Thanks so much for posting this. I don’t know you but found this on the internet googling the Events and Adventures group. I was afraid it might end up being something like that and I am so glad you verified this for me and saved me all that trouble. Best of luck to you, –L

Thanks for letting me know the price! I had the same experience during my initial contact and told them at that time that I was not interested if they could not give me more information, specifically cost. They tried two more times and finally gave up.

Thank you as well for posting this, i did not have a good feeling about this place after they kept calling me from a 425 Area code, they have a Dallas and a Houston office and I am in Dallas; why cant they call from their Dallas office or at least use a toll free number instead of calling long distance???

I also remember that another company which is a singles dating service wont give out membership fees over the phone either; Great Expectations. So beware of them too, they are the same way. I talked to my mom about this company and it just seemed off. I called them today and cancelled my interview. They asked if I wanted to reschedule and I said I am no longer in the market for this.

I’m married now but I was a member of the Seattle Events and Adventures for a year (I had a one year membership). I’m not sure how you can complain about a club you never even tried. sounds like you got a rude employee or something, but I went through the whole process and everyone was nice enough. They do screen everyone, and they have an office you have to go to before you to to any events. Its a company, what can I say about that? I think the women might appreciate the screening, as I guy it seemed silly.

But as a member I spent my time with other members, and since I had recently moved to Seattle at the time (this was about 3 years ago) I met a lot of people that were single instead of sitting at a bar or home watching TV. Pretty much everyone I met was nice, and there were more women than men at most events WHICH WAS FINE FOR ME . I’m married now, and I did not marry someone I met at E&A (what members call it), but I was introduced to her by a friend that I DID meet at E&A. Does that count?

No, E&A isn’t cheap, but if you “Get around” as much as you imply then you know that Yahoo groups et. al. are mostly free, but also mostly a waste of time. You are right that they don’t give their prices over the phone. I have no idea why.

I do know club was worth the price for me (I think I paid 1500 plus the dues, so your pricing is in the ball park, at least).

There are a lot of people who can’t afford a nice car or nice house, and bitch about people who can, maybe you’re one of those people, I don’t know. The way I see it, I nice social club is the same thing. You get what you pay for.

Greg, thanks for leaving a comment. It’s good to see someone had a good experience that they wanted to share since many of the reviews out there are so poor.

I don’t usually respond to comments, but regarding some of your points:

I make a reasonable living. I could easily afford this without batting an eye. Money was definitely not an issue in my experience.

Also, If you click on the photos link here on my blog, you can see that I regularly host events and volunteer outings for friends, my company and my own staff that I manage. You will also note that I already have a large group of friends of both sexes. You will see a wide variety of activities that I participate in. Perhaps someone new to the area without a strong friend group such as mine, or without a lot of experience in gathering and meeting others may find value in having someone else coordinate this for them. I can see where with you being new to Seattle this may have been a good thing for you. In my particular case though, “E&A” does not have a strong selling point in being able to bring people together or find activities.

To briefly sum up what I found distasteful about “E&A”:

1) They were more interested in getting my personal information, and then trying to get me in for a personal interview than honestly answering my questions

2) They were evasive about specific questions. As I mentioned in my original posting, it felt a lot like a timeshare presentation. (Some people do buy timeshares too, and are happy with them).

3) Their website did not inform on the specifics of their activities and only served as a portal to capture your information. As I had mentioned, some actual photos of the activities would help to illustrate what the club was about and could even improve the marketing of Events and Adventures.

4) Every other review I had found in my research (as well as some of the comments left in response to my review) show Events and Adventures in a generally poor light.

5) When I let them know I wasn’t interested they were either horribly disorganized and couldn’t get their act together to stop calling me, or they did not honor my request and continued to phone me anyway. So either option: Inept or Dishonest, doesn’t help their image too much. I wouldn’t trust them with my money based on what they displayed.

Basically, it came down to (for me), Would I begin a business relationship that I can’t back out of (due to contract, and no trial period, and additional fee if you don’t sign the paperwork the same day) with a company that won’t provide specific information, avoids answering my direct questions, and is poorly reviewed on the internet? In my case I found this to be a less than ideal proposition.

Your mileage may very, and I can only share the experience I had with them, which I did in detail on my website here.

To see some other experiences of Events and Adventures, here are the links I used in forming my opinion:

http://www.jenniferinc.com/blog/?p=596

http://seattle.citysearch.com/review/41911836

http://atlanta.citysearch.com/review/41871423

http://portland.citysearch.com/profile/8476028/

Did I read every link out there on Google that returned a hit? Of course not. I basically read the top Google hits (above) and read until I felt I had enough information to make up my mind.

Best of luck for those of you in the dating world, and congrats to Greg on the marriage.

-Chris

I went to one of their personal interviews and what they told me at the time was that there was a “lifetime” membership that would get you out of paying dues but it was like $3,600.

My other peave with these guys was that you still get to attend club events if you are going steady. In other words, “single” means “not married” rather than “available”.

Thanks for writing about this topic. I recently went to an interview with E&A and was less than impressed by the sales person. I had to wait 40 minutes for my appointment, then had to deal with multiple evasions to my questions about the cost. After almost an hour, I finally got her to give me a straight answer as to the cost of membership. Of course (she said), they were still honoring a holiday special of $100 off the membership fee, but it expired that night. Sounded a little fishy to me, but I willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

When I told her that I might need to wait a couple of months (I’m taking some classes now and wouldn’t have time for many events), I was told that they have openings now but might not have any in a couple of months. Again, that answer raised a red flag…kind of an “it’s now or never” sales pitch. When I stuck to my guns and said I’d have to wait, she said “thanks for coming. Good luck with everything.” Then she turned to her computer and started typing away, totally dismissing me like I wasn’t worth the time to be more polite.

While E&A might be a great club, and might be worth it in the long run, the sales person left me feeling cold. I don’t respond well to hard sell tactics, and that’s what it felt like to me. Unless they change their tactics, I think they’ll continue to turn people off this way.

- Chris W

Thanks for all of the tips: this is the first really solid review/comments I’ve found. I’m glad to know the ballpark price: as a person in an entry-level job I don’t think that I can afford $1500 or so a year plus a monthly fee! I’d prefer to pay per event. My sales rep didn’t ask too many questions, really only if I’m single, my age, where I live, and what my job is. However, when I told her I’d call back to schedule an interview, she seemed mad/disappointed (perhaps she works on commission?). Though now that I hear the price I think I’ll pass on the interview. Thanks again all!

I had to laugh at Chris W’s comment because I almost had the exact verbatim experience when I went for my interview. But firstly prior to my interview, I mentioned on the phone that I didn’t care for the pricey dating services that I had tried in the past, and the girl told me that this service was much cheaper and that they would be willing to work with my budget. Well of course as you can see from these posts it actually turns out to be muuuch more expensive. I don’t get why you are paying a flat fee of $1795 (for the year membership) and then a $25 membership fee on top of that, plus then having to pay for some of the events on top of that seems a little ridiculous.

I arrived for my appointment 5 minutes early and I also was taken into my appointment 20 minutes late, which kind of turned me off to start since I only had an hour before I had to leave. Then I got the same spiel about the $200 off holiday special which coincidentally was ending that day, no pressure or anything. Now mind you I should have done my research before I went into the interview of course because at this point I was still excited about the whole idea and was totally on board until she brought me the pricing sheet. As I was adding it all up I finally realized it was going to be about $150 a month just for the year membership (no cancellations allowed) which comes to about $37.50 a week. Now if you are anything like me you do have somewhat of a life already so attending 2 or more events a week is out of the question. You’d basically be paying $40 to go bowling or sing Karaoke. They of course do have events like seeing plays and what not, but you still have to pay for the tickets for these type of events, though they are discounted. So after I went over all of the pricing in my head I determined I just was not in a place to socially fit in enough events to justify paying the cost that was presented to me. I also was a bit coldly dismissed I thought whenever I told her I would call back again if my schedule cleared a bit because I didn’t want to be locked into something I couldn’t cancel or wouldn’t have time for. I said “thank you for you time and have a nice night” and she handed me my license back, turned to her files and not a “thank you for coming in”, “it was so nice to meet you”, or even a “goodbye”; a touch rude if you ask me.

Now on a slightly more positive note if you do you have the means to spend that kind of money and have more time to attend several events a week I would reccommend the unlimited/lifetime subscription which was $2095 plus the $25 a month membership fee. According to the sales girl you can use this membership as long as you like and this is the only membership type that can be transferred/sold to a new member. That would come to about $200 a month for the first year and then only $25 a month after that. So again, if you have the means and the time I am sure you could meet a decent group of singles in your area, but beware the slightly rude sales people.

I went to a high pressure sales pitch at the Dallas office where they “warned” me that the chances of signing up greatly decrease once you leave the initial interview, so silly me fell for it and signed up. Once I got home and actually had a chance to look over the material I started getting really skeptical. Aside from the initial $1695 (evidently I didn’t get the “Christmas discount”) and the monthly fee, you still paid for all the events. Other than getting slight group discounts on tickets, which are available to any group of 10+, I’m not really sure how they justify the cost, as the Dallas group just seems to meet up at a lot of different bars, restaurants and/or member’s houses, where you go dutch or potluck. I was at least expecting them to set up drink discounts or something.

They apparently have a 24 hour (business day) cancellation policy. Having gotten cold feet after signing up on a Sat., I called Sunday and left messages at the Dallas and Seattle offices. I spent all day Monday calling both offices, Dallas told me I had to go through Seattle and Seattle kept telling me someone from the Dallas office would call me. The Dallas office finally called me about 5:30 pm and informed me that I had to have a Certified Letter dated that day in order to get a full refund, otherwise they could charge me a $400 “processing fee”!!! I not so politely informed the guy that I’d been getting the run-around from them all day when he turned to buddy mode and said he would try and help me out but didn’t know if he could. Being an ever resourceful gal I found a Fed-Ex that was open until 8pm and got the job done. Now I’ve been waiting for 3 weeks to have the charge refunded. They keep telling me they have 30 days to “process” the return (even though the charge to my card showed up immediately). Finally today the Seattle office told me their records indicate it will be processed 3/18….exactly 30 days from the date of my cancellation letter! When pressed, the girl in Seattle couldn’t tell me why, only that it was their policy. She finally transfered me to the Accountant’s voicemail because “she was out.” Needless to say, I haven’t heard back from them yet and finally decided to call AmEx and alert them to the fiasco and enlist their help. Learn from my mistakes and run for the hills!

I am not so lucky as you guys. I actually signed up for E&A membership.
They have excellent marketing skills and sales representatives who can talk you into purchasing their membership which costs thousands of dollars. Their trial period is 3 days. If you don’t cancel membership within 3 days, you are bound to pay membership fee whether or not you like their service. When I had interview with them, the sales rep discussed the cancellation policy with me, but did not mention the 3 day trial period at all. After a couple of months, I decided that this is not the kind of club for me, just to find out I can’t cancel it any more. I am still paying the monthly due toward my $3595 membership fee, but not signing up for any events.

Be careful when you sign up, as long as they can keep you for 3 days, they keep thousands of dollars of yours! They don’t care the quanlity of services, 3 days is all they need to keep your money. They boast having thousand of members, but the turn out rate is low. Most activities are eating, drinking, playing. You have to pay extra money for signing up for individual events. Lots of events make you feel they are trying to get customers for their business partners!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I found their website and thought it was just what I’d been looking for – an easy way to find a group of people to go out with to do fun activities. I didn’t like that once I put my email address in as interested that I couldn’t search the rest of the site for more information. It kept taking me back to the page that said that a representative would be calling me.

So, they called me and right away I got the willies. I thought, “bait and switch, bait and switch!” The first question I asked was how many members there are locally. She said, “That is an excellent question…” and proceeded to give me a pitch that didn’t come close to answering my question.

Then she said (without taking a breath), “Now, let me ask you a few questions.” And I said that she hadn’t answered my question.

Anyway, it went downhill from there. I was sure I was being “sold”, albeit poorly because it was so blatant and plastic, but I decided to take the appointment knowing that I wouldn’t buy anything unless I got a completely different impression in the interview.

As soon as I hung up the phone, I did a quick Google search and found this post. I can’t thank you all enough. The sum total of comments just reinforced what I thought and answered the cost question which they wouldn’t answer for me either.

I called back two minutes later, talked to the same lady that had called me, cancelled my appointment, and asked to be taken off their call and contact lists. She said, “Oh, I certainly will. I just hope your name hasn’t gotten on to another person’s list already. But I’ll take you off mine.” I said that I hoped my name wasn’t on any of their other lists either because if I got contacted by anyone in their company, I would report them to the Better Business Bureau.

Whew – hopefully, one ongoing headache avoided.

Thanks again.

Fraud, They contacted me a year ago and signed up saying they give discount, and actually they dont…. they charge you the full amount and what ever they mentioned about the discount never would come in the document.

Biggest fraud.

Is Events & Adventures also Great Expectations?? They are also dallassingles.org. I have been hounded by the 3 (same) companies for for years – usually by “Heather”. She was rude last call when I told her I had read complaints online and I was aware that their cost was crazy. She told me I may not qualify anyway – they are very selective (I bet) , so she did not have to fill me in on the expense. She hung up on me. They had enough info on me to know that I am financially secure w/a good credit rating (thus the frequent solicitations). I would never spend such a large sum for sight unseen. Seems if they were worthy, they would not be so pushy and they would allow a trial period. Wonder what the events are really like? Quality of people that join? Curious – do they give you your money’s worth for 40-50 age range? Many complaints re: cost and interview but not much about the actual club. How many decent (yes, I mean in-shape, attractive, educated and white collar) are members. Like Match.com – is this also a site for men to find hook ups?

I currently have a membership here in the Seattle area and I signed up in January 2006 for the lifetime membership. I went to a few events but my health has deteriorated and I can’t do the rock climbing, hiking, and strenuous events that they schedule. In addition, most of their food events involve alcohol (wine tasting, beer drinking) and I don’t do that either. That pretty much leaves a monthly “games” night (everyone brings their own board games, like Monopoly or whatever) and movie nights (free passes to movies downtown – a long drive for me.) Needless to say this is a huge waste of money for me for something I’m not using and will never use. I’m 48 and found the average age of people were in the early 30s, or younger, and even if there were men my age there, they seemed only interested in the little 31 year olds. Whatever. Singles in Seattle are just stuck up and don’t talk to you. It doesn’t matter if you’re alone at a coffee shop, or in one of these groups. They just keep to themselves.

Now, my challenge is how to stop this membership. I got them to reduce the monthly deduction (for the membership – not dues) to $25 a month, but I”m currently unemployed and even that is too much for me. At this rate, I’ll be paying on this for a total of nine years, at least.

I’m in the same spot as “a current member of Events and Adventures” I’m paying through the nose for crap.

To point out a few problems I’ve had with them:
1) They couldn’t follow the agreement on the contract regarding what card was to be charged and when.
2) When I called about the first incorrect billing of my charge card, I was told that the number was deleted, and then the following month they magically charged it again.
3) They constantly sent the calendar of events to a Michael Carpenter at my address. There has never been nor is there currently a Michael Carpenter at this address.
4) When I sent in my letter requesting termination of my membership I received no calls or letters saying that I couldn’t terminate my membership. I had to call a few weeks later to find out.
5) I found out after driving hours for an event (more than once) that the number for the person hosting the event was really just for the club house. So, there was no one to help me find where the event was if I took a wrong turn and both my time and gas were wasted.
6) When I was forced to go to snail mail to pay my monthly bill I would get the bill on time one month and then I wouldn’t get anything the next two months and no call about where my payments were. I had to call and find out what had happened. I’m not sure how on earth my address would be correct one month and not the next.
7) Most recently they are off as far as my billing is concerned so (in the intest of keeping my credit clean) I am taking it over and sending them payments with a statement of what I have paid so far and what I owe them. I basically have to pay my way to freedom from this scam.

I really could have used that $3595 for something useful, like a laptop. If anyone knows of a class action lawsuit, I’d love to join it.

Hmmm. I was thinking of joining as well to meet others.

When i did call to find out info I was totally given the sales pitch and then I decided to reschedule my appt and the lady was like what should I tell Jane why you are rescheduling? I told her to tell her whatever she wanted. Just to throw her off.

I use to work in sales for a private school and it was totally like that a script and an interview to make you feel like you are being interview and it is their decision. Which believe me they need your money more.

I hear all of your sales pitch and expensive comments. But if one could afford this and was ok with the pricing. How are the events and the people. Do they do fun things and are people normal?

Thanks

Thanks for all this info.
this is all reminiscent of “It’s Just Lunch”–which I also learned in time was just about the money.

How sad, when clearly there are lots of people who WOULD like a service like this that actually delivers.

I’ll be cancelling my mtg!

For those trying to get out of a membership…After joining the Minneapolis Club and finding it didn’t meet my expectations due to poorly planned events, fraudulent billing practices, lack of other professionals and poor customer service I attempted to opt out of the payment plan I’d agreed to (I read the horrible reviews and thought with so members what’s a few bad reviews? But it made me not want to go in for the full $2K whether I could afford it wasn’t the question). At the time I was directed to the “CFO” (who I should add was terminated from WaMu for fraudulent financial practices, I found the public record when I googled him) and he refused to respond to me as did the owner Mark Owen even when I suggested a settlement of half the amount of my 12 month membership that I stopped using after just 5 months. I was told I signed the contract and I was stuck. That prompted me to contact my attorney, as I see this sort of negotiation in business everyday. I told my attorney I just wanted this group gone and never to have access to my finances again and was willing to settle to make that happen. He read my contract and found the only issue the club doesn’t protect themselves from…my only recourse in the event of the club not delivering what it promised was forfiture of my membership and return of all paid moneys already paid to me…the way Minnesota law is written I was able to fortiet my membership with time served and the cost of my attorney which was minimal compared to the aggrivation events and adventures caused me. You might want to look into the way your state law reads…Good luck

Thank you! This post has been the most helpful..Good luck to you all…

The phtrase that stuck with me from talking to the rep on the phone was “quality professional”…frightening in a Stepford Wives kind of way.
I’ll be cancelling my interview. Thanks!

Thank you for posting these comments. Something seemed wrong to me as well so I’m glad you provided me with more information. It seems a shame because it is a great concept. Perhaps am honest person could give it a go? I mean why not pay as you go with a small fee to the organizer? What does it take to schedule a trip to a museum or kyaking?

And a follow-up. After I politely e-mailed to cancel my appointment I never received and confirmation or reply of any kind. Class act this group.

I signed up for them. I went to their new singles mingle in the Seattle area and found the group to be snobbish. I have since asked several times to cancel my contract as I am not interested in particpates. They of course refuse. What a rip off.

I so appritiate all the information I’ve read thus far. I will still keep my appointment, in the St.Louis Park, MN office and tell you of my findings after the interview.

Wow – Thank You, Thank You. I just got off the phone after sending an email to this company. Prior to the call, I was excited about the prospect of a fun single club. I could not hang up from the “telemarketer” fast enough. I have spent my entire professional career in Sales and this organization could use some tips on how to talk to and approach future clients. I was anticipating being told about the club, what type of events the hosted, how frequently new events were added vs. recyled from the previous month. None of that, all I heard was very personal questions about my status, job and finances. When I asked their retention rate ( as they told me they would answer any questions on the phone except cost), the representative from the company was extremely confused and blamed me. Saying they didn’t use terms like retention or renewal in their industry. My gut insticts when getting off the phone was to run and after reading all your comments I am running faster……….

Thanks

Yeah, I bought into it to try to get over a bad relationship and start in a new place. It was awful, awkward, expensive, the people sucked and after they overdrafted my account several times, I started petitioning to get out of my contract. I had to forge documents saying I was moving out of the country and become a general nuisance with regular phone calls/stop payments so that they would finally let me go.

I kept hearing the commercials and seeing newspaper ads about Events and Adventures in the South Florida area. Before reading the reviews on this site, I emailed E&A that I wanted more info. I left my home number but did not return their call. They finally reached me on a Saturday complaining that I had not returned their calls (1 call) and expected me to rush over immediately for an interview. I decided to be open minded and go for the interview as I was told they had a choice of membership terms. I was hoping that I could get a 3 month or 6 month membership to try it out. When I said “yes” to everything to get the full details, I found that the shortest term was one year at $1,600 plus $25 monthly. I told them that I would have to think about it as I don’t buy anything without taking time to think it over. Then the high pressure came in to play. While I do not consider the salesperson nasty, I had to listen to her tell me how I was wasting my time and making a mistake by not joining today. Now I am glad that I read more of the reviews on this club and will let them know that the jig is up if they do a follow up call.

I recently joined the E&A in DALLAS! And to be honest I love it, I have been a member for 3 months and the events have been fun and I have already made plenty of friends. I know that the price seemed high to the most of you and it did to me at first as well, but then really I was spending 100.00 a week for 2 nights out and that was dinner and drinks, this only costs me 100.00 a month and I have something to do every single day. I just wanted to meet new people, have fun, and that’s what I’m doing! I don’t know what the events are like in the other offices, but DALLAS is a BLAST! And I haven’t had any financial problems with the company! I know you can’t please everyone, there seems like there always have to be a few that complain, I know this since I own my own Retail business. I get complaints about the clothes and then some that buy constantly. If your a negative person, you’ll only have a negative comment and a negative response.

I’D RECOMMEND E&A IN DALLAS

A word about E&A in Dallas…I live in Arlington, TX and joined E&A in Dallas last June. I was given the same sales pitch as mentioned above that there would be “plenty to do” and that there would be “15 events in MY AREA per month.” The sales rep in Dallas was clear that there would be 15 events in the Tarrant County area, versus Dallas County area each month. This was not the case. The first six months after I joinded there were 6 events in my area and that includes areas just outside Tarrant County which I consider close enough to not be more costly than it’s worth. I was looking for new things to do and people to meet and thought this would be a fun way to do such a thing. I am currently disputing my contract with E&A due to the Texas Deceptive Trade Practice Act and E&A’s failure to deliver on the 15 events per month in my area as stated by their sales rep and in my contract which states, “as a member we will make available to you fifteen (15) events per month…” Their sales rep sold me on 15 events in my area. As also mentioned by someone above, the cost are more than I was originally told. Not only do I have my monthly fee, but most events have between a $20 – $40 fee. What does my $3600 cover? How much is clean up and set up? Most of these events are karaoke and wine tastings that have a limit on the number of people who can attend. The bars are not being rented out for A&E. I know this for a fact; having friends in the industry. Rip offs are rip offs and everyone is out to make a buck. I’m just out to inform. There are better ways to meet people and enjoy life! Beware of E&A.

I joined Events and Adventures ten days ago because I was looking to meet people after breaking up with my boyfriend. I was appalled by the joining fee. I am a part of a young adult Jewish group which is mostly run by volunteers and all you pay are the fees for events. The lady who signed me up said because of the screenings they do for members and since they have “paid staff members” at all events that is why. I have been to three events so far and have been quite dissatisfied, but unfortunately it is too late for a refund. The first event was marketed as a “new member icebreaker.” As a result, I thought it would be small and friendly, but it was 50-100 people at bar and the event leader just stood at the entryway the whole time. The next night, I went to a dinner and comedy show and the event leader was 90 minutes late. Finally, I went bowling on Friday night and was late because I got lost and no one in my lane talked to me. If it weren’t for one of the men in the next lane, it would have been a miserable evening. He is leading the next event, and I found out from him that the event leaders are not “paid staff members,” but members of the club and all they get is to attend events for free. The bottom line is I have found Events and Adventures to be a rip off and would recommend singles find other ways to meet people or spend time relaxing at home, reading and watching TV. Being alone can be fun sometimes and does not cost money!

