M4RN.com client reviews

[jasoncarter_dfw]

I just logged into my men4rentnow account this afternoon and saw a new feature...escorts can now review clients on their site. What do you guys think about that?

 

I personally have no intention of ever using the feature...

[Kevin Slater]

I saw it too. I so hate that site that I just don't trust them to do anything right. (Today's word, boys and girls, is bias.) They so misrepresent escort reviews (we can delete any we wish and everybody is above average) that I don't trust them on this front either. Besides, I don't know that I'd trust a review by an unnamed escort. One ploy might be to submit a bad review for your best clients in an attempt to gain a lock on their business. Overall, I'm just not interested in the concept, especially when developed by (hack hack... coughs up a hairball) M4RN.

 

Kevin Slater

[Kevin Slater]

I don't know if clients can see the feature and I'm sure some would like to know: it seems to be organized by email address and/or phone number (because, God knows, one cannot simply get another hotmail account).

 

Kevin Slater

[Guest Ace]

I agree with Kevin on this...

If M4RN is involved, well.....I'm not interested. (Just deleted my account with them earlier this month).

[+ Gar1eth]

I don't know if clients can see the feature and I'm sure some would like to know: it seems to be organized by email address and/or phone number (because, God knows, one cannot simply get another hotmail account).

 

Kevin Slater

 

About the only reviews on M4RN that I am fairly sure I can trust are the bad ones. I figure if an escort isn't bright enough to remove the bad ones from his ad--especially if he has multiple bad starred reviews-- then that should at least give me some pause before I hire him. I also have a tendency not to trust 2 or 3 starred reviews in a row that are on consecutive days and then nothing--what the escort gave such good service that several people several days in a row suddenly decided to give the escort a starred review and never again.

 

Another thing I hate about M4RN--and I never really understand is when the stars and the little bit that is written don't agree with each other as in a 2 star review where the escort didn't look like his pictures, didn't live up to what he promised, but the client would see him again--it's like a total disconnect. But I do trust the occasional written review more on its affiliated site--not sure if I should or not--plus I have done the starred reviews myself occasionally, so I know they are not all fake.

 

Both escorts and clients are between a rock and a hard place. I've heard from several escorts that Rentboy's customer service can be lousy. And M4RN in many places has more active ads listed for a city than RB or Rentmen. But M4RN has the well-known problem of dead ads with questionable reviews. Now M4RN is rating clients--and I am betting clients can't see it. If they can see it, it most likely would be if they logged into it--although I haven't actually logged into M4RN for months as I haven't starred someone lately.

 

None of the sites are perfect, both clients and escorts are stuck.

 

Gman

[+ purplekow]

How exactly would one of these reviews go?

I was hired by Purplekow. He was a bit of a pain in the ass, asking alot of questions that really did not need answering. He called day after day to arrange details that would never come about. Finally, I felt it better to limit my contact with him before the encounter. When he arrived at my hotel door, I thought, well here we go again. Fifties, balding, overweight. Nothing discernably unique about his appearance. He came in and asked to shower. When he emerged from the shower, the only thing softer than his dick was his pendulous abdomen and the fontanelle in the middle of the scalp where the bones did not close in childhood. I prefer to leave the details of this encounter private, as I am desparately trying to expunge it from my memory.

He paid cash on the barrelhead and left a modest tip.

On the whole, it you are an escort looking for typical encounter from a guy with enough money to make it happen, consider letting purplekow hire you.

[Bart]

My God we were seperated at birth. How did you know what I looked like?

[+ Gar1eth]

. When he emerged from the shower, the only thing softer than his dick was his pendulous abdomen and the fontanelle in the middle of the scalp where the bones did not close in childhood. .

 

Do you wear a football helmet to protect your brain?

 

Gman

[+ Gar1eth]

You forgot the part where the escort says ....

 

How exactly would one of these reviews go?

I was hired by Purplekow. He was a bit of a pain in the ass, asking alot of questions that really did not need answering. He called day after day to arrange details that would never come about. Finally, I felt it better to limit my contact with him before the encounter. When he arrived at my hotel door, I thought, well here we go again. Fifties, balding, overweight. Nothing discernably unique about his appearance. He came in and asked to shower. When he emerged from the shower, the only thing softer than his dick was his pendulous abdomen and the fontanelle in the middle of the scalp where the bones did not close in childhood. I prefer to leave the details of this encounter private, as I am desparately trying to expunge it from my memory.

He paid cash on the barrelhead and left a modest tip.

