Table for Six, owned by Jaci Capriott, arranges dinners for singletons. She says they're expecting Brad Pitt. Photo / WireImage
An exclusive dating agency that arranges intimate dinners for those looking for love has been taken to court after claims it failed to make any introductions to a member for a year - despite collecting a $1500 annual fee.
Table for Six in Parnell, owned by businesswoman Jaci Capriotti, was ordered to repay the hefty membership fee to an Auckland man at a Disputes Tribunal hearing in May.
The man who brought the court action against the company told the Herald on Sunday he had no choice after all attempts to make contact with Capriotti, including email, phone calls and through the post, had allegedly failed.
His warning has been echoed by other Table for Six customers who said staff were difficult to get hold of.
Those who did get dates were either only invited on one or were matched with people decades older.
But Capriotti refuted the claims and said people expected too much and were often "a nightmare."
"You have no idea what we go through, there are people who want Brad Pitt and say 'ah, I want Brad Pitt'. Does anyone not do normal anymore?
"That is what it is about," Capriotti told the Herald on Sunday on a call from Spain, where she said she will be living for three months.
"I throw really classy cocktail parties and women turn up dressed like a gardener."
The man who took Table for Six to court, said he paid the annual $1500 fee in March 2017 for the one-on-one executive dating service Intro-Deuce, provided by the company.
He said he met Capriotti at her home and she told him there would be introductions and dinner dates with like-minded partners and "coaching and encouragement" through the dating process.
Capriotti seemed confident and professional, he said.
"She came across as a very personable woman but I think she was just saying what people wanted to hear - and then nothing," the man said.
He said after their initial meeting no dates were arranged and he struggled to get hold of anyone at the company.
"There was no emails, no phone calls, no introductions at all."
He decided to take the company to court.
Court documents provided to the Herald on Sunday show no one from Table for Six Ltd attended the Waitakere District Court hearing on May 29, or provided any defence of the claim.
A refund was issued because there "has been a total failure to perform".
Copies of emails to Table for Six Ltd and a bank statement showing the $1500 payment were accepted as evidence by the referee who found the man "paid for a service and received nothing in return".
Despite the court order he did not receive the refund by the deadline date of June 12, 2018, and had to then issue a statutory demand for the money.
If that demand had not been met within 10 days he would have applied to have the company liquidated.
The man said it was paid within three days.
But Capriotti claims the man had never emailed her and she only knew there was an issue when her accountant emailed and said: "There's a problem you have to pay this guy."
Another service provided by the company are group dates in which three single women and three single men are matched at a restaurant. A host introduces the daters.
The website says the pairings will be people of similar age and with similar interests.
Other Table for Six clients told the Herald on Sunday they want their money back after paying an annual fee of $299 for unsuitable dates or only being invited on one dinner.
Auckland woman Christine van Gisbergen, who is aged in her 50s, attended two dinners and a cocktail party in 2016 but has asked for a refund as she claims she was "consistently put on tables with men old enough to be her father or grandfather."
There was "no interview process or any interest in finding out what sort of person I was looking for," she said.
Auckland man Keith Williamson said he was "very vulnerable" when he signed up for the dating service in January this year.
His wife had passed away and a new relationship had just ended.
Williamson said he paid the $299 annual fee, and was invited to only one dinner.
"The meal was all very convivial but that was it - that was the only introduction I had," he said.
"With the annual fee, the meal, cash for the introduction and the new shirt I bought it was an expensive dinner out."
He claims he attempted to contact Table for Six via email, phone and through the website but said he had still not heard back.
Capriotti denied that some daters had only been invited to one dinner and that "the girls in her office were always putting out calls and setting up dinners".
When asked about people of different ages being matched she said people often thought they looked younger than what they actually were.
She said the service was still running although had moved out of its Parnell office a year ago and no one had signed up for the service in six months.
She had lived overseas off and on for two years but had staff in Auckland running the company.
"I started this business more than 20 years ago and I was passionate about it," she said.
"I do it like a charity because there's no money in it."