When I read Sara’s comments, I was surprised that I actually met her at that New Member event. Yes, there were about 80 people at the event. That’s a bad thing? You get a chance to meet lots of people or just sit at the table and wait for people to come to you. Were people unfriendly to you at the event? One of the great things about that evening was that everyone there was single. The exception was that the Event Leader had her b/f there. She, btw is paid. She’s a primary person for the Events. She was standing at the entryway so she could greet anyone coming in late. Why she stayed there 2 hours later, I do not know. Unless people came to talk to her. See, when I was ‘working the crowd’, I made a point to go to them. They weren’t going to come to me. If I want to meet new people, I’m going to venture out and introduce myself. I have done that at many of the events and it has worked well for me. Will I find Mrs. Right? I don’t know. But if I don’t venture out, they aren’t going to come to me.
That’s too bad that the event leader was late for the Comedy night. Did you have a good time anyway? It doesn’t need to be about the event leader. It’s about you having a good time. Did you meet new people? Did you find them interesting? If so, then I think your goal is met. Even if they’re not the one you are interested in, they will introduce you to other folks at upcoming events.
It’s totally your prerogative to sit at home. E&A is a place to get out of the house and meet new people. They’re all in your same boat too. Yes, it’s pretty pricey in E&A. But when I decided to join I decided I could not afford NOT joining. Seriously. This is a place where I can enjoy friends and relax. Going to bars every Friday and Saturday night until it closed was just getting depressing. Getting out to experience new and cool things with other singles is the best thing for me. I know that I excel at the relaxed environment of E&A. Will I meet Mrs. Right in the group? I don’t know. Will I meet lots of singles who I might have things in common with? Yes. On top of that, listen for invites to things external of E&A. I’m going camping this weekend with a group to the Cape and Martha’s Vineyard. They’re from E&A. There’s another group whitewater rafting Columbus Day weekend from E&A. and they’re doing it together external to the group. As you meet people, you get to make new friends. And as you make new friends, you find new activities to share with them. And maybe one of them will be your Mr. Right.
Make E&A work for you. Find events that promote interaction. Hitting a movie as a group doesn’t do that. Going on a hike or playing pool or going to King Richard’s Fair DO allow for interaction.
Make the most out of the group, Sara. And btw, there is someone I want to introduce you to that was at the events. When I see you and him there, I’ll intro you.

I was looking for a way to complain about E&A and warn people away. This company uses high pressure sales tactics and double speak. I actually went in for the “interview” for the heck of it so I could really see what a rip off this all was. Everyone else has covered that already, but I was actually offended by my sales person “Angela” in the Clearwater, FL office. She started asking VERY personal questions about when my last relationship was, when was the last time I went on a date, why did I think that the relationship didn’t work out, etc. How is this information necessary for them to conduct business? I also thought that their justification for the high cost of everything was funny. Apparently if you make people pay $1600 – $3600 it ensures that you are seriously committed to being a member of their group. Also when they tried to sell me on a $100 dollar a month plan and I didn’t bite, Angela told me that I wasn’t a good fit for their exclusive high quality singles group. You are sooo correct Angela – I’m not dumb enough to fall for the pile of feces that just came out of your mouth!

I personally believe that the 2 people who sang the praises of E and A are employees of that organization, or people in denial about how they were conned out of their money. They have to convince themselves they weren’t screwed. I mean how could ALL of these people complaining just be being negative ? I am now paying through the nose for services I am not receiving. At the time I agreed to their lifetime membership, I truly didn’t think I’d ever meet Mr. Right. But I did. They told me that I signed a contract, and they figured he could die or break up with me, so they felt my lifetime membership would be beneficial. I am being hounded by a collections agent now. It seems that I must pay them even though I have no use for the membership. I should have thought this out, and I didn’t, and I regret it. Plus, what kind of a legit business uses a contract like that? Here are some other rip offs from the club that haven’t been mentioned by anyone yet:
1. They had parties at their clubhouse for Halloween that everyone brought potluck, but still charged a 35 dollar cover charge. Where was that money going?
2. At pot luck games days, we still had to pay $5. Why? What was that for. The event was at the clubhouse.
3. They failed to schedule many awesome events that came to Houston. Cancelled at least three events a month.
4. I paid $65 to see a musical. My ticket, which I was given when I arrived , said $45.
5. They would promise awesome activities, but when we arrived found several times that we weren’t going to get what was promised.
This is a confidance scamming organization!

Thank you all – I just made my interview appointment today and then thought, “maybe I should see if there are any reviews…” This coupled with the negative ones on Seattle CitySearch – I now will be canceling my appointment in the morning. You’ve saved me time and frustration. I’m sorry for your experiences. Thanks again!

I don’t know about the rest of the cities, but I would not recommend Atlanta’s Events and Adventures. They don’t advertise the price for a reason, otherwise no one would go in on purpose for the hard sell. And don’t believe what they tell you about the demographics! If you’re female, you’d be lucky find any males to talk to. Plus you quickly figure out they’re single for a reason, so much for their careful “screening” process! I chalk signing up to my own stupidity, and trying to think out of the box to meet new people. But when I asked to be released of my membership for the remaining 3 months because I am unemployed and haven’t been to an event for 4 months, as the events are getting costlier, the only response was a question on how I’d like to pay the remainder of my dues. The idea in theory is great, but Atlanta is only after your money! Don’t do it!!

I cant thank you all enough for posting this information about events and adventures. I am fortunate ( but unfortunate) that I SIGNED UP ( yes, its crazy for me to think that i did) but later cancelled a day later after doing my homework and looking at the poor reviews of this company. Let me be the FIRST to tell you, that if you want to cancel you have 3 days ( YES 3 DAYS ) to do so or else you are bound to this company for a YEAR!. To sign up was EASY but getting out of the contract is HELL. No one in the organization knows where to go… customer service is horrid. I called the Minneapolis branch, which told me to call seattle branch which then told me to call the Minneapolis branch. Why couldnt anyone help me in cancelling my membership?? I couldnt be the FIRST person in history who wanted to cancel. I figured that they wanted to give me the go around so that the 3 day period would be up. No way. I then drove to the minneapolis branch and hand delivered the letter stating that i wanted to cancel my membership. The front desk “offered” to place it on my sales persons desk, but I MADE SURE THAT I PUT IT IN HER OFFICE ON HER DESK MYSELF… i became a bit suspicious when she told me on the phone that there was no way to cancel through the minneapolis branch yet offered to place it on her desk when I was present. This whole experience has been very frustrating. DONT JOIN THIS ORGANIZATION !!! I am hoping to get my refund asap. Can anyone tell me what my nexts steps should be if i DONT get my refund?? no one seems to know in this company! help!!

I hate to say this Y, but there seems to be no way out. They know where they are covered in contract law. Maybe if enough of us write to expose shows like 20/20 or 60 minutes, they can do a story on this scam. Showing them for what they are, and saving would be scam victims money. Or we could write to our local news program scam busters. I’ve also found out that the kind of people who work for E and A have been fired from banks where they worked. Well a few of them anyway. I think this group should be exposed.

I happen to thing events and adventures is a blessing. I am having a great time with them here in Nashville. We have a good sized group, and I have met a lot of great people. My goal was to improve my social life by getting out more. I have done that. I have also gone to things I never would have gone to by myself – making myself more well rounded. It was worth every dime I paid for my membership. I am having an incredible time

Update —–What should I do?? I had handed in my note withing 3 days, and yet, i am still waiting on my refund. According to the contract, you should receive your payment within 10 days of signing the note. I contacted my sales person and she confirmed that she had faxed the request over to the seattle office. It has been 10 days. I have called and called, and still I am getting the go around . I really really really need the refund now more than ever before -economic times are hard. I did the proper protocol yet im getting screwed in the end. if anyone has any suggestions (possibly a class action lawsuit, or appearance on 20/20 i would like to join.) preciouskitten85@yahoo.com . I cant believe this is happening to me

Thank you EVERYONE for showing what a scam this is! I relocated to the Tampa area 3 months ago & when I heard about E&A on the radio today I thought it was the solution I was looking for in terms of meeting people in a new city. Dummy me, I went to their website tonight & “applied” for more information before doing the google search… Now that I know what their game plan REALLY is, I have no intention of going for any “interview” – let alone answering the phone when the initially try to contact me!

I’m noticing that these 1 or 2 positive statements about E and A always pop up after a large bundle of negative reviews. This last one lacked in detail. It was too simple. I suppose its possible someone wanted to share a good experience. But why would you want to bother with something that simple after seeing all the negative reviews? Wouldn’t you want to give loads of positive examples to offset the negqative ones? Plus, who reads these reviews? I’m thinking its people who want to research the group before they make a desicion. The only people I can think of who would cruise the reviews to disagree with them would be the owners and staff of E and A. Why would a happy member google reviews? I just want all of those people who are considering joining to resaerch this organization well. Do not allow yourself to be fooled by what may or may not be bogus positive reviews. Research, research , research!

I thought I would write about the subject too being a E&A member or should I say ex E&A member. Honestly the group does provide a much needed active social life if you were like me: single with all your friends are married or in serious relationships. Most of the other members I met in my time with the group were just like me: single, friendly and…well, male. I cannot say that E&A has a good ratio when it comes to men to women. Unless you like cougars and you are in your mid to late twenties. Being in my late twenties I found it extremely difficult to meet anyone my own age and when someone did show much most of the other guys in the group would folk to the young meat like a pack of hungry wolfs. As far as the quality of the members go they are only as good as you will get. Most others I found sociably awkward and some were just plain rude. I still talk to a few of the current members and hearing that the “quality” isn’t meeting par. When it comes to the events you will see a good amount of repeats: Photo Scavenger Hunt, Drinking Events, Tuesday Night Trivia and the monthly New Member Ice Breaker. Sadly, a good number of these events you have to pay a fee to get into them which they DO NOT tell you when you sign up. And a great deal of the times they end up being $30 and sometimes even $75.00! Before I decided to move away from the group I realized that the events are only as good as the people who attend them. If you do happen to find some cool people you can hang out with and have fun then it’s worth it. But if you are fixed on finding a serious relationship through this group well then good luck. They will tell you that E&A is not a dating service but I think that most people are there just for that. If I could go back I probably will have not signed up because the minimum cost is at least $1,000 with a $300.00 deposit and have to pay monthly dues which is charged to your credit card each month. For the amount of money you will pay you would expect to get better quality events and people.

If you do decide to meet with a representative he/she will pressure you into signing up. I would say if you feel like leaving LEAVE! They will try to sweeten the deal but it’s not worth it. WALK OUT if you feel this is way too much of a commitment for you (though it’s not much of one).

I expressed interest in E&A, based on their Web site, and was invited for an interview at the DC location. I arrived early and was immediately ushered in. The E&A rep asked all sorts of personal question, repeating obsessively how “solitary” my life was; I apparently did everything alone, even though I actually do go out with friends on a regular basis. I thought that I was getting info on a singles group, but realized I was being vetted based on my income and paying potential. I repeatedly asked for info on fees, but the rep ignored me and continued her sales pitch, all the while bemoaning my “solitary” life. Then she left the room, to make a phone call, and returned to let me know that I qualified! Then the rep explained the cost associated with the programs. However, once I told her that I did not make snap decisions and would have to think about my options, the hard sell began in earnest. When I refused to make a decision and told the rep that, she said that I was “too aggressive for the group and would not make a good fit! Wow, talk about judging someone you just met 20 minutes ago.

I was lucky that I do not make snap decisions.

People, realized that anyone/group who will denigrate one person for their own personal gain IS NOT worth it. Run for the hills and tell everyone you know to do the same.

Thanks for the warning guys! Was going to waste my time with the interview but I changed my mind. I’m glad I read about it first. I agree with the meetup.com thing. Lots of good interest groups!

I joined the Tampa group of Events and Adventures in May 2008. It has been a total rip-off!

Their screening process is bullshit. My friend joined 1 day before me. She went down for the interview and of course, they managed to sell her on the whole deal. At the time, we were both in a dating rut and looking for something new. So when I called the next day, they didn’t make me come for an interview. Once I told the girl what I made financially, that was enough for me to be considered a good condidate to join the group. Rigerous screening process, whatever!

I was never told about the 3 day cancellation policy. If I had know, I would have gone to 3 events in 3 days to determine if I wanted to stay in the group. Why not have a 3 month or 6 month membership period also? A year membership is alot to commit to. Also, why don’t they offer a 5 event or 1 month trial period? It is so ridiculous to expect someone to make up their mind about something like this in 3 days. I didn’t have a chance because no one told me about the 3 day period.

On the phone I was also told that the group had a lot of members my age. I am in my mid 20s. At every single event I went to, I was the youngest person. Most of the people were around my parents age. If I wanted to hang out with older people, then I’ll just go home to hang out with my parents!

I don’t see where there are any discounts to events either. Why am I paying $125 per month but then I also have to pay m own way to some events and others cost me the same price as if I had signed up for them outside of E&A?! I went to a sushi making class at Publix awhile back and had to pay $60 for that. That is the cost of the class anyway. Where is the discount on that?!

My friend and I have not been to an event in about 3 months and do not plan on going to anything ever again. This group is a complete waste of money and time. We will be contacting all of the local Tampa news stations to tell them how horrible this group is and hopefully to warn all singles in Tampa to not give this group the time of day or any of their hard earned money!

I dont know what to say…..I’ve e-mailed them my interest in joining E&As 3 times….and I got a call after 3 days…..then I went to the interview too…

The sales rep was very friendly…my age is 25 so I’ve asked how many people are there of my age……there are 850 members in Tampa area in total..and 38% are of my age (25plus or minus 3) youngest is 23 yrs….

I was not tempted but…even before going to the interview I was commited join since i had moved to Tampa 6 months and I dont have so many friends here….

The total money to be spent is around $2000 for 15 months…..I’ve asked her each and every detail like within how many days i shud inform them to cancel the membership…..

The group seemed good and signed up……..i had to pay &120+25…every month….

I did some research after signing up (including this page), I could not find any negative review about Tampa group….

Finally I did not want to risk my Money on something I dont know at all….(becos $2000) is a lot for me (i suppose for everybody)…..so I’ve given my request in written in request to cancel my membership and having no trial period is the main reason for my decision….within those 3 days….there no interesting events….so I didn’t go

$2000 is hell lot of money to experiment on…..not only that….for each event u attend to….u have to pay from your pocket…one thing is true they are after ur money

there is another club in Tampa “Eventful Connections LLC”….I am going there this Friday (free invitation for single)..and check that out….

I know it is going to be comparatively cheaper than E&A….wait for my review on next Satday…

Thanks for posting your experiences! I had contacted E&A via the website a couple of weeks ago and I’ve been called OODLES of times ever since (I’m not home when they call, so I keep coming home to their voice messages).

Getting the repeated phone messages is what turned me off. Discovering this webpage puts the icing on the cake. They will NEVER hear from me!

One word pretty much sums up Events and Adventures…SCAM!!!! DON’T DO IT!!! You’ll regret it!!!

Being in Advertising and Marketing for more than 10 years, I typically over research everything. Unfortunately in this case, I failed to do so and am SOOOOO paying for it!

I contacted their Dallas office to get more information but, little was given. I tried to press them on giving me more info regarding their membership fees, demographic information, etc. and they were very evasive. Not knowing anyone in Dallas and tired of spending so much time on my own, I thought, ‘what the heck, they’re not that far away, I’ll go check it out…what do I have to lose’? Last famous words. I was taken in by the sales rep., the number of photos with cute guys and the other excited suckers in the cubicles next to me signing up to become a member. They wouldn’t let me take the contract home to review it further, they didn’t explain anything to me about the 10 day cancellation period and other important information that could only be found with a microscope at the bottom of the contract. They have definitely dotted their “I’s” and crossed their “T’s” when it comes to contract law. They made the hard sell about receiving additional months FREE if I signed up then and there.

I tried several times to contact their customer service department and finally decided to call the person I originally spoke with on the phone who said he’d see what he could do but, had never heard of the company letting anyone out of their contract including…and, get this…a mother who recently lost a child in a fatal car accident and was in a state of deep depression. Apparently, they told her that they could not release her from her contractual obligations and that it would be ‘good for her to get out of the house and be social’. Talk about HEARTLESS!!!! Of course, I never heard from him again.

Due to economic hardships, I have no way to pay the minimum amount they require each month and, as such, my credit rating is in the toilet.

I will definitely be contacting the individuals above who suggested a class action lawsuit or getting in touch with 20/20, 60 minutes, etc. In the meantime, I plan on commenting on every blog, contacting every advertising vehicle that’s running their commercial, emailing every consumer advocate group and anyone else who might STOP this group’s SCAM.

If anyone finds a way to get out of their contract, PLEASE let me know.

Does anyone know of a Class Action against these people for unfair and/or deceptive sales practices? I am very interested in pursuing and am actively seeking an attorney to discuss this with. They scammed my mother in law into joining – my wife agreed to foot the bill because my mother in law approaching 60 is short on cash… will provide details to legal representation. Their representatives response to my attempt to resolve our dispute was, “I have it writing..what do you have”

Кртуо!:) Но есть и минус небольшой! У меня скорость интернета 112 кбит/сек. Страница грузилась около 20 секунд.

Thank you all for posting the comments. I am new to the Twin Cities. I have heard a lot of advertisement of E&A and was really tempted to call. The concept looks interesting, but of all the comments I read, only 2 are possitive.

THANK YOU for sparing me (and many others) the hassle of this experience.

This has been the biggest mistake I have ever made. A complete SCAM!! DON’T DO IT!! High pressure to join. You lay out waaaaaaaay too much $ for what they deliver. Why they are still in operation and have not been sued by many is a mystery to me. They lied about the average age of the members. They lie about their events. The quality of the events is reason alone for a lawsuit!

I read above where they told the girl the average age was 20 something and she found the ages more like all 50′s and up. Well I was told the average age was 35 – 50 and they were all young enough to be my kids. I talked to a young guy at our first event. They told him ithe average age was age 20 – 35.
…So they tell you what you want to hear to coerce you to join. One woman joined it and they never charged her once for her monthly payment! They never figured it out, even though she attended about 4 events before she realized what a joke it was. They forgot/failed to charge her credit card. After I left she said they were extremely disorganized in many other ways too.

If there is a class action law suit, I would do it in a heartbeat. Please let me know. Would like to get more info on this.
Now I see these liars have been involed in bank fraud as their previous occupations. That sounds about right. Pretty low taking advantage of people’s loneliness. What comes around goes around…..
Watch out E & A!

Greg and others who may agree with him:

If you liked E&A, fine. However, the problem is not with E&A as much as how they handle business.

If their motive was to merely hook singles up, they’d be up front about their cost. Would you like to be called 100 times for something you’re not interested in?

This is one problem with America. If anything is for profit, it’s OK in the name of business and capitalism. I highly doubt that it is impossible for E&A to function without trying to turn people upside down for pocket change.

BTW, I have enough money for three E&A subscriptions.

I JUST joined E&A Saturday the 13th… Now today the 17th my job just announced layoffs, so of course I called to cancel my membership immediately.

Now it is the VERY last day for me to cancel. So the sales rep was telling me that i had to have a certified letter to them by today. It’s 6pm and I’m re-reading the contract. The contract also states that you can cancel by certified letter within 3 business days or by “other means” that verify the date of cancellation.

So I asked the rep if an email would suffice since it would be date and time stamped. She said yes, but she had turned her computer off and was about to leave. NOW all the contract said was that the “other means” just had to be able to be verify that the cancellation was post dated within those 3 business days. So I sent my email to E&A, and now I wait to see what shady business they will try and do to keep my money. BASTARDS! I wish I never joined them. I’ve not even gone to any events. I’ve only been a member for 3 days. LOL. They are ridiculous! I can’t wait to see what drama is about to unfold. PRAY for me. lol

No way out of the scam!

I really wish I had read the reviews before getting sucked into this scam. I’m going to be out thousands of dollars for stress, irritation, wasted time, energy. If I could give them negative 5 stars, I would. This is what I have dealt with: 1) They couldn’t follow the agreement on the contract regarding what card was to be charged and when. 2) When I called about the first incorrect billing of my charge card, I was told that the number was deleted, and then the following month they magically charged it again. 3) They constantly sent the calendar of events to a Michael Carpenter at my address. There has never been nor is there currently a Michael Carpenter at this address. 4) When I sent in my letter requesting termination of my membership I received no calls or letters saying that I couldn’t terminate my membership. I had to call a few weeks later to find out. 5) I found out after driving hours for an event (more than once) that the number for the person hosting the event was really just for the club house. So, there was no one to help me find where the event was if I took a wrong turn and both my time and gas were wasted. The few I did attend were not very good. 6) When I was forced to go to snail mail to pay my monthly bill I would get the bill on time one month and then I wouldn’t get anything the next two months and no call about where my payments were. I had to call and find out what had happened. I’m not sure how on earth my address would be correct one month and not the next. 7) Most recently they are off as far as my billing is concerned so (in the intest of keeping my credit clean) I am taking it over and sending them payments with a statement of what I have paid so far and what I owe them. I basically have to pay my way to freedom from this scam. If anyone knows of a class action, I’d love to join it.

Pros: none, but was a good idea

Cons: You name it, its bad

GOOD NEWS!!! i actually got out of my contract! Yesterday was the last day that I could cancel and get a full refund. So I called my rep as soon as i got home around 6pm. She tried everything in her power to assure me that I couldn’t cancel my membership, even though it was my last day to do it.

She repeatedly told me that the contract states that you have to cancel by certified letter by the 3rd business day, which is true. BUT, if you read further in the contract it also says that you can cancel by “OTHER MEANS” on that 3rd business day. That means you can walk in the office and hand deliver a dated letter OR you can send an email with your wishes to cancel.

All they need is a written form of cancellation, by the 3rd business day, from when you joined that can VERIFY the date that you canceled. So last night I hastily sent my email, and hoped for the best. This morning I was unexpectedly greeted with an email from my E&A rep stating that my cancellation had gone through and a FULL refund would go back to my credit card. YAY!!!! One of us has conquered! Good luck to everyone else locked in a membership, money struggle with these LEECHES!

Thank you all bloggers! If not for your reviews I would have blown a few hours of a Saturday (today) getting interrogated.

For all of you who believe you got sammed, here’s an idea that might help you recoup any monies you have loaned to “E&A” for their “offer” they offered for value.

Since you made them a loan, as the creditor you can recoup the loan you loaned them. You who tendered assets to them are not the debtor, you are the creditor. You can use the irs form 1099oid to notify the irs that you loaned them money as a creditor. What this does is add a refund to your 1040 return and makes the IRS your debt collector to go out and collect the amount loaned to the E&A.
groups.yahoo.com/group/RedemptionByMethod/messages for more info

Thanks for the warning. I was also told I was the average age (49) of members. I googled just to find out the cost, but after reading these entries, I will cancel my “interview” scheduled for this evening.

I joined just out of college, and was told that people my age would be in attendance at the events. Not so. I am 22, and there are no members under 30. Like many have said, there usually are pretty sizeable fees due for each event. We had pool (billiards) and bowling. Whopee! A member asked me, ‘What are YOU doing here?” If E and A were any good, they would not have to act like timeshare salesmen. Hope I don’t offend anyone, but, have you tried to sell your timeshare? Or, have you told a timeshare salesperson no? If it is such a great product, why are you having to strongarm people?

I would love to thank everyone who commented about this club. I heard about E&A in a radio ad and thought it sounded interesting. One of my New Year’s resolutions was to get out more. I thought this might be the answer. I checked out their website and found it really lacking in information. I wanted to know a little more so I filled out the little boxes. Several hours later I get phone call from Sally in Seattle (I’m in Minnesota) and she just went on and on and on–making “jokes” while trying to get personal information from me. Whenever I could get a word in edgewise to ask any question she just gave me the run around. I was so turned off by her non-stop talking. But when she mentioned the screening to belong to this so-called “non-dating club” I’m like, forget it. I refused to set up an interview. After I was finally off the phone with her I googled E&A reviews and found this site. The very first post I saw had my conversation almost verbatim. Hearing everybody else talking about the price and all the other problems makes me so glad I didn’t give out any more information than I did. If all I have to deal with is nagging phone calls I can live with that. Thanks so much for all of the comments and warnings!

Has anyone on here been involved in the DC area events? I signed up last night and now I am really wishing I had researched it more. I really did not like the hard sell, but finally she gave me what I wanted which was monthly payments instead of a full payment. Haven’t gone to any events yet, but was wondering if anyone in the DC area has gone through a horrible time or great time.

I heard about E&A on the radio last week and I signed up for the interview and went to it. I agree that it was a sales pitch like some others have described above, however, that’s what I expected before I showed up. Yes, they’re in the business of making money — I’m not surprised/bothered by a sales pitch. It comes with the territory. I hope they do make money — let’s move on…

Here’s the full sales prices for anyone that I was quoted: $1,595 for 1yr membership; $1,895 for 2yr membership; $1,995 for 3yr/unlimited membership (they say you have “free” renewals with the 3yr membership, so it’s effectively a lifetime membership). Each membership requires additionally requires a $25/month continuing fee. Each of the memberships also have a feature allowing you to “freeze” your membership for a period of time (for example, you can freeze a 1 year membership for up to 3 months if you are travelling out of the area and cannot attend meetings, essentially stretching your membership to 15 months.) Each membership also allows you to bring a certain number of “guests” to events (which could be expected to be a recruitment tool for adding new members). I was told that the ratio is 60/40 female/male (favorable in my situation), and that the age range is 20s to 50s, but that 30s is the sweet spot (again, favorable to me). Everything that I am quoting here is representative of Boston, btw.

