ClassmatesReviews 165

When it started in 1995, it seemed like a good place to find friends from schools. That ended in 2015, when it was acquired by PeopleConnect, which uses Classmates.com to generate subscriptions for its other company Intelius.

Here's the user experience: You enter your schools, and they will display the classmates from your years there. The problem is that Classmates does not have your classmates in their database unless those classmates have registered on classmates.com. I listed 5 of the schools I attended and less than 2% of my classmates were in the database.

You can do an extended search for unlisted classmates, and it returns "0" results, with prominent CLICKBAIT to "find them using the Intelius service". You will wait at least 5 minutes while watching progress bars telling you that the service has found them, and compiling their criminal record, family members, residences, financial history, social media. AFTER 5 MINUTES OF WAITING, you get a screen to sign up for Intelius subscription service.

THAT IS THE REASON CLASSMATES IS STILL ONLINE, TO SERVE AS AS CLICKBAIT FOR INTELUS.

CLASSMATES.COM IS USELESS, and is FULL OF OTHER 3RD PARTY CLICKBAIT under every button, and on all sidebars, and pop-ups. If they ever get your email, they will bait you weekly with "one of your classmates says hi"

Finally fell for the "who's been looking for you?' line and signed on for one year@ $24. What a mistake.
I immediately saw that a classmate "looked at my profile" in March 2020... I happen to know she died in 2015.
Had regrets immediately... the whole site is pop up ads and no useful info. Fortunately I paid thru PayPal and stopped any auto billing... so I'm out 24 bucks but they won't get me again. There is no way to contact any customer service directly by email. No refunds allowed... Crap site... don't waste your money.

... and here is why:

Back in the nineties the concept of social media and group online hangouts were new. At its inception classmates.com was great... and I did use it to catch up with old friends and foes from back in the day. Five stars at that time.

Fast forward... Facebook and other online gathering places eclipsed Classmates -- leaving it in the dust. All the while Classmates started asking for more and more money while growing too gimmicky. Now one star.

I rarely if ever use it at this time.

However I will average the two ratings of five stars plus one star for a rating of three stars for old time's sake.

Classmates, you were a trailblazer... good luck in the future.

I purchased a three month trial membership and there was no email to request continued membership or notification of renewal date. I found a charge on my bank statement, the same day the draw was initiated. I immediately contacted customer service for a cancellation and refund request. No response. I sent a second request, no response. I contacted the BBB and filed a complaint. Only then did I receive a response with a statement: "we are issuing a refund." I would not recommend any membership with this organization. In fact, they stated this was a voluntary "one" refund. Even Paypal would not refund because it appeared as a auto renewal. BEWARE!

2 years ago I joined the site and used PayPal for payment. At the time I took a 2 year membership. Within a few weeks of joining I signed in to my account and marked it to NOT auto renew as I didn't feel the service provided any value to me.

The other morning I received a notice from my credit card company that they had charged my account for $72. I immediately contacted classmates.com to let them know of the error and requested a refund. I received an automated response on how to cancel an account, no mention of a refund.

I wrote them back addressing the issue of the refund and reiterated that I had set my account to NOT auto renew almost 2 years prior and did NOT receive an email warning of the charge. Their response was the program is non-refundable without addressing my specific complaints.

I filed a dispute with PayPal. PayPal sided with the merchant. PayPal did not even respond to my assertion that it is hard for me to prove I set the account to NOT auto renew (because the merchant does not acknowledge the setting change with a response) and that I did NOT get an email (by having the merchant PROVE they sent an email).

I believe this merchant routinely uses unfair/unethical/bad business practices in order to increase their revenue.

09\13\2018
I was pleased that I joined Classmates.COM. Threw a membership, I was able to reunite with classmates from 50+ years ago. This resulted in many of us meeting again for a reunion after 50+ years. Since our previous class leaders abandoned the reunion efforts this site was helpful to me. Fortunately another group of class leader's picked up the dropped baton. They ran with it and, there efforts culminated in a excellent 50TH re-union. It is my hope that there successful efforts will continue for a 55TH reunion of similar or greater caliber.
I too had reservations of joining this site. The majority of reviews are negative. Armed with that knowledge I joined then discontinued membership post 50TH reunion. I followed all directions given by Classmates and did not experience any billing problems.
I have recently re-joined my membership. They have improved on this site quite a bit. For example the year book browsing feature is a great added feature. One can actually look up a Classmates.com member or non member. Every one who was in the original year book is there. You can drill down deeper for any Classmates.com members only. This makes sense since they are providing a pay for service.
They do alert you to any one electronically leaving a foot print each and every time. I find that ok since, I like to see who is checking me out. One can change the notification settings in classmates.com to minimize or stop these help full (My opinion) Emails.The site seems to respond much faster and in a more dependable way than before. There customer service is also much improved.
The only draw back I have been disappointed in is there is no Mobile APP. According to there support people, "We apologize for this and there are no immediate plans to create a Mobile APP; at this time. One will find accessing Classmates.com from a mobile devise is limited.
Over All I am very satisfied with this site. I have been able to enjoy linking up to previous High School Chums and aquatint's. Some that were in other than senior year.

Classmates advertises a 50% price reduction, but when you give your credit cardo info below in the small print it states that it is automatic renewal for regular price till you officially cancel. They store your personal info even though you have not officially joined and are just receiving emails from them.
As an attorney, I find this site performing illegal practices including invasion of privacy, deceptive trade practices, false advertising.

After resisting for many years, I joined classmates.com because they emailed me that 25 people had visited my profile and I was curious who they were because frankly I doubt I spoke to 25 different people while I was in HS. After joining and finding 3 names I recognized and 20+ I didn't, I emailed some of them and they unanimously indicated they never visited my profile and/or never knew me. I'll be cancelling my membership soon.