When I joined there was nothing in the sign up text to indicate that I would be limited to searching in one geographic region of the country. In fact, for the 1st three months that I had my account I searched in several different states / areas with no problem. Then suddenly one day when I logged in AL decided that my region was in NoVa and I was asked for more money to search anywhere else.
How did AL decide that my "home" is in NoVa? What cities are included in the area I'm allowed to search? None of this information was provided.
When I called AL for an explanation they said that I was supposed to be limited to one region searching all along. They had no explanation as to why I had been able to search everywhere when I joined.
They also told me that they charge more for memberships for people who live in populated areas, like NYC. Why are they bilking the AL members who live in large metro areas while charging other members a lower price? I wondered.
I think they want to "sucker" new members by giving them full access for a few months, and then limiting it later, to make them pony up cash to search in "additional" areas. One also has to pay more to access the list of health providers. This nickle and dime-ing of customers is scammy and unethical. It offended me so much I canceled my subscription and got a full refund.
PS - At the time I was using it - Spring 2013 - the site was VEEERY slow. It took forever to load, and to perform searches.