How to Cancel Private Internet Access (PIA) & Get Refunded in 2021

If you’ve tried and tested Private Internet Access (PIA) and you’re not 100% happy, I’m pleased to tell you that canceling your subscription and getting a refund is quick and painless. I tested PIA’s 30-day money-back guarantee and got my money refunded within 10 days.

• It’s worth noting that during the refund process, you can get access to some supercheap PIA deals, if you’re looking for a financial incentive to stay with the service.
• If you’re looking for a more security-focused alternative though, I highly recommend CyberGhost. It’s lightning fast and has watertight safety measures – plus a 45-day money-back guarantee if you want to test it first.
• Looking for a VPN that’s more reliable for streaming than PIA? ExpressVPN is my favorite VPN for streaming as well as being the fastest VPN I’ve ever tested. Plus, you can get your ExpressVPN subscription for up to 49% off with some of its latest deals. It has a 30-day money-back guarantee, too, so there’s no risk involved.

Step-By-Step Guide to Canceling Your Account

I found canceling my account and requesting a refund simple, easy, and quick thanks to PIA’s 30-day money-back guarantee. All you have to do is turn off automatic payments then request a cancellation and refund via the VPN’s live chat or email support. I’ll show you how to use both contact options.

Step 1 – Sign In to Your PIA account

Go to privateinternetaccess.com and click My Account. Then log in to your account using the username and password you set up when you subscribed.

The interface is clear and easy to use

Step 2 – Turn Auto-Renewal Off

Once you’re logged in to your account, scroll down the page and click the yellow Turn auto-renewal off button.

Make sure you turn auto-renewal off before canceling

You’ll be asked why you want to cancel automatic payments. Select the reason that applies to you and then click either Deactivate auto-renewal or Send message and deactivate auto-renewal, depending on which option you selected.

Just choose which option you prefer

Step 3 – Confirm Auto-Renewal Is Turned Off

You’ll be redirected back to your account page. You should now see Auto-renewal is turned off as well as a Turn auto-renewal on button. This means you have successfully canceled automatic payments on your account.

It’s easy to check if auto-renewal has been deactivated

Step 4 – Contact Customer Support

You now need to contact PIA’s customer support team to cancel your account and request a refund. You can do this via live chat or email. I chose to use live chat, but both options are straightforward. You can find the live chat button on the bottom right of your account screen.

Its live chat was quick and easy to access

Step 5 – Request Cancellation and Refund

Input your request and click “Start a new chat.”

Just click to start a new chat and request your refund

You’ll be connected to an account support representative who will ask why you want to cancel your PIA subscription. You don’t have to give a lot of information. They will ask you for your subscription order number to process the cancellation. This is an eight-digit number that you can find on your original subscription invoice. You can ask the representative to resend your invoice email if you no longer have it.

The live chat was stress-free and the rep wasn’t pushy

Step 6 – Await Your Refund

As you can see from the chat, PIA’s representatives aren’t pushy and they don’t ask too many questions or try to convince you to stay. My request was processed almost immediately. Once processed, your refund should reach you within 5 to 10 business days. I got my money back within 10 days.

Alternatively – Cancel Your Subscription by Email 

If you’d rather request your cancellation and refund by email, first follow steps 1 to 3. Once you’ve confirmed that auto-renewal has been turned off, you can contact PIA’s support team by creating a new ticket or emailing them directly at helpdesk@privateinternetaccess.com. Remember to state why you want to cancel to accelerate the process.

I received a response within 24 hours and they processed my request right away.

The contact form was clear and I completed it in no time

Step 7 – Get a Great New VPN

PIA has some fantastic features, but I understand that it’s not the right VPN for everyone. Once you’ve canceled your account, it’s time to move on to a different service that does work for you.

Why switch to a new VPN right away? Using a VPN is the only way to stay fully safe and anonymous online. VPNs give you complete privacy while you browse and protect you from hackers and snoopers.

They can also open up a world of online content, allowing you to stream geoblocked content, bypass government censorship, and torrent with no risks.

Ready to move on? Here are my favorite alternatives to PIA.

Best Alternatives to PIA

1. ExpressVPN – Blistering Speeds and Best-in-Class Security

Try ExpressVPN >

If you want a VPN for security and privacy reasons, you may have been concerned by the fact that PIA is headquartered in the US. The US is a founding member of the Five Eyes Alliance and doesn’t have the best record when it comes to internet privacy.

To be completely sure your VPN won’t pass on your information to government agencies, it’s better to choose a VPN that’s based in a privacy-friendly country like ExpressVPN. ExpressVPN has its HQ in the privacy-friendly British Virgin Islands. This means it can’t be forced to hand over any of your data by the local government.

I dug deep into ExpressVPN’s privacy policy and was pleased to find that it has a strict zero-logs policy backed up by TrustedServer technology. This clever tech ensures ExpressVPN servers physically can’t store any of your data – even if legally requested.

