SpeedDater 

I attended a SpeedDater event in Leamington Spa on 3rd April and unfortunately, I didn’t receive a single match. At the event, the host made it very clear that if you didn’t get any matches, you would be eligible to attend the next event for free, a reassurance that encouraged me to book with confidence.

Well, it’s now over a month later and I have still not received a single match. Naturally, I contacted SpeedDater to claim my free event, only to be met with evasive and frustrating responses. They told me that because I ticked “Yes” to one or more people (even though none of them reciprocated), I don’t qualify for the free ticket. Frankly, this is nonsense. The guarantee should apply based on the outcome. If you leave the event with zero matches, you’re in the same situation whether you ticked “Yes” to everyone or “No” to everyone. The whole point of the guarantee, as it was explained at the event, was to support those who leave empty-handed, which is exactly my situation. It makes no sense that someone who said “No” to everyone would be rewarded with a free ticket, while someone who was open-minded and still ended up with zero matches gets nothing.

Their explanation relies on fine print in their Terms & Conditions, which was never made clear by the host at the event. This is classic false advertising: promise one thing in person, then hide behind technicalities to avoid fulfilling it. The wording on their own website is also ambiguous and misleading—it says: “if you didn’t meet someone you liked the first time your next singles event is free.” That strongly suggests the free event applies if you leave without a match, which is exactly what happened to me.

Their customer service also kept telling me that "matches can still come in at any time." This is completely disingenuous—it’s been well over a month, and it’s obvious that everyone has long since made their choices. This feels like a weak excuse to delay and deflect.

Another huge issue is the age range of the event (24–38). I’m 26, and the vast majority of women were much older, several in their mid-to-late 30s, including one with an 11-year-old child. This is not a reasonable or compatible match range for someone in their mid-20s. The range is far too broad and seems designed just to fill seats rather than foster meaningful, realistic matches. They should offer much more sensible age brackets—for example, 22–32, or 25–35—rather than lumping together people at completely different life stages.

In short: I attended in good faith, was explicitly told something in person, and now find myself being fobbed off with evasions and technicalities. I feel misled, frustrated, and disrespected. This is false advertising, poor customer service, and a fundamentally flawed setup.

I would not recommend SpeedDater to anyone serious about meeting a compatible match, and I strongly urge them to overhaul their communication, policies, and event structures to provide a fair and honest experience.

Pro- Great venue.
Cons- I had high hopes for this event; I dressed up, hoping to meet potential "quality" dates. Five men showed up.

What was supposed to last for 2 hours was over in less than 30 minutes. This was my first experience, so it was a letdown! I don't even want a voucher; my full refund is what I want. They could have emailed to let us know how many potential dates signed up or at least given us more time to talk more to the people that were already there; we were already at the venue, so why not? Alternatively, you could opt to apply your ticket to the next event. There were a lot of ways they could have tried to remedy this night.

Oh well!. So back to swiping left and right from the comfort of my warm home.

This was a very fun experience, and definitely worth trying for anyone who’s never done it before.

It was great

Last minute cancellation. No prior notice. No follow up.

I really enjoyed it, this was my first time speed dating. I liked the venue and I enjoyed the setting. I would have preferred a longer time with each women but the 4 minutes was fine I’m definitely doing it again.

Very fun experience, highly recommend anyone to give it a go.

I am a business owner that would like to meet like minded professionals

The host Sian was great, really welcoming and made the experience worth it!

Terrible event barely anyone there. Spent most of the time sitting out dates because there wasn’t enough women there. £22 to talk to 7 women no welcome drink 🍸 waste of time

Communications prior to event confirmed it was going ahead as planned. I found the event to run smoothly, with a chilled and pleasant atmosphere. The host was welcoming and explained the format clearly. I found it a great opportunity to meet a mix of single people in a relaxed environment. There's a good chance to meet interesting people at these events, and a slim yet worthwhile chance to find a relationship.

There's not much to fault since everything went to plan. I would say the parking in central Cheltenham was priced too high, but this isn't a fault of the company.

Having 8 men and 4 women doesn't really feel like a fair/balanced worthwhile speed dating experience.

The format itself worked well with a pleasant host.

Met my wife here. I hate her

All good. Great night out

Unequal amount of men and women. venue could of been better!

Hello my name is kanhai nice to meet you and to choose all ladies and this pick up for a lady and l like Harriet. She is a lovely lady.

Brilliant night. Site doesn’t appear to be quick as I hoped. I want to give my matches but I think I need to just wait for the email?

Can’t even log in or register. Keeps saying theres a problem with my email address. Asked for lost password link and nothing comes. Scam. Avoid.

Too many men not enough women. Not enough time on each date

I've tried this service a few times now and not really had much success. As other people have shared, events are cancelled or rescheduled at the last minute and notifications are NOT sent out by email (trust me, I've checked).

The event hosts, when events DO happen are generally really nice people - as are most of the guests - but the customer service guy in the Philippines is just not great: he sounds like he's really bored and doesn't care at all about customers.

On top of this, he's crippled by a half-built digital system that doesn't let him generate a discount code, meaning: I paid less for the last (cancelled) event than the next (not cancelled yet) event and now have to pay full price again.

I don't see why he couldn't just generate me a coupon code to mean the next event is discounted too: it's built into your system, but he's not allowed to use it.

On top of all of this, the website is AWFUL: "upgrade to view" on profiles (which seems a bit cheap given the profit margins of these events) "Coming soon" on other features (i.e. my profile) that have been there for quite a long time.

Do you care about your customers?
Do you want to build your business on half-baked technology?

If you want some help with the tech side of things, reach out - this is what I do for a living :)