Is Elite Singles Legit

EliteSingles.com claims to help successful professionals find love online. It provides its users with matches based on a sophisticated personality test, and makes sure to not waste any of their time. Because it’s designed specifically for busy professionals, this website spares them the effort of browsing profiles for potential partners. It delivers appropriate matches on a daily basis, keeping the process as easy as possible. But as it turns out, this involves sacrificing functions that are common to most dating websites. And given that EliteSingles.com is only accessible as a subscription-based service, this is a problem.

Is Elite Singles A Good Website
Is Elite Singles Review
Is Elite Singles A Scam
Is Elite Singles A Legit Site

EliteSingles.com seems to be a safe dating website, but it offers too little for what it charges. On top of that, according to the user reviews, the customer service is almost nonexistent. Until these problems are solved, we would recommend those interested in finding love online to research other options. No way of verifying that users job and salary claims are legit; The term 'elite' feels snobby and divisive. EliteSingles is a dating site aiming to create a mature dating.

Jump to:

1 What is EliteSingles.com?
- 1.1 How does EliteSingles.com work?

This dating website is owned by a company based in Delaware, which itself is a subsidiary of Affinitas GmbH, a German company. This is because EliteSingles.com is only one of 25 websites that provide the same service in various area of the world. All of them have the same format and are owned by the same mother company, and this one in particular caters to US singles. And users from different areas are kept separated for a good reason. Location is one of the most important criteria in the matchmaking process. EliteSingles wants to make sure that each match has the potential to become a successful relationship.

Is Elite Singles A Good Website

Most users are between 30 and 55 years old. It’s difficult to say how many users EliteSingle.com has currently, but it’s claimed that around 18,000 new members join each week. It’s also claimed that close to 60% of the total number of members are female. Also, surprisingly, it seems that 67% of the members are university graduates. Of course, this percentage of graduates would be considered high on any other website.

But EliteSingles.com is supposed to be destined for this particular group of singles. We were expecting for higher education to a prerequisite, but that’s not the case at all. In fact, we’ve come to find that education holds absolutely no importance when joining EliteSingles.com. Still, the website has a very simple solution for attracting mostly successful individuals: high subscription fees. Not everyone can afford to join EliteSingles, but it’s claimed that the members get what they pay for.

Apparently EliteSingles verifies the identity of each member, making sure that all profiles are real. On top of that, the website removes the members that are no longer active. Which means that the number of successful contacts (messages, emails, likes) should be very high. Also, the matches are made based on a very comprehensive personality test that all members must complete. The method is claimed to be so successful that it leads to 2,500 new couples each month. Of course, this number is the sum of all EliteSingles successful pairings, on all 25 websites, but it’s still impressive.

How does EliteSingles.com work?

EliteSingles delivers each of its users between 3 and 7 potential matches each day. When the user is interested in one of the profiles, they can contact the person by sending them a message or a “smile”. And the website recommends members to compose each message carefully. Contacting as many members as possible won’t lead to successful interactions.

Is Elite Singles Review

Also, conversations must be kept as respectful as possible. In fact, many forms of interaction that are considered normal on other websites are prohibited on EliteSingles. The code of conduct available on the website gives many important details that all users should keep in mind. And we appreciate that the company is trying to keep all its clients safe and comfortable. Members are encouraged to report inappropriate or offensive behavior.

Those that are proven to have breached the code of conduct are suspended or banned from the website. And the same penalties apply for the members who report other users for no good reason.

The daily matches are based on the answers to the personality test and the personal preferences of the user. But unfortunately users can only set their preferences for age, distance and interest in having children. And when it comes to distance, users can’t choose to only receive matches with people located in a less than 50 mile radius. This is the shortest distance available for setting, and many members are very unhappy about the feature. And rightfully so, because someone who lives in a smaller city won’t find it easy to date outside the area.

To get started, the visitor must first create an account. This only implies entering their email address and their preference regarding the gender of the people they would like to meet. None of the features of the website are available without an account, so users have to make this effort for the smallest amount of information about the profiles. This is bothering because people have to join without having an idea about what’s waiting for them.

The profiles are not available for viewing when browsing the website as a visitor. And this doesn’t only mean that visitors can’t open the profiles or view pictures, like it’s the case for other websites. No, when it comes to EliteSingles.com, viewers can’t even browse them based on area or age. No information about the profiles is available without a profile, but as we’ll see later, this is the least of this website’s problems.

After creating the account, the new member is redirected to the personality test. This test is developed based on the 5 Factor Model Theory. According to this theory, personality can be analyzed based on the levels of extroversion-introversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness of the subject. The test should reveal 29 distinct personality traits, which are used to find the best matches for the user.

But while the website states that the test can be completed in 20 minutes, members will have to reserve at least 1 hour for the task. It’s composed of 200 multiple choice questions, many of them including a high number of questions themselves. Thankfully they’re split into categories which users can complete and save, leaving the rest to be completed on other visits.

But members who want to start their activity on the website as soon as possible will have no other choice than complete the test in one sitting. Because without it, none of the features are available. The members can only receive matches and view profiles if the test is completed. After this step they’ll also be able to set their preferences and upload pictures on their profiles, but unfortunately this won’t help much. Because while they’ll start receiving matches, they won’t be able to contact the people that they’re interested in. The free membership doesn’t have this feature, and it also doesn’t allow users to see all the pictures of the profiles that they’re receiving. At this point they’ll have to choose one of the paid subscriptions, and they might be very surprised by their options.

