CheckMates

Is this OUT of Business? I just calles and the lady was very weird on the phone and any of the numbers on the website seem to work.

Carol does not keep up her end of the deal. It’s been 3 years and I have had four dates. I have to call her to remind her to send matches.
The last communication I had was in March 2013, one year ago. And I had to leave her a nasty message to get her to respond.
I would give a zero rating if I could like many other reviewers have said.
I wish I had read the reviews before I signed up.
This is a complete waste of my money. I only wish I could get a refund.
Don’t do it.

I wrote a review over a week ago and it still hasn’t appeared. I had a good experience with Checkmates and would like to see my review on your site. Thanks, Marshall Meyer

DO NOT SIGN UP. Carole promises the moon and does not deliver. She claims she is a matchmaker/​dating coach but all she is interested in is cashing your check. Once she has your money that is the end of the service. What she considers her service is making a phone introduction. If you meet the person face to face for a «coffee date» she counts that as a real date.
Her pictures are out of date. When she tells you about someone, she says where they went to school or where they live. If you ask her why this person would be a good match for you, she doesn’t have an answer. She doesn’t check in after the date or give you any advise. The only advise she gave me is that I should have sexual relations with one of the dates she set me up with. I thought that was so inappropriate.
I thought I hired a professional who would guide me through the process. Instead I got someone who hands out phone numbers and that’s where her service ends. Even for that you have to dog her. I feel she is truly not interested in making matches. If she did she would take pride in her work and there would be great reviews on this site. I wish I had checked Unilocal before I signed up. Hopefully this will save you your money, time and hopes.

She’s called twice now, and left messages vaguely stating that it’s Carol, she’s wants to ask me a quick question, and to call her back. The first time, fine, I thought it was an innocent wrong-​number message, but now that she’s called twice to leave the same cryptic message, it’s just dishonest. She probably found my business profile on my work’s web site and this was her way of cold calling.

There are very few times on Unilocal that I have longed for zero stars. This is one of them. The person who wrote this review is spot on: «This is a horrible service. DO NOT USE THIS SERVICE. The woman who runs it Carole, is rude, not interested in anything but money. She does not ever deliver on her commitments. She sells the service, makes it sound good, but it is a scam. «
I have a few more data points to add:
She spent two hours with me and really convinced me that she cared.
She asks for 10K, I negotiated 5K and then told her I would only give her $ 2500
She does not take checks (wow, I should have talked to my mom first. DUMB MOVE – never, ever do business with someone who hasn’t performed the work FIRST and only takes checks.
Here is the letter I wrote her and she promptly replied she would not give me a refund. This outlines specifically what my concerns were:
«I am not satisfied with this service. This is a very hope-​filled process… after all I am looking for the love of my life. I want a refund of $ 2300. I am not willing to pay you any additional money in two weeks when it is due. Below are the reasons I am not satisfied and want a refund.
I’m not sure about the inventory – you presented 7 people when we met. I went out with one of them. I rejected one of them. 1 said he was busy. 1 we are waiting to hear from.
That leaves 3 that you haven’t given me a status on
The one I rejected was on OkCupid which makes me ask the question «where are you getting these guys» from?
Then you sent me 5 more guys. 3 were inappropriate and makes me ask the question «Did Carole hear what I am am looking for» 1 had a misleading photo. That leaves 1 I might be interested in and you didn’t give me details like how old he is or where he lives. I realize your process is to talk about them to me but the location is important to me so that detail is something you can add to the photo.
You have said to me several times «trust me.» I am so disappointed in all of this but I don’t trust you. I don’t believe you have the inventory you say you do. Not only that, I’m very uncertain about the quality of the dates. Given your book of potential matches, I expected to have been presented with more possibilities at this point.
I don’t think you really know what I’m looking for. Given the 5 photos you sent, 3 of them were much older (or at least they looked that way) and had no information attached to them. You haven’t taken the time to say «here are several more guys but they don’t have x, y, or z that you’re looking for»
I don’t have confidence you are presenting me to potential matches the way I want to be presented.
I don’t believe you truly want this to be successful for me, in other words, I don’t feel like you’re working with me, as the client, in mind. It seems as though your producing photos because I’m pushing you.
I understand it’s a business but my expectation is that you would take more care in this matter. I just don’t feel like I am being treated as a client should, you seem annoyed with me when I’ve tried to address the concerns I’ve listed above.»

