As wonderful as the idea of meeting the love of your life is, Great Expectations does have some great points and it also has some not so great points. Please don’t take this review as my bias opinion as to tell you what to do, but as any consumer should know; only you can make the best decision for yourself.

I worked for Great Expectations in the Charlotte Center in Fort Mill, SC for over 1 year. I was not fired. I got so fed up with their un-ethical practices that I decided to get up and walk out. Just imagine how tiring it is trying to entertain potential members in the waiting room when the director and some staff members are across the street getting drunk. Not only was it not fun to lie to the owner of the center (who has no idea what’s going on in his center) but it wasn’t fun lying to potential members stating the director is on a conference call.

The best thing about GE is the fact that they do run criminal background checks on everyone who joins. They will refuse a potential client if they have a felony. What they don’t tell you is, they’re not running them when you walk into the door, but they run it after they already have your money. GE is located in SC due to the fact there is no 3 day refund clause. Once you sign the contract, you’re liable for the money.

The Charlotte center is a little over 1 year old. They do have approx 2, 000 clients, however a little under 924 are active. They do keep expired members and members who fought to have their membership canceled still on the site but they list them as “inactive, please check again soon.”

Most of the members are average working men and women who live pay check to pay check, however they state these are all professional people. There are some who make a very nice living, but if I’m paying money for a service and I’m making six figures, I don’t think I’m going to want to date someone who dropped out of school and is barely making ends meat. Now not to say, he or she might not be a wonderful person or could be the love of my life, it’s just not fair. Everyday, someone calls to complain on the lack of quality singles and it's the member services team to lie and say, "well were always getting new members daily and some are on freeze and some are still waiting to have their pictures taken." We know perfectly well at the time you sign up, you're not going to find anyone that you want. We do have several really overly attractive male and female members and we make a point to only print out their pictures (some of these members have been expired) to show you the quality of the singles. What a load!

They typical price on the packages ranges in price from $4, 000 to $5490. There is also a monthly dues of $28 a month. With this you get to use the website, have a video done by the front office staff and professional photos. Right now the photographer is amazing and he is professional, but before he came, they just hired someone to take sub-standard pictures. If you want more than one picture, you will be charged hundreds to thousands of dollars. To upgrade to global (you can select and be seen by all the other members in the United States, approx 56 centers) is an additional cost. To have a V-Gram which is a little email with your picture on it is another few hundred dollars. By the time you leave you’re paying close to $10, 000. Now if you’re luck enough to meet your true love spending several thousand dollars isn’t going to bother you.

When you walk in, they give you a screener which asks for your personal information and some useless dating information. The only thing they’re after on that form is your social security number. They are not out to sell it, as a matter of fact all member files remain locked once you leave for the day, but they run your credit to see how much money they can get you for. If you though buying a car had some ruthless salespeople, try dealing with the Relationship Specialists. They feed on your emotional well being. Not everyone is even charged the same amount. They say the fee does depend on the length of your membership. That’s a crock. You can have 6 people with a 12 month membership and they all can be paying anywhere from $595 to $2950, depending on their credit and how much of a fight they put into the 2 hour interview. They asked this one man to cash in his CD to pay for his membership. Since he was going to have a penalty for early withdrawal, they told him they would give him 50% off of his membership. What a crock, regardless, they would have taken in hundreds if not thousands of dollars.

Once you become a member, you are invited to join in the events they have. The events are not free. Even the staff that goes to the events has to pay (and they don’t get reimbursed). The events are fun, so that’s a plus. Aside from the background checks and the events, GE is no different than match.com, plenty of fish, perfect match and all the other online dating sites out there, aside from the amount of money they get from you.

You will stand a better chance using an online dating site.

On an end note. When the telemarketers call and hound you (and they will) tell them you turned gay or got married. If you tell them you’re in a relationship they will just call you back in a few months. We were all trained to tell you that you may have read bad reviews about Great Expectations and we’re told to say, “there have also been bad reports about Walmart, yet you probably still go there.” Go with your gut. Save yourself a lot of money and aggravation.

My horrible fate all began back in July when I received an ad for GE in the mail. I thought I would give this opportunity a shot and filled out the form with my credentials and what type of person I am looking for, and sent it off in the mail. GE had notified me shortly and we discussed over the phone about setting up an appointment for me to come in and speak to one of their consultants. The appointment was scheduled for a few days later.

