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Match.com

Match.com review: blocking practices 21

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3:50 pm EDT
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I had been a member on match.com for over a year and a half. I did find someone and dated for about 7 months. During that time, I hid my profile and stopped my subscription. Unfortunately, things did not work out with the woman and we parted ways. Last night I went back onto Match.com, unhid my profile and signed up for 3 months of service. After signing up, I was able to update my profile and send an email to a potential date. Now this is where it gets good...about two hours later I get an e-mail from Match.com stating that my account has been blocked and I was suppose to call an 1-800 number. I called the number and it was backgroundchecks.com, the company that does checks for Match.com. They informed me that they blocked my account because of something that came up on a report that they ran on me. They then told me that I needed to contact Match.com for more information. I called Match.com and they said that they are not supplied this information so I would need to call backgroundchecks.com back to rectify the problem. Long story short, I got no where by talking to backgroundchecks.com and the process of getting my record cleared, for whatever is on the report, sounds like a complete hassle.

So, my problem is 1) why does Match.com not have more control over the company that they use to do the background checks. I did research and backgroundchecks.com is not BBB accredited but the BBB still gave them an overall rating of C+. 2) Why does Match.com activate accounts before the background process has been completed. After being on the phone for an hour last night trying to get this issue resolved, I asked Match.com for a refund. They told me that they could not refund my money because my account was blocked and because I agreed to the terms, they could not refund my money. From a consumer's standpoint, this sounds like a scam in that a background check is not performed first before taking your money. I understand the reasoning and logic behind the background checks and I am glad they do that. What gets me is that I know have to prove my innocence and this will cost me more money.

After I got off the phone, I did a background check on myself through Beenverified.com. Beenverified.com is not BBB accredited either but the BBB gave them an overall rating of an A. And amazing, when I got my report, there was not one single criminal record, aliases, liens, or anything else that should have caused backgroundchecks.com to block my Match.com. My criminal record is clean but now I wonder what I have to do to clear my name.

All I am asking for is a refund but I know that will not happen unless I go through backgroundchecks.com and contest the report. So I am wondering how much that is going to cost me...and I wonder if Match.com will get a kick back!

So really though, this complaint is directed towards both Match.com and backgroundchecks.com

Resolved

The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.

21 comments
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chocturtle
chocturtle
n/a, US
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May 18, 2013 3:09 pm EDT

Did the woman you dated say something to match.com to have you blocked from the site? Did the relationship end badly? You never know with some women.

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Christopher Ryder
US
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May 30, 2016 12:25 pm EDT

Similar situation for me the past few days. I used to be a member from [protected], had a great time, lots of both good and bad dates.
Just reactivated my account a few days ago, changed a bunch of stuff as I am now older and more mature(44 yo male). Got a ton of winks and emails from age appropriate women within last 72 hours but I hadn't subscribed yet and glad I didn't. They officially terminated my account and although they did not tell me about any background check.

Basically they won't tell me anything it's very shady business practice and they really should be shut down

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musclebear
US
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Jun 18, 2016 5:47 pm EDT

I signed up for a 1 month membership - which currently retails at USD $39.99 - but was presented with a pop that offered 3 months for $65.99. I figured this was a better deal, and since I hadn't used pay sites before, I assumed the customer service as well as the general membership quality would be superior to free sites. Sure enough, I uploaded G-rated photos of myself, input the correct information in my profile, and fleshed out my description sufficiently to show some effort without overdoing it. To pass the time, I added profiles I found interesting to my favorites and received a few e-mails which were answered promptly and politely. Next thing I know, my account is blocked and I'm logged out. I tried to call customer service, but their business hours are limited to 9-5 during weekdays and this occurred on a Saturday evening. The system automatically sent me an e-mail informing me of the black and asking me for information about myself, which was provided. I haven't heard back yet and may not til next week, at which that I'll call them. But if the post made by the author of this thread is accurate, it looks like I'm out about $85 CAD. Terrible service/website.

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Mosest
US
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Sep 09, 2016 9:30 am EDT

Match.com is a HUGE SCAM! I registered for a free 7 days trial and i was getting a lot of email and winks. As soon as i make payment for a 6 months premium membership, my account got terminated. I called the 1800 phone number and a lady with a heavy Phillippino accent answered the phone. She said that it might be their automated software algorithm, that she would transfer me to a technical department which she did. The technical department guy told me that they are sorry that my profile can not be reactivated for a reason best known to them. I ask what the reason was, but they wouldn't tell me and that's how i lost $129 to a rip off company. This is getting out of control, somebody need to put them on a blast in the mainstream media so that more and more people won't fall victim to their SCAM.

