Dating Services
Catholic Match LLCThis business is NOT BBB Accredited.
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Complaints
Customer Complaints Summary
- 15 total complaints in the last 3 years.
- 8 complaints closed in the last 12 months.
If you've experienced an issue
Submit a ComplaintThe complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.
Initial Complaint
Date:03/20/2024
Type:Service or Repair IssuesStatus:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
This app is nothing short of the most unsafe dating site I've ever used! Catholic Match had a deal of $44.99 for six months, so after much debate, I decided with the coaxing of a friend to try it. Almost instantly I realized the app was not at all how it is depicted.
Most of the profiles are inactive and fraudulent. However, the main issue is the app is NOT SAFE! Here's why:
1. You can't pause your account (though there is a button for it, it pops up with a message that says "you must wait to pause this account" and then it never let's you pause) This feature simply does not work
2. The filters you put on for what you're looking for are totally disregarded and anyone in the WHOLE COUNTRY can see you even if you put a location range for who you'd like to see. This made me incredibly uncomfortable as that is not at all how the app is portrayed before purchasing.
3. The app only let's you prevent people over 15 older than you message you. Anyone up to 14 years older can see you and message you. It hated this and there is no way to turn it off. Again, not how the app is portrayed before purchasing.
4. You run out of people you can block. In what world on a dating app is it safe to prevent someone from blocking someone else from seeing your profile if you don't want them to? Again, not how the app was portrayed before purchasing.
I asked for a refund after deactiving my account 48 hours after purchasing and they said no because I sent less than 10 messages and read some messages (most from much older men in states way far away that I did NOT want messaging me). I see on here many others supposedly received a refund and yet they won't help me after two days and feeling totally, totally unsafe and uneasy the entire time on it.
In summary, never get Catholic Match. I am utterly disappointed that this service is connected to the Church in any capacity as it does not foster a safe enviornment in the slightest. Especially for women. And, then are unwilling to help too.Business Response
Date: 03/20/2024
I would love to help the person submitting this complaint, however the name listed here is not the name used on their account with us. If she could please write to [email protected] and reference her BBB complaint and ask for Mariette, I will look into this immediately.Customer Answer
Date: 03/20/2024
I have been emailing with Mariette already under my name: ****** ******* I’ve attached correspondence and prof that I am a subscriber under my name I used on here, my email, and Catholic Match.Business Response
Date: 03/20/2024
We responded to this person in accordance with our Terms of Use. They have been referred to Apple for a refund and we wish them the best.Initial Complaint
Date:01/25/2024
Type:Customer Service IssuesStatus:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
Catholic Match, seemed outwardly legit but its services are not legit. Although I am conservative and reticent to do any online dating, with persuasion from my friends and family I decided to give it a try. I was surprised to see seemingly decent women who professed Christian values on the site. I narrowed down my search to my city, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that there were several pages of local profiles to browse through.
All new Catholic Match members must take a personality test based on their faith. The sign-up questionnaire has about 25 questions or so. The answers to this test are used to help you find a suitable partner. They’ll also be displayed in your profile for other members to see.
I tried to get in touch with a very select individual women with similar Christian values and learned that you will have to sign up for a premium account for 6 months before sending any messages. I narrowed down my search to only two women who were geographically local and seemed interested.
I received a response from both locals. When I responded on a place and day to meet during the day on a weekend, suddenly Catholic Match blocked my account. So it is highly likely that Catholic match (using fake names such as Amy and Sandy ) were putting out fake messages in the name of the two locals women to pretend they were corresponding with me. When we were to meet one of the two local women in person my account was blocked.
Catholic match (via this person calling themselves Sandy) asked me for my sensitive personal information (drivers license) if I wanted my account on Catholic Match reinstated. No legitimate company will ask sensitive information that contradicts standard security practices.
I want my profile and photograph permanently removed from Catholic Match and a refund of the entire money paid to them. I am disappointed that Catholic Match uses (young men and women) such as me as bait in the name of doing a legitimate dating business service.Business Response
Date: 01/29/2024
Our security team sometimes needs to request additional identity verification from members in order to keep our community safe. Since member does not wish to provide it, I have refunded the full amount as seen in the attached receipt and closed their account.Customer Answer
Date: 01/30/2024
Better Business Bureau:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********* and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.1) A refund has been made to my aunt who introduced me to CM
2) There is no confirmation if my profile and photographs have been removed by CM. I would like to have proof of this.
