U.S. Law Firm Takes Legal Action Against NordVPN Over Alleged “Deceptive” Auto-Renewal Pricing

The American law firm Wittels McInturff Palikovic (WMP) has taken legal action against NordVPN over its alleged “deceptive and illegal” auto-renewal services. The firm has filed a class action, a type of lawsuit in which the firm represents a group of people, claiming that the VPN company makes it difficult for customers to cancel their subscriptions.

According to WMP’s announcement, the law firm filed the class action in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and Western District of North Carolina on behalf of NordVPN customers across the United States.

“The class action alleges that NordVPN uses deceptive and illegal ‘automatic renewal’ practices to dupe customers into unknowingly paying for unwanted, pricey subscriptions to the NordVPN virtual private network and other services,” states the announcement shared by the firm.

WMP claims that NordVPN makes it “intentionally” difficult for customers to cancel their subscriptions by using “dark patterns”—manipulative design strategies meant to confuse users. The firm states that the system results in users paying “tens of millions of dollars” as they struggle to stop the renewal process.

According to Tech Radar, most VPNs in the market have similar auto-renewal systems, and it’s not the first time WMP presents legal complaints against NordVPN seeking compensation of up to $100 million. However, no lawsuits have resulted in a judgment against NordVPN to date.

“Our auto-renewal practices are clear and straightforward,” said NordVPN to TechRadar in a statement. “We are and always have been very clear about the recurring nature of our services, and we also send charge reminders to customers with long-term recurring subscriptions.”

NordVPN added that they issue refunds even when customers exceed the 30-trial window, and mentioned that two of the customers participating in the lawsuits received refunds.

Other tech companies have also faced legal scrutiny in recent days. The BBC recently threatened Perplexity with legal action for allegedly scraping content from its website to train its “default AI model.”