Consumerist: Dallas

Dallas School District Caught Using Random SSNs For Foreign Workers

Chris Walters — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:48:58 EST

The Dallas Independent School District has been making up fake Social Security Numbers for foreign hires for years, even after being told in 2004 by the state's education board to stop because it's illegal. The numbers were meant to "expedite" the hiring process and get the employees on payroll, but they found their way onto Department of Homeland Security and IRS forms (which are kept in-district but shared with feds upon request), were used for criminal background checks, and in at least 26 cases were numbers in use by real people.

The Dallas Morning News doesn't mention whether or not the DISD will be contacting the people who have had their SSNs appropriated, but they did offer this detail:

The DISD-issued Social Security numbers began with "200" – a prefix assigned to people in Pennsylvania, and Mr. Phillips' office noted that many ended with sequential numbers.

In general, though, with the exception of the occasional criminal background check, the fake SSNs were supposedly kept away from any legitimate use, and even if your SSN fits the description above the odds are low anything bad has happened. We're just amazed at the school district's monumentally bad judgment.

"Dallas ISD faulted for using fake Social Security numbers" [Dallas Morning News] (Thanks to AttorneyWrangler!)
(Photo: Getty)

Dear American Airlines Employees: "I Hope That One Day You Find A Good Paying Job With An Employer That Cares About You"

Meg Marco — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:05:18 EDT

AJ writes in to let us know that he too was lied to by American Airlines. They canceled his flight(s) from Pittsburgh to Austin (by way of Dallas). He called the 1-800 number but was met with a CSR who used "bad weather in Dallas" as an excuse, and told him there was no way to get him to Austin on time.

Unfortunately, AJ knows how to use the internet and was able to determine that there was no such "bad weather" in Dallas. In fact, after having no success with the 1-800 number CSR, AJ was able to find a nice ticket agent at the Pittsburgh airport that had no problem flying him to Austin through Chicago. He asked us to share his letter with our readers "to let readers know that when American Airlines blames the weather in Dallas, they are more than likely full of BS."

AJ writes to AA:

To: American Airlines Customer Relations
P.O. Box 619612 MD 2400
DFW Airport, TX 75261-9612

From: AJ

Dear American Airlines,

I recently flew your airline on a business trip to Austin, Texas. I work in the music industry as a broadcaster and attended a conference from March 14th through the 18th.

Normally I use a different airline when I travel, but thought I would fly American Airlines on this trip due to the convenience of your available fights better fitting my trip itinerary. So, I chose to sacrifice the opportunity to acquire additional miles with my normal airline, enrolled in the AAdvantage program, booked my flight weeks in advance, and set forth to encounter the American Airlines experience. I would venture to guess that the term “tragic” might be a little harsh to describe my ordeal with your company; however calling it “awful” is probably being too nice.

My day began on March 14th with a phone call from my office colleague with whom I would be traveling. I was half way to the airport to make my scheduled 7:55am flight from Pittsburgh to Dallas, when my coworker informed me that our flight had been canceled and he was still trying to work out the details with the AA customer service department. Apparently he received a phone call from AA around 3AM informing him that our flight was canceled, however I received no such courtesy.

I turned around and instead of continuing my trip to the airport, reported to the office to meet with him so we could attempt to make alternate travel plans. According to the AA customer service representative that he spoke to on the phone, AA would be unable to get us on another flight for several days as they had no open seats on any flights into Austin until Friday March 16th. When we asked to be scheduled on another airline, she said she could not do that due to the flight cancellation being an “act of God”. When asked what that meant, she said our flight from Pittsburgh into Dallas had been cancelled because of bad weather in Dallas. A quick trip to weather.com informed me that the forecast for the morning of March 14th in Dallas, TX was partly cloudy with a temperature of 79*. I would suggest that if fabricating weather forecasts is standard procedure for AA, then perhaps you should consider training your customer service department to only lie to customers who don’t purchase their tickets using the Internet. Perhaps people who still read the Farmer’s Almanac will fall for your ruse, but the rest of us easily recognize your deception and feel insulted. I realize that there were legitimate weather related cancellations in the north east last week, but our trip preceded the inclement weather that caused those issues by several days. Thus, our trip should have been unaffected by any severe weather.

