Original Dating  Avis 

A very good experience. The venue I visited was fantastic. The host was a very welcoming and very very good and the organisation was also of the highest standard.

Worst Speed dating i've been on.
Hardly anyone turned up for the 2 events that I attended.
All round, I travelled 60 miles for the events plus a couple of drinks.
One of the bars I attended told me they had stopped dealing with them because they were a waste of time.
Given the usual next event free ticket.
Worse than the actual event is the shocking customer service.
I think a company that describes itself as Britains no1 dating site should be able to issue a refund after going through all the above.
That was refused and then they stopped replying to my emails.
Avoid like the plague!

Shocking. I've been asking for a refund for months, after they cancelled my Oct 2023 Leeds event and then a further event and haven't rearranged one for my age group since. They first replied to my request for a refund with the offer of a midweek event in Manchester. When I pointed out that would be a 4 hour round trip after work, they did not respond. They have not responded to any emails since. The 'hotline' phone number is an answer message directing you back to the website. Daylight robbery.

Very well organised
Great host

Speed dating is not perfect but no form of dating is ever going to be perfect. These guys are doing their best to make it work.

As someone who has been to a number of events with different companies these are the reasons I think Original Dating are the best:

- Their website actually works. People actually have profile pictures which makes it easier to remember and match with people.
- No need to contact customer service if you want to reschedule or claim the event guarantee. This can all be done through the website.
- Their events are well organised. The hosts are approachable and appear to have been trained well.

Obviously meeting people at the events is what speed dating is about but the way the events are organised and the post-event experience in terms of using the website are important too. This is why Original Dating are my favourite speed dating company.

Arrived and only 7 other people were there, despite their advertising stating that it was popular and "expect to meet 15-20 [people] during the speed dating rounds." It also stated "FREE WELCOME COCKTAIL UPON ARRIVAL," which did not happen. Despite emailing and asking for a refund after the event, all I got as a response was "thank you for your feedback" and they refused to refund me. Eventually I managed to get a refund through PayPal for the event which took a few weeks. Avoid this company.

I really enjoyed the lock and key party. And the padlock and key was a really nice icebreaker! The hosts were welcoming. It was my first time attending such an event and it surely made a good impression on me. I met some lovely people whom I had good connections/conversations with…you never know what may happen from here☺️Keep up the good work Original dating. Its worth a try!

In response to the reply I received below - I DID send you an email on the night of the event. Two days later you still have not responded, even to apologise as now the matches have been released and its too late as my profile was not even added to the night to match with. Making attending that night a complete waste of my time and money.

It was part of an email trail, where 'Marinelle' made the booking. My credits were also not added to my account.

Looking at the other reviews I can see this also happened to another woman in June 2024, and yet you struggle to fill your events with female participants?

You can find the time to respond to Trustpilot reviews but not to your actual emails to deal with the problem (but still have the cheek to tell me to email?) How about you actually sort the problem out?

Edited update - they sent me a booking email today, 3 DAYS after the event had past (and presumably when your profile is matched to the event), and then sent me a gaslighting and condescending email implying that I was booked in all along and just didn't know how to put in my matches. Unfortunately for them I took a time and date stamped screenshot of my 'Events' page yesterday showing that the event was not on my profile 2 days after the event had past.

No acknowledgement of their mistake, certainly no apology, and no offer of a refund for the money spent, let alone the time wasted. Incredibly unprofessional.

I will be complaining to Trading Standards as I have not received the service paid for and encourage anyone else who has been let down by Original Dating to do the same.

always lively event and always a good turnout

Follow-up Reply to Original Dating reply of
Jul 18, 2024

Dear Original Dating,

I’m writing again in response to your previous message, as I still find it both unsatisfactory and troubling. Your continued dismissal of my concerns demonstrates a lack of understanding and responsibility. I made it clear that my mental health struggles were impacting me, yet I received no acknowledgment or support from your team—just a vague suggestion to speak to a professional.

This issue isn’t just about one individual response; it’s about the systemic failure to address the needs of people who are struggling, particularly when it comes to mental health. I expected a genuine effort to engage with me and offer some form of support, or at the very least, an acknowledgment that the experience I had was not acceptable.