Again, nothing that I’ve laid out above is particularly unsettling to me. If the product is good, then the price is reasonable. My issue is that I have no way of assessing the quality of the product. I think there was a high expectation on the saleswoman’s part that I would “buy-in” right there on the spot, and feigned surprise that I would not do so. Salesy, but so what? I’m a big boy. I told her “not today.” After thinking about it for a day or two, I came up with a list of questions/requests that would help me find comfort in the due diligence that someone of my experience needs:

1. I want to attend an event once and see what the attendance is like, talk to the others that attend and get their feelings on the activities of the group. This is what they are selling — access to the events — and like a drug dealer, the first taste should be free if you know it’s addictive and I’m going to come back for more.

2. Economy sucks right now. Layoffs could/are happening. If I “invest” (loose term) $1,595 money into the club in Boston, but find out in six months that I have to move to a new job in Dallas/Seattle/etc., is my membership transferable?

3. I want a copy of the contract to read for a day or two before I sign it. There’s no reason to sign a contract that you haven’t read, and I want to know — in advance — everything about how that contract works. This is still a business transaction, and frankly, I have little sympathy for people on this blog that didn’t know what was required to cancel a membership in advance. Ask for a copy in advance before you sign up and READ it! If E&A won’t give me a copy of the contract they are going to ask me to sign, to hell with them…

That’s it. Really #1 is the big thing, because I could get a sense of what I’m buying rather than rely on the sales pitch. And those in attendance could really help fill in the blanks better than this blog does. I agree with one of the earlier posts that comments that this type of blog tends to attract negative reviews because satisfied customers are unlikely to seek out a blog like this. I would expect that the people that do attend the events would be biased in favor of E&A, but the only way I’ll know that is by getting to attend an event and I can ask my probing questions (I’m an auditor, and I expect that if E&A reads this blog, I’ve given them plenty of information to postively ID me at this point) to find out what is real and what is not. As I sent an email to the girl I interviewed with a week ago requesting to attend an event (I am so far unable to find an actual member and cajole them into inviting me as a guest) and have not yet received a response. To me this means one of two things: 1) She/they are just plain disorganized and can’t keep straight their communication with a serious prospect (which, I am); 2) Their events really suck so bad that they are confident that I won’t join if I attend one event for free, so they aren’t wasting their time responding to my request, which is a sign of being unprofessional. (BTW – I would pay whatever the “cost” of the event is — not expecting them to pick up my bar tab!)

If I do somehow end up joining this club, I’ll try to remember to come back here and post again, but hopefully this post is helpful to those that come after me. I will not likely come back to this site if nothing happens, but if you have any follow-up questions (or want to meet up for Friday drinks at Clery’s Bar in Back Bay!), you can send an email to my junk mail account: wackojacko1997@hotmail.com. Most spam gets filtered out, but I’ll set a rule to allow the subject line: “BOSTON SINGLES”.

Don’t give up people! And do not let arrogant, braggarts like the above poster make you believe you deserved this. Its almost like the guy is saying it is ok for this group to scam as long as there are those out there who make mistakes. Not true! I keep coming back to this site because I’m hoping somebody presents a way to expose the scam and stop it. Or at least warn others. I cannot believe someone would say that a scam is just a way to make money, and that its ok. Gee I wonder why that guy is single. lol.

I’ve been thinking about joining this group myself. I called last May for info and when I didn’t commit, received a phone call a month. Some of the messages they left gave me the creeps. Exp; “Hey Lisa, how ya doing. Your name came across my desk and I was wondering how you’re doing?” Huh??? I am so glad I decided to research. Thanks you guys!

Thank you for this posting site!!! I had been getting a daily call for the last week from a Mary from a long distance number, after putting in for more information for the Nashville area. I work in customer service and was already getting a “sleazy used car salesman” vibe from her halfway through the call.

First, the site doesn’t offer much info, as already mentioned. Then, we get on the phone and it’s clearly a script. She’s making fake small talk, asking my age, behaving overly enthusiastically to every answer I give her and just coming across as trying too hard.

After telling me numerous times about the quality individuals and screening process, she asks about going downtown for an interview, because “they are very selective, which can be a good thing, don’t you agree??” Then she stops long enough to say, “How does that sound?” At that point I feel like I haven’t been given any new information – a sample calendar is on the site, and I haven’t been told a peep about pricing, etc. I flatly say, “That sounds like a sales call to me…” Her tone changed after that. She said, “Well, I could tell you it’s $10 a month, but regardless, we’ll make it work for you..” As a sociology major, I couldn’t help but wonder about that psychological tool of suggesting $10 a month.

She gave me the office hours for interviews, and when I told her I was already booked full this week (the truth), she told me they only schedule the current week and not the future weeks. I was given the option of calling her back or letting her touch base with me. After reading this board, I’m SO glad I told her I’d call her back… which I won’t be doing now. And if she tries to reach me again, I’ll be telling her I’m no longer interested. It’s almost creepy that you Google Events and Adventures class action and almost NOTHING appears.

I’ve been especially stunned to read that on top of the lump sum and the monthly fees, you have to pay per event – no thanks! For anyone that’s interested, I’ve met some good people on MEETUP.COM – you join local groups based on interest, when they have events you RSVP yes or no, and it’s all free… sometimes you may need to pay for your own game of bowling, bring a potluck dish, etc. but it’s usually held at local places or members homes and it’s free to get on the site, be a member of any group and be kept up to date on their events. I joined a group that does movies and dinner every other week or so and you just pay for your own movie and dinner. There were almost 50 people there.

Good luck to those of you who are stuck in the contracts, I hope a class action lawsuit comes along for you, it’s sounds justified!

Ok, so no I DO NOT work for E & A I work for a shipping company, yeah you know those things that float on the water….I know i’m being a bit testy, sorry, but i’m reading all these reviews and feeling quite defensive, and while i have had my negative moments with them I will tell you about them I have had some great things happen too. I’m 28, I joined E&A a few months ago because I’m new to the area, and don’t know anyone. I really hate going out to bars alone, HI SINGLE FEMALE HERE! I needed something where I was going to be a little safer than that. I got hurt at work, and the doctors told me staying home was not the best thing for me, I needed to go out and do things, its hard to go out and do things when you don’t know anyone. ok, so i know like 4 people here, but thats it. Trust me I was skeptical going into this, it took the woman a good two and a half hours to get me to agree to anything. But I knew in the end it would be a good thing for me. And it has been I have met some great people, yes most of them have been older, (sigh) thanks for scaring all the guys my age off!!!! Man I’m going to be single FOREVER at this rate! There are creepy folks there, but there are alot of really worth while folks, once you crack their shells, LOL alot of the club seem not to be extroverts its kind of odd. I have made some very Good friends that I know I can depend on for anything now. The activities can be a little lame sometimes, but when you have people you know, its not so bad, we just sit back and mock, we look as it as opportunity to get out have fun and get together, heck most of the time if what ever we are doing is that bad we blow that popcicle stand and go out somewhere else, as a group. In general we go out afterward as a group anyway, or atleast invite everyone to meet us out afterward somewhere.

now my issue with E&A comes in that they have yet to charge me my monthly membership fees, uh yeah, they have my credit card number are suppose to be charging it, yet haven’t been, and yet still have been sending me collections notices…. so if you do join, (if your in your late 20′s male I recommend you do cause heck i want a handsome man in my life to ravage when I’m home from work! Did i mention I have winters off?) [NO I"M NOT SALES PITCHING I AM JOKING!!!! I'll duck now]) really REALLY keep an eye on if they are charging you or not!

But it is alot of fun! New Years was fun, GlassBlowing was fun,got to see Valkryie before it came out FOR FREE, Yoga was fun, decorating party was lame, coffee crawl was ok, science with a twist was fun {i got to tango!}, Zoo lights was fun because of who i was with, but i only do about 6-8 events a month when i’m home, now that i have friends outside the “club” to go do things with.

They are a great resource for people who are new to areas.

Meetup.com is a better resource to meet people. See, like it was mentioned by another on here, in Meetup, you only pay for the activities. There are many free and really cheap activities. Plus you always get a group discount. I found that Meetup pretty much did all the same activities as Scams and Adventures. But the difference is that with Meetup you do not pay an almost 2,000 dollar membership fee and dues on top of the events. This was mentioned. But I want to remind everyone since we had a poster say E and A was a great way to meet people. All of those events that she mentioned are also events that Meetup does. Plus, obviously, from what the last poster said, there aren’t many men in E and A ladies! You know what also? Scroll up and go to a few other sites about E and A because there are sooo many people who say they were turned over to collections and were not even charged or charged on the wrong card. Now we have yet another person(the poster above) who is going through the same thing.

Uh, no there are plenty of men at E and A just not many in the under 30 selection. or in the my type section. Otherwise if you are in your Fourties or Fifties, You are set for men. If you are in your Twenties looking for a guy in your Twenties, or even in your Thirties looking for a guy in your Thirties your out of luck….There really are not that many.

Sadly, this afternoon, I joined the E&A club BEFORE reading the available reviews…and before reading the back of my contract!!!

I have read many posts about folks having trouble cancelling their E&A contracts. My contract says nothing about a 24hr/3 day grace period. In fact, my contract says that the only conditions under which I would have the right to cancel are: 1. the event that I move more than 100 miles from an E&A office, or 2. the event that I DIE!!!!
I would be SORELY interested to hear of any situations where folks successfully cancelled their E&A contracts.
Please email me personally at odie17@hotmail.com, and put Cancel E&A in the subject.

Thanks SO MUCH!!!

I just made an interview appointment with the Mpls club, and will be canceling it. I appreciate all of the comments on this site. Even if this is a good way to meet people, the sales tactics and cost will keep me away. I also checked the local City Search page. There was one review–a positive one from someone in Seattle–as I said, I’m in Mpls. Below his review was a “thank you” note from the company for his review, and a sales pitch for their travel plans. The woman I spoke with on the phone asked a lot of questions about my travel habits, and pitched the travel quite heavily. I’m assuming this means it must be where they make most of their money.

I actually went to the interview and signed up!! How stupid is that. I signed up for the ongoing which ends up being a total of $4200. By Texas law, we can cancel a contract within 3 days of signing, so I knew I had at least 1 night to think about it. Then I read the agreement which states that you have to send a certified letter within 24 hours to get a full refund of the $200 I put as a down payment. But if you wait the 3 days, you have to pay an extra $500 for interview fees and such. I am sending the certified letter today in hopes they will cancel & refund my money ASAP. I even called the office to tell them I was cancelling the membership. After the sales rep talked to me about “High-risk pregnancy” because I am 30, and asking “Do you really want to be alone?” I finally just said “I want to cancel my membership, please.”. After that, she asked if I sent out a certified letter, I said no, then she said that it needs to be stamped by today and then hung up on me. Extreme rudeness & pushy. If I won the lottery or came into lots of money, I will NEVER try that place again.

Wow – SOOOOOO glad I googled this place!! I was wondering why I hadn’t heard much about this ‘singles’ club in the past. I thought it sounded too good to be true. The lady called me the day after I inquired online and was annoyed that I couldn’t talk to her that minute, she had called in the middle of the work day, sorry i have a job!
Thanks so much for everyone that posted on here. I will be cancelling my appt and hoping they don’t haunt with follow up phone calls!

I just purchased http://www.eventsandadventures-sucks.com!!
I recently moved from Kansas City to Tampa and had been trying to figure out new ways to meet people. I had a huge core group of friends back home and had felt like I forgot how to make new ones.

So I checked out Events And Adventures (Which in Tampa is Lots Of Events.)

In Kansas City I was a club promoter and worked in the concert industry so I know a thing or two about planning an event.

Long story short I got sucked into this scam. In the interview I told the woman what I had done for a living and she acted so excited and made me feel like I would be planning events for them (Which would have made the service free for me…supposedly) I was also told that I could pay by the month and if the service wasn’t for me, it wouldn’t be a problem.

So I said screw it, I thought it would be fun, I’d meet new people get a chance to network, and help plan some events.

To say the least I was wrong.

(I’m 26 by the way)

I was the youngest person in the group by almost a decade and I had never felt so uncomfortable in my life. I’m a social person by nature and the way these events are done, it’s just weird…But I gave it a little bit of a chance and attended 3 events all in the first month. Same deal, weird environment, no one in my age bracket and just extremely uncomfortable.

So I contacted the office and informed them that I no longer wanted use their service. They told me that I could take a “Break” or “Freeze” my account but I would be expected to pay for the duration of my contract.

I immediately hung up the phone, and called to shut of my credit card so they couldn’t charge me anything further. (I had already paid $150 + my “event expenses”) Which I feel is more than fair for what I got.

I then started to get calls from people asking me for new billing info. I blew them off for a while and then I got an email.

— On Wed, 12/10/08, Sharon Earley wrote:

From: Sharon Earley
Subject: Events & Adventures
To: wi_llc@yahoo.com
Date: Wednesday, December 10, 2008, 2:47 PM

Hi Will,

In response to your e-mail, unfortunately since you have passed your initial first three days you will still be responsible to pay your membership fee and dues even if you no longer want to participate with us.

You still owe for November’s payment and your December payment is due on the 21st.

If you would like to remain active in our system and participate in events, please let me know. If this is a bad time for you I can put your membership on a “freeze” status, but either way you will still be responsible to pay your payments.

Please let me know if you have any questions. Have a good day!

Sharon Earley

Events & Adventures

An Activities club for singles

Phone: 727-210-2760

Fax: 727-210-2761

email: searley@lotsofevents.com

http://www.lotsofevents.com

My Response….. (Keep in mind I was a little frustrated)

Well considering the fact you guys don’t have a way to charge me that might be a little difficult for you unless you expect me to voluntarily give you new payment info (Which isn’t going to happen)

I attended three events and it was extremely uncomfortable, not fun and as far as people of interest there were none. In fact most (I didn’t see or meet one person under 30) of the people in your program are much much older than me. I mean, I guess I could try and find a cougar sugar momma…but I don’t think you want someone doing that to your respectable clients.

Ultimately long story short I’m not going to pay you. I sent the email merely as a courtesy.

I feel I was greatly mislead by what to expect from your service and after seeing what it really is am in no way interested.

I will how ever bring by the $22 (In cash) for the rock climbing event that I did attend if you really want.

Thanks,
Will

This all happened a couple of months ago and I just got a call today from someone threatening to garnish 25% of my income. I’m an independant contractor so that won’t happen but I’m sure I’m going to have a hell of a time dealing with credit for this.

The whole thing stinks and no one should have to go through this. I bought the domain which I will optimize so that every time someone does a search for Events and Adventures it will come up. I will be writing a blog about the company, and linking all of the sites like this one to it as well. Please feel free to post and leave comments.

Also if anyone has any info about civil (Or any other) suits against them let me know I’m more than willing to help.

Thanks,
Will
wi_llc@yahoo.com

sigh sigh sigh. i am one of the suckers. i wished i totally found this site first before i got suckered into this. It all started when i went to a singles event (free) and apparently somehow events and adventures got my telephone number from that. thats when all the hounding calls started.. atleast 2 times a day. And.. of course like everyone else has said.. they dont want to give you any info on the phone.. and want you to drive to their “clubhouse” to talk.
being the stupid one. i figured.. okay. i’ll hear what you have to say. I get there.. and i am waiting for atleast 40 minutes before someone sees me. (what the.. like my time is not important) then their “member” talks abt how wonderful the organization is.. makes you fill out some survey to find out abt your self. goes thru all the things to make sure that u are not married or was a criminal (i could have lied abt the whole thing) i think she went on abt all this for atleast 30 minutes.. and then that’s when the dues came out. i nearly popped out of my seat..
1 year 1795 itinal, then 30 a month each month. 3 year 2495, also 30 a month, lifetime 3995 and there is no monthly. in my deal, i can get 300 off any of the packages if i signed that day. I asked why is the member ship fees so much, and i was told that way it can weed out ppl that didnt have money. oh.. but they take credit cards..

i was super hesitant. i didnt even have a credit card on me when i went bc i didnt think i would i have pay anything. all i had was a ck book that probably shouldnt have been used. but the lady was willing to take the ck and have me call with the credit card number. i felt that i was pushed into buying something i really didnt really want. but being the push over.. i couldnt say no.

BIG MISTAKE

THE TRUTHS:
there is an event every night of the week.
it can range from movies, bowling (lots of that) outdoors stuff, eating and drinking (lots of that)
the good is that you can sign up for trips as a group and meet other e and a members from the USA. trips are such as costa rica, china, austrila.. etc.. but i dont know if the prices were jacked up

almost all events you have to pay something.. anywhere from 10-what ever
i dont understand that.. some events i understand you need to pay ie:sky diving.. but what does seeing a movie at the clubhouse have anything to do with paying 15 dollars

You do meet some ppl:
i’m a girl. and i met lots of nice women. they can range from divorce girls starting something new, or young professionals. everyone is really nice, but let’s be honest.. part of joining is so you can meet ppl of your interest..
and maybe turn into something serious.. you really dont need more girlfriends.

so the guys.. the events i went to .. they were all much older. and some were super creepy. most of them seem like they just like to drink.. so i honestly dont know how real any of the ppl are.

totally on the side.. atleast in the houston club. about 95% of the ppl are causian, not that it matters, but if you are not into interracial dating.. it might not be for you. if you are not white, you’ll stand out like a sore thumb

the times/locations– this is one of the things why i can never make it to any of the things. the events are planned super far from me. it looks like most of the events in houston are planned within the vincity of the clubhouse. houston traffic is crazy.. i dont know how i can make a 6pm event.. when i get off at 7pm. and even if you dont make it to the event.. you are still paying for the cost.

the events: you gotta do the work.. they provide the enironment, and it’s up to you to go out and connect. they keep saying the more events you go the btter it will be. but if you are a very shy person.. good luck on that. so the jest.. you get a bunch of loud ppl all over.. talking over each other.. being fake.. and everyone is grouped almost like little clans. the thing i remmeber the most is i saw the girl that sold me the membership a week after i signed up with her.. and even though i had a name tag.. she didnt even offer a hi or a hows things going. A BUNCH OF FAKES.

my membership for the year ends in april. i cant wait. biggest mistake of my life.. perhaps if i had money to just throw away i would feel differently.. or… if i had a liver that can drink away.. or i can eat away without gaining any weight than it would be different.

I hope this review helps out. i know everyone has so many others above. but i just wished i had read before i got suckered into it.

I moved to a new city and wanted to meet new people, thus I joined E&A. I have only gone to one event, but the people I talked to were disapointed. One woman I talked to was 32, I don’t think there was another under 50 there except me. I need to give it time, but I think I made a mistake. I can attend similar events from meetup.com for nothing.
One thing I did do different than most here was that I negotiated. It was $1900 with monthly fee. I haggled them and did get it down to $1400 with no monthly fee. EVERYONE should get a discount. If you don’t, get up and walk way.

I JUST signed up in Houston two hours ago. I was so unsure about it,, but she pushed and pushed. I am in a voulnerable position right now, and am one of those transparant ppl. I feel i got conned,, taken advantage after reading all of this. I don’t know how good it is,, or how bad,, but I definitely did not like them pushing, after having me crying in her office. Still to me,, it was amazing how she read my personality to a T. THey are pros. I must say,, but cancelling tommorrow first thing before i can’t get a refund. It was just wrong,, very insensitive,, very kniving,, all the prices mentioned above were right,, cant get out of a contract after 3 days,, withing three days,,, 400 penalty,, within 24hrs,, full refund,, after 30 day processing fee. another catch i just read on the contract,, first come first serve,, which means,, if you don’t sign up on time,, you can’t go. there are 1800 members,,, might get quite competitive,. IT’s true what was mentioned before,, its good that ppl are screend,, per say,, but it also states in the contract,, that they do not conduct investigations for criminal backgrounds. so all this bull, about making sure you’re a decent person is also bull,, its just to get you in,, and make sure u make the $$. wow,, i thought i was neutral,,, the more i write, the more upset i get. I should stop,, I think this is enough info and hard facts.

I want to start off by saying I am sadden to hear how many people got scammed by this company. Like you I was intrigued by the ads and thought a singles club who does more than drink on a Friday night would be a great change of pace. I am like most of you where I moved to a brand new city in my case South FL and I barely know anyone. I’m 24 so I cannot lean on college and I’m stuck hanging with my co-workers all the time. That’s not always bad, but it’s also not always good either. Anyway, I signed up for an interview and did some research. I was so appalled by what I read that I felt I must go on this interview and see why a human being could be so heartless, so I went. My sales person, Karen talked a lot and asked some very personal questions. Being that I wanted the whole story I reluctantly complied. I told her how much I was paying in rent (well I lied) and lied about how much I make at work and I even gave her a bogus social security number just to see what this screening process was all about. After she gathered this information, she disappeared into another room only to return with a big smile on her face exclaiming that I have passed. LOL. What a joke! The only real thing she had of mine was my drivers license, yet I passed the screening… come on now… I think she could tell that I wasn’t buying her BS so she continued to try to convince me further by turning statements that I previously made to her in the form of questions (sales people do this because they want you to start saying yes). Like for example “so do you think this will be a club where you will make friends?” Well, clearly my answer is going to be yes because in the beginning when she asked me why I wanted to join my response was “I’m hoping to make some friends.” You see how they get you? It’s a shame people manipulate you like that, but it’s all about the dollars. Speaking of money, once she got to the membership portion I did my best to avenge everyone on here. Once her spiel was completed and she asked me if this is something I’d be interested in I said, “Let me ask you a question.” She said “okay.” I said “do you enjoy your job?” She said, “Oh yeah, absolutely.” So I said, “so you enjoy scamming people out of money?” And she started to speak and I cut her off and said “Are you really that heartless of a human being? How on earth can you sit here and sell me something that I can’t even sample first? Not only that, how can you put me into a contractual obligation for one year and tell me it’s non-refundable? It must be hard to look at yourself every night.” and she cut me off and said, “Well obviously John this isn’t a club for you.” I said. “this isn’t a club for anyone. You took a brilliant idea and used it to take advantage of innocent people. I don’t even know how your still in business” and she said, “Well, we have branches all over the country so it looks like we are doing pretty well, huh?” And I said, “You’re doing well because you aren’t giving back monies that clearly aren’t yours and you’re going to be doing even worse because I am going to make sure I tell every single person I ever meet about how much of a rip off you…” and then she cut me off and said, “John, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” And then she escorted me out and that was it. I know it’s not much and she will shrug off my words tomorrow morning, but it was something and if there is any way that I can help any of you bring these scam artists’ down please let me know.

This club is a great idea and it’s a shame that we all can’t put our heads together and make a “real” singles club, one that’s affordable and consumer-friendly. I’m going to try and do some research to find out if there is a way you can get a hold of 20/20 or 60 minutes. I work in advertising, so I have a couple connections that I will utilize to try and expose this story and hopefully help everyone get their money back.

Feel free to send me an email regarding this unfortunate issue. Hopefully we can work together to bring these jokers down.
thatdude115@gmail.com

I was just curious if anybody out there has been able to find any legal loop hole to get out of their contract. I have been in for three months in the Washington D.C. location and I want out.
Thanks,
Will
Willtd81@yahoo.com

Will, I was wondering that too. There seem to be no lawsuits out there on this subject. These ppl know what they are doing it seems. Basically their business is legally scamming ppl.

Probably the best thing I did today, was reading this review page !!! Thanks to all of you, for taking out time to write the reality. Being all alone in Dallas ,though not new, I was about to explore this option, but getting to the website first warned me. Given that there is really not much on the website, except for stock photos (where everything’s good and rosy), I had the same concerns like what would be the costs & what about the true picture. Just googled and glad to find the real opinion (and most recent too). THANKS, THANKS, THANKS……. and this part, I can’t say ebough

I heard their radio ad a while back and thought I might like to try going to a few events. I submitted my contact information on the web site. They called and wanted me to come in for a interview that day. I could not get a price out of them either. She asked me how old I was. I am a 51 year old man and wasn’t sure if there were going to be any other older people there (I won’t be doing any sky diving). She told me that most of the members were women and that the average age was 47. Yeah right! I said I had things to do that day and couldn’t come.

Don’t do it. At this time I have filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau in Washington regarding their business practices and am having a lawyer review the contract and whether or not its actually legal. If in doubt, file a complaint! The more voices out there the better!

