Anyone else being blackmailed by NordVPN?

Shepherd

Shepherd

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Anyone else being blackmailed by NordVPN? They shut off my service (I've paid through 03/2023) and are demanding I turn on "Autopay". before I can get reconnected.
 
"Blackmail"= You've done something criminal or unethical, and an entity is threatening to expose you unless you pay.
"Extortion"= An entity is threatening action (legal or otherwise) unless you take certain steps (legal or otherwise).

You've accused NordVPN of a felony crime, not merely unethical action.

Ron Wanttaja
 
BTW, I buy rechargeable credit cards at the local grocery store, and put a hundred or so bucks into them. I use them for online deals that might result in credit card compromise, on the assumption that if the deal is screwy, I don't lose that much. That may work for Nord VPN, as well.

Ron Wanttaja
 
Mullvad won't do that. They are also great technically.
 
wanttaja said:
BTW, I buy rechargeable credit cards at the local grocery store, and put a hundred or so bucks into them. I use them for online deals that might result in credit card compromise, on the assumption that if the deal is screwy, I don't lose that much. That may work for Nord VPN, as well.

Ron Wanttaja
Click to expand...
Privacy.com is a good alternative way to approach that same answer. They'll let you setup virtual cards, with expirations, funding maximums, etc. Useful for masking your credit card from anywhere you don't trust
 
I'm not a lawyer, but if they are refusing to provide a service that is already paid for, it sounds like breach of contract.
 
wanttaja said:
"Blackmail"= You've done something criminal or unethical, and an entity is threatening to expose you unless you pay.
"Extortion"= An entity is threatening action (legal or otherwise) unless you take certain steps (legal or otherwise).

You've accused NordVPN of a felony crime, not merely unethical action.

Ron Wanttaja
Click to expand...

They illegally stopped my service, after I paid for it, and won't start it unless I buy another year and turn on autopay.
I think I hit both with this one.
 
Shepherd said:
They illegally stopped my service, after I paid for it, and won't start it unless I buy another year and turn on autopay.
I think I hit both with this one.
Click to expand...
Are you sure you’re not being phished?
 
wanttaja said:
"Blackmail"= You've done something criminal or unethical, and an entity is threatening to expose you unless you pay.
"Extortion"= An entity is threatening action (legal or otherwise) unless you take certain steps (legal or otherwise).

You've accused NordVPN of a felony crime, not merely unethical action.

Ron Wanttaja
Click to expand...

Shepherd said:
They illegally stopped my service, after I paid for it, and won't start it unless I buy another year and turn on autopay.
I think I hit both with this one.
Click to expand...

It's not blackmail, and there isn't enough money involved for it to be a felony.

I'd call their unethical action 'misdemeanor extortion'. Based on my attending an institution that also had a law school, over across campus somewhere.
 
GaryM said:
It's not blackmail, and there isn't enough money involved for it to be a felony.

I'd call their unethical action 'misdemeanor extortion'. Based on my attending an institution that also had a law school, over across campus somewhere.
Click to expand...
Agree. If they threatened to expose his data if he didn't pay, it'd be blackmail.

Other than getting sued a few times, I don't have any legal background either. I think he has a solid case for contract violation (e.g., instituting new terms to an existing agreement without his permission, but that would be a *civil* case. He'd have to pay his own lawyer to bring suit. With that, we DON'T know what the NORD/VPN terms and conditions say. It may permit them to designate a given method of payment.

Cheaper to just use a throw-away account to get the access he needs, then drop out when they want a renewal.

Ron Wanttaja
 
Now if I was a paranoid person I might be suspicious of piping all my top secret bits and bytes through such a service with business practices such as these. (for the purpose of paranoia, er um I mean data security)
 
cybersecurity axiom: he who controls the keys, controls the data.
 
I’d just contact the vendor now, to end the service and ask for a pro-rata refund of the unused portion. There are many other VPN providers — just choose one, and move on.

A (less convenient) alternative:

wanttaja said:
BTW, I buy rechargeable credit cards at the local grocery store, … That may work for Nord VPN
Click to expand...

Sounds like it would work.

