a listing that you never authorized in the first place?



Before I explain, let me say upfront that I'm speaking for myself, not TER.

CityVibe has been pulling this BS for awhile now. They start by giving providers a page on their website (without asking the provider's permission). Before you say, "Oh isn't that nice. CityVibe is giving me a FREE AD!" you need to understand why CV is giving you the ad. The way I understand it, TER has an arrangement with Cityvibe so that, if a provider/agency has an ad on Cityvibe, TER will replace the provider's website link in her TER profile with the link to her CityVibe ad. So what did Cityvibe do, they started creating unauthorized ads for providers on their website. Once these unauthorized ads are in place, Cityvibe then reports the link to the unauthorized ad to TER and TER removes the link to the provider's website in her TER profile and replaces it with the link to the Cityvibe ad. As long as a provider has an ad on Cityvibe (whether or not she authorized the ad) TER will not change the link in her profile back to her website.

This reminds me of the "slamming" marketing technique that phone companies have used to hijack your business. Except in that case, at least you got a small check from the phone company. What Cityvibe is doing here is inexcusable! You never asked for the ad and now they're demanding payment.

IMHO, you’re crazy if you renew these ads. My suggestion is to call Cityvibe's bluff. Tell them you never wanted the ad in the first place. If Cityvibe pulls your ad, (I don't think they will) you can then link your website to your TER profile, the way you wanted it in the first place.

thirsty

Been there done that.  When I told them I never wanted to advertise in the first place, they told me they'd take my ad down and not bother me for money any longer.  Instead, they created a page independent from searches so TER would still link to them, but I don't get any benefit when someone searches cityvibe for escorts in my region.  

I worked hard on my site and would prefer TER linked to me.  

There's no ending your relationship with Cityvibe whether you asked for one in the first place or not.  If you find a solution, please let me know.  

-- Modified on 2/23/2004 11:37:35 AM

Maybe this is true (although one provider in FL posted that she got CV to remove her unauthorized ad by threatening legal action). However, now Cityvibe is demanding payments for renewing these unauthorized ads. It's bad enough when they force a free ad on you...

thirsty

-- Modified on 2/23/2004 11:10:04 AM

These problems with CityVibe keep going on and on.  It would be nice if TER would step up and do something about it since they are the ones creating links to the CityVibe website and giving them business and make them clean up their act or break ties with them.  The only reason that I can see that TER would not do it is that they condone this activity and encourage it.

considering TERs very low tolerance of b.s. either from the ladies posting schedules or what not and for guys posting reviews or general comments (wich is good ) !  Im suprised this aggravation for the ladies has gone on this long, of course we are not not privy on the "arrangement"
 does seem like cityvibe needs ter more than ter needs cityvibe ??...just my .02 , its not aggravating for the guys!

to be able to click directly to the womens  website instead of clicking to the CV ad, then again to the website for the useful and real information.

I'm getting sore fingers from all this damned clicking. My fingers are much better served groping and caressing, soft, supple, yet firm skin.... oops, sorry just drifting.

and it was nice that way, then all this Cv crap started.

Personally, if i'm interested in doing alittle research on a particular lady, i need to go to that lady's website to get all the info i am looking for. Not some single page phone book type ad. I wish that the old way of linking directly to the lady's personal website would come back.

I understand that in time all things eventually change, but this is one change that really is not for the better

I'm not a big conspiracy theorist, but here's my take on it:

1.  The relationship between TER and CityVibe is more likely intertwined in ways that we can't see from the outside.  CityVibe is a heavy advertiser on TER, and CityVibe's review link will only take you to TER reviews...  There's more to this.

2.  You guys are upset at the wrong party.  Your gripe isn't with CityVibe, it's with TER.  You see CityVibe as the bad guy and TER only as the innocent, unwitting accomplice.  If indeed TER is allowing the link to your site to be commandeered, and isn't willing to switch it back on your request, then TER is your problem, not CityVibe.

Often the breach of trust isn't being caused by the snake--you expect it from them.  It's the trusted friend who's conspiring with the snake that has broken your trust, not the snake.

Staff tends to never post on any complaints about Cityvibe.  Just more evidence of the relationship between them.

That is bullshit and you know it!  They NEVER demand $ from people, they can't.When you put your link on TER anyone has the right to take it and do as they please.  I bet you didn't know EXOTICS does it to, not to mention a handful of others!They can legally do it.  And when an ad is made on Cityvibe they link the girls site on her ad, they don't remove it.  It only redirects the traffic to Cityvibe, a person can still go to the girls site.
They rarely make ads for girls without their permission, they give trials and if the girl wants to keep up the ad she can, they give us options.  Whoever posted this obviously doesn't know the facts!

I'm not sure what you mean about when I put my link on TER, anyone has the right to take it and do as they please, but I'll elaborate on the rest. Yes, Shittyvibe DOES frequently display ads on their site WITHOUT the permission of the providers. I know of 8 local young ladies who personally who had their TER website link hijacked by Shittyvibe. My ad on Shittyvibe was a word for word copy of my ad on Eros. I did not give anyone permission to post anything related to me or my site at Shittyvibe. Furthermore, it's copyright infringement.

So, if Shittyvibe is so ethical and legit, why did my "attorney" have to draft a legal document requested my ad be removed before it was actually removed? I email Shittyvibe several times requesting and then demanding my ad be removed. Only when legal action was threatened did the ad get removed.

