The Plaza at $14.50 a night

[Dan Druff]

Alan, while you were initially questioned (and in a harsh manner) by a longtime troll, I think everyone else in this thread just wanted to see you avoid besmirching your good name by advertising a shady deal by a company with a terrible reputation. I also wanted everyone considering this deal to understand what they were getting into, so nobody would end up getting victimized by them.

I hope you don't really feel "reamed" in this thread.

You do a lot of advertisements, and it's inevitable that one of them will end up being for a shady company or service. That happens, and I know you didn't mean it to happen. As you said, you had no control in this case over which advertiser won the auction, so you didn't choose them.

However, I just felt it was important to halt any potential damage to your viewers/readers by completely pulling the ad, disassociating with the company, and shutting the whole thing down. Even if you run this ad with the resort fees and $25 "refundable deposit" clearly stated, you are still encouraging viewers/readers to do business with a disreputable company who is likely to screw them in some other way. Read the Yelp reviews for many examples of this.

Furthermore, there's still plenty of things we don't know. What is the true story with availability? They claimed to me that it would be "any nights, Sunday through Thursday", then sheepishly admitted that "New Year's week isn't included", and then "well, every major holiday during those days also isn't included." But I have to assume it goes beyond that. It's possible someone will spend the money for this package and find very few dates "available" after going through all of the expense and waiting period to book.

I believe you have an easy legal "out" here, in that you ran an ad with false terms stated, and they would not honor the terms for your viewers and readers. Therefore, you pulled it. No judge would rule in their favor. If they want a refund, tell them to go back to the charity, and then explain to the charity what happened. Shady companies like this don't typically sue people when their hand is caught in the cookie jar, because they want to AVOID the spotlight upon what they're doing.

While I understand your pulling the other charity ads you're giving away, I think that's a bit extreme. This is the first time in your many years of running ads that something like this has happened, right? You can simply ad a term to the prize, "Winner must clearly state all important terms and conditions of any deal advertised. Alan's Best Buys has the right to pull any ad without refund which intentionally mislead viewers." That will be the end of shadeball companies trying to get one over on you, and if it still happens, it's even easier for you to remove the ad.

I hope you don't believe that this company's "management is reviewing this thread" and is "reviewing the phone calls". That's like Hillary Clinton offering to review her own e-mails and self-reporting if she found anything wrong (I bet Rob will like this reference).

Casablanca Express knows exactly what they are and what they're doing. They don't need to review anything, and they didn't make any "error" in misleading you or leaving out important terms/restrictions. That's their entire business model.

My suggestion: Tell Casablanca Express to go F themsleves, and continue running the other charity auctions. You're a generous guy to offer this for charity. Don't let this one experience ruin that.

[Dan Druff]

If the $25 deposit is supposed to be analogous to the sort of authorization 'deposit' that many hotels require, does that mean that via this deal the Plaza will allow you to check in without further authorizing a card? I suspect not - in fact, I'd bet money that you can't check in if you just show up with nothing but the certificate and two nights' resort fees in cash. I completely understand Alan's uncomfortable position here, but think that defending the deposit as though it's even remotely similar to hotel preauths is ludicrous.

I've made use of similar companies/promotions in the past (they're all over the place in Florida) and they're pretty much all the same flavor of shady. You typically have to do your own research on the additional fees the representative insists don't exist, the limited availability he insists is wide open, and the often dumpy accommodations he insists are luxurious. That doesn't mean it can't be a decent value - there's a truly awful cruise line that promotes this way that I just use as cheap round trip transportation to the Bahamas - but the types of ads they expected Alan to run are blatantly misleading, as are their salesfolk.

I love synergistic's posts here. She always seems to "get it".

I am curious about this "awful cruise line" to the Bahamas. Can you name the line? I get cold calls all the time from scam (or semi-scam) companies promising to give me a "free" cruise from Florida to the Bahamas, though I never get far enough to find out which line it will be on. Well, one time I pretended to be an illegal immigrant and was messing around with them, but I forgot which line they told me.

Personally I wouldn't trust these shadeball companies for ANYTHING, even if I could save a few bucks after knowing all of the terms with certainty. Too much potential for disaster.

