eHarmony trial... again!

DatingSimon

The eHarmony trial is back on Money Saving Expert again and despite suggesting that it includes 'unlimited messaging' it doesn't!!! I reported this last time but basically it blocks you from sending any external contact details so you have to upgrade in order to meet anyone. 

london21

Those online dating sites only want your money.

Rarely any decent service is free. 

DatingSimon

True but it's the dishonesty I don't like.

Pollycat

If MSE are advertising a deal that is not as described, report it again.

Robinette

Probably not for you if you don't like dishonesty, but there are ways of exchanging phone numbers without using actual numbers...

Malthusian

london21 said:

Those online dating sites only want your money.

Rarely any decent service is free. 

Dating websites are one of those rare exceptions where the paid options are the same as or worse than the free ones (well, freemium to be exact). Unless you are at the "exclusive matchmaking for millionaires" tier which isn't relevant here.

Robinette said:

Probably not for you if you don't like dishonesty, but there are ways of exchanging phone numbers without using actual numbers...

If you're on a paid-for dating website and someone says "my number is oh one five five five etc" to get around the filter, wouldn't that be likely to put you off?

You're on a website specifically for people who think that paying for a dating website is a good idea. So from your perspective, someone trying to use it for free is too skint to be worth bothering with.

Leaving aside for the fact that this is a paid-for dating site, so the person they're messaging "my number is oh one five five five" to probably doesn't exist.

In the unlikely event that both of you are MoneySavers trying to hack a free trial it would be easier if you both just used OKCupid or Tinder.

Northern_Dragon

DatingSimon said:

The eHarmony trial is back on Money Saving Expert again and despite suggesting that it includes 'unlimited messaging' it doesn't!!! I reported this last time but basically it blocks you from sending any external contact details so you have to upgrade in order to meet anyone. 

Well, you got further than I did.  I tried to sign up, went through all the questions and haven't even been given the free trial.  Complete waste of time.

(And yes, I did click on the 'Upgrade to Premium' button, but that just gives me the standard payment options).

Very annoying, and apparently I'm not the only one - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6362129/eharmony-deal-don-t-bother

Northern_Dragon

Eharmony replied to me today with an apology and having activated the free 7 day trial for me starting today. 

Unfortunately, there seem to be relatively few singles in my area, and fewer still that meet even my most basic criteria.  I have to say I'm very glad not to have paid for 6 months or more!

I can also confirm that I've not been able to send more than one message before being told I have to upgrade.  Similarly, I can only read one message from a potential match before facing the same issue.

Sapindus

I signed up for the free trial.  I got four (or maybe it was five) days, not seven.  I was able to send more than one message and do all the other things that were advertised.

However.  I got into a conversation with someone which included the question "how did it turn out that you have been single for ten years?"  good question and one i attempted to answer saying i'd been a member of various dating sites but given up for one reason or another.  The messaging system then kept telling me I wasn't allowed to send personal details, even though I had not tried to do so.  By a painful process of elimination I had worked out which paragraph of my message was causing the problem but was forced to send such a vacuous reply it's no wonder the other person lost interest.

Of course by the time eHarmony responded (inadequately) to my query as to why this was happening, the free trial had expired.

On a separate note, I would argue that not everyone who tries to get good value for money out of a service (to the point of cheating) is necessarily skint.  Rich people can be incredibly stingy.  That's how they get rich.  But at the same time, I will report any profile I see trying to circumvent the rules, because the sites have to make their money somehow and it's not fair on those of us who try to play by them.

sharonsugar

Signed up for the free 7-day trial, what a waste of time. including a rather convoluted and misguided profiling process - and then when you are signed up it doesn't even show you the faces of people who contact you.  Do not bother.