Private Internet Access

Got dedicated IP in September and worked for around 3 weeks perfectly but then it started to drop out and need to be reconnected. Reached out and was fobbed off with a generic email. Dedicated IP was then disconnected from my account and I reached out again, fobbed off again. I then wanted to cancel my subscription but guess what? There is no… Read more

where to cancel your subscription and only an option to stop the auto renew. Cant take off billing as its connected to a subscription. I don't even care that there is 1029 days still left on this subscription i JUST WANT IT CANCELLED!!! Stay away from this company, why are all the places that sell Dedicated IP's so dodgy?

Have been using PIA for my Net Security for five years now. I Found it easy to set up & very reliable on my four computers & two Samsung phones, I had one problem recently with using the Wireguard protocol. Contacted PIA support who were all over it, supplying a solution quickly after I supplied the required debug log for them to study, they led… Read more

me to find it & detailed how to send it. After the first three years, I took out a 3 year subscription which was a very good deal at the time, this runs out in 08/26, I will be renewing. I highly recommend PIA VPN.

It's not worth it since blocked too frequently – It was okay in the beginning, but over the past few months it's getting from bad to worst since it's recogized as a VPN and quickly blocked by more and more sites. They lure one in with a tempting initial subscription, but in the end, it's useless.

Used to be good, sadly no longer works – I have been using PIA since 2016 and until recently I was fairly happy with it. Never got great performance but weighed up against cost it was fine. Recently though I've been getting Bot CAPTCHA tests every time I use it. I've tried everything I could, changing servers, changing protocols nothing worked. I got a bloke on the chat which basically… Read more

went like this; PIA: yeah, that'll happen when a bunch of people use it, have you tried DuckDuckGo? Me: Not really a solution is it though mate? PIA: Have you tried a dedicated IP address, that might fix it? Me: $109 more to only maybe fix a problem with a service that isn't currently working seems like a bung deal to me, refund please. PIA: Sure, ohhhh wait, the refund time has passed but we'll elevate this to the billing team, since we value you as a customer. Me: Sure, I won't hold my breath.

Service no longer works, best avoided until they work out a real solution.

Keeps taken my money even after subscription was cancelled a year ago! – Wish I could give no stars. I cancelled my subscription a year ago when they charged more than double for something I hadn’t even signed up for. I got some of the money back, but immediately cancelled my subscription. Now they’ve taken more money out! Support is absolutely useless. Will ow have to cancel my credit card.

PIA Initially Ok But annoyingly buggy over last few months – I have been using PIA for about two years. I changed because previous VPN was too expensive and found recommendations about it on YouTube. It offered very reasonable rates and sufficient speeds for my use. Initially I was happy with its performance. I do not use VPN all the time, only in periods during week. Over past six months I have had a lot… Read more

of difficulty restablishing proper internet access and especially DNS service after using it. It became extremely annoying, each time needing restarts clearing DNS cache, restarting router. I have given it up after numerous reports similar in reviews online after some updates. I am now using Proton VPN.

Rubbish with the service to match – Doesn’t work and their service is a sham. They don’t respond for a week and then pretend to du haven’t heard from you. Incredibly slow and frustrrsting and dishonest.

Rubbish product - impossible to get a refund – As a few others have said the process to get a refund is very difficult. They charged me for 2 whole years up front and then when it kept triggering "are you a robot" I decided to get a refund. They told me they can't give me a refund because I closed the account.

SCAM. Total scam – They're a scam. I got scammed and unfortunately I can't get out of it. They keep charging me. DON'T SUBSCRIBE TO PRIVATE INTERNET ACCESS.

I had a terrible time with private internet access VPN – I terrible time with private internet access VPN because I had a lot of DNS messages and wantings on my laptop I felt like destroying it a computer technician told me that it is due to the vpn's technical difficulties because I am running the program on getting DNS issues this is a program which you cannot trust the computer technician that I was… Read more

talking to he said it's got nothing to do it the Wi-Fi modem or router and it's got nothing to do is the internet provider so basically he just said to me that it's the vpn's fault i highly advised everyone who has got private internet access should contact company and ask them for a monetary fund because this is not worth it.

