Many people have asked about Meetup.com. They are a complete scam and ripoff!
First, they take your money (subscription), then a week later pick and choose who they do not want on their site. Without notice, they cancel your account and say it was due to a term violation and they will refund the money. After several emails and phone calls, all we received was a standard form email saying they will not discuss it any further and the case has been closed!
Second, so far, there has bee no refund and no emails returned on that as well.
Third, we forwarded several "identical" groups to ours that did the exact same group that we did but they ignored our objections and the one "local" competitor (who turned us in) remains on meetup with their group!
Fourth, we found through a source that actually offered up proof, that a "voluntary, additional contribution" to Meetup would get you what you wanted. Such as a competitor terminated!
This is a total scam and a simple sear around the internet will reveal additional Meetup "ripoff reports as well. Here are a few examples...
http://www.ripoffreport.com/lucy-from-meetup-com/event-planners-sites/internet-internet-fb91a.htm
http://www.ripoffreport.com/seminars/meetup-com/meetup-com-meet-up-com-meetup-082b8.htm
http://www.ripoffreport.com/media-outlets/meetup-inc/meetup-inc-i-paid-for-an-on-*******.htm
My stalker found me through Meetup.com because of their lax Privacy Policies in which case they did nothing to ban her from the site. Organizers don't want to deal with the "drama" so they ignore any requests for bans. And, because anyone can start a group with no guidelines or expectations set in place by Meetup.com for Organizers, Organizers can chose to do whatever they want without reprocutions, such as ignoring pleas for help.
FYI: If your name is used for your account or if your name is listed in any comments in any group, you will come up in any online search of your name and every single group you are a member of will show up. This is a great way for stalkers, employers, or anyone else to find you!
Mine did this, and then proceeded to sign up for every group I was a part of, then proceeded to slander me in groups, and act like she was going to show up to an event - only to never show up, but only psych me out from attending anything fearing she'd be there.
Did Meetup do anything? Nope.
I've used meetup.com on and off for many years, but after receiving their #Resist email, I am deleting and encouraging all I know to do the same.
It is obvious to me that Meetup hates our country, our President, and the American people. Their hashtag of #Resist is not only disrespectful to the electoral process and the many, many Americans who voted to put Trump in office, but also insinuates a call to violence. Dispicable, disgusting, and treasonous. I voted for Obama in the last two elections and have identified as Democrat for 15 years, but activities and attitudes such as this have pushed me Right, and I plan never to return to the Democratic Party again.
When will businesses learn that their SMARTEST move is to stay neutral and not alienate half of their customer base?
Additionally, I've used this site on-and-off for years to find hiking groups, and have continually found myself fed up with the pervs using it as a hookup site... thus the on-and-off. Don't waste your time... or money!
Hi, i am a 24-year-old male, and i finde every one on the group is in there 30's and unwilling to talk that much. Just be advised that some of the people you meet with are creeps. I remember one time i wanted to go out for a drink with someone and see if we could be possible friends, he seemed uninterested in what i had to say to him and tried to talk to evrey girl he could see. A red flag came up in my mind, as i was just trying to go out and have some fun, and get drunk, it's harder to do with some creepy guy there trying to flirt with every woman he lays his eyes on. I only would do it if she was interested in me, if not i just talk to other people. I used to go to this volleyball group in new west which i liked alot, but it was ruined when some new person came and decided to do two vs two volleyball, and treat me like $#*!. He literally camped out and hogged the second court alot longer than the 30-minute rule. Also, he had his own possy and did not include me in the games.
I am still having a hard time meeting people, as the people that go to the meetup groups just seem like they want to "meet up only, and not make friends." i have had some good experiences from it though, and met some good friends, but still, watch out for the creeps people!
( sorry for the long review guys,)
Go back to the old version! We are PAYING to use this site and it's unusable! You have added so many new features and taken out the old ones. Get back to the concept! NO ONE LIKES IT!
It varies from one Meetup. To the next Some people are sincere, some aren't, some are well attended some aren't They try to get people to meet based on their interests and they have many actitivities
Nasty, use something else. Someone I know was block in the middle of a meetup. Negative star if it was possible.
