Zoosk.com Review
Launched in December of 2007, Zoosk is a relative newcomer to the online dating world, but it’s already made an impact. In addition to the site itself, Zoosk applications are available for a number of popular social networking sites including Facebook and MySpace.
The site has a nice clean design. It’s fun and it’s friendly, even if it is a bit juvenile. The use of color is pleasantly muted, doesn’t overpower, and the Zoosk logo is catchy.
The site is very easy to use, and all aspects are easily available from the main page. Even if English isn’t your main language, Zoosk offers services in twelve other languages including French and Spanish.
Creating a profile is painless, and you do have the option of creating what I call a skeletal profile (one that has just some basic information) before you decide to bare your soul to the rest of the world.
The search is a breeze to set up. Besides age range, you can request matches within a 160 km radius or less, and narrow down the results by height, religion, relationship status, children, ethnicity, education and political outlook.
The help section is easy to use and has answers to questions that users will commonly ask. If the answer you’re looking for isn’t available there’s an easy to follow link for Customer Support.
Zoosk policy requires that users have at least one photo on their profile, though there is no mention of what you cannot do on the site without one! In other words, if you have only one photo on your profile, you can’t delete it without first uploading another one. Now if they’d only do something about all those profiles that show someone’s boat/motorcycle/house/garden etc.! A note of caution to those who install the Zoosk application on a social networking site; Zoosk will adopt the picture from your social network profile until such time as you upload another photo to Zoosk. So don’t be fooled into thinking your profile doesn’t have a photo, because it just might!
As a non-premium member “the system may restrict you from continuing conversations with other non-premium members”. I find this sentence incredibly annoying. What’s with this “may” business? Does it or doesn’t it? It’s difficult to understand, just from reading this. I had a further look through the Help section and only premium members have unrestricted communication access, although non-premium members can initiate contact to and reply to communications from premium members.
There appears to be a syncing issue between the Zoosk site and the Facebook application. Users have told us that if the app is downloaded into Facebook, and they then go to the site and create a profile, once they return to Facebook their profile information doesn’t transfer. Definitely annoying.
The search uses your location to initiate searches which is fine; however, you cannot search for members outside of a 160 km radius, which is incredibly restrictive! Mind you this is easily overcome by changing your own location, but really shouldn’t be necessary. Given that this is a global application, I’d like to be able to search for anyone, anywhere, just because I’m curious! You know what they say about the grass being greener!
Like some other internet dating sites reviewed here, this site is reluctant to part with pricing information before you’ve created a profile. We’ve taken the guesswork out of it for you because we believe that’s just nonsense! Fees for Zoosk are $12.50 per month for six months, $17.49 per month for three months or $24.99 for one month. Accounts paid by credit card will be automatically renewed. As with all other paid dating sites that we’ve reviewed, Zoosk has a “no refund” policy, so if you sign up for a six month membership, and decide to cancel after three months, Zoosk gets to keep your money! It’s buyer beware.
Tags: zoosk, zoosk.com, Zoosk.com Review
June 17th, 2009 at 4:06 am
i signed up for one month to check you out at 24,00.i did not authorize you to take money out of my account for another month.the bank paid the money even though i didnt have money in my account then charged me 35 dollars over draft fee total 59.99
you are in err and i would like my account straightened out by zoosk.
i called 415 362 1000 and left you a message concerning this matter,i left mt wk ph 540 657 7117 and my cell 540 538 6924..
i hope that we can clear up this matter in a timely way.
Derek
pacheck
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:21 am
I typed in my card info. I selected one month subscription. The screen froze. I hit refresh button on my computer. Then hit submit button. Little did I know that Zoosk website defaults to six month button. I was charged $60.00. My bank account overdrafted charging me multiple NSF fees. I tried calling Zoosk’s number. Their voice mailboxes, ALL OF THEM!!!!!, were full. Thus I cannot talk to a human being. Something should be done about them!!
December 2nd, 2009 at 9:08 am
$49.95 & $52.48 charges just started showing up on my credit card recently. I traced the charges back to Zoosk. I assume, somehow, they got some of my info from Facebook and found a way to charge me since I had never heard of them prior to the charges. I’m now in battles over getting them to remove the charges.
Watch out for these folks. Not sure what they have on FB or other social sites, but beware!
December 29th, 2009 at 11:41 am
Thank you for the heads up!
I will go nowhere near this (or any lookalike)
dating site.
