Avenues Dating Reviews 

Absolutely appalling experience and a complete waste of £2,295! My advice would be to steer well clear. They are very good at the hard sell and reeling you in and I was told they had a limited time special offer which piled on the pressure. They also don't start the service until after the 14 day cooling off period has expired and I later found this in the Ts & Cs: "If you require us to begin services within the Cancellation Period, we require you to make an Express Request to do so." But they don't tell you this in any of their initial calls or emails. The first person they sent to me was 8 years older when I specifically said I wanted someone my age or only a couple of years older or younger as I'm always being told I look 10 years younger. When I complained they said men always want someone younger! If they had said that in my initial communications with them I would not have sent them so much money. The last person they sent me was missing quite a few teeth when I said I wanted to be matched with someone who looked after themselves but was told he had lovely aftershave on when he went to their office! Says it all really. I have since found out that dating agencies are not regulated so they can basically do as they like and get away with it.

Response to Avenues on 02 Feb 2026 - you know full well this is a genuine review and who I am because you emailed me in April last year offering to continue offering 'matches' if I removed this review. I call that bribery. And of course I will never remove it. I don't know how you all can sleep at night, it is absolutely disgraceful how you make promises to people who genuinely want to meet a partner, charge them thousands of pounds for absolutely nothing, and then have the brass neck to accuse my review of being fake.

You've now reminded me to write to the government to request that 'dating agencies' like Avenues and the other 6 agencies owned by the same man be registered as it's a disgrace you can get away with treating people so abominably. I hope I have saved even one person from losing thousands with Avenues or any other of your agencies.

Response to Avenues on 03 Feb 2026 - The so called cooling off period is meaningless because you don't start sending profiles of so called members until after that time, and during this period the ultra friendly sales talk seemed to intensify, presumably to deter cancellation, so by the time you realise you've been had it's too late for a refund.

Your "goodwill gesture" of extension of membership is also meaningless, an extension of nothing in effect, and the only reason you said it is to try and get me to remove my review. If you really wanted to provide a goodwill gesture you would give me a refund.

I have every right to insult people who convinced me to part with £2,295 by hard selling and taking advantage of people who are looking for someone in what they think will be a more safe and trustworthy way than dating apps; how wrong that proved to be. Every word I say is true. I note there's no apology for accusing my review of being fake. I think you are shameless and I would urge people to read the other 1 star reviews who have all had almost identical experiences as me, e.g. Michael in Dec 2023, Badger, JN in Aug 2023, Claire in July 2023, Claire B in July 2023, Judith, Bernice, S Moulou, Anonymous whose review title is "Total Con" I couldn't agree more, Mrs Sheppard whose title is "Absolute con", MJF whose title is "Honesty wasn't their policy", Angry Shopper: title is "Avoid this company" and there are many more. I am obviously one of many who have been taken in by their hard sales pitch and left with nothing but a loss of thousands of pounds.

I had mixed feelings about my experience with Avenues Dating. On the positive side, the company started off well, showing lots of engagement initially and helping me feel more confident after struggling with online dating. However, my journey didn’t go as smoothly as I had hoped. Communication became inconsistent, and I didn’t receive the profiles I was promised within the agreed time frame. Some matches didn’t fit my preferences, which was frustrating. While I can see how it may work well for others, my experience was a bit underwhelming overall. A middle-ground experience for me—three stars.

If you have any self-respect at all do not take out a membership with this company. They lure you in with false promises saying they have lots of men available but they do not deliver. I took out the most expensive membership and all but one man chose to even have a phone conversation with me. On speaking to him it was clear we were not at all compatible. The other men I don’t believe even existed. My matchmaker disappeared and I was fobbed off with excuse after excuse. Bearing in mind I had expressed a preference for men who exercise regularly (as I do), when I complained about one man who was clearly very overweight and had never run more than 10 metres in his life, they said it was their right to send me who they thought was compatible. I went as far as going down the legal route to get a refund but, even though my lawyer was certain I would win a case against them, I just couldn’t afford to take it any further, especially as even if I won I’d have to pay my own legal fees. They only met 7 of the 10 agreed ‘recommendations’ and said they would continue my membership until they had done so, but I am convinced I would have been sent any man just to get me off their books. They have never reached out to me - I’ve had to chase for every single recommendation (which miraculously turned up a day or two later each time I chased); they are rude, aggressive and, if I wasn’t a strong woman, they would have completely destroyed my self confidence. Those who have posted positive reviews are either lying or very very lucky. A total waste of money - I don’t know how they sleep at night.

started off well, lots of engagement with company. However agent then went on long term sick and eventually left - which meant I was left to constantly chase for profiles.
Didn't achieve the required 6 profiles in 9 months, failed to meet anyone face to face, and overall a disappointment. Two profiles didn't match my requirements, but that was swotted away by the "we will offer what we think is appropriate" response.

