Complaints

The 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:01/26/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  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 enrolled in a 6 month organizer basic subscription in November of 2022 and paid upfront a fee of $69.26. In app, there were constant pop-*** to try the Pro version via a free 1 month trial. I also received multiple emails for this same promotion. So I gave it a shot mid December, expiring January 21st, 2023. And, before the month was up, per the agreement, I canceled via email request per the instructions provided on their website. Upon canceling, they charged me ANOTHER $42.41 to return back to my basic subscription - claiming I essentially lost the subscription pricing paid in November and will now be charged at a higher rate for the remainder of the 6 months. So I essentially went form being charged $69.26 for 6 months to $111.67. I pointed out several times that I did not agree to cancel and forfeit my previous subscription in lieu of a "free" trail period for a Pro account. Nor was that a condition of the trial itself, and as such, I am not obligated to now pay more for the 6 months I had previously paid for. Their response was they cannot restore my previous subscription that was at a promotional 30% discount price point no longer offered. I believe that is called bait and switch and is fraudulent behavior. I have since requested them to clearly provide evidence of the following to support their response:1. Where is it stated that by accepting the free trial of the Pro subscription I agreed to cancel my existing subscription?2. Where and when I agreed to pay a higher rate for the period of November through May? Per my recall I only ever agreed to initial rate I paid for this period. I have yet to receive a response to these questions and have filed a dispute with my bank for the up-charge fee of $42.41; however I am now so dissatisfied by the whole experience also want back the original $69.26 as well and I want the business to be required to refrain from such unscrupulous, fraudulent business practices.

  Business Response

  Date: 02/09/2023

  Hi ******, 
  We understand *** is requesting a refund for the charge she received after switching from a standard 6-month organizer subscription, to a Pro free trial, and back to a standard 6-month organizer subscription. 
  We can see *** has been in contact with our Community Support team regarding this situation. Its important to note that only payments that fall in line with our refund policy are eligible for refunds.
  With this in mind, we have contacted *** on the same email thread to provide some additional clarification and to help resolve this situation.
  If *** has any further concerns, we encourage her to follow up with us in our email thread. 
  Sincerely,
  *******
  ************ & Safety Specialist
  
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 02/25/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# ********, and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

  [Your Answer Here]

   Their response was not adequate as they continue to just talk in circles around upcharging consumers for taking advantage of a free trial  by then charging them to return to their original plan. See attached correspondence in the original complaint.  Essentially they used a free trail offer to charge an extra $42 as a result of cancellation for that free trial.  As a result I had to then forfeit my groups because I refused to pay this. So all in I paid $62 plus $42 for 1.5 months of what was supposed to be a six month plan I had originally signed up for.  This is shady bait and switch practices and MeetUp should be made to rectify the original fee paid and be required to cease such practices.

   

  In order for the BBB to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************
  
  
  
  
   
  

  Business Response

  Date: 03/11/2023

  Hi ******, 
  We understand *** is not satisfied with the status of her case. We have had multiple communications with *** via email regarding this situation, and have clearly explained our policies regarding refunds. Additionally, when a member disputes a charge with their bank, their bank becomes responsible for that charge and we are unable to take action from our end. We are unable to take further action at this time and ask that if *** has any additional questions or concerns, she communicates with us directly by emailing *********************************.
  Sincerely, 
  *******
  ************ & Safety Specialist
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/17/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  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.

  We (****** going out group) been hosting and posting events s***e 2015. We have put so much effort and time to build group in small community. We removed few members, who wanted to take over our group in past few months. We just found out that meetup *** has allowed them to create new group under same name and now they are posting similar events in same community. Our members, sponsors and supporters are confused and mislead by new group, which is using our group name. We have been contacting meetup support s***e past few days but so far no response. We request to meetup *** to remove group or make rules and policies more strict. I am happy to provide any additional information, if needed. Please resolve this issue asap before it causes more damages to group and organizers.

  Business Response

  Date: 02/08/2023

  Hi *****,
  We understand ******* has concerns about their groups name being used by another organizer. We are happy to address this concern with ******* to ensure it is resolved in a way ******* finds satisfactory. I can see that ******* has contacted our Community Support team and received 2 responses, however we have not received additional information to properly address the situation at hand. We have written to ******* via email once more and ask that they respond to us so we can take the appropriate action from our end. 
  Sincerely,
  Jasmine
  ************ & Safety Specialist
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/14/2022

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  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.

