A continuing saga of romance on the internet!
I have been a member of several on-line dating sites for the past 4 years. I have written about some of my experiences with the men that have responded to me, and, in fact, am in the process of completing a book based on those experiences. But today, for the first time, my beef is not with the scammers but with “Match.com” and their policies.
When I signed up with this company, I immediately stated that I did not want an automatic renewal of their “services”. There was a button to push and I did so. Or at least I thought I did so. But when I received my credit card statement yesterday I found that I was charged a $78+ fee for an additional three months subscription. When I called the company to complain they were closed. The message said that if I were to send an email they would respond the next working day. So I sent the email. And there was no call-back. Today I called them. Interesting to note they said they never got the email.
The first thing they wanted to know was why I was not interested in continuing my subscription. When I told them that many of the men writing to me were scammers; that when I said that I only wanted men that had pictures on their profile and half did not I knew that they had not looked at my requests; that when I said I didn’t want men under the age of 65 and half of the men were under that age they were only sending me names; that when I said I didn’t want anyone more than 50 miles away and half of them were further away than that, I realized that Match.com was not for me. The man I spoke to said he could understand why I wanted to cancel my subscription. But….he said, I could not do so.
I asked him why that was not possible and he told me because I sent out an email after the new subscription date. Yes, I did. I received a profile from a man that I had dated last year and I merely sent him a “Happy New Year” note. But that made the refund null and void. I asked to talk to a supervisor.
She gave me the same excuse – I sent out an email and that made the new subscription active. I said that the new subscription was for 3 months. Charge me for one month and give me a refund on the other two months. I was told it wasn’t Match.com’s policy to do that. I told her that I thought I was being scammed by the company and she said she was sorry I felt that way but that was their policy. When I told her there were always exceptions to the policies, she said that IF I had not written the email my money would have been refunded. As far as the one month charge and refund for the other two she again said that it wasn’t the policy to do so.
I realize that Match.com has many clients; I also realize that I hit the button telling them not to renew my subscription – they tell me that the button I hit was not to charge me for “extra’s.” She said that I received an email telling me this; but as I look over my emails I do not find any email from them at all. It is interesting to note that the first subscription I signed up for was $53; this “renewal was for $25 more. I can’t help but wonder how many others have been “scammed” in this same manner. I guess it all comes down to “buyer beware! – no matter what the product may be. The only thing I can see Match.com matching is my credit card number to my bank account!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Contact your credit card company and charge back on this item.
Yep, you may always dispute charges on your credit card. A big problem as I see it is that many companies now want access to your account via the automatic deduction from your account. I never do that. If they want paid, they may wait for a check like everyone else I owe money to. I never give any corporation access to my checking account or credit cards. W/ my permission, they may charge my account, & that’s it. If a company is reputable, they will send an e-mail alerting you of the lapse of subscription, & they will usually ask permission to continue their service. If the slugs at Match.com hold w/ their policy, I would march into the bank & speak w/ a warm person in charge to have the charge reversed. No satisfaction? I would transfer the balance of the card to another card, one w/ a lower rate, & close the card account.
Look at it, the banking industry & credit card companies have Americans over a barrel. The cardholders get points for using the card & spending money; the merchants get charged a percentage & interchange fees for each transaction, & those fees march upward into the millions & billions of dollars for the banks. Nowadays, I’m using cash & screw the credit card companies/banks. They caused the economic meltdown in ’08, & now they are bigger & badder.
Judi, don’t stop trying to get your money returned from the boneheads at Match.com. $78 for one e-mail?! Tell ’em to go hang it high & go gripe long & loud to your bank.