January 8th, 2010 at 2:16 pm
I got a charge back from this site they keep on charging me and never contacting me
now they blocked me from the free use lol not many good people on this site
February 11th, 2010 at 4:26 pm
I had typed in my credit card information and they charged my card 9.99 they took out like 270.00 off of my account this place is a scam waiting to happen!! So if anyone is thinking about joining this site dont like CPROOT said BEWARE!!!
February 17th, 2010 at 4:54 pm
Zoosk blows, you are much better off with Match or someone else. Shoot, even regular facebook, but Zoosk is pooh, not nearly the amount of members as the other.
February 18th, 2010 at 2:23 pm
I did not authorize you to deduct 49.95 from my account.I authorized one month of 9.99 or 9.95 and that was it.No further payment have been agreed to.If that money is not put back into my account since you can not be reached by phone,I will contact the attorney general and not only that my son works for the Secret Service and he will make sure something is done!!!!.Honeybear was my user name., decatur illinois 62521.
February 20th, 2010 at 8:09 am
i cancelled my acct back in december..they continue to charge my account…they have no live people to talk to to take care of this….watch out for them
February 26th, 2010 at 7:37 pm
Zoosk can be a bit of a rip off. You have to be very carful if you have premium membership as it will automatically renew and you will be charged. On most sites that have a membership you can cancel on the same day that you signed up and the benefits of you membership will continue until the date expires. Not so with Zoosk: “By canceling your premium membership now, you immediately forfeit all your premium membership benefits. If you wish to continue taking advantage of premium membership benefits before the next payment is due, cancel at a later time (before the next payment is due.)” So you have to remember to cancel as close as possible to the cut off date. This is outrageous; I view it as a scam. Zoosk says this about it: “We hate worrying about paying bills as much as you do. That’s why we automatically renew your membership so you have one less thing to worry about. Remember that you can always cancel your membership by visiting the settings page and if you are paying via PayPal, it is a one time charge and will not automatically renew.” The above statement from Zoosk is crap, it is only another way to extract money in a sneaky way, but they can not do it with pay pal for technical reasons, if they could they would. They could easily change it so benefits of your membership will continue until the date expires, but they do not as extraction money from you in anyway possible is the goal. The other things to look out for is coins, it will top up automatically if you don’t turn the function off. Zoosk should have the auto-refill set at off, so it you wish you can turn it on. Zoosk say this: “We want to make it easy for you to send gifts, unlock conversations, or send a special delivery to that special Zoosker. That’s why we offer the option to automatically refill your Coins balance when it reaches 10 or less, so you have one less thing to worry about. Remember that you can always un-check this option when you purchase Coins by credit card, or by visiting Settings, and then Coins to turn this option off after your purchase. If you are paying for Coins via PayPal or bank transfer, it is a one-time charge and will not automatically refill.” One less thing to worry about, what crap, they are hoping you will not notice that you have to turn it off. The price of gifts is outrageous, some gifts are 750 coins, which could cost at the cheapest rate .106 cents per coin would be 750 x .01067= $80. At the high end it would be 750 x.1578= $118.42 that’s eighty dollars for a virtual gift at the cheapest rate. How zoosk can justify such an outrageous price for a virtual gift is beyond me. Its just click spend money, click spend more money. On premium membership all gifts should be free, and charging up to $1.58 for delivery conformation and special delivery up to $2.37 is another rip off. In short Zoosk is a money extraction machine. I sent them an email asking to explain but all I got back from them was a copy paste answer, which did not answer ANY of my questions.
April 3rd, 2010 at 11:12 am
get a life and go out and meet someone
April 13th, 2010 at 10:57 am
It’s a vampire site indeed; it took my money but did not upgrade my membership to premium, left numerous messages and emails but they just don’t respond. Total ripoff!! stay far away from this site!!!!
April 23rd, 2010 at 2:25 pm
23rd April 2010
I put my card details in to purchase coins for £6.99. The site deducted £40 from my bank.
The site has no phone number i can only e-mail customer support.
I recieved a robot e-mail back sayin as i’m not a premium member i will not get a priority reply.
Please can anyone help how i can get my money refunded.
beware on putting your card details in
April 25th, 2010 at 11:33 pm
Shup Up Kieth (post #11) go out there and get a STD you moron!
April 29th, 2010 at 9:19 am
29th April 2010
Referring to my msg above,
I have received an e-mail today the site is refunding my money in 5-10 working days.
