We only ban users for a few different reasons:
- The first reason is because we found the credentials to the account leaked online. We actively search through hacker forums and groups to find the latest dumps of Windscribe accounts. These are big lists of Windscribe usernames and passwords and in most cases, they remain valid credentials that can still be used to access the hacked accounts. When we find one of these lists, we disable all the accounts within them. This is to prevent any abuse on our systems and to prevent further changes to the account. In these cases, we ask that you please submit a ticket to our support team and we will help you recover the account.
- The second reason that the account could have been banned for is that it was breaking the Windscribe Terms of Service. In most cases, this simply means that the account had too many connections coming from it or that it was using way too much bandwidth every month. Account sharing is the most common cause for such a ban but it can also be due to the account being used in a datacenter environment, neither of which we allow. While we do advertise unlimited bandwidth and no device limit, we do still enforce the personal VPN aspect of the service. If our system alerts us to an account with 40 connections using 10 terabytes every month, then there cannot be any feasible use case that would fall under the Personal VPN umbrella. No one is walking around with 40 VPN-connected phones in their bag or has a house full of 40 computers all connected to the VPN at the same time....unless of course the VPN is being used for something nefarious. We are not an IP provider so our service should not be used to proxy bots, scripts, automation, etc. If you're somehow piggybacking off of Windscribe to make money using our IPs, then the account will most likely get permanently banned without any refunds.
- The other possible (but very rare) reason that we may have banned your account is because you filed a chargeback/dispute on one of your payments without trying to resolve the issue with us first. Credit card and Paypal disputes cost us money to deal with and could lead to bigger problems for us down the line. We ask that you please first contact support rather than going through Paypal or the credit card company with a dispute. In most cases, we will issue a refund as long as you're within the valid refund period (7 days after purchase or 10GB of Pro bandwidth used, whichever comes first). If have already used more than 10GB or had the paid plan longer than 7 days, a refund will most likely not be issued. A dispute for such a payment will go in our favor as we will provide the evidence that you aren't eligible for the refund any longer. We will win the dispute but since it still cost us money, the account involved will subsequently get banned.