Original Dating  Reviews 

Went to the lock and Key event in Harrogate. It was a fun evening, the hosts were organised and friendly, and also enthusiastic when we had a run on the locks!
One issue was the area we were in at the venue was a little cramped for room.

I attended their lock and key party. The venue and staff were great and I had some good conversations. I did notice quite a few of the men were older than the event age range of 30-45 (i.e. they were late 40s and early 50s). I suggest the company put out some guidance as to the age range that can attend, otherwise it gets tricky gauging what event to attend to meet people your own age.

The details for the venue were unclear, I didn't know where to go. I attended an event in Canterbury and the venue "1 Pound Lane" is truly dreadful. Drinks need to be purchased via an app and a service charge is added on, no matter, I was there for some time and didn't get a drink. it was my first speed dating experience, I was a bit nervous and unclear of the process and it didn't help that the host arrived 40 minutes late, without apology. We were (sort of) lead to an upstairs room, clearly it had not been heated all day, the host's response "it will warm up with all the activity" . I walked out before registration without having spoken to a soul except the rude staff at the venue.

Noting the reply, no, it is not just about the venue but would presume the company had some influence over that anyway. The key issue is the host turning up late without explanation. Says it all really, my advise is to avoid Original Dating, look at the reviews, positive and the many negative ones, it tells its own story.

Saw this advertised and thought why not! A very well organised and enjoyable evening. Was my first time and would recommend

I am pleased with the afternoon speed dating format Original Dating has on offer.

It allows me to keep socialising with people of interest after the event's end time as there is plenty of time left till the end of the day and I can spend it either at the same venue or somewhere else (i.e. local park, another cafe/restaurant).

Also, I would like to express my gratitute to the event organiser/representative for giving us the opportunity to have longer mini dates when a few people don't come instead of cancelling the event for all.
As a result, I succeeded in having quality meaningful conversations with people from the opposite gender.

I am looking forward to sign up for more afternoon and morning/lunch speed dating events with Original Dating.

An excellent evening - fun, well organised and nice to meet such friendly people.

I went for the 1st time last night with a friend, there were equal amounts of males to females, it was a really enjoyable evening, even if you dont meet a date, date, you can guarantee to come away with new friends. I made both new friends in males and females, we all stuck around afterwards having a really good time and a drink. I'd highly recommend it, im certainly going to be doing it again. WHAT HAVE YOU GOT TO LOSE, either way its a really enjoyable evening.

I had booked two tickets to a speed dating event in Glasgow, the event was cancelled by the organisers on the day due to not enough people signing up. This was fine however Original Dating would not then refund the tickets. The balance was credited to my account despite the fact that the next event in my age range was 2 months away and was not on a suitable date. They refused to refund the money so I have spent £40 on an event that did not happen. I understand the event could not go ahead but I am now out of pocket and will be unable to use the credit on my account. I would be very wary of using them again.

Went to event In Maidstone Venue was suitable, a bar in town. Nice but nothing compared to London’s finest but that is beyond their control.

Hostess was nice and very on the ball. Actual event was a debacle 4 women to 12 maybe 14 guys. Kept waiting for about 45 mins. Waiting for the women booked on to show up. Website showed the event fully booked or 1 woman shy of full so should have been evenly matched.

It felt more like a few local girls paid to show up than a real possibility of meeting anybody. Just got offered free tickets to an event tonight in Canterbury for me and male friends as men have pulled out.

Review was flagged as defamatory despite being factual...draw your own conclusions.

Edited- Scammers!!

Despite the reply below, I have tried to contact them numerous times by email as their phone line is just a recorded msg and I haven’t had a reply.
How am I supposed to get in touch?

I paid for a speed dating event for last night, and arrived on time (it said to arrive at 7pm for the event starting at 7:30).
I was told by the bar staff that originaldating had contacted the bar at 11am that morning to cancel and that another 3 people had already turned up but been turned away as they clearly had not informed any of the attendees that it had been cancelled.
I immediately called their customer service line which is a recorded message and then emailed their customer service email address.
I got a response at 19:58 saying

“We apologise for the mix-up. Our host is at the venue trying to resolve the issue. I’m not sure if you’re still there, but I can transfer your booking to a different event as an apology and will also credit back to your account. We will also email all the guests tomorrow with a detailed explanation of the situation.

