Travel Worm...fails to disclose fees to tourists! Rip-off booking agent!

Travel Worm doesn't sound like a very appealing way to book a trip - from the get-go - does it?

As it turns out, these "worms" in the travel industry are just that, spineless rip-off artists.
If a tourist conducts a search at their web site for reasonably-priced rooms in a comfortable setting - like Expedia and Orbitz offer - Travel worm displays a  page on their web site with comparision pricing.

Unfortunately, there's one major hitch!
In a deceitful underhanded effort to land the a booking, Travel Worm willfully fails to disclose all pertienent fees and rates in order to secure a business edge over the competition.

For example, the disreputable Internet entity will post a low-ball cost for a room, but conceal the fact there may be additional service fees, taxes, and resort costs.

Bottom line?

When the dust settles at check-out - and the charges are rung up - it  becomes evident it would have been cheaper and wiser to have booked with the competition.

And, in some instances, Travel Worm engages in criminal activity.

For example, when a guest is inputting the information for their credit card, the company must confirm the total of the charges so that the individual may make an educated informed decision about whether to accept the terms and conditions (and total costs posted).

Travel Worm's continued practice of billing more to the credit card - than  agreed to at the time the confirmation icon was clicked - amounts to fraud, mispresentation, and embezzlement of funds.

I am a witness to these facts since Travel Worm ripped me off today for the sum of $32.00.

Consumer alert!

Book at Travel Worm at your own risk.

http://www.julianayrs.com

Twitter...Jimmy Fallon & guest chat about glitches! Celebrity identity theft...

Did you get that tweet, baby?

Last night, talk show host - Jimmy Fallon - and a guest were griping about glitches at Twitter which were a little unsettling.

What a relief to hear that I am not the only individual in the limelight who has encountered difficulties with respect to logging in, being recognized by the system, getting feedback from technical staff at Twitter, and so forth and so on.

Fallon's guest expressed frustration over the fact that if you're a celebrity - you can't just sign up and tweet up a storm - without getting a shake-down from Twitter staff first.

For instance, well-known actors have to go through a verification process.

Twitter will field various questions, and likewise - engage in a few histrionics to determine "you are who you say are" - for starters.

After all, what is to stop a wicked identity thief from suddenly jumping on the social hub, and misleading fellow tweet afficiandos into believing they are Johnny Depp, let's say.

There have to be some security measures in place, for sure.

A few  months ago, when I casually mentioned in the course of a conversation that Shannon Tweed was following me on Twitter, a friend quipped without hestitation.

"How do you know that it's really her?"

"Well," I fumbled for words, "It is."


I hestitated for a moment, then found myself snapping back to "he of little faith".

"Twitter wouldn't let that happen."

Would they?

In addition, Fallon and his guest, grumbled that even though they provided the right information in the "verification process", the problem was not resolved right away.

"My verification was denied," the actor snorted in disgust.

I feel their twitter pain!

One day, after I posted a tweet about a tribute to Johnny Cash on Facebook, I got locked out!

Every time I attempted to log in, a dialogue box popped up requesting that I try again.

After several failed log-in attempts, I finally tried the old twitter - "retrieve password" - function.

But, to no avail.

Each time I clicked on the link they provided in an e-mail - inputted a new secret password and attempted to log in - I was denied access.

At this juncture, I zipped off an e-mail to twitter and quizzed the technical staff.

"What gives?"

After about two days, the support team responded, and confirmed that somewhat was WRONG!

However, days passed, and no action was taken to alleviate the problem.

A follow-up e-mail failed to rustle up any response (or respect).
So, for about two weeks, I was unable to tweet!

Followers must have thought I dropped off the face of the earth or grown weary of twitter-ville!

Then, this past week, I thought I'd give the log-in the old college try!

Eureka, the magic twitter portal opened magically without explanation, and I was busy happily tweeting away once again!

Perplexing, eh?

Uh-huh!

Life is not always that tweet @ twitter.

Yoko 1st Celebrity to follow me on Twitter!

(or was she?)

http://www.thetattler.biz

Barack Obama...did he post a comment on my blog? Is someone impersonating the Presidential Candidate?

Yesterday, after I penned a post about "Joe the Plumber" calling Barack Obama a "Socialist", a blogger added a brief comment.

"WTF dudes. I’m not a socialist!"

Then, the individual proceeded to provide a link.

http://www.myblogaspresident.wordpress.com

Guess what?

The dude signed off as "Barack".

Golly, was this actually Barack Obama responding in person to my lowly blog???

When I clicked on the link, I was connected to a blog site which - for all intents-and-purposes - gave the impression of being an actual blog constructed by the Presidential hopeful.

An article on the first page noted that the "Economist" allegedly endorsed Barack Obama.

Take that, Joe!

Farther down the page, there is an article (allegedly posted by Barack) which touts his partnership on the campaign trail with Bill Clinton.

Maybe this is where the tip-off glaringly reared its ugly head.

Would the real Barack step beyond the bounds of good taste and make those earthy remarks about Bill in the political arena?

Also, there is a new post asking web surfers if they caught (his) thirty-minute infomercial on TV last night.

So, the blog is being updated currently.

It appears that the individual (if not Barack!) has deceitfully tried to give off the impression that it is an actual web site connected with (or endorsed by Barack).

For example, at the top of the blog page, there is a photo of Barack with the campaign web site address (www.barackobama.com) etched on its face.

If you click on the photo, the image "stutters" for a second, but remains at the blog site.

When I keyed in the "barackobama.com" address manually, I was transported to the actual site for Barack Obama, no problem.

Did this individual doctor the link so that web surfers would get the impression that they were at the actual blog page for the barackobama.com site?

Curious!

So, is this all just a prank, or has this individual elected to set up this site for some other sinister reason?

In view of the fact a number of web surfers (and potential voters) may actually be fooled by this site (if it is a spoof?) - one has to wonder - has there been an attempt to hijack Barack's identity for dubious reasons?

In that event, has a crime been committed?

You decide!

My original post may be viewed at:

www.julian1st.wordpress.com (Joe the Plumber)