Warning: screwed up emails on new rentboy

[Rick Munroe]

I just received an email from a prospective client with no way for me to reply. Before, we would just hit "reply" and it would go directly to the client's email address. Now, it goes back to Rentboy. I went to look at my ad (and others' ads) and clicked "email" and sure enough, there isn't even a field to enter your email address when writing an escort. All you can enter is "subject" and "message" and then click "send."

 

...OK, wait, I just figured this out. Apparently, if you're a "guest," you enter your email address, but if you're a "member," you don't, and we have to write back through the rentboy system and not by email. An extra unnecessary step. How fun. :-(

[JT Brooklyn]

A Paying Member as opposed to a "Non Paying" Guest? I now what Category MY Emails will be answered in! LOL ;-)

[jasoncarter_dfw]

I agree...it's ridiculous.

 

- Jason Carter - Dallas, TX

- jasoncarter53@hotmail.com

- (972) 365-0120

 

>I just received an email from a prospective client with no

>way for me to reply. Before, we would just hit

>"reply" and it would go directly to the client's

>email address. Now, it goes back to Rentboy. I went to look

>at my ad (and others' ads) and clicked "email" and

>sure enough, there isn't even a field to enter your email

>address when writing an escort. All you can enter is

>"subject" and "message" and then click

>"send."

>

>...OK, wait, I just figured this out. Apparently, if you're a

>"guest," you enter your email address, but if you're

>a "member," you don't, and we have to write back

>through the rentboy system and not by email. An extra

>unnecessary step. How fun. :-(

[mattsmojo]

You need to click on (or copy and paste) the clients name. It's one of the negatives about the change of site that I actually forgot to mention. It is basically the m4rn model, where hitting reply just send you back to renboy, but clicking (at least in gmail that how it works) on the clients email address opens a new email composition window and then you go from there - of course, it is helpful to copy and paste their original email to you into the reply.... like I said... yeah, thats a minus.....

[Kevin Slater]

I hate it too. As I understand it, the reason has to do with spam filters: apparently a good indicator of spam is an email coming from one server but pretending to be from another. So if a spam filter sees an email coming from the rentboy server but with an aol (for example) return address, it often goes in the spam folder. This should help prevent that. I too wish there were a better way.

 

Kevin Slater

[Rick Munroe]

>but clicking

>(at least in gmail that how it works) on the clients email

>address opens a new email composition window and then you go

>from there -

 

But if they are a "member" and not a "guest," their email address does not appear in the email at all. You then need to go sign into rentboy, click on "mail" and locate the email, and send a reply through their system. That's the really obnoxious part.

[SAdler]

Yeah ... combine this with the cluster fuck of unreliable wireless internet on a cruise ship and you can imagine how elated I was to see my ship's bill for wireless internet only to find half of my emails went nowhere.

 

I've contacted the rent-girls and they say its an EASY problem to fix and they're on it but that was about a week ago.

[Rick Munroe]

On the phone today, I was informed that the email system isn't really ready yet and that they're working on having it "finished" soon. As someone above (or in the other thread) said, why the heck didn't they do a beta version first and iron all of this out before the "big rollout"?

[+ ArVaGuy]

>On the phone today, I was informed that the email system

>isn't really ready yet and that they're working on having it

>"finished" soon. As someone above (or in the other

>thread) said, why the heck didn't they do a beta version first

>and iron all of this out before the "big rollout"?

>

 

And they have the nerve to charge the escorts for advertising on the site given this mess. Its reasonable to expect that with the amount of $$$$ that site brings in for its owners they would have done a much more professional job building out the site. A critical component such as email delivery should have been a top priority on the functionality list. I do recall a thread from late last year that announced the "preview" site seeking comments. It appears that most of those comments were ignored.

 

Perhaps the escorts should band together to demand refunds or discounts for the next few months. (Ok....back to reality....no way refunds will happen.) Maybe the better answer would be to move advertising to other sites till RentBoy can get its act together. I've found Rentmen.com to be a very cool site and have been using it more and more lately.

[+ deej]

They really told you that?

