Owned by Match.com, OurTime is geared towards the Over 50s. It has all the functionality you'd expect from a well-established dating site, and has reliable (if not lightening fast) customer care.
It took some hunting, but we found out that Ourtime is owned by the same people who own Match.com. The similarities are staggering, and it is at times hard to differentiate between the two sites except that Ourtime focusses exclusively on the 50+ age group and has around 200,000 active members (UK). There are subtle differences as you dig deeper, and it does have a more niche feel, suited to its target membership group.
As soon as you get started, you are offered a telephone support callback – handy for seniors who might not have fully grasped how complicated it can be to join a dating site! The fairly quick questionnaire, photo upload and basic registration details are straightforward, and you can have a look around whilst your email address and details are being verified and moderated.
Endorsements from the press and online encourage you to move on through the site and the promise of activities, including cultural outings and afternoon teas lulls the ‘young’ over 50s into a sense of entering a fun new lifestyle.
Once into the database, all is exactly the same as the Match site. There were many profiles to view – of an appropriate age range and distance. Email notifications flowed to the designated email account notifying of Views, Messages, Matches and Winks.
There are Favourites (only with Matches)for unpaying members, with Winks, Views and Messages available to paying subscribers. Both memberships can play the matching game, now called Blender. There are events, although few and far between, and you can search for your desired partner’s area/age/body shape etc,
We looked into the Affiny service –which is offered on both Match and Ourtime. This is a personality/character profile questionnaire to offer more accurate matching. Once you have completed the questionnaire,which you are allowed to keep whether you pay or not, you have to subscribe to this site (a sister site) in order to benefit from the personality matching facilities.
A mobile app is mentioned if you purchase a six month membership, but we couldn’t find any links to it on the site, nor on the internet!
We found no evidence of a blog or magazine on dating issues or topics, only the articles in the HELP FAQs section.
Ourtime are keen to ensure that you feel safe and secure, and have FAQs on GDPR, assure you that profiles are verified by a team of dedicated moderators, welcome members to report fake profiles, send warnings and are able to remove members if they don’t meet the Ts and Cs. There are articles on security in HelpOnline, including how to arrange a first date and what to look out for in a profile.
Help and Customer Care is found at the bottom of every screen as well as in your Account section. Help includes plenty of FAQs – a UK phone number available 9 – 5 Monday to Friday as well as a mailbox, where you enter your issue and are guaranteed a response in 24 hours –mine arrived in an hour, although it wasn’t a comprehensive answer. The Online Help (FAQs) is comprehensive and issues and processes are comprehensively covered.
Key Features
Ourtime offers a more intimate dating site, exclusively stated for the older population, which is a good thing. The members would mostly be ‘second time around’ and Ourtime have ring fenced this population from the 20 – 45 age range. That said, the apparent omission of a mobile app to a population who might have more time to spend on their mobiles, might need to be addressed. The site is as functional as the Match site, and still offers variety to its niche market, as one of the largest and well known UK sites.
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