LoveScout24 Review (formerly FriendScout24) – Scam or Legit?

It’ll take you about 25 minutes to get through the registration process, including checking your email and verifying.

There isn’t much to it though. You’re merely answering text-based yes/no or multiple choice questions, mostly. There are two spaces to write detailed information about yourself in paragraph format, but that’s it.

Every profile gets vetted and reviewed internally by staff, ensuring everyone on the site has comprehensive information listed for folks to match with.

Search Options

When I first reviewed LoveScout24 (then FriendScount24), the search features weren’t anything to write home about. They received a 4/10 at that time.

These days, LoveScout24 has upped their game, perhaps with the help of Match.com‘s ownership. Now, search granularity is the norm, with options such as drinking and smoking habits, nationality and origin, last online activity, and income and/or job specifications.

What’s Included With A Membership?

My original review didn’t have much listed for features, as there wasn’t a lot to share. These days though, a lot has changed – and much of it similar to Match.com‘s offerings, not surprisingly.

Free and paid members alike can access the Events information, listing in-person shindigs such as jogging or after work parties for singles only.

There’s Date Roulette, exactly as it sounds. Free and paid members can play roulette to ‘win’ a date, and if both folks click yes on one another and have a paid membership, you’ll connect.

Free members have a fair amount of access to the site, including creating and viewing profiles, sending smiles and accessing Date Roulette and Events.

It’s foggy whether free members can message each 0ther – in previous LoveScout24 reviews that I’ve written, women had free access to everything, and in some other professional reviews, messaging gets listed as a free feature. Others, do not, and most reviews by real-world users like you say definitely no, messaging isn’t free.

Regardless, paid members get a whole whack of features unlocked once they pay: unlimited messaging, deactivation of all ads, review other profiles anonymously, see who viewed your profile and smiled at you, and “psychologically selected” partner suggestions.

How Much Does LoveScout24 Cost?

When I first wrote this review, there were no publicly posted fees anywhere. Well, anywhere that I could find (and I’m usually pretty resourceful). As well, my male readers reported widely diverging numbers for whatever LoveScout24 charged them.

These days, their pricing is a bit more transparent, if confusing.

Pricing starts with your age. Under 20? You”ll see lower prices than everyone else. Fees range from 19,99 Euros a month on a month-to-month basis, to 9,99 Euros a month for a year-long membership (paid at once, in full).

Over 30’s have a few more options and price points:

• Premium  Basic membership, where you can contact up to 10 new users a day: 39,99 Euros a month-to-month, or 19,99 Euros a month for a year-long membership (paid at once, in full);
• Premium Medium membership, where you can contact up to 25 new users a day: 42,99 Euros a month month-to-month, or 22,99 Euros a month for a year-long membership (paid at once, in full); or
• Premium Unlimited membership, with unlimited access and ad-free viewing: 39,99 Euros a month month-to-month, or 19,99 Euros a month for a year-long membership (paid at once, in full); or
• Premium Unlimited Plus membership, with unlimited access, ad-free viewing and the option to decide who exactly can contact you: 39,99 Euros a month month-to-month, or 19,99 Euros a month for a year-long membership (paid at once, in full).

LoveScout24 accepts debit, credit and PayPal payments.

A Few Notes About A Paid Membership With LoveScout24

Like most dating sites today, if you subscribe, you’re opting-in to automatic billing. Meaning, you’ll get charged whatever amount you signed up for automatically when your subscription runs out.

While my least favorite ‘new’ dating site feature, it’s common practice these days.

There are no refunds, ever.

It used to be that you had to cancel your account 14-days in advance, and only in writing. Thankfully these terms have changed — here’s a copy/paste from the current Terms of Service, translated into English:

The cancellation of the chargeable membership in LoveScout24 can be made no later than two days before expiry of the validity period. The termination can be done

• by phone at +49 (0) 89 21094491,
• per notice button in the personal area of ​​the member
• by e-mail to the address customer service AT help.lovescout24.de for LoveScout24, or
• in writing to FriendScout24 GmbH, Weihenstephaner Str. 7, 81673 Munich.

To note, if you want to revoke your membership, you have fourteen days from the start of services to do so. There’s a lot of steps and rules; I suggest heading over to their Terms page for all the details.

Concerns With LoveScout24

At one point, FriendScout24 (now LoveScout24) had the worst rating I’ve ever given out for a dating site. (Now, that award goes to Elite Mate).

Part of that was their non-transparent pricing, and difficulty in connecting with other members. Mostly though, it was their non-existent customer service and lack of what seemed to be ‘real’ users.

Fast forward and some of the issues got fixed. Others… not so much.

Customer service and support still isn’t a part of their offerings, as detailed in their Terms of Service. User reports mention the lack of support constantly and repeatedly.

As well, when I first joined to review the site, I couldn’t contact any other female members and actually have them reply to my questions. All of the folks I spoke with were male, heterosexual, and had paid for the service.

Sadly this hasn’t changed. User LoveScout24 reviews still speak of fake members that disappear upon subscribing, or having no matches within the (well-reported and documented) 6 million membership base.

Now, this isn’t abnormal for large dating sites; Match.com and eHarmony have fought these kinds of allegations for years. Still, it doesn’t bode well for any dating site, especially with a TrustPilot average review score of 1.5 out of 5.

LoveScout24 In The News

Like most well-known dating sites, LoveScout24 has its fair share of media mentions. Here are the most recent.

LoveScout24 Sues PARSHIP For Stating It’s Germany’s Largest Dating Site

• Article in German; courts ruled in favor of LoveScout24, even though both sites have 10M members.

FriendScout24 Rebrands as LoveScout24

• Article in German; “LoveScout24 makes sense as a new name and better related to this product promise.”

Match.com Aquires FriendScout24

• As it sounds; in different media outlets as well as on the LoveScout24 website, they list the parent company as Meetic (another one of Match.com’s properties).

My Overall FriendScout24 Review – Should You Use It?

In the past, I said no. Definitely no. Never, ever, ever sign up – no.

These days, while the reviews still aren’t great, I’d still suggest giving it a try with a free membership if you’re in Germany and if you’re in the under 30 age group.

Otherwise? Move on.

Love LoveScout24, or hate it? I want to hear about your experiences. Scroll down and share in the comments.