Pardon the delay in relaying Len Clement's "MarketWave Alert #86" regarding YTB. I can't seem to find a recent archive of his alerts on his site (a May 2004 Quixtar alert in the most recent in his archive section), so if you're interested in everything he has to say in each alert, then I strongly suggest you subscribe to the Alert newsletter as I do... it's free... and it only comes out sporadically. So far he's not one to spam.
As for his update, apparently YTB's attorney Ted Lindauer responded to his initial MarketWave alert about the company in which Len Clement described an investigation of one of YTB's top distributors, Rick & Brenda Ricketts, by the Florida Attorney General. In essense Mr. Lindauer stated "...the product... is a business opportunity".
Ahh yes... sounds like Burnlounge to me. The product can't be the business opportunity... or the store, or the web site that markets the opportunity... it has to be a product or a service... at least that's my layman's understanding of the law.
Now, here is where the MarketWave Alert gets a little unclear... or maybe I'm just overly suspicious of everything... but I take things literally...
Mr. Lindauer apparently also wrote to Len Clement that the Florida AG investigation was in 2006 and that they had dropped the investigation as of November. Len Clement goes on to say that he contacted a Florida AG "spokesperson" who stated that the FL AG did NOT have any meetings with YTB "in November".
Now maybe I'm being too literal here, but the unnamed spokesperson didn't deny meetings prior to November, or deny that the investigation had been dropped. Len Clement correctly points out that the investigative "notice" still sits on the Florida AG web site... but it wouldn't be the first time an old notice was left on a web site. Then again, if you look at the blue bar just above the description of the investigation, it does say "Active Public Consumer-Related investigation". So if the investigation really has been dropped... and Mr. Lindauer is worth the piece of paper his license is printed on, he'd get "Active" taken out or even the entire notice removed.
The bottom line for me is that when I was first introduced to YTB it looked, acted and smelled much like Burnlounge's stores... and while Burnlounge never admitted wrong doing, they pulled the plug on their MLM model. So since it appears that the majority of the money made by anyone in YTB is made when they sell a "business opportunity" and NOT when they sell travel, it looks like an illegal pyramid scam to me... and right now it appears the Florida Attorney General's investigation of RickettsTravel.com is still "active".
3 comments:
your witch hunt should now be over but I see that it isn't. The Florida AG office has in fact finished the " investigation" of the YTB rep. The details are known to most folks in the business, I will leave that up for you to figure out. Bottom line is the thing is over and you are on the short list of those who still think YTB's business model is not legit. It amazing me to see people like you , who clearing is not an attorney, continue to make wild accusations about others business', it make us all wonder what your real motives are. Care to tell us.
My wife and I invested, recruited, sold, and made NOTHING! YTB does not pay commission to it's RTAs for selling plane tickets. The only way you can make money with YTB is by selling the LIE that you actually make money selling plane tickets which makes the company a BIG SCAM.
Dear Anonymous,
Read the YTB Commission Rates in your back office. YTB does pay you something for booking flights. They pay you for any and all the products booked off ofthe travel sites. If you had actually, sold travel and you didn't get your commission, that is something the company would love to talk to you about. Feel free to contact the company and they will help you by investigating any and all those situations you said you "sold" and 'recruited". In all the many years that YTB has blessed and taken care of our family, not one of our nearly 1000 team members have ever said that they 'never' made any money when they actually did the business. All the best to you. So VERY THANKFUL TO BE IN YTB!
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