What you can get with a FREE membership on Guardian Soulmates (dating.guardian.co.uk)

Member Name: sarahbromfield

Product:	dating.guardian.co.uk
Date:	23/07/09 (157 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Attractive, interesting, successful people.

Disadvantages: You definitely need to pay to get anything out of this site (and its pricey!)

I certainly never thought I would ever even consider joining a dating site. I'm fairly young (well, 24), easy enough to get along with and certainly not too far below average-looking. I thought these sites were just for desperate women and ugly men. And DEFINITELY not anyone under 35.

I've been in a long-term relationship since I was 18 so when I found myself single at 24 I didn't really know where to start! I first went onto the Guardian Soulmates site mostly to browse, expecting to find only a handful of people my age and none that would interest me at all. I suppose it was just voyeurism!

I can't tell you HOW surprised I was to see how many good-looking, successful and interesting people were on there! Simply visit the Popular section and you'll be blown away by how date-able these people are!

Intrigued I decided to join with just a free membership (mostly so I could see more pictures, search, etc). This review will be simply of the benefits and problems of a FREE membership as I have never paid the subscription to join fully.

There are two distinct and very different ways that you can use the Guardian Soulmates website:

If you're just browsing - don't pay.
If you're seriously intersted - you HAVE to pay!

Unless you pay to join you are unable to contact anybody with more than a standard one line e-mail (there are several to choose from along the lines of 'you look interesting, what do you think of me'). However, if they respond to you there is still nothing more than you can do other than send another one-line standard response. At this point they realise that there is nothing more that can be done and will generally give up and try to contact somebody else. It is nearly impossible to get around this (I managed with one persistent fellow. He would send me messages and I would continue to pick out the most relevent one-liner and thought that if I responded to him enough times he would realise that a) i didn't have a membership, b) i wasn't going to cave in and buy one and c) i was interested. I was hoping he might try and google my name but he didn't (and you are not allowed to put such suggestions in your profile). I thought he might send me HIS address (he tried but guardian soulmates blocked it out of the email) and in the end he got around it by cleverly writing a list of things he liked with his phone number cleverly disguised as the number of each thing he liked! (There you go - try it out if you're trying to chat up someone who doesn't have a membership!)

If you're thinking of joining I would perhaps start with the free subscription and then start paying if you find anybody who interests you.

In essence, all that you get from a free subscription is the chance to be nosy and look at what kind of people are on 'the market' and the ego-boost of receiving e-mails from interested parties. If you want to take this any further you definitely need to pay. In the end I decided that internet-dating wasn't right for me so I didn't bother paying to join fully but I do still log-on occasionally to window shop and to not only remind myself that there are plenty of potential partners out there but also that there are just as many attractive, smart, dateable women out there who are also single - always comforting!

In conclusion, I would say that this is only a site worth joining if you're serious and want to pay. Though if you're thinking of joining I would perhaps start with the free subscription and then start paying if you find anybody who interests you.

Hope you find the right one!

Summary: An exercise in frustration. You're better off giving up & looking elsewhere or giving in and paying!