CM has no policy to protect
our sensitive information including our profile and photographs. Yet the moderators who pry into our personal profiles play god by blocking our account. I have now learned that this is a common CM practice from friends who have used their service. Sadly this was my first time and I have learned a good lesson not to trust websites as CM. Most of us our
aware that no legitimate company will ask you such sensitive information. While
texts and emails can appear to come from legitimate companies and have a
seemingly logical reason for asking for money or information, reputable
organizations will never ask you to share sensitive personal information (such
as your social security, drivers license, passport or similar such classified
information). These pieces of information could be shared with third parties,
which may include marketers and data brokers that sell your personal
information for profit. See the major data breaches *********************************************************************************************************************
CM does not protect our privacy with the
very fact that out photos and profiles are reused.
I want my profile and photograph permanently removed from Catholic Match. As
for the refund it will go to my aunt who as a gift to me paid for it, assuming in good faith that CM practices are legit. Thank you.
[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, we would like to know your view on the matter.]
Regards,
****** ***Business Response
Date: 01/30/2024
This profile has been fully and completely removed from our site since the user would not complete the additionally required identity verification. All photos and profile information were immediately removed at the time of the refund being issued.
As for security, CatholicMatch treats your personal information with the highest level of security.
All information that you provide to us is SSL-encrypted. This is the most trusted and secure of encryption technologies. You will find a lock in the URL indicating that the connection is secure.
You will also find the small lock icon in the URL, which appears every time you are using a secured website. This site is protected by 256-bit SSL-encryption, which means that all of your data is transmitted in encrypted form and is inaccessible to third parties.
Another means of security verification is the URL bar. Once you double-click the address, you will find an "s" behind "http" which indicates a completely secure connection.
We always adhere to our Privacy Policy and Data Protection obligations. This includes third party privacy protection.Initial Complaint
Date:01/01/2024
Type:Service or Repair IssuesStatus:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
Business advertises a solution to dating but lacks transparency in delivery of “services”. Business supports keeping inactive customer accounts for active users to pointlessly message. Inactive users indicate a fictional reality of there being active users to those that are unaware. This is a deceptive practice that gives a false sense of a “service” being fulfilled. Numerous reviews on this issue have been filed on third party accountability websites across the years with no action being taken.Business Response
Date: 01/01/2024
This person's Premium subscription has been refunded. He had an account for less than a week before filing the complaint, and only messaged two people which is a very short amount of time to determine that there has been some issue preventing success when there has been little use of the site at all. We faithfully hide profiles after a period of complete inactivity - if you are seeing a profile, that person is at least occasionally logging in. We wish this person the best.Initial Complaint
Date:12/17/2023
Type:Service or Repair IssuesStatus:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
I seek neither money nor goods. I ask only that Catholic Match take action when members violate standards of basic honesty in writing their profiles or when they fail to follow Catholic Match guidelines in posting photos, something that Catholic Match does not always do now. Within the past two months, I reported two members, each for posting inaccurate information on their profiles. One claimed to have no children living at home, but then later in her profile admitted that her adult children were still living at home. Another claimed to attend Mass weekly, and then later in her profile admitted to attending "one to three times per month" which is clearly not the same as weekly; Catholic catechism teaches that deliberately missing weekly Mass is a "grave" sin. Catholic Match refused to correct either of these instances of false information. Finally, my primary photo was pulled by Catholic Match without warning and with no input from me because it violated their standard that the photo must show the individual "facing toward the camera." I reported a photo within the past month that was more egregious in that regard than mine, but the photo has not been removed even though I sent a copy of my pulled photo to CM and pointed out that this new member's photo was more in violation of their guidelines than mine was (photos of each attached). They refused to remove the photo. Instead, I received an insulting and threatening email from the author of that guideline, Mr. Nathan ****** terming my reports to be "frivolous" and "vindictive"(photo attached). That claim is blatantly untrue. I have always reported facts only and avoided any type of verbal abuse. I am only asking that Catholic Match pledge to honestly and equitably enforce basic standards of honesty in member content and to enforce the photo guidelines they themselves have written. Nothing more.Business Response
Date: 12/28/2023
We try to apply our rules for the benefit of all members and we do not publicly comment on any security actions we take in order to provide the best possible environment for all our members.Customer Answer
Date: 12/29/2023
Better Business Bureau:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********* and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.As I have already made clear, Catholic Match does NOT apply its rules fairly and equitably. On the contrary, they apply the rules that they lay out capriciously and arbitrarily. If they did, in fact, apply their rules as they claim, I would be satisfied. I will be monitoring their actions in the future to see if they live up to their claims.
