Chicago First Dates

I heard about this company from another friend and decided to go to their singles party last week since I’m new in town and wanted to meet new people. I had a great time and met a lot of interesting people at this event. The hosts were friendly and welcoming so it made my experience more enjoyable. The hosts handed out ice breakers so it made a lot easier to approach one another. Lastly, I think this is a much better way to meet people than online dating. Will definitely do this again if I’m still single :)

False and/​or misleading advertising.
I went to a $ 25 «love is a numbers game» event at the Willis Tower’s French Accent. It was billed as having an «evening of drinking, dancing and merriment» with «complimentary appetizers, drink specials, icebreakers, hip-​hop and top-​40s music all-​night…» Dancing? No. No space for that in this small bar, and the music was not very audible anyway. Appetizers? Yes. Until the one serving they supplied was gone. Icebreakers? Plural? No. Singular? Barely. You picked up a playing card from a deck of about 200 cards when you arrived. The hostesses explain that if someone else picked up the same card as me, we were «a match.» Really? Just like that? You mean just by pure chance? That’s not an icebreaker, nor a way to «match» people. It’s just a way to ruin four decks of cards. Besides, there was far less people there than they had cards for, so your «matching» card may not have been picked up in the first place. It was not very well thought out. Minimal effort was the theme of the evening. There were two bartenders for about 90 people, which was not sufficient. Many complained about not getting drinks quickly. The hosts were also not friendly. Upon leaving, I said, «Have a good night» to both hosts as they sat by themselves near the entrance, and one looked at me like I barely existed and didn’t respond.
Lastly, a few days before the event I received an email encouraging me to attend because 67 women had signed up, and 58 men. As a guy, this was encouraging. While I’m sure I wasn’t the only one to get the email, and obviously some people who sign up don’t show up, there was about a 4 – 1 ratio of men to women. And a woman told me she’d received an email around the same time as I did saying more men had signed up than women. That could be true if they’re just continuously playing one said against the other, but it seems implausible that both emails would be true given the paucity of women at the event. Did I meet people? Yes. Did I meet a lot of people? No way. Waste of money and time.

I have been to a number of events through this Speed Dating organization. When an event happens, it goes through as it should, where you get to meet the women that attend. No problem there. However, the cancellations that have been talked about in other reviews certainly do happen, and that does get on my nerves. I got a text last week for a cancellation and it was only 1 ½ hours before the event was scheduled to start. They claimed that there were too many last-​minute cancellations to warrant having it. It got moved back a week for this
Sunday. I also found out that a Jewish Singles event that was supposed to be tonight got rescheduled for two weeks from now. So we now have two events I’ve paid for that have been rescheduled. I’ve never had this happen in the many years I’ve done speed dating, and unfortunately there are no other active speed dating companies in Chicago since HurryDate went out of business in the last year. What happened?

I’ve been to two events here: a rooftop party and a speed dating event. I would say that both events were O.K. Nothing to rave about, but something nice to do when you have free time. Nothing came of either experience. I think the men are looking for a certain type of woman that I do not fit, but it’s still good to get out and socialize nonetheless. I can agree with everyone on here, though, that the hosts do not have much enthusiasm. It would be nice if they would mingle in with everyone and ask how everything is going, but you don’t even get a smile from them. I think the hosts could be friendlier and when they see shy people in a corner, try to pull them into the crowd (sometimes shy people just need a little push and encouragement!).

Do not do business with this company unless you are flexible enough to have dates and locations changed on you all of the time. My friend and I signed up for a speed dating event last Saturday. On the day of the event, they cancelled and rescheduled the event for this coming Friday. Unfortunately that new date did not work, so I asked if we could transfer to a different event on Thursday. They allowed the transfer. A few days later, the new speed dating event we were now signed up for was changed to a new location that was not convenient or accessible for me to get to in time for the event. When I reached out again to ask for a refund this time since I would not be able to attend due to the change they made, they would not refund our money. If the event had originally been scheduled at this new location I would not have signed up because I know I would not be able to get there in time. They did not think that was valid for offering a refund. I am extremely disappointed that because of this company’s lack of organization and professionalism, I am out $ 35 and not able to attend the event. I still would like to try speed dating, but can’t do it with this company because I have no faith that any event I sign up for would actually take place as advertised.

