Chemistry.com Review
Is there only one match out there for each of us? Dr. Helen Fisher, Chemistry.com’s Chief Scientific Advisor, doesn’t think so. Dr. Fisher believes there are multiple people in the world who are compatible for each of us, but she thinks there is more to finding a person like that than searching for someone who has a big list of things in common with you. You’ve got to have chemistry—hence the name.
At first glance, the Chemistry.com website looks like just about every other online dating site, but look closer and you’ll see multiple references to Dr. Fisher. By clicking on these, you can find out more about Dr. Fisher’s connection with Chemistry.com, her research, and her methodology for online matchmaking.
Well, I’ve gone ahead and done that for you. It turns out that Dr. Fisher hasn’t just endorsed the site in return for plugging a book; she is actually quite involved with the direction Chemistry.com has taken. Dr. Fisher has designed many of the questions for Chemistry.com, not only taking into account the usual personality, interest, and demographic questions, but also questions involving genetics, hormones, and other physical characteristics.
You also have the opportunity to view videos of Dr. Fisher’s answers to frequently asked questions. I must say she comes across as a lot less nerdy than that Dr. Warren from eHarmony. But enough about her; let’s move on to the sign-up process.
Chemistry.com Sign-up
The sign-up process in one of the most in-depth ones out there, but you’ll probably find it fun and enlightening if your goal is to be matched up with people on more than just the simplest of criteria. If you’re looking for the basics, there are always sites like Date.com and Matchmaker.com.
You’ll be asked some unusual questions like these:
- Is your index finger shorter or longer than your ring finger?
- Which of these smiles are fakes?
- How do you feel when you see a public display of affection?
I don’t want to influence anyone’s possible answers by explaining what they can reveal about one’s personality, but I will say that these questions combined with the more traditional personality questions really hit the mark on assessing my personality. In fact, I had my fiancée take the test, and her resulting personality type matched the one that Chemistry.com says fits me best.
After you finish filling out your new profile, you’ll see that Chemistry.com has a link to your top five matches. Some of my top five matches didn’t sound too appealing to me, but maybe Dr. Fisher knows what’s best for me. The only way to know for sure would be to meet the matches in person. Of course, Great Expectations is the matchmaking service best known for doing that.
There is no search function. Chemistry.com picks your matches, and the only way to get more is to rate the ones they’ve already brought your way. That’s good for increasing the level of feedback, but it’s bad for control freaks. Also, the only way to do any of this is by first subscribing, and the costs are pretty steep, especially when there is no way to tell how many members are in your area. Costs range from $49.95 a month for one month down to $26.65 a month for six months. That is about twice the cost of Yahoo Personals and a little more than Perfectmatch.com’s price of admission.
If you haven’t figured it out by now, an online dating site like Chemistry.com best fits those of us a bit on the detail-oriented (some might say anal-retentive) side. People simply interested in a quick sign-up and search are less likely to join, increasing your odds of being matched with like-minded singles. Therefore, if you’re the type of person who lacks patience and planning regarding the online dating scene, Chemistry.com won’t be your bag. In fact, you probably couldn’t remain undistracted long enough to finish reading this Chemistry.com review. Hey, look at that colorful ad in the margin!
March 6th, 2008
I’m sure there are reputable online dating sites out there, but Chemistry.com is not one of them. I was lured by the matches that I received as a “free” trial member. I signed up and experienced the classic “bait and switch” manuever. I was matched with anybody! Didn’t matter what state they lived in, the race that they were, the interests they had that didn’t match mine etc. It prompted me to immediately call them to see if my profile preferences were recorded correctly. They were! I was told maybe I should reconsider the distance the matches and I had between us and reconsider someone besides divorced, widowed or single matches. I had three weeks to go and after that call they matched me with no one-even though they claim you will get 5 new matches a day. Bottom line: They have very few people signed up and you won’t know it till AFTER you are a paying subscriber. NO REFUNDS, learn from my mistake-go elsewhere
March 7th, 2008
Wow, I’m surprised to hear the matching system was that off base. Anyone else have a different experience?
September 1st, 2008
I had a similar experience with chemistry.com. The site seems to “bait” you with “interested members” and does not allow you to even view the interested persons profiles without first subscribing to the site. If the persons are interested – if I turned up in their search, it should be considered a “match” that you can view and respond likewise or decline if interested.