Instead, you have failed to address the real problem here. It is not enough to ignore or deflect feedback, especially when it concerns the well-being of your participants. I request that you take responsibility and review how mental health concerns are handled at your events. This should not be swept under the rug.

I look forward to hearing how you plan to address this issue.

Regards,
Charlie

If I could give zero, I would. Not worth the money paid. Drinks extortionate. Started late, not everyone turned up. Disappointing field of people. Would not attend again. It is 3 hours plus of my life that I can never get back!
please note that 3 of the 8 males attending this event were the same as a year ago. Really poor field. A rip off.

Not a pleasant experience for me I'm afraid - event disappointing as well as encountering online issues with their website having both timed out after entering my card details & then not taking me to the verify by visa site so I inadvertently had a payment taken twice from my account which I only became aware of once I looked at my bank account so please be mindful.

Original Dating refused to both admit and take responsibility for their technical issues and therefore refused to refund my duplicate payment justifying the non refundable policy which in my view does not cover said circumstance and in my eyes deems this an unauthorised payment.

They had ignored my repeated email requests for my money back instead offering a credit which is no use to me given what I've said above

The events were disappointing - unstructured in terms of what we were supposed to be doing.

After much persistence after being ignored, Original Dating have finally refunded by duplicate payment, it should've have taken this for a consumer to reclaim what it rightfully theirs and I do not agree with the unfair non-refundable policy being applied arbitrarily especially when they're extenuating circumstances.

Disappointing experience - will not be using or contacting Original Dating again.

I booked an event that was cancelled. Then I received an email to re-book for free saying “This credit will shortly be placed in your account with us” and "It will be obvious you are using your credit and not paying by card." However they never added the credit and 20 days later (!) I decided to claim my free event. After navigating for ages on the website to find the credit I then thought it will show up later on or just apply automatically, so I clicked "book" a couple of times to move to the next page and was never asked to provide my card details because they had them saved, so I was charged without realising. So basically "book" can mean anything, from "show event information" to "pay". I contacted them and they were fast to reply that they had not added my credit and that my second purchase is non-refundable which means I have to go to two events now (the one that I paid the second time for and the one using the free credit that they just added following my email) even though I only wanted to go to one event. Given that they sent me a false email saying I had a credit to be added shortly (surely that means in less than 20 days) and they had forgotten to actually do so, I expected nothing less than to take responsibility for their mistake and give me back my money. Instead they applied their no refunds policy on me which is clearly in place for different reasons than this (people just deciding not to go for no reason). Nothing more than one star when it comes to financial disputes. It feels like those supermarket labelled reduced prices that on the checkout it still shows the original price.

I've attended quite a few speed dating events with them, it's going downhill. Ratio of women to men is 1 to 3, today only 5 women attended. I didn't even bother staying, just left. Waste of time and money.

They cancelled the event in ST Albans and ignored me about getting a refund.
This is a scam please contact your bank and leave reviews.

glasgow event cancelled at short notice only a few hours before the event which led to me making a wasted journey into city centre. e mailed organisers to say I was going for an operation and wouldn't be able to attend for next few months they refused a refund offered another ticket which is of no use to me . the staff at the venue told me the previous weeks event had also been cancelled at short notice. seems very unreliable and poor customer service

Really enjoyed the event! It’s a fantastic way to meet new people, and the lock-and-key idea is a brilliant icebreaker to get conversations going. It was so refreshing to be in a room where everyone was engaged and talking to each other. I met and spoke to more people at this event than I would on a typical night out with friends. While I didn’t meet anyone I was romantically interested in, I did make some great new friends.

Brilliant night! Well organised and some lovely people there!
I even met someone that seems really lovely, so fingers crossed! ❤️

Badly organised event I attended in Chelmsford this month May 31st. Arrived 10 minutes early and the organiser was nowhere to be seen so I picked a table to sit at and waited. Eventually host Al was present and didn't check me in but the speeddating started. The venue was rowdy downstairs in The courtyard and the music upstairs was so loud it made the 4 minutes with each date hard, Had to shout to be heard and made it feel like being in a club trying to shout over the music.

So I sent a email today to complain, I can't even match with people because Al didn't acknowledge my attendance so what a waste of my time and money because I can't even access my matches, £22 for nothing.

A well organised event at a venue that is central and accessible. A good way to meet others.