New Idea for Solving the Deposit Problem

CuddleDuncanCuddleDuncan Mod
edited October 2024 in Pro Cuddling

In a non-cuddling context I recently encountered a nice idea for overcoming the deposit problem. (Professionals needing them, clients reluctant to pay them.) A professional in a field with a similar business model requires an online gift card purchase from her favourite bakery/coffee shop. (It was Gail's, which is an overpriced and therefore rapidly growing chain in London and southeast England.)

Various amounts were available and thus the requirement could be varied depending on the value of the booking, but the smallest one was only £5 i.e. one coffee and change. I was not a prospective client - the discovery was an internet drive-by - so I don't know the details, but it's obviously a promising system.

History teaches us, from many examples, that it is not the size but the principle of the depost that is more important.

  1. What do you think?12 votes
    1. What a great idea, I'll run a trial on that
        8.33%
    2. Trial schmile, I'm just gonna go for it
        0.00%
    3. Yep, worth looking into
      16.67%
    4. Crawl back under your rock, dumbass
      50.00%
    5. Not a professional, just interested
      25.00%

Comments

  • CentralFLCuddleCentralFLCuddle

    I know some folks do that for Amazon. But I would think the same problem remains, that of folks not wanting to do any kind of deposit. That said, it’s good to have an option for different types of deposits.

  • Katelyn_BKatelyn_B
    edited October 2024

    I could be wrong but I suspect that people who don't want to pay deposits aren't going to want to do that either. As for me, if I were to book with a pro, I'd be willing to pay a small deposit if they had a good reputation on here, but I'd rather keep it simple and just send a few bucks to their Venmo or something rather than messing about with gift cards.

    Didn't vote because I'm not going to tell you to crawl back under a rock or call you a dumbass. :)

  • BillyBobby1001BillyBobby1001

    A pro with no review asking for deposit for the whole hour ($165) plus $35 for a 40 minute travel. Is that normal?

  • CuddlyKoala47CuddlyKoala47

    @BillyBobby1001 that seems excessive to me and isn't really a deposit in my opinion, it's asking for full payment in advance.

    The point of a deposit IMO is for the client/person receiving a service to demonstrate a good faith effort to make a commitment that they will show up for the time they're booking by paying an amount towards the service so both have a clear agreement and will respect each other's time.

    I wouldn't want to do a gift card purchase as a deposit myself, either as a client or as a pro offering a service.

  • CuddleDuncanCuddleDuncan Mod

    @BillyBobby1001 It is suspious. Proceed with extreme caution, or not at all.

    Pros are allowed to charge whatever they want and rightly so, but any travel fee for a journey under an hour is unusual and this one is very high for such a short distance.

    Such requests often turn out to be scams.

  • HoosCuddlingHoosCuddling

    I’m not sure how this would help clients not wanting to leave a deposit because they don’t trust the pro. If the pro is unethical, they can steal the gift card just like they’d steal cash.

    Truthfully, this “gift card as deposit” is more often seen for sex work, where perhaps client and provider don’t want a Venmo, Zelle, etc. digital “paper trail.”

  • Midnight01Midnight01
    edited October 2024

    Crawl back under your rock, dumbass. This is the type of exchange that sex workers do so nobody knows what they are doing.

    My apologies: when I originally responded to the flag on this comment, I missed the fact that it was quoting one of the poll options above. -JoyfulHeart

  • Midnight01Midnight01
    edited October 2024

    @JoyfulHeart THAT WAS THE 4TH OPTION OF THE POLL! I Just said said what I voted for, the option 4; Crawl back under your rock, dumbass . Jesus, and why my whole post deleted? And why have you blocked me? I've never even had word with you, aren't you a moderator?

  • Mike403Mike403
    edited October 2024

    @Midnight01 - It was probably flagged and the mod only read the flagged comment and not the OP.

  • cheeseboycheeseboy Mod

    Is the gift card purchase alternative just a gesture that they're serious about booking a session, and the pro doesn't receive the gift card information until the actual session takes place? If so, I think that kinda works with a screenshot showing the purchase of the card, but not the actual card number or redemption details.

    Example:
    To secure your session, buy a $/€ 15 gift card online from [local independent coffee or bookstore]. Send a screenshot of the purchase with today's date (but not the identifying details of the gift card number). Once we meet in person, the 15 will be taken off of the amount due and you can send me the info.

    I think this works, especially with those that have monitored/shared finances.

  • cozycuddler4youcozycuddler4you

    Agree with other commenters that this doesn’t solve for concerns that the pro will steal the deposit (gift card) and be a no-show. However, it does solve concerns re: digital trail connecting to the pro via payment apps.

    @cheeseboy - the intent of the deposit / gift card is to provide some comp in case client is a no-show and changes plans last-minute. To ensure the pro actually gets the deposit / gift card, they’d need redemption codes upfront. Otherwise a no-show client will most definitely no-show the gc….

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