So, after failing to properly predict the Texas weather or successfully discouraging us from missing the first 3 days of our conference, (and only after a heated conversation with my coworker) the AA representative gave us the following options if we wanted to arrive in Austin on Wednesday: A) She could get us on a flight to Waco, Texas. Sure, it wasn’t Austin… but it was in the same state. She recommended renting a car and then driving from Waco to Austin, but could not tell us how many miles the drive was or how long it would take. Furthermore, she did not offer to reimburse us for the cost of the car or even offer us a discounted rate on the rental. Hell, she didn’t even offer to arrange for the rental car for us, we had to call the rental places ourselves and hope they had something available. B) She suggested that we leave Pittsburgh and drive to another city and attempt to get a flight from there. Again, she could not tell us which city to drive to or how long it would take to get a flight. May I suggest that AA furnish your customer service people with road atlases? At least that way they can check the map and realize how utterly stupid they sound when they make such suggestions.

Since we had a non-refundable registration fee pre-paid at the conference and were in danger of losing our hotel room if we didn’t arrive as scheduled on Wednesday (not to mention missing multiple meetings scheduled during the week), we decided to take option “A” and plan a good old-fashioned road trip from Waco to Austin. (Nothing like rolling through Texas in a rented Kia!) Again, at no time did American Airlines offer any type of compensation for this extreme inconvenience. As a matter of fact, your company’s representative (who claimed to be the shift supervisor) didn’t even seem the least bit sympathetic to our plight. We felt like we were bothering her by trying to actually get to our destination.

We arrived at the Pittsburgh airport several hours early in hopes of somehow getting on a flight into Austin. Fortunately, the wonderful woman working at the ticket counter in Pittsburgh must actually enjoy her job… or maybe she was just human… either way, with a few key strokes she was able to get us on a flight into Austin via Chicago. Why the idiot on your 800 number couldn’t accomplish this is beyond me. Needless to say, we eventually arrived in Austin only several hours later than we had planned. Had we not shown up at the airport earlier than suggested by your customer service rep, we never would have made this flight.

You might think that this is the end of my story, but almost unbelievably it is not. Upon flying back to Pittsburgh via Dallas on March 18th, our flight was delayed. We sat on the plane in Dallas for over an hour WHILE WE WAITED FOR THE PILOT. Now, I’ve been on plenty of delayed flights before. Usually for reasons like the flight having been overbooked and passengers being shuffled on and off the plane, the occasional mechanical problem, or even de-icing (oddly enough, never in Dallas despite the alleged bad weather). However, this is the first time that I’ve ever shown up on an airplane before the dude who was supposed to be flying it. Again, we waited seated in the plane, on the runway, for an hour and twenty minutes. Once again (as seems to be standard protocol with AA) we were not offered so much as a beverage by the flight staff to ease the discomfort and inconvenience of the situation. Even some complimentary peanuts once the flight was finally airborne may have been a nice gesture to make up for the general ineptitude that permeates the American Airlines standard of mediocrity, but we didn’t get those either.

I believe this will be my last experience flying with American Airlines. I suppose if I were ever stranded in a Dallas blizzard and my only way home was on an American Airlines jet, I would take it. But to think that I would ever voluntarily put myself through this again is silly. I doubt that anyone is even reading this letter at this point, but if you are I feel bad for you. You work for a horrible, heartless, savage corporation that is a model of inefficiency. I hope that one day you find a good paying job with an employer that cares about you. This is my way of being sympathetic to your plight. (Sympathy… American Airlines should try that sometime) If you are no longer reading this (which I somehow feel to be the case) I can assure you that these words are not falling of deaf ears as I am certain that the majority of the listeners to my radio show will be quite interested as this letter is recited in full detail during a future broadcast.

Regards,

A.J.

