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Man Sues Match.com for Hurting His Feelings

by Caleb Johnson on June 11, 2009 at 04:20 PM


Rejection is a cold, hard fact of life. When it comes to dating, everyone's going to get dissed a time or two. While it's never fun, we here at Switched have found that keeping our heads up and moving forward (and watching a few rocket explosion videos on YouTube) works best.

However, some folks, like New Yorker Sean McGinn, do not share our enthusiasm for 'getting over it.' McGinn says Match.com, a popular dating Web site, caused him "humiliation and disappointment" when his message to another user did not result in a reply, according to a report from Metro International. McGinn filed suit in New York federal court Tuesday. He wants unspecified damages for what he calls Match.com's "deceptive practices."

Match.com allows users to create profiles, as well as view and search others, for free. However, if a user wants to correspond with another, the site charges a monthly subscription fee, ranging from $19.99 to $39.99. In the lawsuit, McGinn claims the site does not alert a user when he or she contacts someone who has not paid the required fee to send a reply. So, when a user like McGinn sends a message to someone who has not paid the fee, he is left to wait and wonder why a response never comes. Match.com, which is owned by InterActiveCorp, is reviewing the suit, but representatives said they "will defend it vigorously."

If what McGinn alleges is true, we agree that Match.com should take action to clear the matter. However, we find McGinn's claims of emotional distress amusing, and sort-of pitiful. Like we said, rejection is tough. But, in our collective experience, it is much more tough when it occurs face-to-face, between two breathing human beings. It may be time to unplug, Mr. McGinn -- we think there's a lot to learn about dating that can't be found on a Web site. [From: Metro International, via Asylum]

Tags: dating, internet, lawsuit, love, match.com, online dating, OnlineDating

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