The online dating company eHarmony Inc. paid $1.28 million this week to settle a consumer protection lawsuit, Santa Clara County prosecutors said Tuesday.
The complaints in the lawsuit, filed in Santa Cruz County Superior Court, alleged that the website eHarmony.com did not sufficiently explain the automatically charged subscription fee, did not provide customers with a dating contract and did not explain customers' rights to cancel as required by law.
EHarmony agreed to pay up to an additional $1 million in restitution to previous or present California customers that paid the automatically charged subscription fee between March 10, 2012 and Dec. 13, 2016.
The Los Angeles-based company faced the lawsuit when it was brought by the district attorney's offices of Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Napa and Shasta counties along with the city of Santa Monica.
EHarmony cooperated with the investigation and agreed to make the proper changes on its website with corrected notices, prosecutors said.
"Online contracts and subscriptions are more commonplace, and consumers need to be informed of their rights," Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Deng said in a statement. "Companies need to make sure that their customers know exactly what they are paying for, what their rights are, and how often they will be charged."
Ronald N. Sarian, vice president and general counsel for eHarmony, provided the following statement:
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“Since eharmony’s inception, we have endeavored to give appropriate contract notices and disclosures to our subscribers. We remain as committed today as we were 17 years ago to providing a high-quality user experience. Without any admission, we have cooperated with the government, which has previously launched similar investigations against a long list of eCommerce companies, and have chosen to settle to avoid the distraction and expense of protracted litigation. In collaboration with the government, eHarmony has implemented a new industry standard when disclosing terms in order to make the user experience even better. With the settlement now behind us, we look forward to continuing the important work of helping singles find enduring love."
