BBRT Down? (Apparently back up now)

[blackrobe]

14 minutes ago, BergenGuy said:

This is the message being displayed as of 10:20 EST on Friday morning:

BBRTS Servers are DOWN

Yes, we know about it.

No, we are NOT going out of business.

Yes, we are WORKING on correcting the problem.

It is a HARDWARE issue that must be addressed.

No, it was NOT a Data Breach

No we do NOT have an ETA

Lastly, there is NO NEED to email in with questions.

Good to hear from the BBRT folks. The best thing we can do right now is leave them to it. 

[ellentonboy]

14 minutes ago, BergenGuy said:

This is the message being displayed as of 10:20 EST on Friday morning:

BBRTS Servers are DOWN

Yes, we know about it.

No, we are NOT going out of business.

Yes, we are WORKING on correcting the problem.

It is a HARDWARE issue that must be addressed.

No, it was NOT a Data Breach

No we do NOT have an ETA

Lastly, there is NO NEED to email in with questions.

Customer service (or the owner) is so charming, isn't he.  I don't see the word "Sorry" any where in that, do you BZ members.  Thanks to BergenGuy for sharing that with member here.

[blackrobe]

2 minutes ago, ellentonboy said:

Customer service (or the owner) is so charming, isn't he.  I don't see the word "Sorry" any where in that, do you BZ members.  Thanks to BergenGuy for sharing that with member here.

I think you're reading more into that quick, very direct message than there is. 

I've worked on site down escalations and I'm guessing that they have their hands full getting replacement hardware in place and getting back to a known-good operational state. Having done it myself, I read it as being a very fast note to let people know they're on it and to set expectations.

 

[MantisShrimp]

2 hours ago, BergenGuy said:

This is the message being displayed as of 10:20 EST on Friday morning:

BBRTS Servers are DOWN

Yes, we know about it.

No, we are NOT going out of business.

Yes, we are WORKING on correcting the problem.

It is a HARDWARE issue that must be addressed.

No, it was NOT a Data Breach

No we do NOT have an ETA

Lastly, there is NO NEED to email in with questions.

lol. That’s a “we’re pissed off, so stop emailing us” post. 

[BergenGuy]

1 hour ago, MantisShrimp said:

That’s a “we’re pissed off, so stop emailing us” post.

I don't really blame them.   All those emails are a distraction and won't lead to a faster resolution of the problem.   The real question is how many people, having read the message, will email them anyway?

[ErosWired]

3 hours ago, blackrobe said:

I think you're reading more into that quick, very direct message than there is. 

I've worked on site down escalations and I'm guessing that they have their hands full getting replacement hardware in place and getting back to a known-good operational state. Having done it myself, I read it as being a very fast note to let people know they're on it and to set expectations.

 

While I’m sure they do have their hands full, @ellentonboy is not wrong - that smacks of the tone-deaf attitude BBRTS takes toward public relations and customer service. Anyone - anyone - with a paying customer base and a molecule of common sense would include in such a notice “We apologize for the inconvenience”. Instead, it is made tonally clear that we are an inconvenience, and would we please just shut up about it. But he knows there’s no one else offering quite the same service with quite the same array of features, so he doesn’t have to worry about pissing off his user base - the well of horny fuckers is bottomless. I just wonder how he’ll fare if/when some proper competition shows up.

[ellentonboy]

2 minutes ago, ErosWired said:

While I’m sure they do have their hands full, @ellentonboy is not wrong - that smacks of the tone-deaf attitude BBRTS takes toward public relations and customer service. Anyone - anyone - with a paying customer base and a molecule of common sense would include in such a notice “We apologize for the inconvenience”. Instead, it is made tonally clear that we are an inconvenience, and would we please just shut up about it. But he knows there’s no one else offering quite the same service with quite the same array of features, so he doesn’t have to worry about pissing off his user base - the well of horny fuckers is bottomless. I just wonder how he’ll fare if/when some proper competition shows up.

