Great Expectations review: Beware of local signs! 13

ChandlerSingles.com is another front for Great Expectations. From what I'm learning, Great Expectations is a very evil organization that has been scamming large numbers of money from people since 1970.

I am a new victim, why people are not doing anything about it?

I used to work for GE. Stay away from them. They will steal your money and leave you with blemishes on your credit. ANd they absolutely do no "background checks". The only check they do is your credit to see if you have money or not.

I found another deceptive website put out by GE... It's valleysingles.com. I must've filled it out. It's the only way I can figure that they got my information. And they are absolutely incessant with their phone calls. They hound you day and night, weekdays and weekends until you either give them what they ask for or tell them you're not interested. Be careful of these miscellaneous sites. There is nothing to alert the user to the fact that these sites actually all lead back to Great Expectations. Very deceptive! (and wrong).

Totally agree with above comlaints. I see their signs all over Orlando and surrounding areas.

Anyone else in the Orlando area who like me feel totally cheated of a large sum of money? In my case... $6995! It is outrageous!

I am happily married but around here they have those signs all over in Texas too..
sanantoniosingles.org
liveoaksingles.org
universalcitysingles.org
conversesingles.org
seguinsingles.org

They must be ever where

Grow up ... Your an adult, I dont think anyone twisted your arm to sign up for this service, or took your check book or credit card without you saying YES... Learn to live with the choices you make...

As wonderful as the idea of meeting the love of your life is, Great Expectations does have some great points and it also has some not so great points. Please don’t take this review as my bias opinion as to tell you what to do, but as any consumer should know; only you can make the best decision for yourself.

I worked for Great Expectations in the Charlotte Center in Fort Mill, SC for over 1 year. I was not fired. I got so fed up with their un-ethical practices that I decided to get up and walk out.

The best thing about GE is the fact that they do run criminal background checks on everyone who joins. They will refuse a potential client if they have a felony. What they don’t tell you is, they’re not running them when you walk into the door, but they run it after they already have your money. GE is located in SC due to the fact there is no 3 day refund clause. Once you sign the contract, you’re liable for the money.

The Charlotte center is a little over 1 year old. They do have approx 2, 000 clients, however a little under 924 are active. They do keep expired members and members who fought to have their membership canceled still on the site but they list them as “inactive, please check again soon.”

Most of the members are average working men and women who live pay check to pay check, however they state these are all professional people. There are some who make a very nice living, but if I’m paying money for a service and I’m making six figures, I don’t think I’m going to want to date someone who dropped out of school and is barely making ends meat. Now not to say, he or she might not be a wonderful person or could be the love of my life, it’s just not fair. Everyday, someone calls to complain on the lack of quality singles and it's the member services team to lie and say, "well were always getting new members daily and some are on freeze and some are still waiting to have their pictures taken." We know perfectly well at the time you sign up, you're not going to find anyone that you want. We do have several really overly attractive male and female members and we make a point to only print out their pictures (some of these members have been expired) to show you the quality of the singles. What a load!

They typical price on the packages ranges in price from $4, 000 to $5490. There is also a monthly dues of $28 a month. With this you get to use the website, have a video done by the front office staff and professional photos. Right now the photographer is amazing and he is professional, but before he came, they just hired someone to take sub-standard pictures. If you want more than one picture, you will be charged hundreds to thousands of dollars. To upgrade to global (you can select and be seen by all the other members in the United States, approx 56 centers) is an additional cost. To have a V-Gram which is a little email with your picture on it is another few hundred dollars. By the time you leave you’re paying close to $10, 000. Now if you’re luck enough to meet your true love spending several thousand dollars isn’t going to bother you.

When you walk in, they give you a screener which asks for your personal information and some useless dating information. The only thing they’re after on that form is your social security number. They are not out to sell it, as a matter of fact all member files remain locked once you leave for the day, but they run your credit to see how much money they can get you for. If you though buying a car had some ruthless salespeople, try dealing with the Relationship Specialists. They feed on your emotional well being. Not everyone is even charged the same amount. They say the fee does depend on the length of your membership. That’s a crock. You can have 6 people with a 12 month membership and they all can be paying anywhere from $595 to $2950, depending on their credit and how much of a fight they put into the 2 hour interview. They asked this one man to cash in his CD to pay for his membership. Since he was going to have a penalty for early withdrawal, they told him they would give him 50% off of his membership. What a crock, regardless, they would have taken in hundreds if not thousands of dollars.

