No custmer service, period!
No custmer service, period!
No custmer service, period!
No custmer service, period!
No custmer service, period!

Still send me emails though i deactivated them...

They took a decent app and turned it into crap!

Not a good place to meet quality people.

This story will definitely make people scared using meetup groups. I'm a frequent user of the Seattle Climbing Meetup group (and other meetup groups), and I'm writing about a horrible, crazy, and hostile event that happened to me with this meetup group that involved my driver and Bruce MacLachlan, the organizer on the trip to Smith Rock on 8/6/15. I've climbed many times with this meetup and Bruce and something like this has never happened before, which is why it's extremely shocking what happened to me since I knew Bruce.
The purpose of this story is not to attack anyone but to inform everybody of what happened, and to warn everybody to be cautious of this meetup and to show how Bruce is not at all who he seems to be.
I have met a lot of different people in my life and went traveling overseas by myself for a year, and this is one of the WORST things that has happened to me. Here are the facts of what happened:

1. I went on trips with this meetup many times before and climbed with Bruce. Things have always gone smoothly.

2. It was hard to set up a time to meet with my driver JC since he kept changing the times

3. I texted JC to meet at South Bellevue P&R three times and he was at a different park&ride

4. He told me hours into the drive, "By the way, I have different plans Sunday and I might not be able to give you a ride back. I should've told you earlier."

5. We stopped at two gas stations before Oregon. Each time JC never filled up his tank full, only a little bit each time.

6. We ran out of gas when we reached the bivy campsite at Smith Rock.

7. When I asked JC, "Why don't you fill up your gas tank full?" JC freaked out and said,
"Seriously?! Are you seriously questioning my decisions right now?"
I said, "Yeah, it's a simple question."
"Seriously, woman?" JC exclaimed. Yeah, he actually said woman.

8. JC said he almost didn't pick me up before we even met because I was "bargaining" with him what time we had to leave, and that he's the driver and he's doing me a favor and I shouldn't be trying to "bargain" a time with him. I wasn't bargaining a time, I was coordinating. I need to plan ahead and know when to leave! Weird.

9. We drove around for half hour searching for a gas station. It was around 11pm.

10. JC dropped me off at skull hollow camp where the meetup group was supposed to be but he wanted to stay at the bivy site. Now we're officially separated. It was midnight by now.

11. I was stranded the next morning and had to ask a kind stranger to give me a ride to the park. I eventually found Bruce and the others and climbed with them and got a ride with them back to Skull Hollow. Bruce KNOWS by now I have no driver. They went to the bath house and I didn't see them again that night.

12. I was LEFT BEHIND the next morning even though Bruce knew I had no car! I had to ask another stranger to drive me to the park and by now I'm extremely frustrated.

13. Bruce and the others were in the middle of climbing a multipitch route, so I had to wait a couple hours. I planned to talk to Bruce about everything that's happened.

14. When Bruce finally came down I tried to tell him what happened but he cut me off and said
He had to go change his shoes. So I waited a while and Bruce sat down and got settled, started chatting with 3 climbers next to him and showed no signs of coming back. So I walked down and asked to talk to him. Bruce sounded annoyed and tried to brush me off again. He really didn't want to hear me at all.
I started telling him about my incident with JC and seriously barely finished my sentence when Bruce cut me off again and said he doesn't care what happened between us, it's not his problem.

15. I was shocked at his response and this is where things got extremely intense and hostile. I tried explaining again how my driver ditched me and again Bruce yelled, "not my problem!"
I said I was extremely upset how they left me that morning knowing I had no car! Bruce did not understand and was yelling, swearing, and pointing aggressively.

16. Bruce continued attacking me. I said, "So you don't give a $#*! that I was stranded at the camp this morning." Bruce said, "Yeah, I really don't give a $#*!!"

17. At one point Bruce jumped up and tried to be intimidating, and he even threatened to hit me. He yelled, "I am sick of the sight of you, get the $#*! outta here!" Not the way an organizer should behave.

18. A long time has passed, and when I went to Bruce again and started talking, Bruce plugged his ears and started singing, "La la la I can't hear you," like a kindergardener.

19. When I continued talking trying to get him to listen, Bruce stood up and said, "If you don't shut up I'm gonna push you off this cliff!" "I'd like to see you try," I snapped. It was over at this point.

20. Bruce banned me from the Seattle Climbing Meetup group and removed my comments. Whoopdeedoo

Throughout this trip I felt abandoned, bullied, neglected, disrespected, and worried for my safety. Right from the beginning I felt concerned for my safety when I had that incident with JC. I was alone with a stranger who never fills up his gas tank full and lashed out at me when I questioned his odd behavior, and it was late at night.
It's not right that strangers not from the meetup agreed to help me and were much kinder, and the meetup group itself with people I KNEW refused to help me at all! I felt completely abandoned and neglected when Bruce and the others KNEW I had no car and left without me the next morning anyways! It made me feel like I didn't matter and was being treated like $#*!.
I am extremely shocked at Bruce's reaction through all this. Here was a guy I climbed with before and on the surface seemed like a cool, friendly guy. I knew him which is why I'm so shocked. I thought he'd be understanding. Goes to show you will never truly know someone until $#*! happens.
The worst thing of all this is how Bruce continued chatting to Ty and the other 3 bystanders as if nothing had happened, as if I was invisible and that I was the crazy one. Everyone was against me. It was a nasty and toxic atmosphere. I felt horrible. I was treated like $#*! this entire meetup and Bruce is totally ok with that. Like he said, "I really don't give a $#*!." A leader of the meetup group should not be acting this way. It is totally wrong.
IMPORTANT FACT ABOUT MEETUP GROUPS: THE ORGANIZER CAN TAKE DOWN YOUR REVIEWS! How screwed up is this?!? I posted a negative review of my horrible experience and they took it down! It's a dictatorship. There is no freedom of speech. Oh, and I emailed meetup.com itself about this and they were absolutely no help at all.
Meetup group people are a bunch $#*!s hanging out with other $#*!s. Birds of a feather flock together. I hope this teaches everyone to stay away from meetups!