I was introduced to a wonderful woman back during the summer of 2009 and spent two years in a very supportive relationship. I still stay in touch with her even though we are not seeing each other at this time. Carol did a great job putting us together.
The matchmaking industry can be challenging. Most of us can do well on our own through personal networking, but having someone to help is an added plus. I was pleased with Carol’s service and hope that others will be open to continue using her expertise.

I signed on with Carole about six months ago and have had a very positive experience with the service thus far. Shortly after signing on I was introduced with a really nice guy who I’ve been out with a few times since. Carole has been extremely responsive and attentive during this process, returning calls promptly, and checking in frequently to see how things are going. I would definitely recommend this service (and have) to friends.

I have had very good luck with Carol and the services she provided me .
She was attentive listened well and respnded back to me when I had questions about the service .I would highly recommend her .
Marty

I’m surprised to read the reviews that Unilocal has selectively chosen to print. I am sure there are more reviews with positive results. Ms. Shattil works hard to be available to interesting and attractive singles, size them up and carefully make introductions. My experience with her service was excellent.

Do not use this service. It is not worth a dime of your money. After 18 months of no results, I went onto
and found a wonderful man who is a fabulous fit. Trust your own instincts and not those of the owner’s of this terrible service. Trust me, you know what is better for you than she ever could. As others have stated, it is a ripoff.

This is a horrible service. DO NOT USE THIS SERVICE. The woman who runs it Carole, is rude, not interested in anything but money. She does not ever deliver on her commitments. She sells the service, makes it sound good, but it is a scam.
The price is high and the delivery of service is a minus 50.

if i could give checkmates a zero, i would! what a scam! i should have been suspicious when i noticed that she seems like a gypsy in a borrowed downtown office space. she put on a lot of pressure up till she received my check and then all but disappeared. mistakenly, i thought that putting up a sizable amount of money — $ 2500, i think it was — i’d be getting something in return if the old adage about getting what you pay for is true. i wish i’d checked out BBB and the reviews before signing up. i say = avoid carole and checkmates like the plague!

She does absolutely nothing. In a year and a half I’ve had 2 dates! No one I would ever go out with again. She browbeats you into going out with these people who you have nothing in common with and looks like hell. What a waste of money and effort. She has one office, not one in 5 different places.
Take your money somewhere else.

Carole has no business acuemen, certainly not for a service business and one that is all about human interaction and communication. Her contract is very one sided and only assures that she gets paid without fulfilling her duties.
She is very rude, she made me wait 30 + minutes every time we scheduled an appointment and is a very strange woman. She is actually competitive with her female clients and is more deferrential to her male clients. She did not listen or certainly did not care to follow through with my requests for what I was looking for and what I liked. She just set me up with just anyone and would not show them my picture beforehand. I asked her to show my picture to the guys (I wanted to see them before as well) but whatever I asked for she ignored.
After two fiasco dates I wanted out which she would not honor and instead kept me on for the year. She then fell off the face of the earth and finally contacted me when the contract was about to run out, about a month before and insisted that I «had to go out with her choices». Her refund policy is suspect, charging a «$ 250.00 check handling fee» which is not standard in any service business. It does not cost $ 250.00 to write a refund.
This business is not worth your time or money. You will have better luck asking your friends to intoduce you to people.

I’ve had positive and rewarding results with Checkmates and Carole. I’m surprised to see some negative posts here. There’s never a guarantee that a matchmaking service will create a great match, but it’s a lot better than
or JDates. Perhaps unrealistic expectations.

