[UPDATE BELOW]:
Dating sites are constantly making claims like "2% of U.S. marriages can't be wrong" or promising that you'll "find someone special within six months," but does anyone actually put them to the test? One brave Manhattan author and lawyer is taking "Upscale Matchmaker" and HuffPo blogger Amy Laurent to court for failing to deliver on her promise to find him the perfect woman.
John Henri Friedland claims he met with Laurent last summer, and paid her $10,000 to find the kind of woman suitable for the "powerful executives and eligible bachelors" the company usually caters to. He requested a refund within 90 days if they didn't deliver. The service apparently didn't, sending him women already in relationships or who wouldn't consider "someone of plaintiff's background" (a lawyer?). He says her website lies, claiming signing up is like having a "highly efficient, savvy female friend constantly on the prowl for you, seeking out beautiful, successful and intelligent women," but in reality the suit claims, "Defendants failed to perform even as good as a standard dating service."
Laurent claims that she had no idea Friedland was unhappy with the women he was being set up with, and told the Daily News, "I think there is some sort of mistake here as none of this is making much sense."
UPDATE: Laurent wants the world to know that Friedland's continued bachelorhood is not her fault—he was just too picky! She told the Daily News, "There's only so much I can do. I don't have a magic wand - I'm a matchmaker, not a therapist," and said the women she sent his way were perfectly suitable. All the women who reported back to her said they weren't feeling a connection, and Laurent says it's not her job to make people fall in love. "There is something he was doing that wasn't working and didn't lead to second or third dates."
