Lunch Actually Group
reviews and complaints

I'm not too sure The highter position in the office ms Andrea try to play me up or this company is a scam

at 1st she say will call me on (15 jan) but she did not call me on that day

when i call her she say give her 1more week, she will call me today (24Jan)

this morning when I call her she say will call me after 5pm but she did not call after 5, when i call her 7pm the staff told me she go home arl tomro is her off day she will only back to work on Friday(26Jan)

is it a scam? Or she try to play me up

I have not been lucky in my finding the love of my life. I have went through multiple heartbreaks and being in toxic relationships. I have been skeptical using a dating agency, until, I engaged Lunch Actually. I have told myself that this is my last resort to find a partner. After going through a few dates, there are misses and hits for the matches that I have met. However, at least there are no bad dates. I like that I have a human being speaking with me after the date and it is a human being making the matches for me. I am still going on dates and hopefully I will be able to find the One soon.

Their customer service is amazing, very professional and quite friendly. I’ll recommend them wholeheartedly over any other online or dating services as they go extra yard to verify and ensuring the couples don’t fret over profile details to begin with. Their job is often challenging as they’ll need to handle it sensitively. Thanks to all their team, especially the consultants that I worked with - Andrea and Mabel, they’ve been fantastic, I’ve met my amazing life partner, thanks to them.

First of all, the dating service provider, Lunch Actually charges you at least 5- 7k SGD to sign up for a basic membership.

The more you pay the more ahead you will become in the queue. Not sure if this is really true as I had to wait sometimes 2 months to go on a date.

The agent tries to influence you according to their pool and changed my original choices.

The dates I received were all at least 15 years plus compared to my age.

One thing is true they ticked the boxes on paper but you end up meeting with introverts, alcoholics, divorced when it is not even within expectation and completely opposite of your natural being. Honestly it is not just about the money but a waste of time!

They explained me a match is only after 1 date but in contract it is after accepting going on a date. For the first match they pick a very appealing guy then for the rest anyone they could find. Suddenly that you went for the first date they do not even care at all!

Paying such monies for so [censored] service seriously is non-sense. I expected something more sophisticated, elegant and most importantly quality in the way they at least deal with you. They would not even bother calling you to give feedback of the date you went on. If you ask for a refund well don’t even try. They don’t even realise how disgusting it is to take someone’s money to find them love. There are moments in your life when you want to try everything but if you are tired of trying please best if you just make an effort to do it yourself. They don’t even have a pool of candidates and the worst ever agency to receive service from..

STAY AWAY from LA even if you don’t have time, you are tired of trying, no point losing your money for this unsophisticated and truly disappointing agency.

Dear Readers,

First and foremost, a few qualifications:

1) I have tried every means to reach out to Lunch Actually to discuss about my feedback as diplomatically and as peacefully as possible. Unfortunately, they did not take me seriously, which leads me no choice but write this publicly.

2) I am not all the type of person who will write negative feedback about another person or company publicly. I understand that life is hard, and business is tough. We should do what we can to support one another. I had no choice but to do this because despite of my most genuine and diplomatic efforts, it seems that the company took my courtesy for granted instead of trying to solve it in the most genuine manner.

3) I am a paid member of Lunch Actually Malaysia. I cannot say whether the same horrible experience is felt across all Lunch Actually establishments globally. This write-up is limited only to my experience with Lunch Actually Malaysia.

4) Their membership is overly priced based on Malaysian standard for an average working person. It pains me to see that consumer are not getting what they paid for, and the company is not taking any sort of responsibility for their action. I write this with the hope that it will save the hard-earned money of many hard-working Malaysians out there.

