Meetup Reviews 728

I am convinced that MeetUp is now a fraudulent company, and the current venture capital owners of MeetUp are determined to torpedo and tank the platform to bleed it dry on behalf of its shareholders. As both a MeetUp user and organizer, I can say that that platform used to be great. However, it was sold in 2017, again in 2020, and again in 2023 to venture capitalist AlleyCorp. As was the case for companies like Joann Fabrics, these VC's acquire perfectly good companies that are financially sound and then bleed them dry for financial gain for the shareholders. They have zero interest in actually running the company or improving the company's product. Since the acquisitions, MeetUp's software has become full of bugs and consistently underperforms. They are charging organizers $300 a year for this terrible software and platform--AND offering you the choice to upgrade to "PRO" for God knows how much money. They keep asking me if I would recommend the platform to others and I keep saying NO! NO! NO! Looking at all these terrible ratings and no improvement to the product or decrease in the fee, again, leads me to believe this is now a FRAUD, whereas you are paying for something that has purposely been made to be defective. I've complained to the FTC, but I am sure my complaints will go unheard. If you haven't started a MeetUp page, DON'T. Find other ways to recruit participants to your group--either Eventbrite or other avenues.

Do not use this company. Their customer service is terrible. I joined to advertise a free meet up event for people who want to get into the fertility coaching business. I see many other coaches advertising similar events in different niches. For some reason (after I paid for a pro plan), they say my event doesn't fit their community standards. Ok great, I have been on the platform for less than 2 hours. You can refund me. Nope. Told me to take it up with my bank. What a scam.

Total scam, stay away! You will lose your money. Discusting customer support, super expencive and an all round terrible app. 1 star is wayyy to much, ashame you can't give it no star

Steep price hikes for very little value for money. Customer service is non-existent - a bot 'resolved' my query about an error with their messaging feature in 2 minutes, and when I re-opened it to highlight that the issue was still there, there was no response. There is a rising scam where scammers are impersonating meetup book club organizers to solicit authors for money in exchange for their book getting featured on the book club; meetup has shut down every request to investigate this.

Totally disappointing and customer services offers zero support and professionalism

I've been running a group for over four years, and what I dislike most is that organizers(groups) are rated by users, even though they pay the group management fee to run hobby groups.Ratings are not necessary for running a hobby circle. I wish organizers could at least also rate users, but the biggest problem is that the rating system itself is preventing the formation of new hobby groups.Even system malfunctions affect the evaluation of group management. It's an unfair system.

Whilst I enjoyed using their app for Toastmasters meetings... being charged £150 for a dormant page I shut down (on the weasly grounds that I'd not cancelled the subscription) is unacceptable.

Tweet them? No reply.
Contact form them? Fobbed off by a bot.
Any other method? Mythical.

To be that uncontactable shows a distain and contempt for users, hence this review... that I wish I never had to write.

got it to meet friends, thing sends me millions of ads and i don't know how to cancel payments. takes advantage of people in my opinion.

A walking and hiking group now requires a photograph which IMO is a form of sexual harassment of women. They, like too many groups, also take and publicly post photographs from their events and get upset if you do not want to be in them. Some of us have lots of history with stalking and harassment but should that prevent us from going on a, checks notes, hike? There is no reason to require public photographs and no reason at all to demand that participants have their photographs taken and publicly posted. There is no Meetup group that is worth this kind of harassment. Meetup should understand that this is taking place and ask their organizers to stop this behavior. Meetup would do this if they care about protecting their members and encouraging participation. Do they care?

I have attended many events through Meetup over the years and have enjoyed my connections. I belonged to a wonderful women’s friendship group and the organizer was absolutely PHENOMENAL! She was one of a kind in that she made everyone feel welcome no matter what age, race, preference, etc. SHE WAS A CLASS ACT! When the Meetup platform changed last year, the organizer sent a group message and was completely honest and up front to disclose that she could no longer afford to be the organizer due to the rising costs, etc. and asked if others could come forward to possibly save the group. Unfortunately it didn’t happen but I know personally that when the group closed, I still kept in touch with many members that all echoed the same positive sentiments about a group that is well missed in particularly how events were so well organized and inclusive of others.

I took a break for about a year and decided to join a group called OC Girlfriends Social Network. This review is only about the organizer ‘CM’ because I have not had any other encounters with the groups other organizers. I was a first time attendee to her event this past weekend. But beforehand, CM direct messaged me to let me know that I was moved into the event from a waitlist and that she needed me to VENMO the event fee by the next day. I had already read the group comments where several people asked if bringing cash was ok and she clearly said cash is fine. I took a screen shot and I direct messaged her back and informed her that I saw the group comments about cash, then she responded and said cash is fine. I arrived at the event which was held at a restaurant and there was a long line of people at the cashier waiting to place an order (because you had to order food before seating). After about 10 minutes, I decided to leave the line and go find the group to let them know I arrived. Another woman entered as I left the line and looked like she was looking for a group so I asked her “Hey are you here for the Meetup?” and she said “Yes I didn’t know whether to order first or find the group!” So we introduced ourselves and headed over together to find the group. As soon as we got to the table, I asked for CM and handed her the event fee prior to shaking her hand. Oh boy if you could see the up & down stares that myself and the other new woman received, the vibe was WAY OFF! Completely unwelcoming! We went and ordered our food, played games and left. Here’s the problem… That night, I get an email stating that I had been removed from the group. Keep in mind this was my very first event with that group. I direct messaged CM and asked what legal reason was I removed from the group for? SHE MESSAGED ME BACK AND SAID THAT I DID NOT PAY THE EVENT FEE TO ATTEND!!!!! I immediately sent a message to Meetup and have not heard back yet but I doubt much can be done. That is about as shady as it gets. Luckily I was able to reach out to my new friend that also first time attended that day and she confirmed that she was standing right there when I handed CM the money! My new friend in turn, direct messaged CM and fact checked her chain her events to confirm that I did in fact pay! If you pay in person with cash to an event, either snapshot or video yourself handing it to the organizer. I appreciate my new friend coming to my defense but guess what, CM removed her from the group as well! No indication that this would happen because there were no issues throughout the entire event. This is exactly why people are leaving Meetup because groups are forming like juvenile cliques creating a discriminating, unsafe, unwelcoming and toxic environment. A judgemental & unfair organizer along with her followers support this behavior and cover up incidents like this. This whole adult bullying behavior needs to stop…so I’m calling it out!
Proceed with caution…. this organizer has issues with money management, social and behavioral issues.

