Complain about a product or service

Classmates.com

NetZero • Billing disputes • Cancellation problems • Sample cancellation letter • Dropped calls • Installation problems --- • Juno complaints • Classmates.com complaints --- • Classmates Joins Netzero, Juno • NetZero, Juno Merge into United Online

Some might quibble with our putting this in the Dating Services section -- but why else would you want to look up old classmates? To remember golden moments in Mr. Klingenfus' biology class? By the way, if you're wondering about Classmates.com's classmates, check out Netzero and Juno.

Becki of Greenville, SC (06/30/08)
Like most others posted here, I too signed up for a limited 3 month membership while I was working on our high school class reunion. I DID NOT authorize any additional charges and have not had access to the account for many months now.

I have been charged $15.00 that was not authorized and with carrying such a very small balance in my checking account I now run the risk of being overdrawn.

Terry of Kailua-Kona HI (06/26/08)
After a year as a gold member, classmates.com has me froze out of my home page. I've tried for hours to resolve this with thier help site and can't seem to get anyplace. So now I wish to remove myself and can't.

they deduct my monthly fees. And I need that to stop.

Ken of San Jose CA (06/23/08)
I signed up for a 3 month membership for $15 and later learned that it was an indefinitely long membership with automatic renewal. The 3 month was the billing cycle and not the length of the membership.

The first cust. service rep. dropped me from the chat session. The second one was more helpful but lied about how much they could refund me. In the end I was only out $15, but now had to take the time to complain.

Alison of Gibbsboro NJ (06/19/08)
I subscribed for 1 year of service at $39.00 because that was the only way I could see people who were trying to contact me. 10 days after I signed up I had a charge on my bank account for $19.95 from At Home America. When I call the number listed I asked how they had gotten my credit card information. They proceded to tell me I agreed to it because I signed up for Classmates.com and I didn't cancel after the 7 day free period. I suposedly have terminated this service and I also immediatly canceled the Classmates.com service.

Funny thing is the same day I canceled At Home American I received an email about 6 hours later stating thanks for joining their site and my card will be charged $19.95 after my 7 days free. I responded to their email and told them exactly what I thought of their process!

I lost the $39.00 and the $19.95.

Louis of West Lafayette IN (06/18/08)
A former student from [my] High School enter onto the web site and posted 3 messages reporting a fight I had with other U.S. Marines. She copied the info from [a] Website, I did not give her permission to use that data. I reported it to Classmates.com and did not remove it, rather they removed me from the membership status. Any help will be appreciated. Semper Fi

Gary of Huntington Beach CA (06/18/08)
I ordered a 1-time trial membership to their classmates searching services. 1 year later, (6/17/08) they automatically took another $39.00 out of my account. There is no wat to contact them. They will not remove me, my account info nor my bank info from their records. I want: 1) my money back. 2) my account closed immediately, 3) all my information removed from their computers.

They have stolen $39.00 from me and accessed my bank account without my knowledge or permission

Brooke of Nicholasville KY (06/17/08)
I was organizing my 10-year and I signed up for a Gold Membership for $12.99 for three months. It turned out that if you read the fine print: It is actually $12.99 for EACH month. Plus, they assume you will want to renew every three months, and sign you up for a year! After that year, you are also automatcially renewed to continue.

What was really bad, you also agree to become a member, and be billed by at home rewards, some other website that will bill you $19.95 once a month.

This website is the most deceptive website I've ever seen. Read the fine print, your going to pay for a bunch of things you didn't want!!!

Thankfully, my account did not overdraft, but I did pay about $50 more than I wanted to for their services and the at home rewards crap. I have been told that refunds are being issued...nothing has posted back to my account yet.

Lnda of Fontana CA (06/16/08)
I signed up for a trial membership for three-months. I did NOT authorize a automatic renewal. Recently my checking account was debited for another membership without my authorization or notification. I have search their website for information to find someone to discuss this with, but there is no contact information on their website. In addition, isn't it illegal in the state of California, for any company to keep your credit card/debit card info on file?

When Classmates.com took funds our of my account it overdrew may account causing me to suffer overdraft fees. I had no way of knowing Classmates would debit my account nor did I give them permission to do so.

Stephen of Fryeburg ME (06/15/08)
Classmates.com will not let me register or log in no matter which or what I try.

None, it just frustrated me to no end.

Joann of Berlin NJ (06/15/08)
I am trying to get into my account and it says that my password is incorrect. the password i use is the same word i use for everything. I think this a a scheme. I just joined and am already getting problems. I want to cancel.

I don't want to pay for a three month plan that has already started out on the wrong foot. It gives me bad feeling. I read too many bad thing about this classmates.com to keep my membership up.

Jerry of Belmont NC (06/14/08)
I just wish to quit classmates.

I cant get away from the classmates site

Paul of Maryville TN (06/14/08)
They continue with contracts,and do EFWD to remove money from my bank, Iv'e tried to cancel on line, but they take so long that my dialup goes off line. Again and again same

15.00 bucks is taken with out my known they are stealing from me and laughing about it.

Gary of Lynnwood WA (06/12/08)
I thought I was done with classmates.com years ago, but today I realized that they weren't done with me. I found that they have been charging me for a gold membership at $15.00 every three months, and that has been going on for at least two cycles and possibly much more. I did not ever agree with paying a fee for being able to search for classmates and don't every remember authorizing it.

Charging me for a service that I never authorized nor use.

David of Mankato MN (06/11/08)
classmates.com took money out of my account without my permission. I found there phone number call this number & you can talk to a real person

Carrie of Tulsa, OK (06/07/08)
I too was a sucker for the ol' autorenewal routine with the goldmember trial, although my losses are not quite as bad as previous entrants.

I discovered unauthorized charges from classmates on my last credit card staement . I spent what seemed like forever scanning through their website for some kind of contact information. I finally had to google classmates.com contact to find out how to cancel. Of course I still found no phone number, only a link that resulted in a computer generated we'll get back to ya email service.

The response was that I was not getting a refund but that I can log on to my account and change my renewal from automatic to manual. Sure would have been nice to know that information upfront. I feel that their services were completely worthless and that their website is simply a front to con people out of their money.

Jane of Glen Burnie, MD (06/07/08)
I received a bill for renewal of this account, which I rarely use. I have tried to cancel membership, but I must logon in order to do that. I am told I must log on and change billing option to manual. But I cannot lwith the information I am sent. I have tried for two days now and am completely frustrated. There is not phone number to contact anyone.

Jacqueline of Layton UT (06/06/08)
My complaint is the same as all the rest you see here. I authorized a ONE TIME PAYMENT of $15 from my checking account, and they continued to withdraw money every three months. I DID NOT authorize these transactions, and to top it all there is no contact information on the sight to cancel.

Dk of Colorado Springs CO (06/06/08)
What happened to classmates.com? I can no longer access the site and they have my money!

Susan of Churchville MD (06/03/08)
I enrolled in the Gold membership with Classmates.com a year ago. I thought my membership ran out a couple of months ago. Approximately a week ago, I discovered they charged my credit card $39 for a renewal that I did not authorize. I searched the site, looking for a way to cancel. You can cancel the membership through a request that can be found under the help button, but one will not be refunded any portion of the renewal fee.

Since I did not authorize the renewal, I emailed Classmate's customer service, relayig the fact that I did not wish to renew, nor did I request to renew my membership. A few minutes later, I received a response stating that there was wording above the Pay button when I initially joined, stating that I would automatically renew the membership. If this was the case, I would have gotten a membership here. Since I couldn't get any further with Classmates, I contacted my bank to dispute the charge. By the way, Classmates never sent me an email stating that a renewal period was coming up. Stay clear of this sight & dispute your charges.

This fiasco cost me $39, in addition to the time spent trying to rectify the situation.

Kathy of Port Orchard WA (06/03/08)
I seem to have the same complaint as everyone else here! I discovered today that they had taken out $39.00 from my checking account for a renewal that I never initiated or OK'ed.

I had already discovered that membership is worth nothing! Once you become a gold member, you can email anyone you want. The catch? The recipient has to also be a gold member to read your email!! That's how I got suckered into joining in the first place. They notified me that I had an email waiting for me, but I would have to be a gold member to view it. As the email was actually for my sister, and was from a long-lost exchange student who had lived with her, I paid, so I can reunite the two. But now, a year later, they renewed!!! That's stealing!!!

I'm out the additional 39.00, if I can't get my bank to fight it. And then what about next year???

Deanne of Tumwater WA (06/03/08)
I signed up for Classmates.com and they took the entire years annual dues at once. Then, I get a $19.95 charge to my credit account, and then, another charge of $14.95. I read other consumer complaints about Shopping Essentials and CIC Triple Advantage who both of them showed up, exactly as other consumers reported taking the same amount out of my bank account ILLEGAL AND UNAUTHORIZED!

I called this Shopping Essentials and she was vague, yet, asked me if I had signed up for Classmates.com. I let her know they already took the $59.00 out of my bank account.

I HAD $75.00 WORTH OF OVER-DRAFT FEES AND $19.95 AND ANOTHER $14.95 TAKEN FROM MY BANK ACCOUNT WITHOUT MY AUTHORIZATION.

Pamela of St.petersburg FL (06/01/08)
I signed up for the 3 month trial membership for classmates.com and I wouldn't be so upset I'm being charged automatically if the site was good. It is not user friendly AT ALL, can't send a message, the pictures are so small you can't even make them out, and theres absolutely no way to enlarge them so why even have them on there at all?

There is NO CONTACT INFO on this site. This in itself should be illegal. I had to find this site for consumer complaint to even get a number for them. This website is very confusing to use, and hard to cancel.I think it stinks that they can send me AS MANY e-mails as they want to but I can't have an e-mail address to contact them.

I will be watching my credit card to make sure classmates.com is not giving out my CC info to anyone else.

Leo of Visalia CA (06/01/08)
I signed up for a 3 month membership only with classmates. I understood that unless I renewed after 3 months my membership would cancel. I accepted these terms, and felt I would make a decision when the time came continue with the service, based on how I felt about the service being provided.

I was not given this option as described in the initial membership offer. Instead Classmates, automaticlly renewed my membership without my consent. The was done by withdrawing funds from my credit card without my knowledge. I contacted them as son as I noticed the charge on my credit card account. My only available option to contact with them, has been by e-mail. I have not found any method yet be able to speak to some on on the phone. Their response was to avoid any mention of compinsation for the fee charged. They did give me a method to stop the automatic renewals in the future. They also did not properly explain how I could close my membership entirely, Which I requested also.