  Please quit having popus to use app when I am using the webpage in a browser. Literally every webpage I browse through when I am at the website has a pop up to get the app. Every page I navigate through when Im at the website.

  Business Response

  Date: 12/27/2022

  Hi *********,
  We understand that **** is unhappy with his experience using Meetup on his devices mobile browser. 
  We have contacted **** directly to provide some workarounds and share his feedback with the appropriate teams here at Meetup. If **** has any additional questions or concerns, we ask that he reach out to us directly by responding to the email we sent to him.
  Sincerely,
  *******
  ************ & Safety Specialist

  Customer Answer

  Date: 12/28/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# ********, and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

  [Your Answer Here]

   They didnt even read my request  they told me to download the app or use on a desktop   I dont want pop *** on my

  phone for the app   Im not downloading the app   Please turn off the pop *** for the app on my phone    Please read my message  

   

   

   

  In order for the BBB to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************
  
  
  
  
   
  

  Business Response

  Date: 01/26/2023

  Hi *********,

   

  We understand **** is unhappy with the situation at hand and want to help further. We can confirm a member of our Trust & Safety Team, as well as a member of our Community Support Team have been in contact with **** regarding this complaint. We have asked for additional information from **** so we can diagnose and properly address his complaint. We ask that **** respond to our most recent message so we can further assist. We appreciate ****'s patience in this matter and are happy to help.
  
  Thank you,

  *******
  ************ & Safety Specialist

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/18/2022

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore 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 10/28/22, I cancelled my meetup membership via email with customer service. However, I noticed a new membership charge of $38.11 on 11/17/22. I am requesting this charge of $38.11 be removed from credit card.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 12/13/2022

  Better Business Bureau:

   

  I have been credited the refund through my bank.
  
  At this time, my complaint, ID ******** regarding Meetup, Inc. has been resolved.
  

  (By clicking "OK", your complaint will be closed as Resolved.)

  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/11/2022

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  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 have used meetup before and enjoyed our association. I went back in to organize a group again to meet people. Unfortunately, the meetup site is having serious problems communicating between the organizer (me) and the members of my group. I have constantly asked for help. They keep stalling. I did multiple tests from several different email addresses. Meetup messages are unable to contact ANY gmail addresses and when sent to yahoo addresses, you cannot reply to them. Gmail also does not even receive notices of scheduled meetups, the whole point of being an organizer. I made a new profile with gmail, joined my own group & tested it. Nothing! Meetup Help personnel claimed they were going to join my group and let me test meetup communication with them in the group. That was on October 4th. October 10th, no new members have tried to join or maybe I just stopped getting notifications for that as well.Anyway, in the meantime, time is running out for the fee I paid and no one is getting messages from me. I get no replies and meetup now has an offer where if you pay more they will give the organizer the emails of their members. That is bypassing the whole purpose of the security of having social media. That is what we are paying for, security and safe communications. This has been going on since mid August. A friend joined the group then & she has received no notifications about meetings or messages from the organizer since she joined. They are taking organizers money and not delivering the service.They need to either refund the organizer fee or fix it and give me credit for the inactive time of blocks to communication with the group. At this point I would rather just close the group and be refunded. It is a drain of my time & good humor.

  Business Response

  Date: 11/10/2022

  Hi ******,
  We understand that ********* has been experiencing issues with our communication tools. We are very sorry to hear about this experience and want to ensure we can investigate and resolve this in a way that is satisfactory to ******************* 
  We have sent ********* a reply to the most recent email she sent to us so we can gather pertinent information and take the appropriate action to resolve this. 
  We ask that ********* respond to our email directly so we can be of further assistance. 
  We sincerely appreciate ********** patience in this matter and we hope that going forward, she will have a better experience with our communication tools.
  Sincerely,
  ******* 
  ************ & Safety Specialist
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/05/2022

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore 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 created an account on Meetup about 6 months ago when I was starting out my business. I paid for a subscription and last month I did a really nice event that I had created through the meetup app and also create a group that had about 40 followers. A few days after that, I was signed out of Meetup for some reason. I cannot reset my password because I no longer have access to the email account that was used to register the meetup account. Therefore, I cannot get back into the app because I don't remember my password and cannot reset it. I cannot use ********* instagram or my apple ID to log into my account, because those use my personal email address, not my business email that I created. I just need to get back in and change the email address on my account. Meetup does not have a phone number for customer support, everything is opening a ticket and I have opened about 10. Each time i explain my situation but no one helps me, I just get a generic reply that someone will contact me. I need my account corrected as I have other events to do. It is very unprofessional to not provide assistance or support to someone, especially when I paid for a subscription to be able to create and event etc.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 10/05/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************
  