I belong to several Meetup groups but after I've signed up for an event and am on the list to go to an event, it doesn't recognize me as a member and I can't find the events I've signed up for.
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Love the idea of having website functionality to help manage and inform a group without being a web designer. Meetup could be awesome. Instead, it has been one of the worst experiences with any company for me.
First, their customer service is non-existent. I tried to contact them on multiple occasions for various issues such as having a very strange URL assigned to our group and also billing questions. No response, until the 3rd attempt. And that response was basically, 'tough, deal with it'.
Second, I cancelled my meetup membership after 2 months because it just wasn't working for the group and I decided to go back to using a website. Apparently, the membership canceling process was ignored or didn't work. They billed me for 2 additional month despite me removing my credit card information from the site. (this is when I received the 'tough, deal with it answer'.
Third, apparently the new UI defeatured the site. It is really not functional at least for our group. You can only post pictures. Navigation is awkward at best. It seems like a UI from about 2003. Just not good.
We run a sports meetup on MEETUP and guy pulled a knife and was upset and threatening. He then harassed members for several weeks.
We emailed police report, photos of him at events, and testimony from several members TO MeetUp Headquarters.
Naturally we banned him, so what did MeetUp HQ ask: did we ban him. WHEN he was banned he immediately attempted to start his own group on MeetUP.
What did MeetUp do? They took his money and started his MeetUp while he harassed members several more weeks.
We asked, why are you profiting from this guy?
They said go to your local cops. We had already sent MeetUp police report, so it was pointless.
We literally email MeetUp photos of this guy at an event, UN invited (not rsvp d), AND we email testimony from members that he was stocking group, AND MEETUP TOOK HIS MONEY TO START A NEW MEETUP? They are scum.
MeetUp totally sucks if there is an issue, and since you are dealing with the public, in time, there will be an issue.
MeetUp actively promotes violence BY watching and not acting.
It is like the teacher who watches bullying and then blames it on the bully. The violent guy acts out because he knows there is an environment that encourages it.
I do not doubt that one day they'll be a big news story on MeetUp for being sued for this type of non-action.
This is a great site by which to find social events and activities, but the good thing about meetup is also the bad thing: Anyone and everyone can join any meetup group. The people lie in their profiles, post pictures of cartoon characters or when they were 20 years younger and so forth. The groups get huge turnout when they are first announced and then after that, no one is interested and attendance fades to nothing after 2-3 meetings.
If you charge for workshops, even fewer people will come, and everyone is out for themselves from their own farming angle: if you go to a singles group rest assured the organizer has a singles company or website business, and so on.
Also, if you want to organize a meetup group, the fees are fairly expensive considering that most groups lose 90 percent of their turnout after the first two meetings or so.
So... there are pros and cons, and they're huge. Big turnout when your group is announced, only to have turnout drop drastically after one or two meetings as people lose interest and look for the next "new" thing that they can go to for free. The people lie and just click on whatever the "new" group is without reading group descriptions or requirements and meeting places are often expensive to reserve with no-shows a huge issue with meetup.
I've organized close to a hundred meetup groups at this point and feel very ambivalent about the groups, the people, and the company. Meetup has deleted my groups for no apparent reason and without notice, sending automated e-mails when I asked them why (you have to use very vague language in offering descriptions).
So I can take or leave meetup depending on the day of the week and how I feel.
Meetup is going through a transition and things are not good.
I have been an organizer or assistant organizer for multiple Meetup.com groups over the past five years. It's a great way to meet new people who have similar interests, it's usually a safe way to meet new friends, and it can offer new experiences at events to teach you a new skill.
That said, Meetup was sold in late 2017 and they have been undergoing a re-programming of the website and it has been a disaster. As an organizer, I find it harder and harder each day to use either the website or the mobile app because links are broken, tools I used to use are no longer working or missing, and members of my group are being dropped from event without their permission.
Meetup corporate has changed their phone number and emails to their team are bouncing back unanswered. The few people who used to be there to help with web problems are gone. I'm still paying almost $200 a year for the ability to use Meetup with my group, but getting more frustrated each week as more problems arise.
