So I have gone back to myLot. I have been away for a while because they were paying better, but that was only in pre-launch. Now they are shite. Now I’m not all about the money, but I am on limited income and thus have to arrange my time so that I can maximize the amount of spare cash I bring in. That’s why I stopped coming on myLot, because at the time Platinum Lounge was paying more.
Now I must rant because they have thoroughly pissed me off. The admin has got me fuming and I have to let it out.
For one thing, I am visually impaired and when I first joined, their accessibility with regards to posting discussions and responses was terrible. I could see it some with zoomtext but could not use it at all with a screen reader, and my fiance as well as other blind friends joined and found it inaccessible as well. I wrote to the admin and he assured me they would fix it, but it took around a month to get done, and I had to ride him about it the entire time. He never would’ve done it if I hadn’t kept on him about it.
On top of all this, there were a multitude of picture based contests which my friends and I could not participate in. He assured me that they would reduce the picture based ones, but keep them in for those who like such things. I accepted this as I fully understand the need to appeal to a variety of people. The problem is that the picture based contests did not decrease, but instead increased, and there were very few text based contests, most of which involved pictures as well and could not be completed with the text alone.
I also asked him to do something extremely simple. While I was there, they put in ranking icons because they pay you in a tier based system, so the higher rank you are the more you get paid, and the bottom two ranks don’t get paid. I asked him to label the graphic on the icon so that my screen reader would tell me my rank and he never did this. For someone who knows how to make a website like he does, labelling a graphic is one of the simplest things you could do.
Not only that, but you have to get a debit card to be paid, one which they endorse and is currently the only means of payment, and which now many users are complaining about having problems with. They are about to use bank accounts but I don’t think I’d want them to have that info, and they still do not pay non-US citizens.
Also, they do not pay all their users, as I stated earlier. They pay in a tier based system that is constantly getting worse. The exchange rate of the points is going down rapidly and I feel that now myLot pays far better, when it used to be the other way around, and it is virtually impossible now to get enough points to be paid without spending money. Still, I paid $35 at their new gorilla store cuz they were giving 80k points per purchase and I bought three items, thinking I would make up my $35 but I only got back $5. When I first joined during mid June, while it was still in pre-launch, I made payout within two weeks and got my $5 for about 1800 points. Now, I have over 141k points left and still cannot even get $5.
Well, saying I have those points isn’t accurate anymore. Last night, after realizing that I was not getting paid anymore, I decided to have a contest for someone to win all my points. This is where he is stingy. I had the contest for newbies with under 50k points and said the first person to guess the name of my mom’s cat could have my points. I was leaving anyway so why let them go to waste. I earned those points myself so it should be up to me what is done with them. Well I logged in a few minutes ago to check the contest, but it said my account was not activated. He banned me for offering to give my points to someone who needed them more than I! If that’s not stingy, I don’t know what is! When I first joined, I could make about $5 per week with about 1-2 hours per day. Now, I couldn’t make $5 per week, even if I spent 24 hours a day posting. And so, I am back on myLot and don’t plan to leave again, not for a while and not unless I can find something that pays considerably more and is stable.
I realize Platinum Lounge was in pre-launch when I joined and I didn’t expect the exchange rate to stay so good, but the drop it has made is ridiculous, and the points are still being devalued not only daily, but hourly.
As a whole, I think the site is going down the tubes and will not last half as long as myLot has been around. The admin is stingy, unwilling to make the site screen reader friendly, doesn’t pay everyone, the exchange rate decreases hourly, their only source of payment has had many recent complaints, they still don’t pay non-Americans, and they don’t have many features, and are very slow to put new ones in.
I think the admin had a good idea, but he did not plan well and did not look at the big picture and so is swamped with more than he can handle, which will ultimately be PL’s undoing. Sure it may last as a free forum, but not a paid one
As a former Platinum Lounge user, I was very upset at how founder Richard Guiton runs the place. As of September 2008, the only method of receiving money now is if you have a PayPal account. PayPal sucks, and they offered an option to receive payments by debit card, although one administrative member by the name of “Sweetz” told me that option was no loner available. I cannot use PayPal because I don’t have a credit card on file. Money amounts are no pathetic. Twice monthly and the maximum you can earn is $10 each time. Contests to win bonus money and points are fixed to benefit those who have the most points which puts new users at a disadvantage. I complained to Mr. Guiton and he did not respond because he’s a jerk and a lame excuse for a human being, and so I decided that after only 2 1/2 weeks to stop being the victim of a scam and a fraud. I had approx. 170,000 points that I gave away to a random user, then left a public post announcing my decision to quit the Lounge. Minutes after donating my points to the random user and making the public post, “Sweetz”, who is not an administrator, not only deleted my profile, but also blocked my computer from accessing the piece of shit website…Platinum Lounge promotes false advertising and is fraudulent, and I have filed a complaint against the FTC charging fraudulent practices and false advertising. Knowing the government, they prob. won’t do anything. If there comes a day where more pissed-off disgruntled users can come together and file a class action lawsuit against Mr. Guiton and any other executives at PlatinumLounge.com, I will not hesitate to take park so I can be reimbursed for all the time I wasted on this piece of shit website. But I have a feeling that the website won’t last very long if shit like this keeps happening. A bit of irony here: according to a December 2008 article at http://www.marketwatch.com, PlatinumLounge was ranked #1 among social networking websites by an independent group. But pretty soon, people will see PlatinumLounge.com for what it really is: A FRAUD AND A SCAM! May Sweetz and Mr. Guiton die a horrible agonizing death for swindling unsuspecting people out of time and patience. This website does not deserve any of the positive recognition it gets.