I have been trying to sign up with this company for several days. They have the best VPN service but really terrible customer service and online help. When trying to get service their site is declining all payment for new accounts. I tried multiple credit cards, paypal, computers and servers. I had friends try - no service. The worst part is their Livechat say they can do nothing and can't contact anyone to fix it. There is no one else to contact or any other offer of help
I work with a multinational education company as a team leader (all 300+ of my people use VPNs and we're as a company evaluating services to provide all our employees) and depending on my assignment need a VPN to access sites and files from overseas. I contacted ExpressVPN from the USA to see if they could provide me a reliable, stable product. Their sales team was EXTREMELY enthusiastic and polite. They assured me their technology was stable and would work for what I needed, further guaranteeing me that in the very rare event that something happened, customer support would be available to me BOTH by chat and email to solve my problem "right away." I explicitly let them know that because I deal with extremely sensitive files and hard deadlines with our clients, I couldn't afford to be down waiting for help for hours. I was guaranteed customer support would be able to get me back online within moments if their technology ever failed.
I started a 30-day trial as I left for my overseas assignment. The speed was OK but I was disconnected frequently. I'd started to work hours after arriving overseas & just didn't have the time to evaluate other VPNs. I tried dealing with customer support and already the circular-talk started. They provided simplistic solutions all of which failed. I regret now that I didn't just cancel the service. Once the trial was up, though, I noticed my speeds dropped precipitously. I also started getting kicked off their network very frequently--multiple times a day and for longer and longer stretches each time, up to DAYS. Of course, if you're offline, you cannot contact them. I had learned from another experience with ExpressVPN never to activate their "network lock" which keeps your machine from connecting to the Internet when the VPN fails. Since the VPN fails frequently, this means you are utterly offline frequently--on your mobile phone, tablets, and laptops/desktops. Even though network lock is clearly NOT activated on any of my machines, whenever I'm not connected to ExpressVPN on my computers, I still cannot access the Internet. On my mobile phone, at least, I can remove their software easily, including all the network settings. THEN I can access the Internet on my phone.
When I was finally able to connect to their network, I'd contact support. Depending on the time of day, the only way to contact support is via email. And they may not get back to you until the next day. Whether chatting via "live chat" or communicating via email, the experience was not just frustrating, it was downright infuriating. The customer support agents, I learned, are NOT engineers. They are trained "support" technicians who have very little technical proficiency. No matter what I told them, they'd always give me the same useless advice (because since they are not actual engineers, their knowledge scope is very shallow, limited to what ExpressVPN has trained them on in brief, insufficient technician onboarding). They'd even insist that I couldn't have already followed their advice. When I provided them (screenshot, system report) their own system update evidence, they snarkily ignored it. Never ONCE in my sad history with ExpressVPN has customer support offered me advice that actually helped. They are rude, condescending, and dismissive. They'll give you the same failed circular advice and when you explain you've already tried what they told you they'll stop communicating with you, leaving you hanging with your problem.
Colleagues recently introduced me to an alternative VPN service I'm having far better luck with. I won't be renewing my contract with ExpressVPN, but I will be telling EVERYONE I know to stay away from them. Their customer "service" is so duplicitous and demeaning that it ALONE is a good reason not to do business with this service. More, I'm convinced that the positive reviews plastered all over the Internet are fake, as are the VPN review websites the main criterion for participation on which seems to be paying the site owner. There are simply FAR too many complaints about ExpressVPN among expats working overseas who need VPNs. But you don't read any of these on the review websites. Very suspicious.
This company is the used-car-salesmen of VPN service. Stay far, far away. Be especially wary of service changes AFTER your 30-day trial is up, if you do choose to give them a shot. And certainly, don't expect help from their "customer support" if you need it.
It started just over a yr ago I was looking for a VPN (or DNS) service so I could steam internet channels on my TV. My initial free provider stopped being successful so I looked for a paid service (you get what you pay for right?). I saw a lot of reviews and sites when it comes to VPN services (come to find out that ExpressVPN hosts MOST of them)! So, I thought I would try out ExpressVPN. Initially I was ONLY using the DNS service, occassionally there was connectivity issues, but nothing significant, speed was very sufficient and it worked. Then after about 4-5 months of service the DNS service failed to provide the services that I needed and after contacting customer support
I was instructed that the DNS would never work again for my needs and the only option was to use the VPN service. Well, since I wanted the service for all of my connected devices and also my smart TV, I was told my only option was to purchase an almost $300 router that they advertised.