On the whole, it you are an escort looking for typical encounter from a guy with enough money to make it happen, consider letting purplekow hire you.

 

"His dick was so small that he would never believe me if I complimented him on it's length. So thinking fast, I told him how fat it was--and that seemed to satisfy him."

 

Gman

[+ purplekow]

On a serious note, I am sure there are valuable bits of information about a client which might serve another escort well but I would think the big three would be.

He was not a stalker or a major pain in the ass.

He was humanoid and smelled like one

He paid, he paid generously, he paid after a hammerlock and kick to the groin.

[Mark Gordon]

M4rn

 

Men for Rent Now

 

I agree that their new client review feature is open to abuse, but then so are escort reviews generally.

 

Positive:

-brings in a good chunk of my business

-allows you to advertise your travel dates in advance without switching your ad out of your home city or creating a new ad; can list multiple travel cities

-wanted list feature

 

Negative:

-pop-ups galore

-strict censoring of ad text; limited space

-lots of inactive ads

-clients can only give their contact info in initial email; said email cannot be replied to directly

-screen must be refreshed every 15mins to stay 'online now'

-star reviews lack credibility because escorts can delete them

 

But I do trust the occasional written review more on its affiliated site--not sure if I should or not

 

The text reviews which M4RN link to are run by a separate entity called Cruising for Escorts. They merely link their reviews to escort profiles on the site in the same way Daddy’s Reviews links to Rentmen profiles. I don’t know what sort of vetting process is in place, but escorts cannot delete their text reviews, only reply to them.

[Kevin Slater]

Men for Rent Now

 

Positive:

-brings in a good chunk of my business

-allows you to advertise your travel dates in advance without switching your ad out of your home city or creating a new ad; can list multiple travel cities

-wanted list feature

 

Negative:

-pop-ups galore

-strict censoring of ad text; limited space

-lots of inactive ads

-clients can only give their contact info in initial email; said email cannot be replied to directly

-screen must be refreshed every 15mins to stay 'online now'

-star reviews lack credibility because escorts can delete them

 

Our lists are similar, but I think you're far too kind.

 

Ad issues:

Expand the text field beyond 500 characters

Allow links to individual escort sites

Make coherent edits (or none at all) and check with the escort before publishing

Apply rules evenly for all the advertisers (Often I'm told I can't use a phrase which the ad right below mine uses)

 

Email issues:

Allow the client to write us a useful email, not limited to 30 characters

Allow us to reply to the client emails without having to copy & paste their email address

Allow escorts to give their direct email address in the ad

 

Client perspective:

Stop listing ads for escort who cannot be contacted

Only list ads for guys who are actually in that city

Don't put profiles for guys in other cities in the banner ad (clients never understand that you're not in Bakersfield if they see you in the banner ad there)

Do away with the fake review system (where all escorts are not only above average, but excellent)

Allow us to search ads by text

 

Billing and account issues:

Stop billing through a third party (which is very confusing)

Allow you to use the same profile name when you recreate your ad (I'm now KSlater, KevinSlater and LaterSlater being held on ice indefinitely on that site)

Apply common sense to their billing: a recurring monthly ad is $100, but a one-time 60 day ad is $180. However, if you try to renew your ad before it expires, they steal days from your account

Allow you to reduce your membership level (Currently, you have to let your ad expire then start a new one to drop a level)

Have a number to call and actually talk to someone to resolve issues, if not an actual physical presence

Communicate with me in American English, not India call center platitudes ("Dear Sir: We are very sorry you are unhappy that we overbilled you...")

 

Stop the pop-up ads

 

Kevin Slater

[+ ArVaGuy]

Kevin,

 

I must say that you are often at your most entertaining on this MB when you bash M4RN. "India call center platitudes" love it.

 

 

Our lists are similar, but I think you're far too kind.

