It’s Just Lunch

Don’t sign up for this service. I had a terrible experience before even getting to the contract portion of things.
Let’s just start with this is a national service that is based in Florida. Personal, local service be damned. Of all the interactions I had with the FLA office, not ONCE did they call me at the local (PST) time I requested, rather always at their local time (EST).
I was set up to interview with Kristina. I have never experienced such an interview technique as hers. She asked simple, open ended questions «what are your hobbies» and instead of letting me answer, proceeded to give examples «some of our members like to do outdoor activities, go to the movies and theaters.» etc. Her answer process often took several minutes and left me with no unique material. I ended up parroting back the examples she gave that were relevant. No follow-​up questions were asked. I felt like I was taking a multiple choice test.
She definitely felt the disconnect because about halfway through, she stopped to tell me «It doesn’t seem like you’re very interested, you aren’t giving very good answers. Is it just your personality? It seems very uncomfortable.» I was horrified. I told her that was harsh, insulting my personality! I told her I now felt uncomfortable. She took another 5 minutes to try to reel things back in and assure me that she WAS in fact, comfortable with it (thanks for asking how I felt) and moved on. We finished the interview but I told her we could follow up another day regarding contracts as I had to move on with my day. I answered one more call from her, dodged signing up, and stopped taking any calls or messages from her. I thought it was over from there.
About 10 days later, I get a call from a blocked number. It was Kristina. Wow, she’s really interested in getting me on this service… or not. She asks how I’ve been and if I’m interested in signing on. When I say no, does she try to find out why or offer to answer any more questions? No. Her response: «I figured. I just wanted to hear it from you directly. We had a phone appointment last week and I blocked that time out just for you, I would have appreciated it if you returned my call. We have a lot of clients to work with and that time could have been used for someone else., blah blah blah.» I told her that was enough and when she KEPT GOING I proceeded to tell her how rude she was as she continued to talk over me. The purpose of this call was not to sign on a potential client but to stick it to me and chastise me for wasting her ever-​so valuable time.
I immediately called the corporate office and left a message for a manager. Word gets around fast, she called back to «apologize» 10 minutes later. Made sure to remind me how highly regarded she was in the company. So happy for you, Kristina. Manager Mike called the next day, apologized for her behavior and promised to rectify it. Snuck in a great sales pitch.
Obviously I did not go with the service. I was appalled at 1. How nasty the sales team was and 2. After such a terrible interview and still getting offered a contract, what really is the screening process? Not the exclusive, and personal, process I asked for.

This is a SCAM! I fell for it & lost $ 5000. It starts great & ends terribley. DO NOT JOIN IJL! I have had 2 dates in 1 year 4 months. Everyone pays a different price, your matches DO NOT meet your specifications, my dates weren’t shown my picture & didn’t know what I looked like, when things start to go bad the company insisted I call them but then won’t answer the phone or call me back, they will not correspond through e-​mail, they put my account on hold when I asked them not to, etc. I have joined a class action lawsuit & pray I get a refund. IJL is NOT accredited by the Better Buisness Bureau. If you don’t believe me, Google customer reviews; I am not alone. Multiple class action lawsuits have been made in almost every state they do buisness. They were supposed to change their buisness practise but HAVE NOT. SCAM! SCAM! SCAM! My Mom signed me up after my husband died in Afghanistan & she has been tormented by them ever since. That’s right, they are calling & e-​mailing my 67 year old Mother harassing her! My consultant said she was in New York but it was a call center in Florida. They laughed at me when I asked for a fair & partial refund (I was willing to pay for the services I had received just to get away from them), telling me «well that’s never gonna happen.» I lived in Seattle Washington & they insisted I could only date 3.5 hours south (by car/​driving) in Portland Oregon. They told me there was no IJL location in the Seattle area, that was a LIE. I could go on & tell you more but I think you get the idea, it’s a SCAM! They took advantage of me, a military widow, continue to antagonize & harass my Mother, refuse a partial refund, lie to you, need I go on? SCAM!!!

As an update — I’m pretty sure that I can say this publicly — it appears that the Oregon Department of Justice is launching an investigation based on complaints from Oregon users as well as the validation of the New York judge certifying IJL purchasers as a class based on fraudulent business practices. Fingers crossed. Do NOT do NOT do NOT sign up with them. That photo up there of those three nice ladies? — one of them used to be the owner and none of them are part of the company anymore. That address you see? No office in Portland.

