Reviews of Lavalife

I have been a member of Lavalife on and off since it used to be WebPersonals back in '98. Not sure it says much about me, but then again, not sure it says much about the system.

At first, it seemed great. Lots of people and chatting and emailing. I have probably met 40 people face-to-face over the years and of those, I have "connected" with four, dated three of those guys for three months each, and had a serious two-year relationship with the fourth (distance and circumstances could not be overcome), so I know that you have to go through a LOT of profiles and a LOT of emailing and first meetings, before you can actually move to the first real date.

However, seems this time around (after been off the system for almost three years) when it comes down to actually following through, I find many guys (sorry I can't speak for the women, only me), can't hack it. I have found on numerous occasions that people don't respond to emails, or when they do, drag out meeting as long as possible, so they can make sure they don't miss something else. I also find a lot of their emails childish -- "you look kissable" comes to mind.

In general I have observed that most of the guys don't seem committed to finding someone, let alone finding someone they want to be committed to. It's like the "kid in the candy store" syndrome. They are so excited by the huge choice, they can't stay focused.

I don't object to people having profiles in all three sections, but what I find funny is that guys will ignore you in one section and are more than willing to chat you up in another (I am sure you can figure out which one). Hey, I like sex too, but what do you do for the other 23 hours a day??? Do people not realize how easy it is to figure out when someone online has a profile in more than one section?

I guess I am just tired of unanswered emails (Hey, take 30 seconds to respond, even if it is to say "no thanks"), guys who are players, who just keep you in their radar until they are bored or find someone else, or guys who feel they are entitled to "thin, petite, supermodels", when they are short, fat and balding.

I just want to meet an honest, sincere, genuine person. But I am so done with Lava. I am a financially secure, intelligent, attractive, sexy, fun-loving, independant 45-year-old who has decided to pack it all in and stay single. Sorry guys, but you all missed out.

Hi Everybody:

i've paid for credits on Lavalife twice, and i think the site is ok overall. i don't know if they have "Fake Profiles," they may indeed exist, but i've had several genuine responses.

now, regarding CONNECTING with those women who've responded to my contacts, that's a different subject, and that's just fate: you either discover there's chemistry, or you don't.

those here who mention having a decent profile are correct, and let me say it loud and clear to you GUYS WHO NEVER LEARNED HOW TO APPROACH WOMEN:

"HEY, THEY DON'T WANT TO SEE A PICTURE OF YOUR D*** THEY WANT YOU TO BE SINCERE, GENUINE, FRIENDLY and a sense of humor really helps too."

i'm nothing to look at, but i've had beautiful girlfriends, including professional models. were they just "slumming?" well... maybe =8^) but they said they were attracted to a guy who was kind, polite, genuine and treated them with respect.

ALERT ALERT ALERT

these three sites are TOTAL SCAMS.

> MARRIED CAFE > INTERNATIONAL HOUSE OF WIVES > ADULT DISCREET

these sites appear to have different owners, but they are actually owned by the same person. they all have the same spelling errors in the Home Pages, they have the same photos with different profiles, etc.

I EVEN GOT THE SAME CONTACT MESSAGE FROM TWO DIFFERENT PHOTOS, FROM TWO OF THESE SITES

Again, “Hey guys, and a few of you girls too, regarding hooking up, remember the golden rule, be genuine, adjust your attitude and make your expectations reasonable, and things will work out!”

Can you give a zero star rating?

This site has some major problem. Buy 50 credits but messages cost 6 credits to send. And forget abxout getting any credits back. Send a smile, get one, send a message. They delete their account without reading your message. Too bad, you are out the credits. They change their profile and you decide you are no longer interested, bet you have already sent a message but they haven't read it, Too bad, you can't cancel the message and get your credits back.

Then there are all of the fake profiles. Right now look in the intimates section for "prettywoman35". She has been on almost continuously snice July 11, but has still not read a message I sent and probably never will. I sent her a smile and got one back the same day (the 11th) Sent her a message the same day. How can you be on that long and not ever read them. Then out of the blue I get a smile from a new profile "starbright14" whose profile has almost the exact selections and profile text. but with a gorgeous picture. Two more fake profiles designed to suck you into sending a message and giving Lavalife more money.

I have already warned at least 5 people personally from joining and throwitng their money away. Don't waste your money on Lavalife. You are better off putting a personal ad in your local newspaper, where at least any responses you get will be from real people.

I've been on LavaLife for about 5 years, and inspite of my best efforts I've only had 1 "date" as it were when I went to see an online friends play.

One of the biggest problems I've seen are women who get hung up over a man having a profile in the intimate encounters section. I mean I know I have a profile there, I also know that if I'm responding to an add in Dating that that's what I should expect. A date. Not wild sex for the entire night.