Basically, give the vendor a valid number of a prepaid credit card, for the auto-renewal, and make sure that you’ve spent its value before the renewal comes up.

When the vendor tries to charge the renewal fee, the transaction will fail, and they’ll likely email to let you know. At that point, start using another service.
 
Randomskylane said:
Look up virtual cards at your current bank-free at capital one iirc
Click to expand...
That's not going to help him recover the money he already paid for the service. He was paid through 03/2023 and they cut him off now, go figure.
 
Maybe he could get a refund by taking them to small claims court.
 
wanttaja said:
BTW, I buy rechargeable credit cards at the local grocery store, and put a hundred or so bucks into them. I use them for online deals that might result in credit card compromise, on the assumption that if the deal is screwy, I don't lose that much. That may work for Nord VPN, as well.

Ron Wanttaja
Click to expand...

There is a better and cheaper way. Several CC companies offer virtual CC numbers. You can set up a unique CC number for any online retailer. And shut it down(or suspend it) any time. CapitalOne is an example.
 
Nothing but good service from Proton Mail and Proton VPN…… vote with your wallet.
 
If you paid for a year with a CC and not getting a year of service, the easiest thing to do is open dispute with your CC. Not getting the service you paid for is a valid reason.
 
Have you contacted support? Maybe it's just a glitch in their billing. I've had no problems and I also prepay, can't remember if they have my card on file though.
 
cowman said:
Have you contacted support? Maybe it's just a glitch in their billing. I've had no problems and I also prepay, can't remember if they have my card on file though.
Click to expand...
Ask to talk to the junior programmer in charge of establishing corporate policy.
 
Sounds similar to AOL in the old days.

I wouldn't recommend VPN services to anyone, except corporate use in very limited cases, usually around supporting legacy systems.
 
Albany Tom said:
Sounds similar to AOL in the old days.

I wouldn't recommend VPN services to anyone, except corporate use in very limited cases, usually around supporting legacy systems.
Click to expand...

Well, some people like to access content online that’s blocked in their countries, and if we’re honest with ourselves, plenty of people still like to torrent stuff.
 
exncsurfer said:
That's not going to help him recover the money he already paid for the service. He was paid through 03/2023 and they cut him off now, go figure.
Click to expand...
If he signs up for autopay, they will turn his service back on until 03/23, at which time they well ding his prepaid CC. But at that time there should not be anything in the CC. He can decide at that point what HE wants to do.
 
JOhnH said:
If he signs up for autopay, they will turn his service back on until 03/23, at which time they well ding his prepaid CC. But at that time there should not be anything in the CC. He can decide at that point what HE wants to do.
Click to expand...
Yeah that would work if they aren't trying to go ahead and bill him for the next year in addition to setting up autopay. Seems like some really crappy tactics. I'd probably cut my losses and move on.
 
Norton did something kinda similar with my antivirus subscription--although they didn't cut off my service mid-year. When my renewal came up for the five or so devices I had covered, they told me my old $35 yearly rate had only been an introductory rate, and I'd now have to renew for something like $120, and I'd be required to sign up for autorenewals.

I'm pleased to report that the free Avira antiviral software works great, and independent testing by MacWorld showed it to be equally effective to Norton in blocking malware.
 
I had a recent exchange with a group that insisted on autorenewals. I agreed knowing that I could immediately go to their website, sign into my account and opt out of the autorenewal process ... and I did just that! No idea if this is an option for the OP.
 
Josie Flies said:
Well, some people like to access content online that’s blocked in their countries, and if we’re honest with ourselves, plenty of people still like to torrent stuff.
Click to expand...

I get those desires, but I wouldn't recommend a VPN client, especially a commercial one, for either. I'd recommend them for protecting privacy of browsing where the consequences of that information being disclosed was pretty insignificant, or where the group looking to gain the information had limited resources.
 
Update:
After 5 days of aggravation NordVPN support changed a redirect path in their Linux Application and the problem has gone away.
yay.
 
Glad to hear that.

So, a software issue, compounded by customer support issues.

But do you still want to call it “blackmail”? If not, I would walk that back, rather than putting that word out there forever, for what’s almost surely an honest business.
 
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