I was stood up on my first date. 10÷29÷15
It took the company SEVEN BUSINESS DAYS to call back and pretend they had cancelled the date before hand. I checked my call records and found that to be untrue.
So I was treated poorly then lied to.
PLEASE!!! Do not contract with them. I could give you 15 other small annoyances but being stood up after you take a $ 25 cab ride to Beaverton and find yourself in a booth being held together with duct tape, while you reflect on the garbage «dating coaching» the 20 somethings from Miami gave you… you might relize you’ve been had.
I was had.
True story.

They do not have a local office anymore — you only ever deal with people in Florida now — and the product/​service is criminal. Biggest waste of money — DO NOT TRUST. I think we should attempt a class action law suit. I have had nothing but poor response times, lousy dates and broken promises and I’m out a lot of money. They simply do not have enough men in their pool of candidates. I am seeking a refund and have reported them to the States Attorney General.

If you are looking into signing up with this company DON’T!!!
I signed up with them a year ago after having a great conversation with a sales person. He said it would be no problem to find me amazing matches and I was really going to enjoy the experience. So I signed on the dotted line and wrote a check for over $ 2300.
I was very clear with them that I will NOT date a man who is shorter than me, to which I was assured would not happen. Fast forward to my first date a week or so later, he wasn’t shorter than me but he proceeded to cry through the meal. I chalked it up as a learning experience and was excited to meet my next match. Three months later I heard from them again with another match, I went to meet him for lunch and he no showed. They apologized (but didn’t get my file updated so still showed that we were matched). I had my next date about a month later, I show up and so does he… but he is definitely shorter than me, but a lot. The date was short, which was great since he didn’t speak very good English.
The next date happened pretty quick, within another month and we just were not a match. And then I waited, and waited and waited. Finally five months later I get match and think… hey I am just going to keep a positive attitude. When I get to lunch I have to say not only did I waste my time, I am upset I will never get that hour back in my life. The man had no manners, was belching at the table and when it came time to pay told me it wasn’t my place to pick up my meal.
I have called IJL repeatedly through the past year asking for a refund to which they say no. Now they have been trying to continually match me with men who are shorter than me, and when I tell them that is not in my criteria I am told that my criteria isn’t correct and I need to change it to fit what they think is important.
Please if I can make any recommendation… don’t sign up with them! They will take your money and treat you like crap!

My experience has been exactly the same as several other reviews. I have had 2 dates in four months, despite being available almost all of the time they just make excuses about why they cannot arrange a date (and that is if they return your calls at all). It’s just lunch routinely fails to return phone calls in what I consider a timely manner, 1 – 2 weeks is typical turnaround in my experience or I have had to call several times to get a response. As stated in other reviews, they do not have any permanent presence in PDX, you will be dealing with people on the east coast, working on east coast time, with the exception of one screening interview they use a contractor for. This lack of local presence for the dating directors was never mentioned during the enrollment process and I was naïve enough to assume a business would disclose something like this. Likewise, in four months I dealt with at least 4 different people, which makes it hard to believe I am being provided a personal service. If nothing else this experience has taught me the value of Unilocal,if I had read these reviews before I payed them $ 2300 I never would have made this mistake.

Please Please Please don’t spend your hard earned $$ with this group. They sure talked a good talk to get you in. They do not have the member quantity /​quality (Men especially) they say they do… Its a SCAM!!!

