Smooci Advertiser Thread

[SmoociApp]

Hi Smooci.

Is there any hope in the not so distant future that Smooci may provide a service for Chiang Mai? I mean girls that are based in Chiang Mai or close to the city that do not have to be ordered up from Bangkok or other parts of Thailand. Considering the increasing numbers of expats settling in CM every year, I am sure there would be demand for your service here, me included.

We are about 4-6 weeks away from being able to undergo our first expansion, which will be to Singapore. Once that is complete we will be in a position to allow our Thai team to expand locally, to places such as Pattaya, Phuket, and CHiang Mai. We can't put any definitive time frame on it, though we are hopefully that local Thai expansion will be possible in about 3 months time.

[Arthur Tick]

An email verification isn't enough for us to verify a booking. We were receiving an enormous amount of fake bookings. This meant our bookings team have to manually call a hotel and check that a name matches a room in order to confirm the details and send them to the agency for their confirmation. Over 20% of the calls our bookings team made lead to false details. This also lead to a significant number of failed bookings, as our team were taking up to 15 minutes to confirm, and in that time a significant number of genuine bookings failed because the companion changed their availability or took another booking within that time. Switching to SMS has lowered fake bookings to under 4% and significantly decreased the booking confirmation time and hugely decreased the number of failed bookings.

There's certainly an element of helping the agencies and independents too. While we are developing Smooci with a concept of giving more power and control to the clients, we are also trying to help genuine service providers, and by making the system more convenient and doing more of the work for them it allows them to offer lower prices, which is another huge positive for the users / clients. And by giving these agency level tools to independents, it will help us to get a lot more freelancers onboard and give them the ability to work more proficiently and professionally. (we are getting close to launching the app for independents to work with us, I think we are about 4-6 weeks away).

We understand that verifying via SMS won't be for everyone, but it is an essential step in making Smooci a better platform and getting more agencies and companions on board, lowering the prices, and raising the standards. The switch to SMS is having a very positive effect, and the number of successful bookings has double in the last 3 weeks alone, and we have several new agencies wanting to come on board as well as a long list of freelancers who are eager to come on board.

For anyone not wanting to book through Smooci, you still have the option to use Smooci to search to see which companions are available and what services they offer, and then using the info on their profile you can search and contact their agency directly.

Hi Smooci.

Is there any hope in the not so distant future that Smooci may provide a service for Chiang Mai? I mean girls that are based in Chiang Mai or close to the city that do not have to be ordered up from Bangkok or other parts of Thailand. Considering the increasing numbers of expats settling in CM every year, I am sure there would be demand for your service here, me included.

[Tiandihui]

[Deleted by Admin]

EDITOR'S NOTE: This report was redacted or deleted to remove sections of the report that were largely argumentative. Please read the Forum FAQ and the Forum's Posting Guidelines for more information. Thank You!

[Danibbler]

OK. Presumably then we could use a virtual / online cell number to receive SMS? We'll receive the code / OTP & complete the booking. That would make some of us more comfortable using your services again. Maybe that's the alternative? Any problems with that?

This is going to make things a lot more technical. Trust me, it's not worth the hassle when things get too tech-dependent.

[Danibbler]

For anyone not wanting to book through Smooci, you still have the option to use Smooci to search to see which companions are available and what services they offer, and then using the info on their profile you can search and contact their agency directly.

Yep, that's what I'll be doing barring getting a pay as you go Thai SIM card.

For me, if I was staying more than 3D2Ns, it's not a big deal to get a SIM card. It's even encouraged because it allows me to stay in touch without depending on the hotel's Wi-Fi and whatnot or when roaming about BKK and depending on the map.

[Crocodilexp]

Is there an app which could delete all references to Smooci and escorts from a smart phone?

Use your browser's incognito mode.

If you already used the regular mode in the web browser, go to settings and delete the data / cache for the browser.

Then, delete any relevant SMS messages from the messaging app.