(Photo: So Cal Metro )

AA Lies About Bad Weather To Deny Reader Compensation

Ben Popken — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:58:04 EDT

Reader S knows his stuff when it comes to his rights as an airline passenger. He was flying on American Airlines (AA) and takeoff was delayed. AA said it was because of thunderstorms in Dallas. He called a friend in Dallas and they said "there isn't a cloud in the sky." AA later revealed the flight was actually delayed because they were waiting for a fax. It's understandable why AA lied. Since this was something they had control over, it meant they owed several things to the delayed passengers. By lying and saying it was due to the weather, they could escape their obligation. The flight finally took off but reader S missed his connection and had to stay overnight in a hotel, a hotel room that American should have paid for. Inside, the letter S executive email carpet bombed after two customer service reps refused to listen to his story on the phone and an online form sent back a robotic received reply with no real results.

To Whom It May Concern,

I have never contacted any company with a complaint before, however my recent experience with American Airlines was the single worst consumer experience I've ever had. From beginning to end my friend and I were confronted with rude representative, lies and absolutely no concern for the completely screwed up travel plans.

I purchased a roundtrip ticket on American Airlines for my friend to fly out from Los Angeles to Atlanta for my wedding.

The problems started in LA where the planes was delayed, initially gate agents claimed this was because of thunderstorms in Dallas where my friend was connecting on to ATL.

However, another wedding guest was already in Dallas, where as he told me, "there isn't a cloud in sky." Eventually, after several hours delay attendants admitted that the flight was waiting for a fax regarding permission for another passenger who needed an oxygen supply for the flight.

Eventually the flight left LA, but by then the connecting flight was long gone. The next connecting flight from Dallas to Atlanta was the next morning, forcing my friend to spend the night in the Dallas airport.

Not only was my friend not offered a hotel room for the night, the attendants in Dallas wouldn't even give her or other passengers blankets, water or any other basic necessities.

So she and the other passengers were forced to spend the night hungry and cold, unable to sleep or leave the airport.

My understanding of your "conditions of carriage" agreement is that my friend deserves compensation. The relevant section reads: "If the delay or cancellation was caused by events within our control and we do not get you to your final destination on the expected arrival day, we will provide reasonable overnight accommodations, subject to availability."

The fact that attendant already refused to provide meal vouchers or a hotel room means that, in my view, my friend deserves some sort of flight voucher or other compensation.

To make matters worse I (since I paid for the ticket) attempted to contact American Airlines on my friend's behalf to complain about her treatment and was told that customer service complaints may only be made through e-mail, mail or fax. Fine. So I filled out the form on your website outline the same issues mentioned here and I received back a form letter thanking me for the positive feedback.

Some people will keep their mouth shut and usually I am one of these people. I feel violated, taken advantage of and left with only one choice which is that letter. I realize there's no guarantee this will be read and not just rerouted to the problem customer file to never be looked at again.

To assure myself that have done all that is possible to have my letter read by all powers that be, I will be forwarding this to as many executive email addresses that I can find.

Cheers,
S.

Good luck, S, and good letter. It's clear, directly asks for specific compensation, and lays out the concrete reasons why they owe it to you. We hope it gets you what you deserve.

(Photo: zonaphoto)

Passenger Cited For Refusing To Get Off His Cellphone On Southwest Flight

Meg Marco — Tue, 13 May 2008 15:59:23 EDT

A gentlemen who ignored flight attendants requests that he get off his cellphone was met by police when the flight landed at Dallas' Love Field. Joe David Jones, 50, of Austin was ticketed for disorderly conduct, says the Associated Press.

Apparently, airlines can be fined up to $25,000 if passengers don't get off the phone, and passengers themselves can be fined as well. The passenger could not be reached for comment by the AP, but a business associate said that Mr. Jones' father was having a heart attack and and he was on the phone with the hospital.

"He expresses regret for the inconvenience that it caused the airline and its passengers, but he felt compelled because of the life and death nature of it to make that call," Clayton said in a story for Monday's online edition of the Austin American-Statesman.

Southwest passenger cited for refusing to get off cell phone [Houston Chronicle]
(Photo: Zonaphoto)

American Airlines Dallas Cancellation Party Not Going So Well

Meg Marco — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:26:31 EDT

Reader Drew is currently stranded at Dallas Fort Worth airport and would like to speak with someone from American Airlines on the telephone. Unfortunately, we're the only ones he can reach.

