Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You are about to hear a feature that was created
to expose the scammers, thieves, and con artists among us.
The dialogue and temperament about to be used by Hollywood
Hamilton does not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of iHeartMedia.
This is Fraud Friday.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
This week's fraud.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Sight seeing scams have long plagued tourism here in New
York City. Are constantly getting these I know Samantha has
brought this up to my attention multiple times.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
What is it?
Speaker 4 (00:33):
Well, sadly, of course, as you just mentioned, prying on
the tourists, But really it's a variety of scams. You
buy some sort of sight seeing pass and oh suddenly
you queue up, you're in line for forty five minutes.
But oh, you can't see the Empire State Building, but
it was supposed to be included. Oh you can't get
on the Staten Island ferry to see the Statue of Liberty,
but you were supposed to. You got to pay again,
And so they're running these scams on tourists who don't
(00:55):
know better, and sometimes even people who are in the
city who do know better.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
But get this week, Marie and I have a guy
by the name of Jimmy on the phone, Jimmy who
said recently his wife was in the city with their
kids to meet a family member who was in town
on a visit, and for the goof she decided to
take the kids and the family member, who was a tourist,
on a sight seeing tour. Jimmy, Jimmy, are you there.
Speaker 5 (01:19):
I'm here. Thanks for having my story, guys, I really
appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
What happened with this? You paid money to have a tour,
It didn't come through what what's the name of the
double decker Bucks sight seeing?
Speaker 6 (01:29):
It was called that's well known.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
That's a well known tour, very well known tour. Okay,
So you show up or the wife shows up. Was
it a third party she went to? Was it one
of the guys with the signs on the streets?
Speaker 7 (01:40):
It was a third party, And it can be deceiving
because it looks like they are part of the same company.
Speaker 6 (01:47):
Right, That's what I would assume.
Speaker 5 (01:48):
That's what my wife thought. We thought it was going
to be seventy five for the whole family. We look
at our credit card, it was three hundred bucks.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
Well apparently that's what they said, right. Was it to
your wife was that they don't give refunds. But at
the same time, you're representing an entire company and you've
got plenty of complaints. And if you look at YELP recently,
there's just you know, Jimmy's not alone here, his wife's
not alone. These aren't the only scams happening in New
York right now. I've heard about the walking scam, But
tour guides ever show up Little Italy Chinatown. You pay
(02:17):
for the tour guide who never shows And if you
look at Yel's, there's been some really awful reviews on
some of these sight seeing tours.
Speaker 6 (02:26):
So we've got the marketing.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
Office at ight, so maybe we call them direct and
we tell.
Speaker 6 (02:33):
Them how we feel.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
Because we have no number to the third party guy
that actually sold the tickets, it's going to get resistance. Look,
I'm gonna do my best to get your money back,
and we have, you know, Marie and I have an
eighty five percent success ratio on getting people's money back
here on Froud Friday. But this one, you actually gave
a third party money. The guy with the you know,
the sign around his neck draped down to his you know,
(02:56):
well that's the guy we got to go after.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
We don't have his number.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Apparently we're gonna have to go after and we're going
to try to get your money that way. Just know
that this is not going to be easy, but we're
going to do the best we can.
Speaker 6 (03:06):
Jimmy, who exactly are we calling? Here? Are we calling
a department? A person? Did they? What information did they
give your wife?
Speaker 5 (03:14):
They sold us to call at customer service? We did,
and they said they couldn't do anything. I got it
from a third party. It wasn't them, so it was
out of their hands.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
And that's not the case. They know who that third
party is?
Speaker 3 (03:27):
That guy in Times Square that walks around peddling their
tickets their company.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
Sure, and it must be coded some way right where
they know which vendors brought in how many people?
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Let's go, let's go, so what's the name here? And
we're looking for all?
Speaker 8 (03:42):
Right?
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Here we go, Here we go.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
You're listening to Fraud Friday with the KTU Morning Crew.
We'll be right back with part two when Hollywood and
Marine make the call. Buckle up because things are about
to get rough.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Fraud Friday is sponsored by the New York Allianced Against
insurance fraud, wrote Ford Fraud at Fraud and Why dot Com.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Welcome back for part two for this week's Fraud Friday.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
It was hey, can I think to Chris.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Hello? I did really quickly. I want to identify myself.
My name is Hollywood Hamilton. I'm a radio personality here
in New York City on a radio station called k TU.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
If I could just have a moment of your time?
Speaker 8 (04:35):
Uh sure, what can I What can I do for you?
Speaker 3 (04:37):
I've got a customer of yours. His name is Jimmy.
He's also a listener of ours. He's on the phone
with us right now. And Jimmy, why don't you explain
your concern your problem with his company?
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Go ahead, Jimmy.