The economic impact is small, but I don't want to get trapped into a repeatative cycle of charges.  At this point I am only out 15 dollars, but it was money that was not granted to classmates. It was taken withot my consent. I would like it back.

Karen of Orland Park IL (05/30/08)
I signed up for a 3 month membership only and was put on an automatic renewal program, which I never agreed to and was never told about. I never received any notification about membership renewal coming up and that this was going to happen. They charged me anyway. I want my money back that was taken without my authorization.

It may be only $15.00 but in todays times this is important to the family budget that is stretched so thin already.

Barbara of Irving, TX (05/24/08)
I am upset with Classmates.com for taking money from people like myself for a Gold Membership. So far almost everyone I have emailed on Classmates have not read the email.  it is obvious to me that the people are not receiving the emails because Classmates software doesn't work.

All Classmates.com will tell me is they person at the other end must have a SPAM filter. That is baloney. It happens too often. It would be different if the person read the email and didn't respond but the emails are always unread and the higher percentage are unread which shows they have defective software. Why can't someone look into this and prove I am correct that something is wrong with Classmates software? It should also be made to be made more user friendly.

Jerry of Kirkland WA (05/21/08)
getting billed for a service not receiving. Money is being drawn from my checking account from them, and thinking along time ago discontinued their services.

mismanagement of funds the unknown withdrawls have caused kaos when money is tight, don't need this. The service was shoddy and discontinued it long ago.

Nannette of Bellevue WA (05/19/08)
I ordered a 1-time trial membership to their classmates searching services. I cancelled the same day. 1 year later, they automatically took another $39.00 out of my account. They will not remove me, my account info nor my Visa number from their records. I want: 1) my money back. 2) my account closed immediately, 3) all my information struck out of their computers.

They have stolen $39.00 from me and accessed my Visa account without my knowledge or permission.

Nina of Windsor CA (05/18/08)
I, too had my membership renewed without my knowledge. So I wrote I did not authorize a renewal. Please cancel the charge from April 2008. I do not use classmates enough to be charged $40 a year. It isn't worth it. Nobody that has claimed to be a contact or friend (all of 6 or 7) is anyone I care to contact or know.I tried to do this before but I couldn't get into the site because I didn't have my password until I had time to search for it.

The whole idea of charging me just because [they] have my account number should be illegal. Obviously, according to the response I got it is too bad I was just renewed but I can change the request to a manual renewal ...for NEXT year! These guys are the internet version of thieves and pick pockets.

Jim of Cedar Grove NC (05/16/08)
You pay for three months then they charge you for Six. You try to dispute the charge and then they tell you you need to change your account settings to manual. Something they forgot to tell you the first time when you signed up. This company should be held accountable.

Karen of Cove AR (05/13/08)
On my 3/08 bank statement there was a $15.00 charge that was charged as a CLASSMATES ONLINE PURCHASE which we did not authorize. Can you give me more information about this charge and how we can be either credited or send a reembursement. Thank you.

Sherrill of Arlington TN (05/12/08)
I signed up on a Web Sight called Classmates.com. I even paid for the gold plan to get more information. Their system runs you around in circles where you end up on the same page over and over. It asks for your screen name and password. Then it asks for my e-mail address and then they say it is already being used by someone else so you are back going around and around again.

They sent e-mails to you that say something like 9 more friends have visited your sight - I go on the webb - no friends or if they were you can't get into that part of the web sight. Another example: someone's looking for you and it ends up to be someone I'd never heard of before. From time to time I'd sign in hoping I'd find someone I went to class with but then I'd end up in a circle jerk again getting no where.

Like I said I tried to e-mail them over and over again with no reply. I finally got their address and phone number from a web sight tonight making complaints about Classmates. There are quite a few out there and quite a number of people who are upset. They are being renewed without authorization and so many other unethical things too long to list. Please visit the web and look at the comments peopleare making. Simething has to be done.

Economical - consequences waste of time, stress and the humiliation of being conned.

Robert of Fredericktown PA (05/11/08)
Classmates sent an email to me to advise my 3 month membership will expire on June 10,2008. I sent a reply to their message stating that I wanted my membership cancelled effective June 10,2008 on the expiration date. I just received a message back from the Internet advisor stating that my message could not be delivered. This puzzles me to no end. They may just renew a membership automatically without my consent. I smell something wrong! Can you help me resolve this problem before it becomes a nightmare? Thank You.

None Yet but it is an accident waiting to happen! I have read where others had to contact their Bank to recover their money.

Maureen of New City NY (05/09/08)
can not get into site paid for 1 year gold membership and when i complain i get a generic message that does not answer my question

Lisa of New Orleans LA (05/08/08)
I ordered the 7day free trial,tried to cancel it but couldn't. I was charged $39.00 and have no clue for what!! After doing some research I found out the real name of the company, since there was no contact us number on the website.

For anyone needing a refund the name of the company is Classmates online, Inc. based in washington.  Call and you can get your refund back (of course you have to wait up to 30 days for that)and you can get your info completely removed from the website! Sorry it took me so long to figure this out but this company is a rip off. Half of the people they claim are there aren't and the other half are probably deceased!

Cynthia of Palm Shores FL (05/06/08)
I, too, signed up for only a 3 month membership for $15.00 and am now having trouble getting them to refund the 2nd $15.00 charge. I should never have trusted a site that does not list a 1-800 customer service number. CLASSMATES.COM IS JUST ANOTHER ONE OF MANY SCAMS ON THE WEB. BEWARE.

Karen of Chester NY (05/06/08)
I am constantly being charged $15.00 for a service that I was once curious about and tried but then cancelled within 30 days. I cannot get in touch with them since there is no phone number to once again inform them to STOP CHARGING ME! It keeps asking for a password which I don't have one becuase I AM NOT A MEMBER! HELP!

Gloria of West Newton PA (05/05/08)
This is supposed to be for graduating classes. Evidently you get no results with anything if you don't spend money to join. People supposedly involved with Classmates.com are listed. There is a name from my graduating class that I want removed from their contact list because he has passed away two years ago. I know this because he was my husband. I do not even know how his name would have even gotten on their list in the first place.

I am very disrespected by this and being constantly ignored doesn't help.

Donna of Montour Falls NY (05/05/08)
Thankfully, I never signed up for any service that costs something, but I did do the no-cost version. They would send me an email every few months or so, and it wasn't a big deal. But then, I got an email saying someone had signed my guestbook, so I checked. Someone I knew actually had, and we traded emails.

Then the emails from Classmates.com became more frequent, now they're every day. The page they have to manage your email preferences says to change the preferences and then click update to confirm. There is no update button. So then I tried to send them an email, and got it all written only to find that there is no send button. What a scam. Isn't anyone doing anything legally about these guys?

It's just a nuiscance at this point.

James of Livonia MI (05/04/08)
I never signed up for this site and I can never contact them becuse they don't offer it from their site unless you can access it. I never signed up for it so how can I know the password? I am still getting charged $39.00 from them. I need help.

Gloria of Belleair Bluffs FL (05/04/08)
Classmates renewed my membership automatically. I was a member, but do not want an automatic deduction from my account.

Deducted automatically from my checking. Do not want an automatic ded.

Charissa of Las Vegas NV (05/03/08)
I signed up a year ago for a Gold Crown Membership. Right after I signed up I could no longer access my account. My login would not work. I e-mailed Classmates to please let me know what my login information is several times for a few months without any response. Two days ago I noticed a charge from them for another $39.00 for automatic renewal for an account I cannot even access to begin to attempt to cancel.

I have tried once again to contact them to at least retrieve my login information and they will not respond to me and no way to get a hold of them. I did try the forgot your password option and I was prompted to put in my e-mail address and name and I received an error telling me they did not have enough information to find me even though I provided everything they asked for. Any ideas?

I am a single Mom who literally just had to go to bankruptcy proceedings today. I cannot afford to be paying this and I do not think it is fair that I am not given the option to even cancel - particularly since it's a service I am not even benefitting from as I am unable to even access my account and they are unwilling to assist!

Stephania of Dallas GA (05/02/08)
I noticed on my online bank account today that a $15.00 charge is pending for classmates.com I did sign up 3 months ago...but only for those 3 months. I in no way authorized this new charge and NEVER signed up for a renewal. I am contacting my bank to dispute this charge.

I was told by a representative at classmates.com that it would be refunded tomorrow. We will see. If this happens to you call and demand the charge be taken off and let them know you will be contacting your bank to dispute this charge.

Cynthia of Aliso Viejo CA (05/02/08)
Signed up for 3 months. Did not click automatic renewal because I did not want it. Little did I know, I had to click it to cancel. They charged an additional $15 on my cc. Called and got a recording saying that if you were charged, it was because of this automatic renewal scam. Sure they got $15 out of me but lost my business and that of many others in the process.

I paid $15 I did not want to pay (they won't refund it) and must now cancel my cc.

Vincent of Toms River NJ (04/30/08)
I signed up for 3 month Gold membership. It was a trial offer. Yet, $15 was charged to my credit card, WITHOUT MY AUTHORIZATION, for a monthly fee. There is no way in which I can cancel this subscription. There is no one to call, no email contacts, and no where on the site to cancel. Tomorrow I am calling up the credit card company and having no more money charged to my account and alert them as it is fraudulent activity.

Vincent of Toms River NJ (04/30/08)
I signed up for 3 month Gold membership. It was a trial offer. Yet, $15 was charged to my credit card, WITHOUT MY AUTHORIZATION, for a monthly fee. There is no way in which I can cancel this subscription. There is no one to call, no email contacts, and no where on the site to cancel. Tomorrow I am calling up the credit card company and having no more money charged to my account and alert them as it is fraudulent activity.

Dorothy of Hawthhorne NJ (04/30/08)
I inadvertantly filled out form for membership before I found out the cost. Within an hour I began to attempt to reach the website and cancel my membership. I had no success in reaching whoever, wherever, whatever I could do to have cancellation accepted.

The cost is about $50.00 a month and I simply cannot manage it...nor do I actually want what is offered by the membership.

Ashleigh of Simi Valley CA (04/29/08)
I was being charged the automatic renewal of $15 per 3 months without knowing how I enrolled. I called customer service today and they removed me. I won't know for another few months if they really did, but anyone frustrated with wasting their money should give it a shot.

