Attractive Professionals
Reviews and Complaints

(These are notes I made in February with an intention to contact ABIA).

After a lengthy online search, I decided to contact and join this introduction agency. I did so on 6th October 2017, and paid a special price of £545 ‘We want lots of new members to register, so for the next 7 days we'll reduce that fee by nearly half…'I was informed of the £55 per month fee (paid on 16th) which was fine as I was expecting ‘experienced, confidential matchmaking where you'll be treated with respect by our members.'
After my application, I was sent some examples of ‘profiles of some of our lovely gentlemen'. I was quite impressed by how attractive they all were…
Margot was to be my personal matchmaker. Following a 30 minute phone interview, I was happy that I'd set out a refined path ready for a new dating experience.
The first suggestion was sent to me on October 18th. Although this man didn't tick all the boxes, I felt it appropriate to accept the chance of meeting him, so I emailed Margot to say yes, let's take it forward. When she contacted me a few days later, with the news that the gentleman didn't want to take it further, I wasn't too disappointed as it was very early in the process.
The 25th October brought me another profile. Once again, I didn't feel there was much connection, however I decided to keep an open mind and replied with another yes to Margot. Sadly this gentleman ‘didn't want to pursue this suggestion'.
On 1st November I emailed Margot ‘wondering if there are enough men to go round'. My thoughts were simply based on my experience so far. Margot responded with ‘Why does the fact that two men have declined have anything to do with the number of men available?'
Eight more profiles have followed. The same pattern emerged for another three, who I had said yes to; they all said no thank you to my profile. I had politely declined another three. There really was nothing about their profile or photo that attracted me. I noticed with most that the distance or height or whether they had children or not (something that I had specifically stated in my phone interview), had seemingly not been acknowledged by Margot as she set about her matchmaking (30 years' experience apparently).
By this stage, a certain amount of cynicism had set in, and I realised that the ‘sample' profiles I had initially been sent were probably fictitious.
The most recent communication between me and Margot was on the 19th December after my third decline of an unsuitable profile (he was under my height criteria, lived in Scotland while I am in Aylesbury, and he had no children).
So my grievance lies in the fact that I've paid a substantial fee upfront to a company in whom I have put my trust.in addition, the £55 per month seems ludicrous when I feel that this company have not delivered the bespoke, personal service that it so effusively advocates. I have been sent (on the whole) unsuitable profiles that in no way reflects or respects my requirements and expectations.

(This now a current update - April 12th 2018)

I made a decision to contact Margot on March 4th because I still had heard nothing from her. Her daughter Lorraine Marlow responded by informing me that Margot had had a stroke at New Year, so she was taking over her clients. I was doubtful.
By this time, I had cancelled my Standing Order before the February deadline. Lorraine did not acknowledge this in her email, even though I had mentioned it in my original message. She made reference to a new profile that she had sent out to me on Feb 23rd (after I had cancelled my SO). I genuinely missed this email and I assume it must have gone to 'junk'. However the match she had made was laughable... way below my height preference and way above my requested age limit.

I question, as a new client, why do they offer a 30 minute phone interview to ascertain and fine-tune preferences in order to provide tailor-made service.

The subsequent emails between me and Lorraine were civil and measured yet I feel she did not address my issues in a consistent or professional manner. I then decided to contact ABIA. After approximately five phone calls over two weeks, and no response to my voice mails, I'm left wondering whether this regulatory board actually exists.

I feel extremely let down and cruelly deceived and I would like a full refund for the money that I have paid in good faith for a non-existent service.

Many thanks in advance for your assistance.

