LunchDates

Not worth the money! The business is poorly ran. I went with the six month membership. They asked me if I wanted to buy a yearly membership at a discounted price only after the second date. They told me I need to decide before the third date or the end of the day (one of the two). Absolutely a rip off to get you to buy into something you don’t even know what you will get. After the second date they also have you come to their office so you can speak with them in person. It was a waste of my time! They asked me the exact same things I told them what I was looking for over the phone. Seriously! You made me drive all that way for that. I got in an argument with one of the staff members because I was being honest and she said she said this and not that. Well, it doesn’t matter because it wasn’t in the contract. I also wanted to speak with the owner, but they gave me the manager both times.

I wish I read the below reviews before I signed up with them, and even though it has taken me a while to write this review, I still want to share my word of caution when it comes to this disrespectful and money thirsty organization.
I signed up with them and was matched with two gentlemen right away. I agreed to meet one for dinner only to be set up with a man who was looking to get married to get his green card. Terrible experience continued when I contacted them about an unfortunate job change that would require me to pause the membership and was told there is no policy regarding such things. I spent over an hour on the phone and was transferred several times until I got to speaking to Jaime who seemed to be very understanding and promised to put a note of pause on my account so that I can sort my work situation out and come back. Boy, was I wrong. Jaime not only pretended not to remember me, she told me that there is no such thing as pausing an account and my membership is over with them as the time was up and there is nothing they can do about it — no extensions, no refunds, NOTHING. Truly disappointed not only about the significant amount of money wasted on them (and that «glorious one date») but more about the fact that this organization positions themselves as a boutique agency with personalized attention and in reality is nothing but a bunch of conniving and disrespectful individuals who pray on single people in tough emotional situations. False advertising and violated consumers rights pretty much sums up this «wonderful» organization for me.

STAY AWAY FROM THIS SERVICE!!! Jamie will harrass you and try to get you to join the Executive Program as your membership ends. Furthermore, she will constantly request you to call her back and speak to her so that they can bully you into renewing your membership, prior to setting you up with any additional matches. I am essentially losing out on one full month of service (out of six months) due to this money hungry, transparent strategy. I was told that it was too difficult to find a brunette to be matched with… They will disregard even the most basic requests. Save your money and sign up for an online dating site. You will get more from your money and avoid hassle. Completely unprofessional and ineffective site. If any of the matches work out, it is completely due to chance.

Women pay ~$ 1600 for 4 dates. Men don’t. They don’t care who they put you with just so the two of you are criteria fits they will set you up. No really thoughtful matching. Oh and they only actually staff the office in Braintree.

Yup! They just called again. No note in my file that I didn’t want to be called.
Guys, I am single,
matchmaking? Let’s bond over our common hatred of U-​Haul and love of sushi.

Was very diappointed in this service I was involved in last year. For the price they charge (and the women get charge far more money), i would of thought they would of been a little better at picking out my type of person. It was like I was giving suggestions and they were way far off. One date every 6 weeks! It was painful & expensive… Painfully Expensive. Never again!!! I think they used their male friends to fix up with the women because there are far more women than men it seems. One man said he had a date 5 times that week. And once every 6 weeks. c’mon. Do not waste your money!

I am a professional woman in my late 20’s, so I am very busy. This company originally appealed to me because they seemed to take the work and time out of dating, which now entails spending hours sifting through online profiles. I thought this would be a sigh of relief and that this company would have my best interests in mind and have a population of quality men.
I was wrong.
The matchmakers call you and describe the guy by basically listing out all of the attributes from your file that said you want, with no examples. They rush and give very vague information (e.g., «He likes to travel, he is fun, he is active»). I always ask them what qualities triggered them to match us together, and they never have a concrete answer. When I ask for more info, they rush me through the call. There is clearly no due diligence done, and I don’t really know how these women spend their time during the workweek. There is no insight into the process and all they use as input is one 20-​minute session with you.
In terms of the guys I have met, all have been okay but nothing close to what I specified as my preference to the matchmakers, and almost no social skills. For the amount of money I pay, I should at least feel like my feedback is not going to waste. Not to mention, some of the facts have been totally wrong, which may be the guys misleading them, to be fair.
Instead of getting excited about my next match, I would cringe at the thought of the next date. Their business model is built on the fact that they take your money and claim no responsibility for making you happy or fulfilling your needs. It is clear that this service attracts men who can afford it financially and expect to expend no effort on their behavior at the actual date.
I’ve been more successful on Tinder. Go buy yourself a nice purse instead.