Do not use CheckMates. The price is high. The service is unreliable. Carole stopped returning my phone calls after arranging the first two of eight promised introductions. And she required payment up front by check (not credit card) leaving me with no recourse other than a lawsuit if she didn’t deliver on her commitments (which she did not, in my case).
Carole pitched me on her service at a party. She had a clever approach. She argued that a matchmaking service could pay for itself by saving you the money you would have wasted on dates with people you’re not a good match for. It’s a good line. I figured «Why not?» I signed up and paid $ 1600. She committed to arrange at least eight introductions.
In fairness, she did arrange two introductions. One was a great match and we dated briefly, although ultimately it didn’t work out. With the other, it was a very nice woman, but there just wasn’t chemistry.
I was fine with the service up until that point. (I don’t expect a matchmaker to have a 100% success rate!) But then Carole simply stopped returning my repeated voicemails requesting additional introductions.
I have spoken to at least one other person who was given a membership in CheckMates as a gift, and that person had decided to stop using CheckMates due to her own dissatisfaction. Be sure to read ALL of the reviews on Unilocal for CheckMates if you’re considering using it, including the ones that are «Filtered.» You will see common themes repeating themselves in these reviews.
If you pay by credit card, you can request a refund from the credit card company if you don’t get satisfaction from the vendor. When I did my initial meeting with Carole, I asked if I could pay by credit card. I wanted the frequent flier miles. She said she’d stopped accepting credit cards because she had had «too many problems.» What kind of «problems» do you suppose that she had? DO NOT USE CHECKMATES!
P. S. At least one reviewer on Unilocal says that they received a threatening letter from Carole’s attorney alleging defamation after they posted a negative review. Carole, if you’re reading this, don’t waste your money on an attorney’s letter to me attempting to allege defamation. I know the legal definition of defamation, as will any attorney, and this review does not meet it. I also know the legal definition of misconduct for an attorney licensed in the state of California and won’t hesitate to file a complaint with the Bar Association if an attorney sends me a letter that knowingly misrepresents what the law says to a layperson in an attempt to intimidate them.

I got swayed into signing up for this service through someone I barely knew thinking this would give me better luck than web dating albeit at a much higher price. I made a very expensive mistake. Carole is a business and saleswoman and this is her service so it’s all about business, money, and her charging whatever she wants to charge – which is a shitload (talking thousands). It’s a one-​woman show. And, that photo album is a crock. One photo of a guy was really dated, one prospect was overweight, unsmiling and in a t-​shirt, another was photographed in a bar, and another had a smile that it appeared he had braces.
After specifically stating what criteria I was seeking in a person several times, I’d continuously been sent prospects who were clearly not folks I would have chosen on my own. They were the most subpar, plain-​looking, awkward, disrespectful, and unexciting social rejects I’d encountered (I went on dates with a few of them). They had baggage, were lone wolves or life-​long bachelors and thought they were hot stuff. And, I could care less if they were owners, presidents of their own firm (very small, obscure ones), managers, high profile, etc. Just because they may make more $ doesn’t mean you’re getting A+ quality. She will set you up with folks SHE thinks might match with you – not what YOU want. There’s no consideration of compatibility or interests. She seriously has no clue about matching. I got sent more than half a dozen sad choices. I’ve seen better looking busboys on my «dates.»
There’s barely any communication with the prospects beforehand (just setting up details by phone to meet), it’s just the date, which is high pressure. I’d like to get to know someone beforehand, who they are, their interests, personality, etc. (and not just in 1 or 2 short calls).
I kept getting pressured to consider someone who I clearly did not even want to talk to or go out with. The guy was so unattractive. What bothers me is that she tried to please this guy first and give out my phone number without seeking my approval beforehand. That’s very disrespectful and it’s not ok. And, when I balked, she still wouldn’t give up and got p.o.‘d at me. I paid for the service so I have every right to decline. Her service is shoddy and numerous messages aren’t responded to. Follow-​through is extremely poor or non-​existent. Her goal is to get your money (to support her lifestyle) and meet her quota.
If this is such a great service, why aren’t there more positive reviews here and why hasn’t anyone heard of «Checkmates»? I’m having better luck and experience on my own and so can you. Don’t open your wallet for this. If you do, you can just kiss your hard-​earned cash goodbye. You will not get your money’s worth. Spend it on yourself.
She plays her dumb, frizzy blonde image to the hilt. Absolutely do not trust this old, fake, bag of a woman. She clearly knows how to snow you until she gets her $.
Though I haven’t tried any of the other matchmaking services – Why do they all receive negative press and publicity? Think about it. How can some stranger who doesn’t even know you personally have any clue about what you want in a person and matching you up? You’ll have no control over it as you’ve handed that over to the idiot you just paid.
Read all of the negative reviews here (filtered). They’re here for a reason!

be cautious in using this service. get at least 3 to 5 references, and check them out. ask what they paid for the service.
the contract is one-​sided and does not allow for a way out if she does not provide you what she says she will… i would ask for some changes so that the contract states that she «staples some of the photos to the contract that she says she can get you dates with», so that it is a committment that she actually does have that inventory she represents she has… should you have to show what she promised you at a later date.
do not let carole intimidate you if you feel you are asking for something and she is telling you why you are asking too much.
stand your ground and follow your gut.