PoF.com / Plenty of Fish
reviews and complaints

This complaint is about the following circumstances:
1. Very poor communication, and in fact lack of communication, from the website's (pof.com) customer service team regarding my questions, requests, etc.
2. Deletion of an account for no reason at all.
3. No warning given prior to deletion of the account.
4. No explanation given for the deletion of the account.
5. A permanent ban for an alleged breach of T&Cs - but again, no details and no further information were given out as to the reasons justifying this decision.
6. The site's owners (potentially) use this website to spy on its members' activity.

Thank you.

This complaint is about the following circumstances:
1. Very poor communication, and in fact lack of communication, from the website's (pof.com) customer service team regarding my questions, requests, etc.
2. Deletion of an account for no reason at all.
3. No warning given prior to deletion of the account.
4. No explanation given for the deletion of the account.
5. A permanent ban for an alleged breach of T&Cs - but again, no details and no further information were given out as to the reasons justifying this decision.
6. The site's owners (potentially) use this website to spy on its members' activity.

I've been using the plentyoffish (now renamed as pof.com) webpage on an on-and-off basis for around 2 ~ 3 years. Last week, however, I realised my account disappeared for a reason which I cannot possibly understand.
The profile that I've had up as well as all its content certainly complied with the site's T&Cs and the general guidelines of good (moral) taste + the online netiquette. But as I've said, the account's been deleted; at first, I thought it was the usual wrong username / wrong password thing, or that someone has by some chance hacked into my account. After entering the email associated with the account when using the 'Reset password' facility, though, the message popped up saying that 'this email is not in our data base'.
As weird as it sounded, I immediately wrote an email to the pof customer service team asking them if I can somehow regain access to my account + asking for reasons for the deletion of the account (if that was indeed the case).
No response was given, despite my numerous attempts to contact the customer service.

Let me now try to make a comparison, if we allowed this sort of behaviour to transpire to real-world human interactions, I will try and liken the pof's creators/moderators/admins behaviour with (hypothetical) reference to criminal law: let us now say that, one day, out of the blue, the police forces come knocking at your door telling you they are going to arrest you with immediate effect. They can't tell you who it was who filed a complaint, they can't tell you what it was you've done. You go straight into your little uncomfortable cell. No trial, and most certainly no fair trial is given to you, you have no right to an attorney/lawyer to defend your case, you can't even defend and explain yourself... You don't even get a fine or any light punishment. 'Life imprisonment' is what you'll get, you don't know who specifically issued this decision, and you have no right to an appeal... There is no 'innocent until proven guilty' any longer, there is no habeas corpus, and no rule of law principles in operation. A lovely Orwellian perspective to become your own fate for the rest of your life.
Would any of us, I ask, would any of us like to live in a society which binds itself by the rules as I've just outlined them?!

Back to my story. So like I said, no response was given. Because of that, I then decided to make another (new) account in order to find out what's happened. This new account, however, was deleted within hours after registration - when I barely made any use of the webpage whatsoever, and certainly did nothing wrong, except... well, except daring to re-register!
I followed this exact procedure; each time an account was being deleted, I'd try and make a new one instead. Overall, I think I made about 10 more attempts to set up a new (replacement) account. Each of these attempts resulted in a quick deletion within few minutes ~ few hours after going through the registration stage.
I concluded I must have therefore been permanently banned from the webpage. This was the only explanation which ultimately made sense, although it was so non-sensical & so irrational that I cannot believe it is an actual policy of pof.com...
I mean, even if I was in the wrong the first time round... fine, delete the account. Fine, don't even give me the reasons for its deletion. But to not allow a user back in? Esp. when there was no wrong while using the second account I'd made (simply because I never had a chance and the time to message anyone)?
It is, apparently, a new part of pof's agenda that any person - once deleted - cannot ever re-join the website. Which as I've said is a ridiculous policy in and of itself, and pretty much exudes what can only be known as a Nazi-like attitude of smug pof owners. These words may sound harsh, but they are nothing further from the truth.