Updated: Robert called and offered to give me two more months of matches for no additional charge or to refund one of the two months I was charged for. He also said that in the future he would make it clearer when people are being renewed to monthly. Looking back from a calmer frame of mind, they did have two pretty good matches for me but their communication was lacking until I spoke with Robert and the other three dates were such poor matches that it seemed to me that they were just lucky on the other ones. I expected more effort for the $ 1400 I paid for 6 months.
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Previous: I am furious. I paid a huge amount of money and I could have gotten better dates by throwing darts at OKCupid. Then they emailed me that they were going to inactivate my account because I did not respond but did not explain that they would continue charging me including additional months of «renewal.» They refuse to refund the money for these additional months.

Sooooooo disappointed in this service and company. Laura, my matchmaker, was so nice but the company, the process, and the matches were terrible. The company’s owner/​the manager/​whoever is in charge doesn’t care about people, which is bad for a business — especially one like this. I’m in my 30’s, and not to toot my own horn but I’m fairly attractive — just stuck in the burbs — which is what brought me here in the first place. I was set up with one older guy who lived in Boston (I drove to him) and wasn’t only very old looking (not what I wanted– I want a family someday) but he didn’t like vegetarians or small dogs — both of which are huge things in my life. He was cocky and drank a lot. Then after a sick father, car accident, and the prospect list becoming less and less appealing (next on my list was another guy, much older than I asked to date, who was separated, not even divorced yet) (and I’d once again have to drive 40 minutes into Boston, pay for tolls and parking then split the bill) I said this service was making me dislike dating, and dread going out, I felt miserable — not like me at all! I asked for my money back after a month and only one date, multiple times, or even a prorated amount. I was told no multiple times.
So I had one really bad date and it cost me $ 1900. Ugh I’m sick to my stomach over all of this, and have shed many tears. No woman in her 20’s, 30’s or 40’s should ever sign up for this. I hope my review saves someone their very hard earned money. I wish I had found these other awful reviews before I made this mistake — which is probably one of the, if not thee, biggest mistake of my life.

