Classmates.com gets sued for phony come-ons
Sat Nov 15, 2008 1:45PM EST
See Comments (57)
If you've never received Classmates.com's spam messages -- "A former classmate of yours is looking for you!" -- you probably don't have a working email account. Classmates.com's come-ons are some of the most venerable and virulent email advertisements around. And at long last the company is being sued because, you know, no one is really looking for anyone using Classmates at all.
Having never heard of Facebook, a San Diego man named Anthony Michaels paid $15 for Classmates' premium service after being told that old school buddies wanted to get back in touch with him. Was it his secret crush? No, Michaels soon found out. In fact, no one he'd gone to school with had ever searched for him.
Michaels' attorneys are looking for class action status to represent what could be hundreds of thousands of similarly scammed individuals and millions of dollars extracted from wallets.
Classmates began its aggravating existence back in 1995 and remains a major online advertiser: Wired notes it spent $30 million alone in 2005 on web ads. For its efforts, the company now claims 40 million registered users; premium subscribers are billed $15 per quarter to maintain their sad and lonely hopes that someone, anyone, from their past may actually want to talk to them. You can read just a few of the complaints about the service here.
Astute readers may also recall the case of Reunion.com, which was accused of spamming users earlier this summer and has now also drawn legal fire.
See Also: JR Raphael's "5 Reasons I Hope Classmates.com Gets Sued Into Oblivion"
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27 Posted by rye_rum on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:57PM EDT Report Abuse
I share Micheals experience. Except I didn't pay them a cent. After I entered my personal info to sign up, they still wouldn't let me see anything without paying. It may have it's merits, but it is a misleading website.
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28 Posted by darthdan431 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:37PM EDT Report Abuse
When I was a wee lad of 8 years old, and had just recieved my first email, it was "A former highschool classmate is looking for you!!!!!!" A rude awakening/introduction to spam. Now I'm all nostalgic. Go Anthony, and sue these spammers for all they're worth.
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29 Posted by sharon622008 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:17PM EDT Report Abuse
It's about time. I hope Classmates.com and Reunion.com lose their cases. I was "duped" and paid to join because I had been searching for my long-lost halfsister and thought perhaps I made a connection. Can any of the "duped" customers get their money back and/or join the suit?
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30 Posted by saxonmor503 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:06PM EDT Report Abuse
Journalism is supposed to be non-biased in its reporting of facts. Not only is this reporter's writing highly biased, but he really doesn't know what the heck he is talking about. I agree that Classmates ads can be annoying and borderline deceptive; so are 90% of the ads on the web. Anyone who surfs the web without realizing that deserves what they get. Caveat emptor. For my part I have connected with numerous old friend through Classmates. Like any products there is good and bad, satisfied customers and not. I suppose I should sue Kelloggs because I once bought a box of Shredded Wheat and didn't like it. The real crime is lawyers who file class action suits and pocket millions while their clients get a check for $10.
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31 Posted by stevewilsonsdc on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:43PM EDT Report Abuse
Our class just had their 25 reunion all handled through classmates. NO ONE had an issue. Yeah I get the "somebody signed your guestbook", but like others ahead of me, I came in contact with old classmates I hadn't seen or heard from for a long while.
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32 Posted by harbor11 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:16PM EDT Report Abuse
Noy only do they scanm people out of money but classmates itself is very biased against users that dont talk about them nicely. They are very partialo to certian memebers with certain bviews. You can vere talk about god, that is a no no and you will get them pisssed off.. Check out Mirta Coposta high school in Manhattan beach, ca. They are so biased on that website.. They let people say God blees you and Amen, but the minute you say you dont believe in religion, Classmates employees will toss you off as well. If you try to post anything about this lawsuit you will get thrown off, like i just did? They wont give any reason why they threw me off and they wont talk to me and they wont give my money back..All because i posted an article about their lawsuit for other classmates? Gary Perkins
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33 Posted by kgbol on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:50PM EDT Report Abuse
I hae been using Classmates for years now and have had very good results. I have been communicating with many of my old school friends. Maybe must of the people who are complaining just didn't have that many friends.