March 21st, 2009
I joined Chemistry and paid a week ago. They have been sending me my promised number of matches, and I actually got as far as a phone call with one guy. But lots of their “matches” have no photo, anonymous/generic profiles, and didn’t even run spellcheck. And although I said I was open to any background, everybody’s white (me too but their pool seems to be very un-diverse). I make these matches most of these matches active in order to find out if there might be something there that the profile doesn’t hint at, but hardly anybody responds to my expression of interest. What’s more, presumably they’re sending my profile to guys as well, and not one has expressed interest. Seems unlikely that it hasn’t appealed to ANYone. Not happy with this service. Glad I paid for only a month.
April 1st, 2009
I agree with the other reviews. No one so far in my geographic area. Others within driving distance but just outside my geographic area showed no interest, so I’m not sure they even exist. Could be someone at chemistry.com making up phony “matches.” This is a case of buyer’s remorse. I contacted chemistry.com TWICE to ask how many men they have in my age group and geographic area but they have not responded.
April 13th, 2009
I live in the San Francisco area and the matches were unbelievably good. The infrastructure, though, regarding billing and handling disputes was horrible. Come on, chemistry, get with it. you’re not the only site in town. you need to offer better service and when people complain about nigerian scammers and your billing practices, you need to do something about it.
April 14th, 2009
I am deeply underwhelmed by Chemistry and will definitely not renew when my subscription runs out. Good thing I searched for promo deals and got three months for the price of one–$50 a month is ridiculous, but $50 for three seemed worth a shot.
Except that after just a few weeks I’m sick of the whole enterprise and they seem to have run out of every available woman-seeking-woman in my region.
PROS:
• The personality test was pretty accurate.
• Random people can’t browse your profile.
CONS:
• The matches are 5% appealing, 20% eh, and 75% absurd.
• Members who signed up but haven’t paid will never be able to contact you back, or even see your profile at all once you’ve clicked “interested,” but there is no way to tell if someone is an unpaid member.
• Chemistry keeps sending me matches who live 2-3 hours away, even though I specified a 100-mile radius max.
• Even weirder, I have received notification that I have been “noticed” (a mysterious thing whose workings I do not understand, as I seem unable to “notice” others) by people several STATES away. Who are you people? How did you find me?
• Finally, the last straw: I’m a lesbian. Today I received TWO matches from Chemistry who were men. Let me just say it’s deeply vexing for those of us in this particular minority to receive suggestions of male partners. Not because I hate men, I don’t–but because the last thing I want to do with them is DATE THEM. And it gives me the creepy feeling of creepy dudes who have “mistakenly” listed themselves as women trolling through the lesbian profiles.
Then again, one of them headlined himself “Goon Man Seeks Good Woman,” apparently unintentionally, so maybe it was an honest mistake.
In any case, I am totally unimpressed with this service and do not recommend it.
May 11th, 2009
Chemistry.com is a joke. I was under the impression that if I paid for a membership I would receive more than 5 matches per day. 5 people per day is not enough because they do not allow you to select enough criteria to eliminate features that you do not like. The personality test was accurate, but do not pay them for the matches.
June 15th, 2009
This site is definitely a scam. I joined based on several “interested in you” emails. I too joined taking advantage of the “risk free trial period.” I received two days of matches and refreshed twice as well. That means in two days I got a total of ten matches. 80% of the matches did not have photographs. I don’t know about you, but if I don’t get a photo, I don’t caree how great the profile may sound, I am not going to pursue anything further. Call me shallow, but experience with Match and other sites has proven that strategy to be not only appropriate, but a must! The remainder of the matches were anything but!!!! Don’t waste your time or money with this site! I quit after the second day. Still waiting to see if I get billed or not! Good luck!
July 24th, 2009
I have been using this site for a year and overall it is ok, but it definitely seems to skip major aspects. For example why on earth would they match someone who is an atheist to someone who is clearly a die-hard mormon, or a far left to a far right political POV? In one match they matched me to someone who is 180 from me. In fact, out of curiosity I actually went through the steps just to talk to this person so we could laugh at their matching algorithm. The ONLY thing we had in common of course is the absurd reason for them matching us. Maybe this site is owned by the nation’s largest divorce lawyer network?