To be honest, unless you're fearful about law enforcement, other people shouldn't be accessing your phone anyway, so your question is a bit like "if I leave my front door unlocked and safe combination written on a post-it, what's the best place to hide my cash".

[Bad Duck]

Does smooci offer a cashless transaction option? CC DC etc?

[WarmStone25]

Is there an app which could delete all references to Smooci and escorts from a smart phone?

[Jaaxie]

An email verification isn't enough for us to verify a booking.

OK. Presumably then we could use a virtual / online cell number to receive SMS? We'll receive the code / OTP & complete the booking. That would make some of us more comfortable using your services again. Maybe that's the alternative? Any problems with that?

[Syzygies]

Thanks for that advice, however if we're looking for maximum discretion having a device with you, in your possession, when not mongering is risky at best, marriage ending at worst. Renting it at the airport is a hassle, expensive and leaves a paper trail as well. Credit card security, extra fees if you go over your quota etc.

I thought one excellent selling point to a service such as Smooci was maximum discretion. Being able to play without having to 'pay' the consequences so to speak. Naive maybe. Anyway, it seems as I've said before that Smooci may simply not be for me anymore. Pity, was loving the concept.

Since you are using escorts, I assume your wife is not with you in Thailand. So it is possible to buy a cheap 2nd hand phone. Buy a SIM and use these for duration in Thailand. Make sure phone has secure password. If have not got anywhere save to keep phone overseas, then sell it again at end of trip to 2nd hand phone shop.

Use cash for everything no paper trails.

I have a dual SIM phone. I could put a monger SIM in phone just temporary and at some point throw that SIM away again. Delete all suspicious messages. Do not give girls your non monger contact info.

However I believe a separate monger phone is safer. It can be wiped totally at some point with factory reset.

You could be keeping it as a spare in case main phone has a problem. I have several phone handsets. So extra spare phones is nothing strange. I don't see it as marriage ending to have spare phones as long as they have been wiped or no evidence is on them.

LINE account linked to monger SIM can be deleted at some point.

Various things are possible to remain quite safe providing wife is not physically with you. Just have to use a lot of thought to ensure lack of evidence. My monger phones have never had any paper trails. I don't use credit card for anything related mongering these days.

It is much harder to be safe when have a Thai GF actually in Thailand who is detective type. GF could search belongings. GF could ring you by video call and ask to show where you are at the time. So be careful about when to pick up calls and about reasons why phone could not be answered. Some places have no signal so can be best to turn off normal phone at times or switch to answering service.

[SmoociApp]

Suggestion: How about allow users to create accounts or verify their numbers with an OTP?

The current system is an OTP verification. We are also working on an option for accounts which should be ready within 4 weeks.

[Bad Duck]

Suggestion: How about allow users to create accounts or verify their numbers with an OTP?

An email verification isn't enough for us to verify a booking. We were receiving an enormous amount of fake bookings. This meant our bookings team have to manually call a hotel and check that a name matches a room in order to confirm the details and send them to the agency for their confirmation. Over 20% of the calls our bookings team made lead to false details. This also lead to a significant number of failed bookings, as our team were taking up to 15 minutes to confirm, and in that time a significant number of genuine bookings failed because the companion changed their availability or took another booking within that time. Switching to SMS has lowered fake bookings to under 4% and significantly decreased the booking confirmation time and hugely decreased the number of failed bookings.

There's certainly an element of helping the agencies and independents too. While we are developing Smooci with a concept of giving more power and control to the clients, we are also trying to help genuine service providers, and by making the system more convenient and doing more of the work for them it allows them to offer lower prices, which is another huge positive for the users / clients..

[SmoociApp]

That was exactly my point as well, although in my case authorities do in theory have real time access / monitoring of my sms even when traveling. That's not however my point. It is about privacy. Renting another phone seems to be the only available option to those of us that are bothered by this move, but why should I need to? On my last trip to BKK I expressly avoided using Smooci and booked companions without them. I'm not a techie and I just don't get the point. As I said in previous posts, the previous system worked well for ME. And I guess that's the point. It's not really meant to improve our experience but instead to further automate the process for the agencies and developers to make their lives easier. I can see I guess a need to address the independents that are not represented by an agency and perhaps that is the real driver. But is there another way?

