VBD2 is closed. Please go to https://vbd3.co.uk instead.

I guess in retrospect, I should have bailed on photobucket when everyone else did. However, I stayed with them, paid a reasonable price and had little to no problems with the service. Now, thev'e had another huge melt down and while some say they are up and working again, below is the notice I get while trying to sign in:

Dear Photobucket Members,

We apologize for the most recent site outage that continues to impact you. While our systems are coming back online, unfortunately, you are part of a small group of Members that are still affected and we sincerely regret any inconvenience this may have caused you.

We experienced a total power outage at our primary datacenter. Because of the abrupt nature of the power outage, our system wasn’t able to utilize backup processes to stay online without interruption. Many of our systems have come back online and we are making progress so that our site is available to all Members. The process for some Members has taken longer than expected and we are working diligently to bring the site up as fast as possible without compromising any photos on the site. Most importantly, your photos are safe!

I’m sorry, I understand your frustration as well as the hardship you may have experienced over the past weeks. We all rely on trusted digital partners to make our lives easier and when they let us down it’s irritating and disruptive.

We’ve learned a lot from this experience and we are taking major steps to prevent this from happening again. We continue to work around the clock until the website is fully functional for every Member and we will keep you updated as things progress. Over the next few months, our focus will shift to rolling out a new website and new mobile apps, built on a more reliable platform.

Thank you for your commitment and loyalty to Photobucket!

Ted

Wondering if anyone else is in this "small group" besides me.

Rubbing salt in the wound in the ever present message, right here, where my signature line pics used to be

Has a whiff of their usual bullsh*t about it. Watch the monthly premiums to get access to your own photos rise yet again. I'm done with them. 3500 photos on the site which I can't remove as cannot access my albums. Luckily 90% of them were copies. I refuse to be held to ransom by them yet again. Clearly all the links to various forums where I used their service to post pictures will be broken so pictures will vanish as you've pointed out. Note "Tinypic" which has also closed with loss of pictures was owned by Photobucket.

As they aknowledge technical issues themselves, does this constitute a 'Not Fit for Purpose' service and a refund will be paid to those affected.

Ghosty.

Thank you for your commitment and loyalty to Photobucket!

When I read that, I thought, "hubris."

Further, I agree with Kevin's assertion that their affected users are owed a refund. Paying for a service I'm unable to use (such as when my electricity was out for 72 hours this past July) doesn't sit well with me.