Ashley Madison Review
There has been a big increase in the number of “adult” oriented dating websites intended to help their members have affairs or sexual experiences. Ashley Madison is probably one of the most successful of these sites. While it promises (or even guarantee) that you’ll find an attractive sexual partner in your area, does Ashley Madison stay true to its users? Our Ashley Madison review: don’t waste your time. You’re better off finding a service that doesn’t have fake members or bogus matches.
What Ashley Madison Promises?
You’ve probably seen the unusual advertising tag from Ashley Madison: “Life is short. Have an affair.” The site boasts millions of members who are in committed relationships but are looking for either an extramarital sexual encounter or some other breach of the relationship (though to be fair, some of the members are likely in open relationships).
Like most dating sites, when you sign up for the site, you fill out a questionnaire that is used to pair you up with someone in your area you can meet. The difference with Ashley Madison, though, is that you also fill out what type of relationship or affair you are looking for. This includes options like, “Whatever excites me,” and, “Cyber affair.” You also have to fill out information like your weight and body type—apparently this information is used by the site for matchmaking as well. Other than a short list of questions, though, you don’t have to fill out a complete profile when you sign up.
The Ashley Madison guarantee they advertise so prominently is that you’ll have a sexual affair with someone through the service within your first 3 months of membership (with the $199 USD/$249 CDN membership). If you don’t actually have an affair, you’ll be refunded your membership. However, there are several requirements you have to fulfill to qualify for the guarantee, including:
- Having a full profile of yourself (including a photo) and leaving your profile visible at all times during those 3 months
- Sending at least 5 Ashley Gifts per month
- Participating in a live chat for at least 60 minutes a month through Ashley Madison’s website
- Sending a qualifying email message to at least 20 different members each month
- …And more as listed in the terms and conditions
As you can see, there’s quite a list of requirements that need to be fulfilled in order just to quality for the guarantee. While doing those things would probably result in an affair, they are a lot of work and probably take more time than the $200 USD is worth.
A lot of people complain about this and other elements of the Ashley Madison site. Here are some common complaints from users who have signed up and paid to use the site.
Cost to Contact
Like some other dating sites, Ashley Madison costs credits every time you do something on the site. This includes costing to contact someone for the first time or spending credits on chat sessions (which need to be conducted through the site to count towards the guarantee). Membership is initially free, but it costs to actually do anything on the site, so it’s kind of misleading.
Bogus Matches
One of the ways Ashley Madison draws in new users is to return positive search results in your area. You’ve probably seen similar advertisements for other sites of a similar nature. The sites take your computer’s IP address and then use your location information generate a variable print ad targeted specifically to you. This means that if you live in Bellevue, Washington, you’ll see ads saying “Find 6 local women in Bellevue waiting for you!”.
When you actually sign up for the service and search your area, though, you may be disappointed to find your search results won’t turn up those same numbers. One person said the site promised 6 members in his town he could contact through a “wink” (the Ashley Madison version of Facebook’s “poke”). However, when he actually searched his area, he returned no results. Whether or not that was a glitch, it makes Ashley Madison look questionable.
Fake Females
In continuing with the pattern of having bogus matches, as is true with other “adult” dating websites (such as Adult FriendFinder), many of the females on the site you’ll find before you sign up are fake profiles. The reality is most of the members are men. That hottie you saw in that the advertisement claiming there were matches in your hometown? She was a stock photo. Many members also report receiving a sudden surge of winks from female users when their membership is about to expire only to have none of those winks respond when the membership is renewed, implying the winks were from the site itself instead of real people.
Ethics
If you’re researching Ashley Madison reviews to see if the service works or not, you may not have qualms about using the service. If you are looking to have a fling or extramarital affair, this may be the site for you. However, there are other services available for anyone trying to find a longer lasting, more meaningful relationship. And given the problems we’ve pointed out with using the Ashley Madison service (or is it Ashley Madison scam?), you may want to look somewhere else if you’re looking for a partner that won’t cheat on your someday.
Ethics aside, the fake profiles and oversaturation of male users means a heterosexual male probably isn’t going to find that hot, young female from the advertisement in his area, limiting his chances of sexual success. The strict guarantee guidelines mean the site probably isn’t going to have to refund that man his money when he fails to have an affair. The Ashley Madison scam is based on males signing up with a short-sighted hope of getting some easy action I his area, but the reality is there’s probably not much going around.
If you are looking for an online dating service to meet a quality partner, you’ll probably need to look somewhere else. Whether you want to meet a married person looking for an affair or not, the shady elements about the site give Ashley Madison an understandably bad rap (which they really deserve if those complaints are true). The men on Ashley Madison outnumber the woman a hundred to one. This Ashley Madison review (and other Ashley Madison reviews) all agree: save your money and try something else.