I do not recommend LunchDates for women applicants. First– the process is far from that of a matchmaker. They did a short phone interview, sent me on two dates, and then met with me for 5 minutes to take my picture for my file. Little to no time was spent getting to know me or prior experiences to see why those didn’t work out and what I truly needed moving forward. Every time I called I would get a different matchmaker– it wasn’t one person who handled me. I felt when I gave feedback about what I didn’t like and what I expected it wasn’t heard because the next matchmaker would call and I would start from scratch regarding what I was hoping for, or why I didn’t want to continue to pursue the man from the last set up.
The duration starts out with 1 year. I received 2 matches in my first 1.5 months, then 1 every 5 – 6 weeks with no matches in November, December or January. In total, I will have gone on 8 dates in 12 months and ~$ 2,000 for the service (not including dates).
I was disappointed with the date locations as they were all high end, expensive Italian locations. This would have been fine if any of my dates were at least worth the conversation, however alas they were not and instead I was spending between $ 50-​$ 75 a date; to sit across from someone with little to no commonalities. I tried to offer new locations, however some didn’t allow reservations and other times the places I wanted to try were not a central meeting location.
As for the matches– I honestly stopped listening. The matchmakers would ramble on about what «his friends describe him as». After my first 3 dates I realized «his friends describe him as» was his wish list and rarely was this true of his current self. I do not think I am an unattractive person; I have had some abusive relationships in the past and therefore low self-​esteem coupled with the work ethic of a race horse, which is why I joined. I’m athletic and participate in several sports clubs, hike & backpack most weekends and live a healthy lifestyle.
ALL of the men I was set up with would be classified as obese. And the kicker– all their «his friends describe him as» were athletic– one guy even «ran marathons»… he was less than 5’10 and had to weigh over 275lbs. He even unbuttoned his pants before we were done eating… he thought I didn’t see. Another gentleman lived with his parents, drove their work van and didn’t have a college degree; I am (and told the matchmakers) independent, have a graduate degree and own two cars. I want a man who is at the same caliber however it appears they could not deliver.
I have spoken to several additional women who are/​have been clients. They had similar stories where the men were of much lesser quality. Some of them even get aggressive and expect more if they pay the bill. When I tell colleagues that I am member– they all have horror stories from their female friends; and the guys I work with have female friends who have had bad experiences. From my experience LunchDates seems to cater to the man’s matches versus a mutual match or woman’s requests.
The final push which led me to write this article was pressure and borderline bullying to go on dates. Several men didn’t jive with me when I heard their descriptions. I would say I wasn’t interested and the matchmaker of the day would pressure me into the date. Listen– if I’m only getting 1 match ever month or so, I’m going to hold out and make it someone I actually want to meet. Eventually they wear me down and I rearrange my schedule to meet the man blob who is repulsive. However this time I did not give in and the matchmaker had the nerve to have their associate call me back who continued to bully me and tell me how if I’m not willing then we’ll see if I get any more matches. Guess what– I have already written off LunchDates and don’t plan to see any return on my investment; time or money wise. So you can continue to bully me, set me up with duds and left overs and pretend you are an elite organization– but I know the truth. And so do all the women I talk to in passing.

Run, ladies, run !!
LunchDates was a big waste of $ 3,000 for me. Lana and AK are correct. The staff is deceitful to you throughout the process; and during my 6-​month membership, I only received 1 date per month. One guy was outright creepy; the rest were gentlemen but also either very shy, socially awkward, and/​or very unattractive. There is absolutely no matchmaking going on at LunchDates, no matter how much «feedback» you give them after a date. They are very good at enthusiastic false promises that the next date will be better suited to you. Also, three of the men remarked to me that they are called by LD for approx 2 dates per week. Clearly, LD has far more female clients, so fellas, Go for it ! Ladies, try Plenty of Fish or
:)

The staff of this company are deceitful and this service is a rip-​off. I was looking for a limited selection of men, which I knew going into this. After taking my money, promising that they had a large selection of men that met my criteria, they proceeded to set me up with men that 1. were not in my age range, 2. did not meet any of my non-​negotiable criteria. When I reminded them of that, they found 1 man that met my criteria, but we just did not click. They dragged this on and would not honor my request to cancel and get my $$ back. Each date cost me essentially $ 700 – 900. WASTE OF MONEY.

No Stars here…
After 4 months, they have set me up on a total of 2 dates. Both were very nice gentlemen but not a match for me. They didn’t even match some of my criteria or energy level. I think they just hooked me up with 2 of their long time clients to get them both dates. I am still waiting for date #3. They keep telling me they have someone… that was 3 weeks ago. Not worth the money and wish I never signed up!

Horrible service. It’s all blind dates, so you don’t know what to expect. I’m a good looking, successful young woman and I got matched with some seriously strange and ugly men. The funny part is that they sell you really well on these guys over the phone, they spend a good 5 minutes saying he’s really nice, he likes to travel, he’s super sweet, he’s fun, he’s happy-​go-​lucky, he’s blah blah blah. And then you meet the guys and you think «did the girl mix up the guy she was supposed to set me up with?»

