In their search for love, a number of Match.com users are claiming they were hit with hidden fees.
“They have an ‘F’ rating with the Better Business Bureau system,” said Angie Barnett, President & CEO for the BBB serving Greater Maryland.
Match.com has received more than 3,000 complaints on their BBB business profile. Nearly half of the complaints had to do with billing and customers stating they were unaware of subscriptions automatically renewing.
The company notifies consumers about the auto-renewing billing service in the fine print under their Terms of Use agreement and on the subscription page. However, the pattern and volume of complaints tells Barnett that the company needs to change something and she suggests starting with their opt-out policy.
“They rely on the opt-out principle as opposed to the opt-in. Opt-in means I check to agree. ‘Yes, I agree to recurring expenses. Yes, I agree for my profile to be used in other sites,’ but what they look for you to do is opt-out. If you don't know it exists it's really hard to opt out. So, they bury those features not making it as transparent as what we believe a company should be in their advertisement,” Barnett said.
While Match.com received an “F,” the BBB gave rival site eHarmony an "A." They too had complaints about billing, but had fewer and a total of nearly 1,400 complaints.
Regardless of what site or app consumers choose, the same warning goes for all of them.
“You need to read the terms and conditions and understand how to cancel, when to cancel, and if it renews automatically,” said Barnett.
Also know that while you search for love, scammers are searching for victims while using fake profiles.
“All of sudden they have reasons why they never can meet you, they have some emergency that they're asking for money and they've fallen in love with you in a split second that's catfishing,” said Barnett.
It’s also recommended that consumers read the privacy policy. Certain sites may share your information or dating profiles with other companies and websites.
A Match.com spokesperson told ABC News: “We are working closely with the Better Business Bureau to address all past complaints and plan to be back in good standing soon.”
They're also encouraging all customers to contact Match.com directly through the help portals on their site.
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