Parship

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PE Digital GmbH

logo
legal form GmbH
founding November 2000
Online since February 14, 2001
Seat Speersort 10, 20095 Hamburg , Germany
management Managing directors:
Tim Schiffers, Henning Rönneberg, Marc Schachtel
Number of employees ~ 230 (2017)
sales ~ 117 million euros (2016)
Branch media
Website www.parship.com

Parship is an online dating agency based in Hamburg . It was part of the Georg von Holtzbrinck publishing group and was sold to the British investment company Oakley Capital in April 2015.

history

The partner exchange was founded in 2000 and went online on February 14, 2001. In cooperation with the psychologist Hugo Schmale from the University of Hamburg , a catalog of questions and an algorithm was developed that should bring like-minded singles together as possible. According to Schmales, the algorithm is based on both behavioral approaches and psychoanalytic theories about personality traits.

According to an interview with Schmale, the properties of the partner proposals are weighted differently. The personality flows into 60%, interests with 20%, opinions and preferences with a further 20%.

When Parship.de was published in 2001, “gayParship” was also launched, which is explicitly aimed at a homosexual target group. On January 1, 2011, Parship took over all shares in one2like GmbH, Berlin. With one2like, Parship expanded its offer with an additional platform and was looking for a new, younger target group.

In April 2015, Parship was taken over by the British financial investment company Oakley Capital , which also took over the online dating service ElitePartner in June 2015 . In 2016, ProSiebenSat.1 Media took over 50% plus one share in the Parship Elite Group.

facts and figures

In 2010, Parship generated sales of 55 million euros. The turnover in Germany for 2011 is estimated at 25 million euros, which means that Parship is on a par with ElitePartner and FriendScout24 . In May 2011, Parship laid off 15 employees, around 10% of its workforce. Since 2002 Parship has also been active in the following countries: Belgium , Denmark , France , Great Britain , Ireland , Italy , the Netherlands , Austria , Sweden , Switzerland , Spain , Mexico . In May 2011, as part of a restructuring measure, it was published that Parship intends to concentrate primarily on the core countries Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands.

In the 2012 financial year, sales were 37 million euros. In 2013 sales rose to 44.5 million euros, albeit with a negative operating result ( EBITDA ) of 2.3 million euros. Sales rose to around 60 million euros in 2014.

Memberships and costs

Basically, the free and the paid offer differ with Parship. The free offer includes a. an automated evaluation of the questionnaire and the possibility to view the profiles of other members, exclusive photos and rudimentary functions in communication, but without entering free text. In order to be able to contact other members directly or to read their messages, a paid premium membership must be taken out.

criticism

Illegal conduct

Personality assessment

A digital personality assessment in the form of a PDF file is an integral part of the paid premium membership at Parship. Revokes a user now his contract, it turned PARSHIP the cost of the personality reports in the amount of 120 euros with respect to the provision of customer-specific performance into account. In December 2010, the Hamburg consumer center issued a warning against this business practice and Parship signed a cease and desist declaration .

Cancellation costs

After users within the two-week period of their distance selling legal right of withdrawal made use when up to 75% of the agreed for the entire duration of the contract pay compensation had been billed to the Consumer Hamburg warned from the company. When Parship refused to submit a declaration of cease and desist, the consumer center sued the Hamburg district court. In the ruling of July 22, 2014, the regional court limited the maximum compensation to the proportion of the annual subscription price that was used. In addition, a fine of up to € 250,000 or a regular detention of up to six months was set for each case of the offense. Parship announced his appointment.

The consumer advice center sees the judgment as another success against dubious practices of online dating agencies. She had already successfully warned and sued Parship on several occasions because the company had refused consumers to exercise their statutory right of withdrawal.

Meanwhile, the Hamburg District Court sentenced Parship on January 12, 2015 to repay € 336.15 to a customer who had exercised his right of withdrawal. Parship had previously refused to reimburse the overpaid fee. After Parship failed to appear for the hearing, the court issued a default judgment , which is now final . Another default judgment was issued on July 8, 2015. In October 2016, the Hamburg District Court came to the conclusion that the way Parship calculates the value replacement leads to “an unlawful devaluation of the right of withdrawal”. In the end, the company had to repay the customer around EUR 350 of wrongly retained value.

