I observe Reddit every day—normally, I don’t get involved, but when I see TorGuard shills berating other VPN companies and picking on individuals, especially after what they did to me as a long-standing affiliate, I can’t just sit back and watch. This is coming from a company that has historically been one of the most toxic VPNs on the Reddit scene. Everyone knows them, in one way or another, for being a shilly company with hordes of spam accounts. They were heavily active in the “VPN Comparison” sub that was recently suspended and blocked.
I advertised TorGuard across several high-ranking sites I own, and initially, everything was great—I grew with the company, and the aff program paid well. However, sometime in 2020/2021, my payments started arriving later each month. I was repeatedly told the payment was coming, that it was just delayed, or that the affiliate manager was on holiday. Then, out of nowhere, they informed me they no longer accepted crypto as a payment method and required a bank account instead. I provided my business bank details, but then spent four weeks chasing an answer. In total, I spent 12 weeks chasing a payment of over $8k, only to be told my account was “under review.” Image attached:
After numerous emails, support tickets, and even calling them out on their forums, I was blocked, my account was locked, and I haven’t received a single response since then. I still haven’t received my money, and they continue to profit from the 2,000 to 4,000 users I referred. The situation impacted my income so much that I had to start working in a local store.
When I started digging, I realized I wasn’t the only one. See below for others they’ve treated the same way, all documented on their forums:
Recently, they did the same thing to Tom Spark, a guy who reviewed them often and was one of their biggest affiliates for years:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWC3JY87YIg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21F5oFbniQ0
If you search Twitter, you’ll find users asking about their affiliate payments and wondering why they aren’t getting responses. Many are seeing the “Account in review” excuse, which basically means you won’t be paid, or they don’t have the funds to pay you.
And it’s not just affiliates—they’ve also started sacking staff. The former CTO was dismissed. Jason Hawk, who is autistic and had just moved into a new home, was suddenly sacked. https://imgur.com/a/EVJRPKg
What does this tell us? It indicates that the company is in financial trouble and is slowly dying. The traffic graph below for TorGuard shows that their numbers have dropped to pre-2014 levels—10 years ago. I found this in a thread:https://imgur.com/a/SJbRJck
They barely ever update their apps—some haven’t been updated for years. When they do, it’s usually just to change text or fix a bug, with no new features added. The forums are completely dead; no one really posts there anymore—maybe once every 2-3 weeks.
When you ask support about these things, they are often rude, short and curt or just don’t respond at all.
It’s clear this company is on a downward trajectory, and it’s not surprising, given how poorly it’s run. The next WeVPN is on the horizon. I remember WeVPN told me everything was fine, and then they closed shop 4 weeks later.
They accuse others of being dishonest, but according to this forum post, they’re selling “Dedicated IPs” to multiple users, which aren’t actually dedicated: https://imgur.com/a/xpwNO51
If you look at the TorGuard subreddit, it’s full of toxic nonsense. They write articles criticizing other VPNs, use dupe accounts to attack others on here when they really should be taking a closer look at themselves.
Every other VPN I have had are professional and courteous unlike this poorly run company.