The service is an absolute shambles. I trusted these people and joined as they sent me profiles of men that looked interesting. They told me I was a very good catch and had such good chance to find someone easily. They contacted me every day to convince me to join and unfortunately I did. After paying them the supposedly discounted amount of £900 and started paying the £55 monthly fee they completely ignored my calls. Then they introduced one guy who was much older and not a match at all. During the year I was with them not even once they contacted me or sent my profile unless I contacted them and i tried so hard to be tolerant and patient. There were no duty of care or contact during the year and they kept saying that there was no one who was interested in my profile.
I kept paying the monthly fee as I didn't want them to cancel me for non payment and wash their hands off me for a good excuse. The two lady Lorraine and Margot. Very nice when they wanted me to join them al goody and nice and promising that I was very attractive and had a good chance to meet someone but after joining them they didn't care. Never got any emails unless I contacted them and asked. Both the most patronising and misleading people I ever had to deal with. This site is a scam. They lured me and surely the others. In one year I met one person and paid £1500 for it most importantly A waste of my precious time. This was such a disappointing experience and brought depression and unhappiness in my life as I had to literally keep arguing about a man to date with. It made me feel so small and unimportant. It brought me misery and unhappiness.
I am going to media with this as these women have to be stopped. They are stealing from people and Literally this is a rubbery. I feel sorry for all those single people that trusted them and wasted time and money.
When I asked for complaint procedure there were none in place. They gave me a number for mediation that doesn't work and they simply washed their hands off me. Their regulating association isn't replying to my complaint either. All you see in this site is complete untrue testimonies. Please if you are reading this do not join. Avoid them.

In the year that I have subscribed to this agency a number of male profiles have been sent to me but the vast majority were unsuitable as they were in the wrong age group or did not share any of my interests. In a 12 month period I have had 2 dates, one of whom told me, had not paid anything to the agency because he wanted a trial period to see how it worked. All I can say, he was a smart man as he did not part with any money and yet Attractive Professionals signed him up. This is itself is a curious way of conducting business and totally unethical.

After many weeks with no contact at all, I tried to phone Margot but she never worked in the afternoons. When she called me it was always in the mornings when she knew I would be working and always on the landmine when I had asked to be contacted on my mobile. I then had an email in response saying "I tried to call you as you'd told Lorraine that your membership wasn't starting off as well as you'd hoped and I hope you won't mind me saying this but compared to other clients, your photos aren't great." Naturally I found this to be rather upsetting. However, I decided to take the advice on board and so had a couple of professional photographs taken. The response was "they're nice" and then a pattern seemed to emerge whereby it was always one excuse or another such as it could take a year or longer to meet someone, especially over the age of 60. In July and August no clients were sent to me and when I queried this I was told that they were quiet months and yet the £55 a month was still being collected. In the first week of December with no further dates being forthcoming I decided to stop my Direct Debits. I have had no word from Margot or Lorraine as to why I have stopped my payments; I wonder if they have even noticed. Either way, it shows a total lack of interest or commitment to the clients and I would not recommend wasting your money on this 'family run outfit' which clearly have no expertise at matching people whatsoever.