$ 2200 to It’s Just Lunch is the singular, worst financial decision I have made. I would like to get my money back.
I have completed 10 lackluster dates in a one-​year span with It’s Just Lunch. Some dates were a disaster, others were mismatches, a few decent with no chemistry, and the rest are fodder for a dating comedy book I need to write someday.
My chief complaints and reasons why you should re-​consider signing-​up for It’s Just Lunch:
— During the one-​year span, I had 6 different dating directors. The first was very pleasant to talk to and responsive, however, she did not make the best matching decisions. The others I have had in rapid succession in the last two months. They have not had time to get to know me and the information about my look-​fors and non-​negotiables seemed to have been lost, ignored, or miscommunicated from one director to the next.
— From my perspective on my experience in the past two months, something is wrong with the business. My judgement is based on the high turn-​over for dating directors in the past two months, the 2 week period in which no one returned my messages from the Portland, OR office and the number of times I have called and received a message the voice mail box is full.
— The specific dating feedback that I provided did not result in better dates or matches. My 4^th (?) dating director was very proactive and had an extended conversation with me so he could set me up with better matches. I sent him an e-​mail detailing why the previous matches were not good fits. He was transferred to another It’s Just Lunch office before he was able to set me up on dates, so I was told.
— One of my dates was nice and the most professional, but not a fit. Our previously scheduled date was canceled by It’s Just Lunch. My dating director lied to me and told me the date had a work emergency. The date was told it was canceled because he had not had his post-​1^st date consultation with the IJL representative — a meeting to which he showed up and the IJL representative did not. He stated his concern to the dating director that the cancellation would reflect poorly on him. In business, I expect the truth.
— The Portland, OR office is staffed by employees on the east coast who work on east coast hours. I work in a highly public and professional job in which I can’t get back to my personal messages until after 4pm. The first dating director was able to work around my schedule.
— My last and final date was scheduled via voicemail with less than 48 hours notice during a time that I had specified via e-​mail that I was not available. Since it was after hours, I left IJL a message that I had not approved the date and was unavailable. I also called the restaurant to let them know I would not be there in case the date did not receive a call from IJL. The restaurant employee I spoke with informed me that they no longer took reservations from IJL because they had had issues with the company (IJL).
I paid for a service that I do not feel I received in full/​as advertised. I did not experience an «enjoyable alternative to online dating» as I had selected better matches and had better dates myself via online dating. I did not receive «quality matches» in over 50% of my dates as I define a quality match. I did receive 10 guaranteed dates. I did receive a consultation with a dating coach who is the only reason why I completed all 10 dates — she was good.

Unfortunately, I have to agree with the reviewers who advise staying away from IJL. I joined in late November and have yet to have one in-​person date. The IJL team has scheduled a few dates and all have cancelled at the last minute, rescheduled multiple times or flat out not-​showed. I’ve been assured that this is an anomaly by the three IJL reps I’ve been passed around to but it makes me quite suspect about the caliber of members they truly have. I have yet to speak with someone from IJL located onsite in PDX and, frankly, feel completely duped. I’ve expended a lot of time, energy and frustration for zero results. Considering the $ 1800 price tag and the ‘personal touch’ that is positioned as the framework of their business model, that’s unacceptable. I’ve asked them to refund my money but no resolution yet. Hopefully I’ll be able to amend this post with a positive review of the customer service associated with complaint resolution!

OMG! Run, don’t walk away from this matchmaking service! They will set you up with someone you totally have nothing in common! After I had told the east coast, male dating coach i was assigned, and who later told me I had no option, but to have him as my dating coach, because Oregon was in his region, that i did not want some burned out hippie with long hair tied back in a ponytail! Who did I get? Yep, you guessed it, some old guy with 4 – 5 tightly pulled, stringy hairs on top of his head, pulled back into a long gray ponytail! In desperate need of a 21^st century makeover! Ugh! Run as fast as you can! You are better off tipping the homeless guy at the on ramp, and he’ll give you a nice wink!

Dolci and the great team at IJL are phenomenal. They have matched me very well with each date which I’ve met. The follow-​up is very courteous and efficient. Most importantly they are flexible in terms of allowing you to vary the dating pace so that you can focus on someone in particular. Excellent all round.

I’ve been using Its just Lunch for a few months and I think its a good service. I don’t have any «love connection» story to share. yet! But, I feel I’m getting what was described and I paid for. Its a big improvement over online dating. I’m impressed with the caliber of men, I find it much easier to have the one date to decide if there is some compatibility versus the long drawn out process of the online services, and its fun… I’m getting out instead of sitting in front of my computer. I may not have found «the one,» but I’ve enjoyed the dates I’ve gone out on and definitely think I’m getting fixed up with men who are much closer to what I’m looking for than any other process I’ve used. If you’re busy, want someone to do the weeding for you, and don’t mind the blind date approach, this is a great service to try. Dolci has been great to work with, very friendly, responsive, and I can tell, listens!