Issues gripes and complaints.

[IamJohnQuen]

First off I want to say that I have been a fan of the grooby sights since the early 90's when it was shemaleyum.com, bobstgirls,com, and blacktgirls,com. In fact I met Lasvegas bob who created bobstgirls.com back in 2002 at his apartment. his TS roommate Michelle, who also happened to be a model for blacktgirls.com picked me up at a bar called the Las Vegas Lounge on Maryland St in downtown Vegas. She picked me up and took me back to their apartment where we had crazy sex for several hours. I heard Bob died of a heart attack a few years later. Over the years I have hooked up with other Grooby models with similar outcomes like I had with Michelle. So now that I've shared my private experiences I have a couple issues pertaining to the Grooby sites.

1. My first gripe is the download limits. If I am paying over $100 for a membership then limiting my downloads is bad business. And not just because of the cost. If I were to download 4k content, which I do not because of the limits, I would hit the limit somewhere between 1-3 models. Download limits on Grooby sites did not exist in the past and I have had broadband internet since the late 90's with DSL. Now I have gigabyte internet so my average time on a Grooby site with downloading in less then 10 minutes for 720p content. Which brings me to my next issue.

2. The servers are not exactly fast. More often then not my internet speed is bottlenecked while attempting to download content. And I am not naive to the huge profit that Grooby is making by running these sites. Grooby is no longer a mom and pop business. based on the subscription cost a safe bet would be a seven figure profit margin.

So if you want to have download limits then it would be better business to limit it based on subscription. For that reason I usually don't renew after my 6 month subscription ends until maybe a year or 2 later. Take away those limits and I might be inclined to keep it going. And again, I love the site, love the models, but your web service leaves a lot to be desired. Just my 2 cents.

[GroobySteven]

I spend 10 mins of my Sunday replying to you yesterday which you failed to acknowledge. I'll post it below here, so I don't have to repeat further.

I often find it amazing that people proclaim they know more about my business than I do. I can tell you, as sole owner of the company that if I was making 'a 7 figure profit margin', I wouldn't be spending my time answering customer service on a Sunday or bothering with this. While Grooby is profitable, and provides me with a nice lifestyle it's far from any unfounded guesses you are making, which serve only to try and create a victim mentality to your complaint.

It also seems to be a little of a cultural phenomenon that those who claim to be the best customers, often are far from that - and they use threats of not returning, in order to get their point across. The US is certainly the worse for that, but other countries and cultures are catching up.

Vegas Bob, died of suicide. We also had Video Bob, he died of a heart attack (possibly drug related, as he was in his late 50s and about 400lb ... which isn't a good combination).

I'll answer your points first (which were answered in yesterday's email).

1. If you are paying over $100 for a membership, then you are not getting download limits, ergo this is good business? The unlimited download kicks in on the 4th month. So either the 4th 90 day recurring billing membership, the second 90 day recurring billing or the 180/365 day billing. So if you are buying a 6 month membership you are getting unlimited. Download limits did not exist in the past (they did - read below) ... I'll tell you what else didn't exist over our 25 years ... HD video, 4k video, tube sites stealing content, any video (prior to 1999). 5 updates a week (or a weekly hardcore) also didn't exist. Things change, and if you want to stay profitable and able to produce continuously, you better change with it. You've completely mis-grasped or failed to read any of the posts on this, or our AUP. You get 20 downloads a day regardless of whether 4k or 720p, so please don't be disingenuous and claim you hit a limit at 3 models. We've also ALWAYS had download limits, it was just GB based and not scene based, we changed it so it wouldn't penalize those wanting the larger files. Even then, downloads were 20+ scenes at 4k.

2. Compared to some corporations, our servers are not that fast. We can't compete with Youtube, Pornhub, etc. Companies whose business model is not based on production but on speed of viewing either stolen content or other people's content. We've good servers/speeds, not great but acceptable - but with a limited budget to spend, a company owner has to decide the best way to invest that, and we do it in content, producing vastly more trans content than any other company. Our monthly output is more than the rest of the other trans websites combined. We're still a small company, with less than 15 full-time positions. If you're so confident on that bet, put your money where your mouth is. You'll lose.

