Frederick
St. Louis,#2Consumer Comment
Wed, August 17, 2011
I, too, have had a miserable experience with Great Expectations. I won't go into the entire story because it would take FAR too long, but suffice it to say that I entered into an arbitration hearing with the Better Business Bureau against Great Expectations, and the BBB determined that I was owed a refund due to GE's misleading business practices. This arbitration decision was legally binding, and both parties were required before the hearing to sign documents agreeing to abide by the decision of the arbitrator.
Unfortunately, the CEO of Great Expectations, Robert Fisher, who lives in Houston Texas, felt that the law did not apply to him, despite the fact that the Great Expectations membership contract also states that all disputes will be resolved by legally binding arbitration via the BBB.
I spent quite a bit of time trying to get Fisher's phone number, and when I finally did and called him, he ignored my phone calls for two weeks. When he finally answered and I explained who I was and why I was calling, he began screaming obscenities at me, called me a "piss-ant" and several other vulgar names, and THREATENED ME PHYSICALLY if I continued to demand my refund (which I am legally owed!). He screamed at me so much he resembled a cross between a psychopath and a second-grader. It was a bizarre experirence.
Needless to say, my next phone call was to my lawyer. I should add that Robert Fisher is currently operating a company called Drumbeat Marketing, and based on my experience, I would obviously suggest that anyone be very cautious before doing business with any company that Fisher operates.
connectionsdating
United States of America#3UPDATE Employee
Fri, August 05, 2011
Hi my name is Barbara Klein . Ive been working in this industry as an advisor/counselor since 2008. Ive met many, many people. Ive met a lot of people at all different stages of their life, and they need a little bit of assistance, getting out into the dating scene. And thats what I do, I assist them and help them change their lives because if I dont help them, they will go home and do the same thing theyve been doing which is being alone.
Some people come in and they have unrealistic expectations and they think that we are miracle workers in fact we have helped thousands of people become successful in finding the person they will spend the rest of their life with. When people come here and they havent found their significant other right away they think we are the bad guys, but the minute they fall in love and become successful we become the good guys. Some people are in a rush and think because they joined, the next week they will be getting married, when in fact we tell everyone that it takes time and its a numbers game and its a matter of who walks through the door and when and our philosophy is that it only takes one. Some people come in and they think this is a runway for models. Even though we tell them that we have all walks of life here. We have blue collar, white collar, college students, nannies, presidents of worldwide corporations. And we dont discriminate. However our screening process is the way that we weed out the riff raff. For example; a man comes in here whos 40 years old, selects all the 20 year olds, and is told no thank you by them. All of a sudden is mad at us. So if he wasnt dating those kind of women before he got here, why would he think hes going to start dating them, because he is in a membership? And then be mad at us because he hasnt been successful and was told no thank you. But if he was more realistic in his selecting, more than likely he would have already been successful. The whole thing here is to find the right one, but we are not magicians nor can we cannot predict the future.
We have a full staff, we are open 6 days a week, we are always joining new members, and the membership is always changing. We have activities, we have a lot of fun, we are hands on, and there are many people that have become successful by using our service. We dont mislead, we dont misrepresent. We make it very clear to each member what our obligations are. We do everything with our efforts to help them.
We have thousands of members and the fact that there are a few unhappy people shouldnt suggest that we are not trustworthy. Any business that is researched online has complaints. And it doesnt mean that every business is to be perceived badly, because we know that you cant make
everyone happy all the time, but we do our best.
Hal
Elgin,#4Author of original report
Tue, October 12, 2010
So pretty amazing how Connections Dating gets locked out of their old business space by their landlord on 9/27/10 for non-payment of rent and then magically reappear just down the road at a space in the Arboretum (a high end, upscale shopping center for those of you not from the Austin area). Oh yes and they changed their business phone number too.
I hope the old landlord gets wind of this.
Hal
Elgin,#5Author of original report
Thu, October 07, 2010
On 10/5/10 it came to my attention that the Austin Connections Dating Office located at 10710 Research Blvd. Suite 316 has a public notice on the front door that the property manager has locked the business out of the space due to non-payment of rent.
Michael Miess has swtiched business names once before Great Expectations to Connections Dating, it's likely he'll reboot again as a different dating "service".
Joe
Austin,#6Consumer Comment
Fri, September 17, 2010
WHEN I WAS SINGLE, I STAYED AWAY FROM THE MEAT/MEET MARKET SCENE OF DATING AND MATCHMAKING SERVICES. I WAS TOO BUSY MAKING MONEY AND TRYING TO KEEP A ROOF ON MY HEAD.
I HAD HEARD ALL MY LIFE IT WAS A RIP-OFF.
