The Dallas Morning News reported on March 10th, 2009 that True.com dating web site settles a class action lawsuit for $1.5M. The Irving, Texas based internet dating site will pay $1.5 million in refunds to their customers that were still charged monthly membership fees after they canceled their memberships.
Under an agreement filed the previous week, True.com will compensate customers who were incorrectly charged for services since 2003. Customers were incorrectly charged membership fees after canceling their accounts or after accidentally clicking on links, according to the federal lawsuit filed in the Northern District of Texas. The agreement still must be approved by U.S. District Judge David C. Godbey before the refund process can begin, said Jonathan Tycko, an attorney representing plaintiff Thomas Wong.
Thomas Wong filed the lawsuit in June 2007, claiming he was billed at least three times by True.com after trying to cancel his membership. He claimed the company violated state and federal laws.
According to the settlement, True.com must also revise its auto-subscription system to avoid future members from being accidentally charged. This is going to put a real hurt in their renewals and I am sure that we’ll be seeing less of this slutty advertising that they have been doing for the past 5 years.
Both parties will identify eligible former customers and refer them to a Web site for refunds. Those charged one month of membership would receive $35 and those charged for more than two months would receive $50, according to the court documents. Some members would also be given a free 45-day membership to the site.
Jonathan Tycko said at least 150,000 members are expected to get a cash or membership refund, but the number could grow once the agreement is finalized. Gary D. Eisenstat, an attorney representing True.com, said the company believed it had a strong defense against Wong’s allegations, but decided it was more economical to settle the lawsuit. What kind of defense do you have against people that cancel their memberships and still get billed. That is called billing fraud and the adult industry has been notorious for this type of behavior and with CC payment systems already putting a ton of pressure on the dating industry with bad debt and charge backs I am surprised that they even still have their merchant account.
Give True.com a try to see if you can cancel their membership and not be continuously billed each month. Ha.
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