
Marjorie of Bothell, WA on April 26, 2010
I responded to an ad online for Mature Singles, giving my contact info to receive more information on the service. Within a few days, I received a call from Great Expectations. I was confused, as that wasn't the name of the organization I had responded to. When I asked, Brooke said, "We have many companies under one umbrella." She tried to get me to come in for an interview. I asked what the cost was and she said they had many plans.
There is "something for everyone." I put her off but after several more calls, I thought, "Well, what harm could it do to go in and find out more about this service?" But I still was uncomfortable with having no idea what the cost was so I asked again if she could give me a range of the prices of their plans. She said, "They'll tell you about that when you go in. It's not very much. We have to appeal to poor college students, too." I should have caught that. I still thought I was going to visit Mature Singles, a subsidiary of Great Expectations, a dating service for people over 50. Why I didn't question why there would be "poor students" in a service that caters to the "over 50" crowd, I don't know. She was very pleasant and persuasive.
When I went to the office, I was escorted to a back room, where I was shown a video, and asked to fill out a questionnaire. I had thought I would be meeting with the woman I'd talked to on the phone, but found that she worked at another office. I spoke with Christen, who was pleasant, and very flattering and positive about my potential for success. When she showed me what the cost was, I was shocked. The most expensive plan was $7500, while the least expensive was at most $1000 less. The benefits to the 6-year plan so exceeded the limitations of the cheaper one, that few people would have chosen the cheaper one.
There was no real trial membership or any opportunities to see anything but the propaganda film about the program before signing a no-refund contract. I told Christen I couldn't afford this and she kept trying to persuade me, saying things like, "It will only be about another $100 a month on your credit card statement. And will it really matter when you meet the man of your dreams?" She brought the price down to $5500 and said I could put a deposit down now, and pay the rest when I got home. I asked if I could take a day or two to think about it and she said that it would cost $1000 more if I didn't sign the contract then. She said, "You can go for this or go on with your life as it's been." She was playing on my insecurities and I feel ashamed that I let myself fall for that. She presented a contract and stood over me, as I signed it, not giving me time to read it in detail.
I felt pretty stunned as I drove home, sick that I had essentially maxed out my credit cards for something I had no facts to prove it really is a good business. There were two phone messages waiting for me; Christen pushing me to pay the rest of the bill. I felt pressured but kept my word and put the rest of the bill on several credit cards. I felt terrible the whole rest of the night and knew I had allowed myself to be manipulated into spending money that would be difficult for me to repay and that would put my financial situation in jeopardy. I called the next day to request my money back. Christen's response was that I couldn't get my money back, that I was just showing a negative attitude, that I just needed to be positive and patient.
I knew it was my fault that I had signed a no-refunds contract, but I had never encountered a legitimate company with a price-tag in the thousands, with no money-back policy, no guarantee of the service they were providing. I tried again a few weeks later, appealing to a manager named Cat. She listened to my plea to get my money back and I felt she would have liked to do the right thing and just give it back to me. But she said she didn't have the power to do that, and needed to talk to her boss. She said she would call me back the next day. She did not call, nor did she call back after I called the office again. Again, I was falsely told she would call me back the next day.
I resorted to one of my credit cards, American Express. They have a policy of following up on charges that are thought to be scams. They did all they could to try to get my money back but to no avail. Great Expectations is in the business of extracting large sums of money from vulnerable people and they have written up a contract to snare their victims when they have been manipulated into a state of thinking this dating service is going to fulfill a dream. When the lonely person wakes up from the trance, it is too late. They cannot get their money back, no matter what.
I have been so disturbed at the lack of business ethics of GE, that I have not used their services. What I have found is that the customer has to pay additional costs for photography (which is required), for internet services, for cards to possible dates and probably for lots of other things I haven't discovered yet. The website is pathetic, with the pictures of the people so small you can't see them without clicking on each one individually. You cannot scan the pages because the photos are too small and there is no profile info there. I mentioned this to the receptionist and she said there is nothing they can do about it because the site is controlled by the "parent company." I got the impression that this is true with all aspects of the business. It appeared that the "parent company" sets rules that discount every level of customer service and are entirely aimed at making money for the company. Here is the clause from the contract that puts in writing their customer service policy:
"You acknowledge that a disproportionate portion of the fee for GE's services is earned by the end of the initial interview since a great deal of time and money is spent recruiting new members, interviewing and counseling members (for eligibility, genuineness of purpose, etc.), providing materials to new members, and so on. Therefore, you agree that most of the membership fee covers the cost of services provided through today's date and the rest covers the cost of future services including the use of GE's Video Library."
So, essentially, the huge fee is covering the company's marketing expenses (with an enormous profit, I'm sure) and after the initial interview, there is no more customer service. You pay extra for photography, for the internet database and bring your own drinks and food to the events, which are all cheaply held in the tiny library of the office.
In conclusion, I am paying for my own naivete and gullibility. If there is a way to regulate this company or bring a class action suit against them, I'm all for it. Is there a law that a company has to quantify the service they are providing and give money back if they are not providing it? Is it legal for a company to have its customers pay for the company's advertising, with no return for the customer? I hope, at the least, other potential customers for this service read these warnings and make much more educated decisions about joining than I did.