Below is my experience:

1) Before Signup Experience

a. Lunch Actually office in Malaysia is in Bangsar when I first joined. The moment you walk in, there will be a sales representative to lead you into a room, which is painted in soothing purple color. There will be two chairs, one for you, and one for the consultant. In between the chair, there is on small table which has a book written by the founder Violet Lim. The book gives the impression that they know what they are doing. After all, the founder manages to write a book about it. The surrounding creates an “aura” of confidence in them that they know what they are doing, or so it seems.

b. Once seated down, Lunch Actually sales representative will tell you that the whole idea of Lunch Actually is to help busy professionals look for life partner and database consist of high-quality working professionals which ensure quality in the life partner you are looking for. This is exactly what I am looking for because I am a working professional who has no time to meet potential life partners.

c. The sale representative will go on to tell you that “many” people have found their life partner through Lunch Actually. Why did I put inverted coma “many” is because it turns out to be far from the truth, which I will explain in subsequent section based on my experience. Again, another marketing line to keep you hooked. The sales presentative went on to tell me that they are very careful when it comes to candidates’ selection and not everyone can join. Again, another marketing gimmick to create the sense of scarcity. This is far from the truth.

d. Then, comes the closing sales pitch. The sale representative then went on to say that the price to join is RM8,000 for 10 dates, which translates to a whopping RM800 per date! At that moment, any prospect will start to back off. Then, the sales representative will then go on to say that the high price ensures only the best candidates join. Otherwise, they cannot guarantee the quality. Then, they continue to say that the price has risen from RM7,000 to RM8,000 and it is expected to rise further due to high number of joiners. Another marketing gimmick to create the sense of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out).

e. Then, I asked whether there is any guarantee that I will be able to find my life partner. This is where the sales representative said that there is no need one because of high satisfaction rate. I got “conned” by all these marketing gimmick. So, I took the plunge and paid RM8,000 for it. Looking back, it was dumbest thing I ever did. Even job headhunter does not charge their client until a right candidate is found! What a sucker!

2) After Signup

a. First Red Flag

Right after you signed up and paid for the membership, of course, there is a great sense of excitement where you want to start immediately. I paid a visit to their office the moment they have a slot available to discuss about the next step. I was extremely excited, but the excitement did not last long. Instead of going through in deeper detail the type of life partner I was looking for, like what a job headhunter will do to understand from their client what kind of candidates their clients are looking for, the dating consultant (which is what they called themselves) told me to try looking for candidates through dating applications like Tinder, OK Cupid, Coffee Meets Bagel.

I was dumbfounded. The whole idea of paying RM8,000 is so that I can outsource the search to Lunch Actually as it was tailored made for busy professionals who have no time to find a potential life partner. Now, they told me to go find it myself through dating applications. If that is the case, why on earth do I need to engage in their service?! When I told them about my disappointment, they told me it is to practice. Practice what? How to date? If I need to be someone else instead of myself during a date, isn’t it faking it?

Then I asked the dating consultant, if I can do it myself, then, why do I need to pay RM8,000 to Lunch Actually? They didn’t have an answer. My guess is that they hope you will find your life partner through these dating applications so that they can pocket the RM8,000. I could be wrong, but there is no basis to see it in a different light at present.

b. Second Red Flag

I went home extremely disappointed after the first meeting. I thought we will be using the time to discuss constructive way forward. I thought, maybe I was too harsh. So, perhaps let’s give Lunch Actually the benefit of the doubt and let them do their work.

So, the waiting the game starts. One month turns into two months, two turns into four. It was complete radio silence, not a single email, not a single phone call, not a single text message. Nothing! I think it was after six months, that I decided to give them a call and ask them, how are things progressing. That is when they start to panic and quickly told me that they have been busy looking for the right candidate for me and they finally found one. I was thinking to myself, before I signed up, you told me that you have a good pool of quality candidates. If that is true, why does it take so long to find one? My guess is that they have no good pool of candidates at all, and they are frantically searching for anyone to sign up so that they can push it to me.

When I saw a brief write up on the candidates, my jaw dropped. It was nothing more than what a teenager will write about what he or she like and dislikes. There is no write-up about the person, example, the person’s background, the person’s past, what the person is looking for in a relationship, how matching is the candidate to my profile, etc. None!