Now their links don’t work…. perhaps it’s time I take my business elsewhere. I also wonder if they put up fake models to lure people in. I find it odd that a perfect “10″ model blonde is really seeking a man 4′-8′ tall, out of shape, broke, and has no job……hmmmmm
August 1st, 2009
Chemistry.com well sucks. read all of the above and I agree.Plus I found three of the matches on romanticscams.com in other words they dont check out if the person if real.I recommend if you use any online service to get a photo and run it through scamdiggers.com. They will show you if the photo you look at is or has been used in any scams. Twice i did the question thing and they never heard a thing.. three times they said someone was interested in me and they were never actually on my site. want a free site.. plentyoffish.com.. I have had success with that. stay away from match.com and chemistry.com
August 11th, 2009
Reputable — NOT! I was approached by a dude who later turned out to be a scam artist from Nigeria — no joke. I quit the very day that he asked me for money, only 2 weeks after being introduced by chemistry. I’m not guessing. I traced his IP address and phone number.
Had the guy really been the one his profile had said he was, all would be good. But my experience, although limited, proved that you don’t really know who wrote the profile, and chemistry.com doesn’t take even the slightest bit of responsibility for blocking known malicious IP addresses. Thankfully, it only cost me the $49 membership fee.
August 20th, 2009
I am very disappointed in Chemistry.com. There are not enough subscribers in Arizona and southern California to give me five matches a day. After less than 3 weeks the number of prospective matches began to peter out. It seems to me that most of the profiles I receive are not active. I am yet to receive a response from anyone in whom I have expressed an interest…nor has anyone (after receiving my profile) sent me an email expressing an interest in me. I allege that my profile is not being sent to prospective matches as the website says they are doing. I was prompted to change my matching criteria, however, my criteria are broad in scope. What sets the matter even more agog is that if all people fall into four personality types and there can be chemistry between all four types…there should be an abundance of people to match with. If Chemistry.com offers the choices in criteria then they should be able to fulfill those criteria. I think Dr. Fisher does have some good insights into relationships. And if the website was what it is supposed to be it could be a great place to meet people. But as it stands now the price charged is not worth it.
September 1st, 2009
Was subject to an untwated billing renewal after I discontinued the service and they would only give half my money back. I will never use this dating site again.
Good security initially. Average in all otherways. VERY expensive for what you get compared to similar services.
Got lots of matches at first, but then figured out most of those matches were old and/or deactive. Once I started getting matches they were the same people I saw on the local free dating pages.
November 23rd, 2009
Hi. I was on Chemistry.com. I dont think it was any good for me. I dont know about the rest of you. The worst part is it cost me a 180 bucks. This sucks. Not a single match. And some just disappeared, I dont know where they went. its been 5 months. And for days I wouldnt get any matches. This really sucks. or is it just me. I dont think its me. Just read reviews before you sign up for any of these dating sites.
December 5th, 2009
First, yes they bait and switch you, second there are no good matches on there, third, their website has many bugs in it, fourth I hate that you only get 5 matches a day, and fifth I would think they could let you use match . com since its a sister site but no!
I want a refund!!!
January 8th, 2010
I joined Chemistry and what a mistake. They send profiles occasionally but no one ever replies to any of the requests. You don’t get to view anyone you have to wait for them to send some’s profile. Maybe 5 maybe 1 and many days none. It is a rip off. Don’t waste you money!!!
January 11th, 2010
I’m sorry but these people above either are very unattractive, live in an isolated (noncity) area, or are very picky! I get a good number of matches of decent people.
February 7th, 2010
Ditto – luckily I joined during a free weekend….. got matches enough, but the vast majority had no photos. and we all should have learned THAT lesson by now… a few hits, but who knows when they joined or even if when they last checked the site (2 of 3 didnt after three days)….Like everyone else on here – the personality provile was pretty accurate, but then THEY DONT SAY ANYTHING BAD ABOUT YOU OR ANY OF THEM…so like a psychic telling you she’s talking to your dead mother and she says she loves you – WHAT’S NOT TO LIKE????!! Needless to say, no membership for me!
May 9th, 2010
I’ve actually met many nice (and real) men through Chemistry.com. The personality test was spot on for me, and I suspect it’s pretty accurate for my potential suitors. I occasionally expand my search to 50, 100, 250 miles because fewer men with similar interests live within 25 miles of me. Heck, I’ll travel if there’s good potential! Chemistry now reveals whether someone is now or has been online the last 24 hours, which reassures me I’m getting the real deal. They have also added more ways to signal interest, for instance, emailing a man directly. Meeting someone is always chancey, and this site gives me a chance to sound a man out before meeting him face to face. I consider it one avenue of many to meet men.
May 11th, 2010
I wanted to try the free communication weekend. I set up a profile and it nailed me perfectly. I had a nice profile set up that I was sure would attract. But the ten results they showed for me were odd to say the least. I am a male and searching for female and I was getting lesbians and gay guys. How the hell is that a match for me?
