Reviews of Great Expectations

I mistakenly made a hasty appointment with this dating service that is supposed to be free.
After reading so many negative reviews many of which reported being taken for more than $1000, I now know that I will not be attending my first meeting. Does not look good to me! Legitimate services do not typically require a drivers license on first visit. I most definitely should have sought God beforehand rather than calling beforehand. Thankfully, I sought God before fulfilling my first appointment!

Great Expectations is a fraud!! DO NOT join with these people. After I was conned by Taylor in the Fort Worth office out of $5000 for 3 years I was given access to their site. The men for the most part were less than quality. Any where from garbage men to waiters! MOst accounts were inactive and some men were still married! A few lawyers, doctors and pilots. One supposed pilot I went out with had completely lied to me. He was no pilot and he didnt know I was married to one for 17 years so I get how the lifestlyle works! Then I went out with an attorney a few times. I had a weird feeling about him and googled him. He was being accused of rape by several of his clients online and they were comparing him to CHarles Manson! I confronted the gal in the Dallas office about the pilot and she just made up excuses. Background checks?? Save your money they dont check at all!! They only look at your credit to see how much they can con you out of!! I was sooo stupid!

This service does not even qualify for 1 star. In looking at the reviews previously written here, the preponderance of them give poor ratings and see GE as conning people out of money and not providing a service. In fact, I even believe that the positive ratings (few and far between) were "made up" by staff from GE. They function like a used car salesman with a hard pitch to buy and buy now by starting off with exhorbitant fees and pretending to give you special consideration when they reduce them to fees that are still extremely high. Then, they want you to sign a form that says you will "never" divulge the fee you actually paid. I experienced all the negative things already said about this organization plus probably some things not said. They do not return emails or phone calls. They want additional money for everything that is done. For example, photos are presumably taken by a professional photographer. They are of poor quality and need to be photo-shopped or retouched; then they hit you for several hundred dollars more. On top of that, when I visited the site, I could never find my profile or any information about myself -- only profiles of many ladies that were alphabetized and were local. If I wanted to view ladies in a different city or locale, then I would have had to pay yet another fee. These people are "scammers" beyond belief and there is a great need for investigation and for them to be put out of business. The free sites and even porn sites provide a better service. I'd rather take my chances in being scammed by someone who is a member of a site and comes from Africa or some place that is known to have many scammers, then by presumably a professional site such as this. At least I know who I am dealing with and can protect myself easily. Does anyone know how this place can be held accountable and put out of business?

I absolutely love this service I went on many dates with them and not to mention the great men they provide they went out of the way to make sure I was dating quality men as well. I highly recomend them and not to mention im engaged!!! :)

They treated me well so maybe you old members should recognize that atleast online dating is worse and here you know who your going out with.

Great Expectations deserve less than 1 star. I joined in 1994 for three years and $1,500.00. I sat with the sales representative for three hours listening to her sales pitch and answering her questions and she told me "If you join I promise to take you underneath my wing and make sure you are sucessfull". I joined, paid the money and did my profile and pictures. I was very diligent and went to the office a minimum of three times a week - after I received my first 20 No's I called the sales rep three times, left three messages, and she would not return any of my calls. Whenever I complained to the sales staff their response was always the same "Have you thought about joining another center?" I cancelled my membership a few months before it officially ended because I ran out of people to pick and there was no way I would give them any more money. Don't waste your money to begin with.

I agree with most of the posts, how about a negative star rating. First, i am totally disgusted with the lies told at the high pressure sales pitch. The woman told me the men were financially secure because of the membership fees and they didn't do the speed dating, etc. She told me there were many men to choose from. I paid $3200... and that was a discounted rate...so i was told.
The number of men available in the area ended up to be around 300. So i paid $10 a name. They have 2x the amount of men with status of "inactive" compared to "active" status. So one has to scroll thru many profiles to find an active one.
Their activities are poorly planned. One guy told me of the comedy club meet, there were three who showed up. They also cancel many of the activites and most are in South Mpls area. They have very little activities planned and they all cost more than if one were to go on own. So this site is making money on the activities. One Friday night gathering @ an irish pub that worked for me to stop by, there was one guy and seven women.
I was told that speed dating was lame by the saleswoman, and they have done that activity three times since i signed up in September. So they definitely lie to you in the sales pitch. i was in that meeting for at least two hours, i wished i would have canceled the check.
I've had two dates (so you do the $ math). The first one was with older, retired man (i'm 50), and met @ restaurant like denny's. and when the bill came and we finished the meal, continued to talk, was getting late, crew cleaning up, and he went to the bathroom leaving the bill. So i just went and paid for it all, when he returned he asked about the bill... yah. so he said well, at least let me paid my portion... he gave me $9. never heard from him again. second date through here, was a older, heavier man. fine, but he was wearing some kind of athletic pants...on a first date. He didn't call me for a second date. i've had better interest on Okcupid and its free.
Has anyone gotten their money back, or sued for false sales?