Oh great…just signed up for this last night in Atlanta. Should’ve looked around first. I just contacted a friend who is an attorney to see what the rescission period for GA contracts is. We think it’s 3 days as well although looking at the back of the contract there is no 3 day period mentioned. Also called my credit card company as the charge hasn’t even hit yet. Will keep you posted.

Attorney just called back…3 day rescission period is true. I should be okay to stop this.

Okay so to update. I saw an attorney and unfortunately here in Texas the contract may be binding however you can argue that it was an unconscionable contract (since a. I never got a copy of the contract) also did you know you signed away rights to your personal information when you signed this contract? Uh huh. Yeah Just to let you know! So since this is the case I intend to seek out my personal file (since I have a right to it) to see what data they have on me. I am currently negotiating via the Better Business Bureau and if worse comes to worse I’ll take it up with the Attorney General’s office in Texas. If anyone else in Texas has been affected by this, I might petition for a class action law suit. If you’re interested in participating, please leave a message here to get in contact with me.

I would most definitely be interested in joining you on this. You may get in touch with me at Userkat68@yahoo.com.

I am in Texas and would be interested in joining anyone in a class action law suit against Events & Advertures. I am at the point of taking them to small claims court. I got nowhere with the BBB and filed a complaint with the Attorney Generals office. They don’t litigate but will take action on behalf of collective legal interests of the people in the state. I have been working with a lawyer and going back and forth with this company for 2 years! They’ve ignored my attorney (thankfully she is doing this pro bono so far) If this si a serious consideration I will give you contact information.

Here are the names of all corporate officers.
So far I’ve had no resolution. They responded to my BBB complaint with the same old canned response. Basically, ignoring my complaint. I will not give up without a fight.

JGB SERVICES CORPORATION
600 UNVIERSITY ST #3600
SEATTLE
WA
98101
President OWEN , MARK
EAGLE , ID
From WS STate Deparment of Revene
TAX REG NUmber 601275216
Legal Entity Adventures Northwest Inc
DAVID L BENSON
600 UNIVERSITY ST STE 3600
SEATTLE
WA
98101
Vice President STEVENSON JR , L 600 UNIVERSITY STREET
SUITE 3600
SEATTLE , WA
Vice President LONE , RONALD
Vice President BATEY , DOUGLAS
Vice President HOPP , RICHARD
President BENSON , DAVID

Man, these reviews sound exactly like the process I went through. I had my interview/grilling last night in the DC office. I had also been to the website and found the information vague. I got a phone call after submitting information to the website. She told me she was calling from Florida, as they handling the scheduling for the DC area. The way she mentioned my name in every other sentence sounded a bit plastic to me. She then mentioned the ‘membership packages’, and they had conducted personal interviews to ensure I was not an axe murderer – ok, this made sense to me. I went on the interview knowing that I would not sign up that evening because I wanted to know the cost first, and whether it would be worthwhile to attempt to budget the cost in over the next few months. I make a good living, but do have bills, and wasn’t about to pay for this membership on the ‘lay AWAKE’ plan (laying awake at night wondering how I was going to pay this). Well after all the personal questions, including how many credit cards I had, I was given the prices – the ‘holiday’ discount was $1000. I would have to pay $300 down last night, and $46 per month. She also showed me the price list of three other membership packages. The 12 month membership was $1595. She told me I would be saving $600 by joining right then. Then came the classic line, “Think of what you can do with the $600 you are saving.” Is she kidding? When I told her I didn’t have the money today (last night), her response was,”Well you can put it on your credit card.” I thought that took a LOT of nerve. I told her I was trying to pay my credit cards down. WELL, her response to that was, “You are paying them more than the minimum. They can wait.” I know, I couldn’t believe it either (she must work part-time for a credit card company, with a response like that.) I told her I would be in a better position in a few months for this type of membership. She then said, “Well, we probably won’t see you again. This is the last time we will see you. Approximately 60% of the people we interview join.” Here is the best part. She then said, “We don’t have time to interview people twice. We can’t have people coming in over and over.” Ok, why would you have to interview me again??? A few minutes earlier you said I was a great candidate for your group. Since I expressed interest for the future, and you have exposed how money-grubbing your company is, why wouldn’t you elect to follow up with me in a couple of months? Woudn’t you just make an appointment with me so I could pay you? I didn’t ask her this, because at this point I was done. I got up and said, “Ok, good bye.” I stuck out my hand to her to shake, which she barely did. She said, “Bye” in a very condescending manner. Do you think she walked me to the door of her office or to the door leading out? NO. IT’S FUNNY HOW THEY SCREEN FOR ‘PROFESSIONAL’ PEOPLE, BUT THEY DON’T ACT PROFESSIONAL IN AN INITIAL INTERVIEW!!!! So now, instead of me telling people, “Oh, I didn’t join because it was out of my price range at that time, but the organization seemed ok” I will be telling everyone I know to STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY, especially after reading other review about problems with getting out the contract. I will be contacting the radio station where I heard the ad as well. I am sure they would like to know.

All of you need to put file your complaints with the BBB or ATtorney General’s office. You can do this online. If I file a suit in small claims I would appreciate anyone willing to stand up and testify along with me.
I will keep you posted.

I am glad ppl are being helped by reading all about our terrible experiences with this club. I wrote about a month ago, and my situation was that I joined this group reluctantly, I regreted all night,, and canceled the next day. I even missed half a day’s work just to make sure I got to the post office on time, sent the certified mail with return address and a letter canceling my contract formaly. After the 30 day ‘processing’ period I did get my money back. It is a terrible scam,, but i think it is legit, and I think it is VERY difficult to get out of once you join. Best of luck to all those who were swindled by them, my heart goes out to you. I am right with you with being new and wanting to meet new ppl and make new friends. I will now stick to meetup.com and other free meet up group like these. =) GOD BLESS!!

Sales – General
I was looking for info on thursday, and 4 phone calls later went in for an Interview on Saturday… I told the lady Straight away… I will not be writing you a check today. No matter your offer, I do Not Write a check when I am looking for more info. I was given pretty Vague information and altough it sounds Like fun… And I can afford it. I am not really sure what I would get for my 1795 plus 30 per month.

Although I found a listing fof a sales job to be intersting… You are being SOLD by a sales person that Happens to get their Member ship for free. It’s not a personality match by people who want you to be a fit for their club. As you will see in the text copied below. It seems like they really like people who already know how to play to peoples emotions and short commings wth prefered experience in, Weight loss, Time Shares and dating services. Ha ha they even tell applicants do it this week or you will miss out!

Pretty happy that my father taught me never sign a contract on the first day.

About the Job
Are YOU a Superstar Sales Closer? The World’s most FUN sales job! (St. Louis Park)

——————————————————————————–
Do you enjoy the thrill of the sale? Do you enjoy really making a difference in people’s lives? How would you like to work for an exciting company where business is actually booming in this economy?

Events and Adventures, the adventure club for single people with 15 years of history in the Minneapolis/St. Paul market, is in need of a full time Superstar Sales Closer. (Only proven CLOSERS should apply. Must truly enjoy interviewing people, learning the intimate details and emotions surrounding their social and love lives, and having fun ! We are hiring the position this week, so you must apply now.

Experience in DATING SERVICE, TIME SHARE, WEIGHT LOSS, or AUTO SALES is preferred but not required. Whatever your sales background and experience is from, we need to see that you have a great track record as a closer. Must be open to training and coaching to our particular sale. This is a fantastic job where you will be able to make a lot of money. Reps in this job in other markets are making $70k per year. You can make that happen for yourself here in the Twin Cities.

Hours are 11:30a-9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, Saturdays from 8:30a-4p at our St. Louis Park location.

Our company offers benefits such as medical and dental benefits, a very generous commission structure and a free membership to our adventure club for singles. Base or commission, whichever is greater, and there is no cap on the amount of commission that can be earned. The successful rep will be hired as acting manager and may be promoted to manager, depending on performance. Show us that you are a closer during your interview, and we will reward you with the job of your dreams TODAY!

This job will not be available for long! We are hiring this week. Email your resume TODAY! After you have emailed your resume, you may call xxxxxxxxxxxxx

I have a friend in PR who suggested I contact the investigative reporters at all the Dallas news stations. She gave me the contact information. I will need others in the DFW area who would be willing to be quoted. If interested please send me an email at eadispute@gmail.com. Also if you know of other sites that have reviews about this company please let me know so I can place this post on those sites as well.

I reluctantly signed up on January 12th, 2009 in the Seattle division. I decided to cancel the next morning (bad feelings). They scammed me out of $400.00 for fee’s! I called and faxed my cancellation letter and sent it certified mail, but it must be certified within 24 hours or they keep $400! Don’t join. BIG SCAM! Let me know on class action law suit if anyone is partaking in one! ericaharkin@hotmail.com

Linda,

See Will’s comments on this post dated Feb 2, 2009. It contains three links to other review sites for E&A.

Linda,

My mistake. The review links are from Chris dated December 2008.

WOW, I’m glad I read all this today … I was signed up for an appt. this Saturday, but after reading I emailed and cancelled right away — I’m not good when hard pressed with sales, so I’m glad I got out of it before going in person!

Also, I have googled and generally find that people see it as a big scam … ironically, wouldn’t it be funny if all the people who post about how bad it is formed a single group of their own???? Just meeting at a bar and getting to know each other; no membership fees! LOL!

Hi Susan,

Great idea! I live in the Washington DC metro area, and would definitely be up for something like that!

I do hope all of you has contacted BBB. Only a collective number of complaints will be taken seriously. Also, I put a review on every site I could find. Try YELP if you haven’t. Most importantly, I am willing to take this to the media. I have been told that it would be best to find people in Dallas but so far no one has responded so I would like to hear from anyone who would be willing to back me up. So far only one person in Houston has been willing to step up to the plate. How about the rest of you? I will do the legwork I just need more support. Contact me at eadispute@gmail.com if you are mad enough to let other people know not to get involved with this company.

I drove 1.5 hours, which ended up being 3 hours and $15 in tolls because the directions they gave were so messed up. When I arrived, the woman who met me asked me to tell me a little about why I wanted to join and what my interests were. She told me she thought Id be perfect for the membership and said she had to ask some questions. They started off pretty normal- are you single, do you have debt, but then THENNNN do you have credit cards- YES, well what kind- I responded that I didnt know- She proceeded- Discover, Mastercard….I told her again I try not to use CC but had a few in my name. She proceeded to ask me if they were maxed out and I responded def. not. Then she asked what local bank I belonged to (I thought for payment purposes) and if I had a checking and savings account and how much I had in my account. She then told me she would need my license and a credit card or debit card with my name only on the card. Feeling pressured and distraught by getting lost, I handed them over. She closed the door and disappeared for a few minutes to photocopy my info. When she returned she said- well that was easy- here are your cards back. She then turned over a laminated price breakdown of the 3 fee structures. $1795 for 12 month- $25 DUES monthly and almost every event had a fee ranging from 20-50. The next fee tier was 2195 and then 2395 for lifetime membership. I asked if there was a payment plan and she said she supposed if I could put money down today- I asked if I could put $150-200 down and she said no that that was def not enough- it had to be at least $500 and why couldnt I put it all down on my credit card- one I didnt have it with me, 2 I had discussed that I was trying not to use them because I had some small debt to pay off, which was one of her main questions- if a person has debts. Anyways she did a fee breakdown for me and I explained that it was just me and I own a condo- she said it would be 100-130 a month if I could put $500 down- thank God I didnt bring my credit card- there was so much pressure, I prob would have given it to her.

When I set up the appt with them, they told me that there was 1 10am appt open and that there are never 10am availabilities so I should snag it. When I got there, there was no one there and there were no customers during my 1 hour there- and keep in mind I was about 45 minutes late.

I asked if I could take home the numbers and plug it into my budget. She wasnt too happy about that, but agreed and told me Id have to call her back the same day and even if she was with a client, she would take my call to get me started and access to the online calendar. Getting lost on my way home, she called my phone 3 times before leaving an annoyed message to call her back in the next 15minutes as she had a “break”. She never told me why she needed my card, what the pricing was before I gave her my CC, and I asked what events were in my area, and not just the city, Boston and she showed me 1 event on the calendar, which was in Boston- no attempt to show me what events were in my area.

I cancelled my card as soon as I got home for fear that theyd either steal my identity or charge my CC.

SCARY!

Oh and I forgot to mention, when I told her I would have to call her back, she told me she’d knock $200 off the price and give me 3 months “free”…

I had a similar experience to a lot of you and just wanted to say that the afternoon I spent at E&A was not only a huge waste of time but I left feeling very angry and upset.
The sales lady was rude and insulting and attempted to make me feel bad by saying things like I would become an old maid school marm (I’m a teacher… and only 23!) and that I would never meet anyone unless I joined.
The screening interview was a joke with no real point. The questions she asked were things like “So what do you think of us?” and “How do you meet people?” (followed by “so that isn’t working, but this will!”)
When I asked about price she REFUSED to tell or show me anything. When she finally did show me the outrageous 1,000 dollar prices I said I wasn’t interested. She proceeded to argue with me for another half hour. (Well you can afford a student loan so… and you need to value yourself and why are you making this so difficult?) Finally, I was able to leave and I asked for a brochure or something so I could think about. The snotty woman said “a what?! The website has everything!”
Finally she just turned to her computer said “fine. You can leave the door open” and ignored me. She was awful and the company was a complete joke.
Oh and that 1,000 plus price–you STILL have to pay for most of the events. What exactly would I have been paying for??
Stay away from this company–it is borderline at best.

Thanks for this posting! My mom called them and decided to go up for an interview. She seemed pretty excited about the whole thing. After she left I googled and got this page. After reading the first 5 complaints I called her on her phone. She wasn’t really that surprised. It seems like most things like this are too good to be true.
She decided not to drive all the way to bellevue, about an hour and 20 minutes from her house. I am very sorry that companies like this prey on people in their time of need.
If this posting hadn’t been here I am afraid that my mother would have driven all the way out there for nothing. I am confident she would not have signed the paper, having had many experiences with high pressure sales people before, but it isn’t worth the drive to even go to the interview.

I want to thank everyone for their posts, I am so glad i read this because i also was thinking about joining. NOT SO MUCH ANYMORE. Especially at their rate! Ridiculous..Anyone who is interested in meeting new people should go to meetup.com, there are plenty of social activities for people to participate in based on what your interests are. I highly recommend this site for anybody!

THANK YOU!

I was also scammed by this company. I stupidly signed an unlimitted contract for $3,595 in 2007!!! I know! what was I thinking??? the salesperson was very pushy and they really know how to push your buttoms making you feel like you’re joining this top of the line club where you’re going to meet awesome guys and you just have to join b/c if you don’t you’re going to end up alone and single for the rest of your life.

I paid $200 down, then started paying $80 a month and got it reduced to $50 a month. I’ve paid more than $1,200 dollars. I’m trying to get out of this contract. I only went to 3 events which I had to pay additional money. (new members introduction was to bring a dish- I didn’t! movie/dinner $20, cooking class $40) Pretty much all the events you have to pay what the heck is my monthly dues for? The people here were not people that I would want to meet, this was totally a waste of my time and my money.

I’ve thought about closing my credit card so they stop charging me, I’m just so worried about how this is going to affect my credit score and whether they can take me to small claims court and garnish wages to get me to pay. Can they do that?

I have no use for this club as I’m in a committed relationship. I asked if I could get out in the event that I get married and one person told me on the phone that yes I would no longer be required to pay the monthly dues but on an email they said I would not be allowed to attend events but I would still be responsible for the remainder of my contract. I also tried to see if I can get out if I move to a city that does not have E&A and they said since I’m still in the same state that I still have to pay eventhough I would have to drive 3 to 4 hours to a city that has the events!

This is a total scam and don’t know how to get out of it. If anyone has any advice, please let me know and if you’re thinking about joining please save your money and time and find other sites like meetup. Thanks!

Thanks everyone! I too was looking for ways to meet new people and get me off the couch! Yes – sadly, I must admit my only love affair the past few years has been with my couch!

If anyone has a better solution on where to meet quality, fun people – I’d love to hear about it. I’m not interested in a “dating service” – just an opportunity to get out and do some fun stuff!

Spoke with “Sally” from Seattle, but “Sophia” arranged my appointment for tomorrow. I was so annoyed with “Sophia” that I decided to search for blogs on E&A. I’m glad that I did. I will cancel my appointment and I am so sorry for those who fell for this trap. No one should have to pay that kind of money just to make friends or find dates.

Wow! Finding these posts AFTER going to a Dallas interview makes me wish I had searched a bit harder before going in the first place!

I went to A&E because I was interested in the adventure side of things: skydiving, whitewater rafting, rock climbing… the kind of things you just don’t do solo. I definitely wasn’t looking for dinner parties and Karaoke or even for a boyfriend. I can take care of all of those things on my own without having to pay for a membership.

It appears that I’m not their typical client. Half way through my interview the “member” interviewing me actually said that she didn’t know why I would even come in for an interview. She said that I didn’t need their services and that I, and I quote, should “get out of her office and avoid wasting your time or mine”. As if that that verbal slap in the face weren’t enough, she went through a full run-down of their pricing, topping it off with a $3500 Platinum membership – no expiration – no trial time – no refunds. As I was walking out she said, “BUT if you do decide you want to be a member, we would be happy to have you. It will just cost you more if you decide later.”

Actually, it will cost me NOTHING. I would never become a member after that insulting meeting.

Even after calling the corporate office to complain, I needed to get that off my chest. Thanks for the chance to vent!

I am so glad I found this post. I didn’t even want to find a date, I am just looking for some fun things to do. All my friends are married and sometimes it would be just fun to go out with a bunch of adults with no pressure. I think after seeing all these posts we should all band together wth what we would have spend if we had joined and start the kind of events club we really want!

Thanks for all the comments. My interview went the same way and when I said it was pretty expensive and I did not want to make a rash decision she said this was a one time offer. They said she was a member, but everyone that works there are members too. ya WTF to the tee. Seemed like a scam to me too. It would be better if they had a trial period. I am from the seattle area and into my mid 20′s. I was just thinking about starting my own club. If your just like me that wants to have fun, but do not want to pay a “monthy fee” contact me. Just a thought, seems there are quite a bit of people that just want to chill. hope to hear from you.

I got the hard sell during my appointment in Atlanta even though it was obvious that their events would be very hard for me to attend with my work schedule. Of course, they don’t give you enough information while in the interview to make a good decision and prey on your vunerabilities. Yes, I fell for it to the tune of $1,600/1 yr. That was the 1st of Feb and I still have not attended one event but have been charged for 3! I will not sign up for any events that have a charge because you cannot back out. I was told “probably half the events in any month have a cost of $10 or less”. Well that only means that you don’t have to pay up front. There is a cost for ALL events so WHAT DID I PAY THE $1,600 FOR???
If anyone can find or figure out a way to get out of this contract and retrieve some of the costs, please post it here. I will be checking back.
To anyone thinking about joining this club – DON’T DO IT!!!

Thank you for posting this information for all to see. What a total waste of time! I went to the Tysons Corner, VA office for their “screening” interview – more like pathetic sales pitch. The woman hadn’t even attended one of their events and was trying to sell them! She was angry that I asked the % of men vs. women in the membership, and felt I asked too many questions. She said that their events were worth the investment, as you didn’t have to question which way the members swung. The fee she gave was $1,500 – $2,000 – “depending on my financial situation”. She couldn’t even tell me if that was for one year or two, as she said she needed to ask me more personal information about myself and if I was “financially responsible”. This is a company that preys on weak people. TRASH!

I just went to my “interview” in Clearwater on Sat., May 2 and was excited to learn more about this opportunity. The business idea is fabulous. Then, I met the sales bitch. That was by far the worst voluntary experience I have encountered. I think I was so blown away at the HORRIBLE sales tactics. I’m also a sales person and do very well and use methods that are completely opposite of what they did. I’m fortunate that I went in ONLY for information, which I was told was the case. I was majorly mistaken. The bitch that “interviewed” me only wanted to know about money… showed every sign of a sleasy salesman and was more aggressive and pushy than anybody I had ever met in my life. In fact, my temper restrained ONLY due to sheer awe and disbelief. Initially I was told there were 3 programs, the first was the one year plan, and the most popular was the lifetime. So, I was only informed of 2 of the plans. Then I was told for the one-year, it was $2400. Much higher than I anticipated, but again, if it was all it was to be, I would definitely be interested. After her pegging me with financial questions, I finally said I would not be signing for anything today regardless of price. Then came the extra super bitch mode. She did tell me that she would give me a drastically reduced price that I was to keep confidential and not discuss w/ other members. I would get the price at $1200 plus a free year if I signed now (plus the $25/month membership fee). I figured the regular price was $1200 and this was just a scam to get more from me and that was confirmed after reading comments on this site. When I again let her know I wasn’t going to pay today, she rudely asked me “then why did you come in today?”. I said… I was told to come here for more information – NOT that I would be forced to sign a contract today. She began to tell me that “people like you are single because you procrastinate”. Wow. great sales tactic – personally attack me. Basically my story is the same as all the others. I left SO angry and aggitated that I had wasted my time and let someone treat me that way. I immediately called the 888# to report it, but after lookign online this morning, I see this is normal protocol. If I was given a free membership I would NOT be part of this. If this is how they run their business, I want nothing to do with it!! My way of gettng back is to expose this horrible company. I am SO blessed I did not go ahead and sign and i truly feel for anybody who did. Again, the concept of this company is great, but their business practices are pathetic. Please let me know if anybody has already started something and gotten a foot in the door anywhere… I’m going to try to find some way of letting more people know.

My email is horswmn97@hotmail.com. Please put something about E&A or something in the subject so I know not to delete it from junk mail. It sounds like the majority of people are unhappy and the majority can get things done!!

-Meredith

Thanks for the posts! Very informative and made me feel better about not even contacting them! I read somewhere that they are Owned by Great Expectations but I don’t know if that is true.

We have a club similar to Events and Adventures (may even be the exact company) here in St. Louis. I have no experience with them, but I DO, unfortunately, have experience with Great Expectations (GE). Many of the stories I read here about people’s E&A experiences sound very much like what I am going through with GE: high-pressure sales tactics, etc. Worst of all, though, they flat-out LIED to me about the nuber of female members they have in my age range. I mean, they weren’t even close. I am now having to work through the Better Business Bureau to try to get my money back. Avoid Great Expectations at all costs!

SO great to read all this. Just went tonight for my “interview” in Clearwater, Fl. Unlike Merideth I did not have a bitch, she was very friendly and funny, almost to the point of fake. I went into it knowing I would be facing some type of sales pitch, but have never experienced anything close to this. After a series of very personal dating and financial questions I was presented the numbers (ready for the sticker shock). So pushy and almost to the point of making me feel like I was not serious if I took a few days to think. She went on about how perfect I was for the club and she would not be trying so hard to get me to join if she didn’t feel that way… that she often times turns people down because they are not a fit, but oh how much I was a perfect fit.

I was offered the special (she shocked herself that she was offering it to me) $200 reduction and would be given a bonus 3 months. Combined with the 3 “freeze” months it would almost be like getting 18 months. (but duh, if you freeze 3 of your months you are not actually getting to use them, so really it’s still 15) After she broke down the cost into weeks I was made to feel it would be stupid of me to pass it up, afterall I’m “spending that much each week going out anyway”….

All in all, maybe there would be some good events and of course no one searches out a blog like this for positive reviews, but I still think I will pass and try to get more involved in other ways. No group should charge a high membership fee PLUS a monthly fee PLUS event fees. CRAZY!!

You would have seen me be a big proponent, but you will now see me as a big opponent of E&A.

I used to be a member in the Atlanta office, and being that my membership (1600 for 1 year, 1800 for 2 years, and 2000 for 3 years/lifetime), I signed up in January 2008, having been scammed by Great Expectations a few years earlier (but only for 500 bucks), I enjoyed my time with E&A, especially as I had become a member host, and was being paid $10 an hour in “Adventure dollars” or house cash for events, so I was able to attend many events for free, provided I checked people in and did the reports. I was enjoying my time in the club, and made many friends, including some of the staff.

However, I was called in one day, with the complaint that people were asking if I was dating a staff member, then also commented that they could not tell me who the individual(s) asking were. I wasn’t, and nobody had asked me if we were dating. I wound up hosting two more events in the next few days. The day following an event I hosted, the staff called me to tell me my membership was being revoked without refund. When I inquired to the reasons, the only thing that was cited to me that “there were several complaints”.. I said “The only thing that you ever told me was about that dating thing”, to which, they immediately changed the subject, citing a completely irrelevant topic.

Many of the members commented that I was one of the few member hosts that actually tried to be accomodating and welcoming to new members, as opposed to some of the other hosts.