You got me all hot, sweaty, and wet with your directness! Meowza, babygirl

Mel

You are so wrong you have no
idea what you are talking
about. CV and other "malls"
have hijacked providers pics
and posted ads on their "malls"
sometimes with old information
bad links, old phone numbers,
the list goes on and on. This
has been an infrequent topic
for about 8 to 12 months. Do a
search and check your facts
prior to jumping all over
another poster. It seems as
though the latest tactic is to
say they have to cancel the ad
due to non payment. But it
doesn't end there. They call
and spam the inbox to no end.

Anyone who wants to know more about this can e-mail TER and they will confirm that your link can be taken by anyone at anytime.
It's the same for pictures, that's why you see "fake" ads all the time.  True CV occasionally does it, but you have to realize that they surely aren't the only ones.  I have heard numerous complaints about Exotice, Eros, thatmall.com, etc.  To beat up CV is not reasonable.  I'm not trying to get all over someone, but I've had great service from CV.  They are run from more than one place so the wrongs that have been done by one person can't reflect on the whole company!

People recognize my name...your words might carry a bit more weight if you weren't hiding behind an alias! One statement that you made proves that you don't know the facts! You wrote, "They rarely make ads for girls without their permission." Over the past year on most TER boards, ladies have posted over and over again that they were never contacted by CityVibe, yet they found that they all of a sudden had pages on CityVibe's website. CityVibe is not demanding payment? I started this thread on a number of TER boards because providers were telling me that Cityvibe contacted them a number of times in the last week asking them to renew an ad that they never authorized in the first place. I'm assuming that you're a CityVibe employee. Perhaps you can tell us if these pages will be removed from the CityVibe server if the ladies don't pay for renewals? There are threads on this topic on the Boston, Atlanta, Florida, Carolinas, Las Vegas and General boards. Not one provider has posted in support of CityVibe! Why don't you guys just take the ads down when the ladies ask you to remove them? Don't lie and say the you do...all you have to do is read the threads to see the truth!

thirsty

-- Modified on 2/24/2004 6:39:48 PM

-- Modified on 2/24/2004 7:27:14 PM

CityVibe doesn't just take the provider's link. CityVibe creates unauthorized ad pages on its server for providers and then reports the URL of the unauthorized page to TER so that the lady's TER profile now points to CityVIbe.

thirsty

-- Modified on 2/24/2004 7:25:25 PM

You'd stated that you advertise there.  Try to cancel and see what happens.  It gets bizarre LOL.  I've gotten up to 3 calls a day to advertise and each time I said I wasn't interested.  

I'd rather pay TER 50 a month to advertise, but he can't...legal issues.  

I wouldn't give a dime to CityVibe after all the persistent marketing calls and emails then ignoring me when I wanted to remove my ad.  They remind me of timeshare sales.

You're mixing apples and oranges here.  Agreed, CV is welcome to copy  the URL to a provider's site and put that link into their site...  No one here disputes it.

What happens is, once CV does this, then TER "points" the URL in the provider's TER profile to the CV ad, not the provider's ad, and the providers can't get them switched back.  From then on, you MUST go through the CV ad to get from TER to the provider's site.

Why?  Because CV can then go to the provider with a high click-through count to justify the provider buying the ad.  If the provider says no, then guess what, CV can make the click-throughs stop and chop the provider off at the knees.

This is a scam plain and simple.  This "give it away free until you reach a critical mass that allows you to control the market" model is absolutely a scam to corner the market position currently held by Eros.  You are wrong to imply that it's "just part of being on the web" and you are absolutely wrong to defend it.

pure business, that's all it is.  I don't condone what they do.
I just don't think the whole comany should be dammed because of a few bad apples.  I know the truth, I just don't think it should be such a big deal being that they aren't the only ones doing it, they just dominate it.

I am not talking about linking to somebody's website without their permission or stealing website content. I'm talking about creating an ad without the provider's permission and then using this ad as justification for TER changing the link in the provider's profile so that the link now points to Cityvibe. You claim to know what you're talking about. Does any other escort mall have an arrangement with TER, TBD, Bluepleasures or any other escort review service to redirect the link in a provider's profile?

Once again, I will tell you THEY (Cityvibe) ARE THE ONLY ONES DOING THIS!!! Please find one other incident where an escort mall is doing this! IT IS NOT THE SAME AS STEALING A PICTURE OFF A WEBSITE!

You know the truth. Enlighten us. Tell us what other escort malls are doing this and what other escort review sites are allowing this to happen.

thirsty

If you, as a representative of Cityvibe, feel this way, how about pledging that any provider's request to have her unauthorized Cityvibe ad removed will be honored? If you still wish to pretend that you're not a Cityvibe representative, I invite any CV representative who would like to take steps to repair Cityvibe's reputation to make the same pledge. It says a lot that both TER and Cityvibe have not openly joined in this thread!

thirsty

I'm not a cityvibe rep, nor am I qualified to do any kind of computer work.  I "work" in Phoenix.  When I said there are others doing this I mainly meant Exotics.  It is Exotics and Cityvibe that have the agreement with TER.  I personally know of a girl that had to "hound" Exotics to get them to drop her ad.  It's the only way.