May 2nd, 2010 at 7:50 pm
Zoosk is bs - DONT DO IT! It insinuates that certain features are free like conversing with premium members, ect - whatever - but it doesn’t work like that. Zoosk lures you in slowy but surely, getting you frustrated so you will give-up your credit card info. I knew something wasn’t right when I couldn’t do crap, even though initially I was getting popups from Zoosk insinuating you can! Oh and you get different pop-ups sequentially crafted to move you into forking over your money! I also have a mechanism for sniff’n this chit out! Give yourself time on any dating site when you first register. Don’t immediately upload a picture. Don’t fill out every friggn questionare. Wait a day or two to see what you get in email. Analyze what’s going on! If you feel comfortable that the site may be legit - then decide if you want to pay-out your hard earn “recession effected” cash! I deactivated my zoosk account after 2 days. They kept throwing up Red Flags that one just can’t ignore. However if you are just one of those hard-core - go get’m type of humans - got get one of them pre-paid visa cards at the supermarket; you’ll be happy you did.
May 8th, 2010 at 3:52 pm
wouw I am surprise I am about to join this site because of facebook, people in fb more reliable information about themselves and family,etc too bad…:(
May 11th, 2010 at 12:11 pm
Hellen. Go to OKcupid.com…It really is free….and actually better than the pay sites.
May 15th, 2010 at 11:31 am
Same here, guys and gals. They ARE legitmately a bunch of crap…have emailed their supposed CS Dept numerous X, and get the same, sterile, canned response. No phone number, means NO DICE! They don’t care, because they know that there’s a sucker born every minute, and plenty of them out there who will take the bait, which in there case is really lousy.
May 19th, 2010 at 4:12 pm
I’m thankful I read these comments. I’ve been noticing a few things off about the way the site works. The help menu didn’t seem all that helpful and only made me not want to upgrade more.
Anyone know if it’s possible to communicate to people at all on that website without being a premium member? If not then I probably won’t use the site.
May 25th, 2010 at 7:25 pm
Zoosk is a Hack site. They will sell your information to other web sites. They will not answer the phone and take many days to respond with an e-mail. If they have placed bogus charges on your account or refuse to refund an error your only recourse is to get your bank to cancel the transaction.
Zoosk is a rip off. Tell everyone you know to petition Facebook and Myspace to severe the links to zoosk.
May 25th, 2010 at 7:36 pm
Oh forgot one thing Zoosk is in SanFrancisco @
475 Sansome Street
San Francisco, CA 94111
(415) 728-9574
Just their address should be a key indicator that they are not a trustworthy site.
May 25th, 2010 at 7:44 pm
Here is the physical address for Zoosk
475 Sansome Street
San Francisco, CA 94111
(415) 728-9574
June 7th, 2010 at 9:42 am
I can’t get descent response from no one .please responsed to this its a rip off because i asked for the 9.99 a month and they took a year of 119.00 allat one time thats messed up.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
June 12th, 2010 at 10:47 pm
I signed up for the site for the free membership and I read the terms thoroughly and I did nothing to violate them but 3 dys later I was blocked from the site with no explination from the site what so ever! It blocked me because I didn’t become a premium member! It’s so stupid!
June 20th, 2010 at 5:07 pm
It amazing this site is in business and that facebook is a partner with them. This company is purely in it for the money and offers it members nothing to take advantage off. Please, everyone boycott it and maybe there will be change when there are no users left on the dam thing. No support for basic users as if there not good enough, those basic user if treated right might actually paid for membership. And then there bs scanning program (my guess gender basis) does not allow you to post fb, but yet it allows others. What a load of horseshit, is that another acceptable term of paying money to be on the site.
June 23rd, 2010 at 1:08 am
thanks david for posting their physical address, now I’m gonna rob them like they robbed us
July 4th, 2010 at 5:08 pm
Can anyone tell me how to deactivate Zoosk. I follow the instructions but it keeps going back to the search page. Help, I want to get out of it.
July 8th, 2010 at 6:47 pm
I signed up recently for one month, 29.99. The billed me 119.88, an annual subscription. I am notifying my bank and the AG of TX and CA. I had been a free member for quite awhile. I was stupid and didn’t look up their reputation. I erroneously thought they were OK since they were associated with Facebook.
July 13th, 2010 at 3:21 pm
Update: I got an email notification today that they were going to refund my 119.88 and have cancelled my account. I haven’t seen it hit my bank account yet. I’ll keep you updated.