Dating agencies and matchmakers in New Zealand: your rights

A dating agency, sometimes called an introduction agency, introduces you for a fee to people from its own list of clients; a matchmaker does the same with more one-to-one searching and coaching. In Australia, Queensland licenses these businesses and Victoria sets rules for their contracts. In New Zealand we found nothing equivalent, so two general laws do the work: the Consumer Guarantees Act, which sets standards for any service you buy for personal use, and the Fair Trading Act rules on uninvited direct sales.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. For how fees are usually structured and what to compare, see what dating agencies cost.

Your rights at a glance

What the Consumer Guarantees Act promises

The Consumer Guarantees Act applies automatically to services bought for personal or household use, whether or not you signed anything. Consumer Protection, the government's consumer information service, explains four guarantees:

• Reasonable care and skill: the work must be at least as good as a competent person with average skill and experience would provide.
• Fit for purpose: if you tell the provider what you want and it accepts the job, it must deliver a result that meets that need, or tell you before starting if it can't promise that.
• Reasonable time: if no finish date was agreed, the service must be completed within a reasonable time.
• Reasonable price: if no price was agreed, you only have to pay a reasonable amount.

For a dating agency, "fit for purpose" is where the detail you give matters. If you explained that you wanted introductions to people in a particular age range or area, and the agency took you on on that basis, write it into the agreement or confirm it by email. Our questions to ask a dating agency help you pin it down.

When things go wrong

What you can ask for depends on how serious the failure is.

• Minor problems: the provider can choose to fix the problem or refund you. If it refuses or takes too long, you can have someone else fix it and claim the cost, or cancel and refuse to pay for work already done, or get a partial refund for anything usable.
• Serious or unfixable problems: you can cancel the contract and refuse to pay for work already done, or pay less than the agreed price, or seek compensation for the difference in value.

A problem is serious if, for example, a reasonable consumer wouldn't have bought the service had they known about it. If you and the agency can't agree, Consumer Protection says to use an industry disputes scheme where one exists, and otherwise the Disputes Tribunal.

Uninvited sales: five working days to cancel

Some agencies cold-call, or visit people at home. The Fair Trading Act treats that as an uninvited direct sale when the agreement is negotiated at your home or workplace, or by phone, without you inviting the trader for that purpose. The Commerce Commission explains that the rules apply to agreements of $100 or more.

• Five working days to cancel, for any reason, from the day you receive a copy of the sale agreement. For phone sales, the trader should send the agreement within five working days.
• A full refund, which the Commerce Commission says must be paid immediately.
• If a service is provided within that period, the supplier bears the risk: you can still cancel and pay nothing.
• No copy of the agreement? Then you can cancel at any time.

These rules don't help if you contacted the agency yourself, which is how most people start. In that case the contract's own cancellation and refund terms are what you have, alongside the guarantees above. Take the contract home before you sign, and read what to expect at your first agency interview beforehand.

Before you pay a New Zealand agency

1. Ask who runs it, and check the business name on the contract matches the one you met.
2. Get the numbers in writing: introductions, over what period, within what age range and distance.
3. Read the refund and cancellation clauses, and any automatic renewal.
4. Ask how members are vetted. Our guide to how dating agencies vet members explains what each check does and doesn't prove.
5. Walk away from pressure, such as a discount that lasts only until you leave the room. Warning signs when choosing a dating agency lists the others.

If the agency is based overseas

Some matchmakers who take clients in New Zealand are based in Australia or further away, and work by video call. New Zealand's consumer laws are written for businesses trading here, and enforcing any right against a business in another country is harder in practice. Before you sign with an overseas agency:

• Check which country's law the contract says applies, and where a dispute would be heard.
• Ask where the people you'd meet actually live, and how many are in your part of New Zealand.
• Pay in instalments where you can, rather than the full fee upfront.
• Use a credit card, and ask your card provider what dispute options you'd have if the service isn't delivered.

Romance scams

Netsafe, New Zealand's online safety organisation, lists the warning signs: quick declarations of love, money problems that only you can solve, a sudden change in writing style and reluctance to meet or video call. Its advice is never to send money to someone you haven't met in person, and to keep your bank details, address and ID documents private. If you suspect a scam, stop all contact and make no more payments. Netsafe offers free, confidential advice and takes reports, though it can't investigate or trace scammers; you can report to the Police too, and call your bank at once if you've sent money.

Our guide to how romance scams work explains the patterns. For Australia's state-by-state rules, see how dating agencies work in Australia, and for everywhere else, dating agency rules by country.