OurTime is part of the People Media 50+ Network, an organization created by People Media, Inc. OurTime aims to help single men and women, aged fifty and above, find their partners in their website, though members need not be necessarily fifty years old or above. Interested individuals just need to be 18 years old to access the service. It is also stated in their Terms and Conditions that members should be single or separated from spouse upon the use of service.
Website’s Interface and Registration Process
The registration process is easy. The questions are structured in a way that it doesn’t sound too personal and intruding. A box would pop up on the screen and gives the question one-by-one. The font it uses is easy on the eyes. Answers can just be selected from a dropdown box or typed in boxes, whichever is applicable. The registration includes ten questions before one can create a username and a password. These questions include gender and gender preference, hair and eye color, height, ethnicity, body type, marital status, number of children, non-smoker or not, country where one is from, city and state where one is located, and birthdate.
After selecting a username and a password, users will be asked to tell something about themselves, the type of person they looking for, and other information that might interest their profile readers. No contact information, either phone number or e-mail address, should be added. The answers to these questions are reviewed by OurTime’s Customer Care support team and inappropriate information and contact details are removed.
Once logged in, members have the option to be part of the Extended Network and Public Availability of User Profile Information. If the box is ticked, members can appear on search outside of OurTime.
OurTime’s layout is very user-friendly. It is very easy to navigate, which is indeed a good factor for people who have limited technical skills.
Features
- unlimited profile browsing
- one-on-one chat and instant messaging
- upload up to 30 photos
- customizable search for people
- see people who have flirted with you
- see people who added you to their “favorites” list
- see people from your area
- top personal interests feature for profiles
- personality questions feature for profiles
- see people who viewed your profile
- reminders to contact members whose profile you have viewed
- inspirational success stories
- share feature for own personal success story
- free dating tips
Membership
There are two kinds of membership for OurTime:
(1) Free membership
This is the default membership, which members can perform unlimited profile browsing and can upload up to 30 photos.
(2) Paid Membership
This is when members upgraded their service by paying the monthly subscription. There are three plans members can choose from:
- Best Value Plan, which is for $83.94 for six months of full feature access, message read notification, profile highlight, and message highlight.
- Standard Plan, which is for $71.94 for six months. This service includes full access to basic features.
- Full Price Plan, which is paying the regular monthly fee of $23.99 for a month of full access to basic features.
Best Value and Standard plans have cheaper monthly subscription fees compared to the Full Price Plan; however, their payments are billed one-time for the six-month period.
Additional Information
Here are more additional information worth checking that are stated in the Terms and Conditions:
- Members’ profiles are viewable in other affiliated websites that have the same age-range community
- Even if member has not been inactive for quite some time, their profiles will remain searchable and active, unless hidden by user.
- When members cancel their subscription, profiles are not removed. Only the charges are stopped, but not the membership. Their profiles will just go back to the default membership plan and are still searchable. If members don’t want others to search or view their profiles, they need to set their profile in private—or “hide” it as the website’s feature that allows such functionality termed it. They can also request to cancel their account permanently.
- Cancelling one’s membership permanently may be done through the website or writing a letter of cancellation request to the website’s office in Dallas, Texas. If done in the website, it may ask the member to provide reason for the cancellation.
Pros
Using OurTime has been a wonderful and rewarding experience for some users. As their success stories suggests, long-lasting relationships and happy endings are just a mouse click away. Aside from that, here are the top reasons why users like OurTime:
The website is easy to use and navigate. It has all the features in the home page, yet it doesn’t appear cluttered. It’s neat and organized.
Members who are paying the subscription fee can search and communicate with other single people on affiliated sites such as SeniorPeopleMeet.com and SeniorsMeet.com without paying additional charges and the going through another registration.
Members who decided to go on hiatus for a time and had hidden or deactivated their profile can always go back and activate it to use it again.
The feature that lets members search users by area allows them to look for a special someone within driving distance from where they are.
The dating tips provided by the website for free are add-ons that should be taken advantage by the website’s users. It gives helpful safety precaution and information on how to find the right person.
Payment for the subscription fee can be made through a credit card, mail-in order, or Western Union Easy Pay.
Cons
Members who are using the free membership have too many restrictions. Basically, all they can do is browse profiles and upload photos of themselves. They cannot even send a single “free” message. They cannot also receive the messages that are sent to them even by premium members.
When one wants to cancel subscription, pro-rated refunds are not available. If one cancels at the middle of their billing cycle, the full payment would still be charged; though, members can still make the most of the remaining days since full access to the service will not be interrupted until the end of the billing cycle.
The subscription fee is quite high both for the six-month period and the monthly option.
OurTime has a lot of new members each single day and one’s option to find someone special or a new life partner is just as vast as the globe for members are from all over the world. Though the website has nice features and very clean interface for members to easily navigate through pages, it still does not justify the high subscription fee and the too many restrictions for the non-paying members—but for those people who are willing to do everything to find that one person whom they want to spend their lifetime with, the subscription fee might not be a big issue.
