| are the pay sites scamming us
Posted: 12/29/2005 4:59:10 AM |
any dating site that lets you sign up for free but don't let you contact another member until you "upgrade" your membership is in my opinion scamming or at least not being truthful.
I disagree. The pay sites are, after all, ultimately there to make money. I mean -- they have to draw the line somewhere. If they let all their members contact each other without anybody paying, then how would they make any money? The act of charging money for services that others are willing to give away for free does not in and of itself constitute a scam. It's merely capitalism.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the pay sites don't scam their members in other ways, I'm just saying that the act of charging for their services per se is not a scam (IMHO). | |
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| are the pay sites scamming us
Posted: 12/30/2005 9:25:21 AM | | I had luck on yahoo tried it for 5 days free. About 20 local guys contacted me . Met 2 both were married and had said they were single . Liked them both alot though. Didnt want to date married men. I hate men who say they are separated and live with there wife and just want something on the side. I would never lower myself to be someones side dish !! I signed on to american singles for a short trial period too. Contacted about 50 local men and no one contacted me back. I have been here one day on this site and hope things get better here. All I need is a good single man just one !! have a good new yr folks Megan | |
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| are the pay sites scamming us
Posted: 12/30/2005 11:27:59 AM | | Fact is that both are true. Legitimate people do join pay sites with the hope of meeting prospective dates, but a lot of underhanded activity goes on on the business end. It is a fact that they hire people to post fabricated profiles and send out e-mails as bait. I even heard, recently, that one of these sites is accused of hiring plants to go out on dates with people to further lure them into remaining on the site, and that is just beyond the pale if that is true. I'm sure one can find legitimate dates on an pay site, and success partly depends how one comports ones self and composes ones profile, but, at the same time, it's always important to maintain a healthy level of skepticism when someone wants your money, whether you're buying a car, a house, Dr. Scooter's tonic and cure-all lineament, or an internet dating site. | |
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| are the pay sites scamming us
Posted: 12/30/2005 11:42:28 AM | I have had the same experience many others have had: I join up with a pay site, send out dozens of messages and not much happens... until the membership runs out. Before I discovered plentyoffish I paid for and tried Eharmony (don't believe their hype, they're no better than the other pay sites, possibly worse), Friendfinder, somespamsite, Bigchurch and Yahoo personals. I almost never had a woman contact me first. The first 3 days I was here I had 3 women contact me out of the blue! I can't stress it enough: DON'T EVER PAY FOR A SINGLES SITE AGAIN! Even if they're not doing anything outright fraudulent, they still don't have your best interests at heart because they want you to keep paying them money.
plentyoffish.com ROCKS!  | |
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| are the pay sites scamming us
Posted: 12/30/2005 12:22:44 PM | The scam goes beyond just sending e-mails when your subscription is about to expire. I had an "argument" with Yahoo Personals. I signed up for the "free 7 day trial". In order to do so you are required to give them a credit card number (Yes, I know, stupid, stupid, stupid me!!! ). After a few days I decided I didn't want to continue so I followed all the stated rules for eliminating my profile ( which included having to send a written notice to headquarters in California). I got some last minute messages from so-called members but chose not to respond. Low and behold the next month a charge for about $44 shows up on my credit card, a 3-month subscription! That was in October, they claimed I didn't cancel in time to avoid the automatic renewal (which is the default option, YOU have to go in and change it youself). I investigated and found that there were no less than 4 separate areas/pages that you had to visit to get ALL the information needed to adequately cancel the subscription. I had followed the rules that I found but there were others I had no idea existed! At any rate, I finally got them to refund part of the money but they still charged me for a month's worth of service.
There is a class action suit going on right now against Yahoo Personals and I believe Match.com as well. Don't have the URL handy but I've been to the site and put in my situation.
Bottom Line: Stick to the free sites, the pay sites have no interest in finding you a partner, it's self defeating for them to have success.
POF, thanks!!! | |
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| are the pay sites scamming us
Posted: 12/31/2005 12:31:36 AM | | I was on yahoo for a week and got about 70 emails. I have been on this site for about a week and 3 people have talked to me. That has been my experience with dating sites. This site is great because it is free. I just with that there were more men interested in an older women like me. Seems like most men want young girls :) | |
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| are the pay sites scamming us
Posted: 12/31/2005 2:29:11 AM | About this time last year - I decided to give online dating a try - signed up with Yahoo Personals. Gave myself a year to see how it goes, so paid for the year. After about 6 months I discovered a couple of free sites - which I'd been told about by a man I met from Yahoo. So I cancelled Yahoo, by which I mean I told them I didn't want to renew at the end of the 12 month period.
About 2 weeks ago I received an e-mail telling me it was time for my automated renewal. Fortunately I used a credit card which has now expired, so they won't be getting any more money out of me.
