Great Expectations reviews and complaints

I wasted my money $1400 and gained nothing. I tried to cancel after one month and was too late to cancel it and requested my card company to dispute and they told me nothing they can do about it. And guess what they tried to collect monthly membership from me after I requested and confirmed my cancellation . What a joke. I still want to get refund from this fake business.
Their office is Schaumburg, Illionis. I am thinking we should still collect the refund from them. If you want to, contact me.
Chicaki333@gmail. com My name is Kate.

Thank you.

I am interested in professional men in a similar lifestyle as my own. After communicating this to GE they showed me many pictures of Doctors, Lawyers, etc. -all professionals. After I signed up none of the men shown to me were active with most of the members being truck drivers, construction workers and possibly some of the cast members of Deliverance. What a waste. The web site and service is a joke!

Total rip-off. I had a similar experience at their Dallas location. Showing me profiles of all these wonderful men to entice me into signing on the dotted line, only to get negative response after negative response to my invitations once I had paid in full and had my profile posted. I am a very attractive and successful woman and had more dates than I could handle on match.com and yahoo personals but was looking for a more professional, successful and serious minded person to build a long lasting relationship with. Two of the three gentlemen I went out with (and I use that term loosely) were alcoholics and the third was an ego maniac that I don't feel was honestly looking for a long term relationship. I wish I had done some research before my interview so I would not have been so gullible to their sales tactics. Unfortunately we often have to learn the hard way.

I am a member of the singles group at my church, so when I got an events email and there was a great expectations questionnaire attached I thought it might be legitimate. I filled out the questionnaire and got a call from someone mentioning the name of my church along with Great Expectations. I agreed to go in for an “interview” to see if they wanted me as a member. After Michael asked me some basic questions and let me watch an advertisement. He told me it would be cheesy and it was. After the video Carol came in and dug deeper into the questions. When was the last time you had a serious relationship? What are you looking for in a man? On a scale of 1 to 10 how serious are you about getting married. Great questions, but she used them to “twist my arm” later. Didn’t you tell me it’s been years since your last serious relationship? “Obviously what you’re doing isn’t working”, she said. She told me as a single never married woman without children I’d be perfect and they wanted me to join. She told me it would be $5,000 and I said NO WAY! She left the room, “to speak to her supervisor”, and came back asking if I was a student. I said I’d recently graduated, but was paying student loans. Oh great, I’ll be right back. Yes, you qualify for our student rate $2,000 for our elite program. You are guaranteed membership until you get married. I admit I really wanted to be in a meaningful relationship and despite what my gut was telling me signed up. I thought it would be a glorified match.com or eharmony, both of which I’ve tried. A week later I was approved and able to search. I was stunned. You can only search by age or weight. What a crock! I called to complain and Michael tried to tell me how great they were. I asked where the black men were. I told him there were very few in my age range and the TWO that I was interested weren’t interested in me. I mentioned that I had searched weekly for the last few weeks and come up with the same guys – none of whom I’m interested in dating. I also said no one had contacted me and that I wasn’t willing to list my weight since it’s not part of my normal description of myself. Michael said “yeah, then you’re probably not coming up in the searches if you haven’t listed your weight”. CRAP! I listed other complaints and asked for a refund, since the service was useless. Michael said that this wouldn’t work overnight and reminded me that I had signed a non-refundable contract. This company has no integrity. They are preying on people’s desire to have someone special in their lives. They are lying about what they have to offer and once they have got you and your money, no one will return your emails or calls. DON’T GET SCAMMED.

Hello I filled out an online app. for great expectations thinking I might wanna try it. I knew theyd be calling, and they did while I was at work. The girl asked me if I wanted to talk..I told her I don't think I wanted to continue with it due to new work issues that just had happend to me that morning, I work 3rd /1st shift.She made a few smart remarks then dove right into my personal life - She said to me " did this happend in your sleep?" "because your daughter told me you were sleeping" I asked her why she was talking to my daughter and she said because she answered the phone..remind you she was a smart ### the whole time. I told her I was at work and didnt feel she should had been talking to my daughter..she then said.." well maybe you should not leaver her home alone" My daughter was taught to say I am asleep when Im not home, and she will say it when there is someone else there as well. I could not believe the nerev of this girl. The customer service is horrid at Great Ex...and Id never recomend them! They will insult you and they have 0 social skills..guess that happens when you make $7.00 to pimp out people on line, lol. sorry if this didnt make a whole lot of sense..its hard to explain a phone convo. And I am kinda venting as well...GREAT EXPECTATION..no way..use someone else!