The subscription options

Free members can choose between the Premium and Premium Plus memberships. Premium comes with access to all the pictures in the matching profiles and unlimited messages (and smiles or likes). It also gives access to the website through the mobile app, which is available for iOS and Android. This seems rather unusual given that apparently anyone can download the app and create a profile for free. But what it probably means is that all the features that were denied for the free membership will become available through the app also.

The Premium Plus option on the other hand comes with a feature that allows subscribers to receive confirmation for read messages. Also, members who choose it will receive more matches and a more detailed personality profile. Both subscriptions are available in 4 options, covering 1, 3, 6 or 12 months.

The shortest Premium subscription (1 month) is available for around $100, while the one year option will reduce the monthly price to around $30. The Premium Plus subscription starts at around $120 for one month of service, with the longest option decreasing the monthly price to about $40. Obviously, these fees are extremely high for a dating service, but that wouldn’t be a problem if the users were aware of them right from the start.

We don’t know if this is the case for many of the websites in the EliteSingles network, but the US version doesn’t give any information on the prices of subscriptions. At least not before the user has completed the personality test. A detailed description of the each of the subscriptions should be available right upon entering the website, but they’re barely mentioned.

EliteSingles lets the visitors know that the full features of the website are only available through paid-for subscriptions, but that’s pretty much it. And considering how long it takes to finish the test, the situation is very bothering. We’re sure that many wouldn’t even start it if they were aware of the fees.

And reading the terms section of the website won’t help either, because the prices aren’t even available there. It doesn’t matter how carefully the visitor digs for information, they’ll absolutely have to complete the test just to see their options. But the terms section does offer some useful information. For example, here is mentioned that the subscriptions renew automatically. This is another detail that is not mentioned anywhere and it manages to take members by surprise. Still, it’s not as surprising as discovering that they have no way of unsubscribing directly from their profiles.

Again, this is not mentioned anywhere except for the terms section, which lets us know that cancellation is only possible by contacting the company directly. It has to be a written notice (email, fax, letter), and it has to be done with at least 24 hours before the subscription renews. Otherwise the member will still be charged for the next period, and refunds are at the discretion at the company. Which means that clients are not likely to get their money back.

Another interesting mention in the terms section is the Contact Guarantee. It’s price is not mentioned, of course. But it guarantees that if the member doesn’t have a number of successful contacts (which varies depending on the length of the subscription) they won’t be charged when the membership renews automatically. The next subscription will be available for free, but certain conditions must be met for the policy to apply. For example, the member must have attempted contact for a number of times with no success.

What are the pros?

The best thing about EliteSingles.com is that it allows members to discover possible matches with no effort whatsoever. They don’t have to browse dozens of profiles to find someone interesting, but only to open the messages from the website. Also, users doesn’t complain about fake profiles or fraud attempts, so the website is most likely very safe. This is remarkable given how common are these issues on other dating websites.

And still, EliteSingles gives its members advice on how to protect themselves from dishonest users, so the company is going to great lengths to assure safety. Also, the website offers a lot of information on dating in general, so members can read interesting articles when they’re not visiting their matches.

What are the cons?

First, the prices seem to be set too high for what the website has to offer. Sure, safety deserves a good price, but that doesn’t change the fact that members can only see a few profiles a day. We mentioned that the free members can’t browse profiles, but in fact this is not even possible with the paid memberships.

The users are limited to the matches they receive, which seems almost unbelievable. Even free websites allow users to browse profiles, so there’s no acceptable explanation for this severe limitation. Also, many paying members complain about receiving matches with free members. Which is a problem because free members can’t send or answer messages.

Sure, the free membership does include a number of messages, but they’re just too few and cause the paying members to become frustrated. A simple solution would be to separate the free and paying members, but chances are this won’t happen too soon.

But the complaints don’t stop here. EliteSingles has mostly negative reviews, and for many different reasons. First, some claim that contacting other users is very difficult. It seems that many users don’t answer messages, which has lead some members to believe that a number of the profiles are fake. Others complain about not receiving views even though their profiles are complete, and others claim that they don’t receive enough matches.

Which leads us to the one of the most common reason of dissatisfaction, the matches themselves. Many members claim that the matches simply don’t correspond to their preferences, especially when it comes to age and distance. Apparently users can be matched with people located hundreds of miles away even if they’ve only set a radius of 50 miles. Which of course, is in itself a common reason for complaint. 50 miles is too much anyway for most people, never mind 300. And it seems that the company doesn’t help much when members complain about their preferences not being followed. Many clients are unhappy with customer service, and not for these issues alone.

Is Elite Singles A Scam

Because by far the most common reason for complaint is the automatic renewal of the subscriptions. First, many members are not even aware that this is how their work, and are very surprised to discover that they’re been charged again. And as expected, given that the company must be contacted directly, the subscriptions are extremely difficult to cancel. And this is not mentioned on the order page.

Many clients keep searching for the feature that allows them to unsubscribe from their profiles only to be charged again, and this causes serious problems. The fees are just too high for this kind of system to be acceptable. And of course, the company doesn’t offer refunds too often, so many clients lose hundreds of dollars without a chance of getting them back. Also, it seems that some of the cancellation attempts just don’t work. The company either doesn’t receive the emails or just doesn’t acknowledge them, so some users end up keep paying against their will.

Of course, it’s hard to say exactly how common are all these problems since we don’t know the total number of members. They could be millions, which would mean that a very small percentage have to deal with these issues. But since the reviews are overwhelmingly negative, we can’t possibly recommend this website. It might have helped many couples to come together, but it seems like it can generate more problems than solutions.