So if you want to have download limits then it would be better business to limit it based on subscription.
I don't know what you mean by this, it is based on subscription?


I do love the fact that you're a returning member, and have been with us since early days and have supported us growing - and thank you for that. Anyone who pays for their porn, I thank, but I do think you are being a little unrealistic. I think during that time, each time you've joined we've over-delivered and exceeded most people's expectations, and certainly compared to other companies. I believe in rewarding and thanking those people who stay with us month, after month as they are the ones who are giving us the budget to keep shooting month on month, without them, we'd not be producing this amount of content. Why should they pay every month, when someone else can join for 1x a year, and have the same download privileges?

While I recognise you've been a long term member of BlackTgirls, which is why you didn't see any download limits (as you don't have them after your 3rd month), I believe this recent gripe is about Grooby Girls ? Other than this one month (Sept 2021 in which you took the Customer Appreciation of $20 for the first month and one month rebill at full) the last membership I can find was for 1 month in 2015 which was on a deal and which you got for $17.99 and one month in 2013 which was also a $17.99 deal, there was also a 2009 you took for $19.99. So in 12 years, you've paid $113.96 over 4 membership periods (so every 3 years). While I do thank you for joining, and paying for your porn, you cannot seriously have the expectation, that you can download the whole site for your one discounted payment every 3 years?

[Just a side note : one of the reasons why we don't do many one month offers any longer - these are generally set up as a loss-leader, with the expectation that a member will like the site and stay a member or rejoin, thus make profit. What we discovered recently, is that it doesn't happen. Instead, people were joining the discount and cancelling, downloading as much content as they possibly could and then not returning until the following year when they'd do it again. This is why this years one month offers, were only available to members. I can't say I blame them, it's the smartest move to make if you don't want a regular fix, and I recognise we're not always affordable for everyone, but also, we can't afford to operate like that.]



As it is, the download limits on most of the sites allow for 20 scenes a day, and you can continuously stream throughout the month - anyone who feels that this isn't good value, is living in a different reality to me. The days are nearing when there will be no downloadable sites, everything will be housed in the platform, or downloaded into the platforms environment and only available to you, if you continue to be a member. Seriously, even as a consumer, I recognise this needs to happen, if you want production to continue.

[GroobySteven]

YESTERDAY's MESSAGE

For some time now I believe our interest has been aligned from the content provider to the content purchaser standpoint. It seems that has changed with this "Download Limit" policy. Although I won't try to convince you of why this is a terrible policy and there are more ways of generating more money being that this is the "bottomline" driver; I will tell you why this won't work for me! As i'm certain this doesn't work for more people than just the enlisted folks, because of the nature of your content as well as the classification of the business Grooby is not a netflix.....etc. Thus the comparisions to those sites and streaming providers are different. For me I enjoyed the unlimited download ability and having been a member of Grooby content since the beginning there should be a grandfather clause or something. Yes for 20 plus years I've been an off on member of Grooby content, if this were a corporation I would've been vested with a healthy 401K. And its always been nice to obtain a membership and have unlimited time(within my membership) to down load the content to watch when I wanted. Your Policy makers and decision makers really need to think this out! I'm probably on my 6 or 7month of a Black Tgirl membership as we speak and if this new policy applies to that site as well then I think you lost me twice.

Thanks for the email.
We've had the download limit in for about 6 months, and have had very little issues with most genuine members, who understand why it's in place and support us. Grooby has a lot in common with the Netflix/AmazonPrime/Disney+ business model in that we are content delivery platforms, making it easy for a purchaser to get unlimited access on a monthly membership basis, to the type of content they want, at a cheaper rate than if they were renting/buying the scenes individually. Many adult sites have already switched to a streaming only system, and we're holding back against that for the time being, with a limited daily download, and unlimited streaming. I believe for the one month purchase, getting 600 scenes is incredible value at less than 0.65c a scene, and if you think there is better value than that, I'd love to see.

