Hi NYers.  I'm a business traveller from Chicago and I did a search on good NY providers and when I saw the long list of satisfied Maxine customers, I knew I had to give her a shot.

What a waste of time.  She stood me up and strung me along in the process.  I normally don't post these bitchy complaints, but I have to vent after a long night of trying to get in to see her.

I call her around 6:30PM.  She says she has an opening @ 8PM.  Great, so I can make it tonight.  I'm in a hotel in NJ, but only a 1/2 hour drive into the city.  So I hop in my car in the near-zero weather and make my way into the city.  I dutifully call her at 7:30 from my cell to confirm.  She thanks me.  I park and give her a call as requested.  She says she's running behind and she need 10-15m to refreshen up and gives me the address.  No problem.  I grab a coffee nearby and wait.  So far a typical provider experience.

I come to her apartment and buzz after my coffee.  I wait.  Buzz again.  No answer.  Three, four times.  I'm freezing my ass off out here.  I call her.  She answers like she doesn't know who I am.  Uh, I'm the guy who's called three times in the last hour that's your overdue appointment.  Finally after buzzing again, she buzzes me in.  I knock on her door.  I can hear a radio or TV from inside.  But no one is coming to the door.  Knock again after waiting, I'm trying to be polite.  Nothing.  Knock another 2-3 times in fifteen minute period.  Nothing.  I call from my cell.  She puts me on hold and I'm starting to get frustrated now.

I call one last time.  After all this stalling she tells me she had an emergency with her mother and that she's in a cab.  Now I'm livid because I know this is bull.  Uh, she buzzed me in 20 minutes ago and I've been standing in front of her door and now she's in a cab?  What, did she jump out a window?

Then it occurred to me that when I came to the door at first there was someone waiting to be let in.  I paced back and forth in front for awhile, but he was still there.  I walked around the block and he was gone.  Just my theory, but it appears she double booked.  But why the bullshit story about her mother that was so obviously transparant?  Just come clean and say you screwed up your bookings.  I feel sorry for the guy who got in before me, if my theory if correct.  I'd be pissed if another client was knocking at the door when you're trying to have a good time.  That's just inexcusable.

KEEP the appointment! They want to make sure they get paid for every second (and many are clock watchers), yet they couldn't give a shit about OUR time. Providers that make hobbyists wait more than half an hour should provide discounts. I make good money and my time is valuable too!

Something like that happened to me. I had booked and explained how contact would happen on that day. I created a small window of free time that day and drove to the location that had been given to me, only to constantly reach her cell voice messaging. I figured that a valued regular had called for an appointment after I was set up for one, but she could have at least contacted me before I went through the trouble to say that she could not make the appointment becuase of an unexpected emergency. I feel how pissed off you are, I felt the same way. I know that I will never book that provider again and would talk anyone wanting to book her out of booking her.

-- Modified on 1/19/2005 6:20:48 AM

I have done the opposite, I was going to see a visiting provider, I was driving in an area of Long Island that was way off of my beaten path. I called the provider and said I was 2 minutes away, and I was, all ready to Rock n Roll, then as I am getting back in my car after getting a soda, who do I see, but my WIFE!!! " What are you doing out of work "??? AAGGHHH.....AAHHHH.... I had to pick up a check... Well it really fu**ed me up, I sat there for like half an hour helping her pick up some stuff, as my cell is ringing like mad... I felt like a dick, but sometimes shit just happens...

The author of this thread just saved a lot of hobbyists from headaches, money, and a waste of time. We should have more hobbyists post about providers who dare treat us hobbyists, the ones who pay their bills, like dirt and stand us up, so we could avoid wasting our valuable time.

Wow.  Short of LE, that's the most crap-your-pants nerve-wracking story I've heard.

You did not speak to Maxine on the phone, it was almost certainly her booker. I guess half hours back to back all day and all night mean that someone will sometimes get screwed and not the way they were hoping for. And its 100 times worse when your standing on Lexington Avenue freezing your balls off with a zero degree windchill factor. I feel for you.

If no link or additional info was given how do we know who to avoid?

-- Modified on 1/19/2005 12:38:19 PM

Well, I'm sure it was her.  She's an independent and when I spoke to her she always referred to herself in the first person.  She did not say "Maxine's address is...", she said "my address is...".  When I called the final time she said she was in a cab dealing with her mother.  This was not a booker on the phone telling me Maxine's problems, it was her.