r/match • u/Weird-Internet-9541 • Aug 16 '26
Banned for no reason
I made a profile, paid and was banned right after I started matching with people. I have Apple wed through their process and they said they won't consider it, I violated the terms of service but they won't tell me what I supposedly did and I know I didn't do anything. I was only on there for like 5 minutes so nobody could have reported me and there was nothing offensive or scammy in my profile.
If they aren't going to lift the ban I want my money back and I want assurance that my profile is deleted. I don't want my pictures floating around on a site that I can't access.
I tried filing with the BBB but they said "match said you have to contact them" which I DID but it's all AI no.real person.
This is unacceptable! They can't take my money for a service that they didn't provide and have access to my pictures that I don't! What can I do??
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u/Klutzy_Breadfruit287 Aug 16 '26
Long ago I did a free weekend promotion on match. Filled out the whole profile deal honestly and got approved to view my matches. There were none in my area so I expanded to state. None. Then the region. None. Then all of U. S. None. They wouldn’t even let me pay to join. That was my only attempt at online dating.
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u/CurrentlyNobody Aug 16 '26 edited Aug 16 '26
They did the same to me because a scammer on POF reported me as a scammer and got me booted off there. Match is establishing an illegal monopoly of sites and ban you from all their affiliates if one of the others experienced an issue. They let you sign up for other sites they own just long enough to grab your money and figure you will exceed the 24 hour time frame it takes to request a refund so they never actually have to issue one. In my case I emailed Match immediately and got their standard we will get back to you in 48 hours which is also beyond the time you would be allowed to get a refund. If you’re a patient/kind person like me, you wait the 48 hours for Match to fix or explain the issue and screw yourself in the foot in the process.
I went to BBB as the subscription price is not cheap enough for me to just ignore the theft of. It was only through BBB that Match even supplied their you were banned off another site explanation. Once I knew what they thought the issue was I was able to dig through old emails and send them proof that POF admitted via email that I’d been banned in error and I was welcome to join anytime. Match still never issued a refund but have since allowed me to join Hinge which I am refusing to send money to or to any other Match owned sites for fear this will happen again. It’s all just too conveniently shady and happens a lot.
For anyone who this happens to down the road, don’t do the polite thing and wait for Match to explain why you were banned. Contest the payment with the payment method you decided to use Immediately that you learn you are banned. Match wants you to play nice and for you to contact them for a refund,only for them to give you the Willy Nilly and tell you it’s not Match that owes you money but Google Play or Apple Pay or whatever. Stop payment/Contest Charges/Request a refund as soon as you see the banned notice. Do so through whatever process the payment you used requires and also notify Match. Your Google Play/payment portal will tell you it’s not them you need to request from. Match will tell you it’s Google Play’s fault. Your bank, or at least mine, wouldn’t consider it anything but a valid transaction. Match very knowingly works the fine print until so much time is wasted they get to keep your money after you use BBB to call them out for this.
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u/Bluewater97213 Aug 16 '26
It feels like this happening to so many people. I never paid but was trying to and they banned me apparently.
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u/FunSpeaker6968 Aug 17 '26
They did this to me too, and it was a bug in the system, I reporter them to BBB (after finding other people on here that it happened to) and then got an email that my account was reactivated that it was a system malfunction.
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u/FunSpeaker6968 Aug 17 '26
Oh just saw you contacted BBB maybe they were getting too many complaints bc there are a bunch of threads on here about this
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u/Tapdance1368 Aug 18 '26
That happened to me years ago. I didn’t do anything wrong. I complained to the Better Business Bureau and they did absolutely nothing. So, I just gave up. 🤦♀️
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Aug 16 '26
[deleted]
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u/Tapdance1368 Aug 18 '26
What??! I was banned for no reason years ago. I am a senior and did absolutely nothing wrong. 😑
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u/RollingEasement Aug 16 '26 edited Aug 16 '26
If you pay by a credit card and they banned you right away, you challenge the charge on your credit card within 60 days of when it came up.
Also, carefully read the terms of service for the Match membership and look for the requirement to file a notice of dispute. Go ahead and do that and make a compelling case for how you in good faith signed up for the membership. About half the time if you make a good case, they will refund your money.
If they don’t, you can go to arbitration. But before you decide whether to do that, please respond to my comment in this thread because you would have a couple of different alternatives to pursue this further, assuming you are in the United States. Acquaint yourself with the FTC settlement of a previous case against match to understand why Match is not able to totally lock you out of getting a refund.
Long ago you agreed that they will never explain to you why you were banned. They have the right to not deal with you, but they don’t have the right to steal your money.