I am posting my negative experience with The Right One (www.therightone.com) dating service as a cautionary tale to others who may be considering joining them, and as an information source for others who have fallen prey to them. In retrospect, I should have seen the warning signs, but somehow missed them.

I first heard of TRO when I received their brief questionnaire in the mail, promising professional matchmaking. Now, I'm something of a cave dweller, I don't go to bars or other social hangouts, I'm naturally shy, and I'm not good at making the first move in asking someone out. I also have one very specific requirement in a potential mate, namely not wanting to have children, ever (as I do not), and I will not even consider someone who does not match that criteria. Obviously this makes finding someone difficult. So TRO seemed like an ideal solution for me.

I filled out the questionnaire and sent it back, and a few days later was contacted by someone wanting to set up an appointment. I wasn't aware there was an interview process, and expressed a little discomfort at this. The woman on the phone, who was friendly at first, came back with a bit of a pressure tactic (WARNING SIGN #1), asking me if I wanted to take control of my life. Still a bit reluctantly, I agreed.

TRO's offices were on an upper floor of an office building in the downtown section of my city. Both the office and Francie, the woman I met with, had a very professional appearance. The office consisted of a main reception area with a couple of small couches and chairs around a coffee table, a reception desk, and a smaller office and a conference room off to the side. Francie took me into the private office, gathered some basic personal information, got my permission to run a criminal background check, and explained a little about how the process worked.

According to her, TRO recruits new members through mass-mailings, sending out thousands of questionnaires every few months (WARNING SIGN #2). For people who respond, they match up potential mates using a "sophisticated database matching system". While Francie went to meet with another potential client, I was left alone to watch a 10-minute sales-pitch video which restated this and gave testimonials from satisfied members, or at least people who claimed that's who they were.

When she came back she had a more detailed questionnaire used to build a personality profile of me, for matching. I warned her I had very specific criteria, but Francie assured me there would be a lot of potential matches in the area. She went on to describe her proficiency in matching people up, her background in psychology, and her absolute love of her work. She told me how she'd run herself and her own husband through TRO's compatibility profile, and how the two of them turned up as a perfect match in all areas except management of money, which was the only thing they ever fought about. She made a lot of promises about how accurate TRO's matching was, how satisfied I was going to be with the service, how dedicated the matchmakers were, etc.

So I filled out the more detailed questionnaire and Francie went over it with me and confirmed what type of person I was, based on my answers. It sounded correct for the most part, but thinking back, one thing bothered me: She specifically asked if I was the type who would actively complain about bad service (say in a restaurant) or simply let it go but never go back again. In retrospect she seemed to dwell just a bit too much on this, as if trying to confirm that, should I not be satisfied with TRO, I wouldn't cause a scene (WARNING SIGN #3).

Finally came the price. I was prepared for it to be several hundred dollars, but had a bit of sticker-shock when told a membership would cost $2500... though I would get the discounted price of $1995 if I signed up today (WARNING SIGN #4). Francie touched briefly on the other two tiers in the price structure, which allow you to transfer the unused portion of your membership, but suggested in confidence that they were something of a rip-off since the additional costs were so high... though she "wasn't supposed to tell me that" (WARNING SIGN #5).

Yeah, it was expensive, but I realized: (1) The way I am, I'm probably not going to meet someone any other way, and (2) the expense of going out to dinners, movies, etc. before I finally found an ideal mate would probably cost me around $2000 anyway, and would take up a lot of time as well. TRO practically guaranteed me a match, and they'd do all the legwork.

Okay, so, long story short: I'm an idiot, I missed all the warning signs, and I swallowed the bait.

First match actually came fairly quickly (it takes about 4 weeks for the background check, but the referral came right after that). Unfortunately this person didn't match my criteria very well: They wanted kids and I don't, and the age difference was a bit greater than what I'd hoped for. Still, I stuck with this person long enough to realize it wasn't going to work out, and sent TRO detailed feedback about why it didn't.

Second and third referrals came about a month later, one right after the other, and I got the People Who Never Call Back. I'm not terribly patient about that sort of thing, so I gave up on them. It was almost 9 months before I got another referral, and then only after I'd checked in a couple of times and asked TRO what was going on. They claimed they were "just about to" send me another referral that very week.