My horrible fate all began back in July when I received an ad for GE in the mail. I thought I would give this opportunity a shot and filled out the form with my credentials and what type of person I am looking for, and sent it off in the mail. GE had notified me shortly and we discussed over the phone about setting up an appointment for me to come in and speak to one of their consultants. The appointment was scheduled for a few days later.

When I went to GE I was introduced to a consultant who goes by the name of Jennifer. She took me in a room where she showed me a video and asked me some personal questions related to men and dating. After the video, she mentioned that they had various types of programs and showed me a chart. She emphasized that they make their service affordable for everyone. On the chart, it showed under each individual program that the cost would be $28.00 a month and that this amount would be charged to my credit card account on a monthly basis. Jennifer explained that the total amount would come to $3195.00, to which I assumed was the accumulative amount from each monthly payment. I had then explained to Jennifer that I did not want to be putting too much on my credit card, so $28.00 seemed liked a reasonable amount, to which she did not reply. So, then she pulled out a contract hastily and shoved it my face and told me to initial the appropriate boxes that she had pointed out to me. She did not bother to have me read it because she said that it explained everything that she had went over already. At this point I was excited and skimmed it and initialed it. Then she had me sign next to where she had written my credit card number and the total fee. Jennifer then took the contract back, leaving me a copy, and sent me on my way.
My first shock came a week later when I was to go back and have a video interview and have my pictures taken with their photographer. After the photographer had wrapped things up with me, he pulled me aside and explained my payment options. I had looked at him in utter disbelief and confusion. Here I was being told I had to pay $399.95 for pictures when it was never mentioned to me in the first place. I explained to the photographer that Jennifer never mentioned about having to pay for pictures, nor was it in the contract. I had assumed that this was part of the membership plan. The photographer then told me that I wasn't the first one Jennifer misled like that. Had I known that I had to pay any extra for pictures, I would not have signed anything. Still being upset, but being in an almost desperate state of mind to find a possible mate to fill the void that has been left for me, I decided not to make a fuss and went ahead and paid for the pictures.
My next shock came a few weeks later when I received my credit card statement. Much to my horror, I glanced at my statement and saw that a full amount of $3195.00 was charged to my account! This is when I started to feel like I had been scammed. First it was with the pictures, now this!
No where on the contract did it say that this amount would be drafted from my account in one lump sum. I was led to believe that I would be charged $28.00 a month until I reached the accumulative amount of $3195.00. Jennifer knew that this is what I believed and did not try to intervene with saying anything to the contrary.
I called GE and asked to speak to Jennifer and explained how I was completely misled and felt scammed. I talked to her about this issue as well as how she failed to tell me about paying for pictures. However, she acted like she could not even be bothered. She explained that the $28.00 was only monthly dues on top of the lump sum. She further explained that I had signed a contract and I could not cancel under any circumstances and it stated that in the contract. However, she never let me read that part, and she never mentioned it in our discussion. She said that I knew that this full amount would be charged to my account, when I had never thought in a million years that it would.
People do not just go slapping outrageous amounts like that on their credit cards, especially a struggling widow such as myself. Jennifer knew my circumstances and still took advantage of me. How could one be so heartless and deceiving? Well, I have the answer, when a sneaky business such as GE cares only about profits and shady marketing ploys. Needless to say, I have not had a date since I joined two and a half years ago.

