Panda Software reviews and complaints

DO NOT EVER PURCHASE ANYTHING FROM ASKNET OR PANDA SOFTWARE.
When I first purchased the software several years ago, I was given the option to automatically renew. I told them that I would renew manually, which worked. The next year, they had me on the list for automatic renewal and that I could OPT OUT. Every attempt to do so failed.

After the software failed to contain a virus that other software stopped easily, I had to completely restore my computer. I emailed the company and said that I wanted to cancel my subscription. I was told that I had contacted the wrong department. I tried contacting every department in the company and no one would cancel the renewal.

They charged my credit card, but my CC company gave me a refund because I sent documentation that I had not downloaded the software. In fact, I removed the old version of the software and purchased software from a different company.

I received a letter today stating that I had downloaded the software. It is very interesting because the date that they claim I downloaded the software, coincides with the date that my computer was destroyed by a trojan virus. A download started on my computer spontaeously and I unplugged my cable, but not quickly enough. My virus software was not able to clean it and when I tried to restore my computer it failed. That is the same day that they claim I downloaded their software. I find that very telling and while I cannot prove the attack came from them, I felt compelled to tell others of of the circumstances.

I had to purchase a new computer. Please do not give this company any of your information.

We purchased "Panda Antivirus Pro 2017 3 licenses - 12 months". We were given a download link after completion of payment, and downloaded the file and installed it on one machine.

However, NO ACTIVATION CODE was provided. The software will not fully function without an activation code. Repeated attempts to get Panda Software to provide an activation code have been futile, with them only providing (at best) useless automated cut-n-paste replies saying how to register the product, WHICH REQUIRES AN ACTIVATION CODE! What they say upfront is that the activation code would accompany the download link by email, but this is a LIE... it definitely did *NOT*. No activation code appears in any email received from Panda Soft and they still refuse to provide an activation code.

The most common (probably fictitious) name that has accompanied the correspondence is:

Douglas Lara

We are filing a complaint with the Consumer Affairs division of the Attorney General for our state and since this fraud involves the use of computers and public and private computer networks, we will file a report with the FBI Cyber Crimes division as well. As their payment processor (element5/digital river) is a German operation and I believe Panda may be a multinational as well, we'll see where it goes but an internet search reveals that this fraudulent practice and behavior is a pattern with them. It has now been 6 days since we paid and we still have no activation code and thus no fully functional software. Their sales promotions state that activation codes will be emailed upon purchase if made online, but THEY DO NOT PROVIDE THEM. Even if we eventually get an activation code, the amount of time they require of you, spent battling their inept incompetent and deceptive "support" people, makes it a VERY bad deal. The software, admittedly, is dirt cheap, but you get what you pay for which at this point for us is *nothing*. Their practice of making online purchasers have to go through this much aggravation rather than automatically providing a usable product is outright fraudulent.

AVOID PANDA SOFTWARE. Look at Norton, McAfee, Trend Micro, Kaspersky, Shield Deluxe, or really anyone BUT Panda Software.