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I'm seeing an increasing number of comments that even Gold members, when trying to view a photo album on someone's profile, are getting prompted to pay $14.99 for the "Voyeur Package" or pay 100 points.
It's a bait and switch, as someone commented - why else to do people pay for Gold membership if not to look at pictures? Seeing as the messaging privileges don't get most men anywhere.
It's so outrageous that I almost wonder if it's a programming error - that when they went to add the pop-up for Standards, they added it for everyone.
If it's NOT an error, they must really be in dire straits.
I've not seen that, yet? Could be programming error, that is an ongoing/recurring problem.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, interesting. Could be that it's a gradual rollout - OR a programming error.
DeleteIt's confirmed in a Site Support post this afternoon. Not only are they now nickel and diming the Gold members by making them buy additional "packages" to have all of the options they had before, but they're using this as a strong-arm for people to leave Auto-Renew turned on. Members who allow auto-renew don't have to pay the extra charges.
DeleteYes, read it and commented. Considering another comment: Given the current CEO has a PhD in statistics, I'm sure he's carefully tracking and analyzing the results of recent changes to what Gold and Standard members now can and cannot do.
DeleteIt may be a roll out or glitch, yet members who pay for Gold, should not have to spend either money or points for anything else..
ReplyDeleteI agree. They used to have what was called a Silver membership that was less expensive and had fewer privileges - if that was still around I guess I could see Silver members having to use points to see the entirety of another member's photo album. I can't see it for Gold members.
DeleteI remember when they had the Silver membership there and agree with you, but definitely not for Gold members to have to pay more or spend points for other benefits... That reeks of desperation and financial instability of AFF..
DeleteI can't test this as I'm now only a standard member on AFF.
ReplyDeleteThough perhaps a programming error, everything else happening suggests that AFF is desperate.
Perhaps I need to hurry up a bit on Project Blog Post Retrieval.
DeleteHow did I not see this sooner?
ReplyDeleteSo, was it a programming error or are they still doing it?
Not an error. Site Support did a blog post a couple of days ago explaining the the new charges. The add-on charges for gold members only begin after a renewal, so I suppose it's not a total bait and switch if the members were actually informed about it before their membership expired (there seems to be some question about that).
DeleteAlso, they are saying that if gold members leave auto-renew turned on, they will NOT be subject to the add-on charges. So clearly they've realized that everyone is getting smart and turning off auto-renew, and this is an attempt to reverse that trend.
Woah.
DeleteI’m sure this is going over well. 😳
I can vouch that switching auto-renewal off isn't a guarantee that AFF will switch the auto-renewal on. I wonder whether in those instances AFF will still maintain privileges to those gold members!
DeleteGood question
Delete@Debbi No, it is not going over well.
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