PhotoBucket news

[Artemis]

I'm starting to get emails from Photobucket about my account being "over storage".  Seems they want me to upgrade.  Like there's a chance in hell of that happening.  Ha.

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

34 minutes ago, Artemis said:

I'm starting to get emails from Photobucket about my account being "over storage".  Seems they want me to upgrade.  Like there's a chance in hell of that happening.  Ha.

Maybe they figure that if they sufficiently mistreat the customers who've been with them longest (and thus remember how usable and customer-friendly the site used to be) those troublemakers will leave, and they can then concentrate on people who've joined in the past couple of years, and are obviously willing to put up with just about anything.  And pay money for the privilege!

 

[J.P.]

Probably they just want you to delete your account to make place.
Yes, I also remember the beginnings of Photobucket. There was a time when I found it one of the few really useful places in www.

[Carol the Dabbler]

The honeymoon is DEFINITELY over!

They just emailed me with a list of all the "improvements" they've made recently (*yawn*), and ended with this:

Quote

We are writing to provide you with advance notice that effective on your next annual renewal date, the promotional price you have been paying for the beginner plan will end. The new price will be $5.39 per month (billed at $64.68).

I might have been willing to let them take another $20, just so I wouldn't need to move my photos just yet (never did get the automated download to work).  And when they confirmed my credit-card payment last year, they said "Next Billing Period: $19.99 will be charged on 05/20/2021"  But they apparently decided not to honor that, and I think $64+ is just ridiculous.  Unless I'm very lucky and last year's amount was charged to the credit card that now has a different account number, I guess I'll just have to cancel my account.

Anyone who's interested in my photo-tours (North Gower Filming and Our Vacation) had better look fast!

 

[J.P.]

They all went crazy with their prices.

[Carol the Dabbler]

On 4/21/2021 at 12:57 AM, Carol the Dabbler said:

I might have been willing to let them take another $20, just so I wouldn't need to move my photos just yet (never did get the automated download to work).  And when they confirmed my credit-card payment last year, they said "Next Billing Period: $19.99 will be charged on 05/20/2021"  But they apparently decided not to honor that, and I think $64+ is just ridiculous.  Unless I'm very lucky and last year's amount was charged to the credit card that now has a different account number, I guess I'll just have to cancel my account.

Turns out I am indeed very lucky -- it was the card with the now-nonexistent account number.  Yay!  So I don't need to do anything, just wait and see what happens.  It sounds like they're planning to bill me the $64+ without asking my permission, so I'll presumably get an email from them when that doesn't work.  Not that I have to reply to it....

I'm relieved that I don't need to cancel my Photobucket account in order to keep them from actually charging me the $64+.  Of course if I don't cough up the money they may cancel it for me, but that's presumably the worst that can happen.

 

[Arcadia]

On 5/3/2021 at 2:21 AM, Carol the Dabbler said:

Turns out I am indeed very lucky -- it was the card with the now-nonexistent account number.  Yay!  So I don't need to do anything, just wait and see what happens.  It sounds like they're planning to bill me the $64+ without asking my permission, so I'll presumably get an email from them when that doesn't work.  Not that I have to reply to it....

I'm relieved that I don't need to cancel my Photobucket account in order to keep them from actually charging me the $64+.  Of course if I don't cough up the money they may cancel it for me, but that's presumably the worst that can happen.

Eek. I hope you're right about that. I've been burned by so many people in so many different ways in the last few years that I just expect the worst from all businesses now. Sad but true.

[Carol the Dabbler]

36 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

I hope you're right about that.

Me too!  I should know for sure in about a week.

Tell ya one thing, I'm becoming increasingly hesitant to give my credit card number to subscription-type places.  There often seems to be no clean way to cancel the subscription, other than changing the card number.

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

I got this email from them last week:

Quote

 

Keep your account active.

