Event: eHarmony

Dating website eHarmony engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct over subscription traps that cost thousands of customers hundreds of dollars each, the federal court has found.The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) sued the US-based eHarmony in 2023 over claims of providing free dating on its platform, and the information consumers were given on subscription costs and renewal terms when buying a premium subscription.The ACCC said it had received hundreds of complaints from consumers about eHarmony and its memberships, including customers who were unaware they were signed up for automatic renewal until their credit cards were charged hundreds of dollars.The regulator has referred to these practices as “subscription traps,” where customers think they’re signing up for a single-fee service, or where cancelling a service is difficult.In a federal court judgment on Tuesday, Justice Christopher Horan found eHarmony engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct under Australian consumer law in six different aspects of its operations up until July 2024.That includes representing that basic free membership allowed users communicate with other user for the purpose of dating, representations about its pricing in monthly versus yearly payments, and automatic renewal information.Horan found eHarmony’s website contained the dominant message that the premium membership subscription plans were for finite periods of time when it was automatically renewed at a non-discounted price.One user who gave evidence in the case deleted the app a couple of months after signing up, but then discovered her credit card was charged $478.80. When she cancelled her credit card, eHarmony eventually referred her case to a debt collection agency.Another customer reported a similar case with $598.80 referred to debt collection, saying the incident had a “huge toll” on him.The ruling stated that between 5 November 2019 and 6 June 2024, 1.3 million users from Australia registered for a basic membership, with…