Mary of Greenville, CA (04/29/08)
Classmates.com deducted from my checking account without my permission. I have contacted them on three occasions and promised the money would be returned to my account. As of today, nothing has hpapened. I just visited a site devoted to persons who have been frauded by this organization. Is this not a federal offfcense?

Mary of Greenville, CA (04/29/08)
Classmates.com deduted from my checking account without my permission. I have contacted them on three occasions and promised the money would be returned to my account. As of today, nothing has hpapened. I just visited a site devoted to persons who have been frauded by this organization. Is this not a federal offfcense? Please go to the web site for support of the enormous number of person who have experienced the same service.

Jessica of North Beach, Christchurch OTHER (04/29/08)
I had once (quite a while ago) signed up for a 3-month trial with Classmates.com. What I AGREED to when I signed up, as I DID actually read the small print, was that IF I wanted to continue my contract with them after 3 months, I COULD choose to do so. I did not. They have NOW just this week...(MORE than 3 months later) charged me $15. Since I no longer reside in the US, I have to mail checks in USD to my family to deposit into my account for me, and as chance would have it, I did that last week, however it has not been received/deposited yet. As such, their $15 fee overdrafted my account, and I am now DAILY accruing overdraft fees! I am already about $50 in the hole from these people! AND to top it off (thank you for those who at least posted their phone number) I have to accrue the expense of an international phone call to solve this issue! UGH! This is ridiculous that companies are allowed to do this!

As of yet, I am about $50 in the hole and growing as more overdraft fees are charged daily. Plus the cost (tomorrow) of international phone calls.

Jennifer of Staten Island NY (04/25/08)
How does a person cancel their account. there is no information given on how to cancel. no email information.

unwanted withdrawal from my credit card.

Mark of Suffern NY (04/14/08)
Absolutely nothing I can do to unsubscribe. Drives me nuts.

Lynn of Sarasota,Fl FL (04/13/08)
unauthorized withdrawal from my bank account....now have overdraft fees, cannot contact customer service, company MUST be charged with federal legalities----after reading MULTIPLE other complaints, I wish I knew

overdraft fees in the 100's of dollars. cancellation of credit card

L. of Pueblo CO (04/02/08)
I have been trying to get my name removed from the classmates.com website. Although I have asked, I get no response, and recently I looked on the site, and it appears there is no 'contact us' link. I also noticed my brother who has been deceased for over ten years is listed as a contact. Not everyone thinks high school was the best time of their life, I want my name and my brother's name removed permanently. Thanks.

I don't want my name or brothers name as a classmates contact. I don't want to be found!

Roland of Hedgesville WV (04/02/08)
I signed up for a trial 3 month membership authorizing a one-time charge on my credit card. Classmates.com automatically renewed my membership without my permission and charged my credit card $15.00. I sent four emails to them canceling my membership to no avail. At this point, I am not so much concerned with getting my $15.00 as I am in wanting to make sure they don't take it upon themselves to automatically renew a membership I have no interest in whatsoever. Frankly, I do not trust them and want nothing to do with them and feel compromised knowing they have my credit card number.

$15 charged to my credit card without my permission when I only agreed to a one time charge at the start of a three month trial membership. I am concerned with the potential harm they may do me having my credit card information at their disposal.

Lisa of Oviedo FL (03/24/08)
I have been receiving emails from Classmates.com for years. I even receive them from schools I never attended. I never signed up for this service, never entered any school information and have emailed them numerous times asking to please be removed and no one acknowledges my emails or removes this information that fraudulently entered about me by someone other than myself. Please help. My husband is an attorney and I am about to have him file a formal complaint, but as I was searching for more information on this company, I found this site and thought I would start here.

Fraudulent information is being posted using my maiden and married names. This is unacceptable. I have a successful career that I do not want jeopardized with false information.

Stacey of Rochester IL (03/18/08)
I was contacted by Classmates saying that someone had signed my guestbook. I think I may have put my name into their database years ago when they first started. I responded to the email. They said that I couldn't see who had tried to contact me unless I joined. I figured that $15 wasn't that bad for three months, but apparently they automatically renew your membership. I don't remember seeing this. It turned out that the person who had signed the guestbook was someone who I had never heard of and who none of my friends seem to remember. I wondered if perhaps this person was paid to contact people. I know it was probably all legal, but I feel like I've been conned.

Stuck with $15 charge every three months.

Richard of Burke VA (03/12/08)
I want to delete and remove my name and email address from their accounts and also get a credit to my credit card. I also want to be removed from their account list listings. This should be done ASAP!

Debra of Florence, MT (03/10/08)
I was charged $15 by Classmates.com. I did not authorize them to charge my credit card. I have tried to contact them, but they will not respond to my emails.

I can not even sign into my Classmates.com account as my password will not work. I have emailed them about this and they will not send my password to me.

Myron of Aransas Pass TX (03/08/08)
My wife was trying to locate a classmate she had not seen or heard from for almost 40 years. I went on the internet to WHITE PAGES. With a minimal fee I was able to obtain her phone number, my wife called her and conversed for several hours.

About a month later Classmates.com emailed me and said that this classmate my wife was looking for was trying to locate me. This was nothing but a fabricated rotten lie! I have emailed them numerous times asking them to stop sending me email. I still get email from them at least 5 times a week. I have read other horror stories posted on this site. Why can't someone shut them down? How can they be allowed to keep steeling from customers?

Roy of Bonneau, SC (03/05/08)
I also signed up $15 for 3-months with classmates.com.  After one month I cannot access my account and have repeatedly tried to contact them. 

Bottom line is that I paid for a service that I did not get.

Ken of Grand Prairie TX (03/05/08)
I received an email from classmates.com approx 3 months ago asking I wanted to try the Gold Membership for 3 months at a total cost of 15.00. There was no indication anywhere on the site that this would be a recurring charge. Today, I see a 15.00 pending charge against my debit card which I clearly did not authorize. I called them at 425-917-5000 and was told that I agreed to automatic renewal which I never agreed too. I asked that this amount be refunded. At the time Crystal told me that she could change my account so that there would be no further automatic charges in the future, however this charge would get me current through the next 3 months. I disputed this fact with he and said I do not want to pay this charge and to please supply me with a copy showing where I agreed to recurring charges. She explain that the policy is stated on their sites. That is misleading and I did not agree to these terms. Furthermore I demanded proof showing where I actually agreed to these terms and not what is shown on their website, otherwise this will be disputed with my bank. She said that she would then credit my account for the 15.00 charge. I am still going to contact my bank as this was never spelled out to me other than there would be a one time charges. This is certainly evidence of a deceptive trade practice. She also told me that the credit could take up to 30 days to appear which sounds suspicious.

15.00 unauthorized chanrge to my debit card.

Missy of Godfrey, IL (03/04/08)
Once you enroll, Classmates automatically signs you up for automatic deduction. I thought I was signing up for a 3 month trial, but apparently it meant they'd take my money every 3 months.

Yvonne of Poplar Bluff, MO (03/04/08)
I wanted to locate a person who graduated with me so I signed up for the info at $15 for three months, non-refundable. Of course, he was not listed.

I think they have names of only the persons that become members of classmates.com, then they show links that charge for more information. Their site reads like they can find anyone in your high school class. Not so!

Nadine of Hermosa Beach, CA (03/04/08)
Someone signed me up for this website without my permission.  These sites have no screening process.

Brendaly of Shippensburg PA (03/03/08)
I signed up for a free trial of classmates. They emailed me a supposed registration/password in case I wanted to cancel my free trial but it's saying that it's invalid and it wont let me cancel. I don't want my name on there or my information on there any longer. Please help me out, for my safety and my family's safety. I have been trying since the day after I went on the website. It keeps sending me back and wont let me out. I think that's very unprofessional of them.

Beatrice of New York, NY (02/21/08)
I have tried to unsubscribe, but was told that I had entered an invalid password. They sent me a password, which I repeatedly tried to enter and was continually told that it was invalid. I want to unsubscribe and not continue to pay for this service.

I will have to pay for a year's subscription that I don't want.

Joseph of Middletown DE (02/20/08)
It is impossible to contact these people to cancel membership. I am billed annually $39.00 and want to cancel. Perhaps I should just cancel the credit card and take my chances with my credit report.

Robert of Jacksonville FL (02/13/08)
Classmates.com is absolutely the worst excuse for a CONTACT company that I have ever encountered. I WAS a GOLD Member for several years when suddenly I was unable to use my account. No matter how hard I tried I just could NOT get into my account and maintain my contacts. After numerous emails to correct the problem [all without ever receiving any help] I attempted to contact the customer service again and again. This company just does not respond to emails properly and will NOT provide a means to talk to a LIVE person. I can find no one who knows how to reach a real person. I finally just gave up and canceled my Gold Membership. I do NOT recommend this company and I will NOT ever use their service again.

Misha of Sparks, NV (02/10/08)
When Classmates first started, they were GREAT. However... I found it harder and harder to locate old friends. What started out as an easy way to locate schools and friends turned into a nightmare. I had to call the main office and threaten legal action to get them to refund my account, after I had told them I did NOT want to re-new my membership. This site is now a JOKE! Stay away from it, at all costs!

Randy of Lakeland FL (02/09/08)
CLASSMATES.COM has two profiles of me that are blank, and they provide no support other than your password.  I am a stage four cancer patient who was a member three years ago, and was considering joining again.  But they give no support, don't answer e-mails, and I joined for a year three years ago and never could access my messages except for one time in a year.  This is not right that Classmates.com can do this to me, and I wonder how many times they do it to others.  This site needs to be investigated.

Constance of Denver CO (02/06/08)
I have not been happy with my Gold Card membership. I find it just this side of worthless. It tells me I have messages, or visitors, but doesn't let me see them. I've pretty much had it. 

Lewis of Philadelphia PA (02/05/08)
i was charged a $39 fee for a 1 year membership that i did not authorize. After complaining about the charge with numerous emails to no avail, I was sent as an option the $15 dollar three month option since WE do not give refunds....i was then charged $15 dollars as well as the $39....causing my checking to overdraft. And low and behold: no more replies from my emails to classmates.com.

I was charged for overdrafts with my checking account.

Paul of El Paso TX (02/04/08)
My membership was renewed automatically last year in Oct. (2007). I did not want to continue my membership. I e-mailed them a message asking them who gave them the approval to renew? This is now going on my third month of being billed without authorization.