I was very disappointed with the service offered by Attractive Professionals, which is the trading name of Yours Sincerely Dating Limited. Ten things you should know before parting with your cash:
1) they claim to trade throughout the UK but actually they are a grandmother, daughter and granddaughter team that live in Edinburgh. I found them to be devoid of customer service skills in any event, but I was particularly unimpressed that they complained about having to travel when I sued them in England
2) Margot will always say that there are enough men: I spent two years trying to establish if there were enough men in my age group and was constantly reassured. However over 11 weeks only 4 profiles were made available to me. None at all during the last six weeks. Margot then told me it could take two to three years to find someone and on another occasion stated it could take 12 months just to find one person who wanted to be introduced to me. Unfortunate that this was never conveyed to me before I spent over £1, 000 with them and very convenient for them that all the while I was expected to pay £55 per month. So no incentive for them to hurry! Of the four profiles sent to me, I rejected one, but the other three rejected me. None of them were asked why by Attractive Professionals, I felt that was pretty lady and uncaring, but one offered an explanation stating he was looking for someone 20 years younger than me. So much for learning what a person is looking for or personal matching.
3) When things go wrong expect Them to blame you, to be rude and to humiliate you. I hardly need to give examples, because the responses by Attractive Professionals and Yours Sincerely Dating Limited on this site speak for themselves. That is a recurring theme you will see from all the complaints about Attractive Professionals and Yours Sincerely Dating Ltd on this site. Lorraine Marlow's view of my dissatisfaction was that I couldn't face rejection. Whereas my view was that they, as the experts, should have been able to tell from my profile if they had men on their books who would be interested. A pool of four men in my age group does not give anyone a reasonable chance! Attractive Professionals and Yours Sincerely Dating Limited will always talk about it only taking 'One ' special person, but what they don't say is that is basically because they have very few to offer. We all know that you don't have as much chance of finding that special one if you only have four to choose from! Don't waste your money!
4) There is no matchmaking skill or expertise: There is lots of talk about Margot having 30 years in the business and being an expert, but that is either Margot, her own daughter Lorraine Marlow or her granddaughter blowing Margot's own trumpet. If she has those skills she certainly did not use them for me. All she did was send through the four men on her books in the relevant age group. She didn't ask why I rejected someone, so as to learn what I was looking for and she didn't know the men either.
5) there is no effective ID of members: the website states that all members are interviewed and ID'd. Don't be fooled. What it doesn't tell you is the interview is on the telephone and as for ID, no identity documents are ever requested, viewed or submitted. What they actually claim to do (as stated by Lorraine Marlow in emails to me) is to believe whatever name, address and date of birth is given to them on the phone (which, let's face it could be anyone, using anyone else's details) and then input them into an online checking service. What they don't accept is that 1) they don't actually know who they were talking to on the phone and 2) all the online service does is check the voting register. So, unlike the suggestion on their website, this process is neither safe nor reliable. Identity fraud is everywhere, as we know from the media and our own experiences and dating is an especially vulnerable area, so please watch out!
6) if you get offered a special offer of a reduced price you should expect a reduced service: again a recurring them on the complaints about Attractive Professionals and Yours Sincerely Dating ltd on this site. I was never told that they had stopped using consultants. I had previously asked to visit their offices and had been told they were in Leamington Spa (I now assume that is where the consultant was) but before I did so I received an email with a special offer for £995 instead of the usual £2950. I thought it was too good to miss and went for it after again checking they had enough men on their books (little did I know that they considered four men enough - because 'it only takes one', as they say). But when Lorraine Marlow filed her defence in court she stated that I paid less than the usual price so what did I expect?
7) my last point is speculation, because I can't prove it. I settled out of court for a payout. But if I had continued I would have gone for 'discovery'. It will be no secret to you all from the above that I am a lawyer and It took a legal case to get any action out of Attractive Professionals and Yours Sincerely Dating Limited. Now, I accept as much as the rest of the population that attraction to someone is very much a personal thing, but when I looked at the four profiles that were sent to me, I rejected one of them yes, and I had a very specific reason in my background for doing that, but the other three were nowhere near the same calibrate of candidate that was sent to me as the so called 'Preview Profile ' to induce me to join. I'm sorry if that sounds harsh, but the Preview men sounded so interesting and shallow though it may seem, they looked like models! Who wouldn't be enticed? The three real members on the other hand did not sound like my type at all. But having spent £1, 000 on this, I thought to myself, 'don't be silly, take achance, you never know '. If those three men had spent £1, 000 on this project, I seriously wonder why their reaction would not have been similar? I can only come up with a few possibilities, either 1) they didn't like the look of me (fair enough but I would have liked Margot to at least ask and find out) ; or 2) they were looking for a completely different type of person (again Margot had my profile, couldn't she at least have asked or used her so called expertise?) or 3) they had far more choice of women than I had of men, so they could afford to be picky (one of my favoured theories because it is well known in the high end expensive dating agency world that it is harder to recruit men than women) and/ or these men did not invest as much in the process as I did, specifically cash. (that seems to be born out by other complaints on this site and also the experience of other men I know of who are looking to these type of sites and being offered huge discounts or free passes. I suspect all the above apply to my rejections and I am hurt that Attractive Professionals and Yours Sincerely Dating Limited put me in that position. They had seen my picture and drafted my profile, why not be honest with me about my prospects. Of course I know it is not an exact science, if only, but I feel totally misled and that can't be good for customers.