Hello Carol_the_Dabbler

You haven't accessed your Photobucket account in a while. In keeping with our security policies, we are contacting you to let you know that you must access your Photobucket account to keep it in “active” status.

If you take no action, your account will be restricted for your protection.

 

So what the heck, I logged in and looked at a photo or two.  Then a couple days ago they sent me this:

 

 

Quote

 

Hosting is not allowed.

 

Purchase Now or lock in your savings for a full year.   If you decide not to upgrade, you will need to immediately login and stop hosting images.

 

Note that "or lock in your savings for a full year" implies that the big bold "only $5" is per month -- i.e., $60 per year.  Supposing I fell for that -- what's to stop them from deciding to charge me twice that much next year?  Or even next month?   Nope, they're simply too unpredictable and unprincipled to be trusted at all.  So I've done nothing in response to that second email (other than read it).  They sent another copy today.   Regarding the idea of saving the .webp images that my hotlinks have been displaying lately, and then using some app to convert them back to .jpg images -- I noticed a while back that the images had *far* less resolution than my originals, and  doubt that any conversion app could restore the missing pixels, so not too much point of that (other than knowing for sure which photo went where).   Dunno whether I'll ever switch my old hotlinks to a different hosting site.  It'd be a lot of work, and then what if the new site decides to pull a Botophucket?   So the big question now is, will PB ever pull my plug?  Or will they just keep sending me vague "or else!!!!" messages?

[Van Buren Supernova]

Good God!

What do they need to do to you to make you quit them?

But I guess you mentioned you are stuck.

 

I wonder where do they get the confidence to do such thing in the world where there are many other options now.

[Carol the Dabbler]

3 hours ago, Van Buren Supernova said:

What do they need to do to you to make you quit them?

There's really no point in my quitting.  I'm not going to pay them, and so far my hot-linked photos are more or less still visible.

3 hours ago, Van Buren Supernova said:

I wonder where do they get the confidence to do such thing in the world where there are many other options now

Good question!  Maybe they're counting on me not wanting to go through the hassle of moving my photos to another hosting site.

They've continued sending me those emails saying that I need to either pay up or stop hot linking immediately.  Maybe they'll eventually set an actual deadline, and if I don't pay they'll pull my plug.  But last time I checked, Artemis's photos were still more or less visible, and she's never paid them a cent.  So I doubt they'll bother to cut me off.  Whatever.

Of course if they piss off enough of their members, they may go out of business, and when their servers go down, everybody's plug will be pulled.

 

[Van Buren Supernova]

Can't wait!

I have suffered this second-hand anger at them for way too long!! 

[Carol the Dabbler]

You do realize -- you're not actually required to read this thread?

 

[Van Buren Supernova]

Hey, I am trying to be empathetic with your quest, at the same time, I need to fuel my judgmental trait. 

[Carol the Dabbler]

On 8/21/2021 at 11:03 AM, Carol the Dabbler said:

So the big question now is, will PB ever pull my plug?  Or will they just keep sending me vague "or else!!!!" messages?

That question may have been answered today:

Quote   We regret to inform you that your Photobucket account has been deactivated because we no longer support free accounts. To reactivate your account, simply click here and follow the instructions provided. If you encounter any issues during the reactivation process, please feel free to reach out to our member engagement team for assistance. Reactivate Account We value your business and hope that you will choose to reactivate your account with us. We look forward to seeing you back on Photobucket soon. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Best regards, Photobucket

Presumably "the instructions provided" boil down to "send us all your money."  So far, though, my hotlinked photos (e.g.,  North Gower Filming and Our Vacation) are still visible-but-watermarked -- as is Artemis's photo a few pages back at https://www.sherlockforum.com/forum/topic/3625-photobucket-news/?do=findComment&comment=157259

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

It just occurred to me that the photos I was still seeing in those threads might be from my computer's cache, so I made a minor edit, to force that particular post to reload from the internet -- and now all I see in that one is URLs, even though my subsequent posts still show photos.