Your BlackTgirls membership has been running for over 3 months, so you are grandfathered into an unlimited download there but the last time you joined GroobyGirls before the latest purchase was for one month in 2015, and a one month purchase in 2013. I think you'd have to agree, the expectation to join for a month every few years but to download the full sites since you last joined is unrealistic and from a business, unsustainable.

I'd be interested what "ways of generating more money" you had in mind - or why you believe this is a 'terrible policy' (or how we stop people joining for one month a year, and downloading the whole site for $37.99 while others support us month on month, and help keep the budget flowing to shooting all this content).

We're in a niche within the adult industry, take a look at how many other trans companies there are out there shooting regular content (and then how many have closed in the past few years), see how many are shooting black trans content (none). This policy isn't about making money, as sustaining a long term business model for the next 25 years, and all indications are that it, alongside our other site changes providing better experiences for members, are working.

I hope this helps you understand our point of view a little better.

[IamJohnQuen]

Sorry for the late response because I don't get online every day. Thanks for responding back. I understand what you said about having unrestricted downloads could potentially allow someone to download the whole site and not return. That could be an issue if you did not continue to have new content but grooby sites seem to have no shortage of new models. For that reason, even if I did download the entire site in a month I would still keep returning. The reason I chose a 6-month subscription is because it's cheaper to buy in bulk and I can afford it. And I admit grooby sites do allow higher download limits then some other sites such as TS jessy which limits to 8gb every 24 hours. That's crazy given the amount of content on her site. If I was online everyday it wouldn't be an issue but I'm not. I'm on maybe one or twice a week. Other sites, jolieandfriends, limit to download only 1 scene at a time. But Jolie doesn't limit the number of downloads. Her site doesn't update nearly as often as Grooby but I have a year membership because she gave it to me for half price. In the 90's when I lived in California Meghan Chevalier was still doing adult stuff for shemale yum and we were still friends, she gave me her shemaleyum logon for a while. I regret how I left things with her because she refuses to have anything to do with me anymore. She is one of my life regrets and I wish I never burned that bridge.

Regarding Bob, it was Las Vegas Bob. I remember that clearly even though I only met him once. I got the impression that he didn't really like me and it was his roommate Michelle whom introduced us. I found out that he died a few years afterwards so it's not surprising that I didn't get the details right. I can also verify that there were drugs in his apartment but I didn't see him do any. I remember him telling me he was completely gay which kinda surprised me because back then there was a lot of animosity between gay men and transexuals. When I lived in Northern California the Gays bars had a mixture of gay, trans, and straight but not Las Vegas. Gay men would often get angry at me when I told them I was only interested in Transexuals which was why I think Bob didn't like me. The exception was Crystal Crawford. She wanted me to be in her videos but my situation at the time made that impossible. Wonder what happened to her? SO anyways. Here is a pic of me when I lived in Vegas next to how I look now.

40119

[GroobySteven]

John
While there is no shortage of models, there is a shortage of budget. Our company probably is the closest to the line on reinvesting back into our content, and we can only remain in business because our business model has so many sites, and shoots - and we need the majority to return a profit. A one month membership with unlimited downloads, doesn't cover it. I'm not going to compare ourselves to other sites as they offer nowhere near what we do. For one month access you can stream unlimited or download 600 scenes. For a six month access you can stream and download unlimited.
The time will come when everything will be streaming only, or in a filelocker on your system which can only be accessed when you continue to pay monthly.

Bob had a lot of demons. He was a Christopher Lloyd looking guy, tried to please everyone and the story I heard was he got into trouble when caught holding drugs for someone, and the police threatened him with either helping them, or going to prison - and he killed himself. I don't have the veracity of that exactly and it was a long time ago. He wasn't a bad guy, and it's sad it came to that. The first 10-15 years of the company was a bit more wild west than it is now.