 

Ad issues:

Expand the text field beyond 500 characters

Allow links to individual escort sites

Make coherent edits (or none at all) and check with the escort before publishing

Apply rules evenly for all the advertisers (Often I'm told I can't use a phrase which the ad right below mine uses)

 

Email issues:

Allow the client to write us a useful email, not limited to 30 characters

Allow us to reply to the client emails without having to copy & paste their email address

Allow escorts to give their direct email address in the ad

 

Client perspective:

Stop listing ads for escort who cannot be contacted

Only list ads for guys who are actually in that city

Don't put profiles for guys in other cities in the banner ad (clients never understand that you're not in Bakersfield if they see you in the banner ad there)

Do away with the fake review system (where all escorts are not only above average, but excellent)

Allow us to search ads by text

 

Billing and account issues:

Stop billing through a third party (which is very confusing)

Allow you to use the same profile name when you recreate your ad (I'm now KSlater, KevinSlater and LaterSlater being held on ice indefinitely on that site)

Apply common sense to their billing: a recurring monthly ad is $100, but a one-time 60 day ad is $180. However, if you try to renew your ad before it expires, they steal days from your account

Allow you to reduce your membership level (Currently, you have to let your ad expire then start a new one to drop a level)

Have a number to call and actually talk to someone to resolve issues, if not an actual physical presence

Communicate with me in American English, not India call center platitudes ("Dear Sir: We are very sorry you are unhappy that we overbilled you...")

 

Stop the pop-up ads

 

Kevin Slater

[Romann]

Interesting concept is all I can say...

[Romann]

Wow!

 

Men for Rent Now

 

I agree that their new client review feature is open to abuse, but then so are escort reviews generally.

 

Positive:

-brings in a good chunk of my business

-allows you to advertise your travel dates in advance without switching your ad out of your home city or creating a new ad; can list multiple travel cities

-wanted list feature

 

FINALLY! I'M NOT ALONE on this one! M4RN brings in 98% of my business and I run reports on this weekly just to make sure that I'm not insane. I know that there are *some* who really dislike the site for their own personal/business reasons but each site has its issues.

 

The battle continues...

[+ Gar1eth]

FINALLY! I'M NOT ALONE on this one! M4RN brings in 98% of my business and I run reports on this weekly just to make sure that I'm not insane. I know that there are *some* who really dislike the site for their own personal/business reasons but each site has its issues.

 

The battle continues...

 

 

I wonder Romann if it is because lately M4RN has more

( live) escorts ads listed from the DFW market than RB does--so people at least from DFW, may check it more frequently. One thing I have noticed--escorts on M4RN seem to be more ephemeral--I have heard that M4RN is less expensive than RB--if that is true--then I could see how people who aren't too sure about escorting, people who don't plan to be in it long, or scammers might be more inclined to use M4RN over RB. And then of course we all know that M4RN has more (in)famous inactive ads than RB does. Those really are tiresome--I know it's been mentioned before--as in continually-- but you would think the bad publicity from both the clients and escorts would get them to change their business policy on dead ads.

 

Gman

[Bart]

I stongly believe the issue is as simple as web placement. When you google "male escort" men4rent comes up first. Period end of story. Just like the old days when companies tried being AAAAAbc company to get placement first in the Yellow Pages. So Men4rent decided to put the money where it can be best used, pay to be placed first under the search of "male escort".

 

When you look down the list Rentboy is 4 and in the title as is men4rent, however, Rentmen is last and as a subtext. Despite being known as a classy organization for escorts to work with and addition of videos, what the Rentmen needs is higher placement in Google and more escorts but higher placement comes first. First time clients are not going to hunt around they are going to be furtive, 90% only to go through the situation first so they are not going to hunt, most likely spur of the moment and I think that is also why escorts get so many crank and drunk calls because they are first on the list and the site is the cheesiest of the three.

 

Why put money into customer service when you are currently #1 on search for an illegal activity?

 

Finally I really think New York is unique situation in this field. It is like it is its own country and therefore can be handled totally different than the rest of the country. I think that is why Rentboy works because it chose to put its eggs in the basket of NY and then the rest of the country. But I have heard Rentboy customer service is not exactly the easiest to work with either, but I have heard that second hand. Like what is known for both top sites, picture theft is given simple lip service and no real action is taken.

[+ glutes]

Like what is known for both top sites, picture theft is given simple lip service and no real action is taken.

 

Bart, foto fraud is sooo prevalent, it needs to be addressed in a whole other thread,

[Romann]

Customer Service is key!

 

But I have heard Rentboy customer service is not exactly the easiest to work with either, but I have heard that second hand.

