Date Stories | Dating Site Reviews | Romance News | Datester » Blog Archive

Site Review: Zoosk

11 January 2009 8,406 views 5 Comments

zooskreview1

Maybe you’ve heard of Zoosk but maybe you haven’t. Either way, this website has quite the following of over 10 million members. With numbers likes that, you need only know simple mathematics to assume the rate at which you might be matched to local singles nearby.

As soon as you are directed to this site, you are greeted with a colorful, cartoon-y, and happy looking site. The imagery, in fact, evokes images of young girls chewing bubble gum and listening to boy bands. Perhaps the bubbly design is a bit silly, but it’s not necessarily a turn-off. The Smurf blue and bright colors actually make me feel carefree…like a child hypnotized by a favorite cartoon.

This site has a different spin on the whole “Search” that we’ve come to expect from other matchmaking sites. Without signing up for this site, you can input search criteria (sex and zip code) and then you are taken to your first match. The difference here is that each match gets its own full page and you simply go to the next page to view the next match. While some may find this tedious, I actually really like this way of presenting matches. A bad or fuzzy picture which might be overlooked on the blitz-style presentation of other sites will get looked at much more closely on Zoosk. However, the information given on these profiles is extremely basic and impersonal. This whole site is basic and impersonal. It’s up to the members to get the whole matchmaking thing going.

Signing up for this site is typical and since the profiles don’t contain much information, you’re signed up with a full profile in less than 10 minutes. Also, this site is totally free! Finally, something great.

This place is basically a bare-bones MySpace or Facebook. It’s free and there’s really no matchmaking involved except that you are taken to people’s profiles who are near your area. I, personally, wouldn’t use this site but by looking at the number of users this site boasts, my opinion is not widely shared. At least give it a look, it’s not a waste of time.

UPDATE 2/3/09: Zoosk is now over 16 million members and growing fast! I forgot to mention a really cool feature offered on Zoosk that makes this site WAY better than I had previously thought. Zoosk connects other social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. For instance, by using Zoosk, you can connect to a MySpace user through Facebook. That’s simply awesome.

Another note is that Zoosk actually does have a Premium membership for which members must pay. By paying, you are able to interact with the dating and flirting aspects of the site. Pricing breaks down as follows:

1 Month is $24.99

3 Months is $17.49

6 Months is $12.50

These are great prices my datesters. The fact that this place opens up a simply enormous community of people for you to connect with means that you would be insane to not check this place out. Go! Now!

5 Comments »

collegedating said:

Great article,This site provides very useful tips,online dating is useful to everyone.Thanks for the greatreading, college dating website .I will pass this on to our Ira clients to read.

# 11 November 2009 at 10:15 am

jonathan frodsham said:

Zoosk can be a bit of a rip off. You have to be very carful if you have premium membership as it will automatically renew and you will be charged. On most sites that have a membership you can cancel on the same day that you signed up and the benefits of you membership will continue until the date expires. Not so with Zoosk: “By canceling your premium membership now, you immediately forfeit all your premium membership benefits. If you wish to continue taking advantage of premium membership benefits before the next payment is due, cancel at a later time (before the next payment is due.)” So you have to remember to cancel as close as possible to the cut off date. This is outrageous; I view it as a scam. Zoosk says this about it: “We hate worrying about paying bills as much as you do. That’s why we automatically renew your membership so you have one less thing to worry about. Remember that you can always cancel your membership by visiting the settings page and if you are paying via PayPal, it is a one time charge and will not automatically renew.” The above statement from Zoosk is crap, it is only another way to extract money in a sneaky way, but they can not do it with pay pal for technical reasons, if they could they would. They could easily change it so benefits of your membership will continue until the date expires, but they do not as extraction money from you in anyway possible is the goal. The other things to look out for is coins, it will top up automatically if you don’t turn the function off. Zoosk should have the auto-refill set at off, so it you wish you can turn it on. Zoosk say this: “We want to make it easy for you to send gifts, unlock conversations, or send a special delivery to that special Zoosker. That’s why we offer the option to automatically refill your Coins balance when it reaches 10 or less, so you have one less thing to worry about. Remember that you can always un-check this option when you purchase Coins by credit card, or by visiting Settings, and then Coins to turn this option off after your purchase. If you are paying for Coins via PayPal or bank transfer, it is a one-time charge and will not automatically refill.” One less thing to worry about, what crap, they are hoping you will not notice that you have to turn it off. The price of gifts is outrageous, some gifts are 750 coins, which could cost at the cheapest rate .106 cents per coin would be 750 x .01067= $80. At the high end it would be 750 x.1578= $118.42 that’s eighty dollars for a virtual gift at the cheapest rate. How zoosk can justify such an outrageous price for a virtual gift is beyond me. Its just click spend money, click spend more money. On premium membership all gifts should be free, and charging up to $1.58 for delivery conformation and special delivery up to $2.37 is another rip off. In short Zoosk is a money extraction machine. I sent them an email asking to explain but all I got back from them was a copy paste answer, which did not answer ANY of my questions.

# 26 February 2010 at 6:44 pm

zip said:

It amazing this site is in business and that facebook is a partner with them. This company is purely in it for the money and offers it members nothing to take advantage off. Please, everyone boycott it and maybe there will be change when there are no users left on the dam thing. No support for basic users as if there not good enough, those basic user if treated right might actually paid for membership. And then there bs scanning program (my guess gender basis) does not allow you to post fb, but yet it allows others. What a load of horseshit, is that another acceptable term of paying money to be on the site.

# 20 June 2010 at 4:04 pm

Mima Bloy said:

To all that meet Eric Chow on zoosk

I have met this wonderful guy, who knows how to be a true friend. I do not know why girls are not responding because this guy is the kindest, greatest guy I ever met on a dating site. Why would you not want to meet Eric. It may sound to good to be true. There are great men out there. Please give this guy a chance at being your friend. He has proven to be a great person to be around. He does not use women and he takes pride in getting to know you first before taking it to the next level in a relationship. Eric has a lot of respect for family, children, women, men and friends. He loves people. Eric has a big heart and likes having a lot of friends and family around him. Who knows might decide that you hit off with him and fall in love.

Sincerely,

Mima

# 9 September 2010 at 2:34 pm

Teri said:

I went on zoosk to meet a couple friends. I paid 29.99 for a month subscription to try it out. I was only on the site for two week and now I am banned from the site from the administrator. There was no reason from the administrator on why I was banned and no longer a part of the site. I tried calling their customer service phone number to call them and then called and found out that there is no one to talk to. there was only voice giving instructions. I want my money back they short changed me took my money which I paid for a month of services and then banned me from their site 2 weeks into my subscription. This is uncalled for and have already reported them to the better business bureau of oakland. If you have the same problems my suggestion, is for you to contact the BBB of Oakland and make a complaint and get your money back. This site is awful, I met one guy who had a lot of issues with his wife leaving and taking his kids. This is the one guy I met from there. They take your money and let you only stay on for 2 weeks. This is rediculous. I did not do nothing or say anything that was bad on the site. I want my money back.

# 26 September 2010 at 10:56 am