You've aged well (slowly)

[IamJohnQuen]

First of all thanks for the complement. It's to bd that Bob went out the way he did. Especially since Metro is one of the most corrupt police agency in the country. I had a few interactions with Metro and another with the CHP when I lived in California. I got a DUI in 2001 after a CHP pulled behind my car after I was all the way home. in my driveway, and outside of my car which was already turned off. The CHP said I was driving a little fast bur I still made a complete stop at the 5 stop signs on my route and at no time drove outside of the lane. Then I passed his sobriety test. This was all in his police report. But that wasn't enough so he made me take a breathalyzer test which I blew exactly .08. That was back when most states laws were still at .10. So the fucker arrested me and I spent the night in the drunk tank. I also had a spotless driving record and had never been arrested my entire life. As a result I spent 8 months fighting the Sacramento DA who refused to drop the charges and I lost my license for a year. Had to pay $5000 to the state not counting legal fees. Had to do 48 hours of community service which I had to pay for otherwise it was 2 days in jail. And was put on probation for 3 years. That was the CHP. My issues with Metro were something else entirely but at least they never arrested me. The difference between California and Texas where I live now is that California will let you get away with murder unless you are white. During my divorce in Texas in 2019 the ex called the San Antonio PD on my 5 times. And even though the male is always to blame no matter what the two times they did detain me were not counted as arrests. I just had to spend a couple days at the nut house to make sure I was sane. In fact none of that bit me in the ass when I renewed my License to Carry last September. Contrary to popular opinion Texas has or had before they passed constitutional carry last December very strict disqualifiers for concealed carry licenses. If you have any history going back 10 years of anything domestic or a restraining order or any law violation above a class B then you would be denied. Just to get the license I had to pass an 10 year FBI check, take a class, pass a written and shooting test. and pay my $35. But I retired from the Army in 2013 and deployed to Iraq 3 times with the 82nd Airborne so I am more then qualified. So I was sweating bullets about weather of not my divorce drama was gonna come back and bite me but to my relief the San Antonio PD didn't fuck me up. And that is thee difference between California and Texas in a nutshell. My carry license is renewed every 5 years and even though they passed constitutional carry I will continue to keep my license because Texas has reciprocity with 37 other states. I also have carry insurance because if I ever do have to shoot someone every situation no matter what goes in front of a DA to determine validity. If a cop shoots someone they have the police union and unlimited legal protection. If a citizen shoots someone they can choose to use the court lawyer or pay out of pocket for an attorney. So even though Texas gun laws are written to side with the citizen who goes to the the trouble of legally carrying a firearm, I have 2 million worth of carry insurance to make sure I get the best possible legal representation if needed. And it only costs $40 a month.

And with all that said I saw a lot of action in Baghdad, Samara. Tikrit, and Fallujah so I have a wealth of experience knowing what a real threat looks like. I even have a green laser with tac light on the front of my Glock because if a bright blinding light doesn't deter a threat then the green laser will. In 8 years since I had my license I only had to unholster twice. And in both situations the second I trained my green laser on the target they did an immediate 180 and took off. I also carry 2 pairs of cuffs because in Texas it is legal to do a citizen arrest. So if I walk out of the store and see someone attempting to break into my $80,000 car I would rather grab them and cuff them before pulling out my gun. And this was something that was encouraged in the mandatory Texas state concealed carry class. In other states, California, they'd arrest you for unlawful detainment no matter the situation. I carry standard police issue Smith & Wesson handcuffs. So the point to everything I typed out is I will take whatever measure necessary before pulling my pistol from my holster. I had to kill people before in Iraq and even though they were trying to kill me first a life is still a life.

And you might think I'm the exception when it comes to restraint but I'm really not. At least not in Texas. Most of my buddies have carry licenses and like me they are mostly former military. And what we all have in common is knowing using it is always a last resort. We also are smart enough to not open carry because that's like playing poker and showing your opponent what cards you have. Stupid.