 

Are they waiting for Lenny (the 13-year-old in NJ who runs the internet) to have a few free minutes to help them out?

 

Handling email from a web page is a trivial thing.

[+ ArVaGuy]

>They really told you that?

>

>Are they waiting for Lenny (the 13-year-old in NJ who runs the

>internet) to have a few free minutes to help them out?

>

>Handling email from a web page is a trivial thing.

 

 

Deej, you should know that Lenny is pretty busy these days. What with school, soccer practice, homework, those piano lessons his mom makes thim take, plus his chores, the poor kid barely has time to keep all the servers running. Throw in the start of puberty and ....well poor Lenny's a nervous wreck. It's no wonder he's not had any free time to help the programmers at RB. :+ :+

[+ deej]

>Deej, you should know that Lenny is pretty busy these days.

 

Indeed.

 

You should have seen the first version of that post, before the editor (me) got to it. ;-)

 

I've always been of the opinion that Rentboy's business model is to extract as much money from escorts as possible, and if they happen to connect escorts with clients as well so much the better but it's sort of an afterthought.

 

This pretty much confirms it.

 

It's just scandalous for something this simple to get dropped. Sorry. It's borderline fraud. And I'm being kind calling it borderline.

[Rick Munroe]

>I've found Rentmen.com to

>be a very cool site and have been using it more and more

>lately.

 

You've never steered me wrong, ArVaGuy, so I created an ad on rentmen.com yesterday. I really like it. We get to post up to 20 photos (rentboy's limit is 8 or 9; I forget) plus videos. I also prefer the name because, as much as I hate to admit it (in my mind, I am about 12), I am a man, not a boy. I've never liked the name "rentboy" for that very reason. Plus, I had questions for the webmaster today and he wrote back immediately and fixed the bugs I'd found. That's amazing customer service!

[Rick Munroe]

>I've found Rentmen.com to

>be a very cool site and have been using it more and more

>lately.

 

You've never steered me wrong, ArVaGuy, so I created an ad on rentmen.com yesterday. I really like it. We get to post up to 20 photos (rentboy's limit is 8 or 9; I forget) plus videos. I also prefer the name because, as much as I hate to admit it (in my mind, I am about 12), I am a man, not a boy. I've never liked the name "rentboy" for that very reason. Plus, I had questions for the webmaster today and he wrote back immediately and fixed the bugs I'd found. That's amazing customer service!

[+ ArVaGuy]

>You've never steered me wrong, ArVaGuy, so I created an ad on

>rentmen.com yesterday. I really like it. We get to post up

>to 20 photos (rentboy's limit is 8 or 9; I forget) plus

>videos. I also prefer the name because, as much as I hate to

>admit it (in my mind, I am about 12), I am a man, not a boy.

>I've never liked the name "rentboy" for that very

>reason. Plus, I had questions for the webmaster today and he

>wrote back immediately and fixed the bugs I'd found. That's

>amazing customer service!

>

 

Thanks for the compliment Rick. ;-) I saw the profile on Rentmen yesterday and have to say those added picutres are hot. Especially the shot of your hairy ass. :9 Now...will you and Derek be adding a video clip to that fine collection of photos? YUM!!:9

 

I'm not sure of the level of traffic that site gets but I've steadily seen the number of escort listings grow over the last few months. The search feature beats RB's "improved" function with out a doubt IMHO.

 

And for those who've not seen Rick and Derek's new profile here's the link....

 

http://www.rentmen.com/rickandderek

[+ ArVaGuy]

>You've never steered me wrong, ArVaGuy, so I created an ad on

>rentmen.com yesterday. I really like it. We get to post up

>to 20 photos (rentboy's limit is 8 or 9; I forget) plus

>videos. I also prefer the name because, as much as I hate to

>admit it (in my mind, I am about 12), I am a man, not a boy.

>I've never liked the name "rentboy" for that very

>reason. Plus, I had questions for the webmaster today and he

>wrote back immediately and fixed the bugs I'd found. That's

>amazing customer service!

