Cupids Dating Blog

I have had the worst time of my life getting ripped off to the tune of $1700 by these people.

Don't waste your time. This service is a ripoff. I got suckered in to a $1500 one-year membership, which is very cut-rate for them because I'm a guy and they don't get many male applicants. They lure you in by putting you through a 'screening' process - which is done more to make you feel like it's worth something than to actually screen you - if you saw some of the people on the site, you'd know what I mean. Looking back I see that the 'consultant' really toyed with my emotions and told me what I wanted to hear.

In the year that I was a member, I found exactly 3 people that I wanted to meet. It was also hard to find people in my age range of 18-35 (which spans a whopping 17 years). When I called to talk about my difficulties with the service, I was told, none to politely, that they can't guarantee you'll meet anyone and to just wait and see. That's not what I wanted to hear after paying so much.

My advice to anyone who doesn't mind the crap-shoot of online dating should use one of the much less expensive sites like eharmony - or better yet, free sites like craigslist. You still won't be gauranteed a date, but if you find someone, you'll have enough left to take them to dinner.

I'm truly sorry for those people that felt they were short changed. I really do. I'm just happy I'm not one. I've been with Great Expectations since Jan and I've had countless dates. Some better than others, but it's been fun so far.
I haven't found anyone to settle down with, but I still have high hopes. I do have to say that, if $1,500 is a lot of money for you, you shouldn't have been a member at all. I paid considerably more and the vast majority of women that I've dated from there, make more than I do. I'm happy so far. I'll keep everyone posted.

If you are considering becoming a memeber...DON'T!! It's a total waste of money and in speaking with many other members they agree too. Not only does the membership start around $1,500.00, there are monthly fees of $28.00. It starts to add up without the return. Also, they start out high but have all sorts of discounted rates so leave the office feeling like you "got a great deal!" What a waste of time!

Let me add my warnings as well. Don't spend a dime at Great Expectations no matter how rosy they try to make it sound. It's not. They will ding you for more money at every turn and you will get nothing out of it. They tell you that once you sign, that's it but then they don't tell you that you have 72-hours to cancel.

How do you know you have 72 hours to cancel?

I will add my complaint to the pile. Avoid this service!! It is outragiously expensive and has far fewer members than other services that you can join for far cheaper. Save your money.

Great Expectations sent out unauthorized pictures of my Husband that they got from a 3rd party...as a 'decoy' advertising for women in order to say "men like these are available"...stay away from this dating site! RIPOFF!!!!

There are good things about Great Expectations. For one thing they take the time to interview people before they become members. Background checks are made to check for felons, etc. If they have a bad report they are NOT welcome.

I met someone who got married to a guy she met at Great Expectations. She was certainly pleased but how often does this happen?

I've heard some wonderful things about the Great Expectations site. A lot of my friends have joined it, and they say it is a more personal dating service than other sites. They take the time to interview, have events, and call you on a monthly basis.

The title of this blog is Great Expectations, Poor results.. and a lot of the responses have been negative mixed in with a couple positive, well fortunately, I only have good news to share!

One of my friends has met their happily ever after through the service and while she at first commplained that it was a bit pricey, and wasn't sure if she had made the best choice. She continued being proactive and optimisitc and not long after, met the love of her life whom she is engaged to be married to come April of next yr.

From what I hear, these people DO care. They not only are with you every step of the way, they call just to check up on you and see how your date went. Success and happiness is what they aim for and I only wish some of these people had half the experience my friend did. I guess some people are proactive while others choose to focus on the negative. Oh well..

If I were single, ( Luckily, I'm not) this would be the first place I would go to to ensure a safe way to meet quality singles. I mean how many other sites are there that perform background checks?? enough said.

I would like to express my anger and disappointment with Great Expectations. I would advise anyone to avoid this trap. They made it sound so wonderful. Nothing is included in your membership. They charge extra for on line access($19.95 per month) and video pops($500.00). They hold various events where you not only pay for dinner or drink they charge you a fee to come to the event. Worst mistake of my life was falling into this trap.

I have a good friend that recently joined Great Expectations. She has nothing, but good things to say about this dating service. Kinda suprised to read the above comments.

I've heard some wonderful things about Great Expectations from friends who have joined their dating service. My of my dearest girlfriends met her husband on the site. Although I have not personally joined the dating service I can say that it seems like some people go out of their way to highlight the bad rather than the good :(

Add me to the list of disappointed members who feel ripped off by Great Expectations (Cleveland). While legally they provided everything they said they would, I feel cheated nonetheless. I have a personal policy of never spending over $1,000 without sleeping on the decision and now I remember why. They play on your emotions and entice you with comments like "we need guys like you". It all seems great until you start searching and find out the ten profiles they showed you were the ten most attractive people they had. When you explain your dissatisfaction you're told to give it time and hang in there. Ask yourself this question before joining, what kind of business needs all the money up front and won't allow for a refund if you're dissatisfied?
I'm sure they have their successes and as I said they did what they said they would. Just take my advice and think it over before you invest such a large amount of money. I wish I had!
Signed - K.E.Dissatisfied in Cleveland

I was burned pretty badly by Great Expectations in St. Louis. Here is my story.