I'll just add this.  He has done, little, excuse me, NOTHING,  to improve his site.  I would love to know how many new paying customers he gained over 2023, and how that compared to previous years.  His attitude is atrocious.  I have spoken to him on the phone and I would say he was "indifferent" at best.  He has been on somewhat of a journey to ban a number of members, either based on content they've posted in their online profile, or other reasons.  I believe he may have asked you to remove a letter from your screen name because it may indicate use of enhancements (that did happen to you, correct?). What I find hypocritical is that he has an area in the profile  where you are asked about drug use where a member can answer something like: "Yes", "No",  "Hell No" or "Ask Me",  I have chatted with numerous posters both here on BZ as well as on other sites who used screen shots of their pics from the BBRT telephone app, and when I inquired further they told me that he had banned from the site, usually for either posting something regarding "enhancements" and one went  so far as to suggest he was reading messages sent between fellow members.  So I ask, why have an area in the profile section that allows you to express your views on "enhancements" and then ban you for it, or what you post in the description area.  Why not just tell them that the content is not allowed and give them the ability to correct the narrative and allow them to remain.  Now the other thing that has really angered me is that if you use a VPN you can no longer access the site.  Well, what if I am a paying member yet I want to protect my privacy online?  His refusal to allow access if you use a VPN is something new, that was not the case a year ago or eighteen months ago,  I think that is outrageous.  I know a VPN will not give you correct information if you are using the "geo" locator, but in this case you can't even sign in.  I just don't understand his logic.

I talk to many guys who have told me they have moved on from BBRT or they just have the non-pay version and check it rarely. I think it is quickly dying, though I have posted on this Forum that it has been my "go to" site on the weekends, I usually have good luck with it but I believe that is based on my location and the number of guys in my area looking for sex.  But has he improved his site, no not at all.  Today's response to it being down it just another example of him treating his customers poorly.  It's not what he says, it's HOW he says it.

There is plenty of competition out there, at least where I live. He's no longer "the only game in town" when it comes to bareback sex.  I am approached by guys on maybe four other sites, and it's almost assumed any anal sex will be bareback.  With "prep" now readily available, I am seeing fewer and fewer guys who have the term "SAFE PLAY ONLY" in their profile.

I don't know if he is possibly facing some kind of outside pressure regarding the "enhancements" issue, which has resulted in the rash of bans.  But the bottom line is he ranks lowest when it comes to "customer service" to his paying customers.  I continue to use it because it works for me when I need it to, but there are other options out there.  I hope he wakes the hell up and realizes that.  Thanks to @ErosWired for your post, I have recommended the site in the past based on my experience, but dealing with the owner, well that is another story entirely, and today is an example of what he is like.  Like mentioned in posts in this thread "sorry for the inconveniecnce" would work wonders.

[ErosWired]

48 minutes ago, ellentonboy said:

I believe he may have asked you to remove a letter from your screen name because it may indicate use of enhancements (that did happen to you, correct?).

I was informed that I could no longer use ‘ErosWired’ - which I had used there for years, and which is my username on every other adult site - because ‘wired’ was now flagged by their filter as a drug use-related word. When I attempted to reason with them, the owner informed me that if I said another thing about it I would be permanently banned. I had just purchased a six-month membership. Utterly ridiculous. Honestly, I’m not sure when the last time was that I actually had a hookup off the site. It’s become nearly useless.

[BruxoCub]

*refreshes Sniffies map*

[S2S]

Yes it’s been down for over 24 hours for me!  Went down yesterday.  

[BlackDude]

I found this to be an unnecessarily “sassy” response especially when you have paying members. This, along with some of the other complaints and concerns members on this site have addressed, Perfectly explains why this site is going down the tubes fast

I don’t know why so many of these types of businesses show a distain and an open contempt for their customer base

[BlackDude]

Sorry I posted another topic about this and I didn’t see this topic!!

[BlackDude]

Apologies, I didn’t see a topic about this already posted

[RawNYTop]

What pisses me off is that I was chatting with this hot guy all week, hopefully to hook up this weekend, and now I can't.

Edited January 19 by RawNYTop

[120DaysofSodom]

Guessing you never played World of Warcraft? 😛