I've had a few emails recently for sessions, which we offer, but are some just guy messing us about. Every few emails asks the same questions you've just answered, and then when you ask for a deposit they say they've had bad experiences before and refuse. They're just happy to piss your time away. I understand some people may be cautious about paying a deposit because there are some scam artists out there, but this whole email conversation was a big waste of my time.
Is there anywhere we can make a list of bad people or bad experiences?
I have a 3 message rule. If cash isn't exchanged after 3 messages I send them a final message saying that I will not reply until a deposit is made. It works for me. Maybe you can establish a firm protocol like that. Anyone really interested in a custom will offer a deposit by then.
The thing to realise is there are people who just want to wam-chat with someone for free. Wammer83 has the right idea, after a couple of messages to clarify that it's a custom you want to do and the overall scope, insist on a 50% deposit before any detailed discussion can happen. That will weed out the time-wasters, and anyone who is serious won't have a problem paying the deposit in advance.
See I did that, informed them no further correspondence until money is paid, alas they don't want to. I usually have a good scope for weeding out the idiots. Sadly this time it wasn't the case.
Either way, girls if you offer sessions and want info on this guy I'll share with you .
Aside from the producers forum, I like Noone's idea of verified customers. Maybe this could be extended to ratings/reviews, similar to eBay? As it stands, I can leave a review for a store (rather than a specific video), so they could do the same for me. E.g. "Paid promptly" or "moaned when I took 30 minutes to reply to his message". I don't know whether it would be better to make those reviews public for everyone to see or restrict them to store owners.
Regarding sessions in particular, I saw that Penny Banks has a screening process: https://www.sploshwithpenny.com/sessions/ If you've done a session with someone else, give their details so that they can endorse you (write a reference). If you haven't, provide proof of ID.
Having the references stored centrally might be better than pestering people later. It also means that the comments could be written while the session is still fresh in their mind, and it would remain on record if the producer/model retires from WAM.
Thanks Flank. I've been doing sessions for years and client verification is important. Perhaps maybe umd could consider a method of leaving people references (maybe similar to how modelling websites do a reference list)
Aside from having my own excel file of email addresses and phone numbers of timewaster and dangerous clients, there's nowhere I can put it to warn other girls
I mean, the way to do that I think is for those who offer sessions to maybe post on the profile pages of the members that were positive customers that they had a positive experience with them. Likewise, they could post if they had a negative experience. Not simply a yes or no check mark system, but like an actual comment with feedback.
Firm, but friendly and polite. Also, a clear price structure and terms that won't take up too much time to work out and convey to the customer. Details are negotiable once you have a deposit.
Time wasters - who are actually a minority - give themselves away pretty quickly usually. Get to prices as soon as you can. Serious people come to the table expecting to pay a realistic amount of money.
I think positive commendations are a good idea, J. Less so the defamatory ones as they can often turn out to be unfairly arbitrary.
flank said: Aside from the producers forum, I like Noone's idea of verified customers. Maybe this could be extended to ratings/reviews, similar to eBay? As it stands, I can leave a review for a store (rather than a specific video), so they could do the same for me. E.g. "Paid promptly" or "moaned when I took 30 minutes to reply to his message". I don't know whether it would be better to make those reviews public for everyone to see or restrict them to store owners.
Regarding sessions in particular, I saw that Penny Banks has a screening process: https://www.sploshwithpenny.com/sessions/ If you've done a session with someone else, give their details so that they can endorse you (write a reference). If you haven't, provide proof of ID.
Having the references stored centrally might be better than pestering people later. It also means that the comments could be written while the session is still fresh in their mind, and it would remain on record if the producer/model retires from WAM.
You are aware that there are, at least in the UK/EU (might as well get used to making the distinction...), quite strict data protection laws on holding even names and addresses, let alone scans of passports and such like?
Just to reassure anyone reading re my screening process - any information provided that I've requested for screening is held securely on an offline drive that only I have access to and only kept until the booking and then destroyed. Obviously I won't share what is done for screening otherwise people with bad intentions can work out how to get around it but rest assured its simply for my own peace of mind that the person booking me is unlikely to dismember me and dump me in the Thames As for screening to avoid timewasters - the only method that works for me is being firm about getting a deposit tbh.