Are indys better than agencies?

[MakeIt]

I was reading a review thread in the outcall section regarding Tamara - it wasn't really a review since Tamara had blown off the intended customer from a well planned appointment because she was apparently to busy partying with some friends. Interestingly, as I was planning a response on the thread, it disappeared along with the few responses. I guess Tamara and the intended customer came to an understanding that involved removing the thread - not sure who was more pissed ;-)

In any case, it got me thinking about a trend that has really grown in this industry in the past year and I know a bunch of independents will probably get upset about this. This is about agency girls going indy - its so easy, put up a website, cell phone, advertise on MERX, whatever and go for it - nothing wrong with that. They may make more money that way or it makes them feel better to keep all the proceeds, or they don't have to work for agency owner they hate. However, there have been a number of cases of indys blowing off customers as well - usually with no warning. This tends to make news on the boards as the indy was a popular agency girl in the past and the customer is really pissed having rented a hotel room and sitting there with no news and horny as hell.

The problem is that not all girls are suited to be indys. Being independent means being in business for yourself and I think a lot of girls who take this step are rarely ready to do this at such a young age - they want to party and have fun, not be responsible for running a business. If Eleganza, Develish, xxtase, MSC or other popular agencies blew off customers with no warning and then came up with such lame excuses, they'd be getting shit all over the MERX boards. One clear benefit of agencies is that they push girls to come to work and meet her commitments whereas as an indy, if they don't feel like it because xx or yy, then nobody is there to push them. In essence, they need a boss, like the vast majority of people, to tell them what to do and when. Some other benefits of an agency is that:
- when the girl does blow off a night or customer, they may have someone else to fill in.
- when you call them, 99.5% of the time you'll get a hold of them - at least the good ones.

Now I'm not saying agencies are better than indys or vice-versa. Of course many independents are responsible and take their business seriously and we never hear stories like this about them. And there's a bunch of really bad agencies out there as well. But thanks to the internet and boards like this, any girl can now become an indy, and many do. But in the end, it turns out to be a bad choice for many of them. They would probably be better off finding a good agency owner they can work with.

MakeIt

 

[jacep]

I won't say that indies are better than agencies or vice versa. I find both experiences different.

Since you've mentioned Tamara (SexyTamara), I've experienced Tamara before and I'm a "somewhat" repeat customer of hers (I've seen her more than 4 times since she became an indie and have never seen her when she worked for XXXTase) and have somewhat recently seen her for a duo with her good (real) friend Meghan/Megan.

Dealing with indies gives a somewhat more personal service since clients can generally ask them to wear something that interests you, etc. whereas when you deal with an agency, the lady will see a few clients back to back and doesn't really have the option of "customized" service. I'm not saying that with an indie, you are the only customer of the indie for that particular day but generally the time is set with enough time in between for her not to rush to her next appointment if she is professional about it. I find that generally, indies are a bit more generous with their time (taking showers during their time as opposed to the time of the client).

Of course, it all depends on the indie that you deal with and how she values customer satisfaction and commitments. Tamara has issues with time, etc. but I believe that she tries her best to honour commitments and tries to satisfy her customers.

Another difference in dealing with indies as opposed to agencies is that with indies, you can arrange a time/schedule that suits you best. With agencies, you see the schedule that is posted and you pick the lady that interests you the most on that particular day. For example, I've been wanting to see 2 ladies at XXXTase but based on their schedule (and my schedule), they have never worked when I was available (and interested in seeing a SP). This is why I never saw Tamara when she worked at XXXTase (since when I was available/interested in seeing someone, she was not working).

I've received cancellations from indies as well as twice from agencies (girl quit early during her shift and/or girl called in to say she wasn't showing up for her shift at the last moment). With the 2 agencies, during these cancellations, they offered me someone else. I've accepted once and once I declined and went with another agency... not because I was upset but more because the lady that was offered to me or the ladies who were available did not interest me.

With indies, I've never been offered anyone else (nor do I expect them to offer someone else). Can you imagine an indie saying "well, I'm not available but you can see my good friend xxxxxx"? I think that lots of indies would think that she would lose a good/repeat client to her "good friend" if she did this. I generally repeat with indies so I've never been offered anyone else during a cancellation.