I will tell my story at the hands of this rip off merchants one day but for now I want to warn people about them like the other two complaints on here have tried to do, & Attractive Professionals just slag them off.

Their customer service is not acceptable. They have a million excuses to keep you 'waiting for them to send you 'THE ONE' (as they keep saying is all it takes!).

They are deluded if they really think their service is good, & it's interesting that it's all women who are complaining.

I have actually heard from another two women - thus making five of us AT LEAST who are not satisfied that they actually did anything for us, for our money. I know I am a decent honest and genuine person: if they were to write about me like they did about Laura (a customer!), I would be disgusted. How dare they slag her off and say she's the problem.

It is a sensitive and emotional area indeed but they are selling a service they cannot fulfil and they get nasty and defensive if you ask for a refund.

Attractive Professionals have not taken my complaint seriously, and they certainly do not adhere to the Association of British Introduction Agencies' Code of Conduct.

This agency is not an online Dating Service, I have selected that category because there isn't a category for Introduction Agencies.

I have requested a full refund of the £895.00 I paid the introduction agency Attractive Professionals on my Santander credit card on 23/06/2016 and a refund of the monthly fee of £55.00 paid from my Santander account on the following dates: 01/07/2016; 01/09/2016; 03/10/2016. This comes to a total of £1, 060.00.

I requested the refund because Attractive Professionals clearly had no intention of providing any suitable matches and they have not provided the services for which I paid. The agency has demonstrated a profound lack of professionalism and incompetence by sending emails to me which were intended for someone else (see email from Ms Marlow dated 31/10/2016); claiming they had sent profiles when they had not (see emails dates 13/02/2017 from Ms Marlow and Ms Medhurst), making a false suggestion of harassment (see email dated 16/02/2017 from Lorraine Marlow); failing to respond adequately to my complaints .
I first informed the agency of my dissatisfaction with the service by email on Thursday 15th September 2016. Attractive Professionals has now ceased to provide any service at all and I have consequently written to them to terminate my membership and request a full refund. They have not replied.

I have always been very open and flexible in terms of matching criteria: I was willing to meet men within a wide radius and I was flexible about the age of prospective introductions.I would consider men in the age range of 50-67, as people age differently. If someone outside this age range seemed to the agency to be appropriate I would consider them too.

Since joining the agency eight months ago, I have received only one introduction where the man wanted to meet with a view to developing a relationship.

Ms Marlow claims that I have ‘dismissed some very nice gentlemen without even having a phone call with them. The evidence is to the contrary. In fact, I declined only one suggestion and that was because he was severely disabled and confined to a wheelchair as he was paralysed from the chest downwards. The number of meetings have been low not because I dismissed profiles or declined meeting the men concerned, but because the recommendations or match suggestions sent were unsuitable and refused even to exchange telephone numbers to converse on the phone. The majority obviously therefore thought I was not a suitable match or recommendation for them either (Ms Medhurst encouraged me to agree to exchange numbers with her suggestions even though I believed many of them to be wholly unsuitable). Only one of the eleven suggestions sent by the agency should count as being anywhere near to an appropriate recommendation. Basic match making criteria has been ignored by my matchmaker; one of the recommendations sent was a smoker and I had said I did not want to be matched with men who smoked.
Of course, Attractive Professionals should never have taken my money if they did not have appropriate people on their books or were unable to access them. I have requested a refund from Attractive Professionals but the agency refuses to engage in any discussion at all.

It would seem that Attractive Professionals intentionally sent unsuitable profiles to thwart any possibility of meeting a partner and to prolong the period of membership so that I would continue paying the monthly £55.00. The longer my membership continued, the more Attractive Professionals received in fees for 'work' done. Although they offered six months’ free membership none of the profiles sent during this period have been suitable or appropriate.

