eHarmony Review - Shelly’s Experience
Shelly’s review of eHarmony includes an excerpt from the eHarmony ‘Guided Communication’ stage and some thoughts about using the service.
You know, things don’t always work out the way you want them to. I was scheduled to get married three years ago, but we called it off two months before the wedding. I had not dated since that time, not because I’m bitter, but because I wanted to utilize my ‘me’ time. Now I’m ready again, but I didn’t really want to go out to the clubs like I used to, so I decided to give eHarmony a try.
Initially, I signed up for eHarmony for three months. During that time I received over 300 respectable looking matches. Of those, I met two – I’m a little picky and prefer those geographically close. eHarmony has been a great tool that has made me excited about a relationship again. I was afraid the process was going to overwhelm me, but it’s quite manageable, fun and non-invasive.
My three months then expired, so I extended it — All though, there’s a little more to this story. Before extending my membership I decided to check out one of the other popular online dating services. Below is an actual excerpt of an e-mail I sent to an eHarmony match I received days after extending my membership. It’s my first email to him following the ‘Guided Communication’ stage.
…It looks like we’ve made it into the communications wilderness now - HA. It’s no longer guided. Actually, I think the process is pretty cool. In relation to it, I have a small secret to tell you. I may have a slight advantage?! You may find this interesting … I joined eHarmony 3 months ago for the first time, which just recently expired. I liked it, but a friend kept harping re Match.com. Sooooo, before I decided to extend the EH plan, I checked it out. I entered a small amount of criteria and up popped over 100 guys, pictures and all. I looked at most, but then determined it seemed too much like a free for all. I‘m not a member, but I’m still getting faces e-mailed to me every other day. Please note that I don’t want to demean it in any way — It appears to have been great for many people, and that’s cool!!!
Anyway, I’ll move on to the juicy part… So I ultimately decided to extend the eHarmony plan. A day or two later I received your match. I thought, hhhhmmm, he looks really familiar, have I seen him around the city? It was tripping me out. I thought that I knew you from somewhere, but then it finally dawned on me (which I was glad to get to the bottom of it). I saw and read about you on Match
I had to go back and shuffle through the faces to confirm, there you were. I remembered having an interest in you, but I wasn’t going to join, so it became moot. Then a couple days later you get dropped off into my shopping cart – HA. I don’t know why, but it cracks me up to refer to it that way. Anyway, I guess I’ve just read a little more about you, that’s all. I think I would want to know this story :) Anyway, hello. Nice meet you through correspondence. I suppose the next step is to meet in person – sounds fun. Rather than talk on the phone, I’d like to make a plan to meet in person, if that will work for you?…
Well, that’s it. The story above tells why I’m still on eHarmony today. And coincidentally, the very day I write this, I’ll be meeting the recipient of the above for the first time at a local restaurant. I’m excited. You may want to hear more later…
