Amoureux.com

Amoureux enjoys its strongest following in France, Belgium and the United Kingdom. It has about 334,000 regular visitors and is available in several different languages including English, French and German.

First Impressions

Although Amoureux offers its services for free, first impressions are not good. Right from the start it "bombards" users with advertisements and irritating popup invitations - as if this weren't bad enough clicking certain options on the menu will take you out of the site altogether and onto another dating site or onto a page full of ads. While this won't put-off some, I found every activity on Amoureux both annoying and time-consuming.

If you are willing to pay, a VIP option is available that allows the site to be viewed without ads.

Completing the Profile

To access the members' area, you have to create a profile. I spent time carefully filling out the information required, clicked on the button, and a screen comes-up." Sorry, not posted yet!" Why won't they fix these problems? I find it interesting they even have ads for other dating sites on their sign-up pages as well as several links to adult “webcam sites”.

Filling out the profile required two screens worth of information. It allowed me to bypass the details section and my profile was then finally created. On first browsing inside, other peoples' profiles looked vague and lacking in detail. On the plus side, Amoureux has a nice chat section. It lists home country, age, sex, and what languages each participant speaks. However the chatrooms don't appear to be monitored, so prepare for adult topics. Just when I peeked around there was a woman looking for a husband - not even a date!

Once You're In

Amoureux offers a wide range of contact options including basic communication tools such as email, virtual ice-breakers and messaging. Several different searches are also available including a match search that will identify people who may be compatible with you (based on your questionnaire) as well as a search by relationship type. When performing a profile search, you can pick anywhere around the world. There might not be any nearby matches, but the option is there.

Clicking on the search categories can be tricky. You have to pick who you are looking for and what they want instead of just saying you are seeking a male or female.

To Sum Up

Amoureux is a worthwhile choice if you're prepared to put-up with the ads and pop-ups messages, and a slightly unusual layout. It's not the prettiest site in the world, but hey as it's free who can complain.