FreeLocalDates Review – Is The Dating Site Legit or Scam?
by John Santana
FreeLocalDates has about 300,000 registered users as of 2023. The site markets itself as the place for true love and hookups.
Whether you want to get banged by different strangers every night or stay true to your soulmate, FreeLocalDates is said to bring your fantasy to you.
However, it is certainly questionable if FreeLocalDates is as good as it claims to be. With an overload of negative reviews, it is time to dissect how this supposedly free dating site is not free at all. And how its features are deceiving members.
FreeLocalDates At a Glance
- First impression: 5/10
- Signup process: 3/10
- Matching and messaging: 4/10
- Profile quality: 3/10
- Pricing: 3/10
Overall: 3.6/10
FreeLocalDates – Overall Review
First impression
FreeLocalDates proclaims that it connects single men and women with similar interests. Its front page shows a healthy couple smiling with the standard signup form. It claims to be popular among young adults in their early 20s.
The site also states there are more female members, which is seen as a good sign for any dating site. People often feel an online dating platform is more trustworthy if there are more female members.
Then, here comes the most interesting part. The site says you can enjoy a full-on matching experience for free. While this seems puzzling as there is no way an online dating platform would offer this for free, FreeLocalDates keeps promising users that it is free.
There is no way this whole service is charity. It is obvious that something shady will come next but you won’t know what it is until you sign up.
As for design, FreeLocalDates can pass if it was present 20 years ago. But now, its layout is completely outdated. Although the site speed isn’t slow, the user interface can be laggy at times.
The first impression of FreeLocalDates is somewhat positive despite its rigid outlook. After all, the idea of signing up for a free dating site is tempting. But then, step by step, FreeLocalDates destroys the expectation it sets up for itself.
First impression: 5/10
Signup process
If time is your concern, then FreeLocalDates does a bang-up job in minimizing your signup time. It takes literally one minute to complete the registration process. All you need is your phone number or email address to start matching.
Efficiency is what everyone wants. However, safety should not be compromised. In the online dating world, scammers seek the chance from these loosely regulated sites and create numerous fake accounts to fish for victims.
It puts the burden on users to manually filter catfish when all they should be doing is to enjoy the dating experience. On top of it all, FreeLocalDates lacks a third-party security system that safeguards users’ information. Its database is internal, meaning your personal information is readily accessible by the site owners.
Many dating sites outsource their security feature to a trusted third party. This way, users can ensure the owner of the platform cannot retrieve their profiles or sell their information for other purposes. This is not the case for FreeLocalDates.
The platform can use your profile as an advertisement or send it out to members via email promotion even after you delete your account. Once you register, the account is permanent.
There is nothing more dangerous than allowing the site to own your personal information forever to do whatever they want. You may think it doesn’t matter now.
But in the future, when you have found someone to settle down with, it becomes relevant as you don’t want your past dating profiles to still be floating around the internet for your children to see.
Signup process: 3/10
Matching and Messaging
The matching and messaging experience on FreeLocalDates is really as plain as it goes. It offers a standard grid form for browsing profiles and there are options to send members text messages.
The layout is still considerably organized and easy to navigate around, which is a plus since users will not be flooded with profiles. The design is fairly smooth and visually pleasing.
The matching process is straightforward. You see a profile you like, you give it a like, and initiate a conversation. Its search engine is not the strongest as the results are often wrong. It can happen that you search for middle-aged women in California, but the results show you a 30-year-old man in Mexico. FreeLocalDates can certainly do a lot better in optimizing its search engine.
Moreover, the lack of communication channels is a big setback for FreeLocalDates. Members can’t do much other than sending regular text messages. There is no quality video call feature, virtual gifts, or friend lists. This immensely limits how users interact with each other and significantly undermines the experience.
Matching and messaging: 4/10
Profile quality
As mentioned before, the lack of security control and profile verification means the site is filled with fake profiles. Indeed, according to multiple user reviews, the biggest complaint about FreeLocalDates is the unacceptable amount of fake profiles on the site.
Even after reporting it to the site manager, those profiles still exist. No one takes action against these scammers and catfish to protect the community. Users feel very frustrated. A large amount of fake users means there are rarely any genuine users around. If there are, they are likely far away from you geographically.
Members are not active on the platform as most would give up after giving it a try. Those inactive profiles are not removed as well.
Profile quality: 3/10
Pricing
FreeLocalDates is misleading because it literally has the word free in it. But it’s hardly free. Essential features like advanced searches and unlimited messaging come at a fee. It offers different pricing plans with the average ranging from $10 to $20 per month and the VIP option at $50 per month.
The price alone is not outrageous as there are indeed quality online dating sites with higher pricing. The only problem is FreeLocalDates hardly lives up to the standards similar to any quality site out there.
For the price you pay, you are just drowning among fake profiles, having a laggy connection to the date that you have looked so hard, having your personal data handed over to the company, and feeling frustrated almost instantly.
Pricing: 4/10
Overall
FreeLocalDates will not be the dating platform for you to find love. Scammers and catfish are what you will find on this poorly managed site. Customer service never replies to your requests. Investing money on this site is like throwing it into the sea.
Even if you sign up as a free member, it is still a waste of time. At this price point, you will surely get plenty of better options on trusted online dating sites like Adult FriendFinder and Ashley Madison. These dating sites are professional in matchmaking with their decades in the industry.
Furthermore, they have a huge user volume with Adult FriendFinder having over 90 million members and 40 million for Ashley Madison. These statistics ease your mind.
Users have shown positive feedback for these dating sites. They are safer, more efficient, and more fun for meeting new dates. It’s time to drop the idea of signing up on FreeLocalDates and switch to Adult FriendFinder and Ashley Madison instead.
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