I am a handicapped senior widow who was promised personal services regarding meeting similar individuals of the opposite sex. I feel I was coerced and shamed into signing up and have been too "freaked out" to handle this. I need help to recover my 3900. I never heard from them until last month when emails came in triplicate saying the name of the agency had been changed. I need help! Sincerely, Joan

Though I have many complaints about the unethical and deceptive business practices by the Great Expectations St. Louis office, located in Maryland Heights, my primary complaint is that they misled me about their membership numbers. Before I joined their service I asked Rhonda, their director, how many female members they had in my age range of interest (which I specified was about 24-34) in the St. Louis area. I was told I could expect around 125 such members with 3-4 being added each week. After they charged me $5, 295 for my membership I discovered how grossly they had misled me: they currently have 22 active women in the entire 18-35 age range for St. Louis and its surrounding areas, and they sign up less than one new female member in this age range each month! Needless to say I have reported them to both the Better Business Bureau and the Missouri State Attorney General's office. Interestingly, I have also spoken with about ten current and recent members through their office. Every single person I have spoken with is dissatisfied with Great Expectations, and interestingly their complaints are all similar to mine, especially about being misled about how many members Great Expectations actually has. Here are some facts about the Great Expectations St. Louis office and my experience with them:

-They currently have only 22 active females in the entire 18-35 age range.

-In recent months they have signed up less than one female per month in this age range.

-They list members as "new in the last 60 days" when they are clearly not new within that time period (they are listed this way for well over 60 days)

-When I called their office to ask about the discrepancy in their membership numbers, their director took nearly two weeks (after multiple calls from me to their office) to return my phone call.

-They currently have a D+ rating and non-accredited status with the BBB as well as multiple unresolved complaints.

-They have numerous complaints on file with the Attorney General's office.

-They took nearly two months to respond to the BBB and the Attorney General's office after being contacted regarding my complaint.

-A former employee has publicly described several very deceptive and unethical practices of the Great Expectations office:

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/dating_services/great_expectations_p28.html

-There are many complaints about Great Expectations on online consumer web sites.

-They falsely accused me of scheduling and not showing up for a video/photo appointment when I have phone records proving I never spoke with their office during this period.

-They told me (and their contract also states) that all of their members must have a video and photo taken before being allowed access to their database, but several of their current female members' profiles do not have both of these.

-Their office charged me $160 to put onto a CD-ROM the photos they took of me when I activated my membership. They then never sent me the CD, forcing me to dispute the charge with my credit card company to receive a refund.

-They violated their own contract, which states that disputes will be resolved via mandatory arbitration with the Better Business Bureau, when they chose not to respond to the arbitration agreement that the BBB sent them regarding my complaint.

-Lawsuits have been filed recently against Great Expectations by the attorney general's offices of Kansas, Pennsylvania, Arizona, and New York City, all alleging misrepresentation of services offered.

I used to work for Great Expectations. Don't waste your time, effort or money. They keep pictures of employees and others who have canceled their service on the website and they only keep the good looking ones. Most of the people who sign up have no teeth and don't make a decent living.

Great Expectations will make you feel quilty for not wanting to sign up. They run you're credit to see how much money they can get from you BEFORE you even meet a "relationship specialist" Oh please the front desk people do sales at times. They only have a packages, but the final price is determined on your credit score and how much money is available on your credit cards. Don't buy into the we can help you get a credit card to transfer your money, because all we do is sign you up for another credit card. It's not worth the time, money and effort to join them. take your chances and sign up for Plenty of Fish, Match.com or Yahoo Personals. You'll find the same people on these sites as Great Expectations and it will save you a pretty penny. Once you sign the dotted line, regardless if you signed it 20 seconds ago, it's a legal binding contract and you can't get out of it. Even if you do get a good deal, the photography package alone will send you to the poor house.

All they care about is your money and nothing else. Many of the staff has left due to their un-ethical practices.