  
  
   
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/16/2022

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  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 canceled my membership to ********** in July 2022. Meetup charged my credit card on August 7, 2022, with a $98.94 membership fee for the period August 7, 2022 through February 7, 2023. I tried to contact Meetup to refund the membership fee. I learned they do not have a customer service phone number. I tried to contact them by other means. Their website is a mess. There is no option to contact them about this problem. I thought I found an email address. When I contacted them by email, after a huge run around, I was told that the company I contacted (something like 6yCA, unfortunately I deleted the email accidentally) was not ********** and did not charge my credit card. I want to have the charge on my credit card reversed by ********** and I am unable to contact them by any means.

  Business Response

  Date: 10/01/2022

  Hi ******* 
  We understand that ******* has concerns about receiving a refund for the organizer subscription plan associated with their Meetup account. Well be happy to help. 
  For context, all organizer subscriptions automatically renew. Organizers can cancel their subscription at any point. Additionally, only payments that fall in line with our refund policy are eligible for refunds. 
  All members can submit a request from our *********** at any time using this support form: ************************************************************************* which is located at the bottom of any *********** article.
  Unfortunately, it looks like ******* responded to an email with an unmonitored inbox, which explains why we were unable to offer timely support. That being said, weve now communicated with ******* directly regarding this situation. If ******* has any further questions, we encourage them to follow up with us directly in that email thread. 
  Sincerely,
  *******
  Senior Trust & Safety Specialist
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/14/2022

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  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 am trying to get a refund from Meetup.com **.I was promised an August refund and September cancellation.I did not get satisfaction.I had made a complaint to BBB and received an offer from someone in the Trust and Safety HQ that the complaint would be resolved.I received correspondence that I had to click on with my email address, Apparently the link did not go through, and it was not done on time.I am therefore making another complaint to receive my refund to my **** of America account debit card.

  Business Response

  Date: 09/28/2022

  Hi ****, 
  We understand that ***** has some concerns regarding her Meetup account. Upon reviewing the situation, we can see that a member from our Trust & Safety team has been communicating with ***** to ensure this situation is resolved in a way ***** would find satisfactory.
  We ask that ***** respond to our email if she has any additional concerns regarding her account so we can take the appropriate action. 
  Sincerely,
  *******
  Senior Trust & Safety Specialist
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/14/2022

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore 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.

  ********** has purposely made it impossible to get a refund for a canceled organizer subscription. Attempting to follow the various links online places the user into a loop without resolution. I have been charged $105.12 for automatically renewal of organizer subscription. I have attempted to get a refund by every means possible, without success.

  Business Response

  Date: 09/28/2022

  Hi ********,
  
  We understand that ******* has concerns about recent charges and wishes to cancel the organizer subscription plan associated with their Meetup account. Well be happy to help. 
  For context, all organizer subscriptions automatically renew. Organizers can cancel their subscription at any point. Additionally, only payments that fall in line with our refund policy are eligible for refunds. 
  All members can submit a request from our *********** at any time using this support form: ************************************************************************* which is located at the bottom of any *********** article.
  Unfortunately, it looks like ******* responded to an email with an unmonitored inbox, which explains why we were unable to offer timely support. That being said, weve now responded to ******** original email thread. If ******* has any further questions, we encourage him to follow up with us directly in that email thread. 
  Sincerely,
  *******
  Senior Trust & Safety Specialist
  
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 10/03/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************
  
  
  
   
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/13/2022

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore 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 subscribed to meet up and used the service for some time, but when I canceled my subscription, I emailed them to cancel my subscription and asked them to stop taking money from my account. They wrote back offering me a 50% discount which I declined and instructed my account to be canceled immediately. They did not do as instructed. In June they deducted money again. I wrote back, yet still no action. In July they retook money. I thought they did. In August they went into my account and took out money. It did not stop there. On September 9, 2022, they retook the money. I wrote back asking them to cease taking money from my account and cancel my subscription immediately and refund all that they took out from April to September, yet no one responded to acknowledge my email. Something needs to be done to save customers. This company is just out there to extort people.