Now referral letters are sent to both parties, supposedly at the same time. For this next person, either TRO didn't send the letter when they sent mine, or it got delayed somehow, but for whatever reason the person whom I reached wasn't expecting my call at all and was right in the middle of something, so I was asked to call back. I figured I'd let them make the next move, and they never did.

I wait a couple of months, then check in with TRO again. And again, they were "just about to" send me another referral, right when I called. (I must be psychic or something.) Only this time it didn't come the same week, so finally, I lost patience. I started doing research on the web to find out if anyone else had used this company, and whether their experience was as rotten as mine. While I didn't find much on The Right One, I did uncover a company called Together Dating (www.togetherdating.com) that had a similar web layout, used the same hosting provider, was mentioned as being both a partner and a former name for TRO... and had been exposed as a scam (see links below) by multiple clients, eventually getting banned from that state. I called up TRO and let them know I was extremely dissatisfied with their service, their lack of response, and their poor matching job.

Now, adding to the frustration, each time I called it was someone different who was my so-called account manager. The first time it was Jessica, then either Tonya or Connie (the way she pronounces it, it could sound like either one). So it's not like I've been working with one person this whole time, I've had to explain the situation anew every time I call. Communicating my frustrations to Tonya/Connie was difficult, because she kept interrupting me mid-sentence, forcing me to raise my voice a little to make myself heard, at which point she accused me of "yelling" at her and threatened to disconnect the call.

I forced myself to keep a neutral voice and asked her a bunch of questions, for which I received less than satisfactory answers. Tonya/Connie couldn't tell me anything about The Right One, and whether Together was a joint company owned by the same conglomerate. (She did admit to having heard of Together, though.) Each TRO office is an individually-operated franchise, and of course any complaints about any other office should not reflect badly on this one, even if Together is owned by the same company as TRO, which she wasn't sure. I asked to speak to her manager, to see if s/he'd know, and T/C asked what difference it would make if Together and TRO were related somehow. Well, durr... Plenty, if TRO was directly related to another dating company that had been caught in fraud, but Tonya/Connie just didn't seem to get this. I said it would make me feel better if I knew one way or the other, she again asked what difference it would make. We went around in circles like this for about 5 minutes, finally ending with her accusing me of accusing her of being a liar.

I restated (for the umpteenth time) the fact that I kept getting matched with people who want children, even though I have specifically stated that I don't. Now, back when when I first signed up, remember, Francie told me it should be no problem finding me a match. But now, Connie/Tonya tells me that most people my age DO want kids, and I might have to "settle" for less than my ideal match. This, after they've already taken my money!

The call ended with Tonya/Connie promising to check up with me more often so I wouldn't feel like I was being ignored, and promising to have her manager give me a call so I could ask the questions she couldn't answer. That's two promises made, and two broken. The manager never called me back, and TRO's membership service staff continued to ignore me. Following several more months without contact, I started doing research on The Right One and Together Dating, and found a few very interesting webpages:


Needless to say, after reading all this I was very concerned, convinced The Right One is a complete scam operation. It had been a year and a half at this point, I had received promises out the yin-yang (only when I call up frustrated), but not received one decent referral. Just so they couldn't possibly continue to ignore me, I began calling membership services on a daily basis and speaking to Teresa (the woman in charge of the franchise, whom I asked to take over my account when it became clear that Connie/Tonya just didn't like me). Of course C/T had not told my story to Teresa, so I got to explain it all over again. Turned out they were still matching me with people who wanted kids because that is how my matching preferences were set in the system. They screwed up, and failed to change it even when I specifically corrected them! Teresa promised me that the incorrect matches would not count against my guaranteed total of ten, but at that point I did not believe a word she said.

A few days later I received a notice that they would change my match preferences to reflect no children, but that my matches would likely take longer as a result. They wanted me to sign the acknowledgment of this and send it back. I didn't, as I was convinced they were going to use this as an excuse to ignore me until my membership expired. (The contract specifies that the maximum length of any membership is two years. Teresa promised they would stick with me until all my matches were used, but again I did not believe this.) Instead I drafted a letter explaining this concern, and asked them to sign it and return it to me. I never received it back.