I was disappointed to say the least! I call them to explain to me, what is the basis or methodology which they use to select the candidates? They said it is based on matching preferences. I was like, how is that different from doing it myself for free through a simple computer matching program? Where are the background checks? Where is the in-depth research of the person? Look, I said, this is RM800 per date and this is the kind of quality Lunch Actually is providing for RM800 per date, which is no different than a secondary schoolboy or schoolgirl homework? I was seriously fuming! Again, I gave Lunch Actually the benefit of the doubt.

c. Third Red Flag

Let’s revisit the sales representatives claim: high number of quality candidates. Let’s test it to see whether the claim hold water.

In a total of 5 years’ time span, only 3 dates were offered to me, but I signed up for 10 dates. To put in perspective, that is 1 date in every 1.5 years! For simplicity, you can say that you must wait for 2 years to get 1 date! And mind you, if you do not chase Lunch Actually for dates, they will go quietly into the dark, and keep numb, hopefully you will not bother them, and they pocket the RM8,000 paid quietly. So, how is the quality of these 3 dates?

On my first date, I was introduced to this Eurasian girl. Now, when you say Eurasian, you will expect that one of the parents is European and the other is Asian. When I showed up for the date, it turns out to be Indian with some European ancestry. The information is so misleading! I can also argue that some way along my ancestry line, my super great grandparents are Vikings! I was dumbfounded, not because I was expecting a Eurasian, but due to the degree of misinformation provided by Lunch Actually. I have nothing against the candidate but just appalled by the whole experience provided by Lunch Actually.

On my second date, I was introduced to a Chinese girl who is an entrepreneur. She obviously had a bad day during our date. She walked into the restaurant, breathing heavily. When I finally sat her and calm the atmosphere. She finally blurted out, saying that she had no choice but to sack her most reliable salesperson. The obvious move is of course to ask why the drastic move? She then went on to complain how her most reliable salesperson is not carrying out her duty exactly the way she wanted it. I was thinking to myself: if I do not perform up to her expectation as her husband, exactly the way she wants it, I am obviously going to be “sacked” as well! What a control freak! I quickly find an excuse to leave as early as I can. She is one rotten apple but Lunch Actually told me she is a good one! Really?!

On my third date, I was introduced to another Chinese girl working in the corporate world. She was nice to talk to but halfway through the conversation, she told me about her dream husband, how he will buy her a nice car, they will live in a big house, go for holidays, and have children. She also told me that once she is married, she dreamt never to work again, and her husband will provide her with a good life. Then, she started telling me how none of her ex came close to what she expects, and she hopes to get married as soon as possible. I was thinking to myself: either she is a gold digger, the perfect liability or both! She obviously thinks too highly of herself! I was totally turn off halfway into the date and I was just getting ready to run for my life! I called Lunch Actually after that: why kind of candidate is this!?

I was fuming after all these experiences. So, I called to complain and requested to speak to the manager of my dating consultant. As I was giving my feedback to the manager through the phone, I could hear her typing as loud as possible on the keyboard, to create the impression that was diligently taking notes to show how serious she is about my feedback. As if! How pretentious!

Since I will never know the truth, I concluded that it is NOT entirely true to say that Lunch Actually are for high quality working professionals who have no time to find their soulmates. It is mostly for “rejects” who could not find any dates on their own and therefore, came to seek “professional" help. What a far cry from what I was told by the salesperson!

3) Conclusion

Five years have passed, but nothing has changed. Despite my relentless effort to reach out to Lunch Actually to see how we can work together in the most diplomatic manner possible; I see that I am the only one pulling my side of the bargain.

I asked myself, why is Lunch Actually behaving like this? Since I will never know the truth, I conclude that Lunch Actually do not have high number of quality candidates in the database to begin with. Hence, there is nothing to offer to clients. Hence, they continuously shy away from taking calls from clients. In fact, they hope that the client will never call to follow up, so that they can sweep the problem under the carpet and pocket the exorbitantly high membership fees.

If it is true that Lunch Actually do not have a high-quality database to begin with, at least have the moral decency to either refund the membership fees or reduce the price to match what can be offered. To continue charging high fees when the output could not justify for it only makes it a complete ripped off.

So, for those out there who plans to join Lunch Actually, my recommendation is that it will be better for you take that RM8,000 and invest it in yourself. Learn a new skill, invest in a self-improvement course, of better still, spend that RM8,000 with your family and friends, whom you know, will always be there for you.

