Therealroots Opiniões 8

I attended three Real Roots meet-and-greets before signing up for the six-week program. Many of the women were kind and interesting, and I appreciated the intention behind creating spaces for women to connect. However, overall the experience was not a fit for me personally.

Most of the meet-and-greets took place in very noisy pubs, which made meaningful conversation difficult. The six-week group was also formed by combining women from several different groups because there apparently weren’t enough sign-ups from the original groups. As a result, I didn’t feel there was much cohesion or shared interests within the group.

For me, the biggest challenge was the facilitation. I have a background in facilitation and group dynamics, so I’m perhaps more sensitive to this than some people. I found the facilitators often asked good opening questions, but then spent a significant amount of time talking about themselves rather than drawing group members out and helping conversations develop naturally between participants. I did provide this feedback directly to Real Roots and suggested they offer facilitator training, but unfortunately I never received a response.

The activities themselves were mixed. One evening involved going to an arcade where many of the machines weren’t working and the group energy felt flat. Another evening — mini golf followed by dinner and another evening dinner & karaoke. I don't know how many options for activities were explored or whether they do the same things for each group. I felt a lack of sizzle with the activities.

Another issue was with the 1-on-1 meetup component of the program. Participants are supposed to be paired with different members of the group for individual meetups outside the main gatherings, but there were repeated pairing mistakes and some people were paired more than once. When this was brought to their attention, we were suddenly given five additional 1-on-1 meetings to try to complete before the final gathering, which felt rushed and poorly organized.

I think Real Roots could be a good fit for some people, especially those simply looking to get out socially and meet new women. For me personally, I was looking for deeper connection, stronger facilitation, and more alignment in interests and energy within the group. At this point, I’m not sure I’ll continue with my group after the program ends or whether I would recommend Real Roots to others.

Does not offer experience or support advertised. Does not thoughtfully match. The meet and greet was great but only 3 of the 14 women signed up. The true group was 11 people vs 6-8 promised. We were barely introduced then told to pair ourselves for chats. The guide was not interested in facilitating. She was 15-30 min late to 3/6 sessions. Would read the agenda our, talk about herself then leave everyone to do there own thing. Often scrolling on her phone. Addresses were wrong, told we had reservations at places that don't even take reservations. The help line takes 5-7 days to respond to emails abd often just said sorry hope it went well without addressing anything.

I joined Real Roots because I wanted to meet new people who aligned more with my lifestyle and values. I’m health-conscious, active, don’t drink alcohol, and I’m more interested in meaningful connection, spirituality, personal growth, and healthy friendships. Many of my longtime friends are married with children now, so I thought this would be a good way to build a new social circle.

Unfortunately, my experience was extremely disappointing.

The groups felt very mismatched for me. A lot of the conversations centered around trauma dumping and trauma bonding, which is not the type of environment I’m personally looking for. I believe healing is important, but I’m more interested in building healthy, uplifting connections through shared interests, activities, and positive experiences. That wasn’t the vibe I experienced at all.

The events themselves were also poorly organized. One location was so loud that it was difficult to even hear people talk, which defeats the purpose of trying to connect. The directions to the first meetup location were confusing as well.

I was also disappointed by the advertising. The company promotes a “love it or your money back” guarantee, but when I requested a refund twice, I did not receive one. I agreed to try a second group, hoping it would be a better fit, but it felt even more mismatched for me, and I ended up not attending the second event.

Another thing to be aware of: the fee only covers the coordinator organizing the meetup. You still have to pay separately for your own drinks and dinner, so the cost adds up quickly for what is essentially a hosted social meetup.

Overall, this experience was not worth the money for me. I would honestly recommend saving your money and instead using platforms like Eventbrite to find activities and communities that genuinely match your interests. At least there you can choose events based on hobbies, wellness, spirituality, hiking, fitness, art, or other activities you actually enjoy.

Very disappointing. They claim to build new relationships through meaningful conversations but every restaurant was incredibly noisy and it was impossible to hear anything anyone said.
They ask if you have any disabilities upfront and I disclosed mine but nothing was done to accommodate me and the leader seemed to find my frustration annoying.
I emailed them and asked for a refund and was promised a reply in 3 days. It’s been a week and nothing.
Save your money.

Shady company. I signed up a few months ago and paid $25. They told me the day before the event that it changed, and keep pushing potential meeting dates out several weeks, so I asked for my money back. They refused. I think it’s a wizard of oz situation where they collect $25 and no real humans are actually meeting.

The concept is solid. The execution is not ready.

I signed up for an Upper Manhattan Meet and Greet and received the venue address less than 24 hours before the nighttime event. The location was not somewhere I feel comfortable walking alone at night (they straight up sent a bunch of women to the middle of the hood at night). For a service built around women showing up solo to meet strangers, that is a significant problem. Women need enough notice to actually evaluate whether a venue is safe.

I requested a cancellation, was rescheduled without being asked, to a date that conflicted with a religious holiday. I was then told I was fully canceled. I was not. I was added to a new group chat, kept getting app notifications, and had no way to remove myself through the app. The only button available was reschedule, and the groups shown were categories I never selected.

I sent multiple follow-up emails. Each one hit a 2-3 business day auto-response. By the time anyone acknowledged the issue, the event was already starting and I was still in the chat.

The last thing: the email explaining why I was matched with my Lower Manhattan group was word for word identical to the one I received for the Upper Manhattan group. If intentional matching is your whole pitch, copy-pasting the rationale is not a good look.

Fix the venue selection process, fix cancellations, and fix the matching messaging. The foundation is there. The systems are not.

RealRoots is a nice concept, but the execution feels unpolished. When you sign up, you are enrolled in a seven-week series with a designated host. The overall experience varies significantly depending on the host, so consistency is not guaranteed.

Some events are partially covered, but you should expect to pay additional costs beyond the initial fee. Ultimately, you are paying for someone to plan weekly events for you.

The experience also depends heavily on the people in your group. You might get lucky with a great mix, or you might not.

Would I do it again? No.
Am I glad I tried it once? Moderately.

Beware: that automatically charge you a $99 annual membership fee and make it impossible to login to your account to cancel and they do not respond to customer service emails.