So, I did! Well, the speed loss was drastic! I saw over a 75% decress in speed! this was all verified on independent testing sites, using the exact same server to test my speed with and without VPN enabled! After wasting almost a month with the customer service department with NO luck, only excusses, I was told that the DNS service came back on-line. So, I gave up on fixing the VPN speed and went back to DNS only.
Some more months went by, DNS went down again, now they say it works, but it does not and they can not figure out why it will not provide my services. So I was forced to go back to VPN. Again, same slow speeds. I am located in Asia, when I use testmyspeed and a server in NY I see OVER 50Mbps when the VPN is OFF (this does NOT matter if the VPN service is through my router or using their desktop app), but when I enabled the VPN service it drops down to BELOW 5Mbps... at 5 I am able to stream, but not with a good quality, but too often it is BELOW 5, then I can NOT even stream!!!!
Now, they are blaming it on the fact that I use the VPN through the router (OpenVPN), even though I showed them it is the SAME slow speeds when that is off and I use their desktop app. And they are trying to sell me ANOTHER router, this one is "better". Talking to them is frustrating because they go in circles, half the time, even in e-mail you don't get the same person replying to you (even though I am "supposedly" talking to a manager), so much and you have to repeat yourself on every phone call or e-mail conversation. When they kept trying to blame the router and I asked well what about the fact that you TOLD me to buy what you advertised, here is a quote from them.....
"The reason why a VPN router was recommended last year is to be able to access XXXXXXX on the Smart TV and not resolve a speed issue"
So, sell an inferior product because it fixes one issue, but causes another.... ( I even had one of the customer service individuals reccomend the SAME router / firmware to me THIS TIME! until I replied with THAT WAS WHAT I WAS USING!)
When questioned about the fact that they advertise BLAZING FAST SPEEDS....
"The high speed service we advertise is relative to VPNs and not to a normal internet connection"
So, losing ONLY between 75-90% of your speed is great in their eyes!
ExpressVPN Reviews
I have been trying to sign up with this company for several days. They have the best VPN service but really terrible customer service and online help. When trying to get service their site is declining all payment for new accounts. I tried multiple credit cards, paypal, computers and servers. I had friends try - no service. The worst part is their Livechat say they can do nothing and can't contact anyone to fix it. There is no one else to contact or any other offer of help
I work with a multinational education company as a team leader (all 300+ of my people use VPNs and we're as a company evaluating services to provide all our employees) and depending on my assignment need a VPN to access sites and files from overseas. I contacted ExpressVPN from the USA to see if they could provide me a reliable, stable product. Their sales team was EXTREMELY enthusiastic and polite. They assured me their technology was stable and would work for what I needed, further guaranteeing me that in the very rare event that something happened, customer support would be available to me BOTH by chat and email to solve my problem "right away." I explicitly let them know that because I deal with extremely sensitive files and hard deadlines with our clients, I couldn't afford to be down waiting for help for hours. I was guaranteed customer support would be able to get me back online within moments if their technology ever failed.
I started a 30-day trial as I left for my overseas assignment. The speed was OK but I was disconnected frequently. I'd started to work hours after arriving overseas & just didn't have the time to evaluate other VPNs. I tried dealing with customer support and already the circular-talk started. They provided simplistic solutions all of which failed. I regret now that I didn't just cancel the service. Once the trial was up, though, I noticed my speeds dropped precipitously. I also started getting kicked off their network very frequently--multiple times a day and for longer and longer stretches each time, up to DAYS. Of course, if you're offline, you cannot contact them. I had learned from another experience with ExpressVPN never to activate their "network lock" which keeps your machine from connecting to the Internet when the VPN fails. Since the VPN fails frequently, this means you are utterly offline frequently--on your mobile phone, tablets, and laptops/desktops. Even though network lock is clearly NOT activated on any of my machines, whenever I'm not connected to ExpressVPN on my computers, I still cannot access the Internet. On my mobile phone, at least, I can remove their software easily, including all the network settings. THEN I can access the Internet on my phone.
