Santa Cruz County DA’s Office files lawsuit against dating service Match.com
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KION) The Santa Cruz County District Attorney's Office announced that its Consumer Affairs and Environmental Protection Unit and the California Auto Renewal Task force have filed a lawsuit against the Match Group.
The company is a conglomerate of online dating service sites, including Match.com, PlentyOfFish, OkCupid and Tinder.
In the complaint, the DA's Office says the company took part in "unfair and unlawful business practices" and violated the California Dating Service Contract Law and the California Auto Renewal Law.
The company allegedly violated the laws by designing its sign up and cancellation processes in a way that makes it difficult for users to get out of the contract by taking actions that include misleading billing, removal of required cancellation disclosures, auto renewal disclosures that are not easy to find and making the cancellation process long and tedious.
“Dating services is one of the areas in consumer protection in which companies take advantage of consumers by getting them in and not letting them out,” said District Attorney Jeffrey Rosell.
California requires dating businesses to give users a three-day right to cancel and to make a copy of the complete contract available to the user. The DA's Office said they are also required under federal and state law to be clear with users about automatic renewals and get their "express, affirmative consent" before collecting money.
Many businesses do not follow those rules, according to the DA's Office, and Santa Cruz County has also been part of a statewide action against the site eHarmony.
