$25,000 for Bad Dates, Disappointed Man Says

SARASOTA, Fla. (CN) - A Sarasota real estate agent says a dating service matched him up with incompatible women and charged him $25,000 for it. Among other things, he claims that the "millionaire matchmaker" suggested he date women who live thousands of miles away.

Gerret Copeland Jr. claims in Sarasota County Court that Kelleher & Associates charged him $25,000 to do little more than randomly select women for him.

Copeland says he hired Kelleher in April 2008 and that it repeatedly set him up with women with whom he had nothing in common.

He claims Kelleher charged him 100 times the average fee of dating services but did not expend any effort finding him a compatible woman.

"Kelleher has never determined one facet of Copeland's personality such that it could ever know who would be a suitable partner for [him]," the complaint states.

Copeland claims that Kelleher also neglected to ask potential dates rudimentary questions about their desire for children or a long-term relationship.

He says that when he reached out to Kelleher's recommended matches, he found that some of them lived on the opposite side of the country.

Kelleher's website states that the dating service has the capacity to meet highly specific matching standards.

"If you wish to find a doctor in St Louis, we can do it. If your preference is to meet someone who shares your passion for yachting in the South Pacific, we can do it," the website states.

Kelleher's owners, Jill Kelleher and Amber Kelleher-Andrews, have appeared as dating consultants on Good Morning America and CNN, according to its website.

Under Copeland's dating service contract with Kelleher, the parties are to duke out bad-date grievances in mediation. But Copeland says Kelleher has refused to submit to an arbitration hearing.

In the past 3 years, four of sixteen consumer complaints to the Better Business Bureau about Kelleher's branches have failed to be resolved in mediation.

Copeland is represented by Kevin Bruning with Williams Parker in Sarasota. He wants his $25,000 back, and attorney's fees.

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