WidowsOrWidower.com review

WidowsOrWidower.com claims to be the longest-running widows and widowers dating site in the UK with over fifteen years of experience. Based on its understanding of the pain of grief, the service is designed to help widowed singles start again. The story behind the website is moving and comes from the owner’s personal struggle. She lost her husband and, with the help of her son, developed the first iteration of the website.

With warm colours, a balanced design, smiling people, and compassionate words, WidowsOrWidower.com promises a safe dating experience, and the opportunity to find love again. WidowsOrWidower.com is now operated by Venntro Media Group LTD, located in the United Kingdom. Our review carried us out to perform extensive research on their Terms and Conditions. Furthermore, the company’s online reputation helped us determine if the site was legit or a rip-off. We found suspicious subscription plans as well as lots of comments about romance scammers infesting the chats. Based on all those elements, we believe the service is a scam.

The landing page of WidowsOrWidower.com invites visitors to register for free and to create an account. The design is harmonious and the visitor feels safe thanks to selected words that guarantee a great experience. It is completely free to join WidowsOrWidower.com and as soon as you do, you can create your own personal profile page. You can also access whole profiles freely and use the basic tools of the search engine to get a first opinion of whom you might want to connect with.

Sending winks to attract the attention of other profiles is free, but users can’t send any messages if they’re not paying members. Our review shows that the pricing for the different services is not very clear, and it has raised our level of wariness. Moreover, we have experienced technical issues in registering and joining the platform.

Suspicious subscription plans

The site’s offer isn’t very clear, so we scanned their Terms and Conditions to find out how their subscription plans work. If users wish to use advanced search tools, chat with other members, and use the live service, they must become a subscriber and choose among the different plans and duration. What bothered us was that the subscription will automatically be renewed for a similar duration at the expiration date. Also, it’s disturbing that the company reserves the right to increase the fees. Users might receive an informatory email regarding that increase, though.

The inadmissible part of their offer is that all the features are not included in the subscription. Extra features, often suggested by third-party partners, require users to purchase additional credits. These credits will automatically renew as well. Another red flag is that the user’s cancellation of subscriptions may only be requested by completing the online cancellation process on the site. We learned that the process is tedious and a hassle. All those reasons brought up our negative opinion of the site and so, we call it a subscription rip-off.

Excerpt from the GTC (as of 19/08/2023)

Unless stated otherwise, when your current Subscription expires, your Subscription will automatically be renewed for the same Subscription term that you originally purchased. Subscription fees may increase for the duration of your Subscription, however you will be informed in writing of the proposed changes and given a reasonable opportunity to terminate your contract with us prior to those changes coming into effect. You will be billed for your renewal when your current Subscription term expires unless cancelled.

Scam romances and shady partnerships

The website has been active for a long time and has been promoted by honourable magazines and websites, which earned them a positive reputation. The system seemed very professional, and the advanced search engine looked complete. Users can refine their search through lots of different interests and characteristics. On the other hand, we have found reports of multiple attempts of romance scams, and it seems wrongdoers target specific profiles of insecure people, which can lead to an awful experience. The company is even slow to react and eradicate those scammers.

Venntro Media Group LTD, the company operating WidowsOrWidower.com collaborates with third parties and might share part or your full profile with its partners to supposedly enhance your experience. Unfortunately, you can’t opt out of those collaborations. Finally, we faced some technical issues when we tried to register on the site.

Despite its long existence and the professional look of WidowsOrWidower.com, we believe the website has been turned into a subscription rip-off. The subscription plans and the need to purchase extra credits to access additional features disheartened us. It appears some of the profiles are just romance scammers. All the cons’ arguments tipped the scale in favour of a rip-off review. We suggest you avoid using their services so that you stay away from their scam schemes.