[dannyj]

I hope you don't believe that this company's "management is reviewing this thread" and is "reviewing the phone calls". That's like Hillary Clinton offering to review her own e-mails and self-reporting if she found anything wrong (I bet Rob will like this reference).
.

Not just Rob.

[regnis]

Alan, while you were initially questioned (and in a harsh manner) by a longtime troll, I think everyone else in this thread just wanted to see you avoid besmirching your good name by advertising a shady deal by a company with a terrible reputation. I also wanted everyone considering this deal to understand what they were getting into, so nobody would end up getting victimized by them.

I hope you don't really feel "reamed" in this thread.

You do a lot of advertisements, and it's inevitable that one of them will end up being for a shady company or service. That happens, and I know you didn't mean it to happen. As you said, you had no control in this case over which advertiser won the auction, so you didn't choose them.

However, I just felt it was important to halt any potential damage to your viewers/readers by completely pulling the ad, disassociating with the company, and shutting the whole thing down. Even if you run this ad with the resort fees and $25 "refundable deposit" clearly stated, you are still encouraging viewers/readers to do business with a disreputable company who is likely to screw them in some other way. Read the Yelp reviews for many examples of this.

Furthermore, there's still plenty of things we don't know. What is the truly story with availability? They claimed to me that it would be "any nights, Sunday through Thursday", then sheepishly admitted that "New Year's week isn't included", and then "well, every major holiday during those days also isn't included." But I have to assume it goes beyond that. It's possible someone will spend the money for this package and find very few dates "available" after going through all of the expense and waiting period to book.

I believe you have an easy legal "out" here, in that you ran an ad with false terms stated, and they would not honor the terms for your viewers and readers. Therefore, you pulled it. No judge would rule in their favor. If they want a refund, tell them to go back to the charity, and then explain to the charity what happened. Shady companies like this don't typically sue people when their hand is caught in the cookie jar, because they want to AVOID the spotlight upon what they're doing.

While I understand your pulling the other charity ads you're giving away, I think that's a bit extreme. This is the first time in your many years of running ads that something like this has happened, right? You can simply ad a term to the prize, "Winner must clearly state all important terms and conditions of any deal advertised. Alan's Best Buys has the right to pull any ad without refund which intentionally mislead viewers." That will be the end of shadeball companies trying to get one over on you, and if it still happens, it's even easier for you to remove the ad.

I hope you don't believe that this company's "management is reviewing this thread" and is "reviewing the phone calls". That's like Hillary Clinton offering to review her own e-mails and self-reporting if she found anything wrong (I bet Rob will like this reference).

Casablanca Express knows exactly what they are and what they're doing. They don't need to review anything, and they didn't make any "error" in misleading you or leaving out important terms/restrictions. That's their entire business model.

My suggestion: Tell Casablanca Express to go F themsleves, and continue running the other charity auctions. You're a generous guy to offer this for charity. Don't let this one experience ruin that.

Dan--rather than embarrass Alan in any way on this forum, and assuming at the time that this was a paying client of Alan, I PM'ed him my concerns so as to not make a big public deal out of this. In that way, I avoided him feeling reamed on this forum. Just a little courtesy for our host here.

[Dan Druff]

I wasn't trying to embarrass Alan. It wasn't his fault.

But the "scam" angle had already been brought up by someone else, so the cat was out of the bag before I got involved.

[dalawa]

So still no apology Alan? The only reason you took down the ad was you got caught. I called out your sorry ass and you shivered like a little girl.

And Todd o' Todd. Just to be perfectly crystal clear you have sunk to new lows. I'm the only one here who knows what you're up to.

[Alan Mendelson]

dalawa: yes I am sorry I didn't get the straight story from the company that won the advertising time at the charity auction. I trusted them. So from now on I will not participate in charity auctions which means that from now on, I will choose who I do business with. This morning I notified the Renal Support Network that I will not participate in their auction coming up this fall, and I notified one public elementary school, one private school and one non-profit college that I will not participate in their auctions as well.

Over the years I have given away thousands of dollars of TV air time plus production charges to help various charities and that is now over. I cannot risk this happening again.

