Classmates.con

Over the last few years this once-popular social networking site has responded to the Facebook and MySpace influx with alarming desperation through allegedly scamming their paid customers. I have to write "allegedly" despite the fact that I became one of their "alleged" scam-ees. One only has to run a mild I-Net search to find multiple personal complaints tucked-in with a current class-action lawsuit brought on by many who have not only been unwillingly billed on an expiring "Gold Membership," but also discovered that their personal information was provided to third-parties without their knowledge or permission. Or so the lawsuit claims. Ahem.

If you are or have been one of Classmates.com customer's, at one time or another over the last two years, you may have noticed an odd charge on your credit or debit card from a variety of companies to which you never subscribed, only to learn that you had somehow (according to the third-party) clicked a link while minding your own biz on the Classmates site that provided the third-party service to you on a "trial" basis with no follow-up confirmation of your participation. Naturally, you had no idea you were in a "trial" period for anything; thus, you failed to op-out of whatever the service entailed and were then automatically charged. When tracking the issue, you then realized the ultimate source led back to Classmates.com whom/which/that provided your credit card info to their sneaky little partners via that freaky little "click." 

How to rectify this problem? There are several ways. The first hint is: one way to know whether or not a company is aware that something is amiss is when you have contacted the service, requested a refund, canceled the service, and the hapless customer rep didn't hassle you at all and immediately arranged for your refund with no questions asked. Beyond this info, I humbly leave it all up to you.

Getting out of the third-party trap of Classmates' dire desperation to remain in business was easy. Dealing with Classmates directly to combat their own "automatic renewal" policy, or to even close your free or paid account, is akin to asking your bank to loan money to you when you have no collateral, a job, or any form of income. One receives the classic "it's in our Terms of Service that we don't provide refunds" response when an "automatic renewal" has been charged to your credit card when you know you had hit the "Manual" renewal button when you signed-up for just a year. Odd that many of the complaints I've read online involve those who not only clicked "Manual", but returned to confirm, only to discover their account had been switched to "Automatic." And, if you try to locate their TOS, be ready for a journey through a confusing maze of links, and be sure to have a magnifying glass with you.

It's a nightmare to fight them. They don't provide an 800 number to discuss problems. When one deals with them via online "support" a robotic, possibly automated "first responder" email will remind you that it's all your fault and you will not receive a refund, although they'll be happy to ensure not taking your money next year when it's renewal time again. Several "real exchange with a human" emails later, you contact your bank to handle the dispute. You wait. Paperwork finally arrives full of copious copies of their TOS and your bank tells you they can't do anything about it and the debit will remain. Ahhh, but if you were fortunate, as was I, to have a copy of an email where Classmates wrote that despite not providing refunds, they just happened to have a promotion going on at that very moment where they would knock all but $10.00 off the renewal and everyone would live happily-ever-after - you have a shining moment of "Gotcha!"

Such an odious offer is proffered as they are quite determined to keep some part of your money for a service/account you no longer want or use or ever intend to view again  Thus, based on their little offer to me, my bank found it suspect and, in the end, I won. Others haven't been as fortunate. Although many customer's changed their credit cards and bank accounts solely to avoid the continual unauthorized debits, it seems that the money trail will lead to your new card or account and once more you've been charged. Classmates should go into the debt collection business if they are that desperately savvy. Honest. This happens. Just ask your bank.

No doubt it's hard out there to keep a biz running when free social networks have taken your customers away. The issue is: don't scam us to stay alive. It's time to face facts, "Classmates." You've lost your base. It's in your face, like a book you don't want to read. There's no space for you, so why not move on and take your greed with you.

"Classmates.com " = Big Sore Loser of 2010.