[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, we would like to know your view on the matter.]
Regards,
******* ******Customer Answer
Date: 02/10/2025
Customer Service Issues
select
Problem:
I have been an active subscriber to Catholic Match for over twenty years. By and large, I've found their site to be useful and well-run. Thursday February 6, 2025, however, their Senior Developer, ****** *****, sent me an email that was untrue, threatening and insulting. In the past, I've reported other profiles that have not followed guidelines set up by Catholic Match itself. In fact, ***** himself has written many of these guidelines (see attached). When I've used Catholic Match's report function to make their customer service staff aware of members who were non-compliant with their guidelines, I was always careful to follow Catholic Match's posted guidelines, stick to facts and write the report respectfully. When I questioned why a recent report I sent, regarding a blatant falsehood in a member's profile (see attached), had not been acted upon, I received the attached response from ***** that accused me of filing reports that were "***** and vindictive." This is completely untrue. In that email, ***** has threatened to suspend my membership if I use the report function again. He has also refused to discuss the matter. I have done absolutely nothing wrong or anything that would warrant such a response.
Desired Resolution / Outcome
select
Desired Outcome:
I am requesting that ***** rescind his threat to cancel my subscription if I should use the report function in the future, and a pledge from him that Catholic Match will uniformly and fairly enforce their posted guidelines in the future.Business Response
Date: 02/10/2025
This member has sent an abundance of reports of other people's profiles which have nothing to do with member safety or serious violations of our Terms. We have asked repeatedly that the reporting of other profiles over things like how a photo was cropped cease, and to no longer create customer support tickets related to them, and this member refuses to comply. I apologize that the message sent by our developer was so ****.Customer Answer
Date: 02/13/2025
Better Business Bureau:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.Nothing has changed regarding my complaint over Catholic Match's refusal to fairly and uniformly enforce the "requirements"(their term) that they have posted on their site. I did receive the attached email from an alternate senior customer service *** this week. However, as you can see, they have no interest in discussing my complaints fully and completely. A single sentence is hardly sufficient to address the topics I have raised. They have also not rescinded their threat to cancel my membership if I make any further ***orts. Other than the poor customer service they offer, I am pleased with Catholic Match overall and do not want to lose my membership. Since I have no other options, I will not make any further ***orts and I consider the matter closed. No, I am NOT satisfied with this outcome. I do, however, thank you for your service and efforts on my behalf.
******* ******Initial Complaint
Date:11/19/2023
Type:Billing IssuesStatus:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
On November 14, 2023 I subscribed for a 6mon subscription with the advertisement being $15.00/mon. The business did not charge month by month, but instead charged for the entire 6 months in advance. Within less than 72hrs I contacted the business asking for a refund, for I had hardly utilized any of the app features nor had/engaged in any actual conversations yet. Furthermore, unforeseen personal circumstances came up that have prompted me to no longer want to continue with the services that I had basically not even used yet. I contacted the company directly and received a response, but it was not very reassuring as this didn't even refund half of the price I paid. I paid $53.70, and received a refund of $23.71, meaning I paid $30 dollars for less than 3 days worth of a service that was guaranteed for much longer than that! Would appreciate the remaining $30 refunded as well.Business Response
Date: 12/06/2023
******** wrote in for a refund after already having used the Premium subscription to send off-site contact information to another member. This rendered her ineligible for a complete refund. She was refunded the difference between a 6 month subscription to a 1 month subscription on the 19th and was still upset. She was refunded the additional amount on November 22nd, having received back the entirety of her 6 month subscription even though she used it to send contact information to another member.
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