OkCupid Class Action Says Dating Website Tricks Users into Costly Upgrades

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An Illinois user of the OkCupid dating website says it uses deceptive tactics to trick users into opting for its paid version.

According to plaintiff Chad Perkins, defendant Match Group Inc. presses users of its free version of OkCupid to upgrade to the paid version so that they will have a chance to contact other paid version users who have “liked” their profile.

But upon upgrading, Perkins claims, users find that many of these other users’ profiles are inactive or dead. He says that when users complain to Match Group about these dead OkCupid profiles, the company falsely blames the issue on software problems.

Users can sign up for a basic version of OkCupid at no cost to them. The site also offers a paid version, dubbed “A-List” service, for between $9.99 and $19.99 per month. The longer the subscription a user purchases, the lower the monthly cost.

Perkins says that in December 2016 he installed the OkCupid app on his smartphone and created his own free OkCupid profile. He immediately started getting app notifications telling him other users had liked his profile.

The notifications offered to reveal those users in exchange for an upgrade to paid A-List service. Emails he received from OkCupid stated an exact number of users who had liked his profile and told him those users would be more likely to respond to messages and agree to meet in person.

In response to those offers, Perkins says he paid $44.99 for a three-month subscription to OkCupid’s A-List. Then, upon viewing the user profiles he couldn’t view as a user of the free version, he found that “most if not all” of these profiles were inactive.

He emailed Match Group customer service to tell them about the problem. In response, he received an apology and an assurance that OkCupid’s software developers had a fix in the works. But Perkins believes this response was just an effort to conceal what he believes is fraud perpetrated on himself and other OkCupid users.

The first claim listed in Perkins’s OkCupid class action lawsuit falls under the Illinois Dating Referral Services Act. That act imposes several specific requirements on dating services, requirements Perkins claims OkCupid has failed to satisfy. Plaintiffs affected by a violation of this act may be entitled to collect treble damages.

In addition to that claim, Perkins is also raising claims for breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and violation of the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act.

Perkins proposes to bring this OkCupid class action lawsuit on behalf of a plaintiff Class including all U.S. persons who, within the applicable statutory limitations period, paid Match Group for OkCupid A-List service at a time when some technical malfunction caused their reported number of likes to exceed the actual number of users who had liked their profile.

He seeks an award of damages, disgorgement of Match Group’s related revenues, court costs and attorneys’ fees, all with pre- and post-judgment interest.

Perkins is represented by attorney William M. Sweetnam of Sweetnam LLC.

The OkCupid Deceptive Practices Class Action Lawsuit is Chad Perkins v. Match Group Inc., Case No. 1:17-cv-02988, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.