Drew says:

Bad weather = dangerous = a somewhat understandable need to cancel flights. That's fine.
However, after my (non AA) connecting flight finally got me into DFW six hours late, it would be nice to be able to call somebody at AA and discuss my now canceled connection. No dice. If you dial their number (8004337300), you get a recorded announcement: "Due to the weather, we're experiencing high call volumes. Please call back at another time if you want to speak to a person. Let me give you some prerecorded info."

Awesome. The one time I need to talk to somebody, I get a robot. I keep calling back, occasionally I get the normal message. Everytime this has happened, however, I've gotten hung up on before I can get to a real person.

Meanwhile, I don't see any notice about any other airlines canceling all their flights.

I'm done with American Airlines.

Yuck.

(Photo:balmes)

American Airlines has canceled all flights ...

Meg Marco — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:48:06 EDT

American Airlines has canceled all flights in and out of Dallas-Fort Worth after funnel clouds were spotted. [USAToday]

Everyone But Me Gets To Watch TV, A DISH Install Horror Story

Ben Popken — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 13:48:27 EDT

"July 25 - So, I recently moved and have had one hell of a time with DISH Network. Apparently my new apartment building has an "exclusive contract" with ATT. So I call up those guys to get some TV in my new apt. ATT tells me to call DISH directly (their partner) and I oblige because ATT doesn't deal with apartment complexes. I get on the phone to DISH with a guy (I think his name was Sam) who happily placed my order, until he asked me what floor I live on and I told him third. Sam proceeded to tell me that because of insurance reasons their DISH installers will not install on third floor or higher. I was a little baffled by this and Sam told me to goto a DISH reseller, like Radio Shack.

So I, still shocked, goto Radio Shack and they tell me they don't do installs and gave me the card of some scummy a/v installer. So I go to sleep and decide to deal with it later.

The following day I received an extremely helpful call from Duke, who is a DISH guy at the Austin service center who basically told me that Sam was full of shit and DISH installers can do floors above the second..."

...Terrific, right? Well, kind of. I got everything setup with Duke (damn, that is an awesome name) to only have him tell me that the earliest time to get it installed is August 10. Are you freaking kidding me? I have to wait two and a half weeks to get television besides ABC, which is the only channel I receive over the air.
I accepted the August 10 date because well, there are no other options, but I'm still pissy that I had to jump through a bunch of hoops to get this worked out.

August 14

I was told to be home from 12-5 on the install day, this past Friday, and the DISH guy showed at 6:30 (of course) to tell me that he wouldn't do it because of the trees outside of my balcony (even though there are some clear shots of the sky around the trees. And DISH charged me all of the installation fees, even though it didn't get done (they supposedly will be refunded within 5-10 business days).

At that point I called my landlord who told me that the coax lines in the apt are functional and to call AT&T back. She also gave me the option to move out (even though I just moved in a few weeks ago).

I call AT&T and am told that their digital cable package, U-Verse, isn't offered for my complex. Call the landlord back, who yet again doesn't know a damn thing about the cable system she manages and she continued to hint that I could move out.

I finally found the right division, which is "AT&T Home Entertainment", who apparently has giant DirecTV dishes on the roof of the complex that feeds the coax lines through all of the apartments. ( www.attheonline.com)

The website said that they offer an "analog programming package" with no satellite set-top box required. So I go buy a TiVo over the weekend so I can get that ready for the basic analog package. Then I call AT&T HE yesterday to place the order and I find out that that package is no longer available and I HAVE to get a programming package with a satellite set-top box, therefore deeming my new TiVo worthless.

Also what pissed me off is the fact that they don't have an HD DVR box for this ghetto DirecTV setup. You can either get an HD box, a DVR box, or both (but no HD recording), or none. So the AT&T HE guy is installing everything today, and I'll have to take back the TiVo this week (which is a heart breaker, I've become a TiVo junkie just over the weekend of watching over-the-air programming).

It's still just ghetto how this entire building partnership works. Why can't the damn coax lines work with Time Warner or Comcast like the rest of this giant ass city. I'm not too fond of all of these satellite shenanigans. It just makes me wonder how much AT&T is paying Post Properties (which has buildings in multiple states) to exclusively have AT&T, even though their properties are surrounded in trees.

I would consider moving if I hadn't already moved twice within the past 2 months. I guess I never knew how good I had it with Cox back in Kansas.