One thing I found with Yahoo is that on a couple of occasions I had new mail, read it, then on trying to access the profile of the sender discovered the profile had been deleted. To me that is far more annoying than receiving mail from a profile you suspect is not genuine | |
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| are the pay sites scamming us
Posted: 5/25/2006 11:56:11 PM | OMG! I'd really like to hear about the Arabian Knight scam. TELL ALL!
I was totally scammed, I think, in American Singles by a guy who hit on me the first few days I joined. He was out of my distance and I had not sceen his profile until he wrote to me. In fact, he had it hidden. But the stories kept getting more and more INCREDIBLE and his love for me was ever increasing. . . .He managed to get my address out of me on the pretext of sending flowers. But when I asked him for personal information it was all hush hush! And he didn't feel safe and didn't have any need to share that with me. I played the game a little longer seeing where he'd go with it. He finally did ask for money to get home after having been robbed at gunpoint. (I tell you I'm going to market this soap opera!). At that point I let it be known that I wouldn't give him anything since I knew nothing about who he REALLY was. He was good, very good. I worked in criminal law for a long time & got very good at sniffing out fraud by finding inconsistencies. That's why I still feel a bit of disbelief, though I know he was scamming (scumming) me!
LADIES: If you have been scammed, jerked around, messed with, ripped off, there ought to be a place to share these things. I hate to share the MO b/c it could give new ideas to the bozos out there who have nothing better to do than to prey on women, but I think we ought to be able to warn each other of who's doing what and BAN THEM!! | |
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| are the pay sites scamming us
Posted: 5/26/2006 12:10:52 AM | Yes.they scam you.totally and completely...in everything they do. Make it wonderful and breath success to you........until your money is in their clutches.....then all the "matches" are no longer real or even near and the hopes are dashed, but blamed on you....till they resend some hope and get more money.
A total waste of time........this is the ONLY real site.and even this is not perfection, but it is real..and thats something. | |
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| are the pay sites scamming us
Posted: 5/26/2006 3:07:58 AM | | I had a membership to eharmony in feb and met one man off there, hes turned out to be a very nice man, we hit it off good, i had a 7 day memebership and he had paid regular price and hes said the same thing i was the only real person he met for his 59 a month membership fee, i also had a one month memebership to yhoo and like the poster that made the thread you dont never get no hits until your memeber ship is up, i had sent out alot of hi and hellos and notes and not one reply until my month was up and then all the replies to the ones i sent out came in the day after my membership expired and that made me wonder just how fake the site is , why would i get ten replies bak that had been sent out for 2 or 3 weeks the day after it runs out, make me renew to reply again i dont think so. | |
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| are the pay sites scamming us
Posted: 5/26/2006 3:45:07 AM | Pay sites are there for one reason, and one reason only - to get your money, and keep getting it.
The list of tricks they will employ to achieve this end is endless.
You can pretty much bet your bottom dollar that at least 99% of the attractive profiles are fakes, be they in the US, Russia, or anywhere else.
Oh, and just because Natasha says she's a 19 year old super model from Odessa,Ukraine, doesn't mean that 'she's' not a 50-year old guy from Yonkers,NY who's good at bouncing things around the web.......
'Free' sites are good ways of verifying your email address, so that the businesses behind the sites can send you ads and spam, mostly for porn. | |
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| are the pay sites scamming us
Posted: 5/27/2006 9:54:07 PM | Well I've tried almost all of them. Regular dating sites and Adult sites. I'm an extremely busy guy so this is my only chance to meet new friends and more. Personally I've had pretty good luck on every site I joined except one which was a complete scam. Problem is guys, you give up too fast. Remember, these women get 50 plus emails a day, all of them saying the exact same thing. Your emails have to be diferent, funny, original etc or they just get deleted. Internet dating does work and it's growing. I've met plent of hot babes on these sites. Now with all this said I'm a new member here. POF is awesome. So awesome that I'm cancelling my memberships on every site except this one. POF does a great job here and deserve tons of kudos. I've yet to see a site with so much activity as this one. Hell, if they had a donations page I'd be more than happy to send them some dough every month. They deserve it
Gabriel | |
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elja
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Joined: 7/29/2006
Msg: 189 | |
| are the pay sites scamming us
Posted: 8/4/2006 8:33:35 PM | I had the same thing here, I joined and all the ones showing for my area were gone. As for the messages I only received before I signed upp and right before I was to renew my account. I had the smae on match.com as for the yahoo personals they all seem to work the same way. On match the person wrote and said she never contacted me....
Dan | |
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| are the pay sites scamming us
Posted: 8/4/2006 10:56:54 PM | I know that I havent belong to a couple of the pay sites in a couple of years and they still have me there. Guys will email me from there as they think Im active but I cant wrtie them back and tell them Im not there so they just probably think Im a stuck up creep.
I know I get winks from guys that say they never winked at me.