Thank you for introducing me to Brian, we have really hit it off and are planning for our first holiday away together. Thank you so much for all you did.

Great service from start to finish, met some lovely people and am now in early stages of a new relationship.

I joined after listening to the sales talk,telling me they had plenty matches, well 4 months later not meet a single lady,I was led to believe that Avenues held files on plenty of matching profiles,they can be Rude when phoning,all of the matches,they gave me ,were all saying they had been let down by this company, and told them they weren't in a position to meet anyone,one Recommendation was over 100 miles away.
I agree 100%with all the other Negative Reviews
I asked my matchmaker if she had read these reviews she said no
If it continues like this for the rest of my membership maybe I stand a chance under section 75 of getting some money back
I will update me review if something positive occurs.
Final update even though I have over 3 months membership left,after a Disagreement with my Matchmaker about the Quality of there Matches for me they are now looking for EXCUSES not to Provide me with anymore.
Total waste of Money,

I’d previously been with other agencies but had never had any success and was beginning to lose faith. So when I joined Avenues I was nervous to say the least, they quickly reassured me from the start of my journey. On my 4th recommendation (the first 3 we’re lovely gentlemen but there wasn’t a spark) I soon realised that they had found my Mr Right and I haven’t looked back. Would recommend their service.

I have to say I’m amazed at the negative reviews written. My experience with Avenues has been completely opposite which is why I felt compelled to leave a review. I joined Avenues after losing my beloved husband to cancer 5 years ago, at first I was very nervous and apprehensive as I hadn’t been dating for 30 years. The care, support and dedication from my Matchmaker was so reassuring and putting my trust in her recommendations has changed my life. I was sent Brian’s profile and we have become very close and are now planning our future together.

All the one star reviews reflect my experience exactly. Assurances that there are lots of matching profiles on their books when, after 9 months, there hasn't been a single one. Long gaps in between and every time I've complained one has magically appeared. The last one was so completely unsuitable it could have been a joke, and funny were it not for the membership fee. No matter how unsuitable the recommendation it counts towards your quota, also if someone else rejects your profile. Shockingly written profiles, littered with so many mistakes, which put you off immediately. I too feel like I've been had. If you are sent a good match it sounds like you're one of the few lucky ones.

I completely concur with the last one star review.
At the end of 2021 I signed up with Avenues at great expense but expecting to meet a higher standard of clientele than internet dating and I was led to believe that Avenues held files on plenty of matching profiles.
Since that time I have been presented with profiles of members who were either too far away, incompatible with me or didn't wish to speak for one reason or another. Those, I believe, were either no longer with Avenues or just didn't exist.
The whole experience left me feeling demoralised. After paying out almost £2000 I also feel cheated and angry that I was so gullible as to believe the words of various sales people employed to make a hard sell.

This is a just-about-legal scam. I signed up to the Gold service which cost around £2000 and for that I received a personal profile (that was so bad that I had to rewrite it) and a guarantee of a minimum of eight “matches”. When you are shown a profile it is automatically counted as a match - even if it is completely unsuitable.

Reviewing the equally badly written profiles of men (with spelling and grammatical errors), it was hard to see why most had been identified as possible matches for me but I kept an open mind and agreed to meet each one. Given the lack of compatibility, it was maybe not surprising that seven of them declined to even speak/meet me - although I suspect that some of them may not have been active profiles - if they actually existed!

Before signing up I was told that they had plenty of profiles in their database but I do not believe that they have enough men on their books as it felt like they were scraping the barrel to find any profiles to send to me.

They drag the process out by leaving long periods between matches. At one stage my matchmaker just seemed to forget about me as I did not hear anything from her for over 4 months. She claimed that she had been waiting for a suitable profile. Coincidentally “one had just become available” – that was probably the worst profile that I was sent!