- Travis H.
Dallas, Texas

Wow Travis, that really sucks. Here's an idea: dump all the equipment and get everything refunded, buy a Slingbox, and convince/pay a friend with cable to let you hook it up to his system. His customer service can't be any worse than what you've already experienced and if you fall behind on your bills you can make it up in beers.

(Photo: Leila Carioca)

Box Cutter Found On United Airlines Flight Causes Delay

Meg Marco — Wed, 09 May 2007 11:27:12 EDT

A box cutter was found by a passenger on United flight 490 from Denver to Dallas Tuesday, causing a delay of almost two hours while the passengers were rescreened. From the AP:

Flight 490 had left the gate and was taxiing toward a runway when the passenger found the cutting instrument and notified a flight attendant, United Airlines spokeswoman Megan McCarthy said.
The flight attendant notified authorities, and Transportation Security Administration officials met the plane on the tarmac. McCarthy said all the passengers were taken off the plane and re-screened while officials checked the plane for additional weapons.

None were found and the plane took off at 2:25 p.m., nearly two hours after its scheduled 12:30 p.m. takeoff.

A TSA spokesperson told a local Denver TV station, "That's why we have armed pilots and federal air marshals so that if prohibited items do get on board, there are other layers of security." Do you really think someone could hijack a plane with a box cutter now? They'd be dead before they could say, "I'm just trying to open this bag of pretzels." Chuck Norris would surely teleport in to save the day. Anyway, good job TSA. —MEGHANN MARCO

Box cutter onboard Dallas-bound plane delays flight [USAToday]
(Photo:Stephen Wiltherden)

Reader Gets Chargeback For Golden Touch Transportation's Shyster Car Service

Ben Popken — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 12:22:23 EST

Thanks to the advice of The Consumerist and its readers, Shonda finally got a refund after Golden Touch Transportation car service ripped her off.

Hi Ben, I just wanted to let you and everyone else know that the charge-back worked like a charm. It took a while, but we received the refund today for our non-private car and all of the hassle that we went through during our trip to NYC. This was a full refund from American Express, not just the difference, and I thank you and Consumerist and all your readers for all of the advice.

Behold, the power of the credit card chargeback.

It's relatively easy to get one. If a product or service goes wrong and the company refuses to fix it, you just call up your credit card company. Tell them your sob story. Ask for a chargeback. Be advised that requests will require some investigation on the credit card company's part before processing. — BEN POPKEN

Teavana Can't Do Math

Ben Popken — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 17:33:53 EST

Julia writes:

Last weekend, my holiday spirit was crushed as I was taking a leisurely shopping stroll through a Dallas mall and I wanted to share the story with you all...

Julia continues:

"I went into a local Teavana store to purchase some gourmet tea as a holiday present for my grandparents. The salesgirl there told me that if I got 16 oz. of tea. I would get a 10% discount. This sounded like a pretty good deal, so I ordered enough tea to get to the discount, which came out to around $62 total. When I got my receipt, I saw that there was only 90 CENTS taken as a discount. This is the point when the sales manager, Dwayne, got involved. He first asked the salesgirl whether she administered the 10% discount after every tea (which it turned out, she did not. The $.90 discount was only taken off of the last item, which was $8.99). At this point, I hadn't figured this out yet, so I sort of let his question to the salesgirl go. On the other hand, at this point Dwayne must have known that the receipt was calculated incorrectly.

This is the point in the customer service experience when any other high-end store clerk would stop, apologize, listen to my question and recalculate the receipt. But not Dwayne. After several times of me trying to explain to him that any way you look at the receipt, 90 cents does not a 10% discount make, I realized that he actually didn't care about what calculation made sense. What he cared about was that the register calculated a certain discount and what the cash register calculates goes.

At this time, I said that the discount that was sold to me was not the real deal being offered and that I wanted to return the product. Dwayne told me that the item is unreturnable because it is a food product - something that is stated on their receipts. How I was supposed to know that before buying something and getting the receipt is beyond me.

I pointed out that I was buying a gourmet food product for $60 not from a computer but from a thinking person that is supposed to provide me with the appropriate level of customer service and Dwayne countered with the suggestion that the customer service that he is willing to provide me with is to do nothing.

