I don't get all the bad reviews? I agree when I was in Canada some of the groups charged for events, but most didn't. In Australia, none of my groups charge for events unless the event costs money, eg a ticket to something. You just get to go, meet awesome people and my social life has now expanded. In some cases we get to go and get free stuff. As a woman, you have to be careful of the weekend events that creepy older men treat as dating events though. Go to girls nights and groups for people who've just moved to the city. I've made so many friends through meetup.