Poor Android app, port forwarding simply doesn't work – I have been trying to find a VPN with port forwarding that actually works and thought I would give Private Internet Access a try, even though one randomly assigned port is not the best option for the multiple apps I use that require it. Long story short, port forwarding did not work at all, even after hours on their support chat with 2 levels of… Read more

support. At least they did email me to say they did not have a solution. Apart from that, the Windows app worked quite well, recovering from sleep mode much better than other VPNs I have used, however the Android and Android TV apps both crashed to a point that the app needed to be removed completely and/or reinstalled to resume any internet connection again. As such, I have asked for a refund as per their "30 day money back guarantee" policy, however after almost a week I am still waiting and have had to chase up with their support department, not withstanding them advising it will be looked at in 24 to 72 hours.

Pros * Windows app seemed to work well for general connections * Support on their chat service was quite responsive, although neither of my issues has yet been resolved

Cons * Port forwarding does not work at all (Using the Windows app on a Windows 11 machine) * Android app crashed on multiple (lower powered) devices * Quick to take your money, not so quick to return it

Other services used * NordVPN * ExpressVPN * AirVPN * ProtonVPN (current)

All the bad reviews seem weird to me. Used since 2015 and excellent – I started using PIA in March 2015 (now Oct 2023) and have only experienced great service (functionality, support). My "issues" have usually been my lack of technical knowledge to describe the communications problem properly. Having given tech support myself in the past I can tell you that when customers use weird and confusing terms to describe… Read more ·  1

a problem it can be hard to work out what the problem IS.

I have had problems with email (with some accounts I must by-pass use of VPN). Some websites are actively hostile to VPNs (for good and bad reasons). Sometimes my auto-default to an IP address in some city somewhere is less than ideal because network traffic makes access (speed) to/from that node poor - so I must manually change the choice of address (city).

I also have had account issues. The worst was when my computer died. The backup had some issue that meant I had to reinstall PIA and managed to create two accounts. Took a bit of back and forth but PIA sorted it out, cancelled the accidental new account, and refunded. THEN some issues on the credit card side (not PIA's fault or mine). But sorted OK in the end.

There are some things they simply cannot do because they do NOT track your use. In any way. That gives you great security but also means some types of technical problems cannot be addressed because PIA cannot see what happened. The "price" you pay.

PIA is not a big company. It is perfectly fair that they use an AI-type chat system so that simple issues can be resolved really quickly. Or you can email Help which takes some time to respond - big button, easy to find on their Help page.

THE THING IS THAT THEY DO NOT TRACK YOUR USAGE. To prevent their system being used by evil doers they have further safeguards which may sometimes inconvenience me. But I **LIKE** that they are pro-active in securing things - and being pro-active must mean that sometimes it takes them a couple of tries to get it right. It's easy playing catch-up in security issues, much harder to get it perfectly correct for everyone first go. Again, that is a "price" I am prepared to pay.

And yes, I had to stop using Google because of Google tracking tracking tracking tracking and, as I understand it, often trips over PIA. "Fornicate" Google. DuckDuckGo doesn't track you or your searches.

Bottom line: PIA has been very good for me. Highly recommend - IF you value: not being tracked, recorded; a company that is pro-active in security; and you have some patience when things need fixing.

Credit where Credit is due – I have been on and off with PIA for the last 8 or so years and recently (February), took up one of their offers for a discounted 3 year subscription. Much to my surprise I received an annual subscription notice today (August) and my credit card was debited. I replied to the email that was subsequently returned to sender. I was a bit worried to… Read more

say the least. I googled on how to contact customer support and found the link. I spoke with an online agent straight away who had advised that I had 2 accounts, the refund was offered and almost immediate and the original account was closed. No complaints here but felt, with some of the negative reviews on here, compelled to to write a positive experience. The product itself works fine and does what it's meant to do.