They keep communication to an absolute minimum with no contact between matches. I did try to establish some sort of relationship with my matchmaker but telephone calls are discouraged. Frustratingly, it was impossible to get any feedback from my matchmaker on my profile or why her selected matches didn’t want to meet me. My attempts at communication were either fobbed off or shut down as quickly as possible. This is in startling contrast to how interested they are in you during the sales pitch.

At no point did they demonstrate any real interest in me, emphasise with the disappointment I was feeling or express any regret at the lack of progress. After eight profiles I simply got an email telling me that my membership had finished.

They are part of a wider group so I was also sent profiles from Attractive Partners and Pi Society.

For information, I am a woman in my early 60s, with plenty of interests and would not consider myself to be unattractive or undesirable. I was looking for a man in a similar age range.

IF YOU HAVE ANY SELF-RESPECT - DO NOT SIGN UP TO THIS AGENCY.

A complete waste of a huge amount of money. I always felt that my Matchmaker ( which they big up before you sign up) had no time to talk to me and was so matter of fact. I’m not sure any of my matches even existed. I’m a fun loving normal person but this dating agency has left me feeling scammed. My advice … don’t sign up.

Total waste of time and more importantly, money. They promise everything and deliver nothing. All introductions are totally inappropriate and nothing at all like your preferences.

I joined this agency in August 2022. I think it’s the biggest waste of money I have ever parted with. I have no faith in them whatsoever. They have a great sales pitch to lure you in then fail to match you with suitable people. If you can get to talk with someone you are lucky. I wish I had never joined. I was expecting a superior experience but it has been far from that. Not happy.

I was unsure about joining at first but was so pleased I did. The team looked after me and introduced me to some lovely ladies.

I joined Avenues Dating in January 22 in the hope to find a partner. I’d tried online dating but found it very stressful and I found most people didn’t want a serious relationship. The service, help and support I received from my Matchmaker went above and beyond. I’m pleased to say I am now in a very positive relationship, it’s early days but things are so good. Thank you

Avenues has been a very positive experience for me and one I am pleased to share. I have been a member on two occasions and first joined in 1998 and found my long term partner through this service. Circumstances changed in 2018 (maybe most good things come to an end eventually) and I joined Avenues again during the early part of the pandemic. They have been excellent to deal with and I recommend them wholeheartedly. This is so much better than internet based dating.

I have been so disappointed in the service I received from Avenues Dating - complete waste of a lot of money. I had to actually re-write my own profile at the start as it was so badly written, I should have realized from then and cancelled my membership. Non of the matches were even close to a chap that I was interested in. One even lived in Birmingham and I'm in Kent. I tried to complain to the manager but she just dismissed me by saying that I had misunderstood the reasoning behind forwarding me the pointless profiles. During my year with them, the agent Charlotte, only contacted me after I had made enquiries about progress. She just didn't seem interested and just sent me template reply emails about how the team were actively searching on my behalf. In the end she left to go to another job, which explained why she was so ineffective. I was told that they would extend my membership but when it came to January this year, they flatly refused. Overall rubbish experience

Do not waste your money. I'm widowed and it took me a long time to pluck up the courage to join a dating site. I thought this was the better option as it was sold to me that they would definitely find me some nice gentleman to meet. As I lived in Scotland, I asked them prior to payment if they had a lot of men on their books in my area. They reassured me that they did.

The sent me 7 profiles over 12 months as per the term of the agreement. The first 2 I agreed to meet but when my profile was sent to them, they didn’t respond so through no fault of my own I had no opportunity of meeting (they still counted these as a successful recommendation!!)

The 3rd one I met. It turned out he was only a Responder. He had been a full time member in the past and he told me he had the same experience as me, very little opportunity to meet anyone.

4th Recommendation. They sent to a higher member as they clearer had no-one else to offer. He declined to meet me. So again, no opportunity to meet him.

5th and 6th recommendations lived over 90 miles away even though I made it clear I did not want a long distance relationship. (again they counted these).

7th recommendation was nothing like what I was looking for, so I declined to meet.

Throughout the 12 months I could see a pattern. They clearly didn’t have anyone in my area and were reaching out to anyone they could find even though at the time of signing I was assured there wouldn’t be a problem. By sending me the two long distance ones, it was there way of ‘fulfilling their side of the agreement’

No matter what you say to challenge these policies, they have a scripted answer for everything.

So please, please, don’t fall into my trap and part with your cash to this horrendous organisation. I honestly don’t know how they sleep at night !!