If I can now come back to my little comparison a little earlier on: let us assume that, instead of the punishment of 'life imprisonment' as indicated earlier, they instead sentence you to 5-year imprisonment. The big question is : what would you expect to happen to you once this 5-year-long period has passed? You'd probably think same as I did; you'd expect to walk free and enjoy your life back again!
But pof's bosses beg to disagree! They think it's in your - and anybody else's - best interest to send you back to jail as soon as they catch you when you're enjoying freedom; probably when you're just roaming around the streets breathing some fresh air and just enjoying your new life... This is the effect of that 'new' 'brilliant' policy I've been talking about: once guilty, always guilty. Once a profile deleted, any further profile will get deleted too!
So I ask a question, would any of us, I repeat, would any of us like to live by such authoritarian rules, very much resembling a dictatorship wherein the dictator in question is in no way answerable to the crowd, its society, or - as happens with pof - its users and sometimes even its customers?!

One more thought. Whilst I used to have account on there, I've often been browsing through many of pof's profiles which most certainly didn't comply with any sense of moral decency or the site's T&Cs, and yet nothing was ever done about these accounts. Can't be that no one has ever reported any of those people... surely! ;)

So, in essence... This whole situation looks as though the owners of pof think they are entitled to play god in their own minefield. Because it is a minefield, ladies and gentlemen, let's not deny that! Shame that it's the sneaky moderators and site's creators who are - for the most part - responsible for what's happening, and keen to upset its members & even interfere with their enjoyment on the site (as well as privacy - see below).
It seems to me that they have discouraged some people already, and they will - as I'm sure - discourage even more with their holier-than-thou policies and attitude and 'civility'... No doubt they must be very proud of themselves. :)
But all is not lost! Thankfully, all is not lost, because as long as pof's Nazi-like attitude continues to (dis-)impress me, I know I can afford to let them be... Pretty soon, more people will realise the site offers them no good value for money, or - more likely - no good value for their own time! The site nowadays seems to be filled more and more with various drones, fakes, scammers, spammers and alike, not to mention those mentally-challenged users (or fake users) who can barely utter a word in response to a 3-paragraph long nice & friendly intro message...
I also have a reasonable suspicion the mods/admins/creators are constantly monitoring its users' activity by, for example, entering into their private communications with other members. I had this once happen to me: when I clicked on 'Sent messages' folder, all of my messages I sent to date disappeared! There was about 20 or so of them at the time, and I swear they were all gone at once! The content of my 'Sent' inbox simply vanished...

For this and all of the above reasons, I certainly will not be re-joining this webpage (even if offered the money to do it!) + I will not be recommending it to anybody else I know or meet. Case closed.

I guess getting a permanent ban on there as I deduced is of no great loss to me, and can only be taken as a blessing in disguise really... Hopefully, I may spend my time more productively from now on. :)

Thanks for reading all of this.

After being on Plenty of Fish for two days, I decided to become a paid member on 06/30/13.
And took notice immediately after of changes that began happening to my profile.
I was unable to access most of the paid upgrade membership perks. And the company was purposefully NOT following its own rules and policies. And forget about getting a helpful response from customer service. I began doing some research of complaints. And with each one I read, it only got worse.
I noticed tons of victims of Plenty Of Fish which does have the “Perfect Bait.” I'm not alone.
Victims attempting to look for love on a site that blocks both paid membership and unpaid memberships, for NO apparent reason. Scamming unsuspecting victims of their money.
To past members who found out that Markus Frind allows his goons to post fake profiles with the pictures of those victims who were abruptly locked out of the site. And can't get back in to protest removal. Having to be told by others their pictures are still actively on line without their knowledge or permission.

As I cautiously read and reread the polices to be sure to keep my profile from being one of those deleted and blocked from reentering. I noticed that my profile pictures kept being deleted.
Each one clearly showing the face of the profile user. Myself. A stipulation of the policy.
It was impossible to determine what was acceptable and what was not. As I had already heard about the random termination of profiles that don't abide by their rules. NONE of my pictures went against policy. Although I received many profile visits from users who did go against policy showing bare midriffs, non face pics, nude pictures of bodies, and genitals parts inappropriately dancing across my screen by non-paid members. With every attempt to flag these profiles and report each and every infraction nothing was done to correct it. I then noticed that my emails were being monitored.
On more than one occasion my return emails to other members would disappear before my eyes.
With the thousands of unpaid members that should have been monitored, I was being monitored carefully each and every day of the 4 days I had a paid membership. Careful not to infringe on policy.

