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A lot of folks want to find a meaningful relationship, or for some just a good date. No doubt you have heard ads for online dating services. Meeting people online has become big business. Last year more than a half a billion dollars was spent on dating sites. Our partners at Consumer Reports checked these sites out to see what they have to offer.
Christy and Barry Emens recently were married.
"I finally found that one person that I was able to share the rest of my life with. I couldn't have been happier on that day," Barry said.
"He's everything to me. He's my whole world and I'm just happy to be his wife," said Christy.
The Emens are just two of the more than 20 million people who have used an online dating service.
Consumer Reports checked out 5 of the best-known sites: eHarmony, Match.com, AmericanSingles, True, and Yahoo! Personals. A profile was set up at each site for one month. The cost was anywhere from $24.95 at Yahoo Personals, to $59.95 at eHarmony. If you subscribe for more than a month, Consumer Reports said the fees are lowered.
Most of these sites let you set up a profile for free, but you can only fully communicate with the members once you subscribe. And the sites use different approaches to finding that special someone.
"Four of the sites allow you to view profiles of anyone you'd like to find. But eHarmony restricts you to only those people they think are a match for you," said Consumer Reports’ Leslie Ware.
If you are worried about whom you might meet online, the site True promises safer dating. True reports that it checks everyone's information against a criminal database and marriage records.
Consumer Reports suggests that before you commit to any online dating site make sure you: Take advantage of the freebies being offered first. Read the terms of service and privacy policies. And clarify all charges before paying, after all, you want any new relationship to start out right.
Consumer Reports discovered that all the match sites have automatic renewal, which means you have to make sure you cancel your subscription when you're done with it. For two, Match.com and True, you need to call customer service to do this.
One last recommendation, if you are considering using one of these sites, Consumer Reports said you should set up a separate e-mail account, for both privacy sake and to keep your regular inbox from getting too cluttered.
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