I have taken down Dwayne's first and last name, the phone number to the corporate office, and the name of Dwayne's manager. Honestly, it's not even about the $5 of discount that I didn't get. Teavana and Dwayne took my holiday spirit and stomped on it. My jollitude, festiviness and cheeriosity suffered a crushing fate that day.

Teavana has a bunch of stores across the country. Anyone else experience this atrocious customer service from these guys?"

Golden Touch Transportation Is A Shyster Car Service

Ben Popken — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 11:26:36 EST

Shonda paid for a private sedan to take her to and from the airport during a recent trip to New York City, but instead she got a shuttle crammed with other people.

When she complained to Golden Touch Chauffeured Transfers, they were combative and lied, even after Shonda enlisted AMEX to help.

A Dallas resident, Shonda's good time with her boyfriend in Manhattan was bookended by the most classic of Big Apple experiences: dealing with assholes.

Now she's been overcharged by Golden Touch by $68. She's miffed.

Shonda: embrace the power of the chargeback. Call up AMEX and get the charges reversed. Boom.

Next time you visit New York, take a taxi to and from the airport. LGA to midtown should cost you around $30, including tip and toll. Both airports have taxi stands which are a bit more regulated than some of these shyster car services. — BEN POPKEN

Shonda's screenshot of the Golden Touch rental, her letter of complaint and AMEX itinerary, inside...

Shonda writes:

"Dear Consumerist,

My story starts back on August 9, 2006. My boyfriend and I decided to take a trip to NYC. This would be my first trip to New York and we decided that since we have a ton of points from our American Express card, we'll use those to cover most of the travel. Great.

I go to the American Express rewards website, book our trip through them (turns out it's actually Travelocity—this will figure later), and during the booking process, we are offered an option of travel to and from the airport through something called Golden Touch Chauffeured Transfers. On the AmEx website, you are given the option of a shared ride shuttle at $17.00 per person, or a car (for up to 3 people) at $73.50. Groovy.

I decide that since this is my first trip that I want to do it right and opt for the car. (I had visions of being met at the airport by a guy in a suit holding a piece of paper with my name stenciled on it and being led through the city in a nice car, all of that.) So, I click that option, print the receipt and transfer papers and think all is well. Wonderful.

Fast forward to October 18, the day before we travel. I called Golden Touch as their paperwork says to do so that we can confirm our pick-up. After holding about 15 minutes, I get through to dispatch to Chris, I think his name was, and try to confirm our car. He says that he sees our reservation and to call the local number once we have our bags and the shuttle will come get us then. "Shuttle?," I think. So I tell Chris that we reserved a private sedan (their word on their paperwork that I printed out) and he acts surprised and kind of pissy and says just call them once we have our bags.

Neato.

OK, we get to La Guardia, and I'm disappointed that there's no man standing there with a piece of paper with our name, but I call the number thinking that maybe they have cars waiting at the airport and then they will drive around to our terminal. I've never done this before so maybe that's the way it works? After waiting around, we call again and they can't find us. "Where are you?," asks Chris. "We're standing outside terminal B. Delta." Ten more minutes, still no car. My phone rings and "Shuttle 2" is on its way. Again with the shuttle? OK, so maybe that's just an internal designation, I think. But no. Sure enough, here comes a van, with people already in it, and we have to pick up someone else. I'm pissed off and want to challenge it, but my boyfriend is tired and just wants to get to the hotel. "OK, I'll fix it later," I say. Marvelous.

So we get to our hotel and the week in New York is more wonderful than I could've hope for. I would move there in a heartbeat. Excellent!

Not wanting a repeat of the shuttle fiasco for our return to the airport, I call Golden Touch on the 23rd, the night before we leave, wait on hold for 20 minutes, get through to Chris again, and tell him what happened on the 19th and that we want our actual car, which paid for, to pick us up. Pissy Chris tells me that HIS reservation doesn't reflect a car and Travelocity never told HIM it was a car and I needed to fax my reservation to him. Hell no, I think. I've already paid for this and through AmEx, not Travelocity.