I was pretty disappointed and resigned my account immediately.
May 17th, 2010
Chemistry Actually worked for me! I found a great gal…
I joined the site and paid a “Special Offer” program for PAID account for 10 years back when there were not that many people on there in early 2009. The site seems to give me results of people there were far distances away once all the “Matches” from my area were finished. Also, it produced results of nationalities I did NOT have in my profile. Overall there were 2-3 matches per month that seemed great. Maybe they have programmed it to send me “She Noticed You” notifications, because I only reached the email stage with less than 25%. It cost $50 per month… pretty pricy… so now I have my account but met some through the site! We have been dating for 6 months, went on a cruise, went to NY, and I love her! If you are interested in buying my account (it has 8 years left on it –$4800 value) I’m selling it for a few hundred or Best Offer. After you use it you can probably sell it after you found someone. email me via my website at BidDay dot com .. select “Contact Us” and I’ll get the email… just make me an offer. I’ll show you screen shots of the account length or verify it by an escrow person or what ever you want. BidDay Auctions is my website, contact me via there. Ed
May 19th, 2010
If you don’t want to read my whole review, here’s the jist of it – you can definitely find a successful relationship online, but chemistry.com is not the place to look.
I don’t know if other people have had similar experiences, but I’ve been on chemistry.com for several months and received a decent number of matches who “noticed” me, often very attractive women. I respond that I’m interested in most of these cases. If they were somewhat interested in me you’d think at least a handful would respond back to my first communication attempt, but of the 20 or so times this has happened only once did someone respond back again (which was only the first communication and they stopped immediately thereafter).
I’d venture that I’m at least a somewhat attractive guy, but I’ve gotten nowhere close to a first date with anyone from chemistry.com. Maybe there are tons of incredibly attractive guys on the site from my area so women immediately pass over my profile even after expressing initial interest; maybe some of the womens’ profiles are fake; maybe I somehow keep seeming too interested/not interested enough just through the first communication attempt; maybe they all just accidentally clicked “interested,” or “noticed,” or whatever (I don’t have the ability to “notice” people on my end which is strange). I really don’t know what’s going on here.
What I do know is that I’ve spent way more money than I should have on this site, and that there are much better dating sites out there. Go to eharmony.com. Hands down, without question, a MUCH better site. At the very least, your matches are actual people who tend to respond to your communication attempts which is cool. You don’t get many matches which can be frustrating, but the quality tends to be much higher (no matches who live in different states with opposite views and no common interests). I’ve only managed to get as far as the first date with a match thus far – didn’t end up working out, but she was great. I’ve also had a lot of online communication with a good number of other matches. And besides my personal experiences, a family friend of mine met her husband on eharmony. Another friend’s mom found her long-term boyfriend with eharmony, they’ve lived together for several years now. I highly recommend eharmony.com. I would not recommend chemistry.com.
May 26th, 2010
I agree with the majority of these comments. Chemistry seems to be 10% matchmaking site and 90% scam. I’ve actually been given some good matches, but who can figure out how to navigate through the system? The questions and matching games are ridiculous. Just encourage people to email each other if they’re interested! I’m starting to feel strung along so that I’ll hang in there for a few more months. I won’t.
June 22nd, 2010
I’ve only been on Chemistry.com for a couple of weeks. I was matched with several men who, although did not entire fit the description of what I was seeking, seemed to be ok. I communicated with two men outside of Chemistry via their respective emails. SCAM ALERT: they both “worked” for humanitarian organizations, they both went on and on about themselves, asked no questions, lots of typos in their emails, both worked to “raise money” for their organizations, oh and did I mention they were currently out of the country in Africa? Well, as soon as I called them on their scam, they did not reply to my email and took their profiles off from Chemistry. I emailed Chemistry about this today. Told them they need a better screening process. After researching online, it seems Nigerian scam artists love Chemistry.com. BEWARE! I think there are legitimate folks on there looking for someone (a friend of mine met a legit person through Chemistry), but it’s difficult to discern.
July 13th, 2010
I wish I’d read this review and the comments before joining chemistry.com. This service is horrible. The matches are WAY off and 99% of the matches that look promising never respond because they aren’t really members, just people that filled in a profile then never signed up. In the few cases that I have had responses, the site locks up and redirects you to “our sister site match.com and start your own search” where they try to gouge you for more money!
July 16th, 2010
I WANT TO BE FAMILIER WITH WEBSITE