Richard of Long Beach CA (02/02/08)
I changed e-mail providers a year ago to get away from the spam etc. from Classmates.com. Somehow, Classmates.com has my new e-mail address, and now I receive their spam, and others. They do not have contact information to send my request for them to stop, but they do have a system for their members (which I am NOT one) to sign in and whatever (close membership?). I believe Classmates.com is perpetuating their spam by having a burdensom system that does not allow us to officially notify them to stop.

Mary of Provo UT (01/31/08)
I signed up for Classmates.com several years ago. They keep charging my credit card without my permission. I have sent them a letter of cancellation. I have not used their service for several years. How do I resolve this?

Cee of Chicago, IL (01/29/08)
I signed up for Classmates.com,3 months ago. The payment looked like a one time deal and I was very careful about reading what I was signing up for. I did not see an AutoRenew info in there at all.

I tried to call with a phone number provided from a previous complaint. The CS Agent argued with me that EVERYONE who pays is opted in but your not notified. Then you have to go in your My Account and change it to Manual and then CALL to verify. I told her if she wanted to play hard ball so could I and my next step was to contact my bank, the state attorney, the BBB and consumer groups. She immediately back peddled and said, "I never said I wouldn't give you a refund. The refund will take up to 30 days."

I am still contacting my bank to let them know. 

Karen of Carver, MA (01/29/08)
I took out a 3 month subscription to classmates.com. Now they took money out again without my permission for another 3 months, saying I asked for automatic renewal.  No true.

Who gives these companies permission to just take your money? There is no number or address for me to contact them.  I had to cancel my bank card so they can't do it again, and it has caused me nothing but time and problems.

Elaine of Green, OH (01/29/08)
I certainly wish I had seen this website before I ever signed up with Classmates!  I did not authorize more than a 3 month/$15 trial and today there is another withdrawal of $15. They make it impossible to find them or unsubscribe.

A couple of complaining people mentioned a phone number, which I'll try tomorrow. And I will be calling my bank to see what I can do. Getting a new bank card might very well be the only way to end this.

Sharon of Lancaster, PA (01/28/08)
I am attempting to unsubscribe to this service, but every time I access the link I get an error message that the page cannot be displayed.

Jack of Boynton Beach FL (01/24/08)
I have been on Classmates for quite sometime. I tried to log on and found that I could not. Eventually I was allowed on but found that ALL but two of my messages received were gone. I had over 154 inquiries to my profile, and they are gone as well. I went off line and then tried again. I could not get on, as they kept requesting my password which I have not used in a long time. I wrote them and told them I did not remember my password. They then sent me a password that WAS NOT MINE and never has been. I used it and got online. All of my info was still missing. I have written them 3 times and told them of my problem, and they do not respond. I want ALL of my money back.

Norma of Las Vegas NV (01/23/08)
I cannot get this company to stop sending me mail. They do not accept "remove my name" or "unsubscribe" requests. I do not accept SPAM mail to my mailbox!

Diane of Mascoutah IL (01/21/08)
I tried the free trial, and I went to cancel online. I received an email saying they would cancel my membership, but they keep taking money out of my account.  This has been for six months or longer.  I don't access Classmates; I don't even remember my login.

Michael of San Antonio TX (01/16/08)
Billing problems, they upgraded me to gold and charged me more without my authorization. It forced me to search for alternatives and I found myhighschoolforum.com and it's free.

I'm out about $100 loss to me before I realized it. I could not recover any of it.

Rob of Qualicum Beach OTHER (01/09/08)
I recently obtained a gold membership form Classmates. I updated my biography, posted pictures as they encouraged you to do. I logged onto the site today and the web page has been changed, it is not user friendly and the majority of my pictures are gone.

The amount of work which it took to scan and download the pictures is the frustrating part. I had to get the scanning done by others as I don't have a scanner. It's frustrating that they changed the web page with no notification and then they lose the data.

Hope of Jefferson LA (01/09/08)
My observations: First, I never even considered the dating aspect of the site. For me it's been great to find old friends and be found. However, several years ago I also had been billed automatically for renewal, and contacted them to complain. But recently, I've realized that there seems to be something fishy about how they send you emails that if you pay for Gold membershipe,you can find out who the 2 or 3 or 4 people who've signed your address book are. After I paid, I saw that some unknown (maybe made up) person had signed four times, I wrote to complain about my suspicions of a scam. They wrote back and denied any such scam.

Regarding the renewal fee that I was charged several years ago (before I knew about deleting your credit card info on the site) they extended my membership after I complained, but I never recovered the annual fee.

Lisa of Las Vegas NV (01/05/08)
This past October I purchased the 3-month membership from Classmates as my 20 year reunion was nearing. I only wanted the membership for 3 months as I would not be needing it after that. Nowhere was I informed that my account would automatically renew after the 3 months, charging my bank account again and without authorization.

I hope people read these complaints before purchasing a membership with Classmates will never make that mistake again. Luckily the bank I do business with is going to reverse the charge as it is unauthorized. What a despicable thing thing to do to people. For such a big business you would think they would not be ripping people off left and right.

Jean of Indianapolis IN (01/04/08)
I signed up as a gold member and asked to be discontinued after one year. ClassMates continues to bill and deduct money from my checking account in spite of my request. In the fall or summer of 07 and now again 1/08. The yearly membership fee is now a few months fee. I cannot locate an option to withdraw within their system, so I sent them an e-mail last summer or fall asking for a refund. Now they have deducted $15.00 from my acct again in 1/08.

Classmates.com continues to deduct money from my acct. in spite of my request to cancel. This was a one year trial membership only.

Jenny of Reston VA (01/04/08)
On 9/27/07 I bought a 3 month Gold package like everyone else. Nowhere was I informed that i was being auto enrolled in the auto renew program, nor was I given a choice or notifed my credit card information would be stored. Well today i find a new $15 charge on my credit card. I was not informed this was an auto renew program just that I was paying for 3 months the email receipt does not state this either. They really screwed me up cause I had just paid off this card and was closing it when I noticed the charge. Of course there is no way to contact them, i think i am going to tell the card it is a fraudulent charge.

Marilyn of Albemarle NC (01/03/08)
This is not a complaint; I would merely like to share a positive experience I just had with Classmates.com My subcription is due to expire in 15 days. I got an e-mail from Classmates.com telling me to use a link provided to renew my membership at a discounted rate. The link did not work, so I called (425) 917-5005 & spoke with a very nice lady named Elaine.

She explained that there have been some glitches with the link & I was able to renew my subscription on the phone with her with no problem. I was also informed that I will still be on a manual renewal. In other words, I will be contacted when my membership is due to expire & will have the chance then to renew. If you don't want to be billed automatically, go the the account / billing section on the Classmates.com homepage or on your profile page & check off the block that says manual billing.

I hope this will clear up some things for folks who have been being billed automatically. Also Elaine told me that their phone number is listed in their Terms of Service.

Garren of Spanaway WA (01/03/08)
BE WARNED! Classmates.com automatically charges your card if you sign-up. You have to physically opt-out. It is nearly impossible to find a phone number for these idiots! Thanks to someone on this website who gave posted it here (425-917-5005 option 2). They were not going to refund the $15 until I threatened to write a complaint to the BBB and the State Attorney General. I would encourage everyone to do this, as that is the only way to get the attention of these thieving companies. Once again. Here is the phone number (425-917-5005 option 2)!

@

Marguerite of Centreville VA (01/01/08)
I have tried talking to them but this has no effect on them, and they don't care. They have sex ads and sex and dating spam that is on this website. This offends me, and I'm tired of seeing this mess. Adds like See Quite Guys, See Cute Women. I guess they think that I'm gay or of an alternative lifestyle. I have brought this to their attention, and they could basically care less. Maybe with this complaint something will be dome.

I am offended by the sex ads and dating spam and material that is allowed to remain on classmates. Classmates then should be labeled as a x-rated website, if they want to continue allowing this mess.

Matt of Meridian ID (12/24/07)
I joined classmates.com approximately one year ago. About six to eight months ago, I decided to cancel my membership with them. I followed all of the directions online to cancel my membership. Classmates.com then continued to take $15.00 from my bank account after the cancellation. I canceled it again after attempting to call the company (they have cleverly made it impossible to talk to a real person on their phone line). After several attempts to speak to a human being, I tried canceling my membership a second time via the internet after following their step by step cancellation instructions. It seemed to work for a couple of months, but today, I noticed they had decided to steal $15.00 from me again. I am not sure if it is some electronic loophole or some fine print they are concealing from me, but I am SICK AND TIRED of them essentially STEALING my money with no recourse.

I know this completely unprofessional company will not refund the total of $60.00 they have stolen from me, but I have had it. My final solution will be to cancel my bank account, and I'm sure then they'll send me to collections. I'm sorry I ever became associated with these thieves, and all I want is to never see or hear about classmates.com again as long as I live. Please make them stop stealing from me.
WE MUST FILE A CLASS ACTION SUIT AGAINST THESE THIEVES!!

George of Morton IL (12/19/07)
I am another one who did not contract for recurring deductions from my bank account for gold membership to their website. They do not have a phone number to talk to someone and you do not get a timely response with e-mail. This is another one of those companys that are defrauding you by hiding the recurring clause in the fine print.

Also their GOLD membership doesn't do much more that their free membership. They also have a little trick that says there are X number of people looking for you and to find out who you need to take the gold membership. When you do sign up for the gold membership the people who are looking for you; you never heard of before. It is not the money that bothers me but it is the way they take it (without asking and the underhanded way the try to trick you into signing up for their gold membership.

Charlene of Monroeville PA (12/19/07)
This problem is with classmates.com. I got my bank statment the other day and noticed they took $39.00 dollars out of my account at the bank and they had no permission to do such a thing. If I wanted to continue with them, it was up to me to let them know that. I tried to call them and never got a hold of anyone, it was a message machine that keeps giving the same prompting over and over again like a circle. So I called my bank and they recommended to stop what this company is doing was to close my card out and get a new one and that is what I did. Now they can never get into my account again, that is what I recommed for the people on this web sight that have had the same problem I have had. Close your card out and get a new one and then they can't get to your money because they will not have the right card numbers anymore.

I have had no damage, just the thought that someone can go into my money whenever that want to and take some of it, that is not right.

