Is a Free Dating Service Effective?
If you're trying to find that special somone, you have most likely turned to the Internet to aid you in this quest. After all, with the ability to control how much of yourself you reveal to potential matches, it seems like the logical thing to do. Add to this the proliferation of totally free dating services and one could be forgiven in thinking that this is a "slam dunk."
But regardless of the free dating service you may choose there are always things you need to think about. for instance, only a very small selection of sites will offer their services completely for free. Those that do are trying to increase their membership base before switching to a subscription model. Due to this, their membership may be small which means less to have to wade through but also less opportunity to find the right person. With most large sites, you get a trial membership, meaning that you get to see part of the site and have to upgrade to the full membership to see the rest.
Alternately, some sites will let you see potential matches but you will have to pay for the privilege of responding to them.
Another thing to watch out for when using a free dating service is that most often, you will need to give your credit card details as "proof" you are of legal age. What they may not tell you is that after a set period of time (7 to 39 days), you will be charged for full access. Oftentimes, this information is in very tiny print at the bottom of a long page.
This will happen whether you have successfully got a date from using the service or not. Some services also use monthly charging via Paypal, which you are even less likely to check regularly as it is something that can very easily slip one's mind.
Some may wonder why credit cards are a mainstay at the bigger dating sites. It is because it far more difficult to fake an account with having to put a credit card number in as it acts as proof of age, and identity. A free dating service is open to people faking their profiles, with a false photograph, false age, false address and even a false gender. Why would anyone do this though?
This is called a 'romance scam', in which a person looking for love gets in touch with someone who looks like an attractive date online. Often, the photo of a model will actually be used as bait. The scammer will refuse to meet, pleading that they are short of money or have a medical or other crisis that needs to be solved first. An appeal to the victim soon follows, money is sent, and the 'date' is never heard from again. This can be much more common on a free dating service as opposed to one you need to pay for, so be warned.
Despite all this, a free dating service is useful and can be your road to relationship success. The key thing here is to take you time and thoroughly test out several services and then use the one you feel most 'at home' on.
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