Taking notice that my whole profile was constantly being rearranged differently every time I returned.
I realized that the profile that I created was NOT MY PROFILE. I requested help again.
In the mean time, I gathered as much information of support that I could get my hands on, including dates, times, billing numbers, address, examples, etc. etc. Unfortunately, other dating sites are sister sites to POF who practice the same actions. Scam money from unsuspecting victims and terminate your account.

Two days later, I received a threatening email from Markus Frind that I would only be reminded once for uploading pictures that did NOT have my face displayed clearly. And I responded by requesting information of how to get my money back. As I no longer wanted to be a member of a site that DOES NOT follow its own rules and policies, being selective to which profiles could and which profiles couldn't continue their membership. And that I would dispute the transaction with my credit card company and advocate the Better Business Bureau continuously about the site, until someone hears me.

I removed any pics that were left, and all information and left a Thank You, POF on my bare profile, before responding to his email. Eagerly watching and waiting to see how long it would take him to lock out yet another paid member. It didn't take long. He terminated what was left of my profile AND took my money on July 4th, 2013. Four days later. As long as Markus Frind is paid, he doesn't care who he scams. And has gotten away with it long enough.

I will continually advocate every day and every week for as long as it takes, until POF is Shut Down permanently for those who don't have a voice as well as for myself. POF must be terminated just as the owner has terminated us.
A Class Action Suit Is In Order. With NO plans to stop until it happens.

For All Scammed Former POF Users: Please file a claim with your BBB to have you're voice heard for your own piece of mind.
Paid or unpaid members. (Speak and be heard.)
Plenty Of Fish Media, Inc. 2625 555 W Hastings St Vancouver, BC V6B 4N5 - Headquarters.
(A Canadian Co.)

why are these guys deleting alot of people lately. i was deleted fri. this past week and no reason why. i here alot of people are very pissed about this. but when your a canadien you seem to want to piss on Americans because you can`t ick our ### if your life depended on it. you have no army because you rely on us if your attacked. and beleive me if it happened here on 9/11 it can happen to you. then ya`ll be saying help U.S.A. help. and you know we will. so don`t be such ### and delete all of us south of you ok. some people live by this date sight. i had a hot date to go see tonight but i didn`t have her number. thankd again pof for screwing up on alot of us in U.S.A jealous bigots/ Hawgmania

POF dating site restricts the age of women I can search and contact. I am 59 and the age selection is fixed at 45 to 60. I tried to put in a younger age but everytime i hit the update button it goes back to 45.There is no way to contact them. I think this is age discrimination. They don't have the right to tell me what age i can search and contact. Furthermore i have followed the rules and never used any profanity or sexual content on the site. Also, they may have purposely fixed the age because they want me to subscribe and then they will remove the age restrictions. If that is the case then their site is not totally free. Thank you.

Cannot login. Cannot delete account. Made new acct and still same problem. Would like to know if my email and info has been compromised.

My son, whose name is Emile Wahbe ( same family name as myself) from Montreal Canada
who has been a member of "www.pof.com" for many years is experiencing acts of segregation against him lately. This segregation occurs when my son meets a girl on the internet and they seem to like each other, and set a date to meet . They are both in agreement, and the date, time, and location is set . Without any notice the girl calls back to cancel . This did not happen earlier when my son was dating on the dating site, but became the rule to every appointment he got with a girl.
My conclusion is that this action on behalf of the website www.pof.com is intentional for no other reason than my son is following the rules of on line dating. I personally have a feeling that it is a racist reaction on behalf of the website.
I wish to report to you, honorable judges, that my son has suffered a great depression and mental setback because of this prohibitive action . He keeps asking me as to the motive of the website
personnel .
Please intervene to stop this racial segregation, and request an apology to my son Emile.

