Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  03/31/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I signed up for a free trial on 3/17/22 for this VPN service. It states that there is a 60 day free trial on the front page of their website and then also lists 30 day free trial on other areas.There was no free trial at all. My credit card was charged $59.88 in full that day, after signing up for the free trial. My bank verified the date of the transaction was, in fact, 3/17/22 and the transaction number is ***************. It was very odd that there was no phone number listed next to the transaction.There was never an account number listed anywhere. It's not listed on my account or any of the emails received.The only information listed is my credit card number, name and email address. Two days after uploading this VPN, my cellphone was hacked and cloned. I contacted the company. (The only way to contact them is through online chat.) They said they could not help me. (It is listed on their webpage that "VirtualShield will completely encrypt your wifi connection, blocking hackers.") Numerous attempts have been made to close my account, get a refund, and remove my credit card from their system.To no avail. Each time I have have attempted, they would say that someone would respond from the billing department within 48-72 hours. It has now been exactly two weeks since I signed up for this alleged service. No one has confirmed that my account is cancelled or any of the other requests. Each time I would check to see if the VPN was on, it would be off. So, it wasn't even working. Today, I went onto my account to chat with someone again about the refund, cancelling my account and removing my credit card from their system. There is now no connection to chat with anyone or any other way of contacting them. I believe this company is a scam and when doing research, it seems I'm not the only customer disclosing this. I want my account with this company closed, I want a full refund of $59.88, and I want my credit card information removed from their system.

  Business response

  04/29/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/04/22) */ Customer signed up on March 17, and selected the promotion to be billed immediately (hence the charge). If a customer believes they were hacked, that is outside the scope of our services. Chat and email support are fully available on ************************** Per the customers request, account has been canceled, refunded, and deleted. Consumer Response /* (2000, 8, 2022/04/28) */ (The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.) I have verified that the company fully refunded the fee of $59.88 and it was credited to my account. I have received an email from Virtualshield confirming that the account was cancelled and deleted as well. Case **********

• Initial Complaint

  03/14/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Virtual Shield billed my bank account for a second year without my authorization, and they did not inform me, email me, that they were going to do so. But they billed my bank account $35.94 anyway. I did not Save my payment information with them, I did not authorize them to auto-debit my account, because I viewed the initial year as a trial period, and they have not met reasonable expectations. I have contacted them twice, March 9 and March 10, asking them to 1) Refund my money, 2) Delete my payment information, and 3) Close my account, and I have documented these requests, but they have not responded. I hope that the BBB can help me. If not, I will escalate this matter further.

  Business response

  05/11/2022

  Consumer Response /* (2000, 14, 2022/05/03) */ The company has issued a refund to me, as I requested. This outcome is satisfactory. Thank you very much, Better Business Bureau, because your intervention resulted in this successful outcome, Better Business Bureau, you are the champion of fairness and accountability, you have my wholehearted gratitude.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