I had amassed 200 Adventure Dollars in my account, and I immediately drafted a letter asking for a refund of my unused 3-year membership plus 200, for my services to E&A. I contacted corporate, and was told that I was in violation of 4 terms on the contract, only one (your behavior causes a disruption at events) would even remotely reply. Interestingly enough, I was given a refund of 600 dollars, based on the fact I paid 2,000 for membership, and used 1 year, which they deemed that 1 year membership was 1600, so they deducted 2000-1600 to get 400, plus the 200 AD they owed me, for a total of a $600 refund. On top of all that, once they canceled my account and password to view the calendar, They still charged me for monthly dues! (I did e-mail them, and they did reverse the monthly charges and closed my account).

To calculate a refund in that manner is not only incorrect, it is unethical. No real reason regarding my contract termination was ever specified. In reading the contract, there is very little defense for the member if the staff decides there is “an issue” with you. The staff can say anything they want, and give you no proof as to what they say. There is a clause in there that states “In E&A’s sole opinion”, and once you sign the contract, you are basically screwed if there’s any reason for you to try and defend your case/situation.

My experience of hosting events over the 8 months I was a member host, I found that over 95% of the time, the ratio was twice as many women as men.

The behavior of the staff at E&A is VERY Inconsistent and may change from one day to the next. There was also an issue where a member was charged for renewal when the member did not authorize the change.

I have found that meetup.com has many groups that do very much the same activities, and they are free.

One such case is that there was an event where E&A went hang gliding. interestingly enough, a meetup group went hang gliding to the same location, but later in the day. E&A cost? 130 bucks. Meetup group cost? 119 bucks plus $6 charge for paypal=125 charge.
So, while E&A says they offer great discounts, for this trip, it was more expensive, on top of having to pay the E&A $25 per month charge!

To sum up:
E&A: Inconsistent staff, has the “easy” option to not listen to your defense to try and be fair, to eject you and try to keep all your money, and still charge you. Also, it has been found that a number of events are actually MORE expensive if going through E&A, as opposed to meetup.

Whew! Glad I came home and did this search!

I just returned from my personal interview at Events and Adventures in the Tyson’s Corner/DC area. I left there feeling like I needed to take a shower.

I had the same experience that many of the people in this string did – with looking for information online and not finding much, filling out the form expecting an e-mail and then getting a phone call – with rather detailed personal questions attached. I got an interview scheduled for the same evening!

I did not have to wait long to be seen, but did have to fill out a paper that asked regular demographic information – like I expected. (And I went into the interview prepared for high pressure sales techniques). The interviewer was nice enough, but I didn’t feel like she was genuine – and I felt like I was in a therapist’s office – except that she conducted the interview from behind her desk – not exactly encouraging.

The questions that she asked were rather personal, and I almost got the feeling that she WANTED to make me feel bad because I’m single – Since I DON’T feel badly about this (although, yes, I would like to meet someone) the gut feeling that this was not all ‘above-board’ got stronger.

And then she asked me about what credit cards I have, how much their limit is, and how much I have on them – yikes – more red flags, but I told her (stupid me!). Oh, and she also asked for available savings – yikes!

She showed me the prices for the 1 year, 2 years, 3 years ($1600 first year and I think $3600 for three years, plus monthly dues $30 and fees for some events) and I said that I needed to think about it a while. I explained that I had had an amount in mind that I thought was reasonable and the quoted amount was not currently in my budget. Then she broke it down by month ($116) – which sounds reasonable at first, but that’s still around $1300+ per year.

This experience seems consistent with others’ experiences, so far.

The creepy part was that when she left the room to ‘send my background check to Florida and copy my license,’ I started to look around and noticed an odd ‘speaker-looking’ thing on the corner of her desk. I also noticed that when I snapped my fingers, the sensor lights on the bottom of this thing would light up – just like when itunes represents music visually. So I thought I’d just ask her about it.

When I asked what that thing was, she said, “oh, just something on my desk.” Well, DUH, I can see that! Then I got to the point and asked if our interview was being taped – she said no. So I took it one more step and asked if someone else was listening to our conversation – and she said no again – but by this time, I was standing up, asking for my license back to leave and she was sinking ever more deeply into her chair behind her desk.

I made a semi-gracious exit – thanking her for her time, etc. and saying that I would have to think about it. Turns out that if I do decide later that I want to go ahead with it, that I have to start from scratch – call the 800 number and have another interview.

I really would have considered saving up the money (my point was to not charge it, but to have the money ready – you know, the old-fashioned way:)) up until the point that the discussion about the thing on her desk happened. After that, I was outta there!

Back to Single Volunteers of DC (good group) and DC Young Professionals/Pros in the City – whatever they are called now (good group, too). I recommend both of these groups to anyone!

Now I know to Google something BEFORE I put myself into an uncomfortable situation!!! Thanks, everyone, for relating your experiences – both good and bad. I appreciate getting both perspectives.

-Kristen

I would like to first start off by saying that I wish I had seen this blog before I signed my soul over to the devil, aka signed a contract with E&A in Clearwater. I could just kick myself for falling for their sleazy sales tactics and pressuring ways. I’m usually very good at spotting scams like this, but I went to them at a time when I was rather depressed about my dating and social life, so I was vulnerable. I gave in to their “sign now or miss out on our special deal” bit and signed up for the 1 year membership on the spot. I even convinced my roommate to give it a try and they were so hell bent on getting money out of her, they didn’t even ask her to come in to interview in person. We have thought about taking this issue to the new stations, but as iron-clad as their contracts are, we weren’t sure if we would get anywhere with it. My last payment came out this month and all I can say is good riddance! Just to make sure, I did email Heidi at the Clearwater office and wrote the following:
I know my membership expiration is next month and I just wanted to make sure
that my membership IS NOT renewed. Signing up for Events & Adventures is one of
the biggest and most costly mistakes I’ve ever made. Looking back, I wish I had
the hindsight to NOT be suckered in and made to feel like I had to sign up right
away or I’d miss on some special deal. I was deceived into thinking this would
be a great investment in myself and that I would have a lot of fun and meet
great people MY AGE as a result. This was not the case at all. The events were
lousy, the age group was comparable to my parents’ ages, and I still don’t
understaned where I was getting a deal in paying $125 per month. This
membership has been a drain on my checking account and a total waste of my time.
I regret referring my best friend to the program and she also feels that she has
wasted time and money on this. We seriously considered taking our story to the
local news channels so that the Tampa Bay area would know what your organization
is doing, but from reading the serveral blogs online that relay over and over
what a rip off your business is, we knew the contract you have your unsuspecting
victims sign is ironclad. It is really sad that the only way you bring in
business is to prey on peoples’ insecurities and hardships and promise them a
great time meeting great people their age. Then once they sign that dotted
line, the true colors of your business come out, starting with the ridiculous 3
Day Cancellation Period. What the hell is this? Not only do you hide it in
your contract, you do not bother to mention it when you meet with people, so
they have no idea. How can anyone make an educated decision about mantaining a
membership when they do not know there is a cancellation option, nor do they
realize what a tiny window it is? At any rate, my friend and I will see to it
that we make anyone and everyone who will listen aware of your scheming and
deplorable practices and to NEVER be sucked in to giving gobs of money away for
nothing in return. I will breathe a huge sigh of relief when that final payment
leaves my account (even though I cringe when the money leaves my possession) and
hope with every passing day that the time will come when you operation is shut
down for good!

If anyone decides to after them and cut them off at the knees, I would love to be a part of it! I cannot wait for the day when we live in an E&A-free world!

-Rachel

I just keep hoping that karma will visit everyone who is a part of carrying out the E and A scam. In my opinion, the people who conduct the interviews are scumbags. I don’t know how they look themselves in the mirror. Anyway, like the saying goes, “What comes around, goes around.” I hope E and A gets that comeuppance soon!

Thank you so much for your comments!!! I actually have an appointment with them coming up but I wanted to check any reviews there were of E&A (I was thinking of even checking the better business bureau in order to check them out). So… this has helped out greatly in making up my mind in not joining E&A. I was a little apprehensive in even meeting them cause anybody who seems that perky on the phone, made me a little scared.

I’m so glad I went online today to check this out. They do have a great sales staff. I left without paying down any money but as she agreed, nothing would be final till I paid money down. I’m cancelling any further communication with them.

Anyone hang out on Long Island? email me and let me know momly758@aol.com

Thank you to all who contributed to this thread. I was going in for my interview next Saturday and thought I should do a little research. REAL glad I did. For those of you who were burned by E&A I hope you get some measure of satisfaction in knowing you’ve helped the rest of us.

Thank you so much for saving me the hassle of taking the bus out to their place for the interview. I was annoyed when they wouldn’t tell me anything about it all the phone, got suspicious and looked it up, and wow, almost everyone is saying the same thing… to stay far away from e&a. Thanks again

I can’t put into words how much I appreciate everyone’s blog. I had seriously thought about joining Washington DC’s E&A after seeing their ad in the paper and speaking with a sales rep over the phone. But as with so many of you, a red flag went up when she wouldn’t quote a price for the membership over the phone or allow a trial period. Still I was looking for a “safer” way to meet other singles, so I planned an interview for next week. BUT … being the skeptic that I am on such organizations, I googled it, and found this website! Wow, sorry to hear about the good folks that got taken advantage of by these crooks. I looked them up on the National BBB.org, and here’s some of what’s out there on E&A:

- E&A is aka “Great Expectations” (think someone already pointed this out).

- There are about 15 BBB nationwide reports on E&A based on state, and ALL of them report high volumes of complaints on just about every topic regarding: Customer Services Issues, Product Issues, Refund Or Exchange Issues, Selling Practices, and Service Issues. Most of them have a BBB rating of “F” (the worst possible).

- Found this warning in one of the BBB reports:
“Consumers report to the BBB that they pay up to $3990 for dating services with Great Expectations and services are not rendered. Consumers claim they are misled with high-pressure sales, social events and personal shopping appointments are consistently cancelled, and they are unable to find a “date” that fits their criteria. Consumers have been denied the right to cancel their contract within the 3-day “cooling off” period as stipulated by their contract. According to responses to complaints from Great Expectations, consumers are unable to obtain a refund or cancellation. ***Under the New York State Dating Services Law, if a dating service requires a payment of over $25, it must provide a minimum number of referrals per month. A dating service cannot charge over $1000 and a contract must be limited to 2 years. Companies cannot require the consumer to purchase “ancillary services,” like photo sessions and dating etiquette training. A buyer may terminate their contract without paying a cancellation fee within 3 days of receipt of the written contract.***”

(Based on the above statement, no wonder the E&A sales rep told me that they were *NOT* a dating service, that way they’re not limited to $1000 charge limit!)

- Here’s another one:
“Government Action(s)Back to Top ***In August, 2006, Attorney General Corbett of Pennsylvania announced a civil lawsuit against Great Expectations dating service for falsely inflating their success rate to consumers and not delivering services paid for. ***In November, 2005, Great Expectations was found in violation of New York State’s Dating Services Law by Civil Court Judge Diane A. Lebedeff, for over-charging for services and contractual issues. ***In February, 2005, Attorney General Phill Kline of Kansas announced a settlement with Great Expectations in which 86 Kansans would receive restitution totaling $215,000. Great Expectations admitted to telling potential members that the business did “criminal background checks” on members, when they knew that no such checks were performed; misrepresenting the number of members available to those consumers; and over-promising the consumers that they would get dates with a certain type or quality of person. ***”

No wonder Great Expectations changed their name to E&A, but now E&A has a bad rap as well. I’m sending an email today demanding that the E&A remove my name from their sales call list! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOUR STORIES!!! Because of your warning, hopefully other folks won’t fall prey to these unscrupulous predators. For those who lost money, I hope that a new class action lawsuit is filed against E&A to prevent them from ever doing business again (not even under another assumed name), and that some, if not all, of your money be refunded. -El

Thank you so much for writing all of this..I was about to make another huge mistake after already doing it once with “The Right One” which is exactly the same format as the E&A company. And I do have to admit has been one of my most monumentally stupid wastes of money I have ever made in my life. I went along with it, met some of the people, and have realized that they are basically just collecting my money, and did not really do the job that they promised me. The matches have been laughable….not one bit “compatible” their pool is tiny, I have been matched with the same dude twice….not very good records either I guess. So, I was suspicious of being once bitten twice shy with this E&A thing, and lesson learned the first time I would never fall for that same scam twice. I wish I could get my money back so I could have used it to some more important use, like actually going on a good date with someone I’m interested in and not somebody I have absolutely no chemistry with.

Wish I would have seen all these comments before I got scammed by E&A. They prey on vulnerabilities of people who are new to the area and also those who are lonely & hoping to find Mr/Mrs Right. They DO NOT screen for “quality singles” and DO NOT do background checks in spite of the fact that the documentation they present says they do. They say they do background checks to make you spill all your financial secrets and really like it if you are struggling financially. The membership plans are designed so that the more strapped you are financially, the more expensive a membership you will select. The “lifetime” (most expensive) membership is structured with the smallest down-payment and the smallest monthly fees, with payments extended over a 3-year period. The less expensive 1-year membership requires a larger down-payment and larger monthly payments. THIS IS JUST THE FIRST PART OF THE SCAM!!! Next, they outright lie about the membership demographic. I specifically said I was concerned there would not be members in my age group, 50+. I was reassured the average age was late 40′s. I am an attractive, personable, physically fit 50-something female who loves the outdoors. I showed up for numerous hikes at the Bellevue, WA park & ride and found myself surrounded by 30-somethings. Each time I showed up for a hike, I was surrounded by 30-somethings, and each time they were mostly brand new members on their first E&A event. What was most interesting was the few middle-aged men who had been members for 8 or 9 years that were there each time. I eventually learned that these middle-aged guys are “players” and prey upon the vulnerable new (younger) female members. Not only do these old guys hike, but they frequent the new member meetings, as their goal is to catch the new, most vulnerable 30-something members. Fortunately, most of the attractive young women I met had no interest in these guys and stopped attending E&A events after a few months just like I did. Also, like me, they were locked into a legal contract by that time. Well, that was nearly 3 years ago. I have 4 months of payments remaining and discourage people from falling prey to the E&A scam every chance I get. How do they stay in business???

I am seriously indebted, like others, to those who posted their experiences on this site. I am glad that I took the time to investigate further before heading into my interview…yes I am aware that you have heard this from other posters, but it makes it no less true for me.

Resp.

Doc

I wonder…would there be any legal recourse with E&A claiming they do background checks, and it can be successfully proved that they don’t? Could that be defined as contract violation?

[...] Although I have not found bad reviews about the Minneapolis branch, I have read several bad reviews about other Events and Adventures franchises, so I encourage members of the Minneapolis branch of [...]

Hi Everyone – THANKS for ALL the info. I am cancelling my apt ASAP! I got the run around when I asked about costs – same ole, same ole. Keep blogging!

Thank you everyone! I am looking for new ways of meeting people in the PHX area I heard their ad on the radio and thought this sounded like a great club to meet other professional singles. Went to their website and found no information. I mainly just wanted to know the cost so i googled it. This was the first thing i started to read. So thank you!

I am SO GLAD to see other people had the same fishy experience as me and there is some way to get this message out. I’m REALLY lucky I dodged this bullet – but I actually went in for the interview and had a HORRIBLE pressured experience. And then when I told them I would think about, I suddenly was “kicked out of the club.” If you don’t agree to pay $1600 on the spot PLUS $30 a month PLUS event fees. This is ridiculous, and you really don’t know what you’re getting!!! It’s like they’re promising the fountain of youth. My story is very involved, here is what I posted on another site:

I went into my interview with a totally open mind, but after the interviewer took down my whole life story and my line of credit and did a background check on me (okay, fair enough), she tried to win me over with how lifechanging this experience would be, etc. I told her I just paid off my debt and wasn’t willing to put down $1600 joining fee PLUS $30/month PLUS pay for myself at each event. I told her I was comforted that she had quality people that could afford that and I would consider in the future when I had more savings, but then she continued to pressure me – it was NOW or NEVER to make this change in my life … she then proceeded to tell me what a sad, pitiful, lonely person I was based on my dating history (I guess this is a typical last ditch sales attempt) … and then when she knew I wasn’t biting right then and there, she told me I wasn’t accepted into the club. HA! Okay. And she kicked me out of her office and told me I’d be single and childless forever. It was really DIRTY SALESMANSHIP! So, be prepared to be ousted if you don’t buy right then and there. And I thought I was being nice and was genuinely considering it for the future! Oh well, glad I dodged that bullet. Good luck, everyone. Glad some people like it.

Wow, it seems like most of the complaints on here are about the “sales staff” or the cost, hardly anyone even signed up and actually TRIED the club!

I just joined the Houston location about a month ago and did not experience any sleazy sales tactics…certainly nothing compared to trying to join a gym or buying a car! Yes, it was more expensive than I had expected, but they offer monthly payments, so it really isn’t any different than a gym membership, and at least so far, I am actually using THIS membership instead of never going!

I have been to 3 events so far, and have been very happy with the turnout. There was over 70 people for bowling, and over 50 for rock wall climbing! After both events, there were groups of people going out for an “after party” at a bar or restaurant, and I was invited both times. I had lots of fun, and finally got my ass off the couch from watching TIVO and feeling sorry for myself cause all my friends are married.

I have a whole group of new friends now, and there is something going on every night of the week, so I can go out whenever I choose. Going to a concert with E&A this weekend, and looking forward to trying skydiving next month! Sorry that many of you had bad experiences with the signing up, but I personally think this club is great! It was certainly worth $75 a month for me to meet new friends and finally get out of the house and do some fun things! Like anything else in this world…you get back what you put in. Most of you didn’t even try it, and yet feel qualified to trash it. Oh well, to each their own…good luck!

Donnie has only had 3 E&A “dates” so should allow more time to lose his rose-colored glasses. If a person is eager and willing to sign the contract, and commit to three years of $75 payments, there would obviously be no hard-sell tactics used and the experience would be similar to Donnie’s. Here’s another way to test the sleaziness of E&A. (I did this after they refused to let me out of the contract.) Instruct your bank to stop the monthly EFT’s. This forces E&A them to generate paper invoices. You will quickly see they are quite inept. Invoices often come in duplicate – same invoice arriving on same day in separate envelopes. What a waste of paper & postage. To top that, the invoices are riddled with errors such as showing April on July billing. Perhaps they hire handicapped workers for less than minimum wage to work in the office? This would increase the profit of the owners who previously conducted this business under the name of Great Expectations.

Thank you! I was about to go in for an “interview” but I am going to cancel.

I wish I had read these comments before I went to my interview last month. E & A treated me rudely after I refused to give them sensitive financial information up front. My hesistation was perfectly legit–their website and phone operator left details about their operation unclear. My office interviewer presumed my hesistation was because I couldn’t afford the service, and insisted I either give her my information or leave so she didn’t have to “waste an hour explaining” their service to me. I left their office immediately, completely turned off by their lack of customer service and professionalism. If I had read these comments first, I wouldn’t have bothered with them at all.

Like everyone else, when the initial phone conversation yielded no info, I was suspicious. So like most people I googled. I was correct. The interesting thing is next weekend I will be volunteering at one of the events that they are hosting in my area. I cannot wait to talk to the people. I understand the first time they were at this venue they had about 35 people, this time around 15.
Since the venue charges way under $100/ group, I cannot wait to hear what they are being charged/person.

I unfortunately joined the club and wished i hadn’t. the price is way too high and they don’t do any back ground checks. E&A is suppose to stand for Events & Adventures but it really stands for: Eat & Alcohol. All the events people are drinking and getting drunk and that is not my cup of tea. they also committed fraud by you go to the website and look at the calendar and if you have joined the joiner calendar is different. all the events i go on the ratio between men and women is 80/20. my social life hasn’t changed one bit from joining i am just out a large sum of money. don’t join this club

Jo T,

I’d love to know that outcome-I think I put in one of my posts earlier that E&A and a meetup group had hanggliding at the same place on the same day.. E&A was more expensive, aside from their monthly dues.

Donnie,
I was a member of E&A, I was even a member host, but was kicked out. I just got a call one day, they said “we’re terminating your contract”.. very unprofessional behavior, told me they gave me verbal warnings (which they didn’t) and a written warning (which I did sign a form, and it was in no way a warning. A warning form would have stated that I agreed to improper behavior, and that I acknowledged it). So, my problem is with the unprofessionalism of the staff that I had to deal with.

I wish I read these reviews before I joined the Events and Advanture. It is really bad if not worse. They over promise you and then you stuck with the payment with no refunds if you are not happy with the service. I attend their first icebreaker back in Nov 2008 and I wanted to get out and I’ve been fighting back since then (now it is Aug 2009). I have asked my credit card company to blockout the monthly payments/ charges without much success. Help Please.

I purchaesd an EA in may of 2009, now I am being transferred to a different state that doesnt have this group, I called and sent a letter, when I called them telling i am moving, they said to me I still owe them money… help????

Donnie could be legit but I doubt it. Look at the wording of his blog.He tries to make everyone who has a problem with E and A feel like its their fault. He even uses words I’ve seen some of you say the sales persons of E and A used to try and make you feel small. I would’nt doubt if its an employee. Besides, I’m a Houston member(unfortunately)and he’s not painting a true picture of the group at all. If he is really an employee, they are pretty arrogant and full of themselves to think one fake positive review is gonna sway minds against all the many many many bad reviews.

DJ, look at your contract. The contract that I have has a clause that states that if you move further than 100 miles from a city with an E&A office, then your membership can be canceled with a refund due to you. If your contract states this, then I suggest small claims court. When a company fails to abide by it’s own contract, it should be a pretty open and shut case.

I had an interview scheduled for tomorrow which I just wrote to them and cancelled. Now I know why they wanted to get me in for the interview so quickly – less time to do Internet research! I was concerned when they called me 3 times the first day and then the next day first thing and they would not discuss price on the phone. Same story! Anyway, thanks for saving me the hour and the $2,000+

I inquired about this in 2008 when it was called, in the St. Louis, MO area, stloussingles.com (my guess is that they bought a lot of domain names starting with some major city and ending with “singles” .com). My experience was similar to others: evading costs, bombshell of a price ($2600), offered to spread the payments, told me that it’s an investment and a contract.

I told them (tactfully) that I am very familiar with their sales tactics–they were used at a carpet cleaning company that I worked for when I was 19 in which they advertised a $19.95 basic steam clean and tried to bait-and-switch a “deep scrub” for $1000+!! Being the ignorant teenager I was, I worked for them for about a month or two…

The funny thing is that I tried soliciting computer services to them in the same meeting! It’s a good thing the company I work for is far more ethical than this nonsense!

Luckily in this day and age, Internet + Search Engine = scam exposed!

Now, is it a scam to everyone? Probably not. Just like there are some people who have no problems paying $1200 to clean their carpets, there are people who have no problems paying that kind of money for an activities club and could very well benefit from it. I just think that number is few and far between for even the mid-to-upper middle class.

The bottom line is that if you’re too nice, companies like this will exploit you. I’m not saying don’t be nice…I’m saying have some common sense and don’t let places like this rob you of your common sense. If they do, they’ll rob you of everything else they can. I learned that the hard way several times in my life, and I don’t like seeing other people scammed the same way. However, that’s the only way some people will learn…

OMG, I can’t believe people actually sign up for E & A.

Just canceled my ‘interview’ appt with E & A yesterday after a frustrating conversation on the phone with the sales agent. I politely asked for the price of membership and was told that they could not tell me that because it all depends on my interview!?! wtf? Apparently there are many different types of memberships, however when I asked for a price range (ie. cheapest to highest) she was not able to do so. A friend of mine who was going to join up with me, had her sales agent tell her that they could not quote prices over the phone because it would consistute a ‘contract’ (which is bs!) and that she shouldn’t worry about the cost of membership because “even someone on social assistance could afford it”. I was absolutely amazing the tactics they used to try and lure us to this interview. I finally phoned them back and demanded they tell me what the price range for membership was. Again the sales person refused to give me that information stating, “I don’t know what the prices are, nor do I want to know as I’m not involved in that portion of it”. So I asked to speak with her supervisor in the hopes that he might be able to give me a little more info. He gave me the same run-around but finally admitted that I should expect to pay approx. $100/month. I told him I though that was quite a steep price given the fact that members then have to also pay for the events, to which he replied, “No they don’t”. What a liar. So I gave him examples that I had read online about people going to potluck dinners and having to pay a fee for that, plus the person who attended an opera with the group and had to pay $65 for the ticket (the price that was actually written on the ticket stub was $45, so not sure what E & A did with the extra $20). The manager then admitted that some events had extra fees. I then asked for them to fax me a copy of the contract so that I could read it over before attending the interview…he stuttered for a good minute before finally telling me that he doesn’t have a copy of the contract!! After all that bs I told him to cancel my interview and my friends interview. He was shocked we wanted to cancel and when I stated that it was too much money for me to pay he told me he’d cancel our interviews and then proceede to hang up on me.