About 7 years ago I made an appointment to find out about Great expectations dating service. I just wanted to get the basic information about pricing and services. Instead, I was led into a conference room by an attractive young lady and after watching a video on how they work, I was asked a lot of questions concerning dating, relationships, etc... The LAST thing they did was to tell me how much it cost (the attractive young lady had the membership prices folded up on the paper and out of site). Had I known it was around $4000.00 for 3 years (this was in 2017 I believe), I wouldn't have even made an appointment in the first place! Then she tries to lay some guilt trip on me by trying to twist my answers around from the questions she asked me. I might have been lonely, but I wasn't about to be suckered in by hard sales tactics. She got her boss to try his hard sales pitch on me when hers didn't work. I felt like I was being interrogated by the cops! This guy wasn't going to give up and tried everything to get me to sign up. Still, I decided to play the game "How low can you go" to see how low I can get the membership price to drop to. Still not enough. I walked out without signing up. Very aggresive sales tactics. They try and make you feel like a piece of garbage whose only chance of getting a date is through them. That was the purpose of asking all those relationship questions, to soften you up for the sales pitch. Unless you have a lot of money to burn, STAY AWAY!

Contact your state attorney general and file a suit. You'd be surprised to find how many class-action suits are filed against G/E. If anything, you can probably sue for misrepresentation (i.e.; fraud) and might be entitled to some money back, but G/E uses a "Well, $xxx is a one-time membership fee" or some such defense. Don't be intimitated by these ###...do some research, contact the AG and advise from an attorney.

Great Expectations is horrible! They promise there are educated, available men...
I had one date in 4 years... got on the site and fewer than 4% met any of my criteria they said was NO DOUBT gonna work...

Tried to sue... but at least got some of my money back... BOOOO

My dispute with Great Expectations of Fort Mill, SC has been resolved and that GE and I have reached a mutually agreeable settlement that does not constitute an admission of wrongdoing on GE's part.

Posted by "Upset User"

My dispute with Great Expectations of Fort Mill, SC has been resolved and that GE and I have reached a mutually agreeable settlement that does not constitute an admission of wrongdoing on GE's part.

Hello, the same thing happened to me that all these others have complained about with GE..the high pressure sales pitch..the charging a credit card and not being able to cancel this..and I also lost thousands of dollars to this scam...I would be willing to stand with you to close this place down...

Connie Clawson
Clover, SC

I just got off phone with lawyer. He said I owe $1800 they will settle for $900 . If I don't settle by Monday. Ge will sue me for$1800 plus addadditional courtcourt costcost of $2000 so $3800 total . What should I do ? I canclecanceled 2 ddays aafter and callcalled in to cancel I did not know I had to mail a letter . Help please I'm in illIllinois pcf33@Yahoo is my email

If anyone currently has complaints of coercive sales tactics, misrepresentations & deceptive practices with the Great Expectation Dating Service in Scottsdale AZ. -------

Please email your concerns to smpsc@yahoo.com Let me know if you would like to be part of a class action law suit filed with the office of the AZ AG?

Thank you.

My complaint reflects Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard's lawsuit against GE, "Unlawfully obtaining consumers' credit information as soon as they arrived at the Great Expectations office to meet with a representative, before they received a sales presentation or agreed to purchase a membership." See http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2008/06/az_ge.html

Great Expectations, Dallas office, requested my social security # & bank name on the pre-interview form. During the interview I provided 2 forms of ID (driver's license & credit card), the interviewer left the room. During the interview she commented on my lack of debt on my credit card, which was a bit spooky. After an otherwise professional interview and my decline to participate at $6995 + $295 for photos, I was quickly shown the way out. They kept my pre-interview form containing my social security #, bank name, and other information that might be used for identity theft!

The more I thought about it the more I realized it was a mistake to give my SS# & credit card before any agreement to participate.

After reading the multiple complaints of fruad and scams concering Great Expectations, I've put a Fruad Alert on my SS# at the 3 credit bureaus, requested a new credit card, and added a password to my credit card.

I'm also sending Great Expecations a certified letter stating my decline of their services, requesting that all my personal information be shredded, and requesting a written letter of confirmation that they have destroyed and not shared my personal information.

