- NordVPN faces a collective appeal in the United States on deceived “deceptive and illegal” practices
- An American law firm has already brought prosecution on behalf of four complainants so far
- The automatic renewal system used by NordVPN is no different from that used by other main VPN suppliers
An American law firm has filed a complaint of collective appeals against NordVPN on alleged “deceptive and illegal” practices.
The trial, which is still active at the time of writing, also accuses NordVPN of making it difficult for consumers of canceling their subscriptions.
Despite some exceptions, almost all the best VPNs on the market have a similar automatic renewal system to manage user subscriptions.
Four legal complaints
Wittels Mcinturff Palikovic is the main courts of court behind the current collective appeal against NordVPN SA, Tefincom SA D / B / A NordVPN and Nordsec BV
As mentioned, the collective appeal calls into question how the supplier manages user subscriptions.
More specifically, lawyers accuse NordVPN of using “deceptive and illegal automatic renewal” practices to dive customers to pay the unwanted and dear subscriptions without knowing it, “said the main page of collective appeal.
The trial also accuses the supplier of using “dark models” when customers seek to cancel their subscriptions. These refer to deceptive design techniques aimed at manipulating the actions of users.
“Consequently, the trial alleys that NordVPN customers have paid tens of millions of dollars more than they would have done so NordVPN had not used deceived and illegal automatic renewal practices,” said lawyers.
Wittels Mcinturff Palikovic has already presented legal complaints on behalf of four former NordVPN customers so far – and requires compensation up to $ 100 million.
The first case that Techradar was able to find dates back to April 2024 and was deposited in the northern district of California. Two other cases were also deposited last year, one in the western district of the North Carolina in July and another in November before a Federal Court in Colorado. NordVPN was again dragged to court in the South New York district last March for the same reasons.
In one of these cases (July 2024), allegations against NordVPN also include shady practices around cancellations during the 30 -day reimbursement guarantee period.
According to lawyers, “North Security did not adequately disclose the applicant that he would keep his payment of $ 131.76 despite his cancellation during the 30 -day trial unless he asked for an affirmative reimbursement.”
It should be noted that, in at least two cases, NordVPN has already published a reimbursement to the complainants for the accusations of unwanted subscription.
What NordVPN says
When approached by Techradar, a NordVPN spokesperson said that the company was in accordance with legal requirements, while striving to provide excellent customer experience.
“Our automatic renewal practices are clear and simple. We are and have always been very clear about the recurring nature of our services, and we also send reminders to customers with recurring long -term subscriptions,” NordVPN said in a press release.
“Our objective is to provide our customers with services they use and appreciate every day; therefore, as a question of customer service, we can issue reimbursements even if customers have exceeded the 30 -day reimbursement warranty window.
The collective appeal is always active at the time of writing the editorial time, and lawyers urge all the NordVPN customers who were billed for a subscription that they did not want to come into contact.
The Wittels Mcinturff Palikovic previously opened surveys on car registration practices against ExpressVPN, Proton VPN and Internet Access (PIA).
However, no trial has ever been brought against these providers.
If you are looking to register for a VPN service but you do not want to be locked in the subscriptions in automatic renovation, I recommend that you examine Mullvad VPN. In addition to being one of the most secure VPNs on the market, the supplier deleted all recurring subscriptions in 2022 to better preserve the confidentiality of users.