V. of Mosier, OR (12/17/07)
My credit card was automatically charged a $15 in unauthorized charges. I could find absolutely no classmates.com contact information to call.

I have canceled my membership!

Donna of Abington, PA (12/17/07)
I am having problems unsubscribing.  The link is constantly broken and there is no contact phone number listed. The help center is helpful in everything but unsubscribing. I have sent a few e-mails with the subject of unsubscribe me immediately They have not been responded.

Rob of Qualicum Beach OTHER (12/14/07)
Classmates.com is a rip off. I went the gold membership route so that I could contact old school friends. When I try to open the web site, all I get is pages of computer jargon. I'm paying for a service that I cannot use nor can I access the web so that I can complain. I wouldn't recommend anyone joining!

Gary of San Jose CA (12/05/07)
I authorized a 3-month membership with Classmates.com, but an additional membership was not authorized; yet they charged my credit card for the last 6 months.

Kristina of Portland OR (11/28/07)
Classmates has been taking money out of my account. Last summer I did sign up for period of 3 months for $15.00. NOWHERE did it say that I had to cancel my subscription if I did not want their service. I did NOT AUTHORIZE them to continue to take money out of my account. As far as I was concerned, their website is not worth the time or money to visit. When I discovered the money being withdrawn (which over-drafted my bank account), I went to the site and checked my account.

Sure enough, there was a button for automatic renewal that I did not know about. I clicked it to change the status and deleted my card info from the site. What I'm worried about now is, if they have my card number stored elsewhere and if they will steal from me again. Oh, I also noticed on my bank statement that they do not have a number located on it so that I can contact them like other businesses do.

Tina of Hamilton, NJ (11/27/07)
I applied for gold membership with classmates.com.  Believe me when I say it's not worth the $15 every three months.

I tried to find info on the website on how to cancel or whom to call so they would stop billing me.  I have already canceled my membership.

David of Methuen MA (11/26/07)
I applied for a Gold membership to classmates.com to find old high school buddies about 3 yrs a go. The fees are $39 a year; as of the last 2 yrs I have not been able to get on the site, and they keep charging my credit card every year. I tried to change my internet options on several occasions with no luck; then I tried to contact them to cancel my membership. There is no way to contact them because I can't log on. I tried to send e-mails with no luck ,and there are no phone numbers to call. My credit card will be charged every year if I cant resolve this. My only other option is to claim fraudulent charges with my credit card company. I'm out $78 and will have another $39 charge by January 2008 if I can't resolve this problem.  Would appreciate any help.

Carolyn of Qualicum Beach Bc Canada OTHER (11/19/07)
I paid $69.00 US to register for the Classmates.com program. The original price was quoted as $35.00 Canadian. I find it difficult to believe how $35.00 translated to $69.00. Could you please check this out. It was paid on my Visa.

Vickie of Greenwood, DE (11/12/07)
I got a gold membership last night.   Not much difference, you don't get anything for your money.

I wish someone had told me before I blew 39 bucks.

Cathie of Newark, DE (11/06/07)
My Visa card is being billed $15 every 3 months (July and October).  In September I spoke to "Member Care" and was told I had no account with them and would have to dispute the charges with Visa.

Visa said I waited to long to complain so I'd have to eat the charges. Called classmates again and was told that I had no account with them, duh!

I asked whose account was being credited and she couldn't tell me. Privacy law. She said that she couldn't cancel my account because she didn't know whose account was being credited!  She suggested that I dispute the charges with Visa!!!!

Barbara of Alton, IL (11/06/07)
I subscribed to a Gold Membership with Classmates.com. I have found that it is highly over-rated, and did not give me information that was too helpful. For instance, instead of listing the graduates from my particular class at a large high school in California, they listed the classes of 5 years altogether. Wading through that many names was highly unproductive.

I decided that the time spent on this membership was not worthwhile, and wished to cancel, however that seems to be an impossibility! There is no phone number or address listed on the Welcome message sent to me when I joined.  The only contact appears to be by email. Unfortunately, they do not respond to any e-mails I have sent.

I have repeatedly asked for verification of my password, registration number, etc., and never hear anything back. For the past three months, I have been unable to log in and have had no access to the account. From what I have read of other consumer complaints, they automatically charge you for another year without your authorization. My anniversary date is drawing near and I DO NOT want this to happen to me.

Allison of Comfort TX (10/24/07)
Once Classmates.com has your credit card number, anything goes! Just try emailing or calling to get relief from their auto draft on your card! I've contacted Visa and Better Business, and will fight this one for their unauthorized charge on my credit card.

David of Chicago IL (10/09/07)
Signed up for classmates.com, and my credit card information was automatically transferred to ReservationRewards, and I was enrolled in the Reservation Rewards program. Looking through credit card records apparantly I had an existing account with this company for many years. The information that customer service had on record was that I was enrolled through a similiar offer from flowers.com. I was told a person only clicks on the link in an email sent out, to activate the account. By doing this customer service claims I agreed to their terms of service. This is unfair as a person then has to click on the link to unsubscribe to stop receiving email, which is how I caught that i was enrolled for something I had never authorized. Reservations reward had all my personal and credit card information. I use this credit card for everything I purchase, so a $7.00 fee can easily goes unnoticed.

Both accounts are now cancelled. Not sure if I will be billed the $10 fee from the classmates.com transfer. Just glad I caught it. The flowers.com would roughly be 5 years at $7.00 totaling over $420.00.

Eileen of Mashpee MA (09/29/07)
I signed up for classmates.com only to find nothing. When I tried to cancel within three days there was no way to do it. Finally a week later I canceled only to find out there is no refund and no access to classmates.com What a rip off!

Catherine of Lake Mary FL (09/22/07)
On two different occasions, I have requested via email, as the website say's to do, that my membership be canceled. They have been automatacly deducting from my account every three months $15.00. I recieved an email stating I have had more visitors sign my year book, when I logged in, in print above my name, it say's You have a free account. Upgrade to the Gold Membership for only $15.00 every 3 months. Well, I don't want the Gold Membership anymore! I told them 3 months ago to cancel it, and they took out the money anyway, AGAIN! It's unauthorized!

Joan of Longmont, CO (08/13/07)
I signed up 05/10/07 for a 3 month membership @ $5 per month with the option to renew after three 3 months. I canceled my account with them on 06/08/07. Without my approval or knowledge, my debit card was charged $15 08/09/07.

I followed all the instructions on 6/8 to move my membership over to manual and not auto-renewal. This is important because the customer rep I spoke to on 08/13, said, "There is no way of knowing when you do this".  

The number that got me straight through to a rep was 425-917-5005, options 2.  Consumers need this number.  It is not an option of a 1-800# , not a recorder and gives easy access to cancel account memberships.

Crysta of Gainesville, FL (07/21/07)
I received a charge for a 3-month membership from Classmates.com. I found this strange since I had paid for a membership 3 months ago.  I did not receive any e-mails asking if I wanted to renew my membership (which I do not).

I finally found a customer service e-mail and sent a message indicating that I did not want to be charged automatically, and then did some further investigation into my account.  I found that my account was set to automatic renewal as a default (I know this because I would never set my account to be automatically billed for a service such as classmates.com).

I would suggest going into your account profile and changing the default setting from automatic to manual. I also deleted my credit card number from their system as they store that without your permission as well. I would then suggest sending an email to customer service and getting a confirmation that they have done this. I am shocked by this shady behavior! I thought that this was a well known and trustworthy site.

Cynthia of Napa CA (07/11/07)
I signed up for a 3 month membership @ $5 per month with the option to renew at the current membership level-another $15 for another 3 months. Without my approval or knowledge, my credit card was charged $45 for a 1 yr gold level account.I emailed member care and said to cancel my account, I did not join for 1 yr.

Kate of Sarasota FL (07/11/07)
I had contacted Classmates.com to cancel my subscription 5 months prior to my renewal date and was told that it would be cancelled on July 12, 2007. On July 9, 2007, there was a charge from Classmates.com for $39 - three days before my renewal date. The phone number was listed on my transaction roster as 425-917-5000 so I called it and after being on hold for 15 minutes, I spoke with Crystal - she was pleasant and reviewed my account. She couldn't find any record of the 7/9/07 transaction and could see that my account had been changed to a 'manual' renewal.

I told her that I wanted the charges reversed and she got my phone number to return my call within the hour. I have not heard from her since. I think that there should be a class action lawsuit against classmates.com for fraud. My account was charged before the renewal date...that is wrong and they shouldn't be able to get away with it.

Christina of Apo Ae NY (06/28/07)

I requested a cancellation last year and I thought it was over. Now I have another charge on my account. I want it to stop. Now, I went to the website to cancel and I cannot find any way of canceling. I cannot log on to search because I guess my account was cancelled last year. I cannot find a telephone number to call. I just want the charges to stop.

Linda of Louisville CO (06/21/07)

I too was signed up for what I thought was a 3 month subscription and was automatically billed for a year subscription without my permission. By the time I figured out what happened it caused 6 checks to overdraft costing me $380.00. My bank is not willing to help me out until they resolve the grievance.

Laquan of Philadelphia, PA (06/20/07)
I chose the free 7-day trial period. I attempted to contact them on the fourth day and there was no way to do so. They automatically put me in for $39, which was an  amount for the year's subscription (if you didn't cancel before the end of the free trial).  I'm being ripped off.

They took my money and now I cannot even log into the site.

It never said that once they received your money that you'd be banned from the site as well as robbed.

Cynthia of Hasbrouck Heights NJ (06/15/07)

They have automatically charged me for a second year membership without even a warning that they would do this. When you call them they have a voicemail dedicated to this problem which immediately indicates that this is far from a unique problem. They talk about their apparent fine print which I don't ever recall ever receiving any indication of. I called them as soon as I saw the charge on my June Amex statement, but their recording says no refunds.

David of Rochester, MI (06/04/07)
I signed up for a one year membership with Classmates.com and they charged my credit card for a second year without my authorization.

I, at no time, authorized anything more than a one year subscription.  I am out $40 and want it credited back to my account.

Joanne of Winterville NC (06/04/07)

I have a one year Gold Member membership to Classmates.com that I paid. Now for the last two months every time I try to post something or do a search, I am booted off the internet. Not just Classmates. The whole internet. No, there is nothing wrong with my service. And every other website is fine. It's just Classmates. I expect a refund from this site and I will not join again.