After seeing several of Great Expectations' (GE) ads online and in newspapers, I searched for them online, found their website, and filled out a basic form with my contact information. Their St. Louis office phoned me the next day to arrange for me to come in for a "consultation." The woman was polite but gave me very little information about their service over the phone, saying they preferred to do an in-person presentation. I went to their office and was first shown a 15-minute video giving an overview of their service, after which I met with one of their employees to discuss the program.

After she described how their service works, I told her that I was interested in meeting women in the St. Louis area between the ages of 24 and 35 (I am 33) and asked about how many female members they had in that range. She wouldn't give me a number, but kept saying "We have new people signing up every day." I told her that if they wanted me to spend the exhorbitant amount they were asking for membership (over $5000 -- yes, you read that correctly), I needed to know that they had a large enough member base for it to be worth my money. She then told me that I could also use their service to meet women through their centers anywhere in the country, or even women who "visited" St. Louis. I repeated that I wanted to know approximately how many female members they had IN THE ST. LOUIS AREA and within the age range I specified. I finally got her to reveal that they had about 125-150 females in St. Louis within that age range.

The contract they wanted me to sign says all over it that there are no cancellations or refunds for any reason, so I emphasized once again that before I would agree to sign up, I needed them to be honest and very clear with me about how many members they had within a 24-35 age range, and in the St. Louis area. They assured me that they had 125-150 women in that category, and better still, that they had about 20 new women signing up each month within that age range in St. Louis. They also told me that most of their female members in this age range did not have children, which is important to me. I signed up and paid $5,295 for a "lifetime" membership.

After completing my profile and sitting for my photos and video, I went home and logged on to their site to search their database. The searchable age range closest to what I sought was 18-35. I was shocked to discover that there were only 20-25 members in this range -- and this includes the "inactive" members. When I narrowed my search to ACTIVE members in this range, with no children, the number quickly shrank to 16 -- a far cry from the 150 I had been told. Off by a factor of ten, in fact! Even worse, when I did a search of 18-35 year old women who had signed up in the last 60 days, there were only four. FOUR! (I had been told they averaged 20 new women per month in my age range!) In addition, despite my being told that all members "must" have photos and videos in their profiles, at least one-third of the profiles lacked one, the other, or both.

I called the GE office immediately to ask whether I was missing something or perhaps not using their database correctly. The woman who answered the phone performed the search as well and came up with the same numbers. I asked her for an explanation and she had none, saying I would need to speak with their director, who she said would definitely call me back within a day. She didn't. I made numerous phone calls to their office trying to speak with the director, and each time I was told "we don't know where she is or whether she will be in today at all" or something along those lines. Finally after nearly two weeks she returned my call.

I explained to the director that the number of members in my age range in St. Louis was nowhere near what they had quoted me and asked for an explanation. She flat-out denied that they had quoted me inflated numbers despite my insisting that there is no way I would have paid over $5,000 to join a service with so few members my age. Instead, she tried to distract me with suggestions that I try dating women who live in other parts of the country or who are well above the age range I said I was interested in. (Even their receptionist had agreed with me that most men aged 33 would not seek to date women aged 40). Because our phone call resolved nothing, I decided instead to make an appointment to speak with the director in her office. For the next SIX WEEKS I tried to make this appointment, but her receptionist would never tell me when she was going to be in the office and wouldn't make a special appointment for me because, she said, it was "too far for the director to drive from home."

In the meantime, I have filed with both the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and the Missouri State Attorney General's office to try to get my money back. In doing so, I discovered that Great Expectations is not even accredited with the BBB, where they have a "C" rating and 22 complaints on file. They also have numerous compalints with the MO State Attorney General's office. Digging deeper in my online search, I found that there have been many similar complaints from all over the country about GE misleading people. I have also talked with several of GE's current and past members in St. Louis, all of whom have felt misled and cheated by the company.

Now, the director claims I just need to "give it more time," but the rate at which GE enrolls women in my age range is far too low to justify the $5,295 they charged me. If their membership was growing or turning over at a reasonable rate, I woudl be happy to give this more time. But no reasonable person would pay $5,295 to join a dating service that had 1 or 2 potential new members each month.

The bottom line is that GE is probably the most unprofessional company I have ever dealt with. They grossly exaggerated the number of female members they have in the geographic and age range for which I expressed interest; they don't return phone calls; and they are clearly trying to keep me from speaking with their director. They even charged me an extra $160 for copies of the photos they took of me, and two months later I still haven't received them! I suspect they knew that I would not have paid $5,295 if I knew the truth about their numbers. But they should have been honest about their membership numbers and allowed me to make a decision on whether to join based on accurate information. This whole experience has become an absolute nightmare for me, and I would really like to help prevent others from being misled the way I was.

Yes all of the negative stuff about Great Expectations is true! I’m in Atlanta and like most have said it’s a rip off!! The company is so successful because they hire quality sales-persons. Most are educated and have probably worked in sales or psychology. They make you feel you are becoming apart of a great esoteric organization when really you are paying thousands of dollars for a far inferior version of e-harmony.

My biggest issue was quality. I am a black male and of course like most men I was looking for an attractive woman. I have no regrets in saying that because it is what it is. I was shown pictures of women who were beautiful and gorgeous; however, when I scanned the sight on the first day there were only about 100 people who fit within the age bracket that I selected. I saw 1 woman that I liked and she has not even responded to my request. I’m doubtful whether or not she is still available. I could have used 3k to do a lot of things with. If you are reading in this please do not waste your money there. E-Harmony is much better and a hell a lot more inexpensive!!