Before joining, I had reservations because I found complaints against Attractive Professionals on the internet. Ms Marlow emailed me to say the complaints were not genuine. I have since found many more complaints about the agency and the other people’s experiences correspond to mine exactly. I was cautious having had a particularly bad experience with an agency who was not a member of the Association of British Introduction Agencies (ABIA). Ms Medhurst was aware of this and she gave reassurances: Saturday, 18 June, 2016 13:00 ‘I’m sorry Laura, I know that you were badly let down …’. Ms Medhurst claimed that: that Attractive Professionals would provide an ‘exclusive service’ of ‘Personal matching... genuinely seeking a relationship’.

I joined the agency because I was led to believe I would receive a bespoke, personal and privileged service from Attractive Professionals. Nothing could have been further from my experience.
I was welcomed into the agency by Ms Medhurst on Tuesday, 21 June 2016 8:53 ‘You’re a very warm, accomplished lady and a most welcome addition to our service’

23 June 2016 10:27, ‘We are members of the Association of British Introduction Agencies www.abia.org.uk. To be a member, we have to adhere to their strict codes of conduct. We have been a member for many years. They don’t deal with online agencies at all and are the standard bearers for good practice. We take all complaints very seriously’.
However, Attractive Professionals have failed to respond adequately to my complaints and, it would seem, to adhere to the AIBA Code of Practice, which states that: It is compulsory on all Members to accept the Code in its entirety. If a client feels dissatisfied with their treatment by a Member they have a right to take this up with the Association.’ ‘All Members shall offer and maintain a fair refund policy’; 1.2 Each Member must have a listed land line telephone number which the public can, during normal working hours, use to speak to someone in authority within that Member agency.

Email from Ms Medhurst sent Wednesday, 13 July, 2016 13:53 ‘We’re not really set up to be a telephone service Laura, so you’ll probably find it easier to communicate with me by email’

Tuesday, 30 August 2016 13:27 I arranged the transfer of £50.00 for Thursday 1st September and said I would be most grateful if you and I could speak over the phone, so that I know that we are both clear about the kind of gentleman I was seeking.

When I have complained Attractive Professionals have invariably made poor excuses. Please see below:
1. (see email from Ms Medhurst dated 15/09/2016) ‘No, I’m sorry but I won’t be available to talk today as I’m going down to Suffolk this afternoon to see my mum… ‘
2. saying their fees are low and I should therefore expect a low quality service: ‘I think you’re being really unfair in saying that you’re disappointed in us and comparing us unfavourably with Attractive Professionals. I’d like to point out that our fees are just one-third of what you paid them, you told me that you’d met no one in a year and yet in just one month of active membership, we’ve had two guys who wanted to meet you’

3. saying that they do not provide a telephone service: ‘I would also point out that at no time have we said that we’re a phone service like AP but it would seem that you expect much more from us in spite of our much lower fees’

4. implying that their service will be diminished if I complain: ‘I think that you need to be fair and positive in your dealings with me/us or we’re not going to get along…’

5. They have tried to twist things around and to make me feel personally at fault when they have been unable to find suitable matches; they have also become verbally aggressive. The company has alleged that I have been impolite. These allegations are false.

I understand that the ABIA is supposed to be an independent regulatory body. However, Attractive Professionals have requested I do not contact the AIBA.
I have asked the agency to explain:
a) what a failed service for a client would look like in order for a refund to be granted a refund
b) how few meetings a client would have to have had for the agency to offer a refund - I certainly consider one meeting in eight months to be disappointingly low and certainly less than I was led to believe a client would receive.

My trust and faith in Attractive Professionals has now been completely broken and the experience has been dreadful. Demoralising, humiliating, frustrating, a waste of time. There is something particularly unethical about this introduction agency taking large sums of money - purely for profit and yet under the guise of offering a good matchmaking service - from people who genuinely seek a partner, especially those who are lonely through bereavement and who are lone parents.
Reply