Rent a friend.com anyone else heard of it?

FutureHeart2023

I started out on rentafriend.com and someone i met from there mentioned CC. Rentafriend is a bit different no cuddling or even hugging of any contact really of any kind usually they just do activities together for base price from $20 to $50. Movies dinner working out going to family events etc.

I've met some good friends on there that still friends with to this day. I don't see it as competitive to this site as they are very different in nature and beneficial in their own way.

Mike403

I'm confused. Why not make actual friends? These people are just hanging out with you because you're paying them.

bobadevotee

Haven’t heard of it and was going to sign up until I saw on the about section that most of them charge $10/hr. That’s below minimum wage where I live

Probably not a competitor to CC but I did see a few profiles from women on rent a friend where they had to specify it’s 100% platonic, mention their safety measures, etc. so I wouldn’t be surprised if they are encountering the same kind of inappropriate inquiries that a lot of women encounter here on CC 😕

KozyKim

@Mike403 I agree with him I have rented four friends over the last seven years and I rented them for specific reasons that my other friends weren’t able to or couldn’t do. I rented a girl in Iceland to take me up to the volcano. She only charge $30 an hour and if I would’ve gotten a regular tour guide it would’ve cost me a lot of money. You can rent them for various reasons like some people can teach you how to knit or crochet some people know how to help you with the Internet or computers. I rented another friend in New York to take me around and show me around New York he didn’t charge me any money but I did pay for his food .

I had gotten tired of the dating sites so I rented my first person, he was very adventurous and spontaneous and I really needed that because my friends weren’t so much. He happen to be laid off for a whole year so we went on all kinds of aventures. I met his friends that became my good friends and they actually asked me to live with them for a year which was great they really filled my love tank. I really believe in Rent A Friend I think it’s an amazing if you can find the right people. My original friend doesn’t make me pay anymore. I still am grateful to him so I’ll take him out to dinner and stuff like that but everything is free now. And he does give the best hugs. I guess we are not paying him anymore as a Rent A Friend you could potentially hug them. I think I broke the rules and hugged him on my first encounter. Which was probably not the best thing to do but it worked out for me.
Sorry about the long post😬

Sashamcgee

@KozyKim very awesome!

CuddleBarista1

I definitely remembered rentafriend! I remembered receiving a message to be someone's wing woman at a club and to dance with them. I never followed through and barely recieved any messages on that website.

CelestialTouch

Wow cool! Thanks.

Mike403

I took a look at it and they wanted a $24.95 fee just to sign up on the website.

edit: It's $24.95 per month to be a member in addition to the hourly cost to rent friends from there.

KozyKim

I’m not trying to promote Rent A Friend. Mostly it’s lame because everyone that I rented had never been rented before and they had been on there for years. I think only really good looking women get rented. That’s what I’ve noticed. Although I worked it for my advantage because I was looking for people to help me like the girl taking me to the volcano someone showing me around New York. And then I rented another girl to spend an hour with me in silence. Which was really really beneficial. Couldn’t put a price tag on that. A lot of my friends say they’ll sit with me quietly but they talk too much. So when I rented her and paid her she had to do what I asked her to do I couldn’t give her the money . So I rented 4 people for usually and different things. But I couldn’t be happier that I did.

Mike403

@KozyKim - Yes, i assume it's a place for lonely guys to go to get an attractive woman to hang out with them. The whole concept just seems depressing to me.

KozyKim

@Mike403 Well I myself have never been rented actually someone messaged me the other day First time in six years and I think because I was so platonic in my message he may have lost interest. But I think it really could work for people if they really took advantage of it, even on CC. I personally don’t think that it’s always that important to connect physically with someone it’s so good to connect emotionally and mentally it’s almost just like a cuddle so I’m surprised that more people don’t do public cuddling where you can still get cuddly but you can have great conversations and fun. For a discounted price.

pmvines

Rent a friend and hiring a cuddler are not that dissimilar so not sure why it wouid be seen as so strange a concept for someone on a site where the hiring of interweb strangers for cuddling is common place .

Mike403

@pmvines - Many people think that cuddling friends that they aren't romantically involved in is weird. This whole community is weird to many outsiders.

If you need physical touch, but don't want the relationship that society dictates must happen first, this is the place to get it.

KozyKim

@pmvines ditto.
I think cuddle comfort and Rent A Friend and all those sites are genius if use the right way.

Mike403

This site also doesn't charge a monthly fee to enthusiasts just to be a member and they can look for other enthusiasts if they don't want to pay.

CuddleWho

@Mike403 You are on a site right now where the main activity is men paying women to spend time with them. Beyond strange that you would be critical of another site for the same thing.