Speaker 5 (04:50):
Yeah, I talked to you before my wife was overcharged
and you said it wasn't your problem.
Speaker 8 (04:56):
Yeah, I'm not.
Speaker 5 (04:57):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 8 (04:57):
I understand. I get a lot of phone calls. I
don't understand what's going on.
Speaker 5 (05:01):
When we When my wife went over there, she was
told it was X amount. We got charged way more.
She waited forever for the tour. Everyone was upset. We
were told to call you if we had any problems,
and you just said nope, not my problem, like you
didn't even care about us.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Okay, do you remember this Jimmy? Do you remember him?
Do you remember who we're talking about right here?
Speaker 8 (05:21):
I'm afraid I don't, like I said, we get a
lot of phone calls. I'm very dizzy. I really am sorry.
I mean, we're a busy company. We have a lot
of people calling, so I can't say I remember one person.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Okay, well, let's explain it to Let's explain.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
So what happened was his wife and the kids and
I guess a family member.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
They went to a third party, this third.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Party get you know, the guy on the street with
the sciences buy your double decker bus tour. They bought
the tickets from this man who you obviously clearly probably
you know the company, the third party company. Then they
got to the bus. She looked at her credit card
and it was how much?
Speaker 5 (05:55):
It was over three hundred dollars.
Speaker 8 (05:57):
Okay, well, I understand that we are. I mean, we're
sorry to hear that. I always want people to have
a good experience with us, but second party, third party
things like that, we don't. How can I refund you?
I don't have the money to refund you. You bought them
to a third party.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
So but but hey, hey, David, the point is you
know who that third party is.
Speaker 6 (06:15):
Yeah, you have to know. This is the first time
that this has happened to somebody. Okay, and any Well.
Speaker 8 (06:21):
We don't hire scammers. So that's why I'm having a
hard time with this, because we don't hire scammers.
Speaker 5 (06:26):
You know what, I'm done talking.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
I'm done talking. I want to talk to your boss.
Put your boss on right now. I don't I don't
want to talk to you any longer.
Speaker 8 (06:36):
All right, well, I'm sorry you feel the way that
he's not here right now, so you're gonna have to
talk to me.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
You know the names of these third party workers in
Times Square they were your tour organization is as well.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Yeah, guys, it's all come on.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
So I want you to do me a favor. I
want you to tell your boss that I called. First
of all, didn't like your attitude. Second of all, let
your boss know where getting ready to call it New
York City Tourism Board, Times Square Alliance Mayor Adam's office.
Speaker 6 (07:05):
And he hates this, Oh, he sure does.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Adam's office can't stand can't stand this. I'm gonna call
the Consumer Fraud Protection Bureau, the Better Business Bureau. If
it goes to your boss, David, we're gonna have a
lot of problems.
Speaker 7 (07:19):
So the attitude that you're giving us not really working
to your advantage right now at this moment.
Speaker 8 (07:28):
Well, I mean, we're a big company and we don't
do refunds.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
I mean, do you have the authority to do that.
I'm a little confused.
Speaker 8 (07:39):
Of course I have the ability to do that.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Well, then what is the problem.
Speaker 8 (07:44):
Well, I was under the impression that you wanted a
full refund. I wasn't aware that there was an overcharge.
That does sound like a problem, and overcharge is unacceptable.
I'm sorry that if you weren't happy with the experience
that we provided. We do our best to provide a
good experience. Overcharging, however, is unacceptable, and I think I
can do something with an overcharge. I can't give a
(08:05):
full refund, that's just not something we do. But as
far as the overcharge, I don't see a reason why
I can't make that happen.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Okay, all right, okay, somewhere we are thank you. All right,
we're bleeping out your your name, of your company, your name.
Everything will be bleeped out. Nobody's going to know who
your company is and all that Friday.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Nobody yelling at anybody what's going on? Nobody's yelling in it. Well,
I got a little very civil, but.
Speaker 6 (08:32):
Get those third parties to do the right thing.
Speaker 7 (08:35):
We just since they are representing your business.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Thank you, Thank you for your time. Jimmy's gonna call
your back as soon as we hang up.
Speaker 8 (08:42):
All right, thank you, all right, thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
All right, bye bye, bye bye, Jimmy.
Speaker 5 (08:47):
Jimmy appreciate you guys so much. Okayank you, thank you.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Okay, give them a call right back, and we'll glad
to be helping you on Fraud Friday.
Speaker 5 (08:54):
Thank you, guys.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Have you been a victim of fraud? Have you been
taken by a scam? The Hollywood Hamilton Show and the
KTU Morning Crew would love to hear from you. Text
us at six nine nine three five. That is six
nine nine three five. This is Fraud Friday, this world.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Wee
You are about to hear a feature that was created
to expose the scammers, thieves, and con artists among us.
