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West Hartford resident Jack Bass found it easier to cancel his credit card than to cancel a dating service's automatic renewal program.
EHarmony, the online matchmaking service that advertises frequently on television, is one of those companies that has figured out how to make tons of money by channeling folks into its products and then charging them for repeated, unrelenting renewals until the customer finally says stop.
Now, I am not saying that eHarmony is any worse than any of the tens of thousands of other companies that practice this legalized form of stealing. Remember when there was the stink about AOL and how their "customer service" reps were told to say no when customers tried to resign?
In fact, eHarmony says it sends an e-mail to its customers the day their subscription runs out to tell them they can cancel. They say they also tell customers when they sign up for a one-month trial program that they are on the hook until canceling.
Still, eHarmony has been the recipient of hundreds of complaints to the Better Business Bureau and on consumer Internet sites about its automatic renewal program. To its credit, eHamony responded to all BBB complaints and resolved them, according to the bureau.
Bass said he signed up for one month and then tried to quit.
"After two hours of hunting" on the eHarmony site, Bass said he finally found the cancellation instructions. He said he got billed for several months, and he ended up canceling his credit card to prevent further charges.
Lou Casale, a spokesman for eHarmony, said Friday that there is no record of Bass' contacting the company, but they will offer him a refund.
That is good. But why have such a policy anyway? The answer eHarmony and others give is it's to make sure the customer receives "uninterrupted service."
Bull. If that were the reason, there would be a cancel button on the home page making it easy for the customer to sever the relationship.
The reason they continue this practice is that they know that a large number of their customers are too busy, unfamiliar with computer programs or forgetful. This, of course, results in more money for the companies.
It is not unlike the "mail-in rebate" scam that otherwise reputable companies practice. I would like to have $10 for every rebate I was told got "lost in the mail" or did not arrive until the due date had passed.
If our legislators want to really do something good for consumers, pass legislation outlawing mail-in rebates and automatic renewals without the customer's expressed request.
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