What kind of math is this?

VPN
1

What kind of math is this?

2

(2.98 x 24 = 71.52) + (2.98 x 4 = 11.92) = 83.44 total

It’s 28 months but nothing is free, except the .01

3

Could it be $2.98x24 months plus four months on top of that for free (so 28 months). This comes to $71.52. Maybe the difference is tax?

4

Not to defend this misleading advertisement but this is essentially the same as apartment buildings advertising “movein special! 2mo free!”
And then instead of charging you monthly rent of X for 10 mo, they’ll charge you X*10/12 for 12 months effectively lowering your rent to 10/12th for the first 12 months. So indeed, you’re getting “2 months free” at the end of 1 year.

For NordVPN, from the original subscription price of 232.12 for 24 months, you’re getting 64% off which works out to 83.56. But instead of giving you 24months for that price, they’re giving 4 extra months for the same price. Which effectively works out as 2.98 per month for 28 months. They’re doing 2 promotions (64% off of 24 mo, and 4mo extension w/ purchase of 24 mo), which is why it seems confusing, but the math does work out.

Edit: grammar

5

it’s the inconvenience fee, it would be inconvenient to call support and get it corrected, so they hope people won’t notice.

6

I would definitely fall for this one. I don’t do maths.

7

I posted this on r/nordvpn and the mods were very quick to delete it. They obviously are bad faith actors.

Edit: Reddit won’t let me reply fast enough to keep up with the comments so here is some relevant info:

  • I understand that their deal can be also interpreted as 24 months with 4 more free. But I only got 24 months from this, not 28. On top of that charging me for 28 like they did still doesn’t add up.

  • This screenshot is straight from their official website. I have handwritten the annotations to make them obvious so it doesn’t look like I’m changing things.

  • The taxes were added after (cropped. Nothing else was cropped other than the taxes and total with taxes, which aren’t relevant)

  • It appears that instead of deducting the cost of 4 months from a 2 year plan they added it instead (except that they’re off by 1 cent for some reason).

  • I already talked to their customer service about it twice and they were being as helpful as bots. They never even tried to understand what I was trying to say and kept copying/pasting explanations that didn’t apply to this situation.

  • I got a refund (after having to ask for it 4 times and contacting them once again because the refund initially didn’t go through) and went with Mullvad instead.

  • I got the price with the promo code OTT (from a podcaster I listen to). Since then the promo code gives you a slightly better deal at $2.88 with still supposedly 4 months being free. But the total now is $80.73 so there is still an unexplained markup of $23.13.

8

Yes, that is how they do business. Stay away from NordVPN

9

Honestly, who cares? Don’t use NordVPN homie, go for Mullvad or ProtonVPN

10

Looks like the suggested tip amount on some restaurant bills. Their 15% is actually 18%, 20% is actually 24%, and 25% is 30%.

11

They’re charging you for the full 28 months.

12

I tried NordVPN for a year and it sucked… Big time. Slow as fuck and although I paid for a year it stopped working after 9 months. Did not renew and deleted.

I tried a free trial of Bit Defender that came with my router. I thought it was worth trying for a year since they were offering a 1 time deal for $20 bucks. As soon as I paid for it, boom! It stopped working. Calling Netgear I was told to call Bit Defender, called Bit Defender and they said call Netgear. Got nowhere.

And all three of them wouldn’t refund my money. I cancelled the services and disputed the charges and learned that these bullshit services are flawed and scams.

Windows Defender and Play Store Protect are built in and work fine. I will no longer use free trials of any software because it usually sucks.

13

Your math is off its 28 not 20

14

Because I’m pretty sure it’s 24 months + an additional 4 months + tax

15

that should go in r/softwaregore, a developer screwed up

16

The FREE means that they will freely add on an additional 4 months to your plan and charge you for them.

17

I’m glad I prepaid for a decade when it was $1.50/month. Don’t get NordLocker, though. It’s shit. VPN is great, all other products are junk. Oh and don’t lose that invoice and card statement with the card you used or you can’t update your account.

18

Nord sucked for me so I turned off the auto subscribe on paypal and deleted it.

19

ProtonVPN is my current favorite VPN.

20

LOL It is that new politically correct math.