Apparently calling every day made them do their job, because within a couple of weeks I have another match. Unfortunately, just when I thought they'd finally gotten the no-kids requirement through their heads, I called this person up... and they did eventually want to have children. *Sighhhh*... Back to calling every day for another month. The company was extremely frustrating to deal with. Teresa seemed to keep her own schedule, coming and going as she pleased, leaving early and taking long lunches, not telling the other people in the office what time she'd be back. If the entire office was closed for the day, it was never announced on the voice-mail system when I called. I always just got a busy signal and then was disconnected.

The next referral came about 5 weeks later, with daily calls to make sure they weren't slacking off again, and this person actually seemed close to what I wanted: No kids, didn't want any. (That is my only real criteria, I don't care about looks, height, weight, race, religion, etc., so it's not like I'm being picky or anything.) I had a couple of nice phone conversations with this person, but when we tried to arrange a time and place to get together they always seemed too busy, always having something going on that weekend. I left a couple of messages asking for a call back, and never heard back again. I began to wonder if the matches who didn't call back were just stooges, friends of people at the company that they paid off to take calls from members they'd conned into signing up. I'd heard rumors to that effect.

On 11/26/2003, I received a letter that TRO's offices had been closed in my state (Illinois). The Omaha, Nebraska office was taking over those accounts, but to have mine transferred I had to sign a form and return it. The form stated that I acknowledged and approved the transfer of my records, but also said I would have no legal recourse against the Omaha offices and PAFCO International (some other company set up to facilitate the transfer, from what I can determine... they're mentioned as owning TRO's website too).

I did a little more research and found these articles explaining how the Illinois offices of The Right One had fallen out of favor with the Better Business Bureau (gee, I can't imagine why!), and had been shut down by the Corporate Office. Interesting, the letter I received did not mention the reason behind the closings at all! The owners of the Illinois offices (two brothers, John and Guy Lambesis, please let me know if you have any means of contacting them, I'll pay for this information) have already filed for bankruptcy, so if you've been screwed too I'll save you the trouble and tell you we have no financial recourse there. I've still filed a complaint with the BBB, though.

I called the Omaha office, explained my frustrations with the Illinois office in detail, and for once had a lot of questions answered. The Omaha office confirmed that the incorrect matches would not count toward my 10 guaranteed referrals. They provided me with contact information for the Corporate office (something Teresa would never do, claiming that none of the franchises reoprt to anyone higher up... now revealed as a blatant lie). Once again, the person I spoke to promised to follow up periodically, every couple of months, even if I didn't have a match, to help me feel like I'm not being deliberately ignored.

By this time I've pretty much come to terms with the fact that I'm probably screwed. There's not much chance of getting my money back, and I doubt I'll ever get a decent match either. But just so I could say I gave it my absolute best effort, I transferred my file to the Omaha office. Perhaps, I thought, it's only the Illinois offices that had such terrible service, rather than the entire company.

Two months passed without the follow-up I was promised. I called the Omaha office and asked to speak to the person in charge of it (Connie -- no relation to Tonya/Connie). I was told they are too busy to follow up with clients, despite the previous promise made to me. They have no matches for me at this time. I also contacted the Corporate Office in Massachusetts (resulting in the helpful statement, "How did you get this number?") and e-mail an account of my experiences to Carole, one of the representatives there. I cc: Paul Falzone, The Right One CEO as well, since I've acquired his e-mail address in my searches.

In summary, my entire experience with The Right One has been marred by:

Taken individually, any of these complaints would be tolerable. Taken all together, consistently, from both the Illinois and Omaha offices, this demonstrates a pattern of extremely poor customer service. And that's where I remain today: Waiting for a match that will probably never come, from a company that doesn't seem to care now that it has my money.

Let this serve as a warning to anyone thinking about signing up with The Right One / Together Dating: This is a horrible, horrible company!

I will post news here when (make that IF!) anything ever happens. Let me know if you would like to be notified whenever I update this page.



