Update on Proton VPN, 20Oct2019
I upgraded from free Proton Mail to their Plus VPN plan, which promises the highest speeds and includes the same email, no new features. About six months ago or so, Proton began uploading user crash data with no opt out and began performing more slowly than previously, so I decided to not renew my subscription, which had a few months to go yet. This is where the fun began.
A few weeks before subscription expiration, I tried in futility to find a way, anywhere, on their site to cancel but could not, only a mention in a forum post to send a ticket and Proton would decide if your reason for canceling was sufficient (flashback to Steam, argh!) In other forums, I read numerous complaints about how much a PIA Proton was when attempting a cancel, so I decided to just let the service run out since the card I used expired long ago.
A week or so after the VPN subscription ran out, I found I was locked out of my email and could only gain access if I renewed the VPN. Apparently, my free email was bundled with the VPN when I moved to Plus and their "recurring" subscription had no leeway. There was no indication of this anywhere. After all the underhanded nonsense from Proton, I just deleted my email account (made no sense that I could even do that if all the emails were ransomed by Proton Plus; and btw reduced to zero value after account deletion, ha ha!) and all was well again, minus some emails and tons of spam.
Proton VPN seemed to be good when I signed up but the devil's in the details; if important terms are obscure and they're using the world's worst ransomware on members, is their service really secure? Ptoton's very expensive, far too expensive for anything but the best customer service and fastest servers. Not recommended.