Flirting like a pro?

Thousands of euros for coaching nonsense

It's not just on Valentine's Day that ‘online coaches’ advertise their course programmes on social media. Some promise to help you become irresistible on dates and offer a 100% chance of success.

This can be sold at a hefty price, as victims seem willing to pay £2,500 for an ‘online dating masterclass’. For example, to be accompanied for seven weeks, step by step, in winning back their ex, or to learn from so-called pick-up artists how to wrap seven people around their finger in seven days when it comes to love.

Consumers are pressured into signing a contract by the coaches or their hired salespeople (‘affiliates’ or ‘closers’) in a video call. While they are promised the moon, they are asked to click through a form with no time to think, thereby waiving their right of withdrawal, among other things.

From a legal perspective, however, the coaching contract is only valid if consumers confirm it in writing after the video call (the so-called double confirmation requirement for service contracts initiated by telephone). In addition, it is possible to withdraw from the coaching contract within 14 days of the video call. Legally, this can normally be resolved even if such a waiver has been clicked on, even if the other party asserts the opposite.

It is best to steer clear of such dubious coaching offers, which often cost five-figure sums. We can see from the contracts we have seen that the costs are usually out of all proportion to what was actually promised and then (not) delivered by the providers. Victims report receiving useless and meaningless tips for which they had spent several thousand pounds. They could have found this worthless content, outdated videos and hackneyed phrases just as easily on the internet.

We have legal remedies at our disposal with which we can get those who have been cheated out of these contracts out of them and recover as much of the lost money as possible. To do this, we rely on consumer protection laws to guarantee, legally formalised contractual errors, contestation due to misleading information (e.g. in cases of ‘shortening by more than half’, where the value of the service does not reach half of the price charged) or usury (where the victim's predicament was exploited). If you are reluctantly entangled in a coaching contract, it is best to fill out our complaint form.