It is not so difficult for me as I belong to the Neo-Buddhist community in Maharashtra. Many people in this community are atheists or understand atheism or practice Buddhism in way that is close to atheism.

Alas, some people have forgotten their roots in order to closely integrate with their Hindu neighbours, or simply do not think much to care about it.

And, as an Indian female, and an atheist at that (which my mom still hopes is a phase)…I am disheartened (elated? serendipituous sabotage via listing atheist?) at your review of Shaadi.com.

When filling out the profile, the initial thing that bugged me was, complexion choice (there was no ‘prefer not to say’/'no answer’ CHOICE!! and I am morally opposed to such Fair & Lovely rhetorics). And, then, the bullcrap with astrology and what time I was born (who knows such things, and why care? but, I couldn’t figure out how NOT to fill the field and still get the profile accepted, so I ball-park guessed from random past convos with the mom – she was apparently there). As you mentioned, I also noticed the bride=looking for groom and vice versa (the rainbow isn’t certainly bright in their corner). And, the fact that there’s no option to hide exact birthdate (pre-emptive strike against fundie astrology freaks, but, alas). And, finally, the contact info. Why do they need a phone number? Stalkerish!

In conclusion: I am not very impressed, and may hold out on the $$ towards a paid membership. At least you can say yours was an experiment. Maybe I should do the same.

Thanks,
Tammy Gill

For example couldn’t you get away with saying you were a “literalist” Jain?

To the best of my knowledge from college studies I understood there are atheistic religions (who don’t believe in a god/creator figure) and Jainism is one of those. Looking up Jainism in wikipedia (and not sure how much it can be trusted), while it is a cultural thing, it celebrates “role models” rather than gods and does not believe the role model heroes/teachers currently exist somewhere in some other plane of existence but rather are only to be emulated. “Jains do not believe in an omnipotent supreme being, creator or manager (kart?), but rather in an eternal universe governed by natural laws.” from Wikipedia.

Theres a total disconnect between marketing, sales and customer service….read on….

Hi Shiv

Further to our earlier mails, Im sending this mail to you again. I have no choice but to do this as I see my money being wasted on a product which doesnt bring any value to a platinum customer.

I really wonder what make you the best site that your company seems to be claiming.

You expect me to renew my subscription with a 15% discount. Now read the rest of the story and then tell me if a paid member would ever decide to renew.

i Did a very simple quick search of finding male members in UAE.

I selected an age group of 27 to 35 and selected doesnt matter as an option for religion and mothertongue.

There were 60 pages listed and my profile was on the 25th page. The results were sorted as by default.

The same search when i sorted it by newest first then my profile was listed only on the 42nd page of the 60 pages.

When I sorted it by age my profile was listed on the 60th page.

And finally when I did it by height my profile was listed only on the 28th page.

Of all these options Im sure most of the female members use the default and maybe the newest first options.

If I had a choice I would never be listed on your site.

You guys are best among all the worst sites.

Based on this results it makes sense for me to let my membership expire.

I will create a new profile and take a 3 month membership which will atleast help me be listed in the 1st few pages.

And expire this every 3 months and then again create a new profile.

Unless your management and product team really want to get up from their fat MBA arses and start listening to the concerns of a genuine customer.

And the Customer service rep sends the reply which is mentioned below……

Dear Sanjeev,

Thank you for writing to Shaadi.com Customer Relations.

We would like to mention that premium membership has no co-relation with listing your profile on top of search results.

We would like to inform you that the visitors narrow down their search based on 20 different criteria – religion, age, height, mother-tongue, education, occupation, and so on.

So, when a profile meets all such search criteria, it is automatically listed high up in that particular search.
Still, this is a passive approach. We recommend a more active formula for Success at Shaadi.com.

Also, thousands of new members join Shaadi.com everyday. So, beyond a point it is very difficult to be listed high. That is why we advise you not to depend on response from others. Instead, you should yourself aggressively search and express interest in all potential partners.

In fact, as a Premium Member, you can even write a personalized message to every member you express interest in. Under our Platinum and Diamond Memberships, your profile is also highlighted in every search listing.

Trust the above makes it clear that high listing is not as important as being an active member yourself.

If you need any further assistance, kindly contact us on `Live Help’.
You can click on the following link to chat online with our Customer Relations Team:
http://www.shaadi.com/customer_relations/faq/index.php

You can also contact us on +91 98335 74223 (Standard charges apply).
We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Happy searching and contacting!

Sincerely
Arti
Shaadi.com Customer Relations
People Interactive

And for the above reply I had to send this response…

I dont want to have any interaction with you because it shows you have no clue what you are talking….but on second thoughts let me give you a reply.

If all free members, inactive members can show up in a search with paid members then why pay?

Your search algorithm should have that ability to priortize and sort profiles based on paid and active, paid and inactive, free and active, free and inactive.

And as for being proactive and aggressively sending interest then you should do a report on my member activity. Other then my activity I keep My profile and messenger online almost 20 hours of the day so that it shows up in who is online search. And sorry to say there also your site sucks.

All this will make you realize that you have sent a wrong reply and you should have waited for shiv to respond.

Its getting too much and I plan to put this complaint to all the blogs on most of the popular sites.

Let people know that while shaadi is the best marketing company their product and customer service sucks.