If you watch any television at all, there is a pretty good chance that you’ve already seen one of eHarmony’s commercials. Their advertisements are frequently aired and tend to consist of testimonials from happily coupled customers. Since these ads seem to keep popping up more often lately, it got me thinking that I should check it out for myself so that I could report my findings back to BellaOnline users who are shopping around for an online dating service that meets their needs.

When you first sign up, you are required to fill out a personality profile that is rather lengthy. It took me a bit more than a half hour to complete but I was ultimately very disappointed with the results. It’s a good thing that the personality profile is offered free of charge because despite having provided honest responses to the long list of questions and hypothetical scenarios, I felt like their interpretation of my personality was way off the mark.

There were several things that I did not particularly like about eHarmony and the services it provides. First of all, unlike most other Internet dating sites, eHarmony heavily regulates its users and their interactions. Users are unable to search for other members of their own accord. The only profiles members can view are those that eHarmony has listed as available matches. The idea is that the “experts” at eHarmony use special matching techniques to determine which members would be most likely to click, based on the results of your personality profiles. The biggest problem I see with that is that if the results of their personality profiles are as far off base as I felt they were for mine, then I imagine that their selection of matches would prove to be just as disappointing. Some reviews from previous eHarmony users that I came across online confirmed my speculation, indicating that the members they were matched with proved to be either incompatible or inactive users.

Another thing I didn’t like about the eHarmony service is that it seems to place a big emphasis on religious affiliation and is also well known for being very selective with regard to the kinds of matches they are willing to make. Many of the questions posed in the personality profile were religiously oriented or geared toward eliciting information about financial stability, which indicated to me that the matchmakers at eHarmony are looking for factors that aren’t necessarily related to one’s personality alone.

A quick search on the web will undoubtedly yield a number of unsatisfied customers who were rejected by eHarmony for a variety of reasons. It’s not hard to see how being told that a big match making company like eHarmony is “unable to match you at this time” could have catastrophic effects on someone’s self-esteem. Further confirming eHarmony’s reputation for snobbery, it should also be noted that homosexual singles need not apply. eHarmony does not cater to the homosexual community in any way.

Free members don’t get very far on the service. There is no way to communicate with your matches without first signing up for a premium membership, the cost of which is rather steep. The only way to receive the “discounted” rate of $19.95 per month is to sign up for an entire year’s worth of service. If you would rather take it month by month, the price will sky rocket to a whopping $59.95.

With so many Internet dating opportunities available today, most of which I believe are far more effective for a lot less investment, it’s a wonder to me that eHarmony is as popular as it claims to be in its commercials. Personally, I would recommend that BellaOnline users save their time and their money by taking their online dating business elsewhere.