations Manager
http://www.avangate.com

I bought a DVDFAB software. I am currently out of the country, but live in the U.S. I received from Avangate an increible message "Need More Info", stating that I must send in copies of my passport or drivers license and a copy of a bill with my address to Avangate, specifically, "Avangate Support" .

I have no idea whether this message was from Avangate, and even it is, hell would freeze over before I send my personal details to anyone over the Internet. No one is required to do such an idiotic thing AND I suggest that no one should ever do so.

Taking someone's money without delivering the product and keeping the money for more than 3 to 7 business days is in and of itself A SIGN OF FRAUD, and A SCAM.

Anyway, I immediately checked on any problems with Avangate and here I am. I have not contacted them yet, but, I will keep everyone posted about what happens when I do. They have no right to take people's money, then demand payment, then keep people's money and earn interest on it for weeks -- and/or never return it.

Shelton Jefferson

Not true at all there a real company and all of you should of read the terms and conditions when you bought a piace of software.

@nickp_uk
I am glad to see the refund you have requested was granted to you as requested. Allow me to explain how the refund process worked in your case and maybe it will prove useful to other members of our conversation here:

1. On 2010-05-30 you have requested support regarding a duplicate payment from Avangate
2. We have instructed that for refunds, the software publisher must authorize the refund (being that both orders have been successfully delivered)
2. A few minutes after your request, Avangate informed the vendor (Tipard in your case) about your request and solicited a cancellation of your previous order from them. This is a necessary step to initiate the refund, because Avangate is a reseller of Tipard and only Tipard is authorized to cancel a payment made in the benefit of their accounts.
3. 6 days later when you contacted us again, Avangate upon not receiving confirmation for refund from the vendor (Tipard), we have initiated a second request, this time through the dedicated account manager.
4. In term of 3 days upon not receiving any answer from our partner, Avangate proccessed the charge back and processed the refund request.
5. After this action, [the bank where your account is opened took over your case] and depending on you bank procedures, the sum finally arrived back into your account in an certain period of time. (max 48H)

As you can see, the refund process was a lengthy one because it involved several entities that exchanged messages, that need to have some input in order to solve your request. We are bound to answer to a support ticket @Avangate in maximum 2 hours.
I kindly ask you to understand that unlike Avangate, not all parties involved in a refund process offer 24/7 support or have enough resources to promptly offer input in such a process. Different time zones of parties may also cause delays in solving a request.

To conclude, I’m sorry that you had to wait for a refund for this period of time and I can assure you of our honest-mindedness in treating your requests.

@toyonakamoura, as my colleague Christian said, quote
"Additional order verifications are sometimes required especially for electronically delivered orders. There are cases where the customer IP address does not match the billing country or if the order is paid with Paypal, the name and email address in the online order does not match the one in the Paypal account. This might be your case also.

All orders that are not delivered or delayed due to security checks are refunded. Refunds might take several days, depending on your bank procedures.

Please make sure that we are doing our best to avoid any unnecessary steps in processing your order, and online shopping security is one of our major concerns. In order to get in contact and clarify the incident, please contact us at abuse at avangate dot com."

I would add here that I could not locate any order, so I would like to ask you to contact us at support [at] avangate [dot]com for further case analysis.

@Randy Brown, we would be happy to assist you in the process of getting the proper technical support from our Partners. I could not locate any incident / order with the given credentials. Please contact us at support [at] avangate [dot]com to receive assistance with your problem.

As authorized resellers for thousands of online vendors / software publishers, we cannot offer 1st line technical assistance related to purchased software, but we are very happy to answer any questions that you may have related to the payment process, and also insure a smooth contact flow between implicated parties.

Thank you,
Sorin HAZU | Avangate
Risk Operations Manager
http://www.avangate.com

This is the Company that sells for DVDFab. They are so proud of them but the fact is, they are all rip offs. DO NOT BUY FROM THEM IS WHAT I SAY. DVDFAB IS SO PROUD OF THEIR COMPANY AND AGAIN, DO NOT SUPPORT CUSTOMERS. THIS EXPLAINS ALOT!