The dialogue and temperament about to be used by Hollywood
Hamilton does not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of iHeartMedia.
This is Fraud Friday.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
This week's fraud.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Sight seeing scams have long plagued tourism here in New
York City. Are constantly getting these I know Samantha has
brought this up to my attention multiple times.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
What is it?
Speaker 4 (00:33):
Well, sadly, of course, as you just mentioned, prying on
the tourists, But really it's a variety of scams. You
buy some sort of sight seeing pass and oh suddenly
you queue up, you're in line for forty five minutes.
But oh, you can't see the Empire State Building, but
it was supposed to be included. Oh you can't get
on the Staten Island ferry to see the Statue of Liberty,
but you were supposed to. You got to pay again,
And so they're running these scams on tourists who don't
(00:55):
know better, and sometimes even people who are in the
city who do know better.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
But get this week, Marie and I have a guy
by the name of Jimmy on the phone, Jimmy who
said recently his wife was in the city with their
kids to meet a family member who was in town
on a visit, and for the goof she decided to
take the kids and the family member, who was a tourist,
on a sight seeing tour. Jimmy, Jimmy, are you there.
Speaker 5 (01:19):
I'm here. Thanks for having my story, guys, I really
appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
What happened with this? You paid money to have a tour,
It didn't come through what what's the name of the
double decker Bucks sight seeing?
Speaker 6 (01:29):
It was called that's well known.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
That's a well known tour, very well known tour. Okay,
So you show up or the wife shows up. Was
it a third party she went to? Was it one
of the guys with the signs on the streets?
Speaker 7 (01:40):
It was a third party, And it can be deceiving
because it looks like they are part of the same company.
Speaker 6 (01:47):
Right, That's what I would assume.
Speaker 5 (01:48):
That's what my wife thought. We thought it was going
to be seventy five for the whole family. We look
at our credit card, it was three hundred bucks.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
Well apparently that's what they said, right. Was it to
your wife was that they don't give refunds. But at
the same time, you're representing an entire company and you've
got plenty of complaints. And if you look at YELP recently,
there's just you know, Jimmy's not alone here, his wife's
not alone. These aren't the only scams happening in New
York right now. I've heard about the walking scam, But
tour guides ever show up Little Italy Chinatown. You pay
(02:17):
for the tour guide who never shows And if you
look at Yel's, there's been some really awful reviews on
some of these sight seeing tours.
Speaker 6 (02:26):
So we've got the marketing.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
Office at ight, so maybe we call them direct and
we tell.
Speaker 6 (02:33):
Them how we feel.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
Because we have no number to the third party guy
that actually sold the tickets, it's going to get resistance. Look,
I'm gonna do my best to get your money back,
and we have, you know, Marie and I have an
eighty five percent success ratio on getting people's money back
here on Froud Friday. But this one, you actually gave
a third party money. The guy with the you know,
the sign around his neck draped down to his you know,
(02:56):
well that's the guy we got to go after.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
We don't have his number.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Apparently we're gonna have to go after and we're going
to try to get your money that way. Just know
that this is not going to be easy, but we're
going to do the best we can.
Speaker 6 (03:06):
Jimmy, who exactly are we calling? Here? Are we calling
a department? A person? Did they? What information did they
give your wife?
Speaker 5 (03:14):
They sold us to call at customer service? We did,
and they said they couldn't do anything. I got it
from a third party. It wasn't them, so it was
out of their hands.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
And that's not the case. They know who that third
party is?
Speaker 3 (03:27):
That guy in Times Square that walks around peddling their
tickets their company.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
Sure, and it must be coded some way right where
they know which vendors brought in how many people?
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Let's go, let's go, so what's the name here? And
we're looking for all?
Speaker 8 (03:42):
Right?
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Here we go, Here we go.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
You're listening to Fraud Friday with the KTU Morning Crew.
We'll be right back with part two when Hollywood and
Marine make the call. Buckle up because things are about
to get rough.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Fraud Friday is sponsored by the New York Allianced Against
insurance fraud, wrote Ford Fraud at Fraud and Why dot Com.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Welcome back for part two for this week's Fraud Friday.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
It was hey, can I think to Chris.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Hello? I did really quickly. I want to identify myself.
My name is Hollywood Hamilton. I'm a radio personality here
in New York City on a radio station called k TU.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
If I could just have a moment of your time?
Speaker 8 (04:35):
Uh sure, what can I What can I do for you?
Speaker 3 (04:37):
I've got a customer of yours. His name is Jimmy.
He's also a listener of ours. He's on the phone
with us right now. And Jimmy, why don't you explain
your concern your problem with his company?
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Go ahead, Jimmy.