Again, I have tried everything I could to reach out to Lunch Actually. There was no constructive response. Each time I call, they will give me this standard excuse: “no suitable candidate at the moment”, which is nothing more than a polite excuse to send me away per my perception.

It pains me to write this and put this on the media as it not me at all to put anyone in public shame, so let me start off with an apology. However, what other choice do I have, if this is the only way to get their attention?

I hope Lunch Actually take this public feedback positively and come out stronger out from this. Instead of taking it negatively, by finding the whistle blower or launching a string of PR rebuttal, it will be more beneficial to sit down with your team and simply ask, “if this is the perception and feedback we are getting, how can we reinvent our business model, to steer things back in the right direction?”

Lunch Actually can choose to take this feedback either professionally or personally. I hope they make the right choice. If you read the book written by the founder Violet Lim, she has a lot to offer with her technical-know how in dating. However, the results are not speaking for itself. Instead, there are quite a number negative feedback floating on the Internet. Obviously, the existing business model is not working as the result is not speaking for itself. So, what must change to create the ultimate customer experience?

Well, that is RM 8,000 lost for me but let it not be a lost for humanity if it can help everyone improve. I hope you have a good read of my experience with Lunch Actually. Until then, I am signing off and closing this chapter on my life.

Take care everyone.

Hi,

I have similar bad experience as well. After 1st date with those dates, they will said meet again. But that's not true. They will said not suitable for each. I am not sure is it my problem or their problem. Those dates who acted like atas and don't even have the look. I just wondering LA is it truthful how they match us based on our criteria upon signing up with the details provided.

My 2 cents thought.

Kinds,
Steven

I didn't know it work this way just giving us an app and wait for people to be match or to request date from us. This is no different with all other apps in the market. It won't work the same scam will appear.. No honest pple as well because not even verify anything we submitted.

1st week into it I realise I got cheated I didn't know it was something like that and approach for a refund but was rejected on the spot. Nearly 6 mths into it.. Nothing happen at all cos its just same like all apps.

Pls refund my 6 mths fee since I am not getting anything out of it.

I wish I saw this article earlier:

https://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/lunch-actually-dating-agency-unethical-behaviour-expensive-and-hard-selling-c831155.html

So basically I fell victim to esync & signed up for their VIP service but was treated worse than a dirt.
Signed up in March after the pleasant staff by the name of Aaron spoke to me on the phone & followed up very promptly with any qns I had & even more promptly when it comes to payment. Then everything changed.

Post payment, zero news & follow up. I had to contact him to ask what's going on after almost close to a month. He promised to check & someone will contact me the same day. Nothing...

The following week I email him to tell him no one contacted me as promised. No reply! So I waited for another week & sent him another email to let him know that the silence is not acceptable. Since no service was rendered, I want a refund.

A lady (Mabel) then texted me saying they just tried to reach me but wasn't able to. Big lie! I told her I have my hp right next to me now & it didn't ring nor do I have any missed call. I asked her what was the number she dialled. She was very quick to say "oh I called the wrong no." What nonsense!

And the Aaron guy dare not call me after I said I want a refund? It has been a frustrating experience becos they tried to pass me from 1 staff to another. 1 month of MIA is not acceptable & definitely not VIP service.

To keep it short (other short pissing episodes in btwn), I said I only want to speak to the person in charge. They said she was overseas & only back on Fri & she will call me on Sat. No call on Sat!