A ROOMMATE OF MINE HAD CHECKED OUT SUCH A SERVICE IN DALLAS,TEXAS AND FOUND OUT THAT IT WAS A RIP OFF. THEY WERE USING OUTTAKES OF FASHION AND GLAMOR PHOTOS AND CLAIMING THEY WERE CLIENTS. YOUNGER GIGILOS AND CALL GIRLS WERE HAVING ACCESS AS WELL AND NOBODY'S CRIMINAL HISTORY OR HISTORY OF SEXUAL KINKINESS WERE BEING CHECKED EITHER.
TO MAKE MATTERS WORSE, AIDS HAD JUST COME OUT AND PEOPLE WERE DYING LIKE FLIES AND EVERYBODY WAS AND STILL IS VERY PARANOID ABOUT THAT. WHAT IS A PERSON'S HIV/AIDS STATUS? WANT TO HAVE CHILDREN? WHAT ABOUT THIS PERSON'S MEDICAL HISTORY? WEIRD, STALKING EX SKULKING IN THE BACKGROUND? CHILDREN FROM HELL FROM A PREVIOUS MARRIAGE?
THERE ARE LOT OF CONTEMPORARY ISSUES THAT MATCHMAKING COMPANIES TURN A BLIND EYE TO FOR THE ALMIGHTY BUCK.
AND DID I MENTION THAT IS YOU ARE NOT WHAT THE FASHIONISTA FASCISTS CONSIDER DROP DEAD GORGEOUS YOU WILL PAY MORE--- A WHOLE LOT MORE?
AND SINCE OLDER PEOPLE--ESPECIALLY OLDER WOMEN--ARE CONSIDERED LESS DESIREABLE THAN SOME BIMBO CHICKADEE--THEY WILL PAY THE MOST OF ALL AND PROBABLY BE MATCHED WITH WHOMEVER THE MATCHMAKER GUY CAN CON INTO DATING HER. OR GIVEN A LIST OF FAKE NAMES OR EXPIRED NAMES...
THERE ARE LOTS OF WAYS TO MEET PEOPLE FACE.
COMPUTER DATING SERVICES ARE EVEN WORSE.
THERE IS ONE E-HARMONY.COM THAT NO LONGER ADVERTISES ON NETWORK TV. I SIGNED UP ON A "FREE" WEEKEND WHICH MEANS THAT IT IS FREE TO SIGN UP BUT YOU HAVE TO PAY TO RETRIEVE ANY MESSAGES. I MANAGED TO SCAN SOME PROFILES AND HUNT SOME OF THE PEOPLE DOWN --- I FOUND OF THE SEVEN THAT I MANAGED TO LOCATE--TWO HAD NEVER SIGNED UP, TWO WERE MARRIED, TWO HAD NO IDEA HOW THEY GOT THERE, AND ONE WAS A BISEXUAL SWINGER WHO WANTED TO KNOW HOW THE HELL I HAD GOTTEN HIS NAME SINCE HE WAS TRYING TO HAVE A COMPLETE SEX CHANGE. SO MUCH FOR THAT RIP-OFF.
HINT: YOU CAN HUNT THEM DOWN BY THEIR PROFESSION AND CITY AND STATE LOCATION AND FIRST NAME. TAKES SOME DOING AND A LOT OF COMPUTER BATCHING PROGRAMS... LOL
MAYBE ON LINE DATING SERVICES DO WORK BUT I DON'T CARE TO TRY IT AFTER MY LITTLE EXPERIMENT WITH THEM....
IF YOU WERE JEWISH, I WOULD TELL YOU TO TALK WITH YOUR RABBI OR WHOMEVER YOU FEEL THE CLOSEST TO. MAYBE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES WORK LIKE THAT TOO? DO NOT GO TO THE UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CHURCH IN DALLAS,TEXAS BECAUSE THAT PLACE WAS ABOUT NOTHING BUT MEAT AND REQUIRED A CREDIT CHECK APPLICATION FROM POTENTIAL MEMBERS BACK IN 1971. NO THANKS. I GUESS THEY ARE ALL LIKE THAT...
HOW TO MEET SOMEONE? JUST BE OUT IN PUBLIC AND FIND A PRETEXT, I GUESS. MAKE SURE YOU RUN A COMPLETE CRIMINAL HISTORY CHECK ON THE PERSON. YOU COULD BE SURPRISED--UNPLEASANTLY SO BY A HUMAN TRAFFICKING CHARGES AND CHARGES OF FAMILY VIOLENCE ,DRUG AND/ OR ALCOHOL CHARGES. THEFT, ETC.
I THINK THE BEST WAY IS THROUGH FAMILY AND FRIENDS. EVEN CO WORKERS ARE GOOD. GET THE WORD OUT. THEN WAIT. IT WILL HAPPEN. I WAS REMARRIED AT 43 AFTER A FAILURE OR TWO AND IT IS GOING ON 19 YEARS NOW...
IT WILL HAPPEN.
TAKES TIME THOUGH.