So either my computer has coincidentally developed a problem with loading photos, or PhotoBucket has finally, after almost six years, followed through with their threats.

What do y'all see here and here?

 

[Caya]

Still there for me but with a big photobucket plus logo smack dab in the middle.

[Carol the Dabbler]

4 hours ago, Caya said:

Still there for me but with a big photobucket plus logo smack dab in the middle.

Hmm, that's odd -- assuming it's not from your cache.  I'm on my phone right now, so lemme try it.

Added:  The post that I edited (first one in the N. Gower thread) has no photos, just URLs, but the posts below it are still like they were, as you described. Maybe my phone has a FAR larger cache than I thought!

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

I don't recall if my first post here was like this right after I edited it the other day or not, but I just noticed that the URLs where my photos used to be are actually links (at least for me), and if I click on one I get a PhotoBucket page, black background, with the photo on it.  It seems to be the same version I've been seeing in my hotlinks (i.e., with somewhat-reduced resolution) -- but no watermark.

Does that work for anybody but me?

(All the other posts in that thread still show photos, though, at least for me.  I don't want to clear my cache -- would need to clear the entire thing to be sure -- but I have reloaded the page several times.)

 

[Caya]

Works just like you described for me too, yes.

[Arcadia]

Same here.

I've had something similar happen with my website; company suddenly announced they were closing it down unless I paid them beaucoup bucks. Guess I'll do without one for awhile. After all the problems (and expenses) connected with getting a smartphone, and after Amazon signed me up for Prime without my permission, I have decided that tech companies are simply evil.

[Carol the Dabbler]

10 hours ago, Arcadia said:

Amazon signed me up for Prime without my permission....

Were you able to get your membership canceled?  Or more to the point, did you end up paying them anything for the privilege of being thusly honored?

10 hours ago, Arcadia said:

I have decided that tech companies are simply evil.

Many of the larger ones do seem to be too big for their britches, but that may be true of most large companies.  And of course just about everything is "tech" these days.

I'd venture to say that any company whose primary aim is to keep their shareholders happy is more likely to turn their backs (whether intentionally or otherwise) on their customers.  This may be why privately-owned (especially family-owned) companies seem to be generally more customer-friendly.  Each type of company is focused on where the money is coming from.

I used to work for a university research lab, and could never understand why the theoreticians were the highest ranking staff members, considering that it was the experimentalists who designed and supervised the experiments that produced the scientific results that were the whole purpose of the lab.  Then, finally, I realized that experimental results were not actually the lab's product -- the actual product was grant proposals, because they were what brought in the money.  Cherchez la moolah!

 

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

PhotoBucket continues to send me occasional messages that start like this:  "We're sorry to say your Photobucket account is being deactivated because we no longer support free accounts."

I have done nothing in response, and so far they're just sending those messages.  But it's been only about six weeks since the first one.  Maybe they're hoping that I've forgotten their irresponsible (to put it mildly) behavior over the past six years.

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Photobucket seems to be going a step further now, at least verbally, saying that my account "has been deactivated":

Do you want to keep your 196 photos?

Your account has been deactivated because we no longer support free accounts. Reactivate your account today and store up to 1TB of photos for only $5 per month. My photos still show up here on the forum, however (still watermarked and with reduced resolution).  So I'm still wondering if perhaps Photobucket's software (major chunks of which may date from their original free-hosting days) was designed with no provisions for them to unilaterally kill an account.  Thus the second alternative offered in today's email:   Don't want your photos anymore? We're committed to making the best experience possible, even for people who want to delete their account. If that's you, follow the link below and we'll take care of your request. .

[Carol the Dabbler]

Photobucket has taken its vague threats up yet another notch:

URGENT: Your account may be subject to deletion.

If you would like to keep your photobucket account and any photos you have uploaded, reactivate your account today.

-- where "reactivate" presumably means "send us an inordinate amount of money."