Terrible site and I don't like the meetups.

Meetup is a great way to meet people with similar interests. There are a lot of different groups. Including hiking, camping, dancing, workout groups, dating, networking, movie lovers, international foods and even groups to learn another language. The meetup.com website is pretty well run and is always adding new features. Hosting a meetup group is pretty easy. There are forums and Q&As that the website has created that are extensive. Joining a group is easy and painless. Remember the site is not free to the meetup group organizers. Meetup does not charge members a fee but many group organizers charge a fee for their group to pass on the costs of the meetup fee and other group costs (clubs around the world also do this).
I am reading the negative comments below and must say all of them our false... so I am going to try and correct the information.
WHO CAN START A GROUP - Anyone who wants to start a group can. You pay a monthly or annual fee to do so. If you are computer literate it is easy to set up and manage meetings. I host a meetup group for people wanting to learn Spanish and we have weekly meetings. I charge $10 a year to my members to help recoup the costs... there are some business' on meetups but the ones I have seen are pretty clearly marked... i. e Yoga $8 a lesson. Like anywhere there may be some scammers out there. I haven't seen any on meetup and I have been a member and an organizer for 5 years... Since anyone who pays can set up a group there are a few that are disorganized and their are some groups that never take off (especially in small towns). But for the most part meetup groups are run by volunteers who are willing to give their money and time for their hobby or interest and are a great way to meet people who share your interests.
EMAIL - You can easily manage your mail from meetup. You do need to do this for your general meetup membership and for each group you belong to though.
I belong to many groups that I have totally turned off my emails from and then choose to get every email and notice from the group I host. You can choose in between options also, for example choosing to get an email when a new event is posted to your group. As an organizer I can choose other emails that go out to my group. I have it set so I have to approve all group emails from anyone but my co-organizers.
PROBLEM WITH MEMBERS - Meetup, like any volunteer organizations, does always have problem and ungrateful members but they are few and far between (looks like we have some in these reviews). Many groups do have a problem with members RSVPing for events and not showing. Most groups have started removing members who do this. Since going a meetup group is so easy you do get people to join who might not fit in with your group or lack group etiquette. Some of these people have not been previously active in clubs and have definitely not been an officer in a group. These people don't realize the time and expense it takes to organize a club, even one that is on meetup. However, as a rule most members are great, especially the regular core members.
If you join meetup remember that your organizers and hosts are volunteers and please remember to say thank you. While the meetup site makes things easier, hosting a group and/or an event is still time consuming. I have a large group that has 2-3 meetings a week and I get more "why don't you do this or this or this" (from new members who can be quite rude about it) than "thank you's". I am president of two groups outside of meetup and members of these groups are helpful and appreciative.
DUES - It does cost to host a meetup group and many groups charge a nominal fee to their members. In the 4 years I have had a group, the expense of the group has come out of my pocket 3 of those years. I know this is partly my fault since I don't go around asking for dues all the time. I also buy supplies for my group and buy gifts and give little thank yous for the people who volunteer to host events or teach a class. I know quite a few groups that are removing people who don't pay their group dues and have done so on occasion. I think meetup.com could do a better job at letting people know that the organizers do pay for the groups. Many members don't know this and expect it is free.
SECURITY -There are a lot of ways to keep meetup group and meetup members secure, this is important for any group but especially anything on the internet. You can make your profile private to anyone outside of meetup and can make a lot of your information private to people who are not in the same meetup groups. There is also a lot group members can do. To join my group you have to answer some questions and provide a identifiable photo id. I also personally approve each member. My group is also private so no one outside the group can see my members or where we are meeting. For meetups in homes etc I only send the addresses for people who RSVP. I don't require anyone to use their full name (I use my first name and last initial). I also remove members who cause a lot of conflict and have a friend who has a social group that has removed several men because members had complained about them.
When meetup organizers get together we talk about member problems (problem personalities, and people not paying dues or not RSVPing), I don't think I've ever had a discussion about a problem with the website or the company. Other than to explain how to do something on the website or discuss a website tool they are now using. What most conversations are about are the one or two problem member groups we have. Although as we have gained in experience we started removing the trouble makers. When you remove a negative member the dynamics of an entire group changes. Also removing problem members will help you keep your volunteers. I have had numerous volunteer Spanish instructors quit because one member or another was rude to them etc. These are normally new members. I have also had people say they will never host an event again because people have RSVPed and not shown up or have been late and got nasty when the group did not wait an hour for them to start.
In summary I would say the meetup website is well done. The fees to host a group are a bit higher than I would like but there are a ton of great features on the website and the company (meetup.com) is there to make a profit and running a website like this takes a lot of people and resources. AND ;) if meetup club members paid their dues the cost wouldn't be an issue.