In recent years, the online dating industry has exploded and nowadays there are literally thousands of dating sites to choose from. These sites differ greatly from each other in their offerings and it’s not hard to see how one could get confused when coming to choose between them. One point of contention when using sites is what exactly can the user expect the site to provide in terms of service, support etc. While there are no clearly defined guidelines for what is expected of a dating site, there are some general industry standards which are adhered to by reputable sites. Here are a few things you can expect from a good dating site, as well as a few things that would not be included in the service.

Things to be expected:

1. Reliability

When using a site, it’s not unreasonable to expect it to run smoothly and efficiently and allow you to make use of the features it advertises. This is especially true if you have paid for the services, but is also a reasonable expectation even if you are using a free site.

2. Privacy policy/terms and conditions

Never trust a site that does not advertise its terms and conditions and privacy policy openly. These are usually available as links from the main page or the about page of the site, sometimes at the bottom of the page. Although often lengthy and boring, these documents are an important read if you want to know exactly what it is you are agreeing to when you sign up to the site.

3. Problem resolution

Dating sites are designed to be a safe and secure environment for people to meet. While sometimes it’s impossible for the site to weed out every dodgy person immediately, it’s perfectly reasonable to expect the moderators of the site to respond quickly to complaints voiced by users and for offensive users to be removed from the site.

4. Support for issues to do with the site

If you have problems using any of the features on a site, you can expect help and support from the site staff. This includes explanations of anything from the chat system to how to contact people or how to upload a photo. Moat sites offer email support and

5. Free search before payment

Allowing you to “try before you buy” is pretty much industry standard. Most sites won’t expect you to put your credit card details in before running a quick search on the site. It’s always best to have a look around a site to see whether it has any members and whether any of those look like the kind of people you want to talk to. If a site requires you to pay first, be suspicious: it may well be a scam.

What can’t I expect from a site:

1. 100% fault free

Dating sites are not as easy to maintain as any of us would like. As a result, occasional downtime or bugs are inevitable. While it’s fair to accept a decent level of service (see above), do take into account that sometimes mistakes do happen. The fact that a site is big and successful doesn’t necessarily mean it will run properly 100% of the time. As a rule, a few bugs here and there and the occasional few hours downtime are to be expected but if a site is down for days, you’re probably better off going elsewhere unless the situation improves drastically.

Page 1 of 2 :: First | Last :: Prev | 1 2 | Next