When I was finally able to connect to their network, I'd contact support. Depending on the time of day, the only way to contact support is via email. And they may not get back to you until the next day. Whether chatting via "live chat" or communicating via email, the experience was not just frustrating, it was downright infuriating. The customer support agents, I learned, are NOT engineers. They are trained "support" technicians who have very little technical proficiency. No matter what I told them, they'd always give me the same useless advice (because since they are not actual engineers, their knowledge scope is very shallow, limited to what ExpressVPN has trained them on in brief, insufficient technician onboarding). They'd even insist that I couldn't have already followed their advice. When I provided them (screenshot, system report) their own system update evidence, they snarkily ignored it. Never ONCE in my sad history with ExpressVPN has customer support offered me advice that actually helped. They are rude, condescending, and dismissive. They'll give you the same failed circular advice and when you explain you've already tried what they told you they'll stop communicating with you, leaving you hanging with your problem.
Colleagues recently introduced me to an alternative VPN service I'm having far better luck with. I won't be renewing my contract with ExpressVPN, but I will be telling EVERYONE I know to stay away from them. Their customer "service" is so duplicitous and demeaning that it ALONE is a good reason not to do business with this service. More, I'm convinced that the positive reviews plastered all over the Internet are fake, as are the VPN review websites the main criterion for participation on which seems to be paying the site owner. There are simply FAR too many complaints about ExpressVPN among expats working overseas who need VPNs. But you don't read any of these on the review websites. Very suspicious.
This company is the used-car-salesmen of VPN service. Stay far, far away. Be especially wary of service changes AFTER your 30-day trial is up, if you do choose to give them a shot. And certainly, don't expect help from their "customer support" if you need it.
It started just over a yr ago I was looking for a VPN (or DNS) service so I could steam internet channels on my TV. My initial free provider stopped being successful so I looked for a paid service (you get what you pay for right?). I saw a lot of reviews and sites when it comes to VPN services (come to find out that ExpressVPN hosts MOST of them)! So, I thought I would try out ExpressVPN. Initially I was ONLY using the DNS service, occassionally there was connectivity issues, but nothing significant, speed was very sufficient and it worked. Then after about 4-5 months of service the DNS service failed to provide the services that I needed and after contacting customer support
I was instructed that the DNS would never work again for my needs and the only option was to use the VPN service. Well, since I wanted the service for all of my connected devices and also my smart TV, I was told my only option was to purchase an almost $300 router that they advertised.
So, I did! Well, the speed loss was drastic! I saw over a 75% decress in speed! this was all verified on independent testing sites, using the exact same server to test my speed with and without VPN enabled! After wasting almost a month with the customer service department with NO luck, only excusses, I was told that the DNS service came back on-line. So, I gave up on fixing the VPN speed and went back to DNS only.
Some more months went by, DNS went down again, now they say it works, but it does not and they can not figure out why it will not provide my services. So I was forced to go back to VPN. Again, same slow speeds. I am located in Asia, when I use testmyspeed and a server in NY I see OVER 50Mbps when the VPN is OFF (this does NOT matter if the VPN service is through my router or using their desktop app), but when I enabled the VPN service it drops down to BELOW 5Mbps... at 5 I am able to stream, but not with a good quality, but too often it is BELOW 5, then I can NOT even stream!!!!
Now, they are blaming it on the fact that I use the VPN through the router (OpenVPN), even though I showed them it is the SAME slow speeds when that is off and I use their desktop app. And they are trying to sell me ANOTHER router, this one is "better". Talking to them is frustrating because they go in circles, half the time, even in e-mail you don't get the same person replying to you (even though I am "supposedly" talking to a manager), so much and you have to repeat yourself on every phone call or e-mail conversation. When they kept trying to blame the router and I asked well what about the fact that you TOLD me to buy what you advertised, here is a quote from them.....
"The reason why a VPN router was recommended last year is to be able to access XXXXXXX on the Smart TV and not resolve a speed issue"
So, sell an inferior product because it fixes one issue, but causes another.... ( I even had one of the customer service individuals reccomend the SAME router / firmware to me THIS TIME! until I replied with THAT WAS WHAT I WAS USING!)
When questioned about the fact that they advertise BLAZING FAST SPEEDS....
"The high speed service we advertise is relative to VPNs and not to a normal internet connection"
So, losing ONLY between 75-90% of your speed is great in their eyes!