Started in 2004 by a former Vietnam vet who earned millions from the sale of his financial firm, True.com is one of the more controversial for profit dating sites.

Critics have accused it of; pandering to people’s fears by assuring its clients that all subscribers are subject to background checks for felony convictions and marital status, possessing a “we have your credit card info, so we’ll give you service when we feel like it” attitude, which according to some is never!, sexually provocative advertising and generating automatic messages to those who have yet to pay for a membership.

But a site that rakes in a substantial share of the internet dating market’s subscription fees also has its share of positives.

The Pros

Overall the site is easy to use and offers conversation bubbles to aid the novice.

The extensive Help/FAQ section is written in easy to understand language and provides step by step instructions for the basics such as uploading photos, videos and voice files.

An at a glance compatibility chart lets you know instantly how well you are matched with a member when you click on their profile. The “black book” feature allows you to save your favourite profiles for easy reference at a later date.

I have to admit that the “Who is looking for me” feature is cool! A kind of reverse search, it allows you to search for people who are looking for someone with your details.

The Cons

During a five day review of this site, the pages were excruciatingly slow to load, regardless of the time of day or night. Perhaps a diversion of funds from the advertising budget to server infrastructure is in order?

The “free” three day trial is only “free” if you provide your credit card/billing information. Excuse me, something is free only if it costs nothing, and is exempt from conditions, which this clearly is not!

Those who complain about bogus winks and emails are right on target. No sooner had I completed the most basic of profiles then I had three emails including one that was dated the previous day (however did they know?? LOL). I also had an immediate invitation to join a chat room. The catch? You guessed it, credit card information required. So I bypassed the credit card information page, clicked on my mailbox, and can you believe it, no emails after all. I’m crushed, truly crushed.

Reams of emails to your external email account urging you to take advantage of the “free” trial, which magically turned into a seven day trial after I hadn’t logged in for 2 consecutive days. You can choose to turn this off in your settings, but really, this bordered on spamming!

Fees range from $49.99 for one month, $79.00 for three months and $129.99 for six months. Were I a paid subscriber I would be most annoyed at seeing paid advertising all over my inbox. It’s very distracting. Once you’ve paid for a subscription, you can only cancel by telephone. If true.com is capable of offering such features as video and voice clip uploads and reverse searches then surely it can offer online cancellations that don’t subject their members to the hassle of having to pick up the phone and perhaps incurring long distance charges??

As with any internet site requiring a membership fee, do your homework before handing over your financial information. It really is buyer beware!

Take the Yahoo web portal and internet dating and you have Yahoo Personals, available with 15 country specific sites. If you’re a regular Yahoo user, the Personals page will be very familiar to you.

Let’s dig in;

You must have a yahoo mail account (yahoo.com or .ca, ymail or rocketmail) to create a profile. If you don’t already have a yahoo mail account, one can be set up from the profile creation page. Since your yahoo mail account and your yahoo personals account are accessed using the same user name and password, it can get a bit confusing going from page to page and it is particularly annoying to have your password requested multiple times without ever leaving the yahoo site.

The search function is top notch. Besides the usual age range and location searches, you can also specify ethnicity, height, body type, hair color, and many more criteria. Once you select any of these additional search parameters, you can mark them as “must have” or “nice to have”. This will come in very handy if you’ve done a basic search that returned a large number of profiles and you want to narrow it down, or if you’re just VERY particular in what you’re looking for.

You can make your profile “non-searchable” or hidden. Great if you’re going away on vacation or you think you’ve met someone (but hey it’s early days yet) and you don’t want to cancel your membership just yet, but you’d rather not be included in search results. You can also make your profile searchable on “partner websites” and although an example is given, it is not at all clear just what those websites are.

The profile section is easy to complete, and not overly long.

The help section is well designed and easy to use. If you cannot find an FAQ listed that relates to your issue, a keyword search is available.

The 5 star safety program is Yahoo’s assurance to its members that there really are people behind the scenes to screen all profiles for posting violations. Profiles are reviewed before they are searchable, so when you create a profile, it is posted right away, but it will not be made searchable until it has been verified. If you make changes to your profile, they may also need to be reviewed before others can see the changes.

The “corporate speak” such as Member guidelines, Code of conduct etc. are written in easy to understand English, not “legal speak”. For those who want all the legal nitty gritty, it’s there too.

Membership fees depend on the length of the term; $15.99/mo for 6 months, $19.99/mo for 3 months, and $29.99/month for a monthly membership. There is a “free” 7 day trial, but you still have to provide your credit card information to take advantage of it, and you will be billed for whichever plan you choose UNLESS you remember to cancel your account before the trial period ends. If credit card info is required, then as far as I’m concerned, it’s NOT free!