Apologise again, and thanks for your understanding.

Team at Original Dating”

I replied saying I didn’t want credit and I want a full refund because I had wasted my time, efforts and money on transport (I didn’t even mention the money wasted on a dog sitter) and they replied today saying

“ That’s a shame, as the issue was resolved later and the event did go ahead. I understand it wasn’t your fault and that there was a misunderstanding on the venue’s end.

Unfortunately, we’re unable to offer a refund in this case. However, I’ve added a credit to your OD account, and I’d be happy to book you onto another event of your choice, including one of our parties , free of charge. Just let me know which one you’re interested in.

Looking at your account, it seems you're a new customer, and we'd love for you to give our events another chance.

Many thanks,
Chigse”

I responded again saying that I do not want a credit and want a full refund and they are no longer responding.
Having read the other reviews, I realise, it was a scam! What a waste of time and money and what a disappointment.
I will never book with them again!

Its no different to apps in that most women attending typically didn’t like ANY of the men (i asked a lot of women if they liked anyone, all said no) and would write you off immediately if they didn’t instantly like you. Even the one girl that DID like me (and who I kissed later) marked me as NO the next day on the system despite her mate telling me how much she liked me. So again like an app, if she doesn’t instantly think you’re her type physically she’ll write you off and only talk cos everyone has to be polite thus eliminating the need for confidence in approaching.

In fact most of the women will mark you NO, very few will mark you as FRIEND and even fewer will mark you as YES. It just shows how closed minded they were if they didn’t even mark you as FRIEND. In comparison, I marked everyone I wasn’t interested in as FRIEND (not NO) cos most were pretty pleasant.

A lot of the profiles didn’t even have a pic and a couple people I met didn’t even have a profile it seems (maybe they deleted it quickly or gave fake names?).

There were 3 nice girls there but the rest were of course average but thats expected. Many women were a bit awkward and obvs not used to being chatted to by men they don’t know.

First single party boat experience & was such a fun, well organised event!
Event team were all fab; great turnout of people as advertised; icebreaker game was such a good way to engage meeting each other!
Really good atmosphere & dancing as well as drinks flowing & best afternoon! Highly recommend!

Nice venue, friendly host and I met some interesting people. It was fun overall. 😊

Unacceptable service!

I showed up yesterday at one of their speed dating events in Edinburgh when the staff from the venue told me it wasn’t on, because there was another event on that had been booked 3 months in advance. And they also told me the people from originaldating had been made aware of this, but still me and others did not receive an email about any cancellation!

The worst part is actually that contacting them is rather difficult, but when I finally got trough to them they used the excuse that the person who was going to host the event was in an emergency while on their way to the event. Which is totally bullshit as the event was never going to be on. The fact they use such a vulnerable excuse is unacceptable to me!

They now refuse to give me a refund, only credit for a next event. They say because I used credit to pay for this event and that’s correct, I did because they made another mistake before. I had booked tickets for an event I didn’t notice wasn’t for my age, but when I filled in my date of birth they still let me book it. When I found out, I canceled and they gave me credit which I then used for this new event that never happened!

Please read other reviews, as they use the same excuse about the host being in an emergency when other events didn’t happen! Avoid this company!!

This company is unbelievable. They took £27 from a subscription that I no longer have and refused to provide a refund.

Really good fun, the lock and key idea is simple but a really good ice breaker! So nice to meet people in person, I went by myself (as did many others) which made it easier to go and talk to other people, and everyone was in the same boat of being a lil nervous but really friendly and keen to get to know each other! Would definitely recommend, so much better than using the apps…

Terrible! Arrived at an event only to be told by the venue that original dating had cancelled it and they didn’t tell anyone! everyone turned up, I drove 40 minutes. Really bad.

Updated - have noted the response. Also paid for the discounted tickets and online dating option. I have been subscribed for a while and not received one match. I think the add appears misleading as it looks like nobody even checks this, it’s not proper you cannot contact anyone without them matching you so I don’t recommend mixeo unless you want to save a bit on events tickets

Professor and friendly Environment