When I went to GE I was introduced to a consultant who goes by the name of Jennifer. She took me in a room where she showed me a video and asked me some personal questions related to men and dating. After the video, she mentioned that they had various types of programs and showed me a chart. She emphasized that they make their service affordable for everyone. On the chart, it showed under each individual program that the cost would be $28.00 a month and that this amount would be charged to my credit card account on a monthly basis. Jennifer explained that the total amount would come to $3195.00, to which I assumed was the accumulative amount from each monthly payment. I had then explained to Jennifer that I did not want to be putting too much on my credit card, so $28.00 seemed liked a reasonable amount, to which she did not reply. So, then she pulled out a contract hastily and shoved it my face and told me to initial the appropriate boxes that she had pointed out to me. She did not bother to have me read it because she said that it explained everything that she had went over already. At this point I was excited and skimmed it and initialed it. Then she had me sign next to where she had written my credit card number and the total fee. Jennifer then took the contract back, leaving me a copy, and sent me on my way.
My first shock came a week later when I was to go back and have a video interview and have my pictures taken with their photographer. After the photographer had wrapped things up with me, he pulled me aside and explained my payment options. I had looked at him in utter disbelief and confusion. Here I was being told I had to pay $399.95 for pictures when it was never mentioned to me in the first place. I explained to the photographer that Jennifer never mentioned about having to pay for pictures, nor was it in the contract. I had assumed that this was part of the membership plan. The photographer then told me that I wasn't the first one Jennifer misled like that. Had I known that I had to pay any extra for pictures, I would not have signed anything. Still being upset, but being in an almost desperate state of mind to find a possible mate to fill the void that has been left for me, I decided not to make a fuss and went ahead and paid for the pictures.
My next shock came a few weeks later when I received my credit card statement. Much to my horror, I glanced at my statement and saw that a full amount of $3195.00 was charged to my account! This is when I started to feel like I had been scammed. First it was with the pictures, now this!
No where on the contract did it say that this amount would be drafted from my account in one lump sum. I was led to believe that I would be charged $28.00 a month until I reached the accumulative amount of $3195.00. Jennifer knew that this is what I believed and did not try to intervene with saying anything to the contrary.
I called GE and asked to speak to Jennifer and explained how I was completely misled and felt scammed. I talked to her about this issue as well as how she failed to tell me about paying for pictures. However, she acted like she could not even be bothered. She explained that the $28.00 was only monthly dues on top of the lump sum. She further explained that I had signed a contract and I could not cancel under any circumstances and it stated that in the contract. However, she never let me read that part, and she never mentioned it in our discussion. She said that I knew that this full amount would be charged to my account, when I had never thought in a million years that it would.
People do not just go slapping outrageous amounts like that on their credit cards, especially a struggling widow such as myself. Jennifer knew my circumstances and still took advantage of me. How could one be so heartless and deceiving? Well, I have the answer, when a sneaky business such as GE cares only about profits and shady marketing ploys. Needless to say, I have not had a date since I joined two and a half years ago.

I just want to cancel the service since I won't be using it nor have I. I am not even asking them for the money back. But they are charging me a monthly fee I don't feel I should have to keep paying after asking them to cancel. Shame on me for falling for this. Wish I had heard of this site before :(

When I contacted them in Bedford NH, they sent me back a message that my contract is being held in Nevada & I would have to go through them to make my plea. They go by the name of ZMGMT. Group, Inc which I can't seem to find any information about.

I am a member of the singles group at my church, so when I got an events email and there was a great expectations questionnaire attached I thought it might be legitimate. I filled out the questionnaire and got a call from someone mentioning the name of my church along with Great Expectations. I agreed to go in for an “interview” to see if they wanted me as a member. After Michael asked me some basic questions and let me watch an advertisement. He told me it would be cheesy and it was. After the video Carol came in and dug deeper into the questions. When was the last time you had a serious relationship? What are you looking for in a man? On a scale of 1 to 10 how serious are you about getting married. Great questions, but she used them to “twist my arm” later. Didn’t you tell me it’s been years since your last serious relationship? “Obviously what you’re doing isn’t working”, she said. She told me as a single never married woman without children I’d be perfect and they wanted me to join. She told me it would be $5,000 and I said NO WAY!! She left the room, “to speak to her supervisor”, and came back asking if I was a student. I said I’d recently graduated, but was paying student loans. Oh great, I’ll be right back. Yes, you qualify for our student rate $2,000 for our elite program. You are guaranteed membership until you get married. I admit I really wanted to be in a meaningful relationship and despite what my gut was telling me signed up. I thought it would be a glorified match.com or eharmony, both of which I’ve tried. A week later I was approved and able to search. I was stunned. You can only search by age or weight. What a crock! I called to complain and Michael tried to tell me how great they were. I asked where the black men were. I told him there were very few in my age range and the TWO that I was interested weren’t interested in me. I mentioned that I had searched weekly for the last few weeks and come up with the same guys – none of whom I’m interested in dating. I also said no one had contacted me and that I wasn’t willing to list my weight since it’s not part of my normal description of myself. Michael said “yeah, then you’re probably not coming up in the searches if you haven’t listed your weight”. CRAP! I listed other complaints and asked for a refund, since the service was useless. Michael said that this wouldn’t work overnight and reminded me that I had signed a non-refundable contract. This company has no integrity. They are preying on people’s desire to have someone special in their lives. They are lying about what they have to offer and once they have got you and your money, no one will return your emails or calls. DON’T GET SCAMMED.

This company simply takes your money after a high pressure sales pitch and provides no other services. They claimed that they had a very comparable or even better website to match.com and other on-line dating services. Shame on me for not investigating further because the Atlanta version of their website is early 1990-ish; you can only search on age and weight and the website is so unfriendly and cumbersome to navigate. They do a poor job with posting updates to your profile and let people contact you that do not meet your search criteria. This is definitely the worst purchase that I have ever made in my life. The company was being sued in Pennsylvania, so maybe there is hope for us in other states. Do not, I repeat, do not be scammed into giving them your hard earned money! I don't know how these people sleep at night; probably on very nice bedroom furniture and mattresses purchased from commissions obtained from scamming people.