:/ after she (Rose Wan, Country Head) finally called, not helpful at all! Kept telling me no refund after 3 days. Come on, who set the policy? They themselves! And after I told her how her staff had lied about being unable to reach me on several occassions, she didn't offer any follow up action. "I hear u." alone is not helpful! I even asked how come when selling me package & asking for payment so easy to reach me but when it comes to providing service always cannot reach me? And there has been no missed call, no email from them! So what's the "unable to reach u" all about? All she can offer is to upgrade my package to Lunch Actually which is supposed to be more premium. Why would I want any service from them after the horrifying experience? *Angry much*

Enough of wasting my breath on a Country Head who only knows how to say no refund & upgrade, I asked for the owner's contact which of course she refused to give. So I told her ok if you are not giving it to me & I managed to get it from my own source, it's not going to be very nice. She said she will email me to see how they can help. I asked her what kind of help is she referring to... she said the free upgrade (which i have already told her many times that's not what i want & that's not helpful to me). But oh well, like a broken record, that was what she could repeat over & over again - no refund after 3 days, free upgrade... She even had the cheek to say even though that's not what I wanted, that's what she could offer & she'll still have to write the same to me. Exasperating!

The email came... with an email address of the founder/ owner Violet Lim. She said the owner is fully aware of what has transpired.

I email Violet. Oh wow! The same attitude again - zero response! That's how the company train their staff - ignoring the customer & MIA after getting money in.

How can this type of trashy company be accredited by SDN, a govt affiliated body? How much money have they scam people of?

Please do NOT join Lunch Actually Dating Agency

1) Lunch Actually (LA) claims to match you with someone ‘holistically’ and taking into account your “preferences”. They claim that the only thing they do not guarantee is chemistry. It is NOT true. While most of the time, LA members are truthful abt their personal details, LA will LIE about it in order to ‘create’ a match. They can LIE abt anything just to push out a date. Eg, if you say you don’t want to meet someone who drinks heavily, LA will LIE to you and cheat you into going on a date which they ‘have painstakingly looked through and is a high match’. One date cost a few hundred dollars, and you end up meeting someone you will not even consider. Your date also ends up wasting his/her time as he/she had given truthful details to LA without knowing that LA had lied to you. Your preferences are not important to LA. Your money is.

2) LA has more female than male members. Ladies can wait up to 8 months in between dates. Man gets one or two dates per month. Chances are, the female members will end up getting hitched by someone through their own social circle and forfeit the rest of their package (that means LA gets to keep the money). Although it seems like the man has a wider pool of selection, male members are likely to end up going on dates with people who are poorly matched.

3) LA allows members to request for a full refund within 7 days after going on their first date. If you are not happy with your first date, you can get all your money back. So, you are likely to get someone decent on your first date. And GOOD LUCK for your subsequent dates. You first date may be someone you are looking for as LA may have matched him/her according to your criteria just to give you a false good impression. BUT you may not be matched according to your date’s preferences. So you will still end up wasting a date because the other party is not interested in you.

Some unlucky people (possibly those who appear nice and received decent/good feedback from their first few dates) will be unofficially ‘selected’ by LA (without their knowledge or consent of course) to be the first date or ‘service recovery’ date for other LA members. It means that whenever LA gets a new/difficult customer, they will pick this ‘selected’ candidate out to go on a date with their new/difficult members. If you are granted the ‘honor’ of being ‘handpicked’ by LA to do the ‘job’, you are likely to end up with dates with new members or angry people who have just complained abt LA. (since LA gets a lot of complains). To make things worse, if the LA member is someone LA knows that you will not be interested in, LA will either LIE to you about their particulars or keep you in the dark. Eg, Member A complains about LA or his/her previous bad date. LA will do service recovery by giving member A a free make up date. Then LA will go to their “nice members list” and pick member B to go on a date with member A. However, member A is a smoker and LA knows that there’s no way member B will agree to go out with someone who smokes. So LA will either LIE to member B or keep member B in the dark. In other words, LA makes use of their members to help them make more money from other people.

4) Whenever LA’s lies were found out and exposed, they will either insist that it was the member who had given them the wrong information (which is not always true) or they will brush it off by offering a free make up date. There’s no point taking up the make up date because the same problem will repeat.

5) LA has ‘highly trained’ consultants with high turnover rate. The consultants seem to be ONLY trained to be polite, politically correct when communicating with their members and pushing members to sign up for their workshops. They are not genuine about helping their members get a good date. The matching is done using a computer system anyway. Members’ details and/or preferences are manually tweaked or almost completely changed in order to increase the number of matches (drastically). Any Tom or Harry can be matched to Jane or Mary.