pulsefmonline.com

[LindaNorton]

I flew back to Philadelphia on a 7 pm flight that night, then drove back to my house in New Jersey. "Brian" was scheduled to fly several days later, on a Saturday morning, since he was planning to keep going with his advertising effort with several local merchants.

On the Saturday (April 16th) that he was scheduled to return, "Brian" called and left plaintive messages, totally upset because the airline didn't fly on Saturdays, in spite of the fact that they had sold him a ticket for that day. He said that he was now stuck without any money to get a flight, and with only $6 to live on (including food) until he flew out on Monday morning. I apologized profusely and told him there was nothing I could do to help. He asked if I had other credit cards that I could use and I just didn't. He said that he was going back to the hotel and would try to cash a check there, which he figured would bounce before he had a chance to make a deposit when he returned home the following Monday.

On Monday morning (April 18th) "Brian" called and left messages, then reached me directly around 9:30 in the morning. He was horribly upset because "they had shut down 75" -- the highway that gave he needed to take to get to the airport, and he had missed his flight and he had no money to get home on another flight. Again, I knew there was nothing I could do because my credit cards were maxed out, but I tried anyway. I reserved a ticket via the Internet for him, and let him know. My confirmation message said I would receive an email shortly detailing the completed transaction. The confirming message never arrived, and I realized that the credit transaction had probably been declined. He phoned me about half an hour later and said that the airline had called him and said that "they had entered the number wrong" and had asked him for the credit card number again. I did not give him my new credit card number because, again, I didn't know for a fact that he wasn't the person who had fraudulently used my credit cards before. I explained to him that their explanation was not plausible and that I believed it was their nice way of saying "your card has been declined; please use another one." He wheedled, trying to get the card number, but I did not relent. Later that day, he said he was going to phone his father (the supposed multi-millionaire, who was angry with his son for abandoning the radio station in order to help my company) and ask him for help buying an airline ticket in order to get home. Later on, he said that his father HAD come through and purchased an airline ticket for him. Throughout my conversations with him that day, "Brian" complained about how he was going to make his car payment and his mortgage payment. I was upset that he was in a financial crunch, but I had specifically told him in advance that I couldn't afford to buy a digital video camera yet.