- NordVPN is facing a lawsuit in the US over alleged “misleading and illegal” auto-renewal practice
- A US Law Firm has already brought litigation on behalf of four plaintiffs so far
- The auto-renewal system used by NordVPN
An American law firm has brought a lawsuit against NordVPN on alleged “misleading and illegal” auto renewal.
The trial, which is still active at the time of writing, also accuses NordVPN of making it difficult for consumers to cancel their subscriptions.
Despite some exceptions, almost all the best VPNs on the market have a similar auto renewal system in place to handle users’ subscriptions.
Four legal complaints
Wittels McInturff Palikovic is the most important legal company behind the ongoing class case against NordVPN SA, Tefincom SA D/B/A NordVPN and Nordsec BV
As mentioned, the class questions the question of how the provider manages user subscriptions.
Specifically, Attorneys accuse NordVPN of using “misleading and illegal ‘automatic renewal’ practice of duping customers to unconsciously pay for unwanted, expensive subscriptions,” the main page of the class reads.
The trial also accuses the provider of using so -called “dark patterns” when customers seek to cancel their subscriptions. These refer to misleading design techniques aimed at manipulating user actions.
“As a result, the trial claims that NordVPN customers paid tens of thousands of millions of dollars more than they would have if NordVPN had not used misleading and illegal automatic renewal practice,” the lawyers concluded.
Wittels McInturff Palikovic has already presented legal complaints on behalf of four former NordVPN customers – and is looking for compensation of up to $ 100 million.
The first case Techradar could find going back to April 2024 and was filed in the northern district of California. Another two cases were also filed last year, one in the western district of North Carolina in July and another in November in a federal court in Colorado. NordVPN was drawn into court again in the southern district of New York last March on the same reason.
In one of these cases (July 2024), accusations against NordVPN also include shady practices of cancellations in the 30-day money-back guarantee period.
According to the lawyers, “Nord Security did not reveal sufficiently to the applicant that it would retain his payment of $ 131.76 despite his cancellation during the 30-day trial unless he confirmed confirmed a refund.”
It is worth noting that in at least two cases NordVPN has already issued a reimbursement to the applicants for the unwanted subscription fees.
What NordVPN says
When contacted by Techradar, a NordVPN spokesman said the company complies with legal requirements while striving to provide excellent customer experience.
“Our auto renewal practice is clear and straightforward. We are and have always been very clear about the recurring nature of our services, and we also send fee reminders to customers with long -term recurring subscriptions,” NordVPN said in a statement.
“Our goal is to provide our customers services they use and enjoy every day; therefore, as a customer service case, we can issue a refund, even though customers have exceeded the 30-day money-back guarantee window. That said, two of the clients who brought litigation have received repayments before the defendant.”
Class action is still active at the time of writing, and lawyers are calling on all NordVPN customers who were indicted for a subscription they did not want to get in touch.
Wittels McInturff Palikovic company has previously opened studies of auto registration practices against ExpressVPN, Proton VPN and Private Internet Access (PIA).
Still, there were never any trials against these providers.
If you want to sign up for a VPN service but do not want to be locked in automatically innovative subscriptions, I recommend examining Mullvad VPN. In addition to being one of the most secure VPNs on the market, the provider postponed all recurring subscriptions in 2022 to better preserve users’ privacy.
