Money-back guarantees in this industry are generally honoured, but the conditions vary and the cancellation flow is rarely one click. Here is what each provider we test actually offers.
The refund windows
- CyberGhost — 45 days, the longest anyone offers.
- Proton VPN, NordVPN, Surfshark, ExpressVPN, hide.me, PrivateVPN, Private Internet Access, Mullvad — 30 days.
- IPVanish — 30 days on longer terms, but no refund at all on monthly plans.
The steps that work
- Cancel auto-renewal first, in your account settings. This is separate from requesting a refund and people routinely do only one.
- Contact support directly and state plainly that you are requesting a refund under the money-back guarantee, with your order date.
- If you are refunding because of a technical fault, attach evidence — a leak test screenshot or a speed result. It shortens the conversation considerably.
- Keep the ticket reference. Refunds typically take five to ten working days to appear.
The exceptions that catch people out
App store purchases are the big one. If you subscribed through the Apple App Store or Google Play, the provider usually cannot refund you at all — you must request it through the store, under the store's policy rather than the provider's. Buy direct from the provider's website if you want the guarantee to apply.
Some providers also exclude accounts that have used an unusually large amount of bandwidth, or that were bought with a heavily discounted third-party coupon. Both are uncommon but both appear in terms.
Subscribe through the provider's own website, not an app store. It is the single decision that determines whether the guarantee is worth anything.
Using the window properly
A refund window is a free trial you have to remember to cancel. Use it deliberately: run a DNS leak test, test the streaming platforms you actually care about, check speeds at your usual evening hour rather than at 3am, and try it on every device you intend to use.
CyberGhost's 45 days is genuinely the most useful window here because it covers more than a full billing cycle, which matters for streaming where results shift month to month.
What to say when you contact support
Be direct and factual. State your order date, your account email, and that you are requesting a refund under the money-back guarantee. You do not need to justify the decision, and providers are not entitled to require one — but if you are refunding for a technical reason, attaching evidence shortens the process considerably.
Expect one retention offer. That is normal and often genuinely good value, so it is worth hearing before you decline. If you decline it clearly once, most providers process the refund without further pushback.
If a provider refuses
- Quote the specific guarantee terms back to them, with the page you found them on.
- Escalate to a supervisor rather than continuing with the first agent.
- If you paid by card, a chargeback is available as a last resort — but try the provider first, because chargebacks usually close your account permanently.
- Consumer protection law may apply depending on where you and the provider are based; EU purchasers in particular have statutory rights beyond the advertised guarantee.
One clear refusal of one retention offer is usually all it takes. Providers in this market honour guarantees because refusing them is publicly expensive.
