MeetupReviews 498

DISCLAIMER! I'm not associated with the group AT ALL! But I witnessed them in action today at SUTRO Baths SF. About 150 amateur photographers shooting. They took over the entire ruins, beach, rocks like little ants with cameras and their music blaring. The main guy (organizer) asked me how long I was going to be on the beach?!? The entire experience was embarrassing to witness and my experience at Sutro was RUINED. I saw a few guys had flashes on tripods with the ocean. Heheheh. Wave coming...

I've seen it work for nerdy singles and some outdoor activity groups. But other than that, the numbers just aren't there. People sign up for groups and never go. Look around and see how many groups with 500+ and even 1000+ people who only have 1 or 2 people showing up to scheduled events.

People don't use the Meetup interface after they've joined. I've seen it myself, and heard this from several people who ran groups and then closed them down.

I took over as organizer of a group from someone who'd started it and decided to leave. I kept it going for almost a year, and even grew it a bit. But the bottom line is, it did not bring people to our meetings.

Use Facebook or set up a website if you want to get something going. Meetup is lame.

I started a group and from the get-go they were like big-brother watching everything I typed. They made fun of my name, changed and deleted messages I typed for whatever motive they have. They have no true business model - they don't know themselves the purpose of their site. They are strict on things that they have no right in having a say over, yet are lenient on things that should not get a pass. The bottom line is they want to make money and you are the product. They even put moles in groups to see what they are doing and then steal ideas. I even had a girl from meetup HQ follow me on the bus to see what it was I was intending to do with my group. This is stalking people! The HQ is a joke run by teenagers who don't know the meaning of professionalism. I didn't even get a refund for my money. They laugh in your face. They use their cookies and tracking of your computer to see what sites you visit and then contact these sites to tell them not to do business with you. This is the epitome of cyber-bullying. Like I said, teenagers with a platform - only here the bullying is in cyberspace and not on the playground.

I have joined 6 different groups that are all based on walking and hiking. On occasion, we have gone out for breakfast or lunch after. I have met so many nice people through meetup and have discovered so many new canyons, lakes, vista points, I could go on. Now that I have a nice repor with so many different people, Its easy to find someone going to the beach, mountains, or desert in California, depending on which direction that day I want to walk/hike.
I also noticed a lot of people who have moved here from different countries or states utilize meetup for just this purpose. It's very cool to meet others from around the world!

Our Meetup has been operating for many years now. We have 700+ members on record but 100+ are active due to the nature of our group. We are a private meetup offering support therefore, our members are screened before they are accepted to ensure they are joining for the right reason and not confusing us with a singles group. We have 3 people on the leadership team and a social events organizer. We meet monthly to discuss specific topics and also try to get guest speakers. We also meet weekly in smaller groups. The feedback we get is wonderful however, we have had to deal with difficult members and have had to ban a select few but it is done after speaking with the person and giving a second chance. We cannot please everyone nor can we help everyone who comes to us.

There are many Meetups out there that anyone can start with their own agenda. I don't think Meetup overall should be blamed; it is the individual organizers who give it a bad rep.

I can't pay my organizer dues on Meetup, so I am going to lose my group. This, after I've been on automatic pay for an entire year. And they have no mechanism to take my credit card number other than by computer - and their payment screen doesn't work. Now they are asking me to clear all the cookies off my computer to see if that helps. It's so frustrating. They need some good competition. Is there another website that does the same kind of thing?

I initially signed up to join a Christian group for under 35s here in Melbourne, Australia. Ii have been rejected TWICE! The female group leader, I think, seemed desperately jealous and threatened by me... just by my picture (one of my daughter and myself). My personal stats did not breach the groups rules. I've never been married, divorced, engaged etc. I simply wanted to meet like minded folk... and I never imagined to be harshly judged, or rejected, by supposed loving Christians. Pfft. That woman is a joke. She wants only what SHE considers, "ugly" Christian women to join. Anyone else, get ready for rejection.

Wow, Meetup really sucks! High fees and NO customer service. I was having a problem contacting the owner of a group via Meetup's e-mail system. I sent a message to them (had to wait two days for a response) and then received a short message from them that accused me of being a spammer. (I was trying to contact ONE owner of ONE group). When I responded back with the facts, they never responded. What a bunch of *(&^-heads!

After looking around online, I'm going to use GroupSpaces or BigTent. Listing here in case anyone else is also looking for alternatives.

