LIFE’S A bummer, girls, especially when Mr Wrong comes along. But when a dating agency sends you eight Mr Wrongs in a row, you feel like asking for your money back.

Janet Forse, a 49-year old divorcée from Lydney, Gloucestershire, has complained to her local trading standards department and has applied to the small claims court in Gloucester in the hope of recovering the £250 fee an agency charged for introducing her to what she asserts were eight examples of damaged male goods.

What Ms Forse was looking for in the ideal man was a rugged, employed, fun-loving, non-smoking, educated, semi-professional, financially secure male aged between 40 and 55 with a good sense of humour and his own home.

What she got were a succession of the unsuitable who were either unemployed, drunk, shy, badly dressed, lived in caravans or — worst of all — skinny. Her last two dates never even materialised.

Ms Forse, who divorced in 1992, subsequently had a long-term relationship which ended last November. That was when she went to the New Horizons dating agency in Gloucester in the hope that they could provide the bellows to blow on the drowsy coals of her love life. But she claims that all eight blind dates they provided her with were so disappointing that not even Cilla Black would have tried to foist them on her.

“I have been introduced to eight people and they have all been unsuitable — and it’s all been over simple things,” Ms Forse said yesterday.

“One man phoned me up in a drunken state, which was quite threatening. I asked to meet a rugged, well-built man, and they sent me on a date with a marathon runner. He was a lovely man, but you just wouldn’t put us together. He was so skinny.”

The New Horizons literature offers “more choices, less chances”, and promises to filter out potential partners who will not fit the client’s requirements. “The men they sent are vulnerable too; the agency is taking advantage of us all,” Ms Forse said. “Everyone I have met has had similar experiences. New Horizons is leading us up the garden path.”

New Horizons was quick to defend itself. Mike Lavender, who has run the business for 15 years, said: “We sent the lady eight introductions and she said they were nice people, but the chemistry wasn’t there.”

Mr Lavender added: “We can only send introductions and it is not possible to please everyone. We’ve got many happy customers and many marriages. Ms Forse even sent me a birthday card, so I am not sure what the problem is.”

The agency had done everything for her in what was a “notoriously unscientific” business, and was willing to arrange further introductions, Mr Lavender said. But Ms Forse claimed that she was accused of having “too high an opinion of herself” when she complained.

Heather Heber Percy, chairman of the Association of British Introduction Agencies — of which New Horizons is not a member — said that it was unusual for clients to seek a refund of fees through the courts. “Matching people is an inexact science. There have been thousands of successful pairings through agencies, but you only hear about the bad ones,” Ms Heber Percy said.

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