As Expected

The 10-K is delayed (we will need to wait till April 15th). Does anyone recall what happened on April 15th 98 years ago? Need a hint?

But they do need to explain some things.  I wonder how the people who were coerced into re-signing up feel about this paragraph.  Yes, it does seem like YTB is a whole new company--yeah right!

The Registrant anticipates that it will report significant changes in its results of operations for its fiscal year ended December 31, 2009 compared to its fiscal year ended December 31, 2008. Based on the information available at this time, the Registrant anticipates a net loss of $9.9 million or $.09 per diluted share compared to a net loss of $4.5 million or $.04 per diluted share for the comparable prior year period.

The net loss from discontinued operations for the year ended December 31, 2009 is expected to be $3.1 million or $.03 per diluted share compared to a net loss of $762,000 or $.01 per diluted share for 2008. Net revenues are anticipated to be $67.3 million in 2009 compared to $159.5 million reported in 2008. Total operating expenses for 2009 are currently $75.0 million compared to $162.8 million reported in 2008.

Other items anticipated to have a significant impact on the net loss for 2009 include non-cash impairment charges for goodwill and intangible assets of $450,000 and $2.2 million, respectively, compared to $149,000 of goodwill impairment reported in 2008. Also currently included in the net loss for 2009, are asset impairment charges of $4.5 million compared to $366,000 reported in the prior year period. The $4.5 million in asset impairment charges in 2009 relate primarily the $3.9 million write-down of the Registrant’s  headquarters property to its estimated realizable value in conjunction with the Registrant’s fourth quarter decision to sell the property within the next twelve months. Inventory impairment charges are anticipated to be $724,000 for 2009 compared to $3.0 million reported in 2008.

Whoops. Did anyone tell YTB that your Operating Revenues should not exceed your income?  So let me get this straight, YTB has been overestimating the value of the Headquarters property (a refurbed K-Mart in Wood River, IL) by $3.9 million dollars?  But what is amusing is that the sale of the K-Mart is juse being announced by YTB today, but yes folks, you heard it here first.

This Is How ZamZuu Handles The Draft

UPDATE:  How predictable. The post was deleted.

Well as long as the payment clears it seems that YTB/ZamZuu doesn;t care. Kim Sorensen does not respond to inquiries, Coach does not respond either. This post will be deleted shortly.

Michelle--if I were you, I would call your bank and  advise them  of the unauthorized drafts. Have them put a stop on the drafts and then report it. You are right, it is bad business and it does seem that no one cares!

Did You Know?

I wonder if many of the Zam Zuukeeper and Reps are aware that Ghiada (the exclusive girdle company marketed by YTB) is owned by Directors Jerome Hughes and Melissa Boston?

If they did, would it come as a surprise that the new water purification product soon to be released is also owned by Ghiada?

So, for every girdle or water purifier purchased, it is putting money in the bank of Jerome and Melissa. Was this just another one of the inside deals cut by Coach to keep the Circle of Champions--now dubbed the Fabulous Five--from jumping ship? It is reported that 4 of the Fabulous 5 were actively looking at other opportunities right until Coach pulled them in and agreed to build Zam Zuu around them.  I guess California ordered YTB to disclose some thing--but not all!

Uh Oh!

This can;t be good. I am trying to confirm!

A Pleasant Update

Yesterday, we reported that Pleasant receive one confirmed (deposited) booking and 8 tentative bookings from the sale-a-thon. Those figures did NOT include the weekend.

Here's the update. 7 of the 8 tentative bookings autocanceled due to a lack of deposit. And this past weekend, the crackerjack sales force was able to come up with three more bookings, but all three of them autocanceled yesterday for lack of a deposit.

So, here's the grand total for 30,000 RTAs in one of the famous sale-a-thons.  THREE!

An Amusing Excuse

UPDATE: This post was written over the weekend and scheduled to appear this morning. Since we got word of the extension for the 10K, it is even more transparent what YTB is trying to do.

The following long winded explanation of the urgency to re-sign former RTAs up was sent to me this weekend.

We've received several inquiries why the "We Want You Back" promotion ends this Tuesday morning at 7:00am.

The simple answer is this: We don't really want to spend time looking back - but have everyone moving forward in building your business a new.

Yes, we understand that many left because they didn't think YTB would survive. Many bought into the negative press, the lawsuits, and the hype surrounding the end of YTB.

While you wanted to stick around, a favorite line you heard over and over was "What if you're WRONG?"

This is an opportunity to come back and say "I was RIGHT - and we are better and stronger than ever."

So, for a very limited time (very limited - like the this Tuesday!) we have the "We Want You Back" promotion.