I was never even promised the 10 dates like I am reading in other reviews, now I feel totally swindled. I am finishing my 4^th month in a 6 month membership and had 3 matches OVER TWO MONTHS ago. The matchmakers are very good at spinning hope and compassion but this is a total rip-​off. Spend the $ 1600 on every on-​line site instead — you will have more control and more options than this place. I will continue to tell everyone that I know to avoid this place like the plague.

I belonged a few years ago and met someone very compatible (out of 10 dates) so I figured I’d try it again when it didn’t work out. I went 0 for 10 this time.
Yes, it’s expensive — so is dinner at a good restaurant. If you pick up the tab (and I do) it’s the cost of dessert… if you know what I mean.
After looking on the web what others think and comparing it to my own experience, here’s the lowdown: they take good looking women and match them up with guys that make good money. Then they hurl you, sight unseen, into a restaurant where you have to find each other at a pre-​arranged time. I hear this is how things work in India. Just kidding.
The problem with this business model is that alpha males and alpha females are picky. The ones I wanted didn’t want me, and vice versa. If you think the cost screens out the players, you’re wrong — it screens out the non-​perfectionists.
Be honest. Change the name to BlindDates. Or something more dignified like «Used Hearts».

After receiving two mysterious messages from a Brittany about plans for the weekend I decided to lookup the number. Turns out I was being cold called by Lunchdates. I’m on every do not call list I can imagine, so I consider it ethically questionable at best.

I went in for the first meeting and met with the owner. He was very nice and I felt like he really got to know me and what I was looking for. We chatted for about an hour. He then told me that two women in his office would be working to find me matches based on what I had told him. I was annoyed that these women hadn’t even met me and they were the ones finding matches for me. Not him.
I was then set up with a couple of guys who were really nice but I wasn’t attracted to them. I only had one bad date with a guy who lacked social skills and with whom I had absolutely nothing in common. It was then that I started to realize that they weren’t taking my profile into account when matching me up. They definitely would not have matched me with this guy if that were the case.
I had been told that they would take my feedback and use it to make better picks in the future. This was not the case. When I told my advisor about my experience with Mr. No Social Skills, she quickly replied, «well, how about this guy? I just happen to have his file on my desk right now.» This was another guy that I clearly had little in common with. I truly think they just match you up with whoever they have to give more dates to in order to reach their membership minimum within the shortest amount of time.
While I met a couple of nice guys, I ended up putting my membership on hold and never went back for my two final dates to reach my guaranteed 5 date minimum. I was too annoyed. I spent way too much money for this service ($ 630) to be arbitrarily set up with guys who were obviously not right for me.

I registered for Lunchdates about a month and a half ago. Their service for me was: 6 months or 10 dates, whichever comes later. (so if after 6 months, you haven’t gone on 10 dates; or if you’ve gone on 10 dates before 6 months, you keep going). After your date, if you choose to see the person again, you can exchange numbers.
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Let’s just say that i’m about ¼ of the way into my time and i’ve been on 2 dates so far… I have not been very satisfied with the matches.
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One girl was dying to end the date before we even started… claiming that she was only in this because she was put-​up to it and was not looking to make a match…
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I’m giving them three stars but was torn between two and three. I agree with the other reviewer in that finding matches for people should be blind to sexual preference, but that aside, I do think LunchDates serves a purpose and if you keep that purpose in mind, you may just get lucky and have success in finding your mate there as I did.
Let me be clear — having referred a couple of other friends to them, it’s become obvious to me that there is no magic involved — they have an internal (and to a limited extent external) database of clientle, and they’ll try to find a match for you by pretty much pairing you with anyone who seems in the ball park for your profile and interests.
That said, you _​will_​get the advertised number of dates if you pay their not insubstantial fees, but you could just as easily use up all your dates and have them all go bust as find your soul mate as I did.
If you’re heterosexual, basically sane, financially solvent and serious about finding a life partner, this could well be the service for you — just don’t expect to necessarily be quite as lucky as I was — I met my wife on my first LunchDate!