Another point is that Fuber may be in risk of trademark infringement (by guess whom!) and may end up short-lived after all.

Naming a new product, service etc. by adding one letter to an existing trademark can be considered illegal.

Fuber, have you checked whether your name is legal by trade mark law?

I'm wondering how much they paid for fuber.com - all the five letter combinations of letters, never mind actual words, were registered long ago.

Good morning,

Thanks guys for all the responses, good and bad.  There are a few more questions that we wanted to address.  Once again if we have missed anythign just let us know.

Will people working from hotels be required to enter their hotel details and room number to our site?

Amy, apologies for missing this question. There have been a lot of questions!  You will not be required to give out your address in advance.

At Fuber; we understand discretion and privacy are important to independent escorts and clients. We aim to keep you safe and discreet, away from prying eyes. 

Don?t all girls use phone calls to verify?

Lucia88, Amy, A lot of comments have mentioned that a phone call is used to verify clients. We hope the Fuber verification and rating system will remove the need for this as Fuber?s functionality will weed out timewasters.  We also believe the app has features that will provide a more streamlined and easier way to make bookings without needing a call.

However we keep hearing this feedback so are discussing internally. 

Why the secrecy around the features and costs?

The Fuber team think we have developed the best website for independent escorts in this space and we need to keep some secrets around the functionality.  We do think that some competition in this industry can only be a good thing for escorts and clients.  In regards to AW crushing us we believe that if everyone with a new idea was scared of the incumbent we would live in a world full of Mcdonalds and Walmart surely? Please watch this space.

Do punters need to verify themselves?

No. Discretion and privacy are important to us.

Does our site team contain pimps?

VoluptuousCurves, Thanks for engaging.  Categorically no. We contain some experienced industry members and  some techies. Fuber is not pimps and appropriate measures are in place to ensure that no one can be exploited on our site.

We want Fuber to be the best website for free willed independent escorts in London to have fun in a safe environment. Escorting is fun and we want to simplify the lives of escorts and clients.

Are we legal by trade mark law?

We appreciate our name is familiar to a small mini cab service that some of you may of heard of. We are not trying to be linked to them and  our service is not similar to theirs.

The service is not meant to be escorts via mini cab. Fuber is a high-quality matching service for independent escorts and clients and we have applied for the trademark in the relevant category (which isn?t mini cabs).

Re trademark law, we will not bore the forum with trademark law,  but we are not infringing.

How much is the service, how much are connects?

We are not trying to avoid this question. We can?t answer it for two reasons;

1.   We are trying to keep some things for launch and the way the platform works is quite unique.
2.   The main reason is we do not 100% know as we are finalising the cost of the Connects.

Currently independent escorts have 3 main options;

a.   Traditional escort advertising sites such as VivaStreet who charge a fee per ad or per month,
b.   Own website - costs vary, but requires a fair bit of admin SEO,  server maintenance etc.
c.   AW ? costs vary depending on how you use their service.

All 3 of these options have positive and negatives and the aim of Fuber is to address these.

Fuber's aim is to be the best value, most efficient matching service for independent escorts and clients. We have built something that we believe is unique and matches our aim. We are taking the feedback on board and this will link into further developments pre-launch so please give us feedback on what you want to see.

For launch,  the service will be free for a period for the first 1000 sign ups so please visit out landing page and register.

That is it for now.  We will check back later to see if there are any further questions or comments.

Rach
Fuber Team

I really don't think this phasing out of phone calls idea you have is convincing. Phone calls are useful for a number of reasons: gauging if they are respectful and not drunk/under the influence of drugs, screenable by searching here and on Ugly Mugs, allows for quick and immediate communication if they are lost/getting late etc. Phone calls are also the quickest way to get a booking in - when I'm working I'm usually doing other stuff so emails and messages don't always get read quickly - a phone call is the best way to get hold of someone.

In terms of only relying on feedback - I think we've learned that feedback isn't the be all and end all of whether a client is dodgy or not. We've seen clients with great feedback who turn nasty, the lesson being that we can't always rely on it and need to personally judge whether we think someone is worth seeing or not (which is where the phone calls come in).

I doubt that clients would be willing to pay a connection fee when they can easily search and call someone for free as it is. Right now, arranging to see an escort is free and the only thing they have to pay is our booking fee. Why would they want to start paying for the actual booking process itself?

It's just not sinking in, is it? They're also confusing 'verifying' with 'screening', which isn't helping. Plus all the points the Lucie has made above and which will doubtless be ignored too.

