Divorcee sues elite lonely hearts agency after a string of bad dates
DARLENE DAGGETT had high hopes of finding her ideal partner when she took out a “CEO level” membership with an exclusive dating service.
But the retired QVC corporate executive spent $150,000 (£115,000) only to be sorely disappointed.
Kelleher International, whose CEO is Amber Kelleher-andrews, a former actress who appeared in Baywatch and Melrose Place, promised ideal matches from around the globe.
Ms Daggett, a 62-year-old divorced mother of four, turned to the service, according to court documents, because regular online dating sites “did not provide the degree of screening and privacy she was looking for.”
Instead, she was introduced to a pro- cession of incompatible suitors, she told the court last week. One candidate, an Australian entrepreneur, whisked her away to Panama and Costa Rica.
This would have been fine had the man not embarked on a trip around the world with his former partner the day after returning from a trip with Ms Daggett.
Ms Daggett was introduced to an executive with a Fortune 500 company, described as the “Serial Lothario” in court papers, who ended their relationship without explanation, having spent Christmas and Thanksgiving with her.
Another man said he was waiting for his terminally ill wife to die before he could commit, and another, hailing from Virginia, was, she claimed, prone to lying, and left her “genuinely frightened for her personal safety and that of her family”. She later pursued a stalking complaint against him. Ms Daggett, who reached a settlement with the agency, said she had hoped to find someone with whom she could spend her retirement.
Kelleher-andrews defended her company, which she said had been responsible for thousands of marriages. The company worked to end courtships fairly and reasonably, she said. “It doesn’t always work out.”