So far, I've received a no-show from an indie (once) but never an agency. I define a no-show as a confirmed appointment and then not showing up for the appointment without cancelling. I have heard that sometimes or some agencies will do a "no-show" and invoke the "hotel wouldn't transfer the call to your room since I didn't have your complete name" excuse. This has never happened to me with an agency since I've always given the agencies that I deal with 2 ways of reaching me directly when I confirm an appointment (the hotel room number as well as a cellphone number).

 

[Lion Heart]

Not necessarily better...but different in many ways

Another difference in dealing with indies as opposed to agencies is that with indies, you can arrange a time/schedule that suits you best. With agencies, you see the schedule that is posted and you pick the lady that interests you the most on that particular day.

Indeed. As I need to hobby on a scheduled basis, advance booking is one of the main factors that have drawn me towards indies. This is in fact the only way you can meet an independent lady. Most indies rely on emails for their bookings, which is what I prefer. Also, many are available during daytime and that fits very well with my needs.

Most agencies just can’t cater advance bookings (too much work I’ve been told). Many are not responsive to emails, even if they have a reservation form on their websites (again, too much hassle, it's easier to just answer the phone), and operate on day-to-day basis only at night (because the girls are unreliable and can’t keep a schedule, they say). Only a few agencies like Montreal Sex City/Satin Dreamz are responsive to emails, handle advance booking well and offer many daytime availabilities. Not surprisingly, besides indies, I’ve done business with them a lot.

As for intrinsic differences, many indies are more mature than the average agency girl. They typically ask for higher rates and, as a result, see less clients per day (sometimes only a few a week). But it’s generally repeat clients that will book them for multiple hours, if not the whole night. Such working conditions have generally a very positive impact on the attitude and services of many indies, though you can find as good, if not better some times, in agencies. Until they get burned by seeing 4 or 5 clients per shift, quit the biz or become independent.

You may end up with problems (cancellations, no shows, etc.) either with an indy or an agency. With an indy, you'll be left dry if something unexpected occur. The main advantage of an agency is the backup crew that can come to your rescue and salvage your day. But you may not be interested in seeing who's available if your first choice has just vanished away.

Lion Heart

 

[jacep]

Most agencies just can’t cater advance bookings (too much work I’ve been told). Many are not responsive to emails, even if they have a reservation form on their websites (again, too much hassle, it's easier to just answer the phone), and operate on day-to-day basis only at night (because the girls are unreliable and can’t keep a schedule, they say). Only a few agencies like Montreal Sex City/Satin Dreamz are responsive to emails, handle advance booking well and offer many daytime availabilities. Not surprisingly, besides indies, I’ve done business with them a lot.

Eleganza also does advance bookings but I've found that John/Eleganza is not as responsive to e-mails as he is to phone calls. My entire fun week that I had in January was spent with Eleganza via advance appointments.

The lady that I saw on Saturday (Alyssa) which was the start of my fun-week was scheduled on Monday of that week. Sunday I didn't see anyone. When John posted the schedule on Monday afternoon, I called him with my week's worth of prebookings. I planned the entire rest of the week appointments (Monday to Saturday) on Monday and called John/Eleganza on Monday with my schedule after not hearing back from the indies in time. I wanted to schedule a few (2) indies during that week but one of the indies was on vacation and the other indie answered too late and was not available during the days that I wanted to see her.

The advance appointments that I did with John/Eleganza were made via phone call. In the past, I've tried using PM and e-mail but did not receive a reply within 12 hours so I now only call. I only had 2 last minute appointment changes/additions that I made at Eleganza during my fun week. One change was because I decided to see someone else (new) and the other change was actually an addition because someone that I wanted to see again submitted her schedule mid-week as opposed to on Monday when I originally did my prebookings so I extended my fun week by 1 day.

 

[Lion Heart]

Eleganza also does advance bookings but I've found that John/Eleganza is not as responsive to e-mails as he is to phone calls.

True, but you can't book until the weekly schedule is out on Sundays or Mondays. If you want to set something up early the following week, you have to call and book for the same day or the day after. I'd say this is limited advanced booking. Also, until recently, they had no daytime availabilities. It changed a few weeks ago with Lilly starting her shift early in the afternoon. They may see more of my business if more such daytime availabilities are offered.