Mike403

@CuddleWho - Needing physical touch and paying for someone to go to a concert with you aren't the same thing. Most people don't cuddle their platonic friends and thinks it's weird.

pmvines

@Miles43 I'm not expressing my opinion or judging the merits of it. I dont think anybody is saying its exactly the same . What I'm saying and what others I believe are saying is there is some overlap there . Some similarities, however obvious differences

Mike403

If you want to meet new friends, http://www.meetup.com is a good place to do it and it's 100% free except for some ticketed events.

tacpmurg

I'm confused. Why not make actual friends? These people are just hanging out with you because you're paying them.

I mean you could say the same thing about professional cuddling? Sometimes it's just easier to pay for the service and get exactly what you want?

I've been using RaF to have consistent board game buddies.

KozyKim

@Mike403 it’s only $69 for the year and it’s well worth it for me because when I’m ready to rent someone I don’t have to think about it. There’s this really great obstacle course in Cleveland. I haven’t been able to find anyone to go with me. I like to compete and do obstacle courses (I am not a warrior by no means) but I think it’s fun so I would rent some woman close to my age to do it. If your friends are lame and won’t do it then you have to rent someone and it’s well worth it. If the person actually likes doing it, the next time they probably won’t charge they’ll just meet me there. I need to have diverse friends. And people that are on Rent A Friend sites are usually very friendly. I am extra friendly person. I have more friends than I can handle I’m not lacking in friends by no means but it’s fun to rent someone for specific purposes. Maybe I wanted to learn how to speak Spanish I could rent somebody Spanish-speaking. The possibilities are endless. Too bad more people weren’t on these sites.

KozyKim

@Mike403 I just signed up for the astronomer group on meet ups so I’m gonna be looking at the stars tonight. I belong to meet up groups too.

Mike403

@tacpmurg - I see this site as in the same category to getting a massage as a massage parlor. I'm just trying to understand the concept of paying to get somebody to go to a movie with them.

KozyKim

@Mike403 you don’t seem to get it. Maybe they should call it something else like Rent a service. Maybe because there’s friends in there it’s throwing you off. But also there are very shy introverted people that have a hard time making friends. If they could rent someone maybe that person would know how to interact with people that may be a little bit shy. It’s easy to find friends to go see a movie with that’s not the problem but sometimes there’s other things you want to do where you need to rent people. I couldn’t find anybody in New York to take me around so I rented someone. If I would’ve gotten a tour guide it would’ve cost me a lot more money. What if you want to take dance lessons and you don’t have a significant other you could rent someone. It’s a win-win for you and the other person they get free dance lessons and you get a partner. People are paying between 80 and $150 just to lay in bed with someone you could pay $30 an hour or less to have a dance partner.

KozyKim

I don’t see this going very much further. Before the mods get mad. I don’t want to take away from cuddle comfort because it’s very healing and therapeutic and wonderful. Of course when done right!!:)

pmvines

@Mike403 you don't have to understand it . It's a thing for some, its not a thing for others . It's not that deep

tacpmurg

@Mike403 I understand, its a bit hard to wrap your head around at first.

As someone with very few friends who live in different states, it helps alleviate some issues. Going to a diner or movies alone can be just plain ol annoying as people can be judgey. And as we have seen by the fact that there is a market even on here for simply talking (online cuddling), sometimes people just want to have someone to chat with.

@bobadevotee the average I've encountered runs about 20-30/h, 10 is a bit low. Is that enough to take on the emotional baggage of dealing with someone for hours on end, I dunno but some must think so as there is certainly a market. To be fair though, this is for doing activities usually the 'friend' would want to do as they can pick the client. Board games, hiking, food, movies... I think it's a lot less involvement than cuddling imo.

munkg

@FutureHeart2023 i didn't know this site existed😮👍🏼
@pmvines i agree witcha man. dont think its that different from professional cuddling, think about the less socially capable people that would like company on some random activity that would make them happy but would otherwise be missing out on enjoying said activity because of the social stress/anxiety.

Plus if i gotta help somebody out with moving or something and i need an extra pair of hands i wouldn't mind throwing down 25-30 dollars for rental help. 🤷🏽‍♂️

Mike403

@KozyKim @pmvines @tacpmurg - If I tried it, I might think it's the greatest thing in the world. I'm not the best at communicating my concerns. If they at least offered a 30 day free trial of the website fees, I may be less reluctant to give it a try.

KozyKim

I always have this thought there are wonderful people that I know and before I knew them they were strangers. You never know the person walking next to you how extraordinary they are, how much fun, how interesting and engaging. Someone that can be there for you when times get rough. Everyone was a stranger to you at one time or another, other than your family.

KozyKim

Sign up for $69 for the year. That’s less than $10 a month and you wouldn’t want to have it for just one month.