Internet Dating: Now With Price Controls!

Kerry Howley | November 10, 2005

Two lonely hearts couldn't find love even in the misfit-matching world of internet dating. Naturally, they sued. And won:

Civil Court Judge Diane Lebedeff awarded one woman, identified by the pseudonym Jennifer Doe, the $1,000 she had paid for a six-month membership after the woman said she had met no one through the service. The judge awarded the other woman, Debra Roe, the $3,790 she paid for a 54-month deal.

Because Great Expectations' contract guaranteed no specific number of referrals each month, the service could legally charge no more than $25 per member, the judge said.

Putting aside the issue of why the hell New York gets to decide how much dating services cost, my gold-digging instincts tell me that there's only one reason to pay $3000 to pimp yourself out over the ether: to meet others with a little too much cash on their hands. So a price cap kinda kills the allure.

Whole thing here. New York's hilarious "Dating Service Consumer Bill of Rights" here.