Jacob of San Jose, CA (06/04/07)
I cannot get a hold of Classmates.com to cancel my membership. They keep automatically billing me and I don't remember my classmates e-mail or password. Please help!

Dolly of Big Island ,VA (05/31/07)
I paid for classmates.com 2-23-07 for a year and now they took out for it again 5-26-07 without my consent.

Wendy of Richfield, MN (05/31/07)
I purchased a 3 month membership from Classmates.com. When the 3 months expired, they deducted another payment from my checking account without my permission. Also, during my membership period, every time I tried to access information, they said I had to purchase a membership that I already had.

Robert of Kingsport, TN (05/27/07)
I subscribed to what I thought was a 3 month trail to classmates.com.  Unfortunately they have taken out for 9 months without my permission.  This constant taking money out of my account is putting me in a bind. 

Linda of Detroit, MI (05/25/07)
I had a 3 month membership with classmates.com.  When the membership ended, they renewed my membership without my consent and took the money out of my account.  I couldn't find any number or any kind of link on their website to be connected to a person that I could talk to.

Christine of Boise ID (05/19/07)
I sign up for just a 3 month membership only and they charged my credit card for another month without my permission or giving me that option. This is wrong!

Nora of Olympia WA (04/30/07)
My husband notice a recurring bill each month on one of our credit cards. We called this company at the number above and found it was a Reservations Club. They said I had signed up for it when I signed up for Classmates.com. Well, I did make the mistake of signing up for Classmates, but I NEVER would knowingly sign up for a travel outfit since my sister-in-law is a Travel Agent and she gets us all the good deals we can use.

The woman my husband and I spoke to at WLI Reservations stated that they would refund all of our money, no problem. Now we will just have to wait and see if they really do it. How can they get our credit card info like that. It seems to me that Classmates must be in collusion with this outfit.

Ron of Mililani HI (04/25/07)
I subscribed with Classmates.com about 2 years ago and have been trying to get them to stop my subscription (unsuccessfully), they continue to bill my credit card and fed up with it. I want them to stop billing me right away.

I'm being billed for a service that I no longer use and do not want to continue using.

Sandra of Winfall NC (04/22/07)

I received a notice through my email that a free 1 week trial for classmate’s gold was available. I accepted the offer through the email. I attempted to log in to my account through the standard login page for classmates and was told my password was invalid. I have requested that the password be sent to me on numerous occasions and followed all the instructions given by classmates' website. I have yet to receive the email with the password; I have received no response to my emails from classmates or United online.

No access to make use of any of its services and no way to cancel the free trial before the billing date. I will incur bank charges as soon as they process that payment that I have been unable to cancel.

Josue' of Mililani HI (04/19/07)

I signed up for the gold member service a year ago and I am now getting a 39.00 renewal charge which I never authorized and I did not sign up for any automatic renewal. Its unfortunate that since the service can't meet the needs or compete with other cheaper and more useful service this company has to resort to underhanded tactics as these. Ultimately in my eyes this company has lost any credibility.

Robyn of Phoenix AZ (04/18/07)

I set up a Gold account that would NOT renew. I specifically put manual for renewal. They billed my credit card anyway before the time period I paid for was even up.

Frances of Crystal City, MO (04/18/07)
I always sign up for just 3 months at $15.  For some reason they took out $39 instead.

I want them to put $24 back in my account.

Penne of Salem OR (04/09/07)
I signed up for a 1 year Gold membership with Classmates. I have hardly used it at all and had no intention of renewing my membership, but while viewing my bank transactions I noticed $39.00 had been withdrawn from my account by Classmates. I DID NOT and WOULD NOT authorize this payment. I am in the process of moving and need every dollar that I have in my account right now. I did not receive any notice that the money was going to be taken and I have not received any receipt for the money that was taken!!

I called the number for customer service and just got a recording with a very long winded explanation regarding this terrible business practice and no option to talk to a live customer service rep. Obviously, they get a lot of calls about this...

I feel this practice is VERY dishonest and lacks any business integrity. It may not be very much money, but I need it! I want the $39.00 refunded back to my account and to be removed from Classmates.com.

Mark of Lake Forest CA (04/07/07)
I had signed up for Classmates.com and did not intend to renew but was automatically renewed i searched for a long time for contact info. i sent several emails to their help desk but received no response. i finally did get a call into their offices, but they have not stopped the payments. That has been more than 9 moths ago. They are stealing my money.

I have paid well over $200 to them that they are not authorzied to have taken from my acount. My credit card issuer says the only way to stop it is cancel the card and get a new number - but that creates other problems for me with other legitimate accounts

Jack of Sunrise, Florida FL (04/01/07)
Over a year ago I sent this GD company a notice that I wanted my account closed and stop taking money out of my bank account. They said they would send it free. I still don't want it.  They have stolen out of my back account almost $100. with another this month for $9.00. If you ever talk to the bastards, tell Them they are GD crooks and stop.

Erika of Vero Beach FL (03/31/07)
I have twice been billed on CC for unauthorized renewal fee. This is blatant misuse of my CC number which they were given once over the internet to initially join.

Desiree of Tampa FL (03/20/07)
Classmates.com charged my account 1 year later with a renewal fee for $39 that I did not authorize. After googling the site and reading the complaints,I decided to join the crew and make my complaint public. I called a phone number that was listed by Paige and all you get is a long winded message stating I had agreed about the renewal in the agreement terms they provided to me and how to cancel membership. I contacted my bank and they will either just refund the $39 or it will go into dispute. I was told they will probably just refund it to me since it is a small amount.

How can they keep getting away with this just because there is supposedly a clause that allows them to do this. This morally wrong and for all of those folks who have illnesses, and accounts have gone over drawn, this should not be allowed. Someone needs to take action. Look at the number of complaints against them. This is robbery and outrageous that they can continue to get away with this.

Deena of Antioch CA (03/16/07)

I agreed to sign up for membership for one month (August 2006) and have it charged to my credit card. Since then, classmates.com has automatically charged my account (every 3 months) without my consent. On my account membership I selected manual payment--so I would not be automatically billed. There is no phone number or e-mail address given on the web site with whom you can contact.

Shannon of Thomasville, GA (01/14/07)
I have spent the last 2 hours on the computer just trying to find a telephone number to contact someone at classmates.com since they will not accept emails . Finally I read Paige's complaint (from San Antonio) and got all that information I needed.

Thank you for putting this on your site!  And thank you Paige!

Wendi of Dania, FL (12/13/06)
They have charged my credit card $39.00, however, I cancelled my membership six months ago. When you call them all you get is a recording.

Warren of New York, NY (12/09/06)
ClassMates.com has no clear way to get them to stop sending me their unsolicited stuff. It takes time to delete all the stuff they send.  I want to stop getting their mail!

Jeremy of Fort Campbell KY (12/02/06)
I sent an email to them to cancell my classmates.com at least 8 months ago because I was charged something like 40 dollars at first and then 15 a month ever since and I want my money back. I have not been able to find a phone number or contact for them

I am in the army and dont get paid much and that amount of money does not seem like much but at the end of the month when we dont have money that makes a huge difference.

Debra of Smith Center KS (12/02/06)
A $59 charge showed up on the my credit card from the above company. I had been on the internet to this site classmates.com but had been told only a $2.99 charge was to be put on my credit card. I was just browsing trying to find a lost friend. When I called the given number appearing on my credit card, I got a recording telling me there would be automatic renewals of this charge if I didn't follow instructions to change my renewal to manual. When I attempted to do this, it asked for a password to enter that I did not have.

Sarah of Biloxi MS (11/25/06)
A $39.00 charge was added to my credit card with out my approval. i want it removed and my name removed from class mates.com

Claudia of Cotati CA (11/22/06)
Upon viewing my credit card statement, I noticed that I'd been charged $39.00 from Classmates.com. I had NOT agreed to an automatic payment. Although I was able to remove the automatic payment, I was not able to find any phone number or email contact info for Classmates.com. Upon calling my credit card company to file an investigation and to have the charge removed, they gave me the phone number for Classmates! Obviously Classmates problems are not new to credit card companies. Upon calling Classmates, I dialed the extension pertaining to credit card charges whereupon I heard a message stating that I had been informed that the service agreement included information that there would be an automatic renewal. I find their practice deceitful and shameful.

Charged $39.00 on my credit card, which I am fighting.

Gary of Nashville TN (11/14/06)
Same story as the other hundreds. Simply keep getting billed on my cc: with renewal fees for Classmates.com Another $39, and I cannot get them to stop or cancel my membership. There needs to be somehow a class action lawsuit or 60 Minutes expose. Good thing I am not a violent individual, or I'd be after them.

Tammy of Dundee IL (11/08/06)
I got burned with Classmates.com as well. I did get their phone number 425-917-5000. Apparently, when we originally sign up, they have us down as automatic renewal. If you want to remove yourself, you have to go in under My Account and then click on the word automatic then click Yes, you want to remove automatic. It will put you down as manual. However, you cannot cancel and get your money back -- they just renewed me today, so I'm stuck for another 12 months.

Me of Troy ID (11/07/06)
I signed up for Classmates.com's three month trial membership ($15)over the summer (2006). From they way their membership was presented I was lead to believe that this would be exactly what they said, a 3 month subscription that could be canceled anytime. No direct mention was made by them that they would automatically renew (by charging my credit card) my membership.

Had that been clearly and directly stated up front I would have NEVER joined and become a gold member. Just last week I received an email from Classmates.com saying that my membership had been automatically renewed for another 3 months for $15. I emailed them to tell them that I did not authorize or approve of their actions. I received a e-form letter from Sandy saying that they would discontinue my membership but that the $15 could not be refunded per their policy. I replied back (and also sent a copy to our State Atty General and the BBB) saying that I found their business practices to be highly misrepresentative and unethical and that I wanted my card credited. They replied back that they could not credit my card but hated to lse me as a valued customer and wanted to offer me an extended gold membership at half price.

This offer I found very insulting and dismissive of my complaint that there was no good reason for them to not make the effort of full disclosure about their membership policies re: payment up front.

My card was charged $15 with out my authorization and consent. I want that $15 credited back to my credit card and I want proof that my credit information has been purged from their databases.

Deborah of St. John's Canada (11/06/06)
I have emailed member care for this website and asked to be removed, unsubscribe, and told them to stop using my credit card but I just can not seem to get them to stop emailing and billing me. I have also gone into their website and unsubscribed, cancelled membership etc going back to March, 2005 and today I got another message about my membership.

