Online Dating

We talked briefly about matchTalk before in 2007 (see Story). I thought it was time for a closer look since I have seen a number of image ads lately on Match.com promoting the add-on service. The main idea behind matchTalk is to allow members to talk to each other on their own phones while keeping both phone numbers confidential. The service I believe is still powered by a well know VOIP and social messaging company called Jangl. Almost any phone can be used, including cell phones.

matchTalk works by generating a unique phone number for every member who signs up. Once you find a Match.com member who you like, you can request to add them to your matchTalk phonebook by a link on their profile. If they agree, you then can perform a matchTalk connection. You initiate the call to the person you are interested in from your matchTalk phonebook. Match.com acts like a dispatcher and then calls the person. An automated voice will then ask the person if they would like to receive the call from you. If the answer is yes, the call is then connected with you and your phone will ring. Once you answer, you both can talk knowing your real phone number is safe. If the person decides not to take your call or if the phone is not answered, you will be notified and you can try later.

Once a matchTalk member, you can contact any Match.com subscriber who agrees to your request. Someone who is not a matchTalk member can only receive calls and not initiate a mtachTalk connection. For the service to work you will need Caller ID (used only by matchTalk) and you will need to verify your phone number. The cost of the service is $4.99 for 3 months.

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

Last year eHarmony.ca had a free communication weekend, on the Canada Day long weekend (see Story - it ran from Sat. June 28 to Tues. July 1). Some of you were wondering if there is a free weekend coming up this year for Canada Day. As July 1st, 2009 falls on a Wednesday, right in the middle of the week and we have had no official word yet, I have a feeling if there is one, it will be combined with eHarmony.com and the U.S. Independence Day holiday on the July 4th long weekend.

Check back with this story Canada, and we will update it as soon as we get more information about if and when there is a Free Communication Weekend.

Update #1: eHarmony Canada is indeed having a Free Communication Weekend. It starts July 2 and runs to July 5, 2009.

Update #2: For those of you looking for eHarmony.com (the US site ), the free weekend is on as well, check out this story for more information.

In the mean time, if you want some further insight on what makes this a popular dating site, read our review of eHarmony.

A Fox News broadcast called Kelly's Court (clip below) looks at the case which we talked about earlier this month regarding Sean McGinn suing Match.com for what he alleges is deceptive practices. His beef with Match is mainly about them not informing members who has paid, and who has not (see Story).

Sean is the man pictured in the still of the video below and in his Match.com profile he describes himself as having a cuddly but toned bod, is down to earth, and can pull off the dishevelled bed head look. Apparently he also mentioned in emails his favorite movie is Cocktail, starring Tom Cruise. Kelly's Court must of got some inside information and/or received full access to the court documents as this information hasn't been reported anywhere else. Plus, an extensive search of Match.com didn't produce Sean's profile. I am assuming Match.com has removed it.

Note: Unfortunately the source to the video and/or image which once was displayed here has since been removed by the authors for an unknown reason.

The panel of legal experts took Match.com's side in the suit and stated Sean couldn't have suffered anguish, emotional distress and anxiety due to a dating site. Especially, when you compare it to other cases where people have suffered. They did say that some of Match.com's business practices could be argued as deceptive but as far as this case is concerned, not enough for Sean to win his lawsuit based on what he suffered. The final hole in Sean's case was, in the end he did find a girlfriend on Match.com.

The legal experts did tend to joke around a lot at Sean's expense. They may have been legal experts but they certainly did not know too much about dating sites in general. As far as dating profiles go his didn't sound bad. I would like to hear how the Kelly's Court panel of experts would describe themselves (seriously) in a dating profile.

Back in early February, 2009 Date.com started offering Virtual Gifts for sale to its members (see Story). Members could send virtual flowers, chocolates, etc.. to someone they wish to date on the site by purchasing tokens for $1 to $5.

The parent company of Date.com, Avalanche LLC wanted to make sure they met any legal obligations to their members when dealing with Virtual Gifts and tokens. No real laws have been made in regards to virtual gifts in most countries. The closest comparison in the real world they could find was gift cards. Lawyers for Date.com

ultimately concluded that the consumer laws pertaining to gift cards didn't apply.

Date.com decided to make purchasing of gifts as clear as possible in their Terms of Service. Specifically this mainly deals with what happens if a user doesn't use their tokens. Date.com's policy for members inactive more than 365 days is to delete them. Unused virtual gift tokens are then deleted as well, with Date.com keeping the profits. Before your account is deleted from Date.com, multiple emails are sent out warning you of this fact and asking you to log in again.

For more about the dating site, read our Date.com review.

Last year eHarmony release a PDF of a summary of the Harris Interactive report for 2007 which showed how they concluded 236 eHarmony members get married every day. According to eHarmony's current Matching Advertisers with Buyers web page, Harris Interactive Research for 2008 still concludes 236 eHarmony members marry every day. From our count it also looks like the profile questions increased by 2 to 258 questions.

On average eHarmony Media of sites receives 3.6 million visitors per month and over 415 million page views with an average visit length of 5 minutes. In March 2009, 34 percent of visitors were male and 66 percent were females with the median age of 35 years. eHarmony Media includes the following categories Singles, Advice, Weddings, and Parenting. The sites included in these categories are eHarmony.com, Advice.eHarmony.com, ProjectWedding.com, Weddingbee.com, Justmommies.com and FertileThoughts.com.

For more demographic information read the eHarmony.com Statistics 2009 Adobe PDF file we have stored locally.

Read our eHarmony review for more general information on this dating site.

Great Expectations is in legal trouble again.

Almost a year ago today the Arizona Attorney General filed a lawsuit against Great Expectations (see Story). In February of this year a settlement was reached for $500 thousand in the Arizona lawsuit (see Story). Now the state of Wisconsin is suing Great Expectations over deceptive marketing practices and improper contracts.

The lawsuit, filed in Milwaukee County Circuit Court, claims Great Expectations overstated the size of its membership, its membership in specific age groups and other categories and how many members wound up getting married. The complaint also alleges Great Expectations did not fully screen members for criminal histories and misrepresented how they would use credit information provided by prospective members.

Over 1,000 residents of Wisconsin have used the matchmaking service with some of them spending more than $3,000 on the service. Great Expectations has declined to comment on the lawsuit.

The lawsuit names GE- Milwaukee LLC, a Nevada company that does business as Great Expectations locally in Wauwatosa, a Milwaukee suburb, and its parent company, JRM Management of Dallas, Texas.

For more on this story, read JSOnline.