Here's another link to multiple complaints about Great Expectations
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/dating_services/great_expectations.html

I was a member of Great Expectations thirty years ago, when the company was privately owned, based in Los Angeles, not a franchise, and when the owner's mother and sister were actively involved. Frankly, my experience with them -- unlike yours -- was truly wonderful. As a family operation, they actually cared about their members, and the owner's mother would try to fix people up herself, even though it was a video dating service. But since the company was sold, and it's now owned by a Fortune 500 company, if my memory serves me, and it's a franchise, it's unlikely that you're going to be able to get a refund from the franchisee. If I were you, I'd try to go on TV. Make it fun (for you) and awful (for them). Take them to small claim's court, where you can recover up to $5, 000, on Judge Judy. It's likely that rather than exposing themselves to her bad temper (I love her for that, and her wit), and all of the negative press that they'd get as a result, whether or not you won the case, in front of tens of millions of people on national TV, that they'd try to settle way before that happened.

I felt like I was the only one ripped off/victimized. Refer to website:

/URL removed/

You are not alone.

Great Expectations is truly a waste of money. I joined in Indianapolis a few years ago for $4, 400 for a 3 year membership, which they indicated was a discounted membership fee. I was told they had a lot of members that would be interested in a guy like me. I asked if they would allow me to tour the library of members, but they said not until I become a member. They showed me a sample of very attractive members (which I don't truly feel they were actually members, rather paid models). The saleswomen was a very attractive person, who said she was a successful member. She was very agressive, as she even indicated they could help me find financing to pay for the membership (felt like I was buying a car). After signing up, I regreted it and tried to cancel my membership within 24 hours. The office declined. After awhile, I decided since I wasn't getting my money back, I would give it a try. I went to the library and searched female members from A to Z. It took a few hours, but I made it through. There were approximately 15 individuals that met my criteria, however none of them were interested in an Asian male in his early 30's, which a young child. Over three years have past and my membership did not result in a single date. They claim it is because I was not active in all their get togethers, which I must add, costs additional money. Overall, I had a very bad experience and would not recommend even wasting your time meeting with the Company. The employees appear to be high school grads or college grads with a degree that doesn't allow them to get a decent paying job. It is usually women employees who thing they are cupid. The world would be a better place if the Company went bankrupt and disappeared forever. STAY AWAY and don't consider wasting money here. In simpliest terms, this is like an ex spouse. They take your money, without giving you anything in return. I can't compare it to cheap stores like Goodwill or Wal-Mart, as Goodwill and Wal-Mart allow you to get a refund. Obama should sign a law that prevents dating services to scam hard working individuals out of hard earned money, that are trying to find love.

Take a tally of all the people in the U.S. that are currently were members of G/E and ask this simple question, "For the time invested, money spent and the number of people that replied to you, how would you rate G/E on a 1-10 scale, 10 being best?" You're going to see few 8s, 9s and 10s and many 1s and 2s. Maybe you run your center different, but the one on Los Angeles was Ok for a while, then took a nosedive. There was one in Irvine, CA but it closed (hmm, I wonder why). Trust me, I'm Chris51245...my profile's still probably being used at the Los Angeles center although my membership ended years ago.

As an employee at Great Expectations in Fort Mill, So. Carolina, I have very specific knowledge about the woman who filed the report entitled "Great Expectations Fraudulent Charges from Great Expectations Dating Service with no contract! AMAZING!".

Ms. Thomas came into our center on September, 10th, 2008. As is our usual procedure, she was asked to fill out a simple questionnaire and to show a driver's license and credit card so as to verify that she had 2 pieces of identification with her name on them. This is part-one of the screening processes that we do which every member is subjected to prior to being allowed to join.

We in Member Services are VERY careful to NEVER take the credit card or driver's license out-of-site from the potential member prior to the qualification interview. In fact, we only handle the credit card and driver’s license long enough to verify that their name, address and birth date correspond with the information that they put on their form. This process takes less than 30 seconds and then the credit card and ID are promptly returned.

Once it was determined that Ms. Thomas DID qualify as a potential member, she was presented with her membership options. We do refuse those whom we feel would not be of benefit to our other members based upon criminal history, psychological issues, or financial stability. This process is greatly appreciated by our members as they know that we check out each and every person who joins our service.