Call it what you want - an incentive, a special, (even a bribe? LOL!) - but the Home Office is so confident that like others, if these former Reps and IBO's see what we have to offer, they'll want to reactivate their sites and start working this business again because of the new tools, new products, new price points, new commissions, and new found enthusiasm we now have.

It's like joining a whole new company for just $49.95!

The home office wants to help you get some of those accounts back! Anyone who was previously paying $49.95 a month with us will receive a special gift pack for choosing to come back.

They've put all the information together in this special flyer. Just send them the following link to their preferred method of contact whether that's email, Facebook, or even Twitter!

Keep this link handy to the PDF: http://bit.ly/bvViTY

Now for the added Bonus - or - "Wait - there's still more!"

Here's some copy ideas for a quick email, Facebook, or even Twitter! These all fit within the 140 character limit! (Which means you can send this as a text, too!)

• Version 1 - YTB wants you back! They're offering a gift pack if you do. Just take a look! They're not the same company! http://bit.ly/bvViTY
• Version 2 - Hey [NAME]! I know you think YTB was not for you, but you have got to check this out! They're not the same company! http://bit.ly/bvViTY

Remember, we still need to build. We don't want too much time spent on old accounts. (Thus the short time span.) But it's obvious with all these people coming back that there IS something worth having them take another look at their old business again.

Time is running out! This special incentive only lasts until March 30, 2010 at 7:00 A.M. Eastern.

Or, you could just save the 442 words and simply say,

"The year end financials are being released on the 31st, and after that bit of information becomes public, there will be no way in hell anyone will want to sign up. So, get the $49.95 now. Coach needs the money!"

10K To Be Delayed

We have learned that the 10K which was required to be filed by March 31, 2010 will be delayed and YTB has applied for an extension.

The most likely announcement to come from YTB in the next hours or days will be that the We Want You Back promotion will be extended. With the financial disclosures still undisclosed, it is easier to lure people back into the fold.

This is indicative of financial turmoil when John Clagg abruptly left just prior to the year end numbers being finalized. It is also indicative of how unsuccessful the We Want You Back campaign has actually been and YTB's need for money.

For the campaign, YTB reactivated all of the inactive sites including a limited back office portal. This will be a good marketing tool to lure people in by claiming that in the last 30 days so many sites were re-activated (they decline to mention it was not at the request of the former RTA).  Once in the back office, the only real option is to renew. You put in your credit card for $49/month recurring and you are good to go. Under best circumstances, YTB will get those that do return for two months!

Another YTB "Successful" Sale-A-Thon

YTB had another sale-a-thon last week. This time it was with Pleasant Holidays again. Last time they did not do so well and only managed to sell 16 packages.  Surely with the growth they are experiencing, one would think they would do better--wouldn't you?

I mean when Kim Sorensen (one of the most influential people in travel) asked what everyone thought of the sale-a-thon, he received comments like this:

• Rodney Ward Keep the fun going/coming! I like the excitement!
  
• Deanna McLaughlin It was great
  
• Carole Kay I enjoyed it a lot
• Dawn Barraco Blakley I loved the videos.. I had fun posting on FB during the broadcast. '-) Keep em  coming!
• Rodney Ward The YTB Travel/Pleasant Holidays vacation sale-a-thon was great fun last night. I loved the special deals. More fun today. I just posted a video of Gina Alexander photo handbags collection--tote bags, hand bags, wallets, wristlets, baguettes, keychains on my FB page. Gina Alexander products are very popular and all Gina Alexander products can be purchased at my zamzuu website. Wow! What a combination, YTB and ZamZuu.

Even the TravelPro was going on about all of the great specials. He even cut and pasted (surprise and surprise again) some of the specials available to all travel agents from their website.

But how much did they actually sell? Well, as of March 26, 2010, there were 14 bookings. One was deposited, 3 auto-canceled, 2 were canceled on the booking website. So if the math is correct, that is 1 booked and 8 pending. Truly pathetic since there likely are more of the pending ones that have auto-canceled already.

And I wonder if YTB informed the field that their dismal sales resulted in a drop in commission paid to YTB by Pleasant Holidays. Yes, what was at one point 16% in 2008, was dropped to 14% last January, and once again has been dropped again this year to 11%.  So, for an RTA earning a 60% commission split, this amounts to a 31% drop in income from Pleasant Holidays. Did the monthly fee drop 31% to compensate? I'm just sayin'

Psst, Kim, Mazie's Pissed

And she is one of your few legitimate travel agents.

Psst, Kim Sorensen, Sigi Has Questions!!

Dear Kim--

I know that travel is so "yesterday's news" for YTