Friends1st Reviews 

This is NOT a Christian organisation. Believe me when I say all they are set up to do is to extort you, commit you into a year long paid subscription and offer your less than sub par service.

I opted to unsubscribe during the 14 day opt out period and they insisted on claiming over 60% of the years’ subscription (within 14 days!!!). I asked for transparency; I.e. show/tell me what your estimate is based on and they couldn’t provide this; they just determined to make it impossible to opt out even threatening legal action and debt collection.

Don’t get me started on the quality of profiles you are sent; 4 questionable profiles every 4 months for £49 a month? Daylight robbery! I joined because I was sold a match service as opposed to a regular online dating site; I can categorically say; just subscribe to any online dating site; you will get much more for your money! Don’t be scammed, like I was.

What an amazing and very genuine company! Yes, it's a business but they work so hard to understand and serve their clients' needs and match single Christians for friendship and more. I felt like I was important, listened to and that I mattered. I love the fact that the emphasis is on good old-fashioned connection and customer service where I am treated as a person and not a number.

Beautiful work that reflects dedication is what i have experienced with only few weeks of being in friends first.
Well done guys. 🙌🙌
The photographer was a top notch in her profession and hospitality.
I think I made the right decision.
Thank you and Thank you again.

When i joined on friends first at the phone they promised me 100% i will meet someone , they said if i have problems to ring them they always have the phone on robot very rarely answer at the phone. The matches i received they were not happy talking with me i asked someone if i can keep in touch she said yes fairwell. The following day i adked her how she is and guess what " i dont wanna talk with you anymore " why is that ? I have no f idea . And i paid 500£ oh and another thing for 2 professional photosot which i was assuming they must be worth 400£ if thats everything i got , is anyone else feels the same as me i like to investigate more about this dating organisation

This company is so special not only do they care about their clients but they keep in touch with you.they are all very nice and friendly very helpfull and very approachable I spoke to Michael who is such a very nice young man.who made me feel at ease. Would definitely recommend this dateing company.its more than a dateing company I would give it 5 stars.

I have been very nervous about joining a dating agency, based on an experience I had with a dating agency I joined in my mid-twenties, which is around 40 years ago. This was a more traditional dating agency, being before the internet. Instead, I decided to just see if I found someone through life’s experiences and social interactions, but a long term relationship has never materialized. In recent times I have casually browsed a few online dating agencies, but never joined one, as I felt uncomfortable about what they were offering. Then I saw an advert for Friends 1st (FF) in the NFU Countryside magazine and looked at the FF website, which convinced me that it would be better for me, being a little more personal, traditional and Christian based than the online offerings I had looked at.

The main reason I joined FF was that they support you with lots of useful help and resources and there is always someone available to speak to. Before joining, I requested a call from FF and I had a useful 30 minute telephone conversation with Katherine Gray, which helped me to decide. Also between first contacting FF and joining 6 months later, I received inspirational emails, which gave me an indication of the support that would available as a member.

It is now 2 months since I joined and things are progressing very much as I had hoped. Not a bad thing really, but I am a bit overwhelmed with the amount of support available to me and, as such, I have not made use of everything yet. But I have enjoyed corresponding with someone whose profile I received. To date, I feel pleased that I joined FF, but obviously a little apprehensive about changes that may to occur in my life, if I meet that special person. But I expect that is natural and it is likely that my apprehension will be unfounded. After all, I joined FF to change my life around for the good!

I think for all of the above reasons I would suggest FF to others, in a similar situation to me, as a way of initially finding a sincere friend, which may develop into a long term relationship.

Hello Friends, I don’t usually write reviews and this is my first time ever to write one. I joined friends first in early January 2024 being my first ever dating organisation, I can only say Thank God for Friends1st, their level of expertise and resources that I have received from Katharine and all the staff members, particularly Saha and Ella , who have been helping with my profile and follow ups, I feel more empowered and motivated through the audio books I have received . I have also received hard cover encouraging and motivational books to read as well. I am already putting some of the tips into practice and I am already feeling excited. It’s true Friends1st is a genuine Christian organisation from the videos and materials I have received. By Gods grace I am looking forward to connecting with lots of Christian friends through friends1 and will definitely recommend it to my friends .

From Peter

Hi 👋 to Everyone out there thinking of joining “Friends first”. I would just like to say, it’s a completely different process compared to any other Dating system or online service I have ever used, probably because it has a Christian ethos.
1. They ask for a copy of your drivers license and utility bill, so this gets rid of the “fear factor” that this person is who they are and there is no opportunity for people using false identifications. They say, “Who they are”.


2. The support from the office from the ladies Sasha and Ella is brilliant.

3. The whole process of “Friends first” who are longing to met that someone special is amazing and I just wish everyone knew about it ! I wish I could have found it years ago !!
I couldn’t recommend it enough! Nobody is perfect and we all have our flaws but everyone deserves that special person in their life!! So Go for it 😊😊😊

I agree with Bobby below. Friends1st is not sufficiently transparent about cancellation. This is a personal matching agency - not an online dating agency, which is quite a different thing. As the payment is for a year's membership (over £500 for Silver, their lowest level) and as you pay initially by telephone with a bank card, not online with a direct debit, I expected my membership to expire automatically in August 2023,a year after joining or, at the very least, receive a notification, asking me if I would like to continue. On the contrary, it is renewed month by month after the first year. I phoned in shock and anger immediately I discovered that a further £49 had been taken from my account in September 2023 and understood that no further payments would be taken. Nevertheless, another payment was taken this month (October) as well because my September call had been less than 30 days previously. I have now paid an additional £98 for a service that I don't want or need. The cancellation terms are in the middle of their extensive Welcome Pack, which you receive AFTER joining. It is impossible to cancel from their website. My feeling is that the information is not obvious so that people will be trapped into paying two extra subscriptions. What would it cost a "personal" dating service to have mentioned automatic renewal when I joined by phone or to have e-mailed me a polite reminder about renewal when the time came? Whether or not they are legally covered is not the point. I felt that this was taking money in a stealthy way and I would not have expected it from a Christian agency.

I was originally sceptical about joining a dating agency because I tried one 18 months ago and unfortunately the year's experience was very disappointing, This was mainly because there was little interest by the online manager about my particular interests and concerns. Friends 1st, however, is entirely different with lots of interaction, training and advice, etc, between me and their online management team. I'm glad I took the plunge to join them because after a telephone enquiry with one of their management team (Sacha) it was obvious they take a lot of care with their members and so gave me the confidence to join Friends 1st. In my initial interaction with them I have found them to be very good at helping me with advice and coaching, etc. It is still early days for me and nothing has come from the first batch of profiles to me, but it is obvious the genuine interest in me and care for me is there. In view of my experience outlined above I would certainly recommend Friends 1st, although expensive compared with others, because it is really professional with a genuine pastoral care for its members in helping them to find that special person for them.

Don't be ripped off. They set up a payment system so that money continues to be taken from your account even after a one year membership has ended. Members without photos, etc. A sham, posing as a Christian organisation.

This was such a disappointing experience. Having paid a fair amount of money upfront, I expected more than just to be matched by age - and even this information was not provided for the last 6 months or so! The free Christian sites are better! I was happy to travel to meet the right person, but the impression I have is that most of the gentlemen using the site - at least in my age group - were more in need of a carer than a partner. I reached out to the very few who were professional gentlemen, to be rebuffed every time - this implied to me that there were a large number of females to a lesser number of males - sadly the same demographic as most churches. Some of their beliefs were more than a little suspect too, which I didn't expect from a Christian site. I was also very upset to have my specific location information put out on my profile sent to gentlemen, which I had specifically requested they didn't do as it made me easily identifiable. The request to change this was ignored before being finally rectified. Materials sent out at the beginning of my subscription time were mouldy! Replaced but still, that's not OK. Being tied in for a long period when you are unhappy from the outset is really not good - where is the customer support or comeback on this?! I was contacted by 3 gentlemen during my time on the site, none of whom were in any way a match for my profile (professional, intelligent, bubbly). I don't want to blow my own trumpet but I'm not that bad a catch! I know opposites occasionally attract but when you pay this much money, you expect some thought to go into the profiles that are sent through. Steer clear, try the free sites, you can be more anonymous, potentially safer and there is more choice.

In response to the reply below - those professions were not included. Of the 75 you sent approx 5 were professional. I contacted 6 or 7 so I’ve no idea how you came up with 0.4% contact - even had I only contacted 1 it would have been 1.3%!

Having been a member for some time whilst I haven’t found the one it has been a positive experience. I’m saddened to read some of the really negative reviews. FF staff are not magicians yet I can’t help but think we expect them to work a miracle. Come on people we are all fallen human beings and no one is perfect. It’s up to us to do the hard work. I passionately believe that it’s the old story of the more you put into things the more you get out. We have such high expectations of others and relationships require hard work. But that’s the point. It’s only through being prepared to work stuff out through confronting our prejudices and up packing out baggage that we grow as people ti become who we were created to be. Let’s face it the chances of falling in love with the boy or girl next door it meeting someone at church these days are fairly limited. So FF has a useful role to play. But we as members have a role to play too. Ok the people we meet may not always tick all our boxes but where in this world will we find some one who will ever be able to. I’ve been a member for quite a while and haven’t met anyone but I’ve learnt a lot especially about myself from the experience which at times has been really hard with a lot of frustration and disappointment along the way but in the long term I know I will be able to say that it has been a positive experience. The staff genuinely do try to do their best. It’s not their fault that no one that meets all our expectations and lives next door. That’s just life and the way it it is. But it’s not a reason to just give up because it’s just too much like hard work. So thank you Katherine Sarah Ella et al. Keep going and keep the good work up,

My experience with the 1:1 Coaching session was extremely valuable.The ideas and support from Friends1st coach opened my mind to date in a very different way,leaving my preconceived ideas to one side until I am in front of the person and get to know that person.
A very useful book was recommended.There was positive encouragement and constructive critique.
I applied the goals set at the session and had 3 contacts replied to me within 24 hrs.
This company has a very professional group of staff who do their best to find the right person for you.The rest is up to each one of us.

Joining Friends 1st was a great experience for me as I felt supported from the outset. The fees were expensive given my situation but I paid after much prayer & honestly think I would have taken comfort from the support even if I hadn't met my husband as a result. I moved 150 miles away from my former home to be with the man I met and we are now very happily married. Eternally grateful to Friends 1st for being the means of us meeting each other.

Without Friends1st I wouldn't have met my wife, Heather, for under normal circumstances our paths would simply never have crossed. I'm happily married, and have no regrets about joining.

(“FIND YOUR EQUAL” was the heading of F1st ad in the Spectator magazine recently…in case this matters to you.)

The team are great. If you’ve gone through a painful divorce, or are a widower, or haven’t dated for years, you’d be well looked after.

I personally found that the pool of suggested candidates was way too small. People lived miles away. And we were matched by age alone where I’d want to have a few more things in common with the person.

My advice is as follows:

If you want to be able to look at a decent number of profiles for people who live within a reasonable distance from you and you have a bit more in common with, go for a Christian dating website.

If you want high quality matching, go for an introduction agency with a more sophisticated matching system. They’d have Christians in their portfolio as well.

I joined FF in February of this year after receiving an email from Katharine basically saying if I hadn’t found someone yet, this was the year to change that. Before the email, I had planned to join a dating site I had read about but with FF being a Christian company, I was compelled to change my plan in hopes of getting better quality of Christian men.

So I joined by choosing the lowest membership package as the prices are exorbitant, with £49 a month being the lowest price for a service of 12 months.

I had high expectations going into it, being keen to do whatever it took to change my status. Signing up, I managed to avoid all of the tricks (very incessant) they used to make me pay more than the £49/month, as they wanted me to pay for every little and irrelevant thing during the application. I asked about this after the application process, and Katharine’s explanation was that “Jesus was a carpenter and most restaurants have add-on offers with extra charges”. Not sure how that explanation makes sense in this context, but seeing it wasn’t an argument I was going to win, I had to let that slide.

Then it got to the so-called professional pictures. I made every effort to make this appointment, thinking it would be worthwhile. Imagine my disappointment when I received a revised version of my profile and the pictures were not only of the poorest quality ever, but they made me look horrible. Given this, I asked to access the full batch of photos that were taken so I could select two good ones to be used for my profile. But to my surprise, I was informed I had to pay the photographer some amount in order to gain access to my own photos. This particular charge was not included in the £15/picture they kept asking me for, if I wanted to add more pictures to my profile. Again, not able to win this argument, I asked that the pictures be taken off my profile, destroyed and replaced with the ones I took with my phone (which were by far better than their supposed professional photos).

Then, fast-forward to the profiles I received. When I filled in my application, I was asked to state my age preference for the gentlemen I wanted. I asked for them to be at most, three years older than me. However, I received three profiles for that first quarter. One of the profiles was four years younger than me, the other was two years younger and the last one was four years older. Also, the gentlemen were either school or college dropouts, with the oldest still working at McDonalds, almost 40 years old. The only one of them that managed to graduate college doesn’t have any dreams or aspirations for their future - lacking enthusiasm to do something with their degree. I am currently studying for a Masters, with the dream to be my own boss some day. How could these men understand my passion if they’re not as passionate?

With a total disregard for my preferences or my success as their client (this became very apparent), I decided to cancel my membership. Without apologies for my bad experiences or a promise to do better, FF told me that I owed them money for the 12months contract of £588 I signed. No effort was made to reassure me that they are truly a Christian organisation, different from worldly ones. They were rather only interested in charging me for an appalling and unfinished service.

So far, they’ve debited my account of £147, within three months. In that time, all they’ve done is to put my profile together from my own words in my application. No additional professional input was made to enhance that (that’s an extra charge if you want them to work on your profile). Then there’s the pictures I couldn’t use, and the profiles that anyone can see how something with any one of these men couldn’t progress to a successful degree. They say I owe them for the work they’ve done. Can anyone point out to me from all that what kind of work they’ve done to warrant such amount?

Secular dating sites have more quality of men than FF. Yet, they do not cost as much. With the silver membership, whilst your account gets debited monthly, you only get profiles quarterly, profiles that are not worth the amount they charge. They have a membership package that cost as much as £5000 (and above). Which begs the question, would the partner they find for such member be from Mars or some planet other than earth?

All they’re after is money, regardless of the reputation they continue to make for themselves. Small wonder they have no great quality of potential clients, except for those they continue to defraud by claiming they have to stay on for the entirety of their contract. The contract they make you sign only protects them.

I have taken time to write about my experience here in hopes that people would take heed and not make the same mistake I made by trusting Friends1st. THEY ARE CROOKS, AND ARE WORSE THAN SECULAR DATING SITES. BE WARNED

Misleading service which takes advantage of vulnerable people. When I enquired about the service I was told there were many people of my age range and professional background and spent over £900 upfront. The matches I was sent were largely not of any professionals, and they sent me a profile of a person who left the service several years ago but gave me the impression they were a member. When I met with this member they also had a similar experience. I asked for my money back many times but was told they don’t do refunds. When I spoke to Katharine on the telephone she was very defensive. The website has since been updated but when I joined gave the impression it was a matchmaking service - it is not, you pay to access profiles and for someone to write a profile and a photo shoot. Whilst I have tried to be open and contact suitable members I feel that I was mis-sold the service Friends1st provides and I feel my time and money were wasted. I am now waiting for the years membership to finish. Unless you can afford to waste a large amount of money and time I would not recommend this service. I suspect they may write a defensive reply to this review but I am writing from an honest perspective about my experience. This may be a good service for people who aren’t professionals but if you are trying to meet a professional and are busy this is not good value for money. I am disappointed especially from a Christian dating service.

I dipped my toe briefly into a few other dating agencies, but did not find an approach that satisfied me. Friends 1st is vastly different. I particularly appreciate the personal profile approach, and have found that all the staff are pleasant, and willing to help in any way that they can. I have been fortunate in forming a friendship easily with the first person I contacted via this agency. We have spoken on the phone occasionally, emailed some more, and met up for lunch. We found common Christian concerns, and arranged to attend church in a town midway between our respective homes. I wait to see how things develop, but would happily recommend Friends 1st to others because of the type and quality of services provided.