Original Dating - London

Ryan C.

Amanda was a great host, she was very welcoming and complementary. The event was also very enjoyable, the best speed dating event I've been to. The women I met were lovely and I had a great night and made some male friends too.

Michael H.

Although it's a bit of a few for tickets, it's worth attending if low on confidence, in order to build speaking 🗣️ and self esteem as well as getting to know different ladies who are friendly and make you feel welcome at ease. Though with me first time, I got 0 matches. I felt everyone was friendly. I will definitely keep going at it. Definitely advice others who think online doesn't work, try this path instead. 👍

GJH

Went to our first Original Dating 40+ evening this evening. Walked in and walked straight out. Far more women than men and the calibre of man was pretty terrible. Not a cool 40+ in sight!
Also when we got there they told us it was lock and key which is super cringe and something we would never have signed up for. What a waste of £30 each!

Vicky S.

The event I attended was well run by the host Ben. The people I met were lovely. It would have been helpful to have had name badges to aid with learning others names.

Craig M.

Hi I was at the recent key and padlock event that took place at Committee Room No 9 on Friday. This was my first speed dating event of this kind so it made things feel a little newer.

I went to this event by myself, so I was out of my comfort zone but the staff (and bar staff) were friendly and helpful and I had a pleasant night and met some nice people. Including some people who lived close to Johnstone and Paisley, however we didn't match unfortunately.

I have some minor issues with the event:-

First of all it would have been good if there were some matchmakers or someone to help guide us through the night, this would have helped people who are introverted and have confidence and self esteem issues. Instead of staff welcoming everyone and then simply just giving everyone keys and padlocks and watching everyone mingle.

Secondly I feel like having a game or challenge would have also benefitted everyone in helping people open up and be their true authentic selves (the ice breaker questions and raffle helped somewhat, but I felt some people just wanted the evening to just be over and done with and were just rushing from one person to the next) making the effort seem forced and disingenuous.

Which brings me to my third, time! If we all had a little more time! Instead of starting at 8.30 pm, why not start a little earlier like 7.30 or 7.45 pm. I wasn't able to use my second key due to running out of time!
On top of that I couldn't help but notice that some of the locks were duds... The key didn't go into the lock at all, was that supposed to happen?

Another point which I think is somewhat important, the music was too loud! Which made communicating with everyone a little more difficult and made it tricky to understand what was being said.

Those factors did ruin my evening for a moment. And the drink prices could have been slightly cheaper but I understand that in this economic climate, that can't really be helped.

Overall, I still did enjoy myself despite the minor issues and I'm thinking about taking part in another event similar to this in the near future and hopefully I'll have better success.

Thanks for your time in reading this review. Have a great day!

Mark

I’ve had the chance to attend speed dating events with Fastlove, Tables, and now Original Dating, and sadly, Original Dating was the most disappointing experience by far. Based on my experience, I’m very unlikely to use them again.

I attended an event in Manchester on Saturday, and while the host was friendly and professional (this review is no reflection on her efforts), the overall organisation of the event left much to be desired. The male-to-female ratio was shockingly imbalanced, with only three women and about ten men at the start of the event. A fourth woman did arrive later, but by that point, the discrepancy was already glaring.

The event was scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m., but by 8:00 p.m., I was completely finished. It felt rushed and lacked the variety or structure you’d expect from a well-organised speed dating event. Given the awkward dynamics and short duration, it certainly wasn’t worth the time or money.

Unfortunately, I cannot recommend Original Dating based on this experience, especially when compared to the far better-run events I’ve attended with other companies.

UPDATE: It’s been 3 weeks since the owner responded to my review, stating they would “reach out to all affected people from this incident.” I’m still waiting to hear from them.

To provide some context, a few days after my experience with ‘Original Dating’, I attended a Fastlove event with just 6 women. This happens at these event - as acknowledged by the owner responding to my review. The host apologised for the low turnout and immediately offered a free ticket to another event, which was promptly followed up with an email the next day. That’s what customer service should look like.

Regarding the ‘Mixeo’ feature on Original Dating’s website, it’s been poorly executed. If you get a match, you’re expected to pay £10 a month just to send and receive messages, with longer-term contracts being cheaper. Considering you’re only shown a maximum of 6 profiles per day, this feels overpriced. Worse still, if someone likes you, you have to pay to remove them from your list, which seems absurd. Meanwhile, companies like Tables offer this service for free.

Lastly, other speed dating companies notify you of all your likes, not just your matches, allowing you to reconsider someone you might have overlooked. Unfortunately, ‘Original Dating’ doesn’t offer this.

All in all, despite ‘Original Dating’ hosting “60+ successful events per month,” I won’t be attending any of their events again – not even for free. It’s clear they’re a business aiming to make a profit, which is perfectly fine, but they seem more focused on squeezing money out of customers at every opportunity rather than providing a quality experience. You’d think after 21 years in the industry, they’d have perfected this by now.

UPDATE 4 months later: The owner never did “reach out to all affected people from this incident”.

David

The host was very helpful and provided lots of guidance on how the evening would work. Unfortunately some women did not turn up, so there was a gap for men between each woman. However, having fewer people overall also meant more minutes for everyone.

It was a little unfortunate that the venue raised the volume of the background music just as everything was starting, but thankfully didn't detract from a great night.

Georgi D.

Honestly a scam. I’ve booked the event 18 hours in advance. Turned up to the venue getting to know that I’m the only one. I haven’t received any cancellation email or whatsoever.
They don’t answer the phone as they have just automated line (scam), they do not reply to the emails (scam). I have even received a re-confirmation email 2 days after the event date (insane)!
I have sent a complaint email with refund demand, to receive after 5 days automated response. Replying to that, I have received another automated message, completely not directed to me nor applicable to my situation.
Honestly this is insane, we are talking about silly money and the issue 100% lies on your side and you don’t take any responsibility for it. Is that serious company? Definitely not.
This was supposed to be fun, turned up to be a nightmare. Do not recommend that to anybody.