Speaker 5 (04:50):
Yeah, I talked to you before my wife was overcharged
and you said it wasn't your problem.
Speaker 8 (04:56):
Yeah, I'm not.
Speaker 5 (04:57):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 8 (04:57):
I understand. I get a lot of phone calls. I
don't understand what's going on.
Speaker 5 (05:01):
When we When my wife went over there, she was
told it was X amount. We got charged way more.
She waited forever for the tour. Everyone was upset. We
were told to call you if we had any problems,
and you just said nope, not my problem, like you
didn't even care about us.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Okay, do you remember this Jimmy? Do you remember him?
Do you remember who we're talking about right here?
Speaker 8 (05:21):
I'm afraid I don't, like I said, we get a
lot of phone calls. I'm very dizzy. I really am sorry.
I mean, we're a busy company. We have a lot
of people calling, so I can't say I remember one person.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Okay, well, let's explain it to Let's explain.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
So what happened was his wife and the kids and
I guess a family member.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
They went to a third party, this third.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Party get you know, the guy on the street with
the sciences buy your double decker bus tour. They bought
the tickets from this man who you obviously clearly probably
you know the company, the third party company. Then they
got to the bus. She looked at her credit card
and it was how much?
Speaker 5 (05:55):
It was over three hundred dollars.
Speaker 8 (05:57):
Okay, well, I understand that we are. I mean, we're
sorry to hear that. I always want people to have
a good experience with us, but second party, third party
things like that, we don't. How can I refund you?
I don't have the money to refund you. You bought them
to a third party.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
So but but hey, hey, David, the point is you
know who that third party is.
Speaker 6 (06:15):
Yeah, you have to know. This is the first time
that this has happened to somebody. Okay, and any Well.
Speaker 8 (06:21):
We don't hire scammers. So that's why I'm having a
hard time with this, because we don't hire scammers.
Speaker 5 (06:26):
You know what, I'm done talking.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
I'm done talking. I want to talk to your boss.
Put your boss on right now. I don't I don't
want to talk to you any longer.
Speaker 8 (06:36):
All right, well, I'm sorry you feel the way that
he's not here right now, so you're gonna have to
talk to me.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
You know the names of these third party workers in
Times Square they were your tour organization is as well.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Yeah, guys, it's all come on.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
So I want you to do me a favor. I
want you to tell your boss that I called. First
of all, didn't like your attitude. Second of all, let
your boss know where getting ready to call it New
York City Tourism Board, Times Square Alliance Mayor Adam's office.
Speaker 6 (07:05):
And he hates this, Oh, he sure does.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Adam's office can't stand can't stand this. I'm gonna call
the Consumer Fraud Protection Bureau, the Better Business Bureau. If
it goes to your boss, David, we're gonna have a
lot of problems.
Speaker 7 (07:19):
So the attitude that you're giving us not really working
to your advantage right now at this moment.
Speaker 8 (07:28):
Well, I mean, we're a big company and we don't
do refunds.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
I mean, do you have the authority to do that.
I'm a little confused.
Speaker 8 (07:39):
Of course I have the ability to do that.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Well, then what is the problem.
Speaker 8 (07:44):
Well, I was under the impression that you wanted a
full refund. I wasn't aware that there was an overcharge.
That does sound like a problem, and overcharge is unacceptable.
I'm sorry that if you weren't happy with the experience
that we provided. We do our best to provide a
good experience. Overcharging, however, is unacceptable, and I think I
can do something with an overcharge. I can't give a
(08:05):
full refund, that's just not something we do. But as
far as the overcharge, I don't see a reason why
I can't make that happen.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Okay, all right, okay, somewhere we are thank you. All right,
we're bleeping out your your name, of your company, your name.
Everything will be bleeped out. Nobody's going to know who
your company is and all that Friday.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Nobody yelling at anybody what's going on? Nobody's yelling in it. Well,
I got a little very civil, but.
Speaker 6 (08:32):
Get those third parties to do the right thing.
Speaker 7 (08:35):
We just since they are representing your business.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Thank you, Thank you for your time. Jimmy's gonna call
your back as soon as we hang up.
Speaker 8 (08:42):
All right, thank you, all right, thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
All right, bye bye, bye bye, Jimmy.
Speaker 5 (08:47):
Jimmy appreciate you guys so much. Okayank you, thank you.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Okay, give them a call right back, and we'll glad
to be helping you on Fraud Friday.
Speaker 5 (08:54):
Thank you, guys.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Have you been a victim of fraud? Have you been
taken by a scam? The Hollywood Hamilton Show and the
KTU Morning Crew would love to hear from you. Text
us at six nine nine three five. That is six
nine nine three five. This is Fraud Friday, this world.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Wee
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