It’s very eye-opening to see how many people have actually had the exact same experiences with E & A….how are they still in business??

I’m a happy E&A member for 10 months. I got here by trying to find exactly how many branches they have and how long they’ve been around (which apparently is really hard to uncover) before I decide how long to renew for. I agree about a lot of the corporate level stuff complained about here – their top level policies are ALL about getting your money. The corporate office is awful. Their sales policy is pushy, clearly deceptive, one dimensional, and frankly should drive people away. Maybe even get the company fined. A lot of us in the club think it would be better if people could try it for a month, because then we’d have more members.

But none of that matters, because I’m in the club and its GREAT. The Houston location works. Sure their claim of thousands of members is bull****, but hundreds is legit. I almost always find two dozen people at an event and the larger ones are 50+. I do not really ask people’s ages, but I know there are several under 25 and plenty over 50, plus lots in the “could be mistaken for 30 something” where I fall. More women than men, but no worse than 2:1 and maybe not that bad. There are a half dozen or more free events each month. Certainly they aren’t getting any discounts to shows and the like, but they aren’t overcharging for them either. The membership fee is a legit concern, but if you are willing to pay that, the individual event costs are totally insignificant.

Main thing, I’m doing events with E&A several times a week and enjoying them. I want to renew my membership. Obviously I don’t know about elsewhere, but I don’t get why kc said bad stuff about E&A here as the Houston branch is worth joining.

Dan, whether you get why I said what I did or not, I posted the truth, and what I experienced. Answer this question. If you are such a happy member, why are you perusing the E and A reviews? Obviuosly you aren’t trying to find out if its any good because you have been a member for 10 months. Why would you even be at this site? Hmmm. Could it be you are an employee trying to save face for your company? People aren’t going to go by what I alone say Dan, all of the other(and there are a ton) negative reviews speak volumes. 2 to 1 ratio? lololololol. I won’t call you a liar because you are a fairly new member and joined after I left the Organization. But I will say this. When I was a member, there were very few free events and a poor male/female ratio. And even if your opinion is that it is all worth it, meetup is much much much less expensive and has better activities. When I was a member, the coordinator while we were at a burger place picked up the free entertainment paper and said he was using that to plan events. We can do that ourselves for free!

Thanks for this, I had the same experience. I figure I can meet people by doing the things I like and avoid this whole stupid sales pictch thing. Hate this kind of stuff! I told the lady, “Look I don’t appreciate all the questions, I’m calling to find out how much it is. Then she told me about some kind of bafckground check. Big deal! I just didn’t like the sales stuff! Found it almost culty, weird, and too strong of a come on for the initial conversation. I won’t be joining! If they try to call again they’ll be sorry they ever did!

I went to an interview with one of these outfits YEARS ago… I think it was 1996, in Minneapolis. It was the same sort of setup: they said that if they told me the price, I’d have to sign up immediately.

I don’t remember the exact name of the club, but their main spiel was that “for our members, this is a lifestyle.” It made it sound like a cult to me.

As a couple other people have mentioned, MeetUp.com does almost EXACTLY the same kinds of events, and they never cost anything on top of movie tickets, bowling shoe rental, a potluck dish, etc. (Of course, MeetUp.com does include married people; if you’re looking for a date, that’s a drawback. But if you just want to attend real “events and adventures,” it doesn’t matter.)

I am a current member who did not experience any rude sales tactics upfront, just deception. I will not be renewing my membership the cost/benefit is just not there. If you are not 20s and 30s and a big drinker you will NOT enjoy their events. They did lie to me as well in the initial interview about the member demographics and most importantly about their men to women ratios. It is always, always 80% women. While I did not join to meet dates, but just to do stuff with groups…it is hilarious that one guy approached me and became a good buddy, he is only 28 and I am 48. We are just pals as I am no Cougar, but it is just not fun to go to Events where you are 20 years older than everyone. If I wanted that I could just go to any nightclub in Houston!

My story is similar to many of yours. I heard the ad, got called for an interview within the hour and went in to talk to them. I spent the next hour of my life being psychologically probed and prodded, and told that I couldn’t afford NOT to become a member. I was out of work at the time, and knew I couldn’t afford to join. I was basically just trying to figure out who they were, what they did, and if they’d be a good fit for me at some point, since I had just come out of a long relationship. I never did find out the price that day, ’cause they said I “wasn’t ready!” And I left there feeling angry and violated.

Fast forward a couple months, and I see an ad for a Director of Events for Events and Adventures. Since my work has been Tradeshow and Event management, and I have volunteered as Activities director for an Outdoors club for 12 years, and I was still out of work, I thought I might be a good fit. My thinking was, well, they may get their people deceptively, but if I could help these people to have an amazing time in their bad situation, that would be a good thing.

I got a call, and magically, was given all kinds of stats and information about their membership, their demographics, their budgets etc. I was appalled. I learned they charge $1600/member, and $30/month PLUS activity fees. I also learned that their marketing spend per month is more than some people make in a year. After getting called in for an interview, I learned that they weren’t really interested in creating quality events and I’d only have to attend a couple events per week. Much of my job would be answering emails and phone calls from members, and dealing with people that were unhappy.

That didn’t sound like a lot of fun to me, and it turned out that the job compensation and benefits were not what I was looking for, anyway. So I decided to keep looking for other jobs.

Fast forward a month or so, and I was lamenting my lack of work when a friend suggested I do something on my own. We brainstormed ideas, and I started doing research. I pitched one of my ideas to my brother who said, “Liz, this doesn’t sound like something you’d enjoy doing. Why don’t you create events? It’s something you love, and people always have so much fun at your things!” A lightbulb went off.

So DC Active Singles was born. Here I am a few weeks later, with a brand new group! I’ve put together a fun-filled November calendar and negotiated amazing member benefits with some local vendors such that membership nearly pays for itself! And I charge only $14.99/month for an annual membership. There are no additional dues. And activity fees for members just cover my costs. Non-members can attend all events at a $10 premium.

For me, it’s all about attracting great people, running great events, and providing amazing customer service. The club structure was set up so I could ensure that attendees sign our Code of Conduct – which basically stipulates that everyone deserves respect and that harassment of any type will be immediate grounds for dismissal. I’m striving for a comfortable relaxed atmosphere where people can do fun stuff with great people.

Our target market is 30+, and our events do not usually include alcohol.

Please check out the website and tool around a bit on it (http://DCActiveSingles.com). Especially check out our great Member Benefits as well as the Event Listings.

I’m happy to answer any questions anyone might have about the group. I’m not trying to hard sell anything — just wanted to make you aware of another alternative that might work for you if you happen to live in the DC metro area.

Thanks! And good luck on whatever adventures life may have in store.

Liz,

I wish you the best of luck on your new venture! Competition is always a good thing! If I lived in DC, I’d be checking out the site, but I’m not in the area. Time for other people to take the concept of E&A – and do it for better and cheaper! Having met the owner of E&A (when I was a host), I didn’t think very highly of him.

* sigh *. im a busy professional at Microsoft and thought this would be a great way to meet people…..will never know.

I just got out of my interview and thank God I didn’t pay. To be fair, my interviewer was very professional and kind, there was no high pressure environment.

That said, the screening process is a joke….do you look like a freak? no. can you afford the price? yes…..you’re in!! as soon as i saw the pricing model i had a flash back to my interview with “It’s just lunch.” you have to put down thousands of dollars on a sales pitch for a minimum of 1 year. really? its like saying you have to buy a car without a test drive. that screamed scam to me and i walked out, much to the dismay of my interviewer…she looked shocked when i said i would have to think about it.

i’m planning on trying hard to use meetup.com. you only pay for the events without all this membership fee BS. granted, i will have to do the work but it will be well worth it.

best of luck to the rest of you.

All, I am a current member and signed up for a “year”. That year has come and gone. I have not been able to go to any events. This has been a huge waste of money for me. I had a back injury last january and havent been able to do anything. I am trying to get out of my contract. They show my contract as a lifetime membership. I am pissed and want to get out of this.

Anybody had anyluck canceling their contracts?

To the poster above who orignally posted this information:

Here are the names of all corporate officers.
So far I’ve had no resolution. They responded to my BBB complaint with the same old canned response. Basically, ignoring my complaint. I will not give up without a fight.

JGB SERVICES CORPORATION
600 UNVIERSITY ST #3600
SEATTLE
WA
98101
President OWEN , MARK
EAGLE , ID
From WS STate Deparment of Revene
TAX REG NUmber 601275216
Legal Entity Adventures Northwest Inc
DAVID L BENSON
600 UNIVERSITY ST STE 3600
SEATTLE
WA
98101
Vice President STEVENSON JR , L 600 UNIVERSITY STREET
SUITE 3600
SEATTLE , WA
Vice President LONE , RONALD
Vice President BATEY , DOUGLAS
Vice President HOPP , RICHARD
President BENSON , DAVID

All these “Corporate officers” of Events and Adventures are attorneys in Seattle, WA and work at Stoel Rives LLP at that location in the listing above, except Mark Owen.

As far as I can tell JGB Services Corporation is a sham company. The company that is at that address and suite number is a law firm and these guys are lawyers for them. I am doing all I can to cancel my membership starting with a call to E&A HQ monday morning in Bellevue.

Called just a bit ago and was given the run around this is a call center you need to call member services on monday.

read wrong looked at wrong page.

wow, I’m amazed of the scams still on tv. Thanks to everybody for the information posted, I knew from the get-go that there was something shaddy about this. So, I made-up my mind… “is a NO”!I’m not going to even wasted my time to call and find out the details…
Thanks again to all for the info and good luck finding “the one”,
Olgalis

They are scary people man. I just canceled my interview and the girl, Sarah, immediately hung up on me.

It’s just seems fishy that they want to me to go to their “club house” after hours in Vancouver Downtown, where the building is locked to public access. She told me that there will be a few people to meet with me and asked me to bring 3 peices of IDs.

And can you believe this? She lists the examples like: Driver License (fair enough), Credit Card (still ok), Social Insurance Number (what the h*ll), Passport (now they are freaking me out), etc. How can she even dare to ask for the Social Insurance Number! (That’s similar to the Social Security Number in the US).

I told them I don’t feel comfortable to meet in private when I don’t know who they are and what they do. They won’t send me any information over email or snail mail. They won’t tell me the costs involved. They insist that I have to meet them ALONE and cannot bring anyone with me, not even to wait outside the door. That’s freaky.

It’s like a time-share business, seen it done it.. I’ve been trying to get out for 8 months and didn’t see any money back until today! When I signed up I checked 4 times if it’s really true that I can cancel the membership with NO PROBLEM if i happen to move out of the city, which i thought might happen some time in the future, well it happened that i was informed that i’ll move 5 days after signing up with E&A and I called them immediately.. I was told I just have to show a couple of travel documents like my flight tix but when i had it, it wasn’t enough, now i had to show rental contracts and utility bills in the new location, not even the contract for renting out my own home was enough.. After moving to Honduras and collecting and scanning and sending all kinds of receipts for rent, electricity and phone, I was told it’s ok and I’ll get my refund within 2 months (!!!!).. Never came. I started to go after it now a couple of months ago and what do i hear, they’ve charged me $750 for 2 days of being a member !!! NICE !!!!

We presently are involved in a class action lawsuit against Great Expectations in California. We have been informed that Events and Adventures recently opened an office in San Francisco. We would like to talk to anyone who joined or contacted that office to see whether that office is really a Great Expectations office.

Robert Goldstein

I had a similar bad experience with Events and Adventures in DC (exactly as Chris has described his) and will strongly recommend anyone reading this to STAY AWAY from them. IT IS JUST A SHADY BUSINESS TO SQUEEZE MONEY OUT OF YOU!
The initial meeting with one of their salesperson is a tactic to put pressure on you and make you to sign a one-year contract right away. There is no way they’d let you think it over…The staff is cold, impersonal, rude and deceiving. The sales woman who met with me was intrusive and dishonest.
Fortunately I said NO and walked away!

Thank you everybody! A friend had just suggested I try this club based on the radio commercials he frequently hears. After having a close call with Together Dating (they are behind all the [cityname]singles.org websites, same type of gimmick though, they try to get you in for an interview so they can “screen” you and give you the hard sell for thousands of dollars, luckily i found the truth before my interview and promptly canceled)….anyway, luckily my spidey sense was tingling right away this time and I found this site before i even gave them any of my info.

Do not go to the interview! I heard there commercials “New to the Area Vancouver BC Canada” on 99.3 the fox. And being single for two long I wanted to meat someone thought this sounded good. I gave them my email, they called twice and would not give out a price saying that “there fees are flexible and fees are calculated on a person by person basis”. I went to the interview took me an hour to drive there from Langley, when I got there I had to phone them on my cell, an they would come down and open the doors at the world trade center “Canada Place Vancouver” because they are usefully closed on Saturday, but made an exception for me! I was led upstairs to a very plush office with a great view marble counter tops..etc..I .. guess this is were all the money goes too? I had to fill out a personality quiz and a financial questionnaire, then I was led into the office. My sales lady started out by asking me a few personal questions then asked me if I would feel comfortable paying a $100.00 a month, she said that would cover most of the events and have of the more expensive ones, I said that was a little steep for me, and she said we can probable do $50.00 a month I said ok, that sounds reasonable. For the next two hours she went over the clubs history, there demographic, said there is 400 members in the Vancouver region, she also mentioned that during the month of December I could get 18 months for the price of 12 I said great, so that will be $600.00 for 12 months? Well it truns out that the $50.00 a month is basically a loan for the full amount of $1995.00 for a one year membership, plus $30.00 a month for supplies, plus $200.00 for a financing fee! I freaked and said that I would need to think about it, well apparently that isn’t an option, she went and got her manager and they both “hardcore” sales pitched at me saying that I would loose the 400.00 off for sinning right now, and that I was going to continue to be lonely without the club, they are the only club around that does this, that I am “lucky enough to be considered, and to get $400.00 off!! I had to practically run out of there..talk about hardcore sales! It let me felling even more lonely, and empty inside. While this may work for you if you are rich, I still don;’t understand why I could think about it, or why I can’t try it for three months, there also wasn’t that many events in my area..maybe three a week. by the way the platinum membership is $4995.00 for 10 years, and you can never cancel it and you can’t go to the events if you get married..yeah what a great deal! Do your self a favor and stay the H*ll away from E&A. -Jamie 23 year old male.

Jamie,

Don’t fret. A GREAT alternative to E&A is http://www.meetup.com. you have to do a little more work, but the price is a lot better! meetup is more or less free. Being that E&A is in Vancouver, that means it may operate under Canadian law, which might be different than US laws.

You’re not alone, there are several others who are alone, and do not want to pay the money for E&A. That’s why meetup is quite nice.

sal

E&a is a load of crap! Anyone who is even interested in joining….please walk away….it is a scam, a very costly one and they will not allow you to get out unless you get married……even death will not let you out…your family will have to pay the remainder of your contract……I am so sorry that I did not read these reviews prior to joining….

Tatyana, the E and A where I am doesn’t even let you out when you get married. They ban you from all events when you are married but you still have to pay.

I just called to cancel my appointment. I told the guy (like Jill said she did in her post) that I did not want anyone calling me again and that I would report them to BBB. He said “I got it, I got it.” I just realized: I don’t know about the other parts of the country where you all are from, but in the Boston area, I think a few years ago this outfit was called “The Post It” Club. I was caught off guard by the new name.

New name, same old sleazy tactics. Good luck all.

I AGREE, BIGGEST SCAM EVER!!!! I wish I would have READ these REVIEWS before going to the interview. I knew the minute after she introduced herself that this was a SCAM. The first thing she asked me was how many online dating services have you joined. Being that I had only ever joined one, she had to find something bad to say about it. Her entire speal to get me in was a NEGATIVE MARKETING TACTIC. Everytime I said something about wanting to be more active and social, she would route the conversation back to negative comments like how lonely I’d be if I didn’t. She kept saying, “do you want to be 40 and still living the same lonely, boring life?” And if you don’t join, “STATISTICS say you will be single well past 40.” She made me feel like such a LOSER for being single, as if it was my fault. I’m only 28 and she was treating me like my life was already over and IF I DIDN’T JOIN.

Other than all the negativity, it sounded like a great way to be social and active, not just to meet single men. After all, that’s what their advertising focusing on, an active lifestyle. After I continually asked her “HOW MUCH WILL IT COST,” she kept saying “don’t worry I’ll make it affordable for you.” And in her last set of questions, she asked me HOW MUCH MONEY I had in my CHECKING and SAVINGS account. Not only that but she wanted to know what my CREDIT CARD LIMIT was. Lucky for me, I’m smart enough not to tell her that personal information.

After an hour of her making me feel like a complete loser, she asked for my drivers license. I believe she was using that as an excuse to go next door because a second later, I heard her talking to (who I think must’ve been) her boss. They actually talked loud enough for me to hear them through the wall and I could not believe what I was hearing. They were talking about HOW TO SELL THIS TO ME because I think she knew I wasn’t going to go for it. I heard the girl interviewing me say, “Can I offer her this?” And her boss lady say, “No. Why would you do that? You’d only be screwing yourself.” Then, I heard her boss say, “IF YOU SHOW THEM THIS PLAN, THEY DON’T KNOW THE DIFFERENCE AND THEY’LL GO FOR IT!” I’m sitting there thinking “WHAT? Did I really just hear her say that?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. This went on for 15 minutes, finally she came back into the office and showed me the payment plan. What she said she was going to make affordable for me, was a set price for everyone on a laminated piece of paper. When I saw the PRICE I said to her “SERIOUSLY? THIS IS CRAZY, ABSOLUTELY CRAZY!” And she looked at me like I was the crazy loser she just tried to make me out to be, I didn’t even hear what she said because I asked “DOES THIS INCLUDE ALL OF THE OUTINGS I WANT EVERY MONTH?” She said some, but not all. That’s when I said again, “SERIOULSY? SO I PAY $1600 TO JOIN THEN $30/MONTH AND THE EVENTS AREN’T FREE?”

I started to pick up my things and said to her, “I’m sorry to have wasted your time. If I knew that, I wouldn’t have even come in. I tried to ask them on the phone but they insisted I come here.” All she said was, “me too” and she WALKED OUT WITHOUT LOOKING AT ME and without seeing me out of her office. She left the room, and disappeared without even SAYING “Thanks for coming” or “sorry it won’t work out” or even “if you change your mind give us a call”.

This organization plays on lonely, desperate, naive and innocent people who would be willing to take a risk simply to make that connection. If these are the people who join (and I mean no disrespect to those who are in it), then what kind of people are you going to meet there? Don’t get me wrong if I had $2000+ to throw away I may have thought about it because I like the idea of being active. But after the way I was treated, NO WAY IN HELL! THIS IS A SCAM IN EVERY WAY AND I PLAN ON WRITING THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU about this experience and recommend others do the same.

I agree with Sal. I think that http://www.meetup.com is a much better alternative. It’s totally free. You just have to choose which types of groups to join and pay attention to the calendar on there & there is no sales person. I’m so glad I found these reviews. The almost got me but I was a little suspicious of the telemarketer so I decided to google. Close call…Whew!

I just found this blog/site after trying to cancel my membership. I have been unhappy with the club (I just didn’t have enough time and didn’t quite fit in…), but I knew I signed a contract that I couldn’t easily get out of. However, I then lost my job. I called corporate and was surprised that they couldn’t be reasonable on something like this. I have no income right now, and a large amount of student debt. I don’t understand why it wouldn’t be in their best interest to have some sort of compassion in extenuating circumstances. It sounds as if you cancel your credit card they send a collections agency after you. The concept of this club is good, but it is carried out in a way that doesn’t respect its “members”. I will be appealing to upper management regarding this case. Fortunately I have a good friend who is a lawyer who I will also be consulting, as the contract seems unnecessarily binding to me and surely she can see what other types of lawsuits have been brought forth against this company. It’s unfortunate. I think this could have been a good organization if they just weren’t so selfish. Feel free to contact me with any questions about this at molly.maass@gmail.com, be sure to put E&A in the subject so I don’t delete it before reading.

just got off the phone with E&A guy… I’m glad I read these reviews first before going to there interview. I definitely don’t have the few grand to spend. Hopefully the don’t keep calling me. I’ll check out meetup.com and post something here if its alright. The concept is so good… too bad its done so poorly.

Thank you so much, all of you, for your comments on this singles organization. I was really considering joining E&A as a way of expanding my friendships and activities, but I thought I smelled a rat when the salesperson who answered the phone would not reveal any pricing, and, instead, launched into “vetting” me. After reading all the comments, including the good ones, I feel that I don’t want to support this organization. There are others in my area, San Francisco, at which I can meet people and not feel manipulated by the organizers. Again, I am grateful to all of you for sharing your experiences and, thus, helping me and those about to join from making a mistake.

thank you for the posts! they are doing a huge radio push in Boston and after the holidays, I just want to get a DATE so I thought I’d check it out, but since zero info on cost is available on the website (and cost is a consideration for me) I’m glad I found this and didn’t have to waste time on an interview, etc. Maybe I’ll go checkout plentyoffish .com that’s free…

I can’t believe this business is still thriving. I wish there was a way to shut them down. They have no right to be conducting business in the manner that they are.

I went to the DC oiffice last night. What a scam! I was looking to meet new people in the DC area. I went for an appointment last night in DC/Tysons Corner. I thought I was going there to get more information about the company, was I ever wrong. I was there to give them information about me. Very personal information at that. The first question was how much money I had in the bank. Uuuummm, I had been in the office about 10 minutes. No, I will not tell you how much my bank balance is. Oh, she asked my mortgage about too. I thought the questions would be more geared to personality and likes/dislikes to see if this was a good fit to start with. I saw immedately all they want to know is how much money thay can get out of me. As I read in earlier posts, she tried to make me feel like a bump on a log with not social life what so ever. That is not the case. When she asked what my interestes were, it was as though she was rolling her eyes. She began listing the days of the week and asking me what activities I do on each day. Well, the fact that I work and have a son takes up my week. I think that was boring and blasie to her. At this point I was thinking, if the people in this group are like you, there is no way I want to be a part of it. I contacted them, by their website with tells you nothing so that is why I came to learn more. She stressed that I needed to sell myself to her, that this is an exclusive group and I must be choosen to join. If that was the case, I would have thought she would have been asking more questions to get to know me and not my finances. Once she saw that I wasn’t giving her cart balanche to my finances, the interview went quickly down hill. She made catty comments and I returned them to her. I went with a friend of mine and she was getting the exact same hard sell from another interviewer. She was also critized by her interviewer. We figured that it was sort of like boot-camp where they tear you down to nothing and when they get your info, build you up to sign away 2500.00. I think I will call the radio station that had their ad and tell them the place is a scam.
There was also a photo album, had about 20-30 pictures. A closer look and you would see a lot of the same people in different settings. The album had room for about 150 more pictures but that was all they had, plus the photos were dated 2006, it is 2010, have you guys done anything in the past 4 years?