I met a man on plenty of fish. Everything was just fine for the almost 3 months we've known each other. Neither one of us wanted a committed relationship with each other but I thought we had developed a pretty good friendship. Yesterday I was in a situation where I had to give him the keys to my car. I asked him to please park it at his house and I would get it in the morning. When I called him to get my car he answered at first and told me he would bring it to me. A couple hours later after I called him with no answer he sent me a text to say he was on his way. He never showed and I sent him a message saying I was going to report it stolen. He called and made another excuse and then he said it would be at his house after I got off work. When I did get off work neither he nor my car was at his house. His roommate helped me too find some his friends. One of them told me he was on his way to clarksville which is two hours from where we live. His moped was in the back of my truck. I called and messages him and so did several other people until 9:30 pm yesterday evening. He did not answer any of us. I ended up having to report my truck stolen and still have no car. I think that other women that are on this site should be warned and this man should not be allowed to take advantage of any other person.

POF (Plenty of Fish) have taken it upon themselves to being Discriminate to Age and Diversity with a total lack of feelings for those people already communicating legitimately who was immediately stopped from contacting people who they was chatting to before with no issues.
They have restricted people contacting others +/- 14 years of their age meaning they can't message people younger or older than that which is ageism and frankly being discriminate.
As long as two people are within legal age they should be able to chat to who ever they like and not be governed by illegitimate rules, the world is calling for diversity and POF are doing their best to override this and dictate who does what with no grounding.
The site had personal options to age restrict if they so desired, so this change by Markus and his dictatorship has gone a step too far and he should be banned from running any sites until he uses diverse and not discriminate methods.

POF deleted my account after I sent someone I had been chatting to for ages a slightly naughty message. I had read the recent inbox pertaining to rule changes and altered my conduct accordingly but the next time I went to log in my account was gone and I could not register again. The worst part is that the person I had been chatting with was as interested as I was, and we were verging on meeting. We had not swapped contact information though and as a result I will never hear from that person again. Thanks for wasting my time Markus Frind. Not only did you not help with my search for love, you hindered it. I would advise people to boycott this site. There is no such thing as a free lunch and the administrator comes across as a total control freak. Since when are members on a site treated with such disdain? He/They are marketing to a select crowd and if you don't fit the bill you are out of there. The site is therefore not as useful for finding love as it claims. You will only find people Markus Frind deems acceptable for you to find, and be prepared to have your account privileges revoked without so much as an explanation or a notification.

I also want to add that Markus Frind is taking an active interest in the private messages of users and I find that to be intrusive and unsettling. Being blocked from the site for what you put in a private message with no complaint from the recipient is a level of big brotherish interference that I find suspicious. It's already been highlighted that POF does not adequately protect the personal information of users that it collects. There is such a thing as getting too personal in my opinion, and that's just what POF does. You think it's just to help you find the right match but they are vetting their users.

I have a plenty of fish account and I can not upload anymore pictures it comes up a message saying to come to this website. My user name is lovelylindsey will you PLEASE make it so that I am able to add new pictures..

Beware of user snowbank2013 on Plenty of Fish dating site this man will stalk you . I met user snowbank2013 on plenty of fish .com we met in person once . I made the mistake of given this person whose name is Willie my phone number.What happened next was basically a living nightmare I decided that this man was not my type and very nicely informed him that it was nice meeting him but I had other matters in my life that had priorities and was not interested in getting serious I was just looking to make friends. And that it would be best if we just didn't meet again. This person text me every 30 minutes on my phone and would not leave me alone when I text back for him to stop he decided to follow me home without my knowledge and found out where I lived. I got home one night stuck my car in the garage. This Willie character decided to pull his car into my driveway turned off his car lights and sat in my driveway for 2 hours in the dark . I discovered him in my driveway when I looked out the window. I ended up calling the police. The next morning he started calling my cell phone at 5 AM in the morning and texting threats to my phone. Upon further investigation of this plentyoffish .com user I discovered that he has done this to several other women that he has met on this dating site and has been convicted of domestic violence . finally got rid of this seriously disturbed individual and deleted my profile. I will never do this again .If any of the women reading this are using Plenty of Fish dating site and are searching dates in Evanston Wyoming or dates in Utah beware of this user he is a stalker and will not stop till the authorities are contacted .