Meetup is the worst company ever! I tried to contact them for help with stopping a payment and their response time and system was an absolute joke! It's obvious that no one works together and I kept receiving emails from different people asking me for different things and then when I would respond that person would never get back to me and then when I would write another upset email I would just get a new person asking for the same thing, it took about a month to get anywhere and then they just told me they could not help! It's ridiculous that this company is too lazy to have any type of phone service to help their members, they could not understand the situation through email but yet I could not even have the chance to explain it over the phone! And they say they have great email customer service! That could not be further from the truth, I flit like I was dealing with untrained circus monkeys instead of people! This company just wants to take all of the credit, and take your money and have absolutely no responsibility! Their departments don't communicate at all, and they literally just don't want to deal with any drama so they use the cop out that they are just the middle man! You have seriously pissed me off and I will try to spread the word about your company anywhere I can and as often as I can! You treat your members like crap and I think other have a right to know!

Wow! A lot of negative reviews on here... I notice most of the naysayers tend to focus on an incident or anecdotal happening
My experiences have been pretty good especially if you link up with one that is active and has a few organizers and not just one or two. I n my homecity in Canada there is a wide selection to choose from and the larger general activities Meet-Ups have a wide following and a number of events. I've some good acquaintances and widened my social circle far more easily than striking up conversations in a bar.
I've traveled to other cities for and looked up local meet up group(s) and just show up and they've all been welcoming. Some may charge a couple dollars but I understand that there are costs associated with hosting the site and I'm fine with that.

My stalker found me through Meetup.com because of their lax Privacy Policies in which case they did nothing to ban her from the site. Organizers don't want to deal with the "drama" so they ignore any requests for bans. And, because anyone can start a group with no guidelines or expectations set in place by Meetup.com for Organizers, Organizers can chose to do whatever they want without reprocutions, such as ignoring pleas for help.

FYI: If your name is used for your account or if your name is listed in any comments in any group, you will come up in any online search of your name and every single group you are a member of will show up. This is a great way for stalkers, employers, or anyone else to find you!

Mine did this, and then proceeded to sign up for every group I was a part of, then proceeded to slander me in groups, and act like she was going to show up to an event - only to never show up, but only psych me out from attending anything fearing she'd be there.

Did Meetup do anything? Nope.

I was an organizer of a few groups for a few years and hosted around 100 events with 95% having great reviews. When a few female members who were psychotically jealous of me because they were desperate cougars and the men were attracted to me and not them decided to start ruining my events meetup kicked me off the site (claiming that I was barred for life). After what I went through dealing with the mentally unstable and desperate people of New York City that are a part of meetup (had to call the police twice, strangers started yelling for no reason at events, adults over-drinking and puking on others, stalkers, people not paying for their meals, really sleazy and creepy men, etc. etc. You wouldn't believe what I've witnessed) there's NO WAY IN HELL that I would ever want to be a part of this site ever again. Not one employee at meetup ever asked for my side of the story- what a horrible business with extremely poor customer support. Back in the day... crazy people like this were sent to lunatic asylums... now they all belong to meetup.com.

I tried to organize a few meetups with no success, so I didn't want to waste my time or money anymore and attempted to unsubscribe as an organizer and stop my cc deductions. An almost impossible feat. They charged my credit card again and once again I'm trying to stop my membership. Phone calls not accepted and emails not answered. BEWARE!

I don't get all the bad reviews? I agree when I was in Canada some of the groups charged for events, but most didn't. In Australia, none of my groups charge for events unless the event costs money, eg a ticket to something. You just get to go, meet awesome people and my social life has now expanded. In some cases we get to go and get free stuff. As a woman, you have to be careful of the weekend events that creepy older men treat as dating events though. Go to girls nights and groups for people who've just moved to the city. I've made so many friends through meetup.

I met Yiqian Zhou through meet up.com, and discovered that he entered into the United States to attend Rowan University from Shanghai, China in 2005-2009 and 2009-2011 to earn a Bachelors and MBA degree. He entered the country using factitious and fraudulent documents, which was supplied by a Chinese company to recruit Chinese students to Rowan University up to 2009. The University has not done anything.

He currently resides in the Virginia or Maryland area and is working for Innovative life Solutions in Hyattsville, MD *******750). He used the same factitious documents to gain employment through this employer, who sponsors him. Other contacts that may be helpful to you is Gisele Jones-Human Resources Rep. At Innovative Life Solutions and most importantly, Tim Torry, the foreign student representative at Rowan University. Tim's number is *******105. Yiqian Zhou's number is *******776.

I am shocked and surprised at the number of negative reviews. I have been a member for years, and an organizer for one year. I charge my members a small fee (dues) just to cover meetup dues charged to me. Met lots of new friends and its great for networking as well. Maybe the bad reviewers have joined shady meetup groups and had a bad experience. Not the situation here at all!