Kris C. of Camas WA (10/24/06)
Was charged a fee for a membership renewal that I never agreed to. In addition, the company claims that it is stated in the terms of their contract that automatic renewal is part of agreeing to membership. This is FALSE.

A membership fee every 3 months of $15.00

Rochelle of Delray Beach, FL (10/23/06)
I have been charges $59 for a membership renewal that I was not notified about.  I would like to cancel, but it is impossible to get in touch with Classmates.com.

I have read numerous complaints about the same situation.

Paige of San Antonio, TX (10/21/06)
When I signed up for Classmates.com there was a statement saying that this would ONLY be for 3 months and that the membership would expire after. My credit card is now being charged a fee that I didn't agree to. I have found a couple of addresses for Classmates: 2001 Lind Ave. SW, Suite 500 Renton, WA 98055 1100 Oakesdale Ave SW Renton, WA 98055 Phone: 425-917-5000/425-917-4927 425-917-4933 Fax:425-255-8382.

I hope that this may help some of you who have had a hard time trying to contact someone from Classmates.

David of Clark, NJ (10/06/06)
Classmates.com billed me automatically for a charge that I did not authorize. The offenses are that they 1) did not warm me of the forthcoming charge and 2) they did not provide contact information to dispute/discuss the charge. There is only a voice mail that states a NO REFUND policy. This is a violation of their agreement with Visa; "no refund policies" are not valid, especially for online services, and more so for automated recurring charges.

Michael of Brooklyn NY (09/30/06)
Classmates.com makes it impossible for you to unsubscribe to their Emails. And each Email they send you has a different alternate address so you cannot block their Emails. This must be illegal.

Nancy of Deltona, FL (09/29/06)
I signed up for a membership last year and had no intention of renewing, but found a $39.00 renewal fee on my Master Card this month. ( 9/06). Have been trying to contact them at the phone number listed on my M.C. and all you get is one message after another. THen I went on their website and have read several complaint letters from people who also are having problems being charged for service they don't want.

Mary of Concord NC (09/07/06)
I, too had my $39.00 membership fee taken out without warning or option but the worst is a classmates's member under the high school I attended and loved, has added the most horrible pornicrafic pictures of herself. I do not want to participate in this any longer and I wanted to stop my membership which renewed Sept 1, 2006. I can not believe that CLASSMATES.COM allows this and my membership fee helps provide this type of entertainment. I want my $ back and off of Classmates.Com

Alice of Olympia, WA (08/23/06)
1 year ago today, I signed up for the 'Gold' membership with classmates.com. I read the agreement carefully. Today, I received a 'Thank-you' from classmates. They had renewed my membership with no advanced warning.  Automatic renewals are something I NEVER do to avoid unexpected surprises. This 'Automatic' renewal for 'my convenience' has pulled from a seldom used bank account and resulted in an additional fees incurred on MY part.

Their response to my inquiry was: If you are a paying Gold Member, and are inquiring about a credit card charge for a Classmates membership renewal, we would like to remind you that when you registered for your membership, you were enrolled in the automatic renewal program so that you wouldn't experience any interruption in your Gold membership benefits!

This resulted in a fee from MY financial institution. After I received the reply, I change my options to the manual renewal but, I intend to cancel my membership.  They will not refund my annual fee, but they will cancel the membership.

Andrew  of Rockford IL (08/11/06)
Seems to me I have the same complaint as everyone else. I registered for a 3 month membership only to retrieve an email from an old friend. As stated during the registration process, this is a one-time fee. It turns out that the so called one-time fee is recurring, therefore making it more than one-time. They offer no better services than any other social networking site out there and in my honest opinion the amount of advertisements is insane. For as many people as they are ripping off with their recurring billing, they should be able to afford to run the site without advertisers.

When I contacted classmates.com. This was their response: If you are a paying Gold Member, and are inquiring about a credit card charge for a Classmates membership renewal, we would like to remind you that when you registered for your membership, you were enrolled in the automatic renewal program so that you wouldn’t experience any interruption in your Gold membership benefits. I still after 3 months and uncertain what the so called gold member benefits are except the benefit that fell out of my bank account into their pocket. When I agree to terms of service, generally they cover damages and misuse. It is my opinion that classmates.com should be held responsible for every account in which they have misled their customers and charged them for additional unwanted services and membership.

M of Santa Monica, CA (08/07/06)
I signed up for a minimum 3-month gold membership to e-mail a friend.  I had no intention of signing up again, and was in fact going to delete my registration from their site when the 3 months was over.

I just went into the site, and BY CHANCE, after going deep into my account, noticed they had charged my credit card automatically for another 3 months. They did not send me an invoice, an e-mail of their intentions, or a receipt  - obviously on purpose. They make it very difficult to find a way to contact them. Clearly they are accustomed to this specific complaint.

Susan of Sullivan, IN (07/24/06)
I agreed to being billed $15.00 on my visa credit card for a 3 month subscription to classmates.com in March of this year. When I subscribed it stated that the subscription would only last for 3 months.

I was not informed that I would subsequently be billed again, but when my subscription ended in June I was unknowingly billed $15 again for another three months of service. I have no way to contact them to discontinue this service and I am afraid I will continue to be billed repeatedly!

Ron of Windsor, Canada (07/16/06)
After pestering me with countless emails to try their Gold Service I relented and acepted their offer of a 7-day trial membership for free. The downside is that I gave them my credit card number. I am now trying to contact Classmates on day 6 to cancel but it is of no use as they block their website to receive any inbound email and there is nowhere to find a phone number to contact this company.

Patsy of Huntington, WV (07/13/06)
I received an email stating I had until 9/8/06 as a gold member for classmates.com, yet I can't send any emails or look at any pictures.

Why is this?

Julia of Eugene OR (06/11/06)
Simple Escapes has been charging my credit card $11.95 every month since May 2005! It started to happen when I signed up for a gold membership account on Classmates.com. It was supposed to be a one-time fee. I only wanted the service for 3 months. I cancelled the subscription, but they continue to bill me for services / package deals I never received.

Over the past 13 months, I've been charged $155 & have received absolutely NOTHING for it! How do you get these guys to STOP?

Janice of Southgate MI (06/04/06)
I have been trying for 2 months to change my email address with classmates without success. I have lost this time on my gold membership and resent losing that time looking for and reading my messages.

Mary-Lew of Fogelsville PA (05/17/06)
This is about Classmates and their free access to one's credit card without any notification. For years I was a memeber. It has served me no purpose. I received a notice today that they withdrew money from my account-no notice given nor was I given the opportunity to cancel. I told them I did not want this and yet they still took out money. Any other company give you a grace period within which time you can cancel or return your purchase. Classmates offer you nothing. This is unfair practice.

Samuel of Panama City, FL (05/12/06)
About 4 months ago I signed on with Classmates with a Gold membership at $59.  I have only been able to login two times.  Now they say my password is no good.  I filed for another password that put me in "free status".   I am not able to use my membership.

Pauline of Donald OR (04/25/06)
I would like to cancel my subscription with Classmates. It is a joke and is just full of ads that I am not interested in. Everytime I try to search for someone, the ads just keep popping up and it is impossible to use this to find anyone.

Sherry of San Ramon, CA (04/01/06)
I am not a paid member of Classmates.com, but have logged on and was given the option to email to a friend.  After writing the email & pushing "send", I was told it would not be sent unless I paid or the person I was emailing would have to pay.  There was a "cancel" option in the bottom left corner, that I used.

Today Classmates shows the email was sent and they were awaiting payment!  There seems no way to communicate directly with them.  I did not agree to pay, nor do I want them to bill my friend.  I just want out altogether! 

Catherine of Wayne MI (04/01/06)
Last July I subscribed to Classmates.com for 3 months at the price of $15.  Classmates gave my account number to 2 different companies.  Since that happened my checking account has been totally messed up. 

I contacted those companies and they refunded my money into my account, but as far as Classmates.com is concerned they keep charging my account $15 every month, without my permission or agreement. 

George of Toronto Canada (03/28/06)
On the 20 March 2006, this company renewed my subscription without warning or authorization. I sent in total 6 e-mails advising them to cancel my subscription and return my money ($39)to my Visa account. The first advisement was sent on the date of the subscription renewal 20/3/06. All names, corporate, street and e-mail addresses are suppressed. The only response is more e-mail advertisements!

I am a pensioner, 76 years of age, on a very modest income.  I need the $39. for treatment of my wife who has been diagnosed as having cervical Cancer!

Jenniferof Reseda CA (03/26/06)
I was contacted in December by Classmates.com that I had an e-mail from an old friend. I logged on and found that I had to pay for a membership to get the e-mail. I paid the money because I was really excited to hear from the friend. When I spoke with her on the phone she said she had a free membership and at no time was told that in order for me to respond, I would have to pay for membership. At the time I signed up for the membership, I am sure that, if I was given the option, I opted out of automatic renewal.

Because of problems with other Internet sites in the past, I am VERY wary of automatic renewal policies. Well, they have automatically renewed my subscription which I did not want. My debit card has a pending transaction from them and I received a "Thank You" e-mail regarding the renewal. I immediately contacted the company by e-mail and was refused a refund of the pending charges. In no way would I have EVER agreed to automatic renewal of the subscription if the company had been upfront about the practice.

Aaron  of Palm Coast FL (03/17/06)
I signed up for a "Gold" membership 6 months ago because my class reunion was coming up and people were contacting me through classmates.com. I had already had a free account, but you can't return their emails without a paid membership. I am very anal-retentive when I signup for things because the last thing I want to do is to receive tons of junk email, or get charged for something I didn't want.

The other day I check out my bank information online and see a charge for $15 from classmates. I know that when I signed up, I either chose to not have the membership automatically renew, logged into the account to make sure that it wouldn't automatically renew, or was given no indication that it would. I immediately contacted them (the charge was still pending) through an online chat with one of their representatives who informed me that they do not refund money under any circumstances. I went back through my bank records and found that they had charged me $15, 3 months before. I didn't notice the email they sent back then telling me about the charge because they send so many emails that it just looked like all the rest of the useless ones they send.

This company seems to have seedy business practices and should be sued for the, undoubtedly, large amounts of money they have secretly taken from people. Thankfully though, they shouldn’t last too much longer when there are free sites, such as Myspace.com, that offer basically the same services.