For the record, I previously posted a bad review of Great Expectations. To correct that, I would like to say they have gone above and beyond out of their way to make things right. I will continue to use this service to hopefully meet a wonderful man.

I wouldn't even give this dating service a one star. At the first meeting, it's a high powered push to join. They offer deals to suit your income, but don't disclose everything. At the photo shoot, you get the "big push" to pay for extras, like being able to check out the site at home, not included with membership. Then to be able to get IM is also extra! It's presented that you "have" to get it or your membership is worthless! Then the number of members in your area, and I'm in a big city, is very limited and not the quality of people you would expect for the prices your paying! The whole experience has been a complete nightmare! I would not recommend the service to anyone!

Although I'm not a current member (I was back between '99-01) or among the numerous folks here to be soaked for thousands of dollars, the service at the time, frankly, sucked. I got suckered and fell for their hard-sell, but I was in my 20s and wanted to meet someone special. Play on someones emotions, nice job GE. Completely manual process of looking through 3-ring folder in their "library" and if I was bored, I'd view the odd video (on casette, remember DVD players or computer-based video was still in its infancy). At first, the staff seemed to be supportive and suggested profile rewrites (I did several), posting new pictures (even when the approved GE pictures taken by their own photographer didn't get any responses) and attending events the office would sponsor.

After my year (I got lucky and only paid $1200), they tried to upsell me for three more years for $1500. At this point, I was only visiting the library monthly, looking at the latest folder to see if there were any new members and was usually in and out of the center in 15 minutes (good thing too because the parking at the Los Angeles center was a pain and parking enforcement wasn't forgiving). Their level of service dropped dramatically; no more events, cost to use their copier jumped from 10- to 25-cents and the staff no longer flagged profiles on inactive status (and I was under the impression they just left old profiles in their library in order to inflate their member base). So, I wasn't going through the expense of paying for three more years, but like a car salesperson, "Jackie" asked, "What do we need to do to keep you as a valued member?". I almost laughed to myself and told her, "You've seen my activity...I keep detailed records and I find the complete lack of responses disturbing. I'd pay $350 for another three years, but I don't think it's worth it." I was about to leave and she said some something stupid like "well, with an attitude like that, we don't want you as a member." The funny bit was there were a couple people by the front desk waiting for appointments and overhearing our conversation, up and left. She saw that and agreed to my terms.

Still wasn't worth the time or trouble, in retrospect. I don't understand how they're still in business with all the complaints online. Just keep your finances intact and stay away from these clowns!

Mike and I were members of Great Expectations. Mike first sent me a V-pop, that’s what attracted me to him, besides his obvious good looks. He seemed very intelligent and goal oriented. He seemed like someone I could connect with, so I answered “yes” when he selected me. Mike and I hit it off right away.

We talked for about five hours before he asked if I wanted to go for coffee. We went on several dates and soon enough I knew I had someone special, and I only wanted to date him. Mike is the most compassionate person I have ever met. He kept his word of not getting engaged until I finished my Masters Degree. The night of my graduation party, Mike proposed a toast to the graduate and got down on one knee in front of my family and friends and asked me to marry him! I said “yes” immediately!

One of the things I love most about Mike is that he believes in me even when I have a hard time believing in myself. He is all I expected and so much more. I know I have truly found my soul mate, and I look forward to spending the rest of my life with him. I hope our story helps and gives people hope that Great Expectations is a company that works! Mike and I are so happy and in love!