PlentyOfFish.com on the surface seems to be a very legitimate dating site, with several million registered users. They offer a free starter membership which seems like a great offer.
But, is Plenty Of Fish a legitimate dating site with a lot to offer, or just another attempt to make money from the dating community? Below, we’ll attempt to get to the bottom of it.
The Issues We Encountered on PlentyOfFish.com
1) Seach Parameters Are Often Ignored
When using the search functionality on the average dating website, you are usually offered a set of parameters to find individuals that fit your tastes. When using PlentyOfFish.com however, these parameters were often either ignored or didn’t exist at all. In paging through the reviews from current users, it seemed as though this is a problem that has existed in the past and continues today.
2) There Are Hidden Costs
When a website advertises itself as free of additional costs, you expect that claim to be true. However, PlentyOfFish.com almost immediately starts pressuring you to upgrade to one of their subscription packages. These packages withdraw money from a supplied bank account on a monthly basis, often before the date PlentyOfFish.com provides you with. The price points are as follows:
- $38 USD for 90 days
- $54 USD for 180 days
- $85 USD for 365 days
I guess the bottom line is that the site isn’t free if you want to get anywhere, but you likely won’t.
3) Fraudulent Users & Profiles
Scams can and do happen from time to time on most dating websites. To a certain extent, it’s unavoidable. Unfortunately, on PlentyOfFish.com the no-cost nature of the site means that criminal individuals have nothing to lose by creating multiple, fake profiles. Often using photography of total strangers found online, these individuals tend to be quite adept at fooling users into thinking there’s a true romantic & personal connection.
Once they’ve gained your trust, they usually offer up some sort of a horribly tragic story about a relative dying or a personal crisis. This is done to solicit both pity and money. This can sometimes continue into real life meetings, so whenever you choose to meet someone from a dating site make sure it’s public & safe.
Our Conclusion
As PlentyOfFish continues to grow as a public dating website, they move ever closer to a paid set of services as opposed to a free & complete experience. As this makes fiscal sense for PlentyOfFish, it will, unfortunately, alienate some long-time users. We weren’t very impressed with their search functionality (it doesn’t touch the fling search functionality) as it never really gave us individuals that fit our parameters.
The fact that their payment system is sporadic and auto-deducts funds make us suspicious about their conduct post-cancellation. In fact, this was a problem that we saw mentioned frequently on their FAQ forums and message boards.
In addition to this, we found a lot of reviews for POF.com, almost 75% of which were complaints. Chances are you’re looking for a dating site with better functionality, a wider list of choices, and better security. If that’s the case, we would recommend Bangbuddies – check out our review here.
