After my husband’s precipitous departure to higher realms, my son persuaded me to spread my wings and seek a gentleman with whom to share the fruits of life. Now reliable, single and interesting men of the right vintage don’t grow on trees, so after some discreet research, I was assured that Parship, the self-proclaimed N° 1 online partner site for singles was THE one. It is based in Hamburg, but appeared to be quite successful in Switzerland, where I live, so after the first significant payment which covers six months, but which commits you to a further six month-membership, totalling one year, I became a member.
It became immediately and irritatingly obvious, that I had mistakenly entered in on a most misleading venture, and I appealed within two weeks to Parship, to register my notice of cancellation at the earliest possible date. The reply inevitably confirmed that the «contract» would need to run its full course of 12 months. This week sees the end of the 12-month farce and the only winner is Parship. Apart from a wink and a nudge, I have had not once single dialogue, let alone a meeting with anyone at all.
As a fully paid up member, you don’t have access to their data bank of eligible singles. They send you their idea of ideal matching candidates, based on a weird psycho-test made in haste at the start of the membership. They supply an assessment of their suitability in percentages and a fuzzy photo (or none at all), which the candidate himself can choose to release, if he is remotely interested. The only men who reacted at all claimed to enjoy several weekly sport sessions and holidays of trekking, camping, mountain climbing and fishing. My profile made no mention of any sporting activities at all. I am more inclined towards mental activity. I wrote to Parship twice and told them exactly how I felt. Being a lady of 70, they know perfectly well, that however young, dynamic and attractive I may seem, a man of my age, wants a younger woman. They replied and agreed that age is a negative factor for the older woman, but offered no escape route. So it was, that I have endured 52 weeks of Parship repeatedly sending me the same old codgers week after week. It’s hard to assess whether any of them were actually real – whatever.
Parship have locked many people into their money-making racket. Whilst I don’t doubt that younger people are by definition more predisposed to meeting a partner, we have no insight into the actual success rates of this lucrative business. In fact, there is no transparency at any level in their business.
However, if you are of an older calibre and have better ways to waste your money – keep well away from Parship.
Photo: Gratisography