So I called AmEx travel and tell the very nice young lady (Jessica?) what has happened and she says that yes, AmEx travel works through Travelocity, and that she will call Golden Touch and straighten everything out for me and would I mind holding while she did it. OK, so I hold...and hold...and hold...and Jessica comes back on to tell me that she is still holding with Golden Touch so bear with her. OK, so I hold...and you get the picture. Finally she comes back and says that all is taken care of and that our car will be there at 11:00 the next morning. Beautiful.

Aaaannnnddd, 11:00 am on October 24...guess what shows up? Another shared ride shuttle van and they want us to wait 30 minutes for the other passengers. "NO, I was supposed to have a car, my receipt says so, we confirmed last night, blah blah." Too bad. We have to take the shared ride van.

I'm not happy. I get home to Dallas and I want a refund. Hell, I would've been happy with a refund of the difference in price (Let's see: 2 people in the shared shuttle at $17.00 x 2 trips = $68.00. We paid $73.50 for the ride from the airport and $62.50 for the ride to the airport. That's a difference of, hey, $68.00!) So we've paid twice what we should have and didn't get what we paid for. Lovely.

I called Golden Touch and got Vincenzo. I tell him the situation and he says he will research it and get back to me in a few minutes. A few HOURS later, no call. So I call him back and now he's not available. Of COURSE, he isn't. What was I thinking? So I send an email. No response. Of course not. Now I come to the conclusion that I'm not getting my money back and no one cares. I think this is a scam but I can't make them return calls or emails. Fantastic.

Now we're into November and I find an old copy of Reader's Digest at the doctor's office and there is Consumerist.com. Now, I may never see my money again, but here's the deal: How many other people have been scammed out of money this way, and how many other people will they do it to? I can fax you all of the details because I've kept the paperwork. I don't know why I kept it but I thought some day I might be able to do something about this scam.

Either this is all Golden Touch, in which case Travelocity and AmEx should know about it, or two or three of the parties involved know about it and are involved in a scam together.

Sorry for the length but there it is.

Keep up the great work.

Regards,

Shonda

P.S. My boyfriend wanted me to mention that we had no problem with the drivers. I even have the name of the driver from the return trip to the airport. (He was the best. An immigrant from Russia from 20 years ago, he was all, "America is the best country! Best place in the world! Such freedom!") Basically, we don't think the drivers had anything to do with this."

Screenshot of choices:

Itinerary:

—-—Original Message—-—
From: American Express Travel [mailto:service@americanexpress-travel.com]
Sent: Wednesday, August 09, 2006 1:09 PM
To: (redacted)
Subject: American Express Travel Reservation - New York La Guardia Airport Trip

[snip]

Ground Transport Details:
—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—--
______________________________________________________
Provided By: Golden Touch Chauffeured Transfers, New York (LGA)
Tel: 1-800-253-1443
Date: Thu Oct 19, 2006
Type: Airport To Hotel
Quantity: 1 Car (3 per Car)
Status: Ground Transfer Confirmation - 21378XXXX
Voucher: (redacted)
NOTE: You must use the link above to print this voucher.

______________________________________________________
Provided By: Golden Touch Chauffeured Transfers, New York (LGA)
Tel: 1-800-253-1443
Date: Tue Oct 24, 2006
Type: Hotel To Airport
Quantity: 1 Car (3 per Car)
Status: Ground Transfer Confirmation - 213785512
Voucher: (redacted)

NOTE: You must use the link above to print this voucher.

______________________________________________________
Trip cost details:
—-—-—-—-—-—-

All prices are shown in U.S. dollars:

2 adults
Flight + Hotel Price: $2,213.08
Taxes and Fees (Flight + Hotel): $323.47
Golden Touch Chauffeured Transfers, New York (LGA) (Includes Tax): $73.75
Golden Touch Chauffeured Transfers, New York (LGA) (Includes Tax): $62.50

[snip]

Pix of First Dell Store

Ben Popken — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 13:50:50 EDT

Dallas, TX got a glimpse of Dell's foray into the retail world.

The look appears to be a mix between Minority Report and a jewelry store.

Now Dell just needs to open a giant Manhattan cube store. However, theirs will be constructed out of waxed obsidian.

More pix inside...

[Gadetall via Gizmodo]