Poor Anthony Michaels. When Classmates.com told him that long lost school friends were looking for him, he signed and paid ... only to find out that no one was! Now, he's suing Classmates.com for being a scam:
When Classmates.com told user Anthony Michaels last Christmas Eve that his former school chums were trying to contact him, he pulled out his wallet and upgraded to the premium membership that would let him contact long-lost fifth-grade dodge-ball buddies and see if his secret crush from high school had looked him up online.
But once he'd parted with the $15, Michaels learned the shocking truth: No one he knew was trying to contact him at all. Classmates.com's come-on was a lie, and he'd been scammed.
At least that's what the San Diego resident alleges in a lawsuit filed against one of the net's original social networking sites, whose banner ads featuring unflattering yearbook pictures remain a staple around the internet. If the lawsuit, which is seeking class action status, succeeds, it could raise the minimum standards of honesty for online businesses. "Upon logging into his Gold Membership profile in order to view the classmate contacts … Plaintiff discovered that in fact, no former classmate of his had tried to contact him or view his profile," the complaint reads. "Of those www.classmates.com users who were characterized ... as members who viewed Plaintiff's profile, none were former classmates of Plaintiff or persons familiar with or known to Plaintiff for that matter."
Of course once you send the money you find out none of those users exist...
I wouldn't ever fall for such scams, but they should still be prosecuted, (as well as "free" ringtones that cost $20/month).
No where on these messages is there a way to cancel them like 99.9% of newsletters out there. I went to their site
figuring I could cancel from there. Wrong. I sent them an email and asked them to stop sending the mail. I believe I still get their newsletters but my MailWasher filters them out now so don't see their headers. At least I didn't send them any money. It's a shame since their site is a pretty good idea.
Within two months, I got REAL email from the real people I actually wanted to get in touch with again after 25 years, and it didn't cost a dime.
Screw Classmates.com and their 'gold membership' crap!
The internet is a place where if you click on a banner ad its something you have to pay for, and whoever gets paid will tell you anything because there are 100s of similar services elsewhere.
It has been like that since al invented the internet
I hope Anthony knows he was getting scammed, and is just trying to make a point.
I`ll support that, otherwise he just deserves a darwin(I know he didnt die.. just a figure of speech)