eHarmony’s Official reply re: that eHarmony is not upfront about unpaid matches and autorenewals

eHarmony Advice Host Renee talks about eHarmony being upfront.

Myth #1: “eHarmony is not upfront that some of my matches aren’t paid members”

1. Their slogan is “Review your matches for free”. That would have given you a big clue, right up front.

2. After the questionnaire, most likely, eHarmony presented you with matches. Most likely, you browsed through them before deciding to pay for the membership. Is that a clue or what? (Source)

Myth #2: eHarmony is not upfront about its auto-renewal

1. Right near the end of the questionnaire, members must read and agree to eHarmony’s Terms of Service. Section 13 begins with

In order to provide continuous service, eHarmony automatically renews all paid subscriptions for Services 24 hours before such subscriptions expire.

2. During the subscription purchase process, (a) the purchase page says

Please note: In order to provide continuous service, eHarmony automatically renews all paid subscriptions for Services 24 hours before they expire.

(b) the confirmation page says

At the end of this subscription your membership will renew for only $XX. You may disable this option after completing your purchase on your Account Settings page.

Please Note: In order to ensure uninterrupted service, all eHarmony subscriptions will automatically renew 24 hours before they expired. (This statement is followed by the auto-renewal information for your particular subscription, designating the Term, Price, and Day the renewal will occur.)

3. Accessible anytime, the “Accounts Settings” shows the term, price and day the renewal will happen. The link to disable it is also there.(Source)

Do you agree with Renee? Or should eHarmony improve sending out Membership Renewal Notices or redo its “How to turn off Auto-renew” instructions? Or do you think there is no cure for people who don’t read?

Comments 5

SingleGuyInNC wrote:
From our standpoint, a “your subscription is going to renew on” e-mail would not be a bad idea and would be fairly easy for them to implement.

From their standpoint, you entered into a contract with them and they really don’t need to do so. They probably make a good deal of money on folks who don’t read the fine print.

I wonder how many e-mails and phone calls to their support staff are related to this and if the money they make on undesired renewals surpasses the amount of time (money) they must spend dealing with complaints related to them.

The paid member thing has been beaten to death on here, too. I think that it would be good to implement some of the changes we have mentioned on here related to unpaid matches.
Posted 06 Nov 2008 at 7:30 pm ¶
eharmonyblog wrote:
I’ve dated at least two members who didn’t expect the renewal charge and who decided not to complain. No question about it, they make A LOT of money this way, despite the occasional bad customer rap.
Posted 07 Nov 2008 at 3:28 am ¶
Anonymous wrote:
I’ve tried to unsucessfully NOT renew my subscription with e-harmony. I understood that my matches would ‘stop my X date’. What I find out is because I looked at and apparently closed a match – I thought it was courtious to do so – that somehow I re-renewed the subscription I had just stopped. I WILL be persuing legal action against the company.
Posted 18 Mar 2009 at 11:19 am ¶
eharmonyblog wrote:
Turning matching off is not the same as turning autorenewal off.

And no, looking at or closing a match does not turn autorenewal back on.

Nonetheless, if you pursue legal action as you say you “WILL”, please let us know and keep us updated.
Posted 18 Mar 2009 at 10:07 pm ¶
Lorraine Norem wrote:
How do I contact eharmony?
Posted 04 Jan 2010 at 3:30 pm ¶

eHarmony Blog.com

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