1. C-date AU review: summary

C-date is the preference of those looking for discreet and adult hook ups in Australia. It is especially popular with women, not only because it’s free for them but also because it offers them a lot of anonymity and control. It allows its members to express their sexual preferences, find suitable others and get together at their own pace. It is one of the favourite places for people who seek adventures and excitement within a classy and respectful environment.

We have conducted a thorough review of the C-date service in Australia in order to bring you an assessment of the quality of the profiles, site and service.

2. C-date AU Snapshot Test

The C-date AU snapshot test is based on thorough usage and exploration of C-date. To come up with a complete view of the service we created a profile on the site and used it like a regular user (man seeks woman). After this we browsed all features on the site and embarked upon some first communications.

We had a look at C-date AU’s online reputation, looking through customer comment boards and forums to get an idea how people have experienced the product.

First impressions of C-date AU

From the get go, a few characteristics of the service are clear. Number 1, that it is a website targeted more at the casual segment of the show. Then, that it has a stylish and up market feel and finally that it concentrates on putting you in touch with people who are into the same sort of meet ups as you. The philosophy of the company is encapsulated by the logo “Meet singles looking for love and fun” - that appears on the registation pages. This is a catchy statement and reflects the reality that many people are out looking for both these things.

Picture: C-date match list

Early on in the registration process, you are prompted to select the kinds of encounter that you are hoping for. Is it ’Watching’ or ‘Something longer term’, for example. This idea goes right through the product and you are asked, in several different ways, to declare a) what type of person you are and b) what type of thing you are after.

Contact Test

To get an estimate of the amount of members online, we carried out a contact count check. Dating services come in scores of assorted shapes, but the most meaningful problem for the customer is how many contacts he or she gets involved with. How many folk get in contact and how many people respond to messages. Our activity ranking produces a score against this all-important metric for every internet site we review. C-date AU did really comfortably in this test. There were stacks of members online and it looked like a respectable spread of users over the region:

If you're looking for no strings attached sex, then this site is a good place to be. Our research suggested that this was what most of the women on this site were looking for. The nature of the site is not one where you are going to score same day hook ups, but it is a place where you can realistically hope to arrange casual dates over the course of a week or so. 

Profile quality of C-date AU

There were lots of profiles listed when we registered with C-date. Generally the quality seemed to be fairly high and there were lots of members who matched our stated preferences and interests. Many of the profiles didn’t have pictures that were publically available. This can be frustrating, but is also one of the selling points of the service: that customers really do get to choose when and to whom they release their photos.

We found it quite easy to get into conversation with women on the site and while they were not always super-models, they were freindly and seemed to have chosen to register with C-date for the right reasons. 

Are there any fake profiles on C-date Australia?

Fake profiles can be a problem for nearly all dating firms and the test is not whether they have a problem, but how bad it is. However, our impression of C-date AU was really fairly positive. C-date runs a decent procedure of profile checking and the majority of profiles appeared genuine to us.

3. Features on C-date AU

The emphasis in the C-date product is on choice and discretion. There are lots of different opportunities to express what and who you are after and to control who sees your information.

Using the C-date service is relatively straightforward. Registration is simple and only requires some basic information from you about age, look and interests. Once you're registered there are further opportunities to build your profile, including of course, an opportunity to load pictures. Once you've done all this, you will get a list of matches in your area almost instantly. You can browse through these and 'favourite' the ones that you like best. To get in touch and actually send a message, you then need to pay for the Premium Service. Once you've done this its easy to chat at lenght and set up dates. 

Photo Release

Photo release on C-date allows you to stay in control of who looks at your pictures online and when. As you load pictures into your profile, you have the option to tick or untick a box to decide if you want these photos to be public or not. If not, then you can release the pictures to individual members, once you have swapped some messages with them.

Picture: Picture upload pop-up

Your first view of the platform after registration also gives a good impression. The platform is well laid out with the focus always on a new profile and the menu discreetly placed down the left hand side. It has a ‘social media’ style layout that is designed to appeal to all ages.

My Erotic Type

To help their customers express their desires and fantasies there is a section on the platform called ‘My Erotic Type’. Here you can choose from a large selection of images (bananas, flowers, handcuffs etc). Pick five to display to your matches and show them what you like.

Picture: Erotic gallery

Sexual Preferences

C-date being a casual dating site, it does focus on the sexual side of dating and offers its customers matching by sexual preference. If you are into lingerie or role playing, for example, you can state that in the Sexual Preferences section and expect to get matched with people interested in the same things.

Picture: Erotic Preferences Profile Page 

4. C-date AU Customer Service

Customer service quality is a very important issue with dating sites. The degree to which sites respond to the anxieties and problems their customers have varies substantially between sites. How complex is it to get in touch with customer services? How speedily do they respond to customer issues. Does the company operate auto rebilling of subscriptions?

Reaching the Customer Care service at C-date AU

There is a full and through FAQ section on the C-date service that answers a lot of procedural questions on the site well. There is also a customer service e-mail service@c-date.co.AU and response times are reasonable (48 hours). It is disappointing that there appears to be no way of contacting C-date on the phone. However, this is fairly common for dating services. Overall then a reasonable if not excellent level of customer support is available on C-date.

Design of C-date AU

C-date looks and feels like service that you would be happy to embark upon an adult adventure on. It is styled somewhat like a lounge and the emphasis is on the gently erotic rather than sexually explicit imagry. It’s also an easy site to use and understand and doesn’t tax its customers with unnecessary amounts of gimmicks or games. Overall a nice look.

Picture: Creating your profile on the regitration pages

C-date AU Mobile functionality

C-date does not have a mobile app, but there is a mobile compatible version of the site where you can log on and use the service through your mobile browser. This is fairly effective and the simplicity of the C-date layout means that you can navigate round the site relatively easily.

5. Is C-date AU value for money?

The majority of dating websites offer a free introduction to their product, but to get proper use of the site and really communicate with other people you nearly always have to pay for Premium Membership. C-date AU is no exception and to communicate with your contacts, you have to pay a fee. We don’t quibble with the necessity of this. In the end, customers will always need to pay if they want to use a reliable service. Instead, we concentrate on how C-date AU does on a ‘value for money’ reckoning. Is it good value?

*these prices were current at the time of writing, but may change

We advise you choose the six month deal which is the cheapest - per month - price. It’s a substantial initial price, but once done you’ll be able to settle down and take your time to use the service well.