A STRONG WORD OF CAUTION REGARDING PHOTOBUCKET

[Rob DiStefano]

The Issue ...

In essence, they are impossible to contact for almost any reason other than canceling your account.  There is no contact information on their website - no email, no phone number and no location address.  If you have a PRO (paying) Photobucket subscription, and you wish to ask about it or change or challenge a recurring subscription, you're totally out of luck.

The Beef ...

In my case, I'd been a Photobucket Pro account member since 2004.  I paid $40 every 2 years, which insured I had plenty of server space and no pop-up ads.  I paid a recurring subscription via a credit card.  Last month (July 13th) they debited my credit card for $39.90 as the account subscription was to end this month (August).  No problem.  However, when I checked my account status at the Photobucket site, it listed I would be charged for my subscription on October 14th.  As mentioned above, there is no contact info on their website.  There is a phone number attached to a credit card payment and that only goes to voice mail - you will not get a return call.  In my account there's a link that allows you to cancel a paying subscription.  I clicked it and got a pop-up email link with text saying that I could only cancel my account by first sending and email to them (Photobucket) explaining why I wished to cancel.  So I did, figuring I'd at least get to email chat with someone.  Nope, no such luck. I did get an email back saying my account would be canceled in 2 days.  It was.

The Moral ...

I hope my fiasco with Photobucket will give you pause for using their service.  If you do, Good Luck.

[RedShaft]

Hey rob, I use it also. Personally I don't like it. What other good sites are there to host photos and videos similar to photobucket? Thanks

[Rob DiStefano]

photobucket was really excellent when it first arrived about 10 years ago.  i joined in 2004 and it was strictly an image archive service.  over the years, they changed their focus and direction, and became more "social environment" friendly, more like facebook and myspace.

for image archiving, i use  www.imagur.com

for videos, it's hard to beat youtube.com