Australian online singles website www.slinky.com.au has responded to one member's email by now making all its services 100% free.
Two weeks ago Jodie Brittain was sitting in her home office in Perth, Western Australian quietly running her busy Australian online dating web site slinky.com.au when she got an email from an older member than she was used to dealing with from the country in Queensland who had become single at a late stage in his life. He explained that he was single and lonely and desperate for a loving relationship, but couldn't afford to pay for online dating.
Jodie immediately felt sorry for him and credited his account (which would have normally cost him $48) to enable him to send some messages to prospective partners. A week went by and Jodie got an email back from him elated and explaining that he was off on his first date.
That got Jodie thinking that if it wasn't for the email - he may never have had the opportunity to connect into a relationship again.
The next day Jodie instructed her programmer to 'open' slinky up so that users didn't have to pay for anything any more. She wanted all services at Slinky to be 100% free.
Whilst the majority of dating sites advertise that they are free to join, members then usually have to pay to send a message or pay a monthly subscription, which then leaves many users feeling cheated.
“I wanted my members to be able to send kisses and messages for free and also be able to contact each other via instant messenger and chat for free.” With that Slinky became the largest Australian operated free dating service.
"The overwhelmingly positive response from the public has made it all worthwhile," Jodie said, but added, "the only problem we had was that our servers nearly went into melt down after we notified all our members - with thousands logging in almost instantaneously.”
Even though the owners have given up a substantial revenue stream, Jodie says, "I don’t think people should have to pay one cent to look for love."
Jodie describes herself as a “born matchmaker.” “I can’t help myself, anyone I see by themselves, whether it’s the old lady next door who has lost her husband - or any of my single friends, I am always thinking ‘now who can I match them up with?’” she said.
The path to finding love online just got a whole lot cheaper!
Attention News Editors and Producers:
Jodie Brittain, CEO of Slinky is available for interview.
A high resolution photograph can be emailed upon request.
Web quality photos of Jodie can be found here; www.slinky.com.au/jodie-photos.php
Further publicity information is also available here; www.slinky.com.au/jodie.php
About Slinky
www.slinky.com.au
Launched in 2005, Slinky provides a safe way for singles to meet. Slinky has grown to be Australia's largest Australian operated free online dating site (according to the Alexa traffic ranking www.alexa.com ).
SLINKY is committed to helping members meet their soul mates and has played a part in many stories of romance. Free dating and relationship advice can also be found in Slinky’s extensive online articles http://www.slinky.com.au/articles/articles.php.