>

 

Thanks for the compliment Rick. ;-) I saw the profile on Rentmen yesterday and have to say those added picutres are hot. Especially the shot of your hairy ass. :9 Now...will you and Derek be adding a video clip to that fine collection of photos? YUM!!:9

 

I'm not sure of the level of traffic that site gets but I've steadily seen the number of escort listings grow over the last few months. The search feature beats RB's "improved" function with out a doubt IMHO.

 

And for those who've not seen Rick and Derek's new profile here's the link....

 

http://www.rentmen.com/rickandderek

[+ ArVaGuy]

Yep, that about sums it up. I've wondered for a long time how that site gets away with such lousy customer service and still remain the 800 pound gorilla of escort sites. But throw a few parties and create sham awards and gay men will flock to them and forget about the lousy site.

 

As clients we may not have to pay directly to use the site but I've felt for a while the escorts who pay for listings do sometimes get ...ahem..cheated on what gets delivered. The site has cranky servers that are slow to download, the site crashes regularly, while they have made improvents in the redesign it's also like they just threw the new site up and said to hell with the complaints.

 

Since the advertising costs become overhead costs for the escorts that they then must build into their rates, clients do ultimately subsidize the site's existence. If a simple e-mail communication relay cannot be fully functional on the first get-go then everybody's being cheated.

[+ ArVaGuy]

Yep, that about sums it up. I've wondered for a long time how that site gets away with such lousy customer service and still remain the 800 pound gorilla of escort sites. But throw a few parties and create sham awards and gay men will flock to them and forget about the lousy site.

 

As clients we may not have to pay directly to use the site but I've felt for a while the escorts who pay for listings do sometimes get ...ahem..cheated on what gets delivered. The site has cranky servers that are slow to download, the site crashes regularly, while they have made improvents in the redesign it's also like they just threw the new site up and said to hell with the complaints.

 

Since the advertising costs become overhead costs for the escorts that they then must build into their rates, clients do ultimately subsidize the site's existence. If a simple e-mail communication relay cannot be fully functional on the first get-go then everybody's being cheated.

[Rick Munroe]

We will definitely be adding videos! And thanks for letting me know about that direct link (I created the ad in a hurry while we were packing to leave for Chicago). I'll go add it to some of our travel posts.

 

Give my regards to Mr. Hyde... }(

[Rick Munroe]

We will definitely be adding videos! And thanks for letting me know about that direct link (I created the ad in a hurry while we were packing to leave for Chicago). I'll go add it to some of our travel posts.

 

Give my regards to Mr. Hyde... }(

[pierrot]

I'm not taking up for Rentboy -- I know nothing about their business -- but the reason I go there is that they have lots of photos at a large enough size to see them. The new site is not an improvement however, and there does seem to be a problem with e-mails, which defeats the whole purpose. They've always had trouble with the site being slow too. That said, I don't know of another site that lets you look for free at the merchandise, except Men4Rent which only shows a couple of small pix.

That's why Rentboy is the site of choice for customers.

[+ deej]

Try http://www.rentmen.com , mentioned earlier in this thread. It shows great promise.

[Guest DoctorMike]

R-E-N-T-M-E-N = Fun to post a Client Profile

 

I can SECOND deej's recommendation of giving http://www.rentmen.com a spin (especially as Rentboy continues to be problematic with their rollout of "5.0"), as I've enjoyed the unique feature of posting my very own PROFILE, in search of an escort. Its been interesting to be on the receiving end of initial responses. :+ ;-)

[+ deej]

RE: R-E-N-T-M-E-N = Fun to post a Client Profile

 

Oh, great. Now we'll see escorts complaining about clients that don't respond to emails, and outdated client listings. :+

[Bart]

You missed the point, for free. Rentmen has been sending me emails since they went live. Then I received the email that they wish to charge to see the explicit videos. Whats next a small user fee for regular videos, then the site itself?

 

Yes I like rentmen too and I think it will give Lenny's crew a run for their money. Now to be fair escorts how are the fees comparing?

There are definitely more photos available. I do not have the time delay when clicking back and forth like I do on rentboy. I have complained for a long time that the servers for Rentboy are either inadequate or not properly set up.