Drawing Down the Moon レビュー 7

I can still not forgive myself for parting with £10k after a pursuasive and flattering member of the DDM team convinced me over a coffee that they had a database of "wonderful gentlemen" to whom I would be introduced.

Despite their gushingly friendly house-style, DDM are rigorous in insisting on their terms. Yet they failed to meet their most basic obligation in our agreement: to introduce me to five potentially suitable individuals within 6 months.

Sadly, the men I did meet were either ill, deeply introverted or incompatible in terms of their values. I would not advise placing your trust in this company. I have since found love and it was free!

Drawing Down the Moon is the worst investment you could ever make
I parted with my 10 000 pounds thinking that these people were professional and genuine in their commitment to finding the right match for me. The "dates" went from bad to worse. They don't follow up, they dont work on Fridays which in the type of business they are is absolutely ridiculous. There is absolutely nothing I can say that is good about these people and this company. They are charlatans. Keep your money and look for alternative avenues to find your true love.

Ddm are “celebrating” 40 years in the business of modern “matchmaking”, however I doubt very much their ‘matchmaking recipe’ has in fact resulted in “tens of thousands of happy relationships..…”, as they claim!

Before handing over the not inconsiderable sum of £10k for just 5 introductions, I researched & compared them, thought about, met face to face with a team member & understood there were no guarantees. I carefully & honestly filled out my profile as requested, fully engaging whole heartedly & pragmatically with this type of dating process - Ddm took nearly 2 years to find me the 5 intros!

While they may wish their clients success, their biggest problem is critical mass - there simply aren’t enough men to introduce to woman & possibly visa versa, in the 50/60’s demographic, I am in.
This leaves their claim to carefully match each person as utter fantasy or wishful thinking, especially if like me you live outside London.
Some of my matches were so terrible, even the team had to admit they couldn’t in all honesty count them as my one of five. So I wasn’t obliged to meet the trophy wife hunter, or the man living 6 hours away from me, who didn’t drive or didn’t want to ever get on a plane, despite the fact travel was high on my agenda! But I did meet a man, still quite ill from a major operation (because they hadn’t in fact met and chatted to him as they state they do with everyone) who found walking strenuous! I was an active 58 yr old!

I felt there was also a high turn over of staff. While Jade tried to talk up the intro’s “as the one”, after a while it became a joke. I know it must have been hard for the staff with so few genuinely compatible people to work with!

Naturally I went along to each of the “dates”, positive & open minded, not doing so would make it a pointless process. However I felt only one man shared this pragmatic approach & was engaged with the process & made an effort.
Can one really decide fully about a person in one date?
One man was so disengaged, he came along, but unexpectedly with his dog for company!

I didn’t detect any ground breaking advice from the staff or the one hour zoom call with their dating coach pre my first date!
My feelings are that the no photo’s, no calling, no texting as they would wish, other than to organise that “date” with a stranger, or as they say, the careful & personal match for you, this being the Ddm USP, although as I’ve said it’s really a match drawn from a puddle, is a business model that is doomed to fail for most parties.
I love meeting people, I’m curious, well travelled & believe well educated & fun, & had it been at least fun, I could laugh at the experience… but it was not actually much fun.. sadly, for so much money!

In conclusion,
Save your time & money.
The only winners here are Ddm

The team at DDM made me feel at ease and cared for throughout a new and sometimes scary, emotionally-invested process. It was lovely to meet the team: they are highly professional, friendly, warm and they clearly care deeply about their clients. They are painstaking in their search for good matches for their clients and I have no doubt that they are in that regard world-class. Whenever I had questions, they were easy to contact and quick to respond. I've felt cared for throughout the process and, although ultimately this is no longer the right avenue for me at this time, I'm grateful for the experience and to the team for their work, support, understanding, and care.

Like another reviewer here, I found Drawing Down the Moon to be a waste of time and money. Despite assurances before I signed the contract that not all matches would be London-based, every match was London-based. The quality of the matches was consistently inappropriate, and a common characteristic between the people I was matched with was the only characterist that I told DDM that I was *least* likely to date.

When sharing my experice with friends I tell them that it is no better than apps like Bumble, except they charge £10,000 for the pleasure. Each time DDM called me to share a new match it was like listening to teenager's wishlist of cool stuff - mountains they had climbed, or impressive points from their resumé. It never felt like there was anything about who we were as people or our values or life views - I found them all to be inatrgram-versions of a life.

I also found the DDM communication poor. I found that all the senior team members do acquisition of new clients then you never hear from them again, despite the (faux, it turns out) rapport they build. I found it insincere and cynical, and that the matches made matched that.

As a widow in my fifties I was very uncertain about dating and how to start. Drawing down the Moon took that worry away. From my first introduction I felt comfortable with the men I met, who were interesting people. This included a man from Dorset, romance blossomed and we’ve been together ever since. I read the review from SS. Yes it is expensive to date this way - but I suggest don’t look at joining the agency as a “purchase” with some kind of guarantee. I wanted to meet interesting men who were serious about a relationship - I didn’t expect to meet someone right for me just because I was going to meet 6 such men. You take a risk whichever route you choose to date - for me this was a good way to start, and preferable to meeting random men on the internet.

I didn’t think this was a good use of my time and money. The matches were off and whenever I tried to push back that someone is a poor match for me, I was told that they are the experts on love and I should listen to them in spite of how I felt about the introduction. You can refuse an introduction but it counts towards your guaranteed 5 so refusing is not ideal.

In more detail: You pay £10,000 for 5 dates in a period of 6 months which comes out to £2,000 per date. After you sign the contract, you have 2 weeks to change your mind. However, if you change your mind, they deduct a £450 admin fee.

After you sign, you get to meet the team on Zoom. This is a brief meeting, no longer than 30-40 minutes. This meeting, plus a questionnaire, is all the time they spend getting to know you before suggesting matches. I didn’t think there was a genuine effort to find out what I was really about and what my needs and wants are and that was reflected in the quality of the matches. I really had to scratch my head about some of the introductions. Another possible explanation is that they have a small member database and are not in a position to offer better matches.

As I mentioned, you can refuse an introduction, however, they remind you that it counts towards your 5 per contract and given that an introduction is £2,000, of course you don’t want to refuse.

Overall, I felt that there was no real concern on their part to get to know me and provide good-quality matches. It seemed like they were just going through the motions and ticking the boxes in order to fulfil their contractual obligations. The poor quality of the matches speaks for itself. I wouldn’t recommend this service and I don’t think it’s a good use of time and money.

UPDATE: Like BB (updated on 28 Nov 2023), I got an email from Trustpilot that DDM requested information on who I am so that they can “understand your experience better”, otherwise my review “may be taken offline”. Needless to say, I’m not going to compromise my privacy. And as customer BB says, independent private reviews are important — people considering using DDM need to have the full picture so that they can make a decision about joining not only based on DDM’s marketing like I foolishly did. 100% of what I say in my review is correct and supported by all other reviews on this page. DDM should just do a better job if they don’t want people writing negative reviews.