Site address:

www.datingagency.com

What the site claims:

• You can learn how to use the site in minutes.

• You can try us out for free.

• We are very proud of our reputation as being one of the friendliest services around.

Ease of use:

• Dating agency's site is simple and easy to use, there is a menu on the left of the screen with all your options listed.

• There isnt much to say here which is a good thing. The site is a nice clean and tidy site (with the one exception of the members online). Very nice and smooth to navigate

• No adverts cluttering up the site

Sign up process:

• Create nickname and password; select your marital status, height, build, children, and other personal habits.

• Dating Agency's sign up places emphasis on the users own words in descriptions of self and what they are looking for, rather than tick lists.

• All profiles need to be approved before they go live.

• Membership validated via email.

• You can change your nickname name if you want at any time - this also needs approval.

Photo’s / Audio / Video

• Able to upload one photo.

• Can post your photo to the site for upload, at a cost of £5, takes up to 14 days for your photo to appear online, enclose a SAE if you would like it returned.

• All photos require approval.

Membership levels & price:

• Joining – free signup with:

• Limited search.

• Read profiles.

• View who is looking at you.

• Vote on others Intelligence; Humour; and Looks.

• You cannot send or open messages or contact in any way.

• Upgraded membership (Club Member)

• 3 days - £6.99

• 1 Month – £19.99

• 3 months - £44.99

• 6 months - £64.99

• Lifetime - £99.00

Includes:

• Unlimited (up to 99 per day) messages

• Earn Club Membership points by being an active member – the more points you have the higher in a search you will appear.

• Online chat

• Send winks and kisses

Search Tools:

• Search by keyword, or name

•   Advanced searching, including gender, age, body type, number of children, plus up to 5 Counties at one time.

• Also search world wide

• Save your favourite searches 

Messaging / Instant Chat etc

• Messenger service available to Club members

• No audio / video service available

Extras:

• Guarantees that you will find love in 6 months or get 6 months free.

• Instant Messenger included within Club

• Russell Grant horoscopes (monthly, weekly or horoscope matching)

• Extensive help pages

• Register your mobile number with the site, and they will text you when someone sends you a message, winks at you, or votes for you. Five free text messages free on registration, additional messages can be bought for £2 (10 texts); £3.50 (25 texts); £5.00 (50 texts)

• Option to have your profile ‘featured’ - If you have a photo online, the site will feature it for a week both on the home page and the welcome page.

• Dating advice pages, and Success stories

• Personal Match Making service – available at extra cost, but no details available on the web site and no reply yet received to our application.

Number of active members:

• No details as yet, information requested from Dating Agency

Average new sign ups per month:

• No details as yet, information requested from Dating Agency

Additional information from site:

• No details as yet, information requested from Dating Agency

What we found:

• Search options allow you to search up to 5 counties at a time; The search options also allow you to search for others who have a particular number of children, rather than just someone who has children.

• Very extensive help pages, (we are pleased to see this)

• Complaints procedure if you receive an upsetting message

• Able to view a list of who is currently online, but the list which includes name, age, County and photo available, is not very easy to read (Dating Agency seems to be a victim of its own success here, as it is a text list and there are so many people on line the screen is very busy)

• At the time of this review, there were approx. 200 people on line, so the site would appear to be fairly busy. Of those online, the majority of members’ ages ranged from 35 to 60.

Quality Award

Online-Dating-Reviews grading

Overall score of: 71%

Date of Review:

18th April 2006