Once you become a member, you are invited to join in the events they have. The events are not free. Even the staff that goes to the events has to pay (and they don’t get reimbursed). The events are fun, so that’s a plus. Aside from the background checks and the events, GE is no different than match.com, plenty of fish, perfect match and all the other online dating sites out there, aside from the amount of money they get from you.

You will stand a better chance using an online dating site.

On an end note. When the telemarketers call and hound you (and they will) tell them you turned gay or got married. If you tell them you’re in a relationship they will just call you back in a few months. We were all trained to tell you that you may have read bad reviews about Great Expectations and we’re told to say, “there have also been bad reports about Walmart, yet you probably still go there.” Go with your gut. Save yourself a lot of money and aggravation.

Thank you so much for writing this. I visited a GE site in Baltimore and although I did not sign up at the interview, I told the counselor she could contact me in a few weeks and I'll try to join then. She was very upfront about the GE process, but I was turned off because she wouldn't tell me the fees after me asking her several times. I knew when I left I wasn't going to join, but I'll make sure I write them a certified letter to aviod the phone calls.

I'll stick to the online dating sites as my chances are the same but with more money left in my purse. She even tried to scare me with the criminals that wander the online sites--I know there out there and I'm careful when I communicate with someone. If my gut is telling me no, than I stop communications with that person. There are psychos everywhere, including at GE.

I agreed with you 100%. I just joined and so far I'm happy about it except for the cost and un-ethical practices they use..

I got reeled in by these people on Facebook. I have had a call from them every single day for the past 3 weeks. I never signed up or returned phone calls, and even texted them to tell them to take me off their call list. If you want an eye-opener, Google "great expectations complaints". 35+ pages of complaints from people who were either harassed or were lied to about how much the service would cost. Why doesn't the Attorney General put this place out of business?

Great Expectations of Scottsdale is the absolute worst company I have ever encountered...they are just plain unethical. They did the 'hard sell' to me also, took my license and my credit card at the beginning of the meeting, ran my credit without my authority and kept me 'on the hook' for nearly 3 hours. I felt the ONLY way to get out of this place was to sign the contract as Geri kept telling me I had 3 days to cancel my membership if I changed my mind.

I signed, left and called Geri the next day and of course no answer. Finally on the 3rd day I got her on the phone and she told me 'no problem' and to just drop off a letter stating I wanted to cancel membership. I did exactly that..left it with the receptionist and got the heck out of there as I knew they would try and get me into a room again and try to get me to reconsider. I never stepped back into that place after that.

Now, it's 2 years later and they have collections coming after me for nearly $2, 000. When I called to talk about it and let them know I did in fact call AND drop a letter off at their offices (as told to do), I'm told by the manager 'Ashly' that I needed to have the letter signed and dated. WHAT? Uh...no..I didn't. That is not what I was told and that is no what the contract says.

I did everything by the books and this company is still trying to collect the $2, 000. I will not let this go. They have been sued by the Attorney General here and had to pay $500k as a settlement. I will fight this to the end. I will be contacting the AG, BBB, the local TV station, newspapers, etc. I am done being taken advantage off. This company needs to be stopped.

Run far away if you are considering this company..they will make their own rules and take advantage of people, I'm amazed that these people can actually sleep at night. Wow.

Back in San Diego the 80's and early 90's i used to get solicitations in the mail at least once every 3 months from GE. I suspect that is where this stupid company tested the market and got its feet wet. I also suspect that long ago this is where they honed the craft of scamming vulnerable, lonely hearts. I don't remember the exact year but i was curious and drove to the GE office one day. I can't remember exactly but i was at least 20 yrs. old. (I am 50 now) Back then they had a table with some phony brochures and crap to look at and they of course would make a sales pitch about video tapes and the sales lady pointed to a viewing room. The sales people kind of skipped all that crap with me and suddenly they offered to sign me up for free-since i was so young, perky and pretty. I don't recall exactly-but they certainly implied in so many words that they had a lot of paying men signed up; that they mostly TOOK money from hopefully more upscale rich men so i didn't need to pay for a membership; i felt a little bit like i had the upper hand being young and pretty. I left that place rather quickly and i felt confident that i didn't need to meet men in this fashion i could do alright and not waste any time perusing videos of somewhat desperate men.