Absolutely crap – Captcha all time, no help. Thank God for PayPal. Gone back with surfshark.

Google CAPTCHA! Every time...:( – Although the PIA service itself is fine - easy to set up and reliable (when running on a router), now every time I do a new search on google I get a CAPTCHA that I must complete. This is highly annoying. The best that PIA could come up with to solve was use another search engine. I never had this issue with other VPN services I've had in the… Read more

past.

My recommendation to PIA is that they need to somehow find the bad actors that are using their service for spamming or other nefarious activities and boot them off.

Will not be renewing for this reason.

Terrible Customer Support – Been with them for about 4-5 years. Used to be great. Customer support is terrible now. Cut and paste replies that don't address/answer the question. My email server was whitelisted about 2 years ago, as I was enable to send and receive emails unless disconnected from PIA. Now I have the same problem. My recent Support ticket conversation: Me:… Read more

In the last 3-4 days my email application is having difficulty reaching the email server (unless I disconnect from PIA).

Agent: Thank you for contacting PIA Support. I understand that you are experiencing issues with your email server while connected to our application. No worries, I am here to help. To address this issue we may be able to whitelist your email SMTP server, please provide us with a screenshot(s) showing all of the following settings within your email provider's settings:

1. The email address(es) being blocked 2. The SMTP/outgoing email server name for the above address(es) (e.g. smtp.mail.com, mail.example.net) 3. The Port number used to connect to the mail server (e.g. 587, 465, 25...) 4. The SSL setting (enabled/disabled - may appear as TLS/SSL)

Once we have the above setting information we will be able to confirm if we can whitelist your email's SMTP information. Your cooperation in this matter is greatly appreciated. I will be looking forward to your response. Have a great day!

Me: email address:************ SMTP/outgoing email server name: ********* Port number: *** SSL setting: *********

Agent: I have whitelisted the SMTP IP/Domain ************** ********************** We do ask that you allow 48-72 hours for process completion and propagation. Should you have further concerns or questions, feel free to reply to this email. Otherwise, can we now close this ticket?

Me: Could you please tell me how I got blacklisted in the first place if I was already whitelisted - I went through this whole procedure a while ago and thought everything was sorted

Agent: Any VPN provider that does not retain logs must block outgoing SMTP traffic due to rampant spam associated with the usage of VPN services. This is necessary for the security and privacy of our customers, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Please note that whitelisting would not be possible if you are using Office 365/Microsoft Exchange servers for the purposes of sending emails. If such is the case, we apologize, but your only recourse would be to disable the VPN for sending mail, or else use web-based email.

Me: Thanks for your response but you did not answer my question. Why was I suddenly blacklisted? Everything has been working without issue until 4 or 5 days ago. What changed your end? If you are unable to answer, please find someone who can.

A better question is how often do I need to get whitelisted?

Agent: I understand you want to know how often you need to be whitelisted. Allow me to assist with this concern. Please keep in mind that your email can only be whitelisted once. Worry less as our system has an automatic whitelist feature once it's detected. If you still encounter the same problem you may contact us again to check it.

Me: It is my understanding that I was already whitelisted so why did I have to get whitelisted again. Or to be clear: I experienced the same issue (not being able to send/receive emails unless disconnected from PIA) a year or 2 ago and to solve the issue, a PIA agent whitelisted my SMTP IP/Domain ******* *** ***

So if you can only whitelist once - why do you have to whitelist me again? You stated "our system has an automatic whitelist feature once it's detected" so why did it not detect that I was already whitelisted?

