MI
Confidentiality Breaches and Service Not Delivered
I was introduced to this company because a smaller matchmaker said she lacked the network for my specific needs and didn't feel comfortable taking my $5k for a contract she didn't think she could fulfill. Graciously, she introduced me to Best Man Matchmaking as she believed they had a wider reach and were experts in serving clients like myself (trans). In Aug 2025, I signed a $15k contract with Best Man Matchmaking (BMM) for 5 guaranteed dates over 6 months. I was willing to pay that much, more than I ever paid for anything in my life, because dating has been difficult. I am a trans person who dates other trans people, BMM knew this prior to taking my contract and why the other matchmaker did not feel she had a big enough reach. Their co-owner/founder assured me of their trans expertise and mentioned being a therapist at a trans serving org & that he started a trans nonprofit called Transcend (a trans matchmaking service). During my 3-day cancellation window, I asked if Transcend was more appropriate. I was told no. One month later, he reached out to recruit me & revealed Transcend costs only $380/yr and that their matchmakers were helping me too. I was deliberately funneled away from the affordable service to pull as much money from me as possible only to try to hype up that same cheaper service a month into my contract. Later, I also learned I was changed $5k more than cisgender clients for the same length of contract even knowing I made 5-6x less money than those same clients. Their lack of professionalism and care throughout this process was not just limited to overcharging, it was also in how they treated my profile entirely. At 4 months into the process, of a 6 month contract, with them having not shown me any profiles, they tried to change the timeline terms of the contract by saying "the timeline doesn't start until your first date is scheduled." This was shared by an employee and repeated by a co-owner. This is also NOT what their contract said. Instead of admitting they did not have a trans network, they tried to extend the contract term and hold onto my money for an undetermined amount of time with no results or intention of fulfilling the contracted work. Additionally, they even gave me the name and location of someone who rejected my profile (someone I never met, someone I didn't even know existed) unprompted- this is wildly inappropriate for many reasons: 1. It shared the other person's private information without their consent and 2. When I asked if there was something I should change about my profile the founder/co-owner said it wasn't anything I could change. So why tell me about it if it wasn't anything I could change or had power over? It felt as though they wanted me to feel like I was undesirable so I would take whoever they threw at me. Before signing, I submitted photos of people I'm attracted to per their request. All were trans/gender expansive: 0 cisgender men. I stated my orientation in multiple meetings. I disclosed being immunocompromised + requiring COVID testing. BMM agreed + accepted my written COVID protocol language. BMM delivered 0 of 5 dates over 5 months. No profiles were shown until week 20 of 26. All three violated our contract: all cis men, two never dated trans people and were merely "open to it" (as though I was an experiment), one was an avid COVID denier (as evidenced by their public social media). I questioned these matches and their vetting process. I was told we shared values like "they like TV & film." Co-owner asked if "something happened with cis men," to make me not want to date them. Staff called it a "teaching moment"- for the match. Because that is of course why I'd be willing to pay all that money...to teach other people that I as a trans person deserve love. My sexual orientation was irrelevant to them- they told me to trust them as the matchmakers. They said I should date one guy simply because "he's very tall." I was physically ill after this meeting. After I requested a refund (1.15.26), BMM deleted social media evidence. On 1.29.26, their attorney offered $7.5k, admitting they'd contacted only 5 trans people in 3 months, proving they lacked a network before they took on my contract at such a high price point. After requesting a refund, the co-owners have not ever reached out to me directly nor offered any attempt at even an apology. Best Man Matchmaking and its connected nonprofit, Transcend, markets to trans people but cannot serve trans-for-trans clients, and seems to lack some basic care, professionalism and accountability that would make them a business worthy of anyone's money. I'm posting this review to protect other trans people from exploitation and to make other consumers aware that this company does not take accountability when they are wrong, or mishandle your information.