I totally get that there's a valid argument to be made for SPs asking for deposits, and I understand their very valid frustrations with timewasters. However there's an equally valid argument for guys not to make them. The thing is, even aside from the trust factor, which is a negative aspersion to your character right from the get-go, is that there is zero benefit to a client for providing the deposit. There can never be a gain to the client, at best the clients gets what he's paying for anyway. However, there can be a loss, and it's a virtual certainty barring a very unusual string of luck that at some point you will lose your deposit. You can't win, only lose. That's from a financial perspective. From a personal perspective it basically eliminates any personal vibe that might come from an encounter by making it feel transactional and generic right from the outset. We all know what's going on, but a well presented interaction smoothes out the rough edges and allows you to either forget or put aside the thought. Deposits are basically rubbing your face in the fact that this is a transaction interaction, which to me gets you off on the wrong footI don’t like deposits and I usually avoid SP that require it as I was once burned, not really a deposit but a full payment which was 100% my fault and not even requested but volunteered by me trying to help someone that needed it at the time. She actually did try to make good on it once but our schedule didn’t align and she disappeared afterwards, not a big deal really, actually I still hope it helped her, it didn’t put me in a different tax bracket lol.
I have provided a deposit in the form of a photograph of an Amazon gift card redemption code to an Merb advertising SP from Indy companions, she was 100% legit and everything went smooth as silk no issues. I just find it a hassle to go out buy the gift card make the photograph and email it or send it via text message and I don’t like not being trusted, just a personal thing I guess.
I might be the devil's advocate but I feel like this thread is turning into a thread where bad experiences occurred. I think the idea is to help SP improves little things.
Bad experiences happen and most of the time not much we can do e.g. deposit paid and not given back. So we just learn our lesson and the SP will soon have a bad reputation.
Whereas improvement like the point regarding scented oils can be adjusted.
They're both true. Guys are outlining bad experiences or things that make them think negatively allows SPs to understand their frustrations and perhaps do something to improve the experience. It also allows guys to make suggestions about little things that might help to improve the experience. In the grand scheme of things the big things are more important, but for someone who is already taking care of the big things then adjusting the little things will help give them a push upwards or to tailor their client experience. From what I've seen so far it hasn't been so much about guys outlining specific bad experiences but rather about outlining things that they don't like and would like to see changed. Don't worry, this isn't a one-sided conversation. You should search for some of the SP etiquette threads, which do the same thing pointing out what SPs don't like about clients in order to make them behave better. There hasn't been as much from the guy point of view, but taken constructively there's a lot of room for both sides to help each other out.