By Jodi Weigand
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, August 22, 2008

Local matchmakers say they don't fiddle with heartstrings -- they just have a knack with the chords of love.

"When I meet someone, I get on their wavelength almost immediately, and I really listen," said Susan Dunhoff, 50, owner of Modern Matchmaker in Squirrel Hill. "Then I do magic. It's just one of those things where I really know what they're looking for."

Matchmaking has become big business. Match.com alone boasts more than 20 million members.

Matchmakers pore over thousands of dater profiles and conduct extensive interviews to find love for clients. It's a service that can be costly -- emotionally and economically. Memberships can cost thousands of dollars.

Yet matchmaking is an inexact science. A matchmaker's success often relies on gut instinct.

"It's not like this magical gift that people have. It's more of a love of working with people," said Lisa Clampitt, co-founder of New York City-based Matchmaking Institute, which offers matchmaking training and certification. "All intuition is is really good listening skills."

There are about 1,500 independent matchmakers in the United States, in addition to myriad matchmaking firms, according to the Matchmaking Institute.

"There are wacky matchmakers out there," Clampitt said. "That's why you have to shop around, and you have to interview the matchmaker to make sure they're right for you."

Dr. Paul Friday, chief of clinical psychology at UPMC Shadyside, said he's "skeptical" of matchmakers.

"Only because the human personality is so complex," he said. "There's so much luck involved in meeting the right person."

Jennifer Garlick, 42, of Bethel Park sat through an hourlong interview before deciding the dating service was too expensive.

"I would love to do that -- I think it's very natural -- but the prices are too high," she said. "As a single person, it's a lot of money to come up with."

Tova Weinberg, 54, of Squirrel Hill volunteers with sawyouatsinai.com, an online site that matches Orthodox Jews. She's been setting people up for 25 years, she said.

"I love doing it," said Weinberg, who says she makes 1,000 matches a week. "I never give up. I'm lucky if I make one engagement every other month."

Some who try matchmaking services believe strangers will have better luck at finding them "the one."

"It got to the point where if I wasn't going to marry someone who was Jewish, then I was just going to stay single," said Nate Scholnicoff, 38, of the South Hills. He turned to Dunhoff for help in 2005. She matched him with Ellen, now 35. The couple married a year later.

Matchmakers said they don't need to be happily matched themselves to be good at their jobs. Dunhoff, Weinberg and Clampitt are married. But all said that single matchmakers or those with a disastrous dating history can be just as good.

"When you're a relationship expert, it doesn't mean that you're perfect in your own life, Clampitt said. "They are so good because they have their own internal struggles."

Troubles in paradise

Not all matches are made in heaven.

A record 2,525 complaints were logged with Better Business Bureaus nationwide in 2006 -- up 73 percent from the previous year, according to the agency. Data still are being compiled from 2007, but even more complaints are expected, the bureau said.

The most common complaints were poor quality of matches, bad customer service and dissatisfaction with the number of dates.

When the BBB gets a complaint, a representative contacts the business, which can -- but is not required to -- work to resolve the problem. If issues remain unresolved, the business gets an unsatisfactory rating from the bureau.

Locally, Great Expectations on the South Side and It's Just Lunch, Downtown, had unsatisfactory ratings.

The Great Expectations location on East Carson Street has closed and no one could be reached for comment. It's Just Lunch officials did not return phones messages.

Among dating services in Pittsburgh, the BBB received the most complaints -- 14 in the past 36 months -- about The Right One, a nationally based matchmaking service with an office in Green Tree. Half of the issues were resolved, bureau records show. About 600 members pay between $3,000 and $5,000 each year to join The Right One.

"To put that in perspective ... less than five members complaining to the Better Business Bureau a year is less than 1 percent of our new members," Ethan Baker, the company's attorney, wrote in an e-mail. "We definitely do try to resolve any problems that may arise with our members; however, sometimes these complaining members have unrealistic expectations that just cannot be met."

Jodi Weigand can be reached at jweigand@tribweb.com or 412-380-5609.