***UPDATE*** "V" from Meetup reached out to me and I appreciate the followup. She understood that the problem is unfairly being removed from a group at a first time event without warning, discussion, etc. and using the excuse of non-payment when in fact, payment was made. CM may have thought I was late to the event but I was in fact in a long line waiting to order food prior to my introduction. Still, that was NOT the way to handle that & did not warrant removal from the group. If you want an event to flow a certain way, then have explicit instructions for everyone to follow! If you have a problem with someone, try communicating first. It takes more than one meeting to get to know someone. Without communication, you may not even know if a person has a handicap, suffers from a medical condition, etc. Ratings are for a reason!
Personal opinions, controlling behavior or bullying should not be a basis for someone attending a group event.

Most events are just money grubbing, speed dating is the most hilarious event, I’ve seen a few organisers showing up in multiple meetings, it’s just a business, never pay for a meeting and hope that people show up, the company doesn’t deserve the subscription and they always ask to pay the ticket in another platform, so that you can’t complain to meetup.

Meet Up was working fine for me in my area, but what Meet Up has been doing to its look and site has made naviagting it, so awful. It was simple to use, now it is not. It has become annoying with so many clicks to just find your own page, your own groups, the calendar. It worked fine before..they kept bothering you to pay for more, but I did not want the more. I don't like social media sites, so why would I want an event and group site to become that? Please return the site to the fabulous organization tool it was...now it is really actually annoying to use.

they stole $45 from me - DO NOT organize your events from them they do not have any customer service and will steal money from you!

I wanted to try the Meetup Pro membership. During the 7-day free trial I did not get any members in my group, so I decided to cancel on the 7th day. I then received a message that a payment had been charged to my card. I wrote an email 30 minutes later, I filled out the online contact form, and I sent three emails in total. They only replied two days later saying that a refund was not possible. They told me that they had canceled the subscription but that I would still have access to my groups for three months.

They charged me 400 USD, which is really too much money. Then two days ago they charged another 400 USD from my card without any notice. I wrote to them again and they said that I had to cancel the subscription myself, even though they had already told me they had done it for me. In one month they have taken 800 USD from me. I have no money left now and they say they cannot refund me and that I must cancel on the website.

There is no option to delete the groups, no warning that they are going to charge, no proper support, and they are simply thieves. Meetup Pro is completely useless and only serves to steal your money.

As a former Organizer of a Meetup Group from 2006 through May 2025, which was kept afloat thanks to members and no longer funded by me, I will never use Meetup again for many reasons, like: (1) the second time they billed my card after I had cancelled my Meetup subscription, I complained to no avail and had to cancel my card and provide the new one to various auto-billing companies; (2) price gouging; (3) banning a member and former organizer without notice or warning; (4) discontinuing allowing one's own ads. Meetup is no longer honest, thus not fun, is obsolete, and certainly not worth all the aggravation when compared to the many, far better options available.

They won’t refund my money for a subscription I didn’t intend to keep and cancelled immediately.
Avoid this website. Disgusting.

Meetup.com, now owned by Bending Spoons, left me with the impression that their leadership is indifferent to user well-being — the kind of cold, stubborn behavior that people sometimes describe as “corporate psychopathy.”

I was sent a survey that I believed was private. I answered honestly, only to find out later that they had published my responses publicly without consent. When I asked for removal, citing Oregon privacy law, they refused — offering no business reason for keeping it up.

This decision benefits them in no way. It doesn’t bring in revenue, protect them legally, or serve their community. It only damages trust. Yahoo Mail’s spam filter didn’t even ask for confirmation when I marked their messages as spam — something it normally does for legitimate companies.

A community platform should be especially careful about optics and trust. If your decisions leave users feeling like they’re dealing with a company that’s cold and punitive for no reason, you’ve already lost the community.
You lost me forever, for no reason except what feels like cold corporate behaviors which keep control more important than community trust.

Before you can join any event you have to attend a "first timer's" meeting that's mandatory and it costs $25. I signed up, paid the nonrefundable fee and received an invite to the Zoom meeting where the host never showed. When I questioned what happened I got a response of "that's weird". Not really if they're making $25 per person to do nothing. Scam alert.

Who's going to pay a fiver a week to see who's going to events? This site used to be good but it's now taken a greedy turn. There's no way to leave feedback or contact admin either seemingly. I want to complain about the irritating payment popups.

Disgusting. Do not use!!