ExpressVPN also uses military-grade encryption to lock down your traffic and a kill switch that stops your device from defaulting to your ISP and exposing your true IP address if you lose connection to the VPN.

It performed well in my DNS and IP leak tests and I couldn’t detect any leaks.

ExpressVPN  is way faster than PIA. Even on servers in the UK, which is on the other side of the world from me, I recorded download speeds of 27.86 Mbps. That’s just a 27% drop in speed from my base speed AU connection of 38.16 Mbps, which I found to be barely noticeable.

Of course, that means you can enjoy buffer-free streaming wherever you are in the world. ExpressVPN is a powerful unblocking tool and, unlike PIA, it allowed me to stream Netflix and Amazon Prime Video in several different regions, as well as BBC iPlayer, Hulu, Vudu, and more.

You can install and use ExpressVPN on 5 devices at the same time. I tried it on five of my own devices simultaneously and still enjoyed the same performance. If you need help setting up, there’s helpful live chat available 24/7.

You also get a 30-day money-back guarantee to test the VPN’s speeds and features for yourself.

Want to learn more? Explore our ExpressVPN review to see the full results of our research and testing.

Subscribe today and get 49% off

Try ExpressVPN Today!

2. CyberGhost – User-Friendly VPN With Easy-to-Use Apps

Try CyberGhost VPN >

CyberGhost is another great streaming alternative to PIA, and I found it easier to use. It’s a little more costly than some other options, but it’s worth it if you’re new to VPNs and want a user-friendly service that’ll let you stream quickly and easily.

During my tests, CyberGhost helped me unblock Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, BBC iPlayer, Sony Crackle, and all the other major streaming providers I tried.

It even makes streaming super easy by labeling its servers according to which provider they unblock best. To watch Netflix, all I had to do was go to CyberGhost’s dedicated streaming profile, search “Netflix,” and then select from the list of Netflix-optimized servers in different countries.

CyberGhost isn’t as fast as my other two recommendations, but it still gave me decent speeds for buffer-free streaming on most servers. I speed-tested several servers around the world and was happy with the results.

I recorded a 66% drop in my speeds on average across all the servers I tested. While that might seem like a lot, it’s worth noting that the servers were fairly inconsistent. While the server I tested in France gave me download speeds of 5.76 Mbps, my local AU server gave me a download speed of 36.96 Mbps – not very different from my base speed AU connection of 39.51 Mbps.

Only the manual connect UK server I tested was too slow for streaming. All the other servers we more than quick enough to watch TV and movies in HD.

One of my favorite things about CyberGhost is its built-in malware, tracking, phishing, and ad blockers. It’s similar to PIA’s ad blocker, but I found it worked more consistently. I didn’t get any ads on my streaming content and enjoyed knowing that I was protected from hackers and third-party tracking.

I also like that its kill switch is automatic, so you don’t need to do any complicated configuration to protect yourself against leaks. The VPN did well in my DNS and IP leak test, too.

CyberGhost has a 24/7 live chat feature, but it’s slow. It took me a while to get a response to my request. When I did; I was able to find out that the VPN uses military-grade 256-bit AES encryption and has a strict no-logs policy so you know that your data is protected.

In even better news, CyberGhost is generous with its allowances. You can use the VPN on up to 7 devices simultaneously and you get a 45-day money-back guarantee if you decide the service isn’t for you. That’s 15 more days than PIA gives you.

Want to learn more? Explore our CyberGhost review to see the full results of our research and testing.

Get 83% off your subscription

Try CyberGhost Today!

Bottom Line

PIA is fast, secure, and affordable, but it can be unreliable when it comes to streaming. If it hasn’t been able to unblock the content you want to watch, you can make the most of its 30-day money-back guarantee to get your refund quickly and easily.

Once your subscription is canceled, you’re free to sign up for a VPN that gives you access to an unrestricted internet. My top recommendation is ExpressVPN – it’s the fastest VPN, the best for streaming, and it has plenty of excellent deals that make subscriptions very affordable.

Alternatively, privacy expert CyberGhost is another good option that gives you lightning-fast speeds and excellent unblocking abilities. It also offers reasonable prices.

Want to see more brilliant VPNs for streaming? Check out our rundown of the best VPNs for Netflix and the best VPNs for streaming movies.

Or, learn more about what international intelligence-sharing means for VPN users in our complete guide to the 5/9/14/ Eyes Alliances.

The Best Alternatives to Private Internet Access Are:

Rank	Provider	Our Score	User Rating	Visit Website
1	ExpressVPN	9.8/10	Read Review	Find Out More Get Started >> Visit Site
2	CyberGhost VPN	9.8/10	Read Review	Find Out More Get Started >> Visit Site
3	IPVanish VPN	9.6/10	Read Review	Find Out More Get Started >> Visit Site
4	PrivateVPN	9.2/10	Read Review	Find Out More Get Started >> Visit Site