I've been a paying XTRA customer for a few years now and renewed my subscription last year. Last month (December 2023) I logged in only to find out I've been banned from Grindr. Knowing that I absolutely did not violate any terms or guidelines, I quickly appealed the ban. Grindr emails me later stating "we found violations of our rules that are considered bannable offenses" and they proceed to tell me that I will not receive a refund for my remaining 7 MONTHS of my paying subscription. I emailed them back asking WHAT term/guideline did I "violate" because I'm 99% sure I did not violate terms. Instead of answering my question, a second individual from Grindr support decides to look at the appeal again only to come back and tell me the same thing ("we found violations of our rules that are considered bannable offenses").

Pushing further for a response as to WHAT rule/guideline I broke, the only thing they can come back with is "out of respect for the privacy of all our users, we are unable to provide me with any additional details related to my ban". This I know is a LIE because if they are truly "out of respect for the privacy of all their users, unable to provide me with any additional details related to my ban" then where was the same privacy at when TWO different friends of mine, who were banned from Grindr in the past, BOTH received an actual reason as to their ban? For some odd reason Grindr support was able to provide BOTH of them with an explanation (one of them received an explanation that they were banned for "phishing/spamming", and the other friend of mine, was provided w/ the actual message he sent to a user which ended up causing his ban. Doesn't seem consistent from Grindr's end that you can provide some people with details as to what rule they broke but then others can not. You are breaking your own policy by doing that.

Not being able to specify what guideline/rule I broke, and stating "we found that you violated guidelines but for privacy reasons we can not disclose details" is just another way of taking one's money without actually providing a reason. And it's something (I only recently saw according to other users who've posted in Reddit) that Grindr has been doing amongst their platform for some time now and something that is not done in ANY other business in America.

In the real world, people are ALWAYS provided the actual rule that they broke. If I pay for a gym membership and I go to the gym one day only to be told I'm no longer allowed there because I violated a rule/guideline, ANYONE would be provided an explanation of the actual rule they broke. One would not just say "oh I violated a rule? Ok I'll take your word for it." If you get reported to Facebook, Facebook tells you the actual rule you break and even the message you sent that got me reported. It doesn't temporarily suspend or ban you without providing an explanation. "For privacy reasons we can not disclose details" is not only a lie, and in my case really means I didn't violate any rule or guideline of Grindr or else you would be able to tell me which one.

What Grind is doing is no different than me accusing the Grindr support people of insulting me in their emails without being able to provide them with any proof of an insult that came from them.

After MULTIPLE emails back and forth with two different support people, they have made it clear that 1. my ban remains and will not be lifted, and 2. I will not be receiving a refund for unused credits. I wouldn't be this upset if I wasn't a paying customer, but to ban me AND take my money without providing me with the "rule I broke", that's unheard of and unethical. Therefore I'm reaching out to my credit card company to dispute the remaining charges and inform them of this practice they have been doing for some time (and how they refuse to provide me w/ a reason for my ban). If I don't receive a refund from my credit card company I will be contacting the google play store for a refund as I've read where other XTRA customers, who were in the same situation as me, received a refund that way.

I also wanted to post here to WARN people about this before they decide to purchase XTRA; as it seems to be a common occurrence (Grindr banning people without providing reasons). I'm also writing a complaint on the Better Business Bureau website about Grindr. I wasn't surprised when I went there and saw they have a score of "F" for BBB rating and accreditation and all of the complaints that have been filed there. Should be easier to receive a refund from my credit card company after letting them know about that. I also encourage anyone else who has been cheated by Grindr to go to the BBB page and write a complaint as well