Many people ask this question, probably because of the onslaught of online dating and dating apps, they don’t realise that there is actually an alternative. But the truth is that Dating Agencies have been around for centuries not just a couple of decades like their online competitors. With the first, known as a matrimonial bureau in those days, opening it’s doors in London as early as 1705, so is even older than the United Kingdom itself.
So there is an alternative
So yes, for those searching for an alternative to meeting online, happily there is an alternative and one that has been around a long time with many thousands of successes over the years. At Searchmate we have been around since the 1990’s, way before many of the major players in online dating and during that time we have been delivering a high quality, face to face personal matchmaking service to our members and helping them to find love away from the internet.
Our major differentiators
With online dating and dating apps, mainly you are using their software, but actually do the work yourself – more of a ‘DIY dating’ service. With Searchmate and other face to face agencies, you are likely to get that work done for you. So you are interviewed, we then build a professional profile for you, take and help you choose which photographs are going to be best for you to attract others of the right calibre. We also take you through our checking/vetting procedures to ensure that you have the right background to join an exclusive agency, which is largely residency, solvency and a check for any involvement in crime.
Lots of support and successes
When you are fully onboarded and have become a member in your own right, the next step is your welcome call from your matchmaker and the exciting part of our membership is just about to begin – dating others. Your matchmaker will give you an overview of how we work and how we have brought success to many thousands over the years since 1998. It is a tried and tested formula and gives us a very high success rate of over 90%. Now that isn’t people getting engaged or married (although of course many still do) but people who have happily gone into ‘exchange’ with others and are dating them and forming a relationship – which is always our goal.
Our guarantees
No one can absolutely guarantee chemistry and of course we can never force our members to say yes to each other, but we do have a large database of quality people and it’s always our belief that there is someone out there for everybody. So we do always guarantee the number of recommendations that we provide and our aim is always to out perform that guarantee on as many occasions as we can. Although client flexibility and open mindedness is a key consideration and factor in achieving this. Clients who show flexibility around their matches are the ones that usually enjoy the best memberships and go on to find love.
Options to suit all Budgets
At Searchmate we have a range of membership options, starting with Associate, going up to Club and then on to Platinum. Associate is great value as you are getting access to work with your own mentor and guide throughout your membership – your personal matchmaker and access to our excellent database of carefully vetted people. Our Club product provides greater levels of recommendations, a hold facility and a higher priority for matches, so less waiting for new members to filter down to you, but still great value for money.
Our high end Platinum Product
At the top end our Platinum product, would provide access immediately to new members coming onboard without you having to wait for them, a higher level of confidentiality – your profile doesn’t go out until you have said yes to the match, a face to face interview in your own home if preferred, individual one to one matches to enable you to properly evaluate each of them. Plus an ‘on hold’ facility to freeze your membership whilst dating. Which is obviously a far cry from ‘DIY Dating’ on the internet.
A typical agency
We have highlighted our own practices within Searchmate, to describe how a dating agency works but we would be very typical to others, although we believe that the Searchmate database is larger than most – to give you the very best chance of finding love. We believe it to be the largest in the UK of personally interviewed and vetted potential dates, also we do cover the whole of mainland Great Britain and even remote areas are not precluded, which is more unusual. So wherever you are in the country – a high quality dating agency service is available to you.
Like to know more?
If you’d like to know more, then there is never any obligation or compulsion to join, but our Membership Advisers, Jane, Amanda and Jack are always free to talk to and answer your dating questions, impartially and in an even handed, friendly way. We have typically 200-300 enquiries each month, so there is never any hard sell, we simply don’t need to do that. So feel free to ring us in confidence and have a chat, we’d love to hear from you and would simply aim to put you in an informed position, so you can decide if our service might be of interest. Our telephone number is 0800 644 4160 – so please ring us today to kick things off.