22 May 2019
One of our top rated VPN providers for Australians, NordVPN has terminated their offer of a free 7-day trial. They have cited extensive abuse by scammers which has put severely high loads on NordVPN’s infrastructure. These high loads were presumably affecting services of paying NordVPN customers. This puts NordVPN in line with other major VPN providers who also do not offer a free trial period.
We have previously always recommended making use of NordVPN’s trial period before signing up to ensure that:
- Your devices are all compatible with NordVPN’s service
- The speeds you are getting from your connection point in Australia are acceptable and;
- You are able to access all relevant services that you wish to access via the VPN, this may be torrents, NetFlix or just keeping your IP hidden when using insecure connections.
What about the NordVPN 30-Day Risk Free Money Back Guarantee?
Most consumers take money back guarantees with a grain of salt as it is not uncommon for service providers to make the process quite cumbersome and long-winded. In Australia, we have strong consumer laws to protect us against scrupulous businesses however these do not apply when dealing with businesses domiciled elsewhere. As they say, ‘caveat emptor’ – let the buyer beware.
We are happy to say that we give the tick of approval to NordVPN’s money back guarantee as a genuine guarantee. NordVPN will first try to troubleshoot any issue you have however if you are not 100% satisfied they will refund your money. There are a few things to look out for, however:
- You must submit a refund request within 30 days of purchase
- If you have purchased a subscription through iTunes/App Store NordVPN will not be able to directly provide you with a refund. You will have to contact the iTunes store support for a refund and there are no guarantees on a refund being provided.
- If you have used a prepaid card or gift card you will not be eligible to get a refund under the guarantee
- NordVPN will not refund any subscriptions that have been purchased from resellers of their service.
- If you paid using cryptocurrency you will be subject to fluctuations in the value of the cryptocurrency. NordVPN will refund the US dollar value at the rate of exchange at the time of refund
In most cases as long as you have purchased your subscription directly from NordVPN and contact their customer support within 30 days you will receive your money back. NordVPN refunds the entire amount, not a pro-rata amount.
Summary
Despite the 7-day free trial ending, we feel you are adequately protected by the 30-day money back guarantee. Due to the exceptions listed above, we strongly recommend that to you purchase your subscription directly from the NordVPN website if you think you may need to avail of the guarantee. You are also more likely to get the best deal through their website such as their current up to 75% OFF deal.
Read our full NordVPN Review for Australians
