Relationship Psychology Discussions > The Vent
How much is it really worth?
tired of it all:
I just can't get over how much these people charge for readings. And I've pretty much always limited myself to the ones that charge under $3 a minute and have rarely gone over that. But even $3 a minute seems exorbitant! Even if the platform they are using is taking over half of that away in fees, that's still WAY more than I've ever earned at any job. Most jobs pay by the hour or else you get a yearly salary. Have you ever thought about how much you actually earn per minute?
My latest pay raise will only bring me up to earning about 25 CENTS PER MINUTE. That's after having been in the job more than 8 years, and it's about the best I can do given my current circumstances. I live in a low income area with little opportunity so it was actually sort of miraculous that I got something paying that much. But I am also very limited in the amount of hours I can work each week so I really don't earn a lot anyway.
Now if I had a dime for every time a reader told me something like "I see money around you" or "I see more money coming in soon" I'd probably be in a much better financial position. Of course the money they see coming, never comes. I feel like they just say things like to give you a false sense of security so you will keep spending money on readings. It's hard to believe that because one reader who told me this was so accurate on other things and really seemed like a very honest reader overall. But when she said "I see money around you" I felt like hanging up the phone right away because it sounded so phony. It really makes me doubt everything else she said.
Another reader used to really lay a guilt trip on me about how much she needed money, especially after she raised her rates. She would tell me sob stories about things she needed money for, like her daughter was stranded in a foreign country with no money. She would send free minutes a lot, so it seemed like she was being generous, but then she would chew up those minutes with chit chat.
I noticed a lot of readers do that with free minutes, they just use up that time with small talk before they really start the reading. And I'd end up spending MORE in the long run because the small talk was a distraction and it would take even longer for them to get focused.
Anyway that one reader would offer to do work to help manifest things for no charge. I didn't believe it would do anything, but I thought, what could it hurt? She did all this on her own time, not on the phone, and never charged any money for it. However as time went on I noticed how much of our time on the phone was spent talking about "the work" and how late she was up at night doing this for me and other clients. So again it felt like a guilt trip. And I began to value our time on the phone less and less because I felt she was doing so much for me on her own time.
Needless to say none of her predictions/work ever manifested anything for me, and it's been over 3 years at this point so I don't think it's just delayed. Especially not the one about having more money and abundance coming to me. And getting readings set me back so far financially, it may be a long time yet before I fully recover.
So I don't know, hearing any predictions about more money coming just feels to me like they are rubbing salt in the wound. I know some of them are crooks and they are just deliberately milking desperate people for money any way they can. I've learned to spot those pretty quickly. But it's much harder to take coming from someone who seems really kind and sincere and sounds like they really want to help their clients. Ironically I've experienced far more damage talking to the ones who seemed the most sincere and helpful, not just losing the money spent on readings, but serious emotional and psychological and spiritual damage.
And in the long run, losing money in and of itself can cause a lot of psychological damage as well. I know it has for me, I've lost a lot of confidence in myself and overall just feel like I've been ripped off. I quite honestly feel like less of a person now.
Along the way I have had readings that were very beneficial for me, and probably saved my sanity at certain points...but it has taken SO much trial and error. It has been a very expensive process just to get those few little nuggets here and there.
And even the best readers do damage at some point. It's not just about whether or not the predictions come true...that's about the last thing I'd expect anymore anyway...it's how they handle their relationship with the client. Are they judgmental or critical of you? Do they lay a guilt trip on you about anything? Do you feel like you can leave honest feedback without retaliation or getting blocked? Do you feel manipulated...literally in your gut, in your solar plexus, do you feel they are manipulating your energy? Do you feel that they respect you?
Do they waste your time on the phone talking about themselves? Or do they talk a lot about other clients (thereby letting you know they probably don't respect YOUR privacy either?) Do you feel like the full amount of time in the reading is focused on you and answering your questions? Do they keep repeating themselves to fill up the time? Do you feel like you really got your moneys worth for the time you paid for?
tired of it all:
How much are you willing to pay for a reading? (per minute, hour, whatever)
One reader I have been talking to for awhile has recently raise her rate to 3.99 per minute. I just had a ten minute call and I do not feel like I got $40 worth of information out of this call. I take notes and if someone had sent me this in an email I would have laughed at the thought of paying that much money for it. Not to mention, I really can't afford it.
This is pretty much the last and only reader I still talk to regularly. I've tried some others recently and they all sucked except one who is very rarely available. So this is my go-to person but her rate is really putting me in a bind.
If a favorite reader raises their rates, how high are you willing to go? At what point do you draw the line and stop calling?
Sooshi:
$3/min is my absolute upper limit and I usually stay under $2 a minute. I have a local reader that is $35 for a half hour and another one that I pay $25 for a full hour with on the phone privately.
tired of it all:
Thanks for the reply Sooshi. Like you I have always tried to stay under $3 a minute. Even that much seems really expensive to me.
I remember when I would never go above $2 a minute then some readers started increasing their rates. So I went up with them because I was familiar with those and I did not want to find someone new. But I really resented it and inevitably things would turn sour because of it.
I think Keen must have raised their fee structure because I've noticed several different readers went up, some I've read with before and some I haven't. One of my favorite readers suddenly disappeared from Keen, I had been talking to him for years and he was always $1.99 and he never ever tried to keep me on the phone a long time either. I suspect he might have left Keen because they raised their fees.
It's just so easy to keep adding money during a call because they haven't quite gotten to the point yet and then a short time later realize I've spent $50-100, and I can NOT afford this at all. I shouldn't even be spending that much on weekly groceries much less listening to a psychic yammer on about something vague that doesn't even make sense.
I am so sick of this and so mad at all the people who have put me in situations where I would even be wondering about something enough to have to call a psychic.
I feel like most readers either don't care how much money you spend and how it impacts your finances, or else they just assume that everyone calling has tons of money to spend to where they can afford to frivolously throw away $50-100 bucks a pop on vague nonsense, while a freakin vacuum cleaner is running in the background or you can hear them washing dishes.
I realize I will never get back the time or the money I've wasted, but what about self respect. That's what I need and it is so hard to have any knowing that most people would just laugh at me and call me a fool. People do not understand how addictive this is especially when you are in a hard place and need answers you just can't find any other way.
IntuitiveScorp:
Hi Tired- I feel the same way. It really is an addiction, one that many people wouldn't understand. U are not a fool and know you aren't alone in this addiction. We just want answers but sometimes it seems like we're just not meant to know the answers at the very moment we want them :(
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