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Working man.
US
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Aug 16, 2017 10:39 pm EDT

Major scam. Many of the profiles are fake and even have the same wording.

The customer service is pitiful.

International users are now expected to open an account for every country.

Most of the users are "free" and cannot read or reply to your paid message. Of course, they do not want you to know this.

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member2018
US
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Mar 22, 2018 11:52 pm EDT

I have received one week trial membership by texting "match" to 33898, as they currently advertise on TV - and I also paid for one month membership, which should start once the free trial week would end. If I changed my mind and did not want my one month membership that I paid for, I could revoke it before the end of the free trial week, their web information said.
I posted my profile and photos, and they approved them. I also had them verify my email address, which is an option that they offer and that makes your profile "more credible", they say.
A day later, however, they blocked my account for no reason whatsoever and without informing me that they did or explaining, why. I wanted to log in and could not. The system did not let me log in and a note appeared: "Your account was blocked. Send an email to resolution@..." and there was also a note that they would respond in 2 days - and that they do not work during weekends (and it happened on Friday afternoon) and that only paying members would be given a phone number to call them. (I WAS a paying member but they did not give me the phone number.)
Obviously, their response to my email would reach me only at the point in time when my free trial week would expire... and since I was not allowed to log in to my account, I could also not cancel my paid membership in time and they would thus charge me $ 40 for one more month of membership that I would not receive... and now that I have read the posts of other members that have been scammed by Match.com in similar ways, I strongly believe that they willfully do these things.

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DougJones
US
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Mar 31, 2018 3:39 am EDT

I recently lost my wife who had been battling cancer for 14 years. I signed up on Match.com Mar 29, 2018, spent 4 hours putting together my profile, including collecting and posting pictures. The next day, I spent another 5 hours looking over match profiles, sending likes to people who I thought was a good match, and then was blocked by Match.com without any explanation, or e-mail notified as to the reasons why. The block message said I had to e-mail customercare support, which I did in the hope that someone explain to me the reasons given the time invested. I received an automated e-mail response with an incident number: [protected], stating that someone would reply to me within 48 hours. Frustrated, I looked over Match.com help page where it indicated to check my credit card to see if it had been refunded, which it was to my surprise. Puzzled, I called the 1-800 number associated to the credit transaction, and was told that Match.com had my file and refused to comment as why I was being punished, repeating that someone from Match.com corporate would e-mail me. Losing my wife was bad enough, my experience with Match.com had to make dating again a nightmare. Worst customer service I have ever experienced and I would not recommend Match.com to anyone. Regards, Doug Jones.

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Nataly Dumont
US
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Jul 19, 2018 11:40 pm EDT
Replying to comment of DougJones

God bless you, Doug. I pray things worked out for you.

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Kristin Kawasaki
US
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Oct 11, 2018 9:59 am EDT
Verified customer This complaint was posted by a verified customer. Learn more
Replying to comment of DougJones

Right! Why can’t we just go back to the old way of dating? Internet dating is scary and stressful.
Good luck to you Doug. I’m sorry about your wife. My mom passed away when I was young and it broke my heart watching my dad struggle with the heartache. He did eventually find another wonderful woman and we love her and are so thankful he is not alone anymore.

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Steve Michael Smith
US
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Oct 19, 2020 10:41 pm EDT
Replying to comment of DougJones

Doug - my account was just blocked after 2 weeks as well for no reason. I was messaging a nice woman that I'll never find again. It's criminal.

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bhp123
US
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Aug 24, 2018 9:25 pm EDT
Verified customer This complaint was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I added two words to my profile. Stated that I was leaving Match earlier, then added "on Tuesday." Got an email saying that they could not approve my updated profile because it was promoting violent or illegal activities. The site is a scam. Nothing on my approved profile was changed except for "on Tuesday." Nothing on my profile promoted anything of the sort. The site is garbage.

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Justa Guy
US
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Sep 03, 2018 11:42 pm EDT

It appears that Match.Com is blocking accounts that use web browsers that block pop-ups from appearing, without any explanation, other than your email/password is incorrect (which it isn't). After the second or third attempt entering your email/password combination, it blocks one out. Since the Image CAPTCHA is a pop-up window which never appears if it is being blocked by the web browser, it just thinks one errored on the email/password entry, eventually blocking out the account after 2 or 3 attempts...

