According to the BBB, the number of complaints against YTB has soared in the past year.
The woes of the YTB travel operation widened Thursday when the Better Business Bureau went on record with complaints it says it has received about the company in at least 31 states. "We've been monitoring the company for a little while. In 2008, the complaints really exploded," said Scott C. Thomas, a trade practice consultant with the Better Business Bureau of Eastern Missouri and Southern Illinois.The BBB complaints are certainly not unfamiliar to YTB. I have a letter dated May 14, 2007 that addresses to the BBB essentially the same issues the Attorney General alleges. What is interesting about this letter is that it is entitled:
BBB LTR St Louis-Director Version.pdf
That begs the question--what was the "version" sent to the BBB in response to their inquiry? Perhaps this version was a little different to give the illusion that all is well in Wood River?
I am not sure we will know, because it was penned by Thayer (Ted) Lindauer who was their attorney at the time. If you are interested in the backstory of Ted, he was fired, contacted YTB and explained what was coming down the pike and how they were operating illegally and threatened a lawsuit on behalf of shareholders. Very quickly he was silenced. You can draw your own conclusions. We posted about Ted here and here. I also have copies of Ted's letters to YTB and their Board.
That begs the question--what was the "version" sent to the BBB in response to their inquiry? Perhaps this version was a little different to give the illusion that all is well in Wood River?
I am not sure we will know, because it was penned by Thayer (Ted) Lindauer who was their attorney at the time. If you are interested in the backstory of Ted, he was fired, contacted YTB and explained what was coming down the pike and how they were operating illegally and threatened a lawsuit on behalf of shareholders. Very quickly he was silenced. You can draw your own conclusions. We posted about Ted here and here. I also have copies of Ted's letters to YTB and their Board.
NOTE: Per request, the BBB letter can be found here. For me to upload it to my server, I need to have single word names and the change of the file name to BBB was mine
John, is the letter going to be posted? The blog entry doesn't seem to have a link to it.
ReplyDeleteLetter works fine. Give it a second or two.
ReplyDeleteYTBSCAM--I posted that after the original post...Steve is not nuts!
ReplyDeleteYTBSCAM - I've probably been working with computers for longer than you have been alive. I know when a link works and when it doesn't. John added the link to his post after I requested it.
ReplyDeleteNow, assuming this is a real letter, I find a couple of things questionable.
1) It notes that YTB Travel Network of Illinois is a member of various travel organizations, but also of DSA. Why isn't YourTravelBiz.com the member of DSA? That is the company that has the REPs.
2) Why does there need to be both YTB Travel Network and YTB Travel Network of Illinois? It would seem to me that one corporate entity would be sufficient for what they do. I would think the entity that has met the Seller of Travel laws would be the one to support the RTAs, not one that hasn't.