Great Expectations video dating service - unhappy with service

# 37 for May 9, 2002

Complaints.com received the following consumer message on May 8, 2002:

From: Email User

RE: Great Expectations video dating service - unhappy with service

SCAMMED BY THE GREAT EXPECTATIONS VIDEO DATING SERVICE: A HUGE NATIONAL SCAM

This is a franchise of about 50 dating services in the U.S. This is an equal opportunity rip off scam. They go after young and old, male and female, White, Black or Asian with an equal zest to screw them out of their money. The specific club that ripped me off is the one in Cincinnati, Ohio. The address is 7890 Kemper Rd.The telephone number is 513-489-9888. I was interviewed on January 23, 2001.Both the woman that called me and set me up for the interview and the interviewer for the club lied to me. They lied

about the number of women and the ratio.

The caller stated that there were 500 women in the club and a 50/50 split between the men and women. The woman who interviewed me told me that there was a 55/45 split. The truth is that after I joined,I found out there were only 200 women and the ratio between men and women was 70/30. The interviewer also made false statements about another dating service known as Matchmaker International in order to discourage me from investigating that club. Her club also made the false claim on their telephone recorded message that they were members of the Better Business Bureau. That's a lie according to the BBB. The woman who set me up for the appointment told me that applicants are “screened” to make certain that they are single, not ex-felons and not drug addicts.

But the screening process consists of nothing more than asking the applicant if they are single, ex-felons etc. which, in my opinion, is no screening process because the applicants are obviously going to lie if they are NOT single etc. Even the interviewer's lawyer; Wendy Callaway of Mathews and Mathews in

Norwood, Ohio 513-351-1525 admitted to me that that is all the screening process involves and she stated this to me in a printed document signed by her.There are several good consumer rights web sites on the internet dedicated to helping victims of this particular dating scam. Just go to most any search engine and type in:ANTI GREAT EXPECTATIONS and you'll find them.

After reading the dozens of testimonies on the internet about this dating scam, I've concluded that it has to be one of the biggest scams going on in the U.S. right now with tens of thousands of victims having been cheated out of hundreds of millions of dollars over the past 10 years, yet practically nothing has been done to shut down this scam except for very small fines which are no deterrent. Many of these clubs now have their own websites on the internet. I read a report that they took the State of New York to court to try to get them to abolish their consumer protection laws and lost.That's why there are no clubs in New York.

Along with misrepresentation, the interviewer also used high pressure tactics on me. At one point she told me that "if I left and decided to come back, I would pay a lot more money". The interviewer also claimed that she owned the Cincinnati Club, the Columbus, Ohio club and the San Diego, Ca. club but according to a lawyer that I talked to who has the list of franchisees, this woman is NOT on the list. According to testimonies on consumer rights websites, these clubs love to prey on both young and elderly people and tell them that there are many members their own age. An ex-employee testified that he scammed an 80 year old man out of $3,700 for a one year membership by telling him that there were a lot of women his age but there were none and the only other 80 year old person was another man. Also, according to various testimonies, these clubs use con artist tricks to find out how much money is in a person's bank account or credit card account and use that as the basis for how much to charge them.

The interviewer quoted me $2,700 for a membership and I had $2,800 in the bank that day. She must have learned what was in my account by the financial questions I answered on the questionaire before the interview. She haggled with me and I settled on $1,400 but this scam and it's awful selection of woman both in number and quality wasn’t worth $25 to me. With only 200 women at the time I signed and very few of these women meeting the criteria that I made clear to the interviewer during the interview made this a severe disappointment for me; both financially and emotionally.These clubs almost never refund money no matter what the circumstance including during the so-called 3 day grace period. According to a lawyer I spoke to, when one of these clubs shuts down, they often don’t throw away the members profiles and videos but stick them in a nearby club so that members viewing these tapes and profiles are often looking at members who belonged to an old club and are no longer members.

I might add that the Consumer Rights Division of the State of Ohio is now investigating the Cincinnati club thanks to the information I sent to the Attorney General. I had a 20 minute talk with the assistant to the Attorney General on the phone and she told me that the Cincinnati club was going to be investigated thanks to my complaint. But I'd like to see a lot more activity on the part of legislators and Attorney Generals in ALL the States because this scum is probably preying on YOUR relatives and friends.

John