The problems of Wood River, IL-based YourTravelBiz.com (YTB) multiplied following last week’s legal action by the California Attorney General after a class action law suit was filed in a federal court in Illinois and a regional Better Business Bureau (BBB) released complaints about YTB.
The federal action was filed in the U.S. District Court for Southern Illinois, according to a report by The Telegraph, a major regional newspaper. The action charges that YTB was an illegal pyramid scheme.
The action names two specific plaintiffs, Faye Morris of St. Louis and Kwame Thompson of Atlanta. The action seeks class action status on behalf of as many as 1,000 people who were members of the YTB travel network.
As with the California suit, the defendants are YTB International Inc., YourTravelBiz.Com, YTB Travel Network Inc., YTB Travel Network of Illinois and its technology unit Rezconnect Technologies.
Officers of YTB are also named in the action including founder J. Lloyd Tomer and YTB executives J. Scott Tomer, J. Kim Sorensen, Andrew Cauthen and Michael Brent.
Compounding YTB’s problems, a report filed by the Better Business Bureau of Eastern Missouri and Southern Illinois was released. The BBB alleges that YTB has faced consumer complaints filed in at least 31 states.
The new Illinois federal action alleges that YTB violated Illinois law by using an illegal pyramid sales scheme and illegal chain of referral sales techniques that caused the plaintiffs to suffer actual damages, according to the Telegraph.
Reports of the action by California’s Attorney General sparked angry debate among travel agents across the U.S., including defenders of YTB’s program and critics of YTB. Many agents assert that YTB’s program encourages non-professional "pseudo" agents to enter the industry.
The St. Louis Post Dispatch, a major daily, reported that YTB had responded to the BBB’s complaints via a statement by Chief Executive Officer Scott Toner, who said they were “unaware” of any unresolved BBB complaints.
“We are proud of our business model and how our operations are conducted in an ethical and transparent way,” Toner is quoted as saying. “We also are wholly confident that our business model will withstand scrutiny, and look forward to setting the record straight in court.”
At presstime YTB’ had yet to respond to the crisis on its website nor responded to emailed requests for comments.
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I am a veteran travel agent. While working for America's Vacation Center, in which we were supplied leads, it was pretty "sad" when we received many calls as leads from YTB "agents" asking us how to book their clients on a Royal Caribbean cruise, how to get their CLIA card, and how to get a free cruise! Why did they have to call us?? I got many of these leads, and wondered, where the support was for YTB, and how they can call themselves travel agents!!! What a joke!
You don't get paid until your commissions reach at least $10. So up your game and book more trips. Get the YTB Paycard and get the money instantly instead of waiting on a paper check. It's simple. Why would they send you a $3 check? It's been great for me. I've sold about $5000 worth of travel and made a few hundred dollars. It was money I made while I slept. All I had to do was make sure people knew I had a site. To get more money you have to do more marketing. You are a business owner so treat it like a business, not like "some thing" you're doing.
You need to check your facts. First off, YTB is in good standing with BBB local and regional. That's fact one. Secondly, it is not a class action suit. The judge asked the lawyers of both plantiffs to consolidate the two cases. The attornies and their clients refused because if it turns to a class action suit there can be more plantiffs which would mean less money for the greedy lawyers and their even greedier clients.
Finally, there has been absolutely no wrong doing in this case or the one filed by the self grandising attorney in California. When YTB has their day in court it will be a day when all of the naysayers will be shut down because YTB will emerge victorious. The people who have the biggest problem with YTB are lazy and wanted something for nothing, as proven by this rediculous lawsuit. It goes againstvwhat this country was built on, which is, work hard and enjoy the fruits of your labors.
Complaints are made by idiots who think they can get rich quick without doing a lick of work,jealous competitors whose brick & mortar biz is getting killed by the internet & others promoting their own gigs. I was never made false promises & when I realized I didn't have enough free time to make it pay, asked and got a leave of absence, during which I didn't have to pay the $50. But my travel site was closed & I lost a couple of fat commissions on friends who took expensive cruises ! The people I met who ARE making big bucks with YTB work their asses off & are proud to say so. The travel site is a legitimate product, so YTB is NOT a pyramid !
Every purchase that has been made on my YTB Travel site has been seen in my back office and has been paid to me in commissions... :-D
I joine YTB and have not seen one check for any purchases made on my site. Infact, I don't even see them as my purchases in the back office. I like the fact that you can point people to your site, but not if you don't get paid your percentage. Much of the focus is driving you to get people signd up on your team. I don't trust that the back office is setup to really accurately track where the business is coming from like which store. I believe that YTB gets all those percentages if you aren't doing bulk business. I see it as a rip off.
Here in ohio, there is not much from YTB in support. The main office is having trouble answering questions. They actually closed the main office while attending the convention so what if agents needed help..
After suits filed by the Florida AG against other MLM companies, Federal Courts determined that "ONLINE STORES" do not qualify as a "product". In other words, you CANNOT "SELL" a "Travel Store" as a legitimate product. Thus, YTB is an illegal pyramid.
I was formerly a member of YTB before I was blessed with the opportunity to look at Traverus. At first I was hesitant to look at the company but being the open minded person I am, I decided to at least take a look at it. I quickly realized (with this AWESOME COMPENSATION PLAN AND LOW COST STARTUP UP FEE!!)that I could help myself and many others who are looking for a plan B in a unstable economy make an additional income. See the truth of the matter is the average the network marketer only sponsors 2.5 reps but YTB requires that a RTA sponsors 6 reps(power team) before the initial investment(499.95) is recouped. According to the 2007 Income Disclosure Statement for YTB (http://uwinc.net/ytb/ytbincome.htm) only 4% of 246,837 reps achieved power team. So what does that tell you...96% of the reps are not recruiting 6 people to get the 1000!!! bonus which is the bait YTB uses. I wouldnt label YTB as a pyramid scheme but it is a scheme that is taking advantage of the average network markete
Well they deserve it, $500.00 to join and $50.00 a month till you get to six people to pay you $500.00 join and have them pay there $50 a month. if this is not a pyramid scam i don't know what is?
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