Wow, that sounds pretty harsh, almost like you insulted them or hurt their feelings. I'd have thought closing an account would be a routine matter.

It's their loss.

Honestly, my roommate and I closed our accounts with SS twice.
They keep coming back to us with emails after a month to invite us back to submit.
Frigging hell, we closed our accounts, don't they get it?

So I am surprised they made such a stink on you. Maybe you hurt their feelings.
WHich is wonderful. Give them a taste of their bad medicine.

As kgtoh puts it so wonderfully, "SS is a 13 yrs old spoilt brat !"
no surprise they have the same anagram as the other SS!
 

Hi Averil,

 I had the same problem when we wanted to change our name a few months ago. Some were willing to change it all the way others were willing to let us change our name for the buyers but they still have our account under our old name. I was surprised at first but there are 60,000 contributors, they might have made this ruling for security purposes. I'm not sure as they set the rules on these things.
 I was able to change all our brand name to AVAVA but I still have my account at SS under our old name as well as another of the top 6 that was the same way in wanting us to keep original name but changed our brand name for the buyers. That was the way it worked best for them so I didn't have a problem with it.
 I think branding is a good step in the growth of your business at the Micro level. As long as the buyer's see one name at all sites then your branding has begun. I know some of my sales are from buyers that found a little of our work on one site then found lots more of our work on other competitors sites that represent more of our product.

Best,
AVAVA

Several sites were happy to change my username, but shutterstock refused. My first application for submitter, about a year ago, was rejected, and I haven't applied since, although I'd like to have another go once I've got my accounts sorted.

You can change your Site Copyright Display Name yourself at any time in your profile.
You just cannot change your username / login, but AFAIK it is not visible for the buyers. It appears, however, in the SS forum if you participate.

Quote from: rmat on January 10, 2009, 15:50

Isn't there an option to opt-out on all options in SS member's profile? I guess I read on their foruns that this hides the whole portfolio without having the account closed. Any input on this, guys? :-)

There is an option to do that. I was deleting my portfolio there last August (after asking them if they would, but they won't) when someone told me about it. I then opted out the remaining images to save the trouble of zapping them.

but don't ever try to join again under a different username.
I did that and they approved of my username. But as soon as I uploaded my first 10 images
it was rejected within the hour. 
YES, SS IS A SPOILT LITTLE BRAT .
 BRAID HER HAIR PLEASE, DO IT SO TIGHTLY THAT IT STRETCHES HER EYELIDS !!!
(sorry for shouting ! anything to do with SS makes me feel like shouting)