General News

I found an interesting statistic. Apparently in 2009, there was 2,660 consumer complaints nationwide in the United States against dating services (both online and off). In 2005 there was only 824 and in 2004 only 126. Considering that there are about 40 million singles that used dating sites and social networks to meet new people last year, this number doesn't seem overly high. I realize that the increase from 2004 to 2009 is big but I think there is a reason for that too (besides the dating sites themselves). I am not sure exactly how businesses get put into the BBB databases and for the record I couldn't find a lot of them back in 2008 (see Story) but, how many dating companies existed in the BBB database in 2004 and then in 2009? Is it the same or are there twice as many companies? If it is more, chances are you will have more complaints. When I reviewed a few BBB reports, I see that Match.com only became an Accredited Business of the Better Business Bureau in 2006. PerfectMatch came on board just last year. I have a feeling that a part of the rise of complaints is due to the fact many of these dating service companies were never being tracked until just a few years ago.

Dating sites can also be hard to find in the BBB database, especially if it is owned by a company with a different name. Sometimes you can only find complaints about a certain dating site if you visit their parent company. Though, since my 2008 report it does seem that the Bette Business Bureau website has seen a few improvements. It was much easier to find a number of dating sites now since the search for the BBB seems to take into account websites own by the company. With this in mind I was still not able to find several medium size dating sites in the BBB database (US or Canada) and one of the largest dating sites, PlentyofFish.com. If these dating sites were included, we would certainly see more complaints.

When people release statistics like this I wish they would give us a comparison. It would be nice to know how many people used the products or services in the industry when compared to the complaints. This way I could see that this "blank" percentage of people were not happy. Plus, if I had other industry numbers, I could then see how it stacks up with the dating industry to get a better idea if 2,660 complaints is a lot, or not much to worry about.

I want to make it clear here, I am not saying that the rise of complaints is solely a reporting issue. I do think most dating sites have a lot more room for improvement on not only the features they offer, but on how they treat their customers.

For more information read WISBusiness.com.

Great, according to the Hollywood Reporter the TV show from last summer, "Dating in the Dark", is getting another kick at the can. ABC has ordered 6 episodes for a second season which will probably air this June. Last year the show aired after the Bachelorette on Monday's with decent numbers.

Just when I thought TV was getting better...

Neu.de, one of Germany's largest dating sites has recently partnered with Match.com. On February 9, 2010 Match.com in Germany (de.match.com) will have their database of members merged with Neu.de. Match.com will also then start returning matches from both dating sites to their members. Neu.de customer service will also be taking on the role of customer support for Match.com in Germany.

Need to know more about Match.com in Germany? According to their homepage 80 percent of their members are looking for a long-term relationship. 45 percent of members are women and 70 percent have never been married. 56 percent of all members are also over the age of 30.

Most of this information was Google translated from OpenPr.

Compatible Partners is having a free communication weekend (FCW) this Valentine's Day which we almost missed. It starts today, Thursday February 11, 2010 and runs to Monday February 15, 2010. This full 5 day promotion allows new and existing members to try out Compatible Partners to see if this online dating site is the right fit for you, and all without a Credit Card. You will be able to review your same-sex matches as well as communicate for them at no cost. The only things for which we are aware of that are not included, is the ability to FastTrack the communication process and viewing members photos.

This is the second FCW we have tracked for Compatible Partners with the last one starting at the end of December (see Story).

For more information on this matchmaking service for gay singles, please read our Compatible Partners review.

Kelli Grant, a consumer reporter and the author of an online dating article that appeared on SmartMoney.com (part of the Wall Street Journal) took a look at a couple of strategies which could help online daters. She also appeared on CBS News summarizing the information she found about dating online, which you can watch below.



Kelli's straight forward approach to how to succeed with online dating is refreshing but I do have to question her on a few of her facts. One of the things she mentions in the video and the article is to check the dating sites traffic (unique visitors per month). This is a good approach but probably something most users will not know how to do. If you are new to online dating (and are not really sure about finding traffic stats) I always suggest checking out the following 3 popular dating sites eHarmony, Match.com and PlentyofFish.com. All of these dating sites receive well over a couple of million unique visitors each every month. Keli Grant also mentions that a dating site with less than 10,000 unique visitors a month is probably not worth getting a paid subscription for. I agree with her on this but I do think she vastly under estimated this number. I would say any dating site that doesn't have at least 50,000 unique visitors per month is not worth joining. This is true, unless the dating site is a real small niche or is specifically for your home city. With a dating site that has 10,000 visitors a month, the chances of finding someone close to you to date is relatively small.

One of the other things she suggests is to read site reviews. This is important as well but her suggestion of using Yelp.com to find dating site reviews is not very good. I like Yelp.com but they concentrate more on reviews for restaurants, shopping, and other locations in the real world. I also have to ask, where is the mention of DatingSitesReviews.com? 😉

She also suggests looking up the dating site in the Better Business Bureau (BBB). This is a good point as well but people need to know how the BBB works. First of all it can be hard to find businesses on the BBB website, I know I did a article on dating sites and the BBB (see Story). Plus, a lot of dating sites do not belong to the BBB, take for example, the mostly free dating site Plenty Of Fish. They are not in the BBB but this doesn't mean they are a bad dating service. The second thing is the Better Business Bureau is for customers who wish to make complaints and to show if and how these complaints were handled by the company. You will not find much positive information on a BBB report since that is not its purpose. The other thing you need to know about a BBB report is a company with few complaints doesn't necessarily mean it is a good company. You need to look at how the complaints were handled plus how large the company is. For example, Microsoft and Apple have many more complaints than the leading dating services Match.com and eHarmony. Does this mean Apple and Microsoft have bad products and poor customer service? Not really. They just have a much larger customer base, so naturally they will receive more complaints.

To find out more information about the dating sites mention in this article, read our eHarmony review, our Match.com review and our PlentyofFish.com review.

Just in time for Valentine's Day, eHarmony here in the United States and Canada is planning to have their 23rd free communication weekend (FCW) starting Thursday February 11th, 2010 to Monday February 15th, 2010.

During this 5 day eHarmony free communication weekend, all members will be able to review matches and to communicate with these matches for no cost. The month of February and especially around Valentine's Day is when dating sites are the busiest. This means if you haven't tried eHarmony yet, this is your best chance to see how it works and what type of matches they have in your area. As with previous FCWs, members will not be able to FastTrack the guided communication process. Member's photos also are also not viewable for this promotion.

The last eHarmony free communication event occurred during New Years Eve (see Story).

Check out our review of eHarmony for more information on the dating site.

Singles interested in the United Kingdom Free Communication Weekend, read this News Story.

Update: I see that the Australian eHarmony dating site is having a FCW as well but it runs from Friday Feb.12th to Feb. 15th.