The Right One contact information, to save everyone else the time and hassle of tracking it down themselves (if you call them, please mention this website!):


Omaha Office ("Heartland Introductions"):
10915 Prairie Brook Road, Omaha, NE 68144-9706
1-800-317-3283
("Connie" is the person in charge here) 		Corporate Office:
160 Old Derby St., Suite 339, Hingham, MA 02043
1-800-818-3283 		Illinois Office ("Illinois Introductions"):
1417 North Rand Road, Palatine, IL 60074
847-494-7929
(Gets an answering machine with a guy's voice; I suspect it's one of the Lambesis brothers but they never call back.)


Other Numbers I've Found:

Updated August 2014!

(I know a lot of the links above are dead, sorry.)

One thing the folks at TRO always stressed was that people my age at the time (early 30s) typically wanted kids, but there were more people over 40 who did not. So recently, I hit my 40th birthday, and out of curiosity I attempted to contact them again, just to see if there was any truth to that. (Evidently I just cannot let this thing go!)

The phone number given on their webpage (1-800-818-3283) is no longer The Right One's correct number. It now goes to another company called Matchmakers which claims they are not affiliated with TRO. Also, filling out the contact form on TRO's webpage only leads to more being ignored. If you go to their existing member page, it does not allow you to select a state from their drop-down box, and will not let you submit the form without it, so they don't even seem to be accepting feedback on matches anymore. The site appears to be nothing more than a front end, although if you click on the "Success Stories" tab, it takes you to a page at MatchMakerSuccess.com. Hmmm.

So I asked around at Matchmakers and was given the "number for Matchmakers in Illinois", which turned out to be the Omaha TRO office number again (1-800-317-3283). I called them, and got a third number (1-800-713-3317), which is owned by a third company called eLove.

Now, all of these people I've spoken to have put on a helpful face, but there's definitely something shady here. Match Makers told me that they bought and took over The Right One's active accounts when the company went out of business (!), and serviced their clients for three years at no additional cost. Curiously, mine was not among them. My guess is TRO got fed up with me and closed it without telling me, so it was never passed on to Match Makers.

eLove was even more suspicious. One of their people called back and left me a message, but instead of specifically addressing any of my concerns, simply told me that they "are not the number I needed". So I did a little digging, and discovered that eLove is actually owned by... (drum roll) ...our old friend Paul Falzone! He is also on the board of something called The Matchmaking institute, which sounds an awful lot like "Matchmakers", doesn't it? (P.S. Here's his Twitter feed.)

eLove's contact information is as follows:
80 Washington Street, Bldg. E 11-12
Norwell, Massachusetts 02061
(877) 356-8370
www.elove.com

I also found this interview with Falzone and his apparent partner in crime Brad Megahan, who seem to enjoy talking as if their companies are legitimate businesses. Scroll down below, though, and you'll see lots of posts about them being scammers, including one by "jsinva" who posts a phone number! I was skeptical at first, but after updating this page and encouraged by the emotional high it gave me, I tried the number. It turned out to be him!

Paul Falzone's direct, personal phone number is: (781) 925-5522.

His mailing address is:

Paul A Falzone
21 Beacon Rd.
Hull, MA 02045

These are all the various names, incarnations and offshoots of The Right One, employing the same "business" model (large up-front cost, high-pressure sales tactics, inaccurate matching, stonewalling customer service people, closes itself down and reopens under a new name every few years to elude lawsuits and prosecution) of which I am currently aware:

The Right One
Together Dating
Matchmakers aka Matchmaking Institute
eLove
The Ideal Match

The Ideal Match is run by Bryan Lindahl. HIS phone number is (619) 291-2565

I'm also collecting stories, in the hope of maybe getting a class action lawsuit against Falzone off the ground. If you have been scammed out of money by The Right One, Together Dating, Matchmakers, eLove, or any other dating service that this man is connected to, please contact me at the email address below. The man is a con artist and a shyster, and what he's done can't be legal -- just look at all the complaints over on Consumer Affairs. Together, perhaps we can bring him down.


Questions? Comments? -- troblowschunks@hotmail.com