Successful Resolution of Complaint with eHarmony - Autorenewal dispute – Hey all, I am sharing my experience to help others. My experience is from Victoria, Australia and my actions do relate to me only but if you see similarities it may help guide you. Sorry this is long but it gives you what i think you need to consider if ever taking out a service with eHarmony Inc in Australia.

I have used this service in the past and have been successful finding a match a decade ago, so I never was in the position i was presented recently. Like some of you, i RE-subscribed after a heavily discounted offer from eHarmony Australia to RE-join their service. I agreed to a 12 month subscription. Payment was made and from all my records, it appeared eHarmony did not at the time of purchase provide an email order confirmation.

I was aware of the auto renewal in the t’s & c’s however what i DID NOT expect in Australia that the auto renewal would occur WITHOUT a reminder notice before the renewal date after 12 (rather long and unsuccessful) months. Many service providers with ongoing renewals provide these to me with sufficient notice to exercise my right to cancel a subscription before its expiry. This is what i understood is to comply with the law.

As some here have mentioned Section 24 and 25 of the Australian Consumer Law highlight there can be “unfair contract terms” which create an unfair balance between the provider and the consumer. The Federal Court in Australia has provided some precedence that auto renewals MAY be considered an unfair contract term if it does not meet particular criteria. There have been some successful ACCC cases (google and a number of lawyer pages will tell you) where that the courts have ruled against providers who don't think a reminder notice before expiry of a current subscription is required. These examples set a similar precedence for other providers so they must be execute due care and skill to avoid non-compliance to the Unfair Contract Term Regime. However no one has taken on eHarmony, from what i could see so this is why they may continue to use this term and apply it the way they do. The only way you can get a specific contract confirmed to possess an unfair contract term is in a court OR tribunal where there is jurisdiction. *hold this thought*

Back to my experience… My account was locked due to the autorenewal payment failing and the first notice sent to me was after the expiry of my initial subscription and due to multiple failed attempts to successfully obtain payment. After a fair number of emails between myself and eHarmony i continued to receive rejections to reconsider and resolve my dispute. The engagement i found in their responses was unhelpful and appear to come from staff who perhaps were not aware of Australian consumer rights and used templated responses which are evident with the americanised date structure. MM/DD/YYYY.

I spoke to the ACCC who confirmed they cannot take individual cases but were interested in receiving information about possible systemic ACL issues. I highly encourage Australian users to report behaviour they may consider “unfair contract terms” which could be applied not to yourself but apply to any Australian user as this will highlight SYSTEMIC behaviour. Be prepared to forward email evidence to provide a clear picture why it impacts not only you but other Australian consumers.

I was referred from there to Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV). After they listened to my story. The advice was given that an “unfair contact term” will need to be debated in court or a tribunal. For victorian subscribers, VCAT will listen to “unfair contract term” disputes. They will also consider small claim disputes if you are seeking a refund. Other Australian states you may need to google who will do this. However another concern from CAV was the providers compliance to ACL Section 60, which is a CONSUMER GUARANTEE. This guarantee requires a provider to supply a service with ‘due care and skill’. I asked for a contact reference number so i could quote this if i needed to come back to CAV.

I encourage you should read and consider the complaint/dispute management process you experienced and if this applies to you. In my scenario i believe had suitable grounds to complain against S24, S25 and S60.

Last week after not receiving a response to my last dispute email, eHarmony sent a final reminder which notified me if unpaid by a certain date collection activity may apply. In response to this i wrote a formal complaint letter informing eHarmony Australia that the services bought do not meet the consumer guarantees (S60) under the Australian Consumer Law. I provided, amongst my own personal circumstances, the following: - justification to why eHarmony were bound to the ACL. Certain clauses confirm this in their t’s and c’s. They are also registered with ASIC to operate within our juridiction. - a summary of all attempts to resolve the matter including eHarmony incident references. - Commentary on how these responses did not meet the ‘due skill and care’ expectations which included compliance and awareness to the Unfair Contract Terms (S24 and S25). - Federal court references where providers supplying a service and adopting autorenewals without reminder notifications in Australia have lost cases brought forward by the ACCC. - Contact References of my interactions with ACCC and CAV. I requested for immediate collection activity to cease and the resolution for my dispute/complaint as already requested in all my previous complaints. Failure to do so would result in me going to VCAT without further notice. I received a reply and matter was resolved between eHarmony and I.

Side Notes below is some general information to consider and possibly help. Debt Collection: I’m aware debt collection practices must be in line with the ACCC and ASIC Regulatory Guide published (RG 96 Debt collection guideline: For collectors and creditors) and the the Consumer Law legislation technically gives them grounds to collect but must follow a strict practice otherwise they may be in breach of ASIC and ACCC requirements. Do a google search if you choose to NOT PAY the ACCC also have a guide to assist you. Generally, i do not recommend refusing to pay if you dont have a legitimate dispute as this may impact your credit history or cause other undue issues for you down the track. I would recommend if you can pay to do so but seek the remedy in your complaint for the amount to be refunded. If you cannot afford, consider raising hardship with the provider. If the matter goes to debt collection after a formal complaint (which includes the request for debt collection to cease whilst a matter is still in dispute) does not occur. You can potentially lodge a matter with VCAT or some other state equivalent. This will come at your cost hence why it may be best to pay the due amounts and seek remedy for refund via the small claims tribunal.

Complaint Templates: Consumer Action Law Centre (google is your friend) have good templates to assist you in preparing a complaint letter.

Unfair Contract Terms: As mentioned this can only be determined in a court or tribunal for that contract. I'm of the understanding that until this is tested, they may think their behaviour/approach is ok. Lodging a matter with VCAT or another equivalent small claims body i believe may be enough to test this. For Victorians, You will need to run an ASIC search to prove they are registered in Australia ($9) and get the correct mailing address to submit to VCAT and the documents to the disputed provider.

However as i have no further dispute with eHarmony, i am unable to follow that through. Good luck If you ever do take out a subscription, given their actions at this point I would recommend not to expect a reminder. Sign up but follow that up soon after with a request for the autorenewal to be removed. This will prevent pain like we all seem to be experiencing as consumers.