(Online Dating Industry Journal) The February 2007 edition of PC World slams True.com for its deceptive cancellation policy, an issue which this journal and Online Dating Magazine has tackled numerous times in the past. Page 119 of the magazine contains an article titled "Just Cancel the @#$* Account!" In it, senior reporter Tom Spring writes:
"...Thinking that I had properly canceled my contract with the dating service True.com within two weeks of signing up, I expected to be charged for one month of service: $50. Two months later, however, my credit card statement showed $153 in True.com charges. It turns out that rather than canceling my account, I had merely suspended it temporarily--and in the process, I had also unwittingly signed up for an additional True.com service to help me improve my profile, at $1 per month.
Here's where I went wrong: When I went to True.com's Customer Care page to unsubscribe, I selected 'Cancel' and the programmed instructions prompted me to type a cancellation request into a text field. After doing as instructed, I clicked 'Continue'; the next screen then asked, 'Are you sure you want to cancel?' In response I clicked yet another link labeled 'Click here to cancel your membership'.
On the next screen, instead asking me again if I wanted to cancel my membership, the routine asked me if I wanted to "suspend" my subscription. At the bottom of the window was a big 'Continue' button, and below that--in gray (not black) type in the smallest font on the page--was a link labeled 'Cancel my subscription'. I clicked the 'Continue' button, not realizing that by doing so I had merely suspended my account for seven days..."
The article then talks about Spring contacting True.com only to be told that there was a "difference between cancel and suspend".
You can read the online version of the article here.
Joe's Comments
It's nice to see other publications holding True.com's feet to the fire over their deceptive practices. When I read the article, I wasn't surprised at what I was reading because readers are complaining all the time to us about True.com. In fact, four out of the last five Letters to the Editor we have received have been complaints about True.com. Here are the links:
Frustrated with True.com
More True.com Complaints
True.com Problems and Complaints
Unauthorized Payments Taken by True.com
Have you ever used Matchinform ... or do you think that it is a useful idea?
Posted by: Melissa | January 23, 2007 at 03:13 PM