True.com Sued, Twice

by David Evans on September 8, 2006 · 14 comments

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True.com is being sued for spamming in once case and trademark dilution, trademark infringement in another, along with co-defendants Spark Networks and Yahoo. I’m waiting to hear back from the Lawyers involved with both cases.

Technorati Tags: spark+networks, spam, true.com, yahoo+personals

Tagged as: Legal

{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }

Rob 09.22.06 at 4:47 am: I would like to see True.com shut down. I signed up for a free 7 day trial only to find out that they send emails to people when you check out their profile whether you want to or not.They keep emailing you after you cancel, and if you click on anything in these emails, it automatically signs you up again. Their practices are unethical at best.
Matt 10.02.06 at 10:46 am: Not only that, but they will automaticly charge you at the end of the trial. I tried to cancel before the end of the trial, but they make it impossible. It took me forever to find the cancelation link and when I finally found it and filled it out, it responded with a bunch of garbage characters and I was charged anyway. I had to go to my bank and dispute the charge. These people are frauds, there is no doubt about it.
Jon 10.04.06 at 2:47 am: I agree with what Rob is saying. True.com has caused 2 over draft fees on my checking account after I had requested to cancel my account. I don’t think that the bank will refund my money for the first time and I dought that they will cancel this transaction. I too think they should be shut down. They are pretty much stealing our money cause they are taking money from people who thought that their account had been canceled.
Jeannie 10.04.06 at 2:40 pm: I have to agree with Rob! I have never signed up with them, but when I got their phone number from my credit card company and called, they asked me what my birthday and street address was. I told them, but then questioned why they were asking me. (I’m the one who should be asking the questions to find out why this company charged my card). I was then told that they “felt this was not a fraudulent case and would not be refunding the money because you (me) verified the birthday and address”. They basically called me a liar and when I questioned that, they said “no, we’re just saying you must have forgot that you signed up” I told them I was going to call my credit card company back and tell them I didn’t make the charge and was told: “go ahead, when they contact us, we will tell them that it isn’t a fraudulent charge and we’re not refunding the money”. I did call my credit card company back and they said they would mail out the paper work that I would need to file. This is crazy! They’re not only preying on people, they’re rude and insulting to those who try to straighten out. They need to be stopped.

Can you believe they used that bit about me verifying my birthday and street address? Any thieve who has a person’s credit card number is not going to have any problem getting their street address!
Herbie 10.08.06 at 2:04 pm: I started signing up, but I never gave them a CC number because they didn’t state up front what they charged. I’ve been getting spam too. And way too soon for them to have done any sort of real criminal background check.

The other thing is that I never uploaded a picture and the spam is claiming that I am all these women are trying to contact me. I’ve used other dating services and I am quite sure that NEVER happens.
Jason 10.10.06 at 5:17 pm: I hope true.com goes down.
Brooke 10.12.06 at 6:06 pm: A similiar situation happened to me. I cancelled after realizing the automatic charges were occurring.

Then, AFTER cancelling, they charged me $41.64 AGAIN plus .99 and I receive two overdraft fees from my bank. It was debit, not credit, so I doubt if I will be reimbursed as well.

I am furious. Is there any way to handle this?
Frederick 10.13.06 at 2:00 am: They just got me too! I’m gonna file a complaint …

http://www.oag.state.tx.us/consumer/complain.shtml

Info you’ll need …

Dallas County
HDVE LLC dba True.com of Irving, TX
5215 N. O’Connor, Suite 1600
Irving, TX 75039
1.866-583-8783
Edward 10.16.06 at 3:28 pm: Many moons ago I signed up with Match using match@othersingles.com as my email address just to see how much crap I’d get in my e-mail. Sure enough that email address has been getting spammed for every product known to man.
Mike 10.20.06 at 10:54 am: True.com charged me 49.99 after I had cancelled online. I went to the FAQ page of their site and asked the question. How do I cancel my account before my 7 day trial ends. It made it seem like I cancelled online, and I did not have to call. It stated my account was good until a certian day, and after that day I wouldn’t have full access. After the last day I was charged another month. When I phoned them I found the customer service rep. was rude and not willing to help at all. I would never use this service again or tell anyone about it. They are TRULY decietful.
james 10.27.06 at 10:15 am: I also agree with rob. I just got charged $49.99 and $.99 and all I did was click on a picture. I had signed up in aug. I signed up for a 7 day trial which in the middle got changed to a 3 day trial. So, I immediately discontinued service, all with in the allotted free trial time. It is now late Oct and I still get spam from them. And last night I opened an email and went to look at a profile, which you can do when not a member and “break the ice” but all I did was click on the picture. Then I was immediately directed to the pay “the two month price for three months service.” I closed out the explorer and just thought nothing of it because I didn’t like their service and I was definitely not signing up. so I go to check my bank account online after getting my pay check and I see a $.99 and a $49.99 charge from True.com. I never clicked ok or aggreed to anything.
Catherine 10.31.06 at 11:34 pm: Thanks for the info, Frederick. I was just looking for an actual name(like CEO) to attach to my complaint. I can’t get those idiots to cancel my subscription either!
Jen 11.27.06 at 9:43 pm: Has anyone who filed a fraud report with their credit card company actually gotten their money refunded?? I had the same $49.99 + $1.99 charges with no hope for refund from them. EVIL, I tell you.
Joel 11.30.06 at 10:21 pm: I, too, had a very difficult time canceling my True.com subscription, but finally managed to do so back in July 2006. However, I just found out today that True.com had charged me fifty bucks (okay, $49.99) two days ago apparently for re-starting a membership I’d canceled back in July. I called their customer service center and had … well, let’s just say it was a “very difficult customer service experience.” The rep I talked to said I’d started a three-day “free trial” on November 23 that I didn’t cancel, so they charged me the subscription rate. I repeated — over an over again — that I didn’t start a new membership and I hadn’t authorized them to charge my credit card. After several minutes of back and forth (essentially a schoolyard “No, I didn’t! — Yes, you did!” type of argument), the rep transferred me to a supervisor.

The supervisor said that I had re-started my subscription by looking at some profile pictures. I emphasized that I had not authorized any charges on my credit card, and I don’t ever remember seeing any sort of webpage indicated that any charges would be made to my credit card.

Personally, I’m planning to file a small claims court action here in Portland, Oregon where I live. But, I think someone needs to raise a public stink over this somehow. Seems like deceptive trade practices to me.

Thanks for posting all the good information, though. I’m also filing a claim with the Texas Attorney General (thanks for the very helpful link, Frederick), and I may even talk to some friends of mine in the legal community about whether a class action lawsuit is warranted.

True.com Sued, Twice

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