It's not that we organizers cannot learn their new system. It's that the new system does not work as promised. If anyone is checking reviews and thinking of becoming an organizer and using Meetup my advise would be to wait 4-6 months and not sign up right now. You will pull your hair out waiting for things to be fixed. If I didn't have so many events already on the calendar I would walk away from Meetup today.
Update 2/28/18. Website is still not usable. I and my members are fed-up with the lack of support from Meetup management. This week I told Meetup I will not renew when my group comes up for the next payment.
As an organizer, Im shocked that any functionality is all but lost with the new system. To schedule a meetup, you cant format text, cant add price, or change number of guests allowed. The max number of guests you do set doesnt get set. Forget copying an old meetup and keeping the same settings. Worst of all, If you do want to set price, youre directed to the old interfaceand guess what? If you didnt save first, if you click on go to the old interfaceyou just lost your copy. THEN when you manage to get a meetup scheduled... the rsvp list is unreliable. Users rsvp or un-rsvp and the system doesnt always record it. The syncing between the mobile app isnt reliable... also it doesnt seem to show maximum number of participants to users... and thats just from an organizers POV -my community of users isnt happy either. What the heck? Meetup currently owns this market - how could their systemtheir ONE PRODUCTfail so badly?
Hi, I asked meetup to make adjustment to my subscription payment since it is an outdoor events group that I took over this year. They declined and asked me to do online events (what?), So I decided to cancel, however it was difficult, on the iPhone and web browser no option to cancel subscription (really), you have to send email to support. Even then they will not cancel but send you and offer with a discount on next renewal fee. What I did find (web search) is that the Android app does allow you to cancel within the App very easily (i do have a spare Android phone luckily). So cancelled using Android platform, and stepped down as organizer using the PC web browser (because I wanted to delete grp), however it didn't allow me to delete group, that option appeared and vanished quickly (new owners). I would recommend to all of you to cancel your subscription on this platform with the current situation I feel this platform is NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE AND MANAGEMENT HAVE NOT REACHED OUT TO ORGANIZERS WITH REAL WORLD SOLUTIONS THEY ARE only after your money, it is not going to spend any money on an new concepts and are definitely not interested in your well being.
Customer service is horrible, they don't know the basic integrity and quality of a human being. I contacted them for a fraut organizer who charged my money but lied. Who pretended to be a some kind of facility to help! Very apparant scam. I asked a refund, the organizor didn't reply me but told her members that she would like to refund me if I reached out to her, said I never requested a refund. I reported to the customer service, but you know what, the customer service people blocked my account, deleted my comment for the fraud. I showed them the evidence of messenger. They just said they can't confirm the organizor is fraud! And deleted my true comment and blocked my account.
I think they just try to charge business money, do not care anything happened with customer. The service is so horrible, bad people together.
Stupid people go there and be manupilated.
They should shut the door, they don't deserve exist for our normal people. Super bad. Hopefully they can bankrupt and close their door soon.
Web logins dont work; terrible and shockingly poor. No point trying to sign up and use meetup when you can't even login easily or join groups. Lol
Great idea. Lousy execution. I host a meeetup group as well. Its what I would expect in say the year 1999.
Answer: All Meetup has now is a database of names and a reasonably efficient way of routing new members to your group. But the tools for organizers are wretched and, by design, have gotten worse. This is the only company I've ever seen that doesn't care what the application users, in particular the organizers, want and need. The list of bad changes is very long--and they don't give a damn. And to add insult to injury, they are inept at application development and coding. They pushed out what might be laughably called alpha code and then scrambled to fix issues, saying "it was a work in progress." A major software release should not be a work in progress. Without comment, they remove functionality. For instance, when asked why they removed the ability to post a note on the calendar, their answer was that "only 3% use the feature. So what--now only 3% are pissed? Leaving the feature cost them nothing. I evaluated software from Microsoft and others for a living. Meetup by far is the worst I have ever seen. The "show runners" should be fired and given bad recommendations. And when a competitor comes along that is competent and cares about its users, Meetup will disappear and we'll all celebrate. The organizers en masse don't just dislike the app, they dislike the folks responsible for the mess that Meetup has created.
Meetup has a rating of 1.3 stars from 498 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers dissatisfied with Meetup most frequently mention customer service, credit card and many people. Meetup ranks 500th among Social Network sites.