Stay away from this place. Keep your money. Go on a nice vacation if you must spend your money, just don’t give it to these guys.

if i seem a little vague, oh well. please consider any info given as “well they gave us some info”. most everything on here is true anyway, so go with that.

answers:

great expectations and e&a are not one and the same.

cancellations vary by state, but generally:
*24 hrs – full refund
*72 hrs – refund minus $400
*after 72 —–(or you attend an event)—– – none.
*certified letter gives you the absolute best results, as both parties (ie: YOU) have solid proof. use the “other” methods at your own risk, or if you are not in a position to be able to send a certified letter.
*getting married or involved with someone does not cancel you from paying, but getting married cancels you from being able to attend events (you still have to pay). the only “up-shoot” is if you have a lifetime membership and you are no longer married, you are free to attend again.

screening at all? yes. some are turned away, even if they have the funds (varies by salesperson). ultra creeps would harm the club. the test is mostly to find out what you are missing in life (ie. the reason you felt the need to come in). it’s a quicker way to get that info.

background checks? they reserve the right, but rarely do.

event prices? 40 – 60% of them are free. in that 40 – 60% though, are some things like dinner, where if you wanted to just chill out and eat nothing, it would be free, but you’re most likely not going to do that. 20 – 30% are totally free. all other regular events are between 5 and 100. Trips are in the 1000 – 2000 range. these prices are what the places you go to charge. they get discounts if they can, and pass that on to you.

why fees (why not just use meetup/plentyof/xxx/yyy/zzz)? something every day of the year, more people attending, more planning involved, “hosts” are already respected in club, are personable, and not some random person who wants to do it. paying said hosts and all staff involved is part of the fee.

try before you buy? no, unless you already know someone in the club. you can go to two events as a guest a year.

range of events? they do a little bit of everything. anyone can view the calendar of events online at any time.

age ratio? 21 and up. median varies by club. i’d venture to guess the average person would be 26-32, but there are a healthy amount of people of all age groups. how much said people attend is a different matter. that also varies by club but younger people (21-35) attend more events than the over 35 crowd.

average “active” attendance rate? 4 events a month (you can attend as few or as many as you’d like)
___________________________

is it for everyone? no. are the prices too high? you have the info from the other posts to decide that. are their practices sound? you have the info on cancellation to make that decision.

should you read any contract before you sign? YES!

any substantial financial agreement should be met with a written agreement and be studied thoroughly by both parties. in many cases, i had people who didn’t read any part of it complain. have i been tempted to just sign stuff without reading before? yes, it’s alot of reading! i know though, that i am on the hook for anything i failed to read due to my laziness. i learned that way before e&a.

this is not for or against the company. i have found many who don’t like what the company offers – for good and for bad reasons. i have found many who like to complain about everything and are never satisfied. i have found some who had a bad or ho-hum first event and never attended another one. i have seen people so anti-social that no amount of prodding got them to open up and have fun. i have seen people who just aren’t interested in the events or get into a difficult financial situation but are on the hook for thousands for a service they aren’t using. i have seen people married. i have seen people gain great friends. i have seen people try things they would not have done otherwise.

lastly, i don’t care if you join or not as i don’t work there. my task for you is if you don’t join, or are in it and not satisfied, don’t use it as an excuse to stay in whatever rut you are in. life is too short. make a plan, and go enrich your life.

I wonder how many people are going to fall for the “former employee” BS. Most of what was posted by this alleged former employee are pretty false. Believe me E and A is not worth the fee. Meet up has better events, better people, better discounts, better everything. Events and Adventures does not do anything special for you that Meet Up can’t do. Notice how the person tried to say complainers are negative and never happy. Notice how they went on to try and make ppl feel like they were in a rut? lol. Seems like an E and A membership interview! Haha! This person was well trained! People, be smart. Look at their fees. It isn’t worth it. Ask yourself what kind of a legit singles business would still need your money after you were married. And it is the biggest lie ever to post that most events are free. Puhleeze.

What is wrong with all of you complainers do you have nothing better to do the an dish companies. I have had nothing but a positive experience with this club and have met some great friends. I don’t know about the US centers but the one in Vancouver is great! The staff is great and with the Olympics coming up they are working hard to find alot of activities outside of Vancouver. The company is just starting in Vancouver and it’s a real hard city to break through and make friends.
So all of you who want to check this out don’t let these complainers stand in you way. Have a mind of you own and judge for yourself!!

Stella, what is wrong with YOU coming in here and calling people complainers when your experience is in Vancouver? Has it occurred to you that the business is run differently in different regions? Typical of an employee to come in here and call us complainers in a negative way. Even if you aren’t an employee, you have no idea how other chapters of this scam are run. I think its a good thing ppl are sharing thier grievances against this company, so that others can make informed desicions and not be conned. I agree with the statement, “have a mind of your own”. Others are coming here to get information, so that they can make a desicion on thier own. Nice try though on your part trying to make the helpful, honest, people look like they are just complainers. Yay for you if you are truly having a good experience. But others should know there are wayyyyyy better and more reasonably priced clubs out there that can do the EXACT SAME THINGS that E and A does for MUCH CHEAPER AND NEXT TO NOTHING.

OMG you’re my lifesaver! I heard the ad on the radio and they called me. When they told me they needed to screen me I giggled and asked if they were some kind of a sect or something The guy didn’t comment on that. Anyway, I was supposed to have an interview tomorrow, but because I had no info, I decided to do some research first. Let me see.. what will be MY excuse not to go?

There is a link between Events and Adventures and Great Expectations. I don’t have it fully fleshed out, but I just learned that the VP of operations for E&A worked for Great Expectations prior to E&A.

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/lauren-gash/17/617/88b

-sal

I did give in to the high pressure tactics. What was supposed to be a 1 hour interview turned into 2 1/2 hours. My experience was so similar to what so many people have said already. They do claim to be very selective based on that personality test. The woman I met with was telling me about the crazy lies she tells people that don’t “qualify”. For guys she said she asks them if they’re joining because they want more guy friends, that it’s mainly a gay club, and makes them feel uncomfortable until they just walk out. Whenever I tried saying I wanted to think about it and didn’t know if I could afford it she would use my personality test against me and refer to what that test said about how I am financially and on and on. She also said I would get a discount signing up that night, and if I came back later it’d be even more. They let me join with only putting $300 down. I called to cancel 2 days later. She told me I could cancel if I paid $400, that I wasn’t getting my $300 back. I changed my card number so they couldn’t take out anything else. I found an AZ statute referring to dating referral services, which they define as services primarily intended to introduce adults in social activities. These are exactly the type of services they provide but they’re saying they don’t refer to themselves as a dating service. That doesn’t make much sense when you have to be single to join and when I was trying to cancel the woman became very unprofessional saying she just couldn’t understand why I wouldn’t want to join and that I just wanted to be single. I actually thought it would be a lot of fun. It just wasn’t a good time to spend that money. The statute gives a person the right to rescind a contract within three business days and that the dating referral service shall refund all monies the customer paid under the contract. They have sent me a bill for the remaining $100 which I have no intention of paying. I figure I already own my car and my house. I’m not giving in and not only do I not want to give them anymore money, I still want my $300 back. I don’t know if reporting them to the Better Business Bureau will do any good, but that’s where I’m going with this next.

E&A can be a good club; I have made many good friends in the last year. As for pricing I have found out that you can negotiate the price down from the initial quote. I was told that if I paid up front and later my eligibility changed I would get a refund…this is false as the contract clearly states that no refund will be given, only the $30 monthly dues (which is the owners salary) will stop being charged. So you pay close to 2K for 3 years of membership, plus $30 a month then want to cancel, you are out the 2K…SORRY about your luck but once you sign up you are in for good.
On the positive side I have made great friends and have taken a couple great trips with E&A. As with any social group (dating club) you get out of it what you put into it. If you just show up to an event and sit there you will hate the club. If you get up and meet people you will love the club. I know several people who have meet someone through E&A and are now happily dating or engaged. If you look you can always find people who are unhappy with a company, those who love the company, and those who are just satisfied with them.
The fact is if you can’t afford something than don’t sign up for it and always read what you sign before you sign it as you will be held to it in the end. I am one who failed to catch the entire contract and am now stuck with 2 more years of membership, but on the plus side I get out and do things outside my box.

The fact is that even if you are loaded and can afford the fees, Meetup does the EXACT SAME THINGS as E and A. With meetup, you only pay for the activities. So use the money you would have spent on E and A for a trip to Hawaii or something if you are well off. E and A isn’t worth the money if it does the same things as a free group. Nice try though John.

Interesting how hostile people are to any review that may be even slightly positive. Look at the last part of the comment by “kc” to “John”. I totally agree with John as I have been having a good time so far with E&A. I think it is too expensive and suspicious but so far an OK experience.

As for the references to Meetup.com I did not find the groups there were offering what I wanted event wise, or frequency wise in my area. Other areas had much better groups, so your mileage may vary.

My story is also similar to many of yours. I made the same mistake and signed up in the CA division in October, 2009. Two months later I was diagnosed with a spinal tumor and became disabled. I lost my job, insurance, and my apartment. I was in no shape to afford paying for the membership so I contacted E&A staff several times and explained my situation. I was asked to provide all my personal medical documentations in order to prove that I was in fact disabled. After submitting every single document that they asked for, Mr. Mark Owen (the owner), personally, emailed me to tell me that he would not be able to cancel my membership. He also mentioned that if he did not receive the monthly payment within a week, he would send my account to a collection agency.

I am currently trying to focus on my health and go through the surgery but I am very interested in taking the legal actions against this unfair and deceptive company and put an end to this abuse. I would encourage and welcome all the people who are interested in participating in a class action lawsuit to contact me at aazita22@gmail.com.

Thanks

Interesting that someone would find “nice try John” as hostile lololol. That’s hostile? Andrew if your experience is so positive, why are you at a sight like this? Seems to me like you are someone doing damage control. Are you an employee? Did they offer you a free event? I hope you don’t find someone that you like and become a couple because you are both screwed then. They will refuse to allow BOTH of you to participate AND you will still have to pay. I’m trying to help ppl in their decisions. I want ppl to think about things and investigate. This is not hostility. Any area that is large enough for E and A to set up shop is large enough for good meet ups. Even if there are no Meet ups, everyone can do the same things on their own without paying thousands. Like I mentioned before, the organizer of my group took a free paper from a burger joint and told us he was using that to plan events. If you get sick and can’t attend events, you still have to pay. If you fall in love and are banned, you still have to pay. If you lose your job, you still have to pay. Most of the events are NOT free. No group discounts are given. They cancel many events and you still have to pay. It is a joke how many they cancel. They charge you fees like 80 bucks for a show, then you see the ticket says 40. Everyone begs the organizers to get certain events that are coming to town and they NEVER get those. They promise cool things and then change them when you arrive with no explanation. They make you pay fees for a pot luck dinner. The members bring the food and games and nothing is provided by the club. You are paying this club huge fees but they are doing nothing to earn those fees that you couldn’t EASILY do yourself. Parties at the clubhouse with NO entertainment and pot luck have 30 dollar fees. If the weather makes roads dangerous and you signed up for an event, you still have to pay if you don’t go. You never get your own private event with just the club. You get mixed in with the general public. We had to sit in seperate seats at many activities, far away from each other. Nothing unique about that. Now if the chapter in your area is fair and excellent and in no way a scam, great. But ask alot of questions at your “interview” please. Ask them for time to sit and read the contract right there in the office. If they won’t allow you to do that..well..leave. Be aware that the activities they show you in the office are from the distant past, and may have been cancelled. Be smart. Know what you are getting yourself into before it is too late. Look all over the internet for reviews. One review, on one site could be an employee building up business. Look for more. If there are far more negative reviews than positive, thats saying somthing. You might find that your hard earned money can be used in better ways. Also, ask for the full name of the employee that calls you, and for your interviewer’s full name. If they won’t give it, that also speaks volumes. If you get those names, google them. Some ppl have told me they have found some suspicious activities in the backrounds of not only employees, but higher management. What does that say? Just research big time because you will get no time to think about it after the interview.

P.s. What kind of a legitimate business treats a customer with spinal problems so badly after making them provide proof? They probanly figured they’d stall for time asking her to prove her dilemma, or they figured she’d give up. When she followed through, they showed their true scummy colors. How low can a company go? When I read these experiences by others, I think “well they’ve sunk as low as they can”. But then someone else posts a situation where E and A sinks even further when I didn’t think it possible. AA’s story is probably not even the lowest they’ll go, sadly.

I just went to the Nashville office yesterday and I wish I had googled them before I went in for my “interview.” Yes, don’t even waste your time unless you want to spend a few thousand dollars. I just wanted to go in because I was curious about the fees and membership terms. It was around $1700 for a year’s membership plus $25 a month plus you would have to spend more money at most of the events. Every time I said I wanted to think about it I was given the high pressure sales pitch and she kept offering me a discount or reduced price and of course it is for ONE day only. I don’t like being given a hard sell at all! I was made to feel like this was my last option of having fun or meeting new people. There are other ways and free ways for that matter for getting out there and meeting new people.

I just got a weird vibe the moment I walked in the door. I just felt it wasn’t for me. It all “sounded” great, but I wasn’t interested in making a year commitment right there on the spot. When I finally got up and said I wasn’t ready to make a decision my interviewer was at least nice and wished me good luck either way.

Yes, don’t waste several hours going for an interview unless you have a lot of money and it is not a problem for you. I keep hearing this ad on the Big 98 and seeing ads in the paper….someone should tell them this is a bit of a scam.

Trust me, you do not want to sign up for this club. All the reviews are the same. $1200 just to join, plus a monthly club fee, plus the cost of events. No way to cancel. Not a good idea.

This place is a scam with a poor business practice! I heard about Events and Adventures on the radio and decided to check them out. While talking to a person on the phone, they would not tell me the cost. I had to go in to Bellevue (an hour drive) for an interview. At the end of the interview I was told the costs, and sales pressure was applied. The club seemed to fit what I was looking for, so eventually submitted to the pressure and decided to go with the entry level package, and placed a $360 deposit. I was told that I had three days to cancel, or I would lose $400. After 30 days, you can not cancel. The next two days were a weekend and a holiday. After looking at the site (which is poorly designed and has lots of errors), I realized that most events were in the north end. I sent an email asking a few questions about my membership and the events. I NEVER got a response. By the first business day, I had decided that this club isn’t for me and I needed the money for a more important issue. I called the representative to cancel my membership, but he was not there and would return my call within a couple hours (this was in the morning). I NEVER got a return call. I then proceeded to send a certified letter in the mail to cancel and get a refund. A few days later I got a letter from them in the mail that claimed I did not qualify for a refund and owe them the difference of $40 to cover the interview process. That’s lame, as the interview process occurs whether you join or not, and I had canceled within the timeframe I was told! What a scam – I would never join this place again! Granted, if you’re willing to pay a LOT of money (along with the cost for each event), there are a lot of events and activities planned every day. Just don’t expect to get out of the deal easily (even if you lose your job or die).

On Saturday afternoon, January 16, 2010 I went to the interview at Events and Adventures. Sales pressure was applied after describing the club, but it seemed to fit what I was looking for. I reviewed the contract and asked Bret about the cancelation and having to pay $400. He said that as long as I cancel within the three days, I would not have to pay the $400 – that they aren’t worried about taking the money. He also said that I could even cancel up to one month, but MAY have to pay $400. On Tuesday morning, January 19 (Monday was a holiday), I called Bret to cancel my membership. He never returned my call. That evening I re-read the contract and wrote my cancelation letter, and it was sent certified mail the next morning. In there letter, they state that the $400 is to cover the interview process, but the interview and background check occur regardless if you sign up as a member or not. They initially stated that they would not refund my money because it was not within the one day to get a refund. After having a lawyer send them a letter, they finally refunded my money.

I’ve been reading some reviews here as I was thinking about joining this club, but the reviews here of the initial sales and interview part of the whole process vastly differs from the experience I had. Could it be that the E&A’s in certain areas are worse than others? Just so you know, I’m in Florida, but most of the reviews here that specify which E&A it is seem to be in Seattle and St. Louis. Perhaps someone could offer me some advice here.

The BBB rates my local E&A as having an “F” (the lowest rating), mostly due to them not addressing a lot of complaints — half exactly. The other half were either addressed by the company with the customer being satisfied, or the company addressed the issue and made a reasonable effort as far as the BBB was concerned but the customer was did not satisfied. I plan to call them tomorrow and ask about this rating and these unanswered complaints to see what they have to say.

As far as my experience goes, it really differs from most of the stories I’ve read here. I went to their website and didn’t find too much info other than some basic info about them and their current events calendar. I entered my name and contact info for being interested in becoming a member.

The next day a woman called me and we had a short conversation about what the club was all about. Again, this was all very basic info. She scheduled me for an in-person interview with an event coordinator. I never felt pressured and she didn’t even ask anything personal.

I showed up for my interview and waited no more than 10 minutes. (I think I was no more than 5 minutes late myself, but my wait certainly wasn’t unreasonable. I’ve waited a LOT more in doctors’ offices and such.)

I finally met the event coordinator and she asked me why I was interested in the club, what my goals were, had I been dating, if I was interested in expanding my social circles and/or dating, etc. All of them were very reasonable. Nothing very personal or intrusive at all. I asked my own set of questions as well and she answered all of them directly. The cost for me (I guess they tweak the costs depending on your age and profession) was $100 a month, plus, of course, the costs of the specific events. She mentioned nothing about any initial or joining fees, and said that I could suspend my membership for a total of 3 months, breaking those 3 months into any amount of days or weeks I wanted to. (So say, for example, I was going out of town for 2 weeks and wasn’t going to “use” my membership in that time, I could put it on hold for those 2 weeks which would extend the membership for 2 more weeks past when my membership would have expired.)

She also stressed to me that this would be something I would want to use, that I would want to go to at least 2-3 events per month just to make the whole thing worth my while.

It all took about 45 minutes I think, definitely no more than an hour, and it all went pretty well. She said I could think about it and let her know.

That was it. No intrusive, personal questions, no sales pressure tactics, including threats of not being able to join (not having enough open slots) if I didn’t sign up that day.

Could someone tell me if these horror stories are specific only to certain areas, or why my experience differed so much from most of the people here?

As E&A has different offices, each office is franchised from the E&A headquarters (which is in Fort Lauderdale, FL). I’ve found that there are two websites related to E&A: http://www.lotsofevents.com, and http://www.eventsandadventures.com If you look at the cities listed in each site (and click the link to each city), they are not the same. As I understand, eventsandadventures.com is owned or operated by Adventures Northwest, Inc., dba Events & Adventures–This appears to be the Seattle, Minneapolis, and most west-coast cities. The remaining cities are operated via the lotsofevents.com website (and I’ve noticed one or two cities link over to a different website as well).

Varg, I’d like to know which location you went to. Because E&A is a franchise operation, it would seem that some franchises are better/worse than others. Please help to identify the bad branches (and in your case, the good ones). As has been stated in this blog before, I used to be a member of E&A (Atlanta), and you would have found me to be a big proponent and promoter of E&A. However, E&A terminated my membership for no clear reason, and as such, because of very unprofessional behavior, I’m now one of their biggest opponents. (When it comes to Atlanta, I would not recommend E&A, as there is a VERY active amount of meetup groups that do the same thing E&A does, and does not cost anywhere near what E&A does).

Varg, I would think the F BBB rating would speak for itself. Just research as much as possible before signing that contract. Good luck.

The branch I am going to is the Tampa/Tampa Bay area one. (I’m not sure if this is the headquarters for the branch as the office I went to wasn’t in Tampa but rather in Clearwater.) Again, my experience with the salesperson wasn’t anything like these horror stories.

FYI to everyone. An F rating at the BBB comes from many complaints. They base their rating on the ratio of positive to negative comments about a business.

Thanks to all for the collective comments on E&A. I had considered joining here in Northern Virginia, went through the online application, and immediately started receiving the calls. An emergency at home came up before I could go in for an interview, so I asked to be taken off the calling roster – that I would contact them upon my return and we could try to schedule an interview then. The bells a whistles started going off when they did not grant this small request. I finally just started ignoring them (they’re the only ones who call me from one particular area code…), and even now, SIX MONTHS later, I still get the occasional call from them. So glad I didn’t go in for that interview! The club sounded kind of neat, but too many things about it were “strange.” Reading this list of complaints and generally bad experiences with them only makes me more thankful that I did not follow through with the interview.

——————
kc wrote a comment on Wednesday, January 27, 2010

I wonder how many people are going to fall for the “former employee” BS.
——————
hey goofy, what do i gain from this? i’m just helping to clear the air. did i not say that most of what has been said was true? i am not defending the company, genius. at the same time, i’m not going to say that this company is 100% horrible, because alot of people have had nice experiences from it. i believe more people would NOT use the service from my initial review than would. where do you figure rut (a settled and monotonous routine that is hard to escape) = pathetic? i said go do something, and that makes me a bad person? there are plenty of suggestions on this page for people to go to. i will be trying them all when i get the chance to. you picked the couple of things you didn’t agree with and went running with it. all that i posted was true. all that you posted was true about your particular club. there were certain things about the one i worked at that were different (better and worse) than what your experience was, but that doesn’t invalidate your whole post. get a clue.

———————–
sal wrote a comment on Monday, February 1, 2010

There is a link between Events and Adventures and Great Expectations. I don’t have it fully fleshed out, but I just learned that the VP of operations for E&A worked for Great Expectations prior to E&A.

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/lauren-gash/17/617/88b

-sal
———————-
there are people formerly from great expectations work at e&a. things like that happen all the time. i’ve been asked on many occasions why i don’t work for other similar services or start one of my own. i’m not interested. that person you linked (and others) were. that doesn’t mean they are the same company.

———————-
sal wrote a comment on Monday, March 1, 2010

As E&A has different offices, each office is franchised from the E&A…
there are two websites related to E&A: http://www.lotsofevents.com, and http://www.eventsandadventures.com...
———————-
that is true.

“Because E&A is a franchise operation, it would seem that some franchises are better/worse than others…”

sal, you should replace this with “Because E&A purchased other operations, some of those merged operations are better/worse than others…” good thing? nope.

lastly, the calendar: https://singles.eventsandadventures.com/website/calendar.aspx of the original/newly created operations… but you probably think that’s a sales pitch too, kc?

Can’t thank you enough for these posts…heard about this outfit on the radio, checked them out online — their website contains little or no useful information, so I just began “googling” and ran across this site.
If I had gone far enough to actually have them call me, and discovered they wouldn’t give any cost information over the phone, then I would have pulled the plug at that point. A scam is a scam is a scam. Failure or unwillingness to be forthright in disclosing information upfront always means they’re hiding something or have ulterior motives. Their website made me uneasy about their overall integrity, the posts on this site merely confirmed what I was already feeling in my gut.

To Former Employee:
1) Can you specify which specific city you worked for?

2) Per the discussion about a link between Events and Adventures and Great Expectations:
( http://www.linkedin.com/pub/lauren-gash/17/617/88b

there are people formerly from great expectations work at e&a. things like that happen all the time. )

I agree that is the case. It’s been proven many times that Great Expectations has an incredibly poor BBB rating all around, and I would speculate that a lot of crap that happened in GE could definitely be carried over to E&A. I also know for a fact that the Owner of E&A has some past ties to Great Expectations, as was relayed to me by a director of events. I’m not saying that E&A and GE are the same, but as you said-there have been people employed by both companies in E&A. Both companies have practiced the same type of deceptive practices when it comes to memberships and returns.

3) Regarding the franchise vs. E&A purchase discussion: I know the E&A city that I was a member of was started by two people, and it appears that E&A (in Ft. Lauderdale) may have purchased them, but it seems a very poor business model to not have every city operate in the same manner – Your link of:
https://singles.eventsandadventures.com/website/calendar.aspx
of the original/newly created operations…

seems to be the cities operating via Adventures Northwest, Inc., doing business as “Events and Adventures”.. it certainly looks like that calendar isn’t showing all of the cities listed.
——————-
Either way, it’s a clear sign that E&A really needs to get their act together from an overall operations standpoint. Until that happens, I really woudln’t recommend anybody to sign a contract with E&A under any circumstances.

I have an appointment today; 03.20.2010 @ 11:a.m., Houston location and I can’t wait to give my $0.02! I have learned a lot of things from reading these comments/reviews.

Lmao @ your insults former employee. Apparently your feelings were hurt. I only called BS, which I still call.

of course you would kc. any opinion or statement you don’t agree with is.

This has been really helpful. I had a meeting scheduled but now I’ve just canceled. Hopefully they won’t hound me on my phone.

This page has been immensely helpful! I just moved to St Louis and don’t know anyone. All I was looking for was an outlet to go hang out with YOUNG adults with no dating pressure. I signed up for initial information on their website about a week ago and since then I have received over 30, yes 3-0 calls, from approximately 4-5 different numbers! Some leave voicemails and some don’t- my suspicions of E&A are only confirmed by this very, very lengthly page of complaints. Thanks so much to everyone who wrote on here! You saved me a lot of time and $ by letting me know BEFORE I got in too deep!! THANK YOU

I’ve been a member of E&A Seattle for 2 months now and I like the service. Yes, I did spend the $1,600 plus $25/month fee for 1 year. Total cost was like $2,055 but I think it is worth it. They have 1-2 events per day. I do things I would never make the time to plan and coordinate on my own. Many events like hiking, movies, and sports are free…just show up and play. So, I’m not sure why there are so many angry people leaving negative comments. Many angry people here sound like they signed up, never used your membership, and now want a refund. Just my opinion. Anyways, E&A is a cool organization and I recommend it.

@KC – “…why are you at a sight like this? Seems to me like you are someone doing damage control. Are you an employee? Did they offer you a free event?”

