Man sues dating service for not matching him with ‘particularly special’ women

April 26--A widower says his matchmaker set him up -- but not in a good way.

Long Island insurance broker Michael Fleischer claims he paid a matchmaker $24,000 for introductions and dating advice, but he only got dates with five women in one year, "none of whom were particularly special."

Fleischer filed a $100,000 breach of contract suit Thursday in Manhattan Supreme Court against LastFirst, a Flatiron-based "matchmaking club," after the company refused to return his money for allegedly shoddy services.

"I had a great marriage with someone that was everything, all rolled into one," said Fleischer, whose wife of 26 years died from lung cancer nine years ago. "And you know, the connection is what we all -- what I -- thirst for and look for."

Fleischer said LastFirst approached him last spring. It was actually one of several matchmaking services that unexpectedly reached him by phone, he said.

"You get contacted out of the blue," said Fleischer, 60. "Somebody calls your cellphone, tells you, 'you were recommended by a woman you met, but I can't disclose who.'

"And then somehow, I wind up talking to them a little bit more, and I wind up going out and getting a drink with the two of them, and they're very attractive young ladies," Fleischer recalled of his subsequent meeting with two LastFirst principals.

"And they tell you how special you are, and how they have some amazing professional women they're willing to introduce you to -- and you get sucked into it. I figured, you know what, maybe there is magic to be found," Fleischer reflected, saying he understood the name LastFirst to mean one's last first date.

The Huntington resident, who called his interest in LastFirst a "moment of weakness," inked two contracts with the company in April 2017. One agreement was for "social referral service," and the other was a "consulting services agreement," court papers state.

The social referral contract cost $1,000 to set Fleischer up on dates with "attractive, single women," according to Fleischer's suit, which does point out there's no guaranteed number of set-ups. The catch, Fleischer said, was that to get the social referrals, he had to shell out $23,000 for the consulting services.

LastFirst was going to give him "concierge services, which may include wardrobe styling, life coaching, personal training, and a professional portrait session; (ii) dating counseling, and (iii) relationship coaching and advice," Robert Bernstein Jr., who represents Fleischer, said in the suit.

LastFirst, however, never delivered on concierge services, the suit says, and the company "merely set Plaintiff up with approximately five women in a period slightly less than a year, none of whom were particularly special."

"No offense to anybody, they weren't any different to anybody I would meet down the street," Fleischer said.

LastFirst did not respond to several requests for comment.

Despite what Fleischer said he went through, he's still looking for a "very engaging individual" who's athletic and likes to travel.

'I did triathlons for years, the Iron Man in Hawaii, still work out, still enjoy that, would like to share all aspects of my life with somebody," he said. "That's what I had in the first place."

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