Ladies Beware of this user snowbank2013 in Evanston Wyoming this mans name is Willie and he is a stalker and known woman abuser . I am going through a divorce and a relative recommended that I check out POF to meet new friends. I met this guy and arranged to meet him we had one meeting not even a date . The day after we met I had decided that this wasn't for me and decided not to see this guy again. He kept texting me every 30 minutes wanting to come over to my house . When I told him no that I was not interested he drove to my house at 1 AM in the morning backed his car into my drive way turned off his lights and sat in my driveway in the dark waiting for me to come home. I ended up having to call the police . The next day he texted me and made several threats against me . I told him to leave me alone . Upon further investigation of this person I discovered the he has done this before numerous women have filed complaints of him stalking them and that he has a long history of domestic violence. He contacts women and finds out where they live and then shows up on their property and waits for them to come home . He is dangerous and unstable . If you are using plenty of fish dating site beware his profile is a bunch of lies and what he is looking for is someone to let him live off of them if you do meet him he will stalk you till you report him and then he will get violent .

I have not contacted pof.com yet. I was scammed by [protected]@yahoo.com. Hehas stolen pictures of Uwe Hubertus (a German man). Several scammers have stolen his photos off person.com. I went into scamdiggers.com and found pics of stevewayne (the man I was emailing) but they are of Uwe Hubertus (dont know if he is involved or not). Anyways, they are Nigerian and Russian scammers. They scam women and men out of millions dollars every year. I have already made a formal complaint with IC - something. Just thought you should know. I know I wont get my money back, but maybe it will help others discern on these dating sites. Thank you for your kind attention in this matter. Blessings Cathy Daigrepont My email address is [protected]@centurylink.net

my name is donna and i have enjoyed the plenty of fish date site on numerous occasions to meet people and socialize. I am currenty not on the website and recently have thought of rejoining. However, someone has put a profile pretending to be me and i am irrate! I want this profile removed immediately! the username is "Fake2all" i did NOT authorize this. the person who opened this profile is also on the site. Her name is Jean Berry Tugrul and the username is ""unique2u2" she is using this website for defimation of character on me. I feel she should be deleted as well. this is obsurd and i am seeking legal advise in this manner. I would appreciate the cooperation from from the management of pof in this manner. i want to rejoin the site and don't need my name and reputation ruined by this vindictive person. I cannot delete the profile she has created about me because i don't have a password. i only found out when i received a welcome to the site email. I would like a response from pof asap. I want this issue handled immediately. I have more info on the person who did this if needed. pof has info on her account. Please help! my email is [protected]@yahoo.com

paul e thompson/met six years ago and started dating/in 2009 i wanted to move to nc/he said he love . asi loved him as well..i moved and he said give well the him a year hto transfer/if he does not get the job come bk to tamapfla so we can be tneogether.the year or so went by sid he didnt get the job pls come bk i love you/i gave away all i owned and left .stopped in georgia to visit family.that is when i found him onfacebook andhis girlfriend/he had been living in ashville nc for 2 years and kept up act as he still lived in tampa/iask ed him why he would do this to me . make me move give away all i owned. and send me to fla where is no longer there and has a girlfriend.he said april fool. please please do not date this person/sick sick man 42 years ols black hair coytee/

POF Customer Service has very poor customer service. If your photo does not show your face clearly, then they delete all of your photos! I get it if you have nude photos they would delete them, but come on if you can't make out your eyes on your face. I don't have those photos anymore, so thank you for poor customer service!

My advise to POFCS
If they are not nude photos then don't delete them. I've seen several blurry face shots that you cannot make out, but I would not delete them, I would contact the customer. Contact your customer and request a closer face shot and then give them a time to add it before deleting photos!

POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE!

My account was re instated without my permission and my boyfriend was told about it by a friend and I have lost my relationship over it.