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34 Posted by clev8136 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:26PM EDT Report Abuse
My wife found an old friend for whom she had been searching for over 32 years. The friend had changed names and moved to another state. We are very happy with the service and consider it a good value, even with the frequent spam.
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35 Posted by alfredraff on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:50PM EDT Report Abuse
If they are charging your credit card, notify the credit card company and ask to have the charge refunded. If they refuse, cancel the card. If they are charging your checking account, notify your bank to stop future charges, if they refuse, change banks. Set your spam filters to filter out these two sites. Problem solved!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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36 Posted by myinsurance2008 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:31PM EDT Report Abuse
I thought that it was only me! Every so often and I do mean often, I get an e-mail from them stating that someone is looking for me. When I log in, it turns out that it's the same 7 people from last year and no one new? I sent a reply asking them why do they continuously send this and its the same people that I know about and they never replied. I just started deleting them and they keep coming back. The unsubscribe link is null and void. I hate that that happened to Michaels. I hope that they can resolve this matter!
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37 Posted by ginnyvezolles on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:09PM EDT Report Abuse
I joined back in 2000 and they told me that 20 people were looking for me, in fact only one was and it cost me $49.00 to find out, what a scam...Ginny nevada
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38 Posted by cacaphony_of_souls on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:16PM EDT Report Abuse
"...sad and lonely hopes..?" I found several classmates there, and we keep in touch because of it. We also have our high school reunion pics there. None of us are sad or lonely, trust me.
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39 Posted by oldfartfromida1 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:44PM EDT Report Abuse
I just looked classmates phone number it is :425-917-5000 its office is in Washington state. good luck and hang the ----- s.
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40 Posted by grannys22 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:12PM EDT Report Abuse
I signed up for it after I moved to Ohio was to be one time thing and then I get billed on charge card and let me tell you they are not easy to call to cancel membership...what did I get after call? they say you have paided for another year will cancel you then....called credit card tole them they are not to pay anything else to them as never give permission....never talked to anyone and was always told someone wantes to talk to me...was lies they should shut down classmates...live and learn! Is a scam to me.
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41 Posted by lbeyries2 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:57PM EDT Report Abuse
I was able to reconnect with two of my old high school buddies, who I had lost contact with after I lost my address book during a move. Not everyone uses Facebook, and Classmates.com does have it's uses, although they can be pretty annoying with their come-ons to get you to join. Null seems like a pretty sad and bitter guy with some of his comments above. I feel sorry for you.
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42 Posted by husky9273 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:21PM EDT Report Abuse
Yeah, I'm glad this is happening. I wonder when Reunion will go the same route. They do the same thing and expect you to see messages ad whether or not someone is trying to contact you.
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43 Posted by jeaniesims866 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:31PM EDT Report Abuse
Maybe they will shape up after this. i enjoy being on class mates. Get to talk to so many friends that I havent talked to in years. It also could of been a mistake. All people like to do is sue. Easy money
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44 Posted by kt4prez on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:54PM EDT Report Abuse
This is just an advertisement for Facebook. Jeez people wake. NO ONE forced anyone to fork over $15 or whatever they forked over. Grow up and learn how to block unwanted emails. Your going to cause A LOT of people to lose their jobs just because you're embarrassed at falling for an old trick.
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45 Posted by bry658@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:14PM EDT Report Abuse
I have no problem with classmates. I just had our 40 year reunion through this site. And have got in touch with alot of my old CLASSMATES. As for you people complaining aboat unwanted e-mails just catagorize it as spam and forget it. And the lawers are the ones that are going to ruin it for all the 40 million other users that use this site. I am a happly married man and am NOT lonely or sad. It's idiots like the media the can make or break a bussiness like this one that provides a service. For the few out there that whine aboat it, get a life and quit worrying aboat every little thing that comes around.
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26 Posted by wayneclevenger21 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:41PM EDT Report Abuse
Hey, i'm so glad that i caught this before i did something stuiped myself, Wow! who would have known, somebody could be so mean and lowlife to do somebody's feeling that way. there really though need's to be something out there for people to get back in touch with there old school friend's though. something that dosn't reqire money envolvment.