Wow, you don’t consider it hostile to insult peoples integrity when they try to offer a reasonable opinion? Sounds like you just want to beat up on E&A without any kind of objectivity. Did you actually read what I posted? I actually had some negative statements in what I said, but you blew right over them.

To answer your questions, no I am not an employee, and no they did not offer me any free events. I did negotiate so that I seemingly have a much better deal than many here have posted. If I find someone that is worth being a couple with, then I can suspend my membership for 3 months. It doesn’t make sense that I go back to E&A if I’m not single since it’s a singles group. I would actually find it aggravating to find people that are NOT single in the group. It sucks that I would loose the left over of my membership, but I have to admit the circumstances for loosing the membership money would probably be due to meeting someone at the singles event, that I would not have otherwise had the chance to meet.

I can’t speak about other peoples experiences, I can only refer to my original review. So far my membership with E&A has been pretty good.

I’m just curious as to why people who are loving their experience even found it necessary to look up reviews for the company. I mean they are already in the group right? Its too late to back out after you signed up. If you find bad reviews you can’t get out. So why are people with these “great” experiences here at this sight? Think about this. But from what I’ve read by most other ppl here, I don’t think anyone is really getting fooled.

Don’t waste your time on this company! Before thinking to look for online reviews, I went to the interview in the Atlanta office today. The woman who “interviewed” me was very cold and disturbing. She drilled me on all the most personal questions possible….”what do you do?” “how much do you make?” “How do you afford to pay your bills with that income?” “do you rent or own?” “do you have a checking account?” “how much is in your bank account?” “savings?” “do you have a debit card?” “do you have credit cards?” “what kind of cards are they?” “what are their credit limits?” “what is my available credit?” ……etc.!! Then, when she demanded my ID and all the credit cards I told her about, I began asking questions like “what does this have to do with a singles club!?!” and told her I would not give her my credit cards! She wouldn’t give me any information about the club other than showing me how I would view the event info on the website (from afar so I couldn’t read anything) and said she must have my credit cards for ID purposes and no one has ever had a problem handing them over! LOL At this point I was extremely uncomfortable and felt like I was about to get scammed. Then she pulled out the price list and I was floored. They want a minimum of $1795 for a 1 year membership, PLUS $25 a month, PLUS $20-$60 per event!!! And the events are mostly open to the public like festivals, parks, concerts, etc. I would not recommend anyone waste their time going in for an “interview”. The woman I met with was rude, intrusive, obnoxious, and clearly not a good salesperson. The whole interview is simply used to see if you have the available funds to pay for the club membership. As far as them being “selective” with their memberships, that’s referring to whoever they can sucker into paying for such a thing. I’m sure you could be a total looser or creep and still be a member if you’ve got the available credit! They obviously just want your money and nothing more.

Lauren, if you check out my reviews, I used to be a member in the Atlanta group, but got kicked out (for reasons never fully explained). I suggest you check out meetup.com. There’s lots of groups there, and they do a lot of the same things that E&A does, and there’s no steep membership fee!

sal

@KC We end up here because this list hits high on any search about E&A. As I said in my first post (which you apparently refused to read because it wasn’t purely negative), I was searching because I might have moved and I wanted to examine how many branches E&A has before I renewed.
You really discredit yourself by your blind attacks on everyone that posts anything positive. You have almost no content based responses, just insults, name calling, and ranting. On other subject forums I visit (or moderate), you’d be banned.

That said, I came back here today because I’m having trouble with the scumbags at corporate. I still think E&A Houston is worthwhile for the local events, but avoid all dealings with the larger corporation. Buy only a one year membership, pay it all up front, and don’t renew.

I`m smelling scam win a business can`t tell me what the costs are on the phone or at the web site. I went to the interview and the the barrage of questions are as follows: Relationships explain them. Their objective is to make you feel desperate . Salary,how much. Bank account balance, what credit cards do you have, how much is your credit line.How much is your mortgage. Debt you have other than a car payment.Show me your driver`s license and credit cards. I agreed to show the driver`s license and credit card ,but no photo copies or numbers copied. The interviewer went on the attack and asked if I have something to hide in my background. I ended the interview then, but not before the interviewer could tell me that I am not going to fit in their club, and that i have to trust people more.

So I don’t know about any other city than mine, Vancouver. All I know is, most of the people I know are cheap to a fault. Save a buck, cool, but if ya can’t spend to have fun, i’m not interested. The fees for this club were high, but I look at it this way, i’m paying someone to be my personal assistant for my social life. They organize everything for me.

The people I meet here aren’t cheap, they take care of themselves, and are both financially and emotionally stable. It is sad that the sales pitch is a hard one, the club itself is great. I organize a lot of events with my friends, but thats the thing, I want to meet new people.

As for those of you calling this a scam, it’s not. It’s marketing, get used to it. Your cellphone carriers do it, your precious car companies do it, and pretty much any big ticket item out there does it.

It’s fine if you don’t like it, it’s expensive for what it is. The upside is, it really does filter out crowds like gold diggers and cheapskates. People i’ve met are exactly the type of people I want to meet. These are people that do stuff, are active, and don’t talk about doing stuff, but actually do it.

Say what you want, but this club has helped me meet people I wanna meet and has filtered out those that I don’t want to meet. So it either works for you or it doesn’t, either way, if the 3000 is that important to you, you can always lock it in a vault or get a 2nd job.

@KC: I’m here because I recommend this to my friends and they always come here and complain to me about the bad reviews and lack of good ones. Hence, here are my good ones. If you’re too cheap to pay the fee then don’t pay and go find something else that suits your tastes.

As for value, a lot of the events are free. I’ve gotten to do things cheaper than I otherwise would have. Group discounts are great when you’re wiht your friends, I’m in this to meet new people, not hang out with people I already know.

If you can’t afford this, don’t go for it. If you can, I highly suggest trying it. It’s like a Ferrari, it’s a scam if you can’t afford it, it’s one hell of a ride if you can. Enjoy at your own leisure.

Dan, I haven’t called anyone any names. You are pretty sensitive. So what if this website comes up the most about E and A. I’m just saying that if I was already in a club I was happy with I wouldn’t be googling reviews. It is suspicious. Saying I’m suspicious is not name calling.

Johnny D-That was a really good sell of the club. lol. The ole If you don’t join, you are probably cheap, and the members are classy rich people ploy. lololololololol. Okayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!! And as I explained before E and A does not act as personal assistants at all. They lie, cancel, and put together events that other organizations do for free.

Those of you who are legitimatly giving a positive opinion, I hope you don’t get screwed over by the club, the more you get to know it. I also hope your branch of the club is a good one and you are happy. However, those of you who are E and A staff members trying to entice ppl to join and do damage control, I don’t understand how you can be so sleazy.

is there anyone that is filing a lawsuit against E&A in Vancouver, BC? If you are, please contact me via email @ amyryeung@gmail.com

i can’t believe they are screwing me around like this! they sent my account to collections 4 days ago and just 2 days ago, some girls at E&A told me they can “assist me financially” since I just lost my job.

i just joined the e&a and yeah they are totally evasive about questions because it keeps away the trash and people who are not interested from wasting their time. they are a busineess. i don’t make much money but i just moved to dallas and have almost zero friends and those i do don’t do anything but sit at home and drink. yeah most of the stuff is free anyway but would you really go there if you weren’t in the club and i only pay one hundred dollars a month for the three year contract and it will be paid off the month before the contract is over i put $200n down and you know what i was spiraling down into a deep depression before i started this and now i feel great again. if you don’t like leave it alone but if your interested check it out and if it’s that important to you you’ll find a way to pay for it like i did or you’ll realize it’s not for you and once again leave it alone.

PLEASE READ THIS I SIGNED UP AND WENT TO ONE EVENT THE NEXT DAY AND TO BE SHORT I AGREE WITH ALL ABOVE I AM ABOUT TO FILE FOR A CLASS ACTION LAW SUIT IF THEY DO NOT REFUND MY MONEY ON FRIADY MAY 21 I WILL LET YOU KNOW ON FRIDAY IF I HAVE TO DO IT I WILL MAKE A EMAIL ADRESS TO CONTACT ME THRU I HAVE CONTACTS WHO ARE LAWYERS AND THEY SAY MY CLAIM IS VALID ESPECIALLY IF YOU WRITE AN OFFICAL LETTER BEFORE THE THREE DAYS IS UP AND KEEP THE FAX TRANSMISSION OR DO CERTIFIED AND HAVE PROOF OF THE LETTTER DO THIS AND I WILL KEEP YOU POSTED I DON’T LET PEOPLE RUIN OTHER’S LIVES EVEN IF I GET MY MONEY BACK I WILL HELP ANY WHO WANT IT IN ANY WAY I CAN CAUSE THIS IS BS AND THEY ARE LIARS AND CHEATS AND THEY DESERVE NOTHING LESS THAN BEING SUED TO THE GROUND AND THROWN IN PRISON.

kc, I echo your comments exactly.

To all reading this, see my previous posts. I am a former member, and while I was in the club, I enjoyed it immensely. However, my contract was canceled for no clear reason, which left me completely stunned and angry. I was also told that I would not be getting a refund. Well, I wrote a letter to E&A corporate VP, and I got *some* refund. I paid 2 grand for a 3 year membership, and was given a refund of 400 bucks, becuase E&A deducted a 1 year membership of 1600 from my 3 year membership of 2000. I had requested a larger refund based on a daily rate of 2000 dollars divided by a daily rate for 3 years. So, you can see that E&A heavily front loads their membership. I had filed a complaint on Ripoffreport.com, to which the Operations VP of E&A made the false claim that I continued to show up at events after my contract was terminated. I was still never given any clear reason for termination of my contract.

Because of the lack of reason for termination, making false claims against my character, and inconsistiency, I do not recommend E&A, as that behavior is representative of poor business practices.

Find yourself a meetup group (or many meetup groups) for next to nothing. Chances are you’ll meet existing E&A members at local meetups as well. You may have to do a little more legwork, but you’re not locked into the one event that E&A creates for you. Remember, someone is paying for the E&A office rent and the salaries of those in the office. The person paying is you, the person that signed the contract. Too bad Ken didn’t look at earlier posts here and find himself some meetup group(s).

I really wish I had done more (any) research before I joined this club. My interview, much like all the other commenters, was very sales pitchy and pushy. However, the woman was very nice and personable. I’m very gullable so I fell for it without a hitch. I was under the impression I had a week to cancel. I had called my interviewer the following day with my second thoughts and she did a good job convincing me I was wrong. Over the next few months I signed up for a few events but canceled the day before. That was about a year ago and I’ve not attended a single (no pun intended) event. Everyone I have been in contact with have been very nice. I was even allowed to have my monthly fee lowered for a few months when I lost my job.

Even though I haven’t had any problems, per se, with the organization I would still love to know how to get out of my contract. I signed up for the on going (doesn’t expire) only bc the monthly fee was the lowest and there were no dues. I don’t foresee myself using this service and have since just been telling myself “maybe ill use it one day”. Until then ill be forking over wasted money. If anyone has info on getting out of the contract or anything, email me at kaypeezy@gmail.com (put e&a in the subject).

I just wanted to thank the poster for the info on DC Active Singles. I just checked out the website and will be looking into more info. If you’d like to read my experience with the E&A interviewer, its below; basically E&A sounded exactly what I was looking for but I wanted a shorter membership or trial in case it wasn’t for me. Thanks again.

I went into the DC-area office last night, knowing that there would be a membership fee on top of having to pay for events. I was fine with this as long as it was no more than $80/month. After listening to a TWO HOUR sales pitch (of course some of that was questions that I was asked to answer), I was finally “admitted” into the club. The salesperson left the room and came back with a card with the 3 membership options on it. I knew right then and there that the card they brought in varied depending on your income. The one year membership was $1795, 2 year was $2195, and 3 year was $3000+. I actually was sad because I really wanted to join, and even though I could have easily afforded it, I did have my price in mind. What happened next was unexpected though…the salesperson tried to negotiate the price with me! Then I knew I was right; guess she picked the wrong card to bring in! Anyway, she lost me because when I said I would need 24 hours to come up with my “price”, she said they only allow people one shot to join: now or never. The policy is not to allow people to go home and think about it. Which is too bad for them because I had every intention of joining if they would meet my (new, higher) price. My policy is to never to business with a company that won’t let you sleep on it.
I also had the same experience as everyone else: asked every detail of your finances- mortgage payment, credit card limits, salary, bank account balances, etc.- (but I was expecting that); info on my last relationship; telling me I held my entire future in my hands right then, and if I didn’t buy the membership I would be alone forever; telling me to “break my cycle” of staying with the wrong person “just to have someone”–excuse me, I stayed with my last boyfriend because I enjoyed being with him; when she said he obviously didn’t feel the same way, I had to point out that he had purchased (but not given) me an engagment ring; asking me what I had to show for the past 10 years of my life (to which I responded: a master’s degree, upward mobility in my career, a few great relationships, etc.)…basically the meeting deteriorated into me having to defend myself as a “non-loser” because in their eyes apparently only losers come to them…which I then turned on her by saying that the people in this club didn’t sound like anyone I wanted to meet (if they/we are all losers, why would I want to hang out with them?)…and of course, she then told me that I’m not right for the club after all, due to my “bad attitude”. Sigh.
It is too bad that they don’t offer a trial membership (I would be willing to pay for it) so that I can find out once and for all what kind of people join/attend events. They really are losing business by sticking with this old-fashioned car-sales technique.

This sounds all too eerily familiar with Great Expecations. Im glad I found this review because like alot of people…I wanted to see what it was about. Now that I have read atleast 10 or more posts…Its enough for me to say NO THANKS!!! I’ll stick with eHarmony(for only one month) and Match.com. Atleast there’s no contracts with them.

I joined E&A around a year ago, during the interview I was told several things (none of which turned out to be true). I was new to DC and wanted to make some new friends and when I heard the ad I figured I’d give it a shot. I have to say that the price was high, but the promised mostly free events and the others would be low cost so I went ahead and joined.
At the beginning the events were fun and interesting and the people that I meet were normally good people. Then that event planner left and things went downhill quickly. The quality of people you meet started to go from fun to creepy; with most of them just looking for their next conquest or with children my age (I’m 31). The events became repetitive, started earlier (6-630pm), and the weekend events went from an average of $15-$45 to the $100 and up range. I guess this company thinks that all of their members want to pay more to attend an event with them than it would cost to do the event on their own. I have yet to find one of the scheduled events that cost the price that they are charging their members.
When I complained I was asked for suggestions and they summarily dismissed them all because it would require the office staff to plan events in advance and call vendors more than a week before an event. When I asked to quite the group I was told I was in a contract and even if I was unhappy with the services I had to continue my membership unless I moved 100 miles from any E&A office, got married, or co-habituated with a significant other. All of these required 2 proofs in the form of bills addressed to me and the other person (if applicable). Even if I did cancel it would only stop the $30 a month charge for being a member, under no circumstances would there be a prorated refund of unused membership time.
Given the other meet-up type groups that are out there this organization is a scam and all they care about is your money. There is no interaction with the staff that doesn’t revolve around them putting on a happy face for your money; as soon as you express displeasure with the events they turn off the happy face and treat you like trash.
Even with all the crap this group puts you through and there is a lot; I found a very good women at one of the events and made a few good friends. I decided to write this review to let everyone know what kind of group this is so if you decide to give them your money you don’t fall for the lies they tell you and are aware of what you are paying for and can expect to find. Overall I believe this organization and their leadership are a scam but they have very good contract writers and lawyers behind them.
Before you pay Events and Adventures any money I would highly recommend trying the meet-up groups you can find on the web. In my opinion they offer a better experience and the price is so much better. In fact most of the cool people I meet in E&A joined other groups in the end.
Hope this review helps you…

I joined this group in the fall of last year after having a rather horrible break up with my ex. I had hopes of meeting new people near to my age, since I tend to have a relatively lonely profession. This was one of the biggest, and dumbest mistakes that I’ve ever made. The people were nice, and the events were fun. That’s not really where my problem occurred. I could overlook the fact that the majority of people were not in their mid to late twenties, as I was told, but older. I could ignore the fact that I was paying an outrageous amount monthly, which I was told would cover 80% of my events, but in truth did not cover anything. I could even brush aside all of the extra fees and costs I was initially told did not exist. What I can not, and will not, turn a blind eye to is that I was not ONCE told that I only had three days to cancel. I was pretty much blatantly lied to and lead around. I was unfortunate enough to not realize my mistake until I had already been in the group for about a month. I decided I wanted to cancel and was told that I couldn’t.

I feel as though this company deceived me. Is it my fault for signing a contract? Yes. Very much so. But I was never told that I couldn’t cancel any time that I wanted. I was lied to about the age group, I was lead on about fees. I’m overall extremely dissatisfied. I would never recommend anyone to join this group.

I am now attempting to plan my wedding, and I’m told that I STILL cannot cancel. And not only can I not cancel but their suggestion was for my fiancée to join as well. I’d rather spend the $200 a month on supplies for my wedding. Why would we want to go to singles events when we’re attempting to plan our wedding? Not only that but I was told being married meant that your contract would be terminated- which isn’t exactly true. They still make you pay but won’t allow you to go to events. I’m appalled that there are companies out there that prey on the lonely and broken hearted.

It’s a rather low blow if I may say so myself.

DO NOT JOIN! DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY HERE!

They hide costs and and use shady sale pitches to reel you in and then bleed you dry of whatever money you ‘OWE’ them.

Chalk me up as another bad experience with E&A. I heard the ads on the radio on Mix 107.3.

As a 35 year old attorney recently transferred to DC, I was looking for an opportunity to meet singles. I went in for the interview and left $1,795 poorer, but with the opportunity to meet “lots of attractive single women” in DC.

I was quickly disappointed, however, when I went to my first event (for which I had to pay an additional $30) and found a poorly attended event with not a single woman within 10 years of my age. I complained and they told me to try other events. I tried 3 more events and they were all terrible. When I complained again, they tried telling me that “Beauty of subjective” and “I should give these women a chance.” This is sure NOT what they were telling me during the interview.

I have one piece of advice for anybody considering joining the E&A in DC. Instead of joining E&A, go to the Professionals in the City website at http://www.prosinthecity.com. This group offers a lot more events than E&A, gets a much bigger turnout at its events, and it charges no annual fee. Had I seen this website prior to joining E&A, I never would have giving E&A $1,795+.

How do you find meet-up groups?

I am so happy that I read this blog and all the comments before contacting this company. Recently things had not been working out with a previous boyfriend who does not share similar interests or activity level as me. I don’t have many friends in this area, and none of the friends I do have here are single. I was excited to hear the E & A ad on the radio and thought I would be able to meet interesting folks for friendship and maybe more that shared similar interests.

When I went to the website I became suspicious right away because there was not a lot of information available–though I was intrigued by the concept, the founders letter, and the exotic trips you could go on. I love to travel and recently came back from South America myself, so I wanted to get some more info.

You have to leave them your phone number, which I was leery of from the get go. The events calender for my area was rather vague and didn’t give me an idea of what some of the events were all about. There are no prices listed, of course. But what really got me was the fact that they do these intense interviews and background checks before you are allowed to join their club.

I am thinking to myself “what type of interview and background checks are we talking about here?” I can see looking for criminal history, but are you checking my finances, my credit score, my previous marriage, or my children?? AND how much is all of this costing me?

Glad I decided to see what others thought of this “exclusive club” before I devoted anymore time to this. I saw a lot of people say that Meetup.com is a great place to go. I have been looking into it a little, not sure if it is for me or not–I am not the most social butterfly, so we shall see what happens.

Thanks for sharing! I am set to meet them tomorrow, but no chance of that now!

Well, take a look at this link from the Better Business Bureau website:

Apparently, E&A has an “F” rating in St. Louis. The article is from August 2009, which is 10 months ago.

http://stlouis.bbb.org/article/st-louis-area-singles-club-leads-to–mis-adventures-for-some-consumers-12025

I had the same exact experience…wish I had read your post prior to going to their meeting. Below is my review of that craphole:

After hearing their commercial on the radio, I decided to set up a meeting to learn more about their organization. So for starters, the woman who was to interview/screen me was 20 minutes late (very inconvenient given that I took some time off of work in order to do this). Then, throughout the entire interview, she proceeds to tell me that I’m going to be 40 and STILL single while my friends move on with their lives, unless I join this group (I am only in my early 20s). At the end, when she asks me if I want to join this group, I say ‘yes’ but I will have to sleep on it and get back to her due to the cost (which is $1795 – $2600, depending on which package you get). She gets defensive, tells me I’ve been lying to her (because I said I wanted to join if it was affordable), and then I’m going to be single for the rest of my life unless I join. I insist on thinking it over and not throwing my money away on something I’m not 100% sold on, and she then tells me that they don’t want me anymore because I can’t make my own decisions. So I said ‘thank you’ and walked out. I recommend not even setting up a meeting because it will be a waste of 2 hours.

To those who haven’t signed up but are still interested in joining, please read the contract. I will reiterate the general cancellation policy from when I was there:

cancellations vary by state, but generally:
*24 hrs – full refund
*72 hrs – refund minus $400
*after 72 —–(or you attend an event)—– – NO REFUND.
*to cancel, a certified letter gives you the absolute best results, as YOU have solid proof. Use the other methods (calling or an email) at your own risk, or if you are not in a position to be able to send a certified letter.
*getting married or involved with someone does not cancel you from paying, but getting married cancels you from being able to attend events (you still have to pay the rest of what you owe).

Even if it takes you 30 minutes, read the contract while you are there before you sign.

Also, if you are not interested in the events, there’s no reason to join and pay for a membership you won’t get any use out of. Look at https://singles.eventsandadventures.com/website/calendar.aspx and see what is going on that month and the months before that to get a feel for what’s being planned.

Lastly, for those of you that are in and are not happy, I am sorry. You will probably not end up getting a refund in most cases, but that doesn’t mean don’t try… I just wouldn’t hold my breath in most cases. Those of you who who paid and aren’t going to events, go! At the end of the day, the company doesn’t care if you’re sticking it to the man, or if you paid and didn’t attend an event. They still have your money, regardless. Try to squeeze as much lemonade out of your lemons. Attend free events Get to know people. Get their number. Hang out with them outside of the club. Don’t just waste your membership. There are people in the club that are as happy with it as they can be, but there are also people that can’t wait for their contract to be up, but make the most out of the membership they are paying money for.

former employee,

You no longer work for E&A, so my assumption here is that the cancellation details were from when you were there. Details may have changed, as as you say–they vary from state to state (which means location to location as well), but most importantly, details may have changed, which makes your comment pretty much invalid. Besides, if you’re a former employee, why do you care about them anymore?

I wanted to send a response related to the Events & Adventures review. Please see the description about my experience with Events & Adventures. I have been an Events & Adventures member in the Philadelphia area for approximately 6 months. As many of you already know, I moved here about a year ago and did not know many people or for that matter, I didn’t even know where to go to hang out.  Events & Adventures has introduced me to so many people and just as many different places in the area I didn’t even know existed!  I have had such a fun experience with the group that I went from being skeptical about joining to doing at least two events each week (Imagine that! ME! I can’t even commit to picking up my dry cleaning ONCE a week, never mind twice a week). That is the one thing that still amazes me and if I had to name one thing for an Events & Adventures review, that would be it. I enjoyed meeting many people at the group that we even spend time as a group outside of the Events and Adventures dynamics.  This has been a great experience and I truly look forward to a long-standing membership going forward. I know I don’t only speak for myself, and I know a lot of my new friends have already submitted an Events & Adventures review, but it’s important to me that you and the company knows how thankful I am. And now…I have a date tonight!

” Events & Adventures has become a very important part of mine and my girlfriend’s lives. I met her through Events & Adventures and now, I can’t imagine my life without her. The whole staff is as happy for us as our own families are. They stay in touch, even though we’re not really a part of the group anymore, or at least to the extent we were before we began to get serious as a couple, and they’re as excited about every new bit of news we share with them as our own friends and family.

Even as I’m planning on proposing to my girlfriend, there’s a part of me that knows what made this all possible. If anyone’s looking for the right person and has become frustrated because it seems like everything’s a dead end, you owe it to yourself to at least give Events & Adventures a chance. The fact is, you never know what awaits you until you turn that corner, like I did. Thanks to Events & Adventures, I’m about to make the best decision I’ll ever make in my entire life. Not only have I had a once in a lifetime experience that I never would have had otherwise; after all, how many people can say they’ve swam with whale sharks, been skydiving and whitewater rafting? The best part, though, is through Events & Adventures, I met my best friend and the love of my life. You just never know when and where that magic is going to happen.
“