With MSC/SD, the schedule is out sometimes 2 weeks in advance for some ladies. No problem sending an email in the middle of a week to book something Monday or Tuesday of the following week. Great advantage from my perspective.

Lion Heart

 

[jacep]

With MSC/SD, the schedule is out sometimes 2 weeks in advance for some ladies. No problem sending an email in the middle of a week to book something Monday or Tuesday of the following week. Great advantage from my perspective.

Yes, I agree with you. Any type of advance booking is always welcome in my opinion.

 

[Rex Kramer]

But thanks to the internet and boards like this, any girl can now become an indy, and many do. But in the end, it turns out to be a bad choice for many of them. They would probably be better off finding a good agency owner they can work with.

I agree for some of these ladies the indy route is really not suitable for them for whatever reasons, and the agency route is their best bet. It is much easier now to take the indy route given the resources you mentioned, and also other resources like booking agencies, co-op advertisements, and also peer support.

It is much more demanding to be an indy, and to be successful would require an addition skill set and certain qualities that are not needed as just an escort. As an hobbyist, if you value these qualities, or the more personalized services indies can provide whether it is advance booking or your favorite attire or the more flexible scheduling or the feeling of a regular mistress, and can afford their generally higher rate (not always, e.g. Annabelle), then indy is the way to go.

But then for someone like me who has no loyalty whatsoever to the indy route or agency route, I go for both. Variety may not be the spice of life, but it is definitely the spice of this hobby for me.

 

[z/m(Ret)]

Depends. If a client is confident enough that his input will contribute to a pleasant encounter, then indies are better. If not, then one might prefer the somewhat regimented (often younger and more submissive) agency girl.

 

[MakeIt]

Good points for indys

I have to say there are some good points that have been made here for indys, especially in regards to scheduling. For my situation, I tend to have pretty limited windows of availability so I guess I'll really have to check out indy's for that. But I must say there are a handful of agencies that do a decent job on pre-booking or at least keeping you abreast of lady's availabilities. Elegnaza, MSC, Staindreamz are good here and xxxtase does a good job of posting schedules. But in reality, you still need to have some flexibility to deal with scheduling issues. Personally, due to my own schedules, I usually try to book a lady near the beginning of a shift which has many benefits. The worse to book a lady near the end of her shift since she will: be tired, cancel out, or at minimum be late.

While the idea of a more personalized service may be in the indy's favor, I personally don't care much about this as the only thing that concerns me is the chemistry with the lady. I personally tend to repeat with certain agency ladys where I have good chemistry and usually for multiple hour encounters. I don't think its any harder to find good chemistry at agencies than with indys because finding the jewels in either camp usually requires some work. I've seen it both ways.

The other factors that come into play is availability and cost. Though there are more indys out there, it is still small, I think, compared to agency ladies and there is a lot of availability just looking at the agencies that are reviewed on the MERX boards. God knows that John at Eleganza seems to find a new gem about every 2 weeks. Availability of good indys is pretty limited which means booking them is even harder. The other factor is cost. Indys tend to be more expensive, and a lot more in many cases. This is fine and I'm not starting a debate on this. Indys who charge a lot more will offer more perosonalized service I suppose but I think the main thing there is that they see fewer clients and as such provide perhaps a better experience. Which again makes them even harder to book. In any case, I personally don't care much about that either as the experience I've had with repeat ladies from agencies where I book 2-3 hour appts is usually hard to beat.

One thing that is interesting here though is the indy's who position themselves in the middle now at the about the $200 range. Though still above the agency rates they are a lot closer and for multi-hour appts. can get competitive.

Thanks for all your input.

 

[Heinekaze]

Indies are better but some can be unreliable, book in advance.
Agency only if i am desperate and my favority indy is booked.

 

[yungone]

who is it

who is your favorite indy by the way Heinakaze?

 

[montreal_monk01]

It's tough to compare Indys to agency girls:
Indys have the advantage to take their time, plan their encounter at their own rythm, choose who they want to meet..etc
An agency girl is just caught in the rush of the "industrial rythm" of seeing a maximum possible of clients her agency would like her to meet (more encounters, more money for the agency). So of course, in the long run, chances are that the Indy may look more relaxed/fresh/less rushed.