Sporting a global membership of over 5 million members, and unique monthly visitors exceeding 8 million, Singlesnet.com is one of the most visited internet dating sites in the world.

The site’s design is good if a bit generic with a pleasing use of color. It’s easy on the eyes, though some of the font sizes, particularly those on the menu bars, could be bigger.

When I first loaded the home page, I was offered a “limited time free trial membership”, no credit card required. Once I created my profile, references to this offer were non-existent. Even clicking on “upgrade” did not reveal how to take advantage of this offer. My questions regarding this matter to customer service went unanswered. I can only assume that this process is automatic with the creation of a new profile. I hate assumptions!

Those whose computer experience is limited will find this site frustrating. There are only five questions in the help section, three of which are password/login related, and any other assistance must be sought by telephone or webmail. My question to the support desk had not been answered after 24 hours, despite their claim that support is available Monday to Friday from 9 am to 5 pm EST.

Singlesnet.com claims a 30 second sign up process. In and of itself, that’s true HOWEVER after doing so, you MUST complete the remainder of your profile before accessing the site. This will take you anywhere from one to twenty minutes depending on how you answer the questions (most of the questions on the registration page will lead to even more questions!!) and how much time you want to devote to telling the world about yourself.

The “search” – I use quotes here deliberately because this is not a search in the traditional sense. You may only search geographically by “my area” (although there is no indication given of how wide an area this actually is), or by county then state or province. Searching will only reveal those profiles that the system’s matching technology chooses for you in terms of matching traits and similarities. If you’re a gal looking for a guy whose 6’1” or more with red hair, good luck, you’ll have to plow through all the profiles that the Singlesnet.com system matches you with.

Prices are reasonable when compared to the competition. A one month Singlesnet.com membership costs $24.95, three months $19.95 per month and a one year membership costs $7.49 per month. Both the one month and three month memberships will auto renew.

Besides the profiles, there is nothing, and I mean NOTHING, on Singlesnet.com to keep you here. There are no forums, no articles, no links to dating tips or advice, and no online chat. Basically, your membership buys you email rights, and not much else. The online help section is practically non-existent, and if my experience with customer service is anything to go by I don’t recommend holding your breath for a reply. Considering the size of the membership, the number of visitors this site receives every month, and the fact that one must pay a membership fee, their customer service and support is woefully inadequate.

We are really starting to see some good traffic from Google organically and this has had an impact in getting to 5,000 members so quickly. August 31st was the official day we passed 5,000 if you go back to previous posts it took 129 days to attain 2,000 members and only 51 days to achieve 3,000. As we continue to climb in search engine results we are optimistic that we’ll continue the great exponential growth we have seen from day one. Next stop will be 10,000 members, I look forward to bringing this news to you all very soon!

The team that launched Perfectmatch.com previously built and managed the Match.com site until it was sold to InterActive Corp in 2002.

The site is easy on the eyes, but lacks punch, possessing a bit of a dull corporate feel.  Free to join and browse, you must purchase a membership before communicating with others.

Pros –

• Rather than having a user forum, Perfectmatch.com posts weekly polls to which members can respond.  The results are posted online and are an interesting indication of popular opinion.
• Users who do not have a digital photo, or those who are unable to upload a photo, may send their photo either as an email attachment or by mail to Perfectmatch.com who will post the photo for the user.
• The Help section is well laid out and documented with a lot of FAQ’s and is easy to navigate.
• The “In My Words Section” is the part of your profile where you can go to town in telling the world about yourself.  What I liked about this section is that the site designers have created eight separate areas each with its own broad question.  Completion appears to be optional, but filling out the whole thing should result in a well rounded profile.

Cons

• It’ll cost you big time to join Perfectmatch.com.  New members will pay the following;
  • 1 month - $59.95 per month, $719.40 per year
  • 2 months - $39.95 per month, $479.40 per year
  • 3 months - $36.95 per month, $443.40 per year
  • 6 months - $28.95 per month, $347.40 per year

Renewal pricing is slightly lower

• The “Live & Lovestyle” section of a user’s profile, which details hobbies, reading and music preferences,etc, is very limiting.  Most categories allow for only two selections.  I couldn’t possibly describe my some of my likes and dislikes in only two words.
• The “Perfect Match” section is very outdated making it appear that it doesn’t get much attention, which is odd because that is what the website is all about, finding that “perfect match”.  This review was written in August of 2008 and the first page of the “Perfect Match” section has a couple due to be married on November 18, 2007 listed as engaged.  Well, did they tie the knot or didn’t they?
• You cannot use any of the Search Tools until you have purchased a membership, although you are advised of compatible matches with a free membership.  So if you want to search for profiles that do not meet the specifications set out in your own profile, your credit card will need a workout.

Perfectmatch.com is a well designed site with a large user base.  Navigation is easy, and using it will leave a hole in your wallet.