Perhaps it would help those of us struggling on this point if SmoociApp explains in plain English why exactly this hellps reduce fake bookings. I'm also not bothered by waiting an extra 10 min and I never found the real time tracking off or wished I knew 1-2 minutes earlier if my companion was at this intersection vs that intersection while en route.

To take a different tact, why couldn't the 'fake bookings' be reduced or eliminated equally well, if not better by, let's say, a registered user program. Perhaps we register via email and have the option to log in when making a booking. If you don't log in then you have the sms verification process but not if you're 'known' to smooci. Just a thought. I don't like that either but better.

An email verification isn't enough for us to verify a booking. We were receiving an enormous amount of fake bookings. This meant our bookings team have to manually call a hotel and check that a name matches a room in order to confirm the details and send them to the agency for their confirmation. Over 20% of the calls our bookings team made lead to false details. This also lead to a significant number of failed bookings, as our team were taking up to 15 minutes to confirm, and in that time a significant number of genuine bookings failed because the companion changed their availability or took another booking within that time. Switching to SMS has lowered fake bookings to under 4% and significantly decreased the booking confirmation time and hugely decreased the number of failed bookings.

There's certainly an element of helping the agencies and independents too. While we are developing Smooci with a concept of giving more power and control to the clients, we are also trying to help genuine service providers, and by making the system more convenient and doing more of the work for them it allows them to offer lower prices, which is another huge positive for the users / clients. And by giving these agency level tools to independents, it will help us to get a lot more freelancers onboard and give them the ability to work more proficiently and professionally. (we are getting close to launching the app for independents to work with us, I think we are about 4-6 weeks away).

We understand that verifying via SMS won't be for everyone, but it is an essential step in making Smooci a better platform and getting more agencies and companions on board, lowering the prices, and raising the standards. The switch to SMS is having a very positive effect, and the number of successful bookings has double in the last 3 weeks alone, and we have several new agencies wanting to come on board as well as a long list of freelancers who are eager to come on board.

For anyone not wanting to book through Smooci, you still have the option to use Smooci to search to see which companions are available and what services they offer, and then using the info on their profile you can search and contact their agency directly.

[Jaaxie]

Having a casual pay as you go Thai SIM for mongering is essential in my opinion, and good idea to have a separate small sized secure phone for it as well..

Thanks for that advice, however if we're looking for maximum discretion having a device with you, in your possession, when not mongering is risky at best, marriage ending at worst. Renting it at the airport is a hassle, expensive and leaves a paper trail as well. Credit card security, extra fees if you go over your quota etc.

I thought one excellent selling point to a service such as Smooci was maximum discretion. Being able to play without having to 'pay' the consequences so to speak. Naive maybe. Anyway, it seems as I've said before that Smooci may simply not be for me anymore. Pity, was loving the concept.

[Syzygies]

Thanks Smooci but I am not worried about waiting a few minutes or cancelling / amending a booking. Nor am I worried about the authorities. What I am worried about is that foreign SMSes are listed on my bill. The new SMS verification system seems to produce up to four individual SMSes per booking. Those will show up on my bill.

I think you guys have a great system but it is just a bit too revealing for my tastes. (Maybe I will get a SIM card at the airport.).

Having a casual pay as you go Thai SIM for mongering is essential in my opinion, and good idea to have a separate small sized secure phone for it as well. No official records for back home. Keep it well hidden. If wife happened to find it, you could claim you found it, but have not been able to unlock it. LOL I keep some of my older phone handsets (e. G. Iphone 4) just in case need a spare one. I also have a Samsung dual SIM phone for general use, and a company iphone 6 for business use. Various SIM cards. Not sure if my old non-smartphone handsets still work in Thailand due to band frequency changes. The problem with those is cannot use LINE App to message girls. However may still have some uses.