No other business operates like the airlines.  The airlines can get away with murder in regards to your ticket with no reprimand!  If other businesses would start selling one product only to deliver a different product, they would quickly go out of business.  There are a few key tactics they use that just would not hold up in a normal business.

The Bait and Switch

There have been several times where I decide to fork over the extra money and pay for the direct flight from point A to point B.  Hey, this reduces the likelihood of not making it do your destination; it is worth the extra money, right?  Inevitably it seems like something always goes wrong; whether it is a mechanical problem with the aircraft, weather conditions, or over-booking of the flight, I have been forced to take non-direct flights to get to point B for the same price that I paid for my direct flight.  Why in this case does the airline not give me a partial refund on my “direct” flight that I decided to pay extra for?  Not only am I getting to my destination at a later time, but I’m also now increasing my odds of something else going wrong on the second (or third) leg of the flight!

The Purposeful Overbooking

I’m sure everyone has experienced this.  Airlines even admit that they do this.  They sell more tickets than there are seats on a plane, and when everyone actually shows up, there are 10+ people on a standby list that end up getting bumped from the flight that they paid for.  Imagine walking in to a car dealership, working out a deal on a new car, signing the paperwork, paying them, and then receiving a different car – it would never happen.  Yet airlines are somehow exempt from being able to deliver on all of the tickets that they sell.

The Nickel and Diming

I recently flew on TACA airlines, a Central American airline, and I was amazed at the service I received.  They still played movies and gave out free headsets, they still gave out food to the passengers in coach, they were incredibly attentive and helpful and checking baggage didn’t cost extra.  On top of it all, the aircraft itself was much newer than typical US aircraft, and was actually comfortable.  I vaguely remember the days where US airlines were like this.  It is sad to think that some airlines are considering charging extra for using the bathrooms on the aircraft during flight.  Now, to be fair, plenty of other businesses use this nickel and diming technique, but don’t worry, I hate them too.

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Part One of my Idiot Driver series – all taken from my commute!

Location: The exit from 820 East to 35W North

Idiots: drive me nuts when they do this and actually cause traffic on 820 East to backup because of it…

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My oh my this company likes to get around (aka keep changing names so people can’t get information on the scam-company as easily).

As of today, with my previous post about Watson Brooks, I have received many comments about similar shell company names that this shady company uses.  It appears that they are using at least 8 different company names.  Many of the actual websites appear to be down, but people continue to get letters from them:

• Spencer Burns
• Hammond Reed
• Donovan Rich
• Lambert Steel
• Peterson Burke

But three are still up and rocking that awful website music:

• Watson Brooks
• Bradley Tate
• The latest edition: Hudson Stone

Alas, I have heard nothing more from them to me about their legal threats.  I keep checking my Facebook inbox and I guess Amy Yates doesn’t want to be friends.  Also, it appears they have at least four letter signers of fake Vice Presidents to:

• Amy Yates
• Sandra Wallace
• Julie Harris
• Ashley Wilcox
• Jacqueline Penn

I wouldn’t put it past this company to continue to put these letters out under different shell company names.  If you know of any others, let me know in the comments so I can add it to the list.

Update 9/18: Added a new company name and Vice President to the list – thanks to Sam for sharing another shell company name!  Also – it appears that all of these shell companies are being driven by “TravelAgencyAppointment.com“.  It looks like most of these shell company sites are down, but they are certainly still pumping out the scam letters.  This is getting down right stupid.

Stupid company…

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I got home today to find I had a new Facebook message from one Amy Yates.  My first thought was “damn… why does that name sound so familiar?”

I quickly remembered who Amy Yates is – she is the teleporting-signature changing VP of Watson Brooks!  Able to personally sign thousands of letters all postmarked from different locations!

I open the message up to find legal threats against my post on their letter they sent to me…

Wow – serving me a legal notice on Facebook?  That is soooo Web 2.0.

In the spirit of the many signature of Amy Yates, her Facebook profile picture looks suspiciously like a stock photograph:

Amy could be in a catalog somewhere!  I did a quick image search for a “business woman”, but couldn’t track down the source image of this photo – anyone out there have Sherlock-Holmes tracking skills for stock photography?  I would really love to find it…

Amy Yates "Herself"

I’m tempted to add Miss “Multiple Signature Personality” Amy Yates as my friend and see what she does.  Anyways, in the spirit of my last post on Watson Brooks, I’m updating the list of phone numbers they use based on your comments.  It amazes me that a “legitimate” company would need so many phone numbers for their valuable prize giveaways…

Update 8/19/09: Many thanks to commenter “Rich” for finding the stock photo of my good Facebook friend Miss “Amy Yates”.  Stock Photo 1, Stock Photo 2.  I love that these were found!

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I recently received one of those “all to good to be true” letters in the mail.

I have to admit, they got me curious enough to open it by hand addressing the envelope.

Upon opening it, I found out that I was the lucky recipient of an award!  Two round trip airline tickets!  Congrats to me!  Reading a bit further, I even found out that this was my last notice – apparently they had attempted to contact me previously…

Yes!  I just need to call (214)-932-0716 and I can receive my winnings!  Hell, even Amy Yates personally signed the letter; it must be legit!  A quick glance at their website and Google search surprisingly didn’t turn up much information on this company.  I fell upon another of their shell companies: “Lambert Steel” which has oddly familiar scamsite – also looks like they are associated with CVI Travel.

From what I can tell, the letters are often postmarked from AZ, NY, NJ, FL, TX or CA – but never a return address.  Who signs the letter varies; at the very least between my beloved Amy Yates and Julie Harris.  The existing phone numbers associated with the scam are:

973-302-9053

214-932-0716

302-365-8228

480-281-0118

480-567-1642

732-676-4053

303-242-3511

And I’m sure many many more.  Do not respond to these letters if you get one – they will try to reach you numerous times.

Anyone else have information about this slime-ball “company”?

UPDATE 7/15: The only action I can see taking against this company is filing a report at the BBB.  Any other suggestions that don’t involve TP-ing Amy Yates house?

UPDATE 7/22: Legal threats made to me via Facebook from Amy Yates “herself”!  Post also contains updated list of phone numbers used from people in this comment thread.

UPDATE 7/24: Thanks to commenter “Bart” for finding a couple other names they go under!  Avoid Spencer Burns, Donovan Rich, and Hammond Reed (although this one appears to have lapsed the domain registration).  It also appears that they have gotten our contact info via job sites such as Monster and Career Builder.

UPDATE 8/8: One more company name to add to the list: Bradley Tate.  If you have lost track of all the names this company uses, we are up to at least 6.  Bradley Tate, Spencer Burns, Hammond Reed, Donovan Rich, Lambert Steel, and Watson Brooks; all having the exact same website sending out the same letters with the same letterhead but different shell company name.  The sites tend to go dormant quickly once the word is out that its the same scamming company.

Here is the hand signed letter for my “winnings”:

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I went to a friend’s cottage on Lake Michigan for the 4th. The beach was mostly gone! You can even see a ridge. Global warming! Ha, actually it just rained a lot this spring…

To give you some perspective, this is the same beachfront last year (notice the post):

Lake Michigan beachfront July 6, 2008

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