I think they mean well but their core premise is based on false assumptions, those being that a) all prossies are the same, accept or turn away punters for the same reasons and therefore screen the same way (which would be appropriate if we were selling something like a car cleaning or gardening service) and also b) that everybody using these sorts of 'feedback' systems is going to be honest, which of course they're not.

On the first one (and again to continue what Lucie's mentioned) I'll point out that I turn away many punters regardless of their AW feedback because I have no interest in what some random stranger (who has a vested interested in getting a positive feedback themselves) thinks and it certainly isn't going to decide who I accept a booking from. But we all do that, because different things trigger different responses in different people.

What I will mention (because it surprised even me) is that in the last couple of years or so I can remember two punters I insta-blocked (on the basis of horrendous communications they sent me), who had not only seen but had positive feedback from women I know and trust - three in total and two of them people I've met and know well. They weren't lying when they left the feedback, and I'm not lying when I say I would rather set myself on fire than see either of the punters concerned because I found them both indescribably annoying and in one case the most punchable twat I think I've ever come across.

My point is that the only people who know how to screen for us, is us. You can't do it and I don't need you to try - what I want is an advertising site that allows me to supply punters with all the information they need to quickly and efficiently contact me, book and turn up. Dealing with timewasters and so on is my job, and I'm more than capable of doing it.

And the known fact that one punter can behave in different ways, with different women. I've also come across a few ladies who really struggle with difficult behaviour because they think they have to put up with it, and didn't utter a squeak until I made contact with them.

I can only echo the previous posters. Firstly, one person's dream client is another's nightmare. Secondly, verification is not the same as screening. Thirdly, escorts may be intimidated from leaving negative feedback as they don't wish to receive it themselves.

Many of us are fussy, older, independent women who don't feel obliged to give a blow job to anyone who can manage a couple of clicks on an app.

I don't really understand why you're finding it so difficult to grasp the concept that a phone call is many people's main method of screening - and that it's for clients' sake as well as ours.

Hi guys, it's indeed an interesting concept, I note with interest that there's a team over in German/Berlin that describe their similar app "The Uber of Escort Apps" which they've successfully luanched and are already developing a UK version of App at the moment and there's a similar one in Australia so maybe this idea has got some traction, and lets not forget to mention Tinder and Grindr (Not sure how its spelt) which is quite popular so it seems Apps do have a place in the industry and I think I remember reading that Tinder used to feature girls working on their but they get banned I think, are you guys at all connected to the German company at all by any chance? The press seem to like the idea of "Uber for Escorts" as that's how they refer to the app that's in use in Australia as well, additionally the german team say it's not technically an app and am I correct in thinking that this is the same with yourselves?

Maybe all you need to do is create a clone of Tinder and adjust it and repurpose it/market it for escort dating, as I believe escorts did use it, which thus proves that it is to some extent useful to some. If anybodies ever used tinder for escorting maybe they could tell you if it's suitable or not

It's an interesting concept, if there's anyway you could take on board what's been said on this thread and incorporate it into your app then it could be really interesting! Maybe we're talking to the next app phenomenon and we are all part of it in our own little way!!!

My take away from this thread if I were you would be to find girls who have used Tinder for finding clients, they do exist I know this as fact, and ask them what they liked about it, what would they like to see improved, I'd take everything that's been mentioned here and try to somehow incorporate it into your app, the key thing is to listen to the people who'd use it and remember the other takeaway that is anonymity, registering for a dating app is not the same as registering for an escort app

I also want to applaud you guys for coming to the Lions Den and for remaining professional, courteous, it's no small thing to put your brand name on here, as forever more every little reply, point can be scrutinised for ever more on google which never forgets (Unfortunately sometimes)

When are you thinking of launching it?

Do you work for Fuber?
Sounds like it as you are the only one here thinking this bollocks can work.
All they are doing is turning something very simple into something complicated, long winded, dangerous for us and profitable for THEM.
Punters wont verify and sensible safety conscious escorts will ALWAYS want to speak to punters before booking them.
Too many people out there in internet land trying to make a quick buck off the sweat of escorts, selling silliness and telling us how to work better/safer/more profitable and even though they ALL say they are run by escorts I bet they have never fucked for cash, obvious because they don't have the foggiest idea how we work or what is important to us when booking a sex hungry stranger into our homes and hotel rooms, frankly I find them all insulting..
My best safety app is ME not a stupid, complicated, unworkable app with a stupid name.
Hope I've made my feelings clear.

Spoke to most of my clients about this app this week, every single one said they would never verify on an escort app