$1600 worth of travels... in the US...

Watch out.

Do you guys in the US want to know why we, people of Europe, have a hard
time understanding you at times?

Could it be that many in the US are so wonderfully ignorant, rude and
horrible?

Let me tell you what happened today. I surfed for some info (I actually was
looking for the info of who wrote 'King Of My Castle' and found out (Wamdue
Project). Anyway, when I had found that out, this popped up:

http://64.35.113.133/special2004/winner.html

And - I actually thought, no, this is a fake. But then the other window came
up, saying, Hey, don't close this window, YOU HAVE WON. Sort of. So I...
didn't think I'd won, but I called anyway. To the USA. I guess I talked with
the people at Special T Travels for about 40 minutes. "We pay for the
phonecalls" they say. I guess I should send them the bill.

At this company, some 30 people sit and tell callers they've WON $1600 and
more worth of nice vacations in the US. To get your price, you simply have
to pay the small fees and taxes of ONLY $698. And you have to give out your
credit card number over the phone. They say they do this in co-operation
with VISA.

You think I gave out my credit card number? No risk.

How come companies like these can keep doing fraudulent business, making
people believe they've won something rather cool and great? I told the woman
I spoke to that I was inviting her and her boss to Sweden. A place on earth
where; when someone WINS something; one does NOT have to PAY to collect the
prize.

They couldn't even spell Stockholm at first, before asking for the CC
number, when they said they would send us everything necessary.

Scary ****. EVERY ONE who "wins" gets the same magic number as what you'll
see if you try the link above. 56432 - your magic, personal number... ;-)

Have a nice one... I'm enclosing some more info below.


/ Patrick.



Quoted from info found at a web page:


"Subject: I work for these people. Heres the Scoop (confession)

Posted by: Galileo on April 25, 2004

Recently I started employment for the company named "special t travel". At
the time i had done no investigation into my future employer and was excited
about a new position in sales... this excitement soon waned, and nowadays,
as i look for a new job, i am disgusted with myself for working for these
people. Heres why:


For starters, NONE of you have won anything. The so called awards
certificate that you reiceved while on the internet is nothing but a popup-
anyone going to that site will get it. If you like, just for kicks, you can
"win" this so called award again, and again, and again.
When this award popped up on your computer, I will venture to say that your
confirmation number was either 56432 or 5222. These are the only two
confirmation numbers, and are only used by the company to track which
advertisement (there are two hence the two confirmation numbers) brings in
more callers.

The place where i work is nothing but a massive calling center, where 30+
idiots work answering phones from callers who have recieved this so called
award. The phones ring off teh hook of course.

When you first call in, you will be told by the representative to wait on
hold while he inputs your confirmation number and information into the
computer so he can look everything up for you. This is a downright lie. What
the representative actually does is put the phone down for 10-15 seconds,
pick his nose, pencil in your info onto his daily logsheet, and then pick up
the phone again to happily tell you that yes he has confirmed your award.
Next, the representatvive will tell you that you have a rental car with
unlimited mileage, and that you need a credit card and license to get it.
When you hear this feel free to laugh silently... what this is is the
representative screening his calls. He tells you this so he can ask you in
an un-assuming manner if you have the potential to pay by credit card then
and there... if you cant, you will quickly be
"shown out the door"

Oftentimes, if they feel your are skeptical or if they follow their script
correctly, they will tell you how wonderful this all is but that they bet
you are wondering what the catch is. Youll tell them of course, and theyll
go into a little speech about how this is an advertisment promotion blah
blah blah... All bull****, lies. Its not an adverstising promotion, its not
even a promotion. They sell this vacation package for 698, year round, to
everyone that calls because they think theyve won something.

The whole affair is laughable, but thats not where the circus ends. They
will aslo tell you you have a bonus 3 day trip to vegas. Since the rest of
the package is for 4 people, youll assume this one is to. NOpe, the 3 day
trip to vegas is for 2 people. Theyll tell you that... only if you ask them.

Then for the punchline of course. The sales scheme works on an engine of
what the business calls fronters and closers. The fronters are the peons who
answer the phones, give you the basic info and screen the calls. If a caller
is still around by the time the fronter is done, the fronter will transfer
the call. They will tell you the consumer that you are being transferred to
a "quality assurance manager" Once again, a load of Bull****. This quality
assurance manager is what the business calls a closer... their job is to
make you feel comfortable and fork over your credit card.

The moral of the story- nothing is for free, and in my expierience, special
t travel primarily is selling these packages to folks who can hardly speak
english and dont etnriely understand what is going on.

GOOD JOB SPECIAL T TRAVEL! and we americans wonder why the rest of the world
hates us.


If you have any questions feel free to email me at
If you like, I can even send you a copy of the script all the fronters use
if you want to have some fun with them or for whatever reason."