Agent: Please refer to the article I will provide for you to be guided: https://helpdesk.privateinternetaccess.com/kb/articles/why-am-i-unable-to-send-emails-when-using-the-vpn ----------------------------

I have had enough and will not be renewing my subscription

Horrible product and customer service – As per the previous reviewer, they have very dubious customer service practices. Steer clear.

horrible – scamming, using your card, terrible service that denies everything HORRIBLE , AVOID

Stay clear – I have been using PIA for 10 years on a perpetual license. 2 years ago they tried to make all the perpetual license accounts sign up again and pay yearly. I declined and stayed with my original account Earlier this month, they charged me for a yearly renewal, no renewal email before hand. Support seems to be AI as it couldn't answer any of the… Read more

questions I had asked in my support docket and then promptly refunded my money and closed my account. I could not use my account activation date as proof as they changed it 2 years ago to 2021 when they charged perpetual license accounts, and I dont have the original receipt from 10 years ago.

Dodgy as heck there are better VPNs out there and im glad I am no longer with PIA

made me loose $150 – tried paying for it using gift card, something the website specifically says you can do, now the card doesn't work for any transactions, thanks a lot pia

Avoid at all Cost – I had used PIA for years with no issue, then suddenly it stopped working. Customer service was absolutely abysmal. I have spent a month emailing support I've had my ticket closed on four occasions before the issue was resolved, which means I've been passed off to five different people only to be given the same frustrating set of instructions that… Read more

I already tried with the first customer support person! A few of them said they were referring my debug logs to the 'advanced technical support team' and then I'd never hear back from anyone. I gave up and asked for a refund of the yearly subscription which I paid five weeks ago, right before my VPN stopped working. Now they are saying they won't issue a refund because it's past thirty days since I paid. Disgusting. Do not sign up with PIA.

bad for gaming – if your gaming don't even bother and waste your money got get a better vpn coz you'll regret it

App doesn’t work – The app doesn’t work. I have tried on different platforms iOS, android , Mac and windows and it just don’t login. Raised with helpdesk and they are not able to resolve it.

Private Internet Access – Why is everybody giving a bad review of Private Internet Access I have been with them for 6 years No problem at all 5 STARS from me. Go for it.

One of the better ones – I've been with PIA for about 3 years. Overall I am satisfied. The Sydney server seems to go down more than it should, but switching to Melbourne temporarily resolves the isssue. The speed is actually very good in my experience. Testing with speedtest.net on a theoretical 100Mbps FTTB feed, no VPN gave me download rates in the low 80's. With… Read more

PIA it was in the high 70's. NordVPN was in the high 60's. Upload rates showed similar differentials. PIA beat NordVPN handily.

Their support is patchy. Earlier in the year, I had some problems with the Sydney server, so I contacted them. The explanation I received was that it was all down to ... wait for it ...

COCKATOOS!!!

They found an article from 4 or 5 years ago about some damage cockatoos had done to Telstra's mobile towers way out in the outback. Telstra had to spend $75k or so replacing some wiring.

I pointed out a) that this was 5 years ago, b) that I was in the middle of Sydney, and c) that the damage was to mobile towers, not fibre links. The guy doubled down and insisted he was right.

I asked to be put through to somebody else, who eventually solved it :-)

Their pricing is competitive, and you're allowed 10 connections from memory.

They lost a star because of the internet-eating cockatoos.

Problems with Speed and Latency Getting Worse – Raised issues with the support desk about Sydney server speed and latency being 650ms. Nothing was done and eventually Melbourne server went the same way. Can't use the service any more. Withdrew my subscription and asked for a refund. This was refused. Don't use them, use Express VPN or Surfshark.

Super slow servers in Australia - Shop around for a better provider! – PIA used to be fast and reliable but for the last 3-4months, I often get disconnected and speeds on their Melbourne, Sydney and Perth servers have become relatively slow. Customer service is often confused and essentially useless. They copy/paste standard "check your settings" replies and when all else fails, they tell you there are a lot of people on line and to change location.

They suck – Would not recommend private internet access vpn. I had no access to their servers for months. They wont refund your fee even for no service rendered. None of their servers were contactable. You cant access overseas content eg netflix.