Stephen R.

So, I joined this site and, like every dating site, they have their gimmick to force you to sacrifice your firstborn to join by blocking, not only communication between people, but their freaking photos as well. Fine. Okay. Nothing's free. I accept that. However, there is, as I write this, a big green box in the upper right corner of the page that screams, "COMMUNICATE FREE UNTIL MONDAY" Great, right? Not so fast. Every time I tried to send a message to someone, it shoots me straight to the subscription page and says it won't send my message until I overnight them a pound of flesh. So, I send an email asking and, looking around a bit more, I see they have a free phone number. I call and the girl I spoke to said it was from Memorial Day Weekend and they "haven't gotten around to removing it yet." Wat?!? Wait, so, you want me to spend money on your site, but you can't keep up with it yourselves? Why, then, would I ever feel compelled to give you money? She stammered a bit, but assured me that they would not honor that special anymore as it was over and done. Yeah. I see, so, it's like an amatuer setup thing they have going on there? Or, what's the deal?

I placed an order a few days ago, but it hasn't shipped. I do not understand that at all. Nothing indicated that the product was out of stock, so, I would rightfully assume that it would be shipped within a couple of days at most. I even paid another $9 for expedited shipping, which is great, but, it makes absolutely no difference if they don't do their jobs and send me what I ordered and paid for. Frustrated. Two stars for the price, although I did find the same thing cheaper somewhere else. However, my money is tied up in this mess instead. There's nothing I could find that even gives a shipping timeline. Is it two days? Is it five?
Anyway, I shot them an email very politely, albeit bluntly, asking for an explanation. We'll see if FragranceNet.com comes through on the customer service end. If that doesn't work out, I'll come back and remove that second star.
Good prices; quite lacking in the order fulfillment department.
We'll see.

Like many other guys, I joined this site and paid for the initial trial membership, which gives you something like "six hours of first access to Cougars," or whatever; join and you'll see. I'm going to freely admit that I was alone and lonely and I gravitated to a "cougar" site because I'm in my 40's and the majority of dating sites, e.g., Match.com, Zoosk, etc., have young ladies who, let's be honest, gentlemen, want absolutely nothing to do with a guy my age. Anyway, I really took my time, thought hard about an interesting tag line; a well-written self-description and what I was looking for. I took it seriously because I'm serious about meeting someone. In less than 48 hours, I had (at last count) 302 messages from intensely beautiful goddesses, all wanting to meet and "let's see where this goes," or whatever. So, again, I put time and thought and effort into being the Most Interesting Man in the World and even willing to (nasty) drink freaking Dos Equis if absolutely necessary. Not once, after beginning the email correspondence stage of online courtship, did a single one fail to bring up the Dating ID bull$#*!. As another poor soul pointed out, these links all head directly to another shady dating site. "Where's the ID thing, [insert bot name]?" "Once you get approved I'll send you another link and we can really talk after I know you're not crazy. A girl's got to be safe." Another thing, guys, they all, ALL OF THEM, call you "baby." After I got wise and noticed the trend, I called one out and asked her why she wasn't using my first name. I had told her and she said she had forgotten and sorry. Also, I set up a special email address for just this online dating thing and included it in the first line of my profile. Nothing. No one, it seems, even reads your profile before you get a message. Also, I received three messages from three different usernames, each with the same photo -- within a couple hours. There's a place where it tells you how long ago any one member joined the site. Same picture, same bio, different username. If you do decide that you're willing to chance it, call them out IMMEDIATELY. Point out that online verification can be faked quite easily by using a stolen credit card and see what they do. If you hear back, you're the King of Virility and have fun. But, I doubt it will happen that way. Also, tell them to visit BeenVerified.com and check you out there. That's a legit background checks site and even offer to pay the $6 for the report, sent directly to their email address. It didn't work for me, but you may get lucky. Yeah, don't hold your breath because you'll die and the world will be less one thinking, functioning mind. If you're here, reading this, that means you are an intelligent, diligent individual and you're doing your research. Good on you. [UPDATE: 5/6/2016] I believe that this site is a sort of gateway to meet hookers. Yes, I said it, and, yes, I do mean it. If you go to your inbox on the site, you will likely see four or five (I found seven examples myself) messages from slightly different usernames. Example: Marg001; Margarette231: ImMarg902; and, etc. Anyway, seven different profiles; same photos of the same person; similar, scripted, cut-and-paste bio; SAME EMAIL ADDRESS included in the bio. Going further, I initiated email conversation with a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT PERSON, but my email provider (Yahoo!) put those emails into the same thread, which really threw me off. I think these women get a commission or something from other Cougar Life partner sites or something. It's like they create a new profile every few days, if not more. No, I do not belive Cougar Life is running a prostitution ring, but they absolutely are enabling it. So, I said, "hello [insert hooker name here]," and she picked up where we had left off a day before as if nothing was different. So very weird. Anyway, I included a nasty-gram to the site moderators or management or whoever, explaining why I wanted to delete my profile. It took a couple of days before the barrage of "such and such sent you a message on Cougar Life" stopped. Yes, I am pretty frustrated and quite pissed, which is why I just needed to figure this out. I'm voraciously inquisitive and when I find a problem, I go after it tenaciously until I have a satisfactory answer. Don't invest yourself too much in this site. You will soon be broke and still alone. Remember, normal people do not demand that someone be "verified." Guilty until proven innocent, I guess. That is not normal, gentlemen. Normal people meet in a public place, maybe with some friends, and sit and talk and eat and drink. Be unequivocal about not following any link. Ask for a URL, the name of the company; the company's phone number; the company's address. They won't know and they will tell you to f**! Off. Also, look for the changes in grammar and punctuation and point that out. You will not hear back. I realize this is a long review, but, gentlemen, I've done the research, I've tested my hypothesis several different ways and I'm solidly confident that these women are neither who they claim to be, nor do they have any interest in you at all. They want your bank account. And, that's all they want. Just be safe with your money; DO NOT FOLLOW ANY LINK THEY EMAIL YOU; politely request information to make a rational, educated decision; ensure that you update and run Malwarebytes after visiting the Cougar Life site; and, finally, leave that credit card in your wallet. Fight that temptation and pretend you don't have one. Cheers!