Automatic contract renewals

In November 2016, the Vienna Commercial Court ruled that Parship did not sufficiently inform its customers about the automatic renewal of the subscription. Parship attracts new customers with discounted contracts of 240 euros per year and extends the contracts by 460 euros per year, unless terminated by fax 12 weeks before the end of the contract. The reference to an automatic contract extension required in Austria is hidden as a link in an inconspicuous email and thus does not meet the requirements of the KSchG applicable in Austria . Parship was obliged to refrain from this practice. Parship appealed against this judgment, but was unsuccessful before the Vienna Higher Regional Court. Parship has announced that it will file an appeal with the Supreme Court against the judgment, which has not yet become final (March 2017). Until a final decision is made, Parship will initially maintain its criticized business practice.

reviews

Parship was test winner at Stiftung Warentest in March 2011 ( magazine test , issue 3/2011) . Parship was the only one of a total of 14 tested online dating sites and dating agencies to receive an overall rating of GOOD (2.2) as the most expensive agency in the test.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b c Facts and Figures ( Memento from April 14, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 79 kB)
  2. http://www.parship.de/pics/downloads/de_DE/PMI_Neue_Geschaeftsfuehrung_150914.pdf (PDF; 112 kB)
  3. a b Parship shows double-digit growth . In: Parship . ( parship.de [accessed February 7, 2017]).
  4. Holzbrink sells Parship to an investment company
  5. Claudia Fromme: "Partners must not be too similar" . In: Tages-Anzeiger . February 14, 2018, ISSN  1422-9994 ( tagesanzeiger.ch [accessed December 29, 2018]).
  6. PARSHIP buys social dating provider one2like: With one2like, PARSHIP opens up a new customer segment in the Facebook generation , press release Parship, January 12, 2011, accessed on January 14, 2017 (PDF).
  7. derStandard.at - ElitePartner and Parship have found each other . Article dated June 8, 2015, accessed June 8, 2015.
  8. DWDL.de: ProSiebenSat.1 buys Parship and ElitePartner
  9. Handelsblatt : Good business with sex and longing
  10. PDF at www.online-partnersuche.de
  11. a b report on May 3, 2011 3:40 pm at heise online
  12. Hamburg Consumer Center: Parship - now without the pain of separation. ( Memento of September 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) December 21, 2010, accessed on August 25, 2014.
  13. Judgment of the LG Hamburg (Az .: 406 HKO 66/14) (PDF; 718 kB), July 22, 2014, accessed on August 25, 2014.
  14. a b Consumer Center Hamburg: Parship loses. July 24, 2014, accessed August 25, 2014.
  15. Achim Sawall: Parship may not prevent revocation with a high bill , golem.de from July 24, 2014, accessed on August 25, 2014.
  16. Katharina Adami, Josef Streule: Die Liebesfalle - Rip off on the Internet , in BR Kontrovers extra from August 20, 2014
  17. Judgment of the AG Hamburg (Az .: 49 C 607/14) (PDF; 236 kB), January 21, 2015, accessed on May 10, 2015.
  18. Consumer Center Hamburg: Success for consumers: Parship loses ( Memento from May 10, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) May 7, 2015, accessed on May 10, 2015.
  19. ^ AG Hamburg (Ref .: 18 b C 184/15)
  20. Consumer Center Hamburg: Parship loses - again on July 16, 2015, accessed on September 28, 2015.
  21. ↑ Single exchange Parship: High costs when leaving - so defend yourself , test.de from June 15, 2017, accessed on June 16, 2017
  22. Parship: Automatic contract extension inadmissible Konsumrecht.at, November 28, 2016, accessed on August 9, 2017
  23. Higher Regional Court Vienna confirms judgment against Parship Geschäftsrecht.at , March 21, 2017, accessed on August 9, 2017
  24. Parship makes exit difficult for customers help.orf.at, June 24, 2017, accessed June 24, 2017.
  25. Test partner exchanges of the Stiftung Warentest In: test.de from February 24, 2011 and test 3/2011.