The other problems I've had with LavaLife aren't entirely the fault of the management. People posting old picutres, pictures of celebrities (I mean I've seen Jessica Alba's picture on there, gimme a break), and of course not following through on their smiles, or plain ignoring an IM. Sheesh like someone can't afford to post out a I'm not interested for free. I mean its FREE for crying out loud.

Okay I've finished venting my $0.02CDN.

Lavalife is probably one of the best sites out there because they advertise in local papers. It gets more profiles generated. The trouble is the odds of you actually liking someone in person is 1 in 100?

Use lavalife if you just moved to a new city otherwise hang out with your friends. Networking with real people is the best way to go. If your in college volunteer on student council (social committies}. You can also get free beer and food this way.

Plentyoffish.com is free!

Ladies and Gentlemen

I too have been on Lava, this is my second time, and although it did work once, it is a long and pain staking task to wade through all the same BS everyone has mentioned in the 80 some odd reviews here. It is after all, a site designed to make money by making it difficult for all to connect unless the males have buckets and buckets of credits. Females don't really have to spend a dime or lift a finger except to read the mountains of emails and also wade through the same crap the males have do.

I offer one alternative site that is up and coming and has Lava worried because it is absolutely free for both genders, no silly smile gimmicks, no having to wonder if they're fake or not, just email away as many times as you want with no restrictions. There are also forums to express your opinions on a wide variety of topics.

And although nothing in life is free, I fear that at some point, the owner will cave and sell it to one of the larger dating sites because he simply has a huge membership. In the meantime, enjoy it.

Give it a try, you may encounter the same nonsense as you do on any dating website, but the good thing is, it's absolutely free, no spam, no pop ups , no spyware, no active-x drop ins, nothing .... nothing to lose.

http://www.plentyoffish.com/

Like many others who have posted reviews I must question the legitimacy of LavaLife. I seriously feel like something is amiss and that there is a distinct possibility that many profiles are there just to get you to spend credits. I've been on LL for a little more than a year. In that time I've probably sent out about 100 or so smiles and have maybe only received about 20 in return. But that's not what bothers me. In my profile I make it clear that I'm willing to write to people who smile back, but that I would appreciate smiles from people who are actually interested. Then, in my messages (which are always polite and friendly) I always say "even if you're not interested, please write back just to say 'no thank you.' Can you guess how many no-thank-you's I've received? Zero. And can you guess how many of the 20 have actually conversed with me? Four. Plus, a disheartening number of the other 16 have remarkably disappeared two days after my messages, and I don't mean they just didn't write. I mean "This Profile is No Longer Available." Hmmm...

Now, before some of you "positive thinking" people start screaming that I must be ugly, rude, perverted, or uneducated let me give my case. I've shown my profile to all of my female friends and they all agree that they would respond to it before even seeing my picture. I've been told it's "well written, funny, sweet, and sincere." I can hear some of you now "well, they're your friends, they're probably lying to you." I would be inclined to agree with you if they hadn't told me that my previous attempt at a profile was lame. :) Needless to say I trust their opinion.

I'm wary of LL (to say the least), but I still haven't lost complete confidence as the four people that I did meet were very sweet and we had (or still have) some good times. Still, I wouldn't mind seeing an investigation of LL's business practices because there's nothing more frustrating than wasting 40 of your $15 credits on people who don't even exist.

Hey Markrover,

So glad you're out hunting white women, because we black women have enough to worry about than fearing an encounter with you. You're disgusting, bitter, and badly bruised. Someone clearly worked you over and so now you hate everyone, yourself included. Get some therapy, take some pills, channel those negative vibes into something a bit more productive (as someone suggested). Otherwise, I'm afraid my crystal ball sees a lonely road in your pitiful future.

Come to think of it, these are probably the most responses you've ever gotten online, isn't that right cupcake? Too bad it's from people who still would never want to know you.

A message for Markrover - Ottawa.....please Mark first get a life!!! You spent how much time on changing your profiles, posting different pictures....what a waste of energy, I could suggest other activities you could channel all this energy in. You are obviously lacking in values and self confidence. Learn to be humble and look deep within yourself and the women you meet. Obviously you need to learn to love the inner beauty of individuals.

LL - well been a user of it for about a year now. Yes if I get a smile and don't feel that there is a connection, I state that, why fake it!!??

The gentlemen I've met are all real nice people (except two, who were real liars and assholes).

At 48 years old men/women are flored, they don't give me a day older than 35=38.

So Mark, pick up some of those old movies then watch and learn.

I decided to try Lavalife Intimate Encounters a few weeks back. Oh my, what pain in the butt the CSR staff are. I was censored to death with content and pictures. I finally gave up after many rounds of editing and submitting. To make matters worse the CSR staff is so slow at reviewing and their error system for bad content is near null. If you want quickie type of meetings then Lavalife is not the place to go. They are all about the money with their pay per use messaging credit system. Keep looking on the web swinging friends as there is good sites out there that are pay per month with unlimited messaging and no censorship nazis.