PSA: NordVPN's auto-renewal subscription terms are exploitative and illegal

Just a note that NordVPN is currently facing a class action lawsuit around their facially illegal auto-renewal terms. I only discovered this after they screwed me over, and their support team refused to grant me a refund.

If you are considering using this product, I would strongly advise against it. Simply put, they are a shady company, and you can find better service elsewhere.

If you have also been auto-renewed despite not wanting it, sign up to be a member of the class here: https://wittelslaw.com/investigations/nordvpn-cancellation-investigation

If it helps anyone, certain banking companies such as Revolut offer the ability to create single use virtual payment cards that automatically cease to exist once they have been used for one transaction. This is useful in cases like this with dodgy billing companies as they can’t try and recharge your card despite you declining auto-renew.

Nobody reads the terms. That’s your own damn fault. If you subscribe to the service without reading the terms, you’re an idiot.

Well the only vpn that works for gaming without lagging is nord lynx and ived tried like 15 different vpns

Wow, Great timing … my account was supposed to auto renew tomorrow!! i just switched it off (end of a 3 year subscription). Good thing the credit card I had on file isn’t active anymore so my payment had actually failed.

I got auto renewed (1 year for $99) and messaged support to give me a refund so I could just purchase the 2 year plan for $99 instead (before adding a discount code). They told me they would just add 18 months to my account for free for 2.5 years total.

I accepted, but I feel like they still played me somehow, even though I was basically going to pay that anyways. Was this a good deal?

yep, they were sending me spam emails begging me to renew while charging me without ever sending a renewal email. I know i cancelled. I’m canadian, but ill check out the link thanks!

I have the auto renew disable and just renewed mine with a nord card from microcenter, was able to get another 2 years on deep discount this way

What auto-renewal? I just had to renew mine manually.

Does anyone recommend a different one? I tried Surfshark and it would always be awful.

OPs description is very inaccurate. They are not deceiving anyone and if you pay attention you will have no problem cancelling. Yes, like many subscriptions they do make the cancellation process more complicated than necessary; this is not a new tactic and I have seen much worse. Read what you are agreeing to, don’t wait until a few hours before the renewal is processed, and a few clicks is all you need. And don’t ignore the email asking you to confirm. There is nothing hidden in pages of text, no mandatory phone call with some person that won’t do what you ask.

Thank god someone posted about this. Nord just renewed my plan for another year, 2 WEEKS PRIOR to the plan officially ending. Did they send a notification? Nope.

My first billing 2 years ago was dated June 21, 2020. It renewed automatically on June 7 without any notification email or whatever. Is that normal or has anyone experienced that too? That’s fucking downright underhanded.

Thank you for this -

Totally agree with this. They clearly state how much the fees will be after the initial subscription term is over, as well as the fact that you will be auto-renewed before the term ends. People really do NOT read these terms and then later come back and cry/complain. It is your stupid fault for not reading the ToS and keeping up with fhe terms yourself.

First thing I would do is turn off the auto renewal and then on the last month, I would CANCEL. There, no more auto renewals.

Okay, so you’re aware that everything you say and post here is the property of reddit and can be shared by them at their discretion?

People shouldn’t have to be legal experts, and they shouldn’t have to spend an hour reading the fine print on every microservice that society expects them to depend on in order to keep a job or stay in touch with friends.

I would encourage you to be proactive about subscription management, in that case

Why is a vpn useful for gaming?

I honestly wasn’t sure if there was any point to making this post, and I’m truly glad to hear it helped somebody!

Its unfortunate but it seems changing CC is the safest option.

Perhaps you had multiple subscriptions on file? You can check the subscriptions and their statuses when logged in on their web.As for the renewal, my sub recently renewed and I did get a renewal notice via email before the charge, so maybe it’s lost somewhere in your inbox.