Ms. Thomas selected our premium membership and paid for it in-full at the time of the interview. She signed the credit card receipt and initialed the appropriate points in the contract which clearly states that there are no refunds. And as for the $7000 price quote? We have no idea whatsoever where she got that figure but she certainly didn’t get it from us. Not even our highest level of service is that much.

A few other things to think about in regards to this situation:

*Why would Ms. Thomas wait almost SIX MONTHS to report the alleged unauthorized charge on her credit card to the authorities? I know that if it had had been ME that is the FIRST thing I would have done…

* IF (as was alleged in the WB3 News segment that Ms. Thomas initiated) we had actually run her credit card without her knowledge and signed the receipt ourselves, then why didn’t we go ahead and sign the contract for her also? (We didn’t because we realize the importance of doing everything properly so as to avoid issues such as this).

* We are also aware that if we were to ‘run’ people’s credit cards without their authorization, we would risk having the credit card companies take away our ability to take credit cards, not to mention the even more personal risk of being arrested. No one has been arrested as a result of Ms. Thomas’ allegations and additionally, the credit card company, Department of Consumer Affairs, and the Better Business Bureau have ALL sided with us after review of the situation.

*Unfortunately, the many happy members that we have are far less vocal about how satisfied they are than the few who are not. Great Expectations is the world’s oldest and largest dating service for a reason.

Ms. Thomas was repeatedly offered a refund however she refused, opting instead to go on TV. Who knows why people do the things they do? Some people just like the attention, I suppose…

We are very sorry that things turned out the way they did with Ms. Thomas as we have a lot of people who potentially would have been a great match for her had she only given our service a chance.

How do I kick the scrap out of the Bonita Springs, Florida office of Great Expectation.

Check my full write-up about the site here: http://newusguy.wordpress.com/2012/01/31/great-expectations-dating-site/

I had no idea when I submitted my telephone number in an internet search box that I’d be called & pressured to “just stop by for a 90 minute consultation.” I was surfing the net & came upon some dating site that said it was for “serious singles.” I knew the third time the woman called my phone that I never should have given them my number. She called me in the evening, when I was home & launched into her sales pitch.
What turned me off was the high pressure. She detailed stories of serial murders who were on dating sites. She would not let me get off the phone. I eventually hung up on her. She kept saying “what is the problem? You don’t know anything about the program to say no.” I made up my mind with all of that pressure that I’d NEVER sign up for anything like that.

I felt high jacked enough on my own phone in my own home. Why in the heck would I drive an hour to be pressured to sign up for some dating deal! NEVER! If they really had a good product they wouldn’t have to resort to high pressure techniques to get people to join. That was purely distasteful and a HUGE RED FLAG! Avoid them like the plague!

Your story is almost identical to my story. I fell for the high pressure sales scam as well and definitely feel as though the prices are based on your available credit which they find out before sitting down with you. Stephanie told me that I was approved for the program before I ever filled out the paperwork. I have filed complaints, but have received no compensation either. My program cost me $4, 500 so they definitely change the pricing pending your credit. I have read regardinganother who complained and received full compensation only after going to the media with their story.

I recommend that no one join Great Expections, unless you want to throw away money. They are a franchise, therefore they want that money. My experiene with them was of a high pressure sales person trying too keep you in that seat so you don't walk out when you find out the cost. I tried to walk out a number of times, but the pretty salesperson was extremely good. Everytime I asked how much it would be, they would side track me to the topic of meeting all this women and all the fun I would have. Next they would say, do you what to be alone all your life. They wouldn't tell me exactly how much it would cost until I made a verbal commitment. I didn't find out there would be a monthly fee until I signed the paperwork. After the pictures where taken the second day, I was told that if you meet someone on line, they would send your picture packet to that person for a substantial amount of money, which they didn't tell me in any discussions prior to signing. I'm going to ask for my money back. If I don't get a positive answer, I will have to contact the major newspapers within a 50 miles ratios of Bonita Springs, Florida and post my complaints.

I was scammed out of 6, 400.oo and the ### charged it to my American Express after telling her no! I hope they all rot in hell. I demanded my money back 4 times only to be ignored