[dalawa]

dalawa: yes I am sorry I didn't get the straight story from the company that won the advertising time at the charity auction. I trusted them. So from now on I will not participate in charity auctions which means that from now on, I will choose who I do business with. This morning I notified the Renal Support Network that I will not participate in their auction coming up this fall, and I notified one public elementary school, one private school and one non-profit college that I will not participate in their auctions as well.

Cool! No more trolling. The simple statement goes a long way. Have a good night and good luck in the drawing tonight.

[redietz]

Cool! No more trolling. The simple statement goes a long way. Have a good night and good luck in the drawing tonight.

Dalawa, I think you performed a real service here, but your assuming worst intentions for Alan and publicly stating it that way (without the benefit of telepathy) was a bit strong. Would you really have said that to Alan -- or anyone -- in a public place quite that way? Maybe you would, but we simply don't know. It's nice to have anonymous bravado, but anonymous bravado is an oxymoron. Why not just sign your name if you have something that strong in tone to say in the future?

[Dan Druff]

So still no apology Alan? The only reason you took down the ad was you got caught. I called out your sorry ass and you shivered like a little girl.

And Todd o' Todd. Just to be perfectly crystal clear you have sunk to new lows. I'm the only one here who knows what you're up to.

What am I up to?

I have no idea what you're talking about.

You should be happy I validated your claims here instead of just banning your 8th account here. I didn't have to put my time into looking into this.

[dalawa]

instead of just banning your 8th account here. .

3rd Todd. For a numbers guy you're way off.
And we can talk in person over a few brews and dogs on Tuesday if you so desire.

[dalawa]

Dalawa, I think you performed a real service here, but your assuming worst intentions for Alan and publicly stating it that way (without the benefit of telepathy) was a bit strong. Would you really have said that to Alan -- or anyone -- in a public place quite that way? Maybe you would, but we simply don't know. It's nice to have anonymous bravado, but anonymous bravado is an oxymoron. Why not just sign your name if you have something that strong in tone to say in the future?

Red - I would have acted the same way in person. I have strong convictions about people being taken advantage of. All I tried to do was point out something that Alan overlooked. My language was indeed 100% harsh and for that I offer NO APOLOGIES. I just speak in blunt terms. And if I'm wrong I will be the first to say so. My tone can be categorized as brutal. BUT BRUTALLY HONEST. Sorry if I offended you.

[Dan Druff]

3rd Todd. For a numbers guy you're way off.
And we can talk in person over a few brews and dogs on Tuesday if you so desire.

Getting really tired of "we can talk in person" from a guy who continually hides his identity.

[synergistic]

I am curious about this "awful cruise line" to the Bahamas. Can you name the line? I get cold calls all the time from scam (or semi-scam) companies promising to give me a "free" cruise from Florida to the Bahamas, though I never get far enough to find out which line it will be on. Well, one time I pretended to be an illegal immigrant and was messing around with them, but I forgot which line they told me.

When I sailed, it was with Celebration Cruises, and it was on an old ship that felt old even to someone who was quite used to the older ships the major lines run on short cruises out of Florida. Apparently, last year that ship hit something (!) and had to be scrapped, and they changed the name to Bahamas Paradise Cruises when they bought a new ship. I feel like I should have heard about the incident!

I tried them because a windshield repair place a friend worked at gave away the "free" cruise certificates, which I assume they paid very little for. I want to say the out of pocket cost was about $100 for two people if you didn't go for upsells or excursions. I don't think I'd have paid a single cent for the certificates, but it wasn't a terrible value when I was getting them for free. I know that LOTS of timeshare and vacation club sales groups used them, and the cert would definitely not be worth sitting through one of those pitches. I would guess that's the sort of group that was calling you.

[RoeIncarnate]

Here is the bottom line: I've just notified four different charities that I have cancelled future donations of air time for their auctions. I am not going through this again. I try to do a good deed and I get reamed for something that was 100% out of my control. Ten days ago I never knew this company existed. So no more auctions because I can't control who wins them.

You could just donate the professional camera man and editing time, but not your name or air time. Specifically exclude and use or reference to your name, show, or site.

[Dan Druff]

You could just donate the professional camera man and editing time, but not your name or air time. Specifically exclude and use or reference to your name, show, or site.

That's actually a good idea. This reduces it to a pure service, rather than something you're attaching your name or site to.