Carole of Conyers GA (03/16/06)
A few months ago, I signed up for a trial or short term membership for $15 and expressly avoided an auto-renewal. My credit card is being charged for an auto-renewal anyway, and the number out beside the charge is a long distance number (some customer service, must be accustomed to receiving alot of ANGRY calls), and no one ever answers no matter what time you call, nor is there an outgoing message!

Do the quick & painless thing, just dispute the charge with your credit card promptly, in writing, and if you get charged when you did NOT know or did not choose to auto-renew, or if they charge you without you signing up, then file charges and a complaint with the FCC. Sooner or later they'll get the message that their business practices are unacceptable.

Hobart of Independence MO (03/10/06)
Charging reccuring charges to my bank account when authorized for one charge only.

Timothy of Manville RI (03/02/06)
2 years ago I signed up for gold membership with 'Classmates.com'. I used my credit card so they called it automated payment plan. This year I dicided not to renew my membership when I was notified of renewel. Today on 2/2/06 I was notified so I went to the site to cancel when I finaly found the link to cancel I read that you forfeit your years payment if at anytime you cancel. I didn't think it meant the same day you payment was automatically made. This does not seam like a fair practice to me.

Jeanne of Rochester Hills MI (01/31/06)
Last year I was bombarded with e-mails from Classmates.com saying that new people registered on line that use to go to the schools I attended. After opening up the e-mails, the e-mail would say sorry but no new people subscribed. After about 4 months of this, I sent an e-mail and told them to unsubscribe me and that the e-mails that they were sending me were fraudulent. In September of 2005, Classmates.com withdrew $39 from my checking account.  And NO NEW E-MAILS WERE SENT TO ME, THEY JUST TOOK MY MONEY AND RAN. I tried to stop this with my bank but my bank said that I would have to close my account and open up a whole new account.  This is a license to steal.

Maryann of Jacksonville FL (01/31/06)
I received an unauthorized charge for $39.00 to join Classmates Gold on my husband's Citi Platinum Select Card. A few years ago, I did join for a year. Since moving to Florida from New Jersey, I chose not to renew my membership. I have read numerous complaints about this company doing the same thing to other previous members. I want this amount deducted from my credit card once and for all. I will dispute this charge with Citi and will not pay this amount.

Joyce of Chicago IL (01/23/06)
For two years now they have billed my credit card $39 for membership. Last year I contacted them and told them that I had not signed up and they told me they didn't have an account under my e-mail address and did nothing. I was in the middle of a move and didn't go forward with trying to have it resolved. Again, for a second time they have billed me and I got the same response. They say to contact their Membership Services but give no information as to how that is to be done. I also notice that my high school name is misspelled.

A friend living in California who graduated from the same high school accessed the account and was given a different list of names of people who graduated in my class (they will give you the people for a specific year). His list was much larger than the one that I have seen for my year. Also on his list was the name of a girl who died before graduating, yet her name is listed as being someone that you can contact. I think they are totally dishonest and don't understand how they are able to go on conning people into their site without any accountability.

Magnolia of Joliet IL (01/08/06)
This web site is not what I thought it was. I had cancelled it out but they are still deduting from my account. When I try to E-mail them I cannot find the sight. I do not want them to take any more funds from me. The site does not offer you what it appears on line. They are still taking funds from my account even thou I cancelled out three months ago causing me to pay over draft charges

Troy of Kenyon MN (12/31/05)
This web site is drawing people in with a trial offer of 14.95 and then bills you for 59.00. They also have other companies that start billing your bank account for other services that were never approved of.

Dr. D. L.  of Chula Vista CA (12/27/05)
I find no way to contact them directly about their many goofs: like sending my messages to classmates back to myself. I can't redirect them. They appear to censor or fail to contact classmated that I know exist and are trying to contact me.

Nilon of Ft.worth TX (12/26/05)
Classmates.com extracted $39.00 from mastercard 12-23-05 WITHOUT my permission.

Myka of Irving TX (12/26/05)
I paid for a trial membership with classmates.com. It was a ONE TIME FEE, then out of nowhere I was charged without warning by classmates.com for whatthey claimed was a recurring membership. They refused a refund for the 2nd charge. I think a class action lawsuit is what classmates.com deserves. They literally stole money from my at Christmas. I will not stand idly by and allow them to do this to me or any other unsuspecting people.

Ruth of Titusville, FL (10/28/05)
I signed up for a 3-month trial for $15.00 and recently got a bill for $59. When I emailed them they do nothing to remove me from the membership.

I am disputing this charge with my credit card company.

Gino of Edmond, OK (10/27/05)
Classmates took money out of my account today without my approval, and I am very, very upset. Classmates sent me an email thanking me for my renewal, but I never asked for a renewal and had no intention of ever renewing.

Damages: I had no knowledge or notice that Classmates was going to withdraw money out of my account.

Chrissy of Delta, OH (9/12/05)
I too was taken in by classmates.com. They tell me a year ago I signed up for automatic renewal of their services. I was unaware of this until I got the email telling me they had charged my account $39.00. I got the notice the day they charged it and immediately contacted them. They informed me there was a no refund policy and I had in fact agreed to the automatic renewal. I had never even seen the option to remove automatic renewal until they told me how to "uncheck" the box.

I called the bank and they are checking into removing the charges but I have a feeling classmates has an ironclad way to get their money.

Bruce of Naperville, IL (8/21/05)
Beware of classmates.com. They are very clever in getting your money without you knowing it. Auto renewal ... with no warning. My membership was automatically renewed and I never requested it.

I will fight this $39 renewal.

Beth of Birmingham AL (4/6/05):
In January 2004 I agreed to a 7-day free trial of the Classmates.com website. After 7 days my credit card was chaged $39.00 for a year's service. I had not decided what I wanted to do, so I thought I'd try it for a year. In January 2005 my credit card was charged $39.00 for a renewal of my membership without my knowledge. In protesting the fraudulent charge the credit card company instructed me to deal with Classmates.com and there was nothing they would do.

The only means of contacting Classmates.com is via their Member Care email. Their response to my request for a refund of the 2005 $39.00 was NO. Apparently, I had agreed to an automatically renewal membership upon acceptance of the 2004 7-day trial.

I have had loss of my credit card account while new cards were issued. I am still in the process of correcting legitimate debits to my credit card. This is a major hassle. I rarely visited the Classmates.com website in 2004. I was tired of the useless SPAM constantly sent from this company and I had NO INTENTION of renewing this membership. Classmates.com should not be permitted to continue this practice.

Kelly of Jackson TN (3/21/05):
Last year I did sign up for a membership. I did NOT authorize a automatic renewal. Recently my checking account was debited for another membership without my notification or authorization. I contacted customer service and was told it did not matter, I had been charged and the money would not be refunded. This is wrong and such a personal violation to have someone access your checking account without your approval. I lost $39.00 that I need.

April of Charlotte NC (3/15/05):
November 30, 2004 I registered for a one-time $15.00 membership with Classmates.com. In March 2005, they charged my account an additional $15 for a renewed membership. I did not authorize a renewal so went to my account with classmates only to find there was no credit card information on file. I tried to contact someone via phone but no information was given on their website. Neither was my bank able to get any contact information from Classmates.com.

I e-mailed a representative through classmates.com members services line on March 8th. I received a form letter response on March 14th stating the following:

Thank you for contacting Classmates. I'd be more than happy to assist you. I understand your concerns about your Classmates Gold membership. Allow me to explain how the auto-renewal process works and how you became a part of this program. While purchasing your Gold membership, you were enrolled in the automatic renewal program so that you wouldn't experience any interruption to your Gold membership benefits. The automatic renewal information was provided to you during your registration process and appeared on the credit card payment page of the Gold membership purchase process, as well as in your welcome email. Additionally, during your Gold membership registration, you were notified that your payment for a Gold membership was non-refundable. This statement appeared below the credit card text boxes and appears in the Classmates Terms of Service, which you agreed to when you clicked on the Submit button to finish your membership payment. Per your request, I have removed you from the auto-renewal program. Your Gold membership is scheduled to revert to a basic (free) membership on DATE. You may cancel your Gold membership at any time by responding to this email; however, per the Terms of Service, you will forfeit your membership fee. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

I responded to the note stating that the note I received was not satisfactory and that I needed a number to contact a "live" person. A response was given within 1 day giving me a phone number to speak with a representative. I spoke with a representative who read word for word the letter quoted above.

Sandy of Augusta GA (2/19/05):
I signed on with Classmates.com to become a Gold member as advertised and my credit card information was given to Simple Escapes without my approval. I checked my bank statement and had unauthorized charges at the beginning of each month from a company that I had no knowledge of who they were.

I called my bank and got the information so called Simple Escapes and requested that my account be closed and refunded. They only refunded one charge so I am having to go through Risk Mgmt of my bank to get the rest of my money back as well as file for fraudulent bank card usage. Please stop these clowns from doing this to others.

Damages: Having to have my bank card cancelled and reissued which is taking more time than I had anticipated. I have to wait 1 week for an investigation to be started. Meanwhile, I can't use my own card!

Stacey of Indianapolis IN (2/7/05):
Classmates.com provided my billing info to Simple Escapes, a member discount shopping service with a monthly service charge, without my consent. I didn't notice the charges initially. I contacted Simple Escapes, they canceled my membership, but refused to refund until my bank contacted them. Now they are refunding six months of $9.95 charges.

Jeffrey of Stockton CA (2/16/05):
I recently began noticing my checking account being debited by "simple escapes", My reaction was, who/what. I had not used the internet since April of 2004 which just happens to be the same month "simple escapes" claims I got their service through "classmates.com."

Sabrina of Jersey City NJ (2/18/05):
I signed up to use their services for 3 months. The cost was $15.00. I signed up for only 3 months. They told me in the terms of agreement it states that you will be automatically billed again in the next three months for continued service. I didn't agree to these terms, only the terms that stated 3 months only. I was charged $15 which is nonrefundable, also according to their policy, and due to this my checking account was overdrawn and I ended up being out $45.

They offered to discount my rate for $7. That's not acceptable. I want to be refunded my entire $15 plus the extra $30 my bank is charging me for the overdraft! It's not good business on their part and I wouldn't recommend anyone signing up with them.

What resulted is that my account was overdrawn. It was $45. but I'm on a very tight budget and I'm about to have surgery and I'll need to take some time off of work, that I won't be compensated for. This is not a good time for me to be spending money that I don't have.

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