 

Bart, you're correct! RB customer service is so lacking it's just pathetic. I used to create travel ads on the site (complete rip off if you look at what it costs to run an ad for a few days compared to their monthly membership rate) and had some issues getting it to post. I'm confident that I'm a pretty intelligent person (MIS graduate in system integration) and capable of doing simple functions. I called the support line and had the most unfortunate experience of speaking with a character named Brandon who was beyond rude on both occasions. At the end, he called me incompetent which blew me away. I was so stunned by his horrid so-called skills that I sent in a strong letter to RB in which I never received a response - not one. It was suggested that I wait to ask my questions when the LA office switches over to the NY office. I found this to be just completely wrong because I shouldn't have to wait to call anyone at any time to ask important questions. When I inquired why the site continually has issues and run-time errors, I was informed by this joker Brandon that the site doesn't have down time nor do they have system issues even though I copied the error code and I could clearly see that there was a disconnect. I would highly recommend to anyone that they NOT deal with Brandon because he is very lacking. I actually met him when I was in SF for the Folsom Street event and let me tell you, he was exactly as I pictured him...

 

I know that M4RN sends their customer service to India which is nothing new for most businesses and it is annoying at times but honestly, at least my questions are answered in a timely manner and I don't get attitude.

 

I don't appear to have the issues that others have described and I go with what gives me the most return on my investment. RB is only good in NY but most other cities it doesn't have coverage. If I treated my clients like that, I wouldn't be where I am today but apparently RB doesn't feel that customer service is important and they would just rather continue raking in the money from membership dues without providing a polished product that they refine/improve upon. Tends to happen when sites think that they're "all that and a bag of chips"...

 

Rentmen is a popular site that I feel will overcome both RB and M4RN in the coming years because the site is attractive, very easy to navigate and the webmasters are very kind, easy to speak with and honestly just good guys all around but that's just me.

 

I feel like a broken record.

[Romann]

Stolen pictures.

 

Bart, foto fraud is sooo prevalent, it needs to be addressed in a whole other thread,

 

Yes, it is. There is an escort in Canada that was using my pictures to advertise himself which a client on the site informed me about. He was also using another escort's pictures from Dallas as well (we don't look alike one bit) so I went to his site and posted a public message requesting him to take my pictures down. He chose not to so I informed my photographer about the incident who also contacted the escort as well. Two days later, the escort in question received cover boy of the day. At the end of the day, my pictures were removed...

[Romann]

Kevin-

 

I'm curious... what do you feel RB's problems are? Care to share?

[Kevin Slater]

Kevin-

 

I'm curious... what do you feel RB's problems are? Care to share?

 

I have no major issues left with that site. Then again, they've been very responsive to the dozen or so site suggestions I've meade. I could produce a long and tedious list of nits and nice-to-haves, but nothing rises to the level of frustration and incompetence I see with M4RN.

 

I love being able to set my availability over the phone. Rentboy represents more than half my revenue, both here and on the road. A distant second (at <12%) is M4RN. (See Bart's post regarding google searches.) This site is third.

 

As opposed to others, I like that my travel ads are separate from my home ad. (What if I wanted to charge a different rate in my travel city? How would I otherwise set myself as available in Lauderdale but not NY? Perhaps I'm traveling with a friend.) That it's an additional charge strikes me as only fair; somebody has to pay their overhead and I'm glad to contribute.

 

The servers still seem somewhat dicey, but nowhere as bad as they used to be. (It turns out that my troubles were unique: I had a couple thousand guys on my block list so that was hanging up my searches.)

 

They tend to announce or release new features before these are tested and ready (the mapping feature, getting emails via SMS, etc.).

 

If someone brings an issue to my attention that I can replicate and sympathize with I'll do my best to champion the issue with management, but again I find them responsive if approached directly.

 

Thanks for asking.

 

Kevin Slater

[Mark Gordon]

Rentboy

 

Rentboy has extraordinary influence in NYC. The ad I ran there had over 1,000 more hits in a week than my Toronto ad has had in 6 months. Unfortunately, I used my primary business email address for my NYC ad, which I would now like to use for my Toronto ad, and they will not let me. My request to change my email was met with the terse reply that "If an email was used in a previous account, it cannot be used again." Great, cheers.

[Kevin Slater]

Unfortunately, I used my primary business email address for my NYC ad, which I would now like to use for my Toronto ad, and they will not let me. My request to change my email was met with the terse reply that "If an email was used in a previous account, it cannot be used again." Great, cheers.

 

I'm not sure, but I think what they're saying Mark is that they want you to create the Toronto ad through the same account you used to create the NYC ad. You can have multiple ads for multiple cities all through one account. Does that cause problems on your end?

 

Kevin Slater

[Mark Gordon]

Rentboy's Email Issue

 

Ultimately, you're right Kevin, the solution would be to switch the NYC ad with its associated email to Toronto. The problem is that I've prepaid my Toronto ad by money order several months in advance, so won't be able to do that for some time.