Romance Pros Tampa Contacted me numberous times to set up interview! Tampa Florida
I was contacted by a young woman back in October 2007 who said that she worked for Romance Pros. I told her I have never heard of this business before and asked how she obtained my name and phone number. She never gave me her own name and told me that I had filled out an online profile back in fall of 2006 with my contact information and that she was just following up on it and was
trying to contact me to set up an interview. I repeated I had not heard of this business before and I did not recall ever filling out any such profile. She told me they had tried to reach me previously and I did not answer my phone until this day.
She went on to say that she worked for the main office of Romance Pros in Texas and that I lived in the region of their Tampa, Florida office. Then I asked if they had tried to call me several times in the past then
why could they not have left a phone message? She told me that for privacy reasons it is the strict policy of Romance Pros not to ever leave phone messages.Apparently they have had problems before when they used to leave messages for people they are trying to contact. And this woman told me that she could speak to her supervisor to attempt to get me a "start up" discount as an
incentive to join in my local center. Well she told me she would call me back in 15 minutes and after about an hour passed I never heard back from this person!
Since then I have been contacted several times by phone by individuals claiming to represent Romance Pros and who have been attempting to get me into my local office for a so called interview and to get to know me as a
prospective client. They have called me from both the main office in Irving, Texas and the Tampa location as well.
Just back in January of this year a woman called me from Tampa and tried to schedule me to visit their center and she even told me that once I am there in the office I could consent to an official background check! Now I was told that this is entirely voluntarily and it is
recommended for those people who may join the membership
ranks. Romance Pros does not conduct such a check unless the person being screened agrees to one.
Now I must add that everytime I have asked what are the fees for membership I have always been told that they do not discuss fees over the phone and only in person at their center. There is a website romancepros.com and I have looked it over and it is quite vague and gives only very minimal information about this so called dating/singles service. It does allow you to give your
contact information and tell them about yourself and what kind of people you would like to meet.
Since this experience I have never been to their local center for any such interview and I am very wary of this business especially since they do not even belong to the local chapter of the Better Business Bureau. And when I once asked one associate over the phone why if I
filled out an online profile why did it take them one whole year to reach me by phone all she could tell me is that they have so many profiles to look over and some people are very difficult to reach or they don't answer the phone.
I have just read a report about Romance Pros from a member in New Port Richey, FL and this person was scammed out of $2000! She said that she has not even heard back from the agency and she feels that they have ripped her off completely! I have no intention to
go there for an interview and I am so convinced that this is some type of scam operation that masquerades as a legit dating/singles service.
I don't know of any states that have laws governing dating services and I used to live in California
where there are no such laws in existence and Florida has no such laws at all.
All you single adults out there be aware of Romance Pros and they will contact anyone claiming that you have filled out an online profile and they will attempt to
get you to agree to an interview. And then take your payment and you will get nothing back in return!
Lorenzo
Saint Petersburg, Florida
U.S.A.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Christina
Houston,Texas,
U.S.A.
As an ex-employee...
#3UPDATE EX-employee responds
Mon, April 28, 2008
I have to disagree. I was actually "let go" for not making quota.
Instinct Marketing is just doing their jobs. This isn't cold calling. If you get called it's because YOU FILLED OUT A PROFILE. I have talked to many people over the phone who were satisfied with Romance Pro's and a also many who weren't. But it isn't a "rip off" or a scam. It just doesn't always work for everyone, and that's a risk you take when you sign up. Bottom line: if you don't want your information out there on the internet don't enter it anywhere.
H-town, Tx
Baytown,Texas,
U.S.A.
How they got your name
#3UPDATE EX-employee responds
Sun, April 13, 2008
This is to clear up to Lorenzo exactly how romance pros got your name. Well, first and foremost, romance pros uses Instinct Marketing in Houston Tx for their telemarketing. Back in the fall of 2007 they got a new 5'9 dialing system. Because according to the VP of marketing "there were thousands of unused leads that were a gold" When they installed this new 5'9 system, it unlocked thousands of leads that were in the system, sometimes from up to 4 years ago.
So, if you ever filled out an on-line singles profile, not for Romance Pros persay, but anyother dating service on the internet, your profile was sold to Instinct Marketing. Now, since you did not fill out a profile for Romance Pros, chances are that you might have filled on out for Match.com, eharmony.com, or one of the other more popular dating site. And you don't have to fill in all of your information for them to call you. As long as you fill in your name and your phone number, you are fair game to these voltures. I was an employee of Instinct Marketing in February of 2008, and some of the leads that I called were too old to even mention. The straw for me that broke the camels back was when I called a lead that was from 2005 and an older man answered the phone, so I asked for the name on the lead, well, it turned out that the name on the lead was the name of the older man's dead daughter. The man was in tears that I would even call asking for her.
So, in the end, Lorenzo, if you are ever contacted by Romance Pros again, ask the person that contacts you to speak with Bill Paye, the Vp of Romance Pros in the Tampa office, or Charles Prince, the VP of sales and Marketing for Instinct Marketing in Houston, Tx. Sometimes, you have to be very harsh with these people because these companys are blood sucking, money hungry voltures. Have a good day.