... Do not use Match.Com until they fix this!

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Chrissiebeka
US
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Nov 26, 2018 3:26 pm EST
Verified customer This complaint was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

No, web browsers that block pop-ups are not the reason for Match.com's blocking our accounts. My browser has never blocked a captcha pop-up and I have never missed my log-in, yet my accounts have been repeatedly blocked for no reason. There was no violation of Match.com rules, or obscenity, or violence, or disrespect in my profile, yet they have each time blocked it a few hours after I had created it. They approve your profile and then they block you out of your account...
When they block you out of your account, you can no longer delete your profile, therefore it stays there and looks like an active account and a new one, on top of that, so it misleads the members into believing that you are an active dater... and this, I believe, is the main reason why they do these things: to make members and prospective members believe that the site has a lot of members, while they do not!
Joining them is a waste of your time because it takes a few hours to complete you profile that they will lock you out of it only a few hours later.
I created four profiles one after the other... a new one after they blocked me out of the previous one - and I each time used a different email address (also different email providers) and a different name, as well as slightly changed personal data, so it would not become obvious that it was me again. In addition, I also used VPN for my third and fourth profile, so they could also not track my IP address and find out that it was me. I was also not yet a paying members, so they did not have my credit card data or my personal data.
Despite this all, they each time blocked me out of my profile and they never responded to my emails that I sent to the email address they give you when they block you out of your account.
It is a deliberate action, no doubt about that, and it is done to make their community look hundred times bigger (or a few thousand times bigger!) than it really is. I am an educated, financially secure, good looking lady who is looking for a life companion and now their community APPEARS to have FOUR very desirable, BRAND NEW, attractive female members that men will want to pay the fee and join the site to get in touch with them, while they really have NONE and these members will get NOTHING for their money...
A scam and a fraud for both you who believed you could find love and companionship there and those who will join because they will believe that there is a real and an active member behind your profile, which was literally STOLEN FROM YOU by Match.com who uses your data to scam other people with it! Ladies and gentlemen, this is not only scam and aggravation and abuse of our trust and our time. This is BIG TIME CRIME - yes, CRIME!

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Ann0919
US
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Dec 04, 2018 6:12 pm EST
Verified customer This complaint was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I am experiencing exactly the same issue now. They block the profile, before or after I made the payment. Customer service is a joke and they do not fix their problems, or this is totally intentional. Match.com should be investigated and go out of business. We should work together to make it happen.

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Timintampa
US
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Jan 10, 2019 2:43 pm EST
Verified customer This complaint was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

This happened to me yesterday. Created an acct only to get blocked an hour later. No reasonable explanation from corporate customer service. I e-mailed and called..

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Jarrod Wells
US
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May 02, 2019 10:54 am EDT

Just got blocked. I paid the $200 for 12 months subscription. I've been on match for two weeks. In that time I have never said anything rude or mean to anyone...perfect gentleman, nothing said in a sexual way, or anything that would be deemed creepy. I got online this morning, and I'm blocked.
I know this is illegal. You cannot make up crimes that someone has committed to violate terms of service, and then just block them without telling them why they are blocked so that they can address their grievances.
But nothing will happen to this company, as is the case with big companies. it just costs too much to take them to court.

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WB7582
Nazareth, US
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Oct 20, 2021 9:45 pm EDT

Ditto. Same boat here.

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Martin Robertson
US
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Jul 21, 2019 1:01 pm EDT

Had the same problem was blocked after 24 hours, reason was given that too many women had blocked me, had not even contacted these women in any way shape or form, they just blocked. Match agreed that I had done nothing wrong so reactivated my account. Women pre emtive blocking? Why?

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Martin Robertson
US
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Jul 21, 2019 6:54 pm EDT

Update, blocked again after 36 hours for same reason, have now left Match as in my case around 10 percentage of women were just viewing then blocking me with no contact. It would seem that women here just block you if they do not like your profile, then Match block your account for having been blocked by too many people. I have used a number of these sites over the years and was never once blocked by any member until I joined Match. There seems to be a problem with this site. For the record I know I am no oil painting, but blocking someone just because you do not like their profile seems a bit extreme.

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Jean willis
Cranbury, new jersey, US
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May 26, 2023 7:51 pm EDT

My account has been blocked as well for whatever reason, I have NO criminal record at all. This has got to be a scam by Match.com and their partner Background check,

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