They don't have the right to ask for more documents.
I had the same problem, and received refund (i'm outside US)
I don't like to pay with paypal and send documents (paypal did ask for documents first time why should i send tdocuments to avangate too)
I did it one time for a casino online (i understand it) and i will do it again if it's a casino or poker website.
Now if i want to buy something and i found that there is avangate like payment option, i just don't buy.
Just because they don't have any right to ask for documents.

To all. I have experienced ongoing problems with this company and have sent numerous emails to which they have not responded. I have paid for two copies of software fom one of their partner companies, Tipard. The first payment had an incorrect email address so I did not receive the key. I explained the situation to Avangard and they said they would investigate. They confirmed what had happened (I have attached a copy of email below) and sent an email to Tipard requsting that the partner company investigate and refund. Following this email I foolishly, in hindsight, submitted another ayment, this time with the correct email address as I naively thought Avangard were satisfactorily dealing with my case. I received a key to unlock the software, which did not work. I have since sent numerous emails to both Avangate and Tipard asking for this to be resolved. To date, after 2 emails from them sent to Tipard, despite numerous emails asking for an update they have not responded to my emails. This is most unsatisfactory and appalling customer service. I asked for my mails to be forwarded to Sorin Hazu and have still not had a response for 2 weeks.

FAO Sorin Hazu and anyone in Avangate who cares to respond to this mail. First of all, you strike me as an illegitimate company as you clearly do not care about customers. You cannot take customer's money and return nothing. You are proving extremely difficult to deal with. I attach 2 emails from your so-called company below where you state you are dealing with my claim. I have not had a further response re. my 2 issues. Sort this out.

To everyone else, I will update this thread with an update if I ever receive one from Avangate/ Tipard. In the meantime, my advice to you is to not deal with this comany.

From: support@avangate.com 3rd June 2010
> >
> >
> > Dear Sir,
> >
> > We are doing our best to help you in this matter. We hope the vendor will assist you asp. A notification was sent from our system right now, an answer should arrive within a day.
> >
> > Thank you for your understanding.
> >
> > Kind regards,
> > Roxana T.
> > Operations Specialist
> > Avangate Support
> > mailto:support@avangate.com

From support@avangate.com 29th May 2010

Dear Partner,
> > >
> > > The customer below has double payment (please see his email).
> > > Please confirm if you agree to cancel the order with reference number #7217482 for which he filled in an incorrect email address.
> > >
> > > Thank you for your understanding.
> > >
> > >
> > > Best regards,
> > >
> > > --
> > > Sandica V.
> > > Operations Specialist
> > > Avangate Support
> > > mailto:support@avangate.com

@Sorin Hazu

A refund is only a 'lengthy process' if you make it so.

Chastizing customers for posting problems and frustrations with your company in the 'wrong thread' is bad publicity for your company.
In fact, how you treat customers (both here and in private) is the issue.

I found this thread when investigating Avangate to see if it is a legit payment processor, as Avangate is used for a piece of expensive software that I am considering purchasing. I will need to reconsider, as I now know from reading your answers to complaints on this forum that Avangate is slow to refund, makes excuses about the time it takes to refund when there is a problem, and is difficult to deal with when there is a problem.

@christye1224

As in the case of BeetleB, I will repeat that the refund process is a lengthy one, as long as Avangate is in the middle between our partner and the end-user. Such cases need to be thoroughly investigated before deciding to proceed one way or the other. In your case #5960612 has been refunded as per requested, and in due time, and we are continuously working on improving such processes in order to provide the best service. There is no need for bad publicity and your thread does not in any way have anything to do with the subject for that matter.

Case closed.