I have gone out with a few internet dates but Im still looking, just not thinking its going to happen like I did before..
Its tough to find a date in the grocery store at 11:00 P.M. lol. (I shop after work.)
Diane | |
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| are the pay sites scamming us
Posted: 8/31/2006 10:24:15 AM | | No more match.com or yahoo personals for me. Those sites are a joke and an insult to my intelligence those sites are a ripoff. Not to mention there's alot of phonies on there and I can't stand ppl that are fake and phony. At least at POF you can just be yourself. | |
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| are the pay sites scamming us
Posted: 8/31/2006 11:00:14 AM | | I joined singlesnet, trying to find out how to unsubscribe wasnt easy..not till id up and signed on for another month..but they sure have alot of single woman from ghana and keller virginia..lol...way to much spam.. | |
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| are the pay sites scamming us
Posted: 8/31/2006 1:13:30 PM | PolgaratheSorceress, You hit the nail on the head with Yahoo. I had the same experience with those crooks. I signed up for their "Free" 7 day trial and on the 7th day I told them to cancel. They said: "Oops, too late. You have to cancel the day before the 7th day". You have already been billed for the 3 month paid subscription. Match keeps sending me e-mails every couiple of days saying "You won't believe who viewed your profile" Well, I know that nobody viewed my profile, because it is hidden. Another thing with Yahoo is that I have had several people write and give me their e-mail address in their note, but it gets deleted by Yahoo. No thanks to these crooks anymore. Anyway, the same ladies have been on them for the past year after year after year. I'll stick to the free sites, but this is the only one I know that is truly free.
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| are the pay sites scamming us
Posted: 8/31/2006 1:37:20 PM | This here site is the greatest dating site on the net. It is free, it is laid out nicely, and it has no incentive to get your money. If it doesn't work, you lost nothing. Possibly even made a friend or two. I have.
I have been chumped many a time on the pay sites. If I can reach one person out there and save them from this trap, it was worth the two calories I just spent typing this. | |
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| are the pay sites scamming us
Posted: 9/2/2006 10:13:28 AM | You see here at POF, this is an "alternative" dating site meaning you're getting people from different walks of life. You might say that people that are beyond the mainstream, which is good. They say variety is the spice of life. Unlike the "mainstream" or should I say "lamestream" dating sites like match.com and the yahoo personals you get the same old same old banal, jaded, and bland profiles. There is another free "alternative" dating is OK Cupid, but thats more geared towards the "younger folk" as opposed to this one which is geared more towards the "older", mature folk. Of course you have my space which as geared towards the younger crowd. Oh well I say subvert the dominant paradigm. Kudos to you POF!:") | |
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| are the pay sites scamming us
Posted: 9/6/2006 7:46:47 AM | | I've had success on pay sites and so I got what I paid for. I prefer plenty of fish over all though, because it's free and because it's better than the pay sites. | |
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| are the pay sites scamming us
Posted: 9/29/2006 6:38:50 AM | 09/ 29/ 06
YOU CAN AND BETTER BELIEVE THEY ARE.
I have been using the personals for at least 6 years. some of the worsdt offenders of tese sites are'
#1. SENIOR FRIEND FINDER, #2. FRIEND FINDER ( MANY VARIATIONS).
CHECK OUT THE FREE SITES FIRST. THERE ARE MANY NICE PEOPLE HERE. HOWEVER, AS WITH MEETING STRANGERS ANYTIME. USE CAUTION.
I am in search of a gentelman ages between 71 & 81, Honest, kind, considerate,non alcoholic. not a having been incarcerated or is now. must have a sense of humor,will not attempt to mannipulate me. ( tell me what to do or how to do it.!!!!!!).mut be caucasion,
to you young men who keep writing me, ( NO! ) I'M NOT LOOKING FOR A BOY TOY! STOP WASTING MY TIME AND YOURS.
I HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A VERY PLEASANT DAY.
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| are the pay sites scamming us
Posted: 9/29/2006 7:25:46 AM | I have a profile on a pay site....but I've cleverly disguised a line that tells them to find me on Plenty of Fish!! The smart ones will figure it out!! Who's scammin who?? Ummmm....I mean.....I would NEVER scam anyone....not me....nope....never!!  | |
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| are the pay sites scamming us
Posted: 9/29/2006 8:34:07 AM | Edit: Cotter
I have a few to many stories to tell you girl. A couple of friends have done this type of thing and vice verss whare the man moved in. DON"T MOVE. Bad bad bad. I definately do not know your story and the history here between you two. But nothing good has ever come out of moving to the others home. Forinstance have you spent time visiting each other, have you even met. This strikes a high level of warning. There must be someone else within a closer range you could meet. Of course living in Hawaii is a wonderful dream. But I would keep it as that or just move into your own place.
Ill cross my fingers | |
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