ElitePartner

PE Digital GmbH
legal form	GmbH
founding	November 2003; Online since April 6, 2004
Seat	Speersort 10, 20095 Hamburg , Germany
management	Tim Schiffers, Henning Rönneberg, Marc Schachtel
Number of employees	230 (December 2016)
Branch	media
Website	www.elitepartner.de

ElitePartner is an online dating agency based in Hamburg . ElitePartner was founded in 2004 and, together with Parship, has been part of the Parship Elite Group GmbH since 2015 , which was founded in the course of the takeover of the two companies from the former parent company. The majority of the group has been owned by ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE since September 2016 .

history

The dating agency was founded in November 2003 by Arne Kahlke, Sören Kress and Mark Oldenburg and went online on April 6, 2004. In 2005, Burda Digital Ventures, later Acton Capital Partners, took a minority stake, and in September it was taken over by the Burda subsidiary Tomorrow Focus AG . The service has also been offered in Austria and Switzerland since the end of 2005. In June 2015, ElitePartner was sold by Burda to a subsidiary of the British financial investment company Oakley Capital , after it had already taken over the online dating service Parship in April 2015 . The Federal Cartel Office approved the transaction in October 2015. In 2016, ProSiebenSat.1 Media took over 50% plus one share in the Parship Elite Group.

facts and figures

ElitePartner has around three million registered members in German-speaking countries, according to data from single exchange comparison. The ratio of male to female participants said they were 47 to 53 percent. In 2009 ElitePartner had a turnover exceeding 20 million euros. The number of employees in 2015 is given as "over 80". In January 2013, Elite Partner invested 2.1 million euros in television advertising.

service

The slogan of Elite partner is "Dating for academics and singles with class". The heterosexual and homosexual partner search is possible. The participants register with their name, gender and search information and fill out a personality test with around 86 questions, which is associated with additional costs. The test and the matching procedure were developed by the psychologist Volker Drewes. According to ElitePartner, the test is about relationship-relevant personality traits (e.g. closeness and distance) and social skills, interests and motives for action (e.g. recognition, independence). A matching system then compares the participant's answers with those of all other members and determines those with the greatest agreement. These are presented to the participant as a ranking list of so-called partner proposals. The personal data of the participants are not visible to other members, each receives an automatically generated box number . The profiles of the other members can only be recognized after purchasing a paid membership. Photos can be activated individually by each member.

Memberships and costs

At ElitePartner, a fee-based membership ("Premium Membership") is required to search for a partner. The personality test, which is also necessary for finding a partner, is charged separately. These memberships are offered with terms of six, twelve and 24 months. Automatic renewals lead to additional costs. The company also offers a free membership with only a very limited opportunity for communication between users.

Security and data protection

In 2005, ElitePartner received the Safer Shopping Seal from TÜV Süd . Allegedly over 100 individual criteria are checked for the award of this seal, including the protection of personal data. In March 2011 ( Magazin test , issue 3/2011) Stiftung Warentest rated the protection of customer data at ElitePartner as exemplary. As the only one of a total of 14 tested dating sites and dating agencies on the Internet, ElitePartner reliably protects sensitive payment data as well as personal details and login data. Furthermore, ElitePartner is a member of the Society for Data Protection and Data Security .

reviews

In a test by Computer Bild magazine in issue 08/2010, ElitePartner came second with a grade of satisfactory . In June 2011, in an industry comparison by the private German Institute for Service Quality , ElitePartner was the test winner for the second time in a row, achieving a total of 69 out of 100 possible points. The Stiftung Warentest rated ElitePartner in February 2016 with the grade "good", the reasons given were the structured website, the many partner suggestions and the very good data encryption.

criticism

In various forums and product evaluation portals, the automatic extension of memberships is particularly criticized. This also applies to the test membership, which then converts into a paid membership. Similar to other subscription models (e.g. Bahncard ), a participant can agree to the terms and conditions when making a purchase without actually having to read them. This leads to cost concealment and automatic renewal. In addition, the criticism was that only premium members can make contact without it being clear which members have premium status. In order to exchange messages and show each other photos, both senders and recipients must have premium status. Many forum users refer to this as "bait", as the purchase decision is often based on the request waiting in the mailbox. In some cases, the accusation of fake profiles and unauthorized persons is also loud.

In addition, Elitepartner was warned and sued by the Hamburg consumer center. The background to this is the personality test, which the members have to pay despite the timely cancellation. The consumer advice center sees a circumvention of the right of withdrawal. On January 31, 2012, the Hamburg Regional Court ruled that ElitePartner can no longer exclude the personality analysis from the right of withdrawal. The Hamburg District Court has finally sentenced Elite Partners to reimburse the retained 99 euros for the personality report. The court argues that the personality report is not a customer-specific production that can be excluded from the right of withdrawal.