@ Debra Taylor

At the date of the order you have selected the "auto-renew" option on the payment page. Before the actual renewal had been performed, Avangate had automatically sent you 3 (15, 7 and 3 days before auto-renewal) messages informing you that the "Auto-renew" option is enabled for the ordered license and that your account will be automatically charged if you do not disable the "auto-renew" option from the Avangate MyAccount.

I have looked up your orders and I could not locate any incident / thread opened by you with Avangate regarding the above. Please contact us at support [at] avangate [dot] com in order to further investigate this issue.

Again this is not an issue that treats the subject "They receive payments and no support".

Thank you,
Sorin HAZU | Avangate
Operations Manager
http://www.avangate.com

I used bit defender from avangate for 2 years. I purchased a different anti virus programme from a computer store and did not renew my registration. Avangate have this month taken money from my credit card without my authority for a renewal ( i assume) but I did NOT renew this product. I am taking this up with my bank and if necessary the police as this is theft. I received a new card this year and it has a different expiry date so I don't know how they have managed to do this.

I'm dealing with the same thing... Received a completely useless software for $297.99 (order reference number: 5960612) that was purchased through Avangate. The end seller (addiff.com) had a 5 day return policy if not completely satisfied. When I received the software, I tried it, found it faulty and gave addiff the benefit of the doubt contacting their support to inquire into an update or something that I might have missed and never received a reply... A couple days later, I initiated the paypal claims process and received a response back from Avangate instructing me to contact the end seller- which I explained I had already done to no avail and promptly told them I would do again just to be amicable. 4 days later, no response from addiff. I wrote in my paypal claim that I was ready to take it to the next step (file the claim directly with paypal to handle). Got another response from avangate stating that they had attempted to contact addiff with my complaint again (this was the second time they supposedly did so).

My question is, if I paid avangate, don't THEY have my money? I wouldn't think if their paypal account is in jeopardy that they would release the funds to the end seller that quickly!

I am EXTREMELY frustrated. All I want is my money back!

@BeetleB,

Our records here at Avangate show that we have successfully offered you assistance during the process of the refund and that the refund has already beed finalized. I am sure you understand that a Refund is a lengthy process in which we had to thoroughly document the request, and that we were able to provide a refund after receiving our partner`s(the software vendor’s) direct request.

Moreover, our records show all your past orders through Avangate went smooth and that you were never contacted by phone, as no confirmation was necessary in your case, unlike the Alex’ situation.
Notify us at the above contact credentials (email / phone) if you believe we can be of any further assistance in this case.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Sorin HAZU | Avangate
Risk Operations Manager
http://www.avangate.com

I must strongly disagree with Christian, because I have had the same types of problems...no refund...the refund was agreed to by the author as Avangate required. Now they(Avangate) won't return emails or telephone calls.

The software I purchased was defective ( Avangate Reference no.: 5773418) for $70. So I sent an email request to request a refund. They responded:

Dear Phil _____,

We're sorry but unfortunately this issue cannot be managed by Avangate for reasons we will explain below in this message. In order to solve the problem you're currently faced with, please contact http://www.new-utilities.net at:

Contact URL: http://www.new-utilities.net/support.html
Support Email: support@new-utilities.net
Support Phone: -

Explanatory note: Online payments for orders placed on http://www.new-utilities.net are processed by Avangate as a reseller of NTechnologies Inc., the merchant operating http://www.new-utilities.net. Support for any issues other than online payment processing is provided by the software author (NTechnologies Inc.). This includes: download, registration, installation, pricing (sales discounts) and full technical support for the purchased software.

The same situation applies if you need a refund for your order. Refunds are approved directly by the software author.

Best regards,

--
Irina F.
Jr. Operations Specialist
Avangate Support
mailto:support@avangate.com
______________________________________________________________________________

So I contacted the "Author" and promptly received the following response:

Dear Phil,

We agree with this refund.

Please write to support@avangate.com to start refund process.

Best regards,
NTechnologies Support Team
_______________________________________________________________________________

Great! So I send Avangate a copy of the email from the "Authors". I believe I am going to get a response from Avangate.com
Still waiting...