A wealthy insurance broker is suing a high-end matchmaking company, claiming he paid $24,000 to be set up on about a half-dozen dates with women who turned out to be nothing “special.”
Michael L. Fleischer — a widower who oversees a $3.5 billion real-estate practice at the firm Sterling and Sterling — says he is seeking a full refund plus $100,000 in damages from matchmaking company LastFirst for his trouble.
“They told me they were going to introduce me to amazing people and help me through the process,” said the 60-year-old Huntington, LI resident who lost his wife to cancer in 2009. “The guarantee was that ‘We’ll definitely be able to have you in a relationship.’ ”
Instead, after meeting with the company’s operators last spring, he was set up with women, “none of whom were particularly special,” he says in his Manhattan Supreme Court suit.
“The individuals that they introduced me to were no different than anybody else, nothing special. No offense, but it just wasn’t there,” he said.
The matchmakers also promised “wardrobe styling, life coaching, personal training, a professional portrait session, dating counseling and relationship coaching and advice” for the $24,000 fee, the suit says.
“None of those services were ever offered,” Fleischer said. “I had consultations with them, and they showed me some profiles of this one and that one. At the end of the day, nothing was really matchable.”
Reps for LastFirst did not return messages seeking comment.
Despite the experience, Fleischer says he’s not giving up on finding love.
He’s on the lookout for a “life partner for the ups and downs, the good and the bad, the fun and sadness,” he told The Post.
“I think a professional intelligent woman is a great life partner . . . Intelligence is a turn-on,” he said.
As for looks, the longtime triathlete and Ironman competitor is partial to “tall blond athletic women.”
“I know it can happen. Someone’s out there,” Fleischer said.