Kevin G.

I'll admit, I was not a. Believer in online dating several months ago. The only person I personally knew that tried online dating got married in 3 months, then divorced after a year. Not a good image.

But a friend convinced me to give it a try. What did I have to lose? Do I did. I started out with just a free account. It turned out that free accounts could send messages but could not read messages. Major bummer.

That said, Zoosk does have a couple of cool features. First, you can send virtual "gifts" to other members as a way of showing interest or that maybe you liked their profile or pics. Second, you show your interests by categories (music. Movies, television, people, etc.) Zoosk had a vast array of preset interests from which to choose.

Zoosk used this feature called Carousel in which they show you a pic of someone and their age. No profile or anything, just a pic. They ask "Do you want to met him/her". You must answer "Yes", "No", or "Maybe". If you answer Yes or Maybe, you earn a coin. You can earn up to 40/day. After that you can buy coins for a somewhat hefty sum or just wait until the next day to earn more.

These coins are used to buy certain items, such as the previously mentioned gifts, and unlocking profiles you want to view on a matched user.

The problem with the coins is that paying members are required to use them too. If you don't have enough, you must purchase more.

I feel that paying members should get a certain number of free coins and gifts per day. I also feel that no profiles should be locked to paying members.

I also do not like that you cannot search on a username. If you happen top come across someone you like, you had better click the "Add" button so that you can find them later in your "Connections" otherwise you may have a very hard time finding them later.

I did not get a paid subscription for a few months because I was "Winking" at people and sending messages left and right with no response.

For some reason I finally decided I'd try a paid membership for 1 month. 10 days later it happened. I got a message from someone who had just joined that day. It was HIM. He found me. I saw the message come up just as he first sent it. I viewed his profile and knew immediately he was the man for me. We exchanged email addresses and hit it off. We are madly in love like neither one of us ever dreamed possible.

So in the end, even with what I viewed as shortcomings, Zoosk worked!

I've used Zappos on numerous occasions and have always received excellent products and service. If the item didn't fit right? No problem. Returns and exchanges are hassle free with the friendly people at Zappos. And shipping times are extraordinary. I usually get my order a day or two early.