Just A Little Black Card

I concur with the negative reviews on Unilocal for this service. Yes, Mel was nice at the meeting, and I have received responses after I’ve emailed them.
However, I bought the youswoop in Nov 2011 and it’s not March 2013 and they have NEVER reached out to me with a matchmaking date, as the swoop promised. They continue to say that they are building their database. I have contacted youswoop, asked for a refund, and suggested that they don’t do business with this company.

A friend and I purchased a You Swoop for a matchmaking service thinking this would be something new and fun to try. We met with Mel (in a small group), where supposedly she gets to know you, what you’re looking for, etc. She was very personable, and made it seem like she knew what she was doing, but I felt a little like the meeting was more of an effort to sell us her premium package for a good bit more money, where she supposedly «actively focuses» on setting you up on a date.
The You Swoop was supposed to include at least one date, but after our initial meeting (which was over 6 months ago) I have yet to hear anything from JALBC. I have to say I kinda feel like she just took our money and ran, without any intention of setting us up unless we upgraded.
So to summarize, I think she may do a good job if you’re willing to pay for her premium services, but I was not impressed with her regular matchmaking service, and feel like I wasted money with very little effort on her part.

I signed up to enter JALBC’s database via YouSwoop in November. Following the YouSwoop I met with Mel to upgrade to her matchmaking services were she went through the process of being matched. I was informed that I would receive a Welcome Packet to follow our meeting. After a couple of weeks, I emailed Mel asking the whereabouts of the Welcome Packet. She said she would send the packet but it never came. After a couple of months went by, I didn’t hear from Mel or receive the Welcome Packet. Of course by then, it appeared that she took my money and ran. In April, I emailed her again this time asking for a full refund. After several games of email/​phone tag, I asked for a refund again. No refund. Then on July 5^th, I emailed again and informed Mel that if I don’t receive the refund by July 16^th, I would take her to small claims court. She responded by asking if it could wait till the end of the month. Since I asked for a refund back in April, I thought this was a bold request. Which she replied, «a cheque has made out to me». July 16^th came and went and no check. I waited till the end of the month, because obviously there were cash flow issues with her business-​still no checks. Again, I sent an email on August 1^st informing Mel that if I do not receive the check by Friday, August 3^rd, I will start the small claims process. Friday. No check. Saturday. No check. Monday. No check. I even emailed her again on Saturday informing her that the check wasn’t received yet and her response was, «a cheque has been issued». Vague, right?! I asked for a tracking number and/​or the day she put the check in the mail. No response.
I’m currently in the process of filing a small claims case and contacting the Better Business Bureau of this scam.
I tried to give Mel the benefit of the doubt because she is young business woman just starting out, but business is business. In a nutshell, she took my money and ran. Unless you have money to just throw away, I suggest you stay away.
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Don’t do it ! Took my money and she did nothing for me. I will add a star if she refunds my money.

Signed up for her matchmaking service in November because of an online YouSwoop deal. The first thing I noticed was Mel did not reply to my E-​mails in a timely manner; so after a couple of weeks with no response, I called her. She seemed very friendly, so I was willing to attribute the lack of responsiveness to her being overwhelmed with YouSwoops. I told her about the criteria I was looking for in a date (specifically the age range I was not willing to date outside). She seemed very agreeable, although when I asked her for references, she was not able to provide any.
Fast-​forward to January 17^th. It had been nearly 2 months since my first contact with her, and she said I was required to attend a group interview at a local restaurant before she could match me. I had to E-​mail her several times to obtain the location of the interview. Then I took the night off of work and showed up at the interview, along with 2 other women. At the interview, she asked again, and I repeated my age criteria. To my surprise, she looked horrified and said there was no way she would be willing to match me with someone in the age range I was looking for (although it was a perfectly reasonable request). After the other two women left, she took me aside and told me privately that I have too much «masculine energy,» and the only way she would be able to match me was if I started attending her dating classes (for an extra fee, of course). By now I was suspicious that this was a ploy to get more money, and so when she offered me refund through YouSwoop, I agreed. When I asked her in an E-​mail later that night why she had wasted two months of my time instead of telling me at our initial conversation that she did not agree with my age criteria, she responded that she didn’t think at the time that I had really meant what I had said!
In summary: extremely unprofessional, poor communication skills, does not respond to E-​mails in a timely manner, buys into offensive gender stereotypes (just because a woman is assertive & wears her hair short, that does not make her «masculine»), does not respect the wishes of her clients when it comes to things like ages of their matches, and then suspiciously tells you she can’t match you unless you pay extra for her dating classes.
(There was a happy ending, though: thanks to an online dating service, I am currently with a great guy who is in the age range I was looking for… and he does not think I have too much «masculine energy»!)

I met Mel at a networking event and being the single, and fabulous, person that I am, I was very interested in her services. I’ve entered in her database and she has helped me with my online dating profile so I actually stand out in the sea of thousands on there. I’m amazed at what a professional she is as I’ve seen her interact with men and has helped me with pointers on how to get a man to «stick». do’s and don’ts… ya know the usual stuff us gals struggle with sometimes. She’s super professional and fun. Highly recommend. will update when I, fingers crossed, find a good mate. even if it’s just a winter boyfriend haha.