This was my first speed-​dating experience ever. My friend really wanted to go, so I decided to tag along and see what it was all about. It wasn’t as weird as I thought it would be, but it could have been better.
I’m not surprised by the bad reviews. The whole event seemed very unorganized, and the hostesses were not friendly or helpful at all. The entire time no one had any idea what was going on. We didn’t know when to start, stop, when it was over, what to do, nothing. We pretty much figured it out as we went. There were way more guys than girls, which the guys were not happy about. I ended up meeting about 20 – 25 guys. By the last few I was just tired and ready for it to be over. I thought $ 35 was expensive for what it was… I’m still not really sure what I paid for. I will say that from what I know, everyone was in the age range that was indicated and they were all professionals, so that’s good. If I did this again, I wouldn’t go with this company again for the fact that the staff was terrible and that is was so unorganized.

Horrible, waste of money. The event should have been cancelled due to lack of people but instead they gave us a promo code for another event… which I will never go to.

I used their speed dating service in SF after seeing a Living Social deal and attend with friends. My friends bailed so I went alone. Surprisingly, I had tons of fun.
Although there were more guys than girls at this specific event, I was able to speak to every single girl who attended. Also, I was surprised at the quality of women who attended the event. I’m planning on going to their next speed dating event.
The only disappointing thing was that there were no drink specials for attendees. I paid full price for my drinks. Nonetheless, I had two dates lined up afterwards. I would do it again.

Please read this review in all exaggerated angry capital letters. I am furious with the management. I bought a deal from living social «Admission to a Three Hour Speed Dating Event» for my friend and me, I was confused because the event was associated with 312 Chicago Events but the full schedule pulled up to Chicago First Dates website. Because I was worried I wouldn’t be able to attend with the voucher, I SPECIFICALLY contacted BOTH living social and Chicago first dates to confirm if it was redeemable. Living social said that it should be perfectly fine to attend other events and chicago first dates, I quote Jen Harris «You can use your voucher to attend any event of your choice. «However when I went to the event yesterday they WOULD NOT RECOGNIZE THE VOUCHER. The host was sweet and called her boss, a guy I forgot his name, starts with a D, maybe Demetri, but I’ll go with Dick. The boss claimed that it was never an event associated with Chicago First Dates, EVEN THOUGH I EMAILED THEM AND GOT A CONFIRMATION. The host gave the phone to me to talk to Dick and he was EXTREMELY RUDE. Is that how you treat customers in the service industry??? He RAISED HIS VOICE at me and insisted that it was Living Social’s problem and that we could not attend the event if we don’t pay the walk in price of $ 40. After the host talked to him, it came down to the conclusion that my friend and I would both have to pay an extra $ 18. Chicago First Dates is RIDICULOUSLY UNPROFESSIONAL AND RUDE. I feel empathy for the host who had to keep apologizing to me while her dick boss NEVER ONCE APOLOGIZED. A company with potential but will never make it because of SHITTY ASS STUCK UP MANAGEMENT WHO ONLY CARES ABOUT MONEY AND NOT QUALITY. I am so fucking angry, that rude ass management guy, DICK.

I can’t say how unsatisfied I am with this business. I went to the New Years event and it couldn’t have been worse than it was. I went with 3 guys and they couldn’t have been more disappointed as well. Jen, who manages this event is probably one of the most unprofessional people I have dealt with, and just an overall sad experience.
Don’t use this product, as you won’t be happy along with the rest. The turnouts tend to be disappointing, and the people who work the events aren’t worth working with. Waste of time and money.

One star is too generous. I had a terrible night after the company failed to notify me about a canceled Asian singles event. They claim they notified me but their method of «notification» was to hide the cancellation in one sentence in the bottom of an email reminder about the event. They chose to do it in a sneaky, underhanded way, fully intending people to miss the notice. When we showed up to the event, the hostess admitted that the company does this ALL the time to her and that we should email our complaint. When I did just that, the manager was rude and unapologetic for wasting my evening and then chose to attack my actions instead of taking ownership of their actions and failure to give proper notice.
I ended up staying for the non-​Asian singles event that was held that night as my friend and I had already driven into the city, paid for parking, and bought a drink. Even if that was the event I was expecting, I would have been disappointed. Poor turnout, bad drinks, inattentive hostess, and the rudest customer service I have ever experienced.