Partners Unite

Partners Unite Preferred Partners Partners Unite is a total scam not even located in New York 195 Davenport Rd, Ontario

24th of Jun, 2011 by User499610

Partners Unite advertises as "New York's Largest Gay Matchmaking Service" and "New York's Premier Matchmaking Service for Same Sex Relationships." They advertise that they have a unique system and that they match accomplished gay and lesbian professionals. Nearly everything about this company is false advertising, misleading and completely worthless as far as service.
I was invited to have a "personal interview" at their offices on Madison Ave. The appointment was made on a Saturday early evening, supposedly to "meet the needs of the busy professional." I arrived at what appeared to be a corporate office, sent up by a security person who had my appointment. The lobby I was greeted at had lots of signage and material for Partners Unite. I had to fill out forms and then was taken into a conference room that was filled with Partners Unite material, where I underwent a nearly 2 hour interview by a very proper looking young woman asking a lot of personal details. She was very good in her role and kept telling me how excited she was going to be to match me and how she specifically had a successful downtown attorney that she really wanted to match me with, etc., etc. Supposedly I would be matched with my "personal counselor" who would know me the best and be responsible for matching me. I asked if I'd be working with her and she said no but she was very involved and indicated with her head that their "matching department" was just down the hall and would be working on my case. She got me to sign a contract that included clauses that the client could withdraw before any dates for 50% return but that after that the contract was final. I realized I was taking a risk but it seemed worth it for the personalized service they recommended in the very local New York location they seemed to have. I received a call several days after my interview from "Chris" who introduced himself as my relationship counselor. He proceeded to ask nearly all the same questions that "Erin," the person who interviewed me asked. When I asked him why they needed to do it all over his response was that he liked to hear these things himself. That made little sense, but ok. He made some comment about the weather and that was when I found out he was in Toronto, which was a complete surprise to me.
How do you give personal service and make matches if you're not even in the same city and never meet the client? Nor did he seem very informed about New York or the social scene here. He seemed so out of touch that I wondered if he was even gay? This was not what I signed up for, but I felt locked in by the contract and decided to move ahead. Some time later a message was left on my home phone during the day, although they had my office and cell phone numbers. "Chris" said he had my first match. I called back that evening (they supposedly work from 2-10 PM but only got a message machine. It took three more calls to finally reach Chris several days later. So much for personalized service. He gave me the name of a person and a phone number. I called this person. He could not have shown less interest in talking and gave
little information about himself but said we should plan a meeting. I had a bad feeling from the beginning but agreed. We met about a week later for a drink. He came in dressed completely inappropriately, seemed to not want to be there from the start and we spent an hour during which I could get little information from him. He didn't even seem to actually have a job---hard to tell from the little I learned. If the people at PartnersUnite had pulled in a stranger off the street it would not have been more inappropriate. In fact, I was left wondering if this guy actually could have worked for them and was just
there to fulfill the role of "first date" so that I would not be able to get even 1/2 of my money back. I called Partners Unite---it only took about 4 calls to finally get "Chris"---and complained. His response was that they never give what they think is a really great match the first time because they want to get feedback from the customer. I couldn't believe this was what I paid $5,000 for (and oh---that was a "special discount" from the 10K they originally asked for and I was never supposed to discuss that with anyone). The contract is for a specific number of introductions and so I was outraged that they just plan to waste one. All of this only added to my feeling that this whole operation is a scam. I told "Chris" I wanted my money back. He told me they couldn't do that and I told him I thought their whole operation was a scam as everything I had encountered from the start---the fake office, the 800 numbers to Canada, what seemed like a really fake introduction. I even said I wondered if the guy they sent worked for them and I've repeated this several times in conversations with them and they have yet to deny it. Supposedly "Chris" would speak to people higher up in the company and get back to me. Oh, and by the way, what ever happened to the promised lawyer in New York? He didn't have a clue what I was referring to. He never called back. I started doing more investigation. It turns out that everything about this company was a fake. They are actually located in Toronto, Ontario Canada. All their numbers forward to Canada. The actual address that they operate out of is 195 Davenport Road, Toronto, Ontario M5R 1J1. A view on Google Earth shows this to be a nondescript strip mall in Toronto. A friend in real estate did some digging and found that their "NY office" is actually a corporate suite rental. I should have realized this because as I was hustled out of the interview the "receptionist" was gone as was all of the signage. I
didn't have time to question this at the time. I turned up a Canadian company called Preferred Partners at the Toronto address that supposedly does the same thing. If you call the number listed for them 415-850-0663, the answering machine reports that you've reached Partners Unite, New York's largest gay matchmaking service. Partners Unite is a false front, operating out of a strip mall in Toronto. The "match" they gave me worse than if they'd pulled in someone off the street. Not even sure they are gay at all. Do not sign any contracts with them.

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