After a dating service came nowhere close to the dozen dates she contracted for, Sheri Burgoyne won a money judgment against Santa Barbara Singles in small claims court. Worse, the sole date the service arranged turned out to be “highly negative,” she said, and clearly told her Santa Barbara Singles had not screened the man.
An approachable and self-assured individual during a phone interview, Burgoyne had signed up with Santa Barbara Singles to meet more people. She was promised that dates were only referred to her after an in-person and in-depth screening by the service. After the incredibly bad first date — she asked the Independent for privacy regarding the details, but suffice it to say that to call it “negative” is mild — Burgoyne asked for a refund, but Santa Barbara Singles would not consider it, she said. After the manager who had organized her profile quit in December 2017, she said she received no further matches. She called her subsequent dealings with the company “evasive.”
Burgoyne said this had been her first experience using a dating service. She lives in Camarillo and had found Santa Barbara Singles through Facebook. The company declined to comment on the case, but this is not the first complaint against its representative in court, Shane Weisberg. Complaints have been filed against not only Santa Barbara Singles, but other matchmaking services he owns as well, including Colorado Springs Matchmakers and BC Matchmakers. All three of these businesses had their Better Business Bureau (BBB) accreditations revoked. Specifically, the BBB revoked the certification of the Colorado Springs Matchmakers service for failing to “embody integrity.”
The small claims court ruled in Burgoyne’s favor twice, the first time in 2018. After some skirmishing regarding the correct entity to sue, Weisberg filed a Motion to Vacate the court’s first judgment, claiming he’d never received the lawsuit papers. The court again agreed with Burgoyne in 2019 that Santa Barbara Singles had demonstrated poor customer service and had failed to live up to its contract. She was awarded her fees and costs of $7,070 on February 14.
[Shane Weisberg contacted the Independent after this story was posted. He said Burgoyne had been offered two dates by Santa Barbara Singles and had turned one down. S.B. Singles had not breached the contract, he said; rather, Burgoyne had signed the contract which stated fees were nonrefundable, he said. As for the Better Business Bureau accreditation or membership, Weisberg stated the company’s was never revoked in Colorado Springs nor in Santa Barbara, but had been revoked “because the Vancouver one was revoked. This is the BBB’s policy.” [The company is headquartered in Vancouver.] Regarding the court hearings, the first delay was due to a court error in service; the second and third were due to Weisberg’s health and travel schedule.]