Dating website Lunch Actually has once again landed in hot soup for not providing their services as advertised. One very disappointed expat woman tells her story after engaging their services;

I am an expat woman in her 30s and I was very excited to start dating in Singapore with LA (Lunch Actually). I inquired with them in Aug/Sep and was enrolled in Oct. Unfortunately, I was not happy with the service that has been provided. There are too many handlers juggling clients and they fail to follow through on commitments. I’ve been matched every 10 weeks yet they promised one match every 4 to 6 weeks. I’ve only had one date in 7 MONTHS.

I’ve reached out many times to be told ‘we have matches in your queue’. Most importantly, the matches have been terrible. They seem ill-researched and not in line with my values or preferences. Finally, I felt so hopeless with their service and asked for a refund. I was told they have followed the contract and it was unlikely. 

There was acknowledgement of wrongdoing, but all they could offer was connecting me with just one handler. I’ve lost complete faith in their abilities. I have a lot of single girlfriends (potential clients) that were very interested in my experience. Sadly LA has really failed. For the amount that I spent, and the service that I am getting, this is extortion. 

Subsequently after speaking with two people at 4 different times, there is no conclusion here. It was admitted that there is a cap on the number of expats they can have in the pool. This was not disclosed to me whatsoever. A few more things that I learned: they say that they’ll guarantee a certain number of dates in a year, but then they have a clause in the contract that allows them to extend the contract to another 12 months. 

My feeling is they extend it until you are either completely fed up with their service or you’ve already moved out of the country. And they put my account on hold without my permission thus extending the number of months of my contract with them. If you are an expat, stay away!

Lunch Actually did respond to the complainant who posted the above mentioned in a google review.

They said that although they regretted to hear that she had a bad experience they do want to offer solutions to her problem.

Lunch Actually suggested that the complainant purchase an upgrade to her package and engage a Personal Consultant which will allow her to continue her dating journey in good faith.

We take every feedback seriously and we’d like to make things right if we have fallen short in our service, as we strive to provide the best experience for our clients.

“Just to clarify though we have different tiers of services and our basic package does include working with our team of consultants (handlers). We understand that this may not be for everyone hence we do have clients that do opt for the option of working with a personal consultant throughout their dating journeys (sic)

At the end of the day, our goal is to help our clients expand their social circle and maximize their chances of dating success. We are currently in touch with you, and we will assist you as best we can as we continuously strive to improve our service experience.”

This isn’t the first time that Lunch Actually has received a bad review. In September Lianhe Wanbao reported that a 49-year-old lady had been unhappy with her 59-year-old blind date since he did not live up to the hype she’d been told about him. Moreover, when she expressed her dissatisfaction, Lunch Actually had reportedly refused to give her a refund.