Dating Services

Well it has been about a week since Plenty Of Fish (POF) offered its users a paid option that upgraded their profile to serious member status (see Story). There have been mixed reviews from the members of POF. Some complain about the 100% Free tag line on the site should be removed, while others have wondered if users with the badge would receive any more mail as claimed on the POF upgrade page. Most are just shocked that the site has started a paid membership upgrade. I haven't found any glowing recommendations of it yet.

Some members also have been angered that POF have been giving some upgrades away to get the ball rolling. The problem is, some of these giveaways have been to people who didn't know they received them. This has angered many long term POF members who felt left out. I think POF should of offered the upgrade free for a limited time to users that have been using the site regularly for a certain period of time. The upgrade would be offered for free but the user would still have to initiate it. I also would have made the free serious member upgrade for the 3 month term only. With a set of rules in place on who gets the free upgrade people would have less to complain about (but I am sure some still would).

Spark Networks had a disappointing quarter 4 in 2008. From the press release:

2008 was a mixed year for us. We achieved moderate annual revenue increases in Jewish Networks and Other Affinity Networks, improved Contribution margins to 74%, cut Operating Expenses by 19%, drove annual Adjusted EBITDA to record levels at a 28% margin and returned capital to stockholders by using cash flow to repurchase 21% of the shares outstanding at the start of 2008 ... we are disappointed with second half trends and in particular the fourth quarter, as revenue and subscribers decreased sequentially in each online segment. 2008 revenue, excluding General Markets, was flat while fourth quarter revenue, excluding General Markets, declined 3% sequentially. Jewish Networks was flat in 2008 but saw its third consecutive quarter of declines.

General Markets was Spark Networks flag ship dating site once, Americansingles.com. For over the last year American Singles has lost a large number of members. Spark Networks current flag ship site is JDate, the online Jewish Network.

eHarmony never wanted to open Compatible Partners but as specified in the terms of a settlement in November 2008, they must open a dating site for gay people by the end of this month. We have been told that the site will work like eHarmony's current site which involves a long profile questionnaire to help in the matching process. At eHarmony you do not search for other singles. All matches are given to you by the dating site. As far as we know there have been no plans to update eHarmony's matching algorithm to take into account the differences in a gay relationship for Compatible Partners.

It will be interesting to see how popular the new dating site will get. It has gotten a lot of media attention but delivering a product for this type of niche never was a goal for eHarmony. I don't see why a gay single would want to join?

When Compatible Partners goes live, we do plan on doing a review, so stay tune.

Update: Check our our new review of Compatible Partners.

Yesterday we wrote about the True.com $1.5 million lawsuit settlement (see Story). Dallas News did a piece as well, which uncovered a few additional facts. The lawsuit will cover customers who were charged incorrectly as far back as 2003. A lawyer of the plaintiff (Thomas Wong) stated that both True.com and themselves can identify former customers that are eligible for a refund. Those that were charged for an extra 1 month membership will receive $35 and those charge with over a month may receive $50. Over 150,000 ex-members of True are expected to be compensated.

Before any refunds are handed out, this settlement still must be approved by U.S. District Judge David C. Godbey.

I was emailed some documents yesterday which involves the civil action case 3:07-cv-01244-N. This is the case where Thomas Wong and others, initiated a class action lawsuit against the dating site True.com about their auto billing and renewal practices of memberships. Thomas Wong originally filed his petition on June 12, 2007.

On Friday, in the Dallas, Texas federal court a $1.5 million settlement was filed. According to document 80-2:

The Settlement Agreement requires defendant TrueBeginnings, LLC ("True") to pay $1.5 million into a settlement fund that will be used to provide refunds to certain members of the Settlement Class, and to provide free 45-day subscriptions to certain other members of the Settlement Class (thereby providing several million dollars in additional benefit to the Settlement Class). In addition, the Settlement Agreement requires entry of an injunction prohibiting True from engaging in "auto-subscription" of ex-subscribers for at least four years...

Perfectmatch.com sent us a coupon which enables new members to receive $30 off a 3 Month Subscription. This is over a 30% savings off of the regular price. With this promotion, members will also get a free copy of the Book "Finding Your Perfect Match" by Dr. Pepper Schwartz. She is a leading relationship authority, and the author of 14 other books. Dr. Schwartz also help design Perfectmatch's DUET total compatibility matching system.

This promotion is valid from March 2, 2009 until March 31, 2009.

To get started, visit Perfectmatch.com, the promotion will automatically be applied when you signup.

Update - We just got another unique coupon from Perfectmatch. This one gives new members $29.95 off a 2 Month Subscription. This means your membership will cost only $49.95, instead of the regular price of $79.95. This promotion is valid until March 31, 2009.

So Discover the Perfectmatch difference and SAVE over 36% on a 2 month membership.

For more information on this dating site, read our Perfectmatch.com review.