PIA's New Terms Stop Refunds After a Subscription Renews

Private Internet Access (PIA) no longer promises a refund after a renewal. Its terms of service, updated on 11 November 2026, allow a refund only “if the refund is requested within thirty (30) days from the date of the initial purchase”.

The previous version, dated 24 September 2026, allowed a refund within 30 days of the “initial purchase and/or renewal”. We quoted that wording when we checked PIA’s terms on 5 November, and our PIA review relied on it. We found no announcement of the change from PIA.

What happened

The new refund section adds a blunt line: “Requests made after the 30 day purchase date window will be denied.” The cancellation clause says the same thing. If you cancel within 30 days of your first payment, “you may receive a refund”, and otherwise your account stays active until the end of the period you paid for.

The other conditions have not changed:

• Anything bought through Apple’s App Store, Google Play, a gift card or a third-party deal site can only be refunded by whoever took the payment.
• A new order placed within three months of a refund cannot be refunded.
• PIA’s buy page still says the guarantee is “available to new subscribers only”.

Why it matters

PIA’s plans renew automatically. The 3-year plan costs $81.20 for the first 40 months and then renews at $81.20 every three years, and the 1-year plan renews at $47.88. If a renewal goes through and you no longer want the service, the new terms give you no right to that money back.

PIA now matches most of the VPNs we track. NordVPN’s guarantee “applies only to your initial subscription purchase”, and Surfshark’s covers only “the first subscription purchase”. hide.me and Windscribe exclude renewals too. ExpressVPN is the exception we found, because its money-back page promises 14 days after a renewal, although its refund article speaks of first-time users only.

The change also ends a contradiction we had pointed out. PIA’s buy page limited the guarantee to new subscribers while its terms covered renewals. Both now say the same thing.

What to do

1. Check your renewal date. You will find it in your PIA account under subscriptions. A 3-year plan bought today renews in 2030.
2. Turn off auto-renewal if you are unsure. PIA’s terms say your account stays active until the end of the period you paid for, so you lose nothing by switching it off early.
3. Use the first 30 days. That is now the only refund window, so test the apps and the speeds you need inside it.
4. Ask the right company for app store refunds. If you subscribed through Apple, Google or Amazon, their refund rules apply rather than PIA’s.

What we changed

We corrected our PIA review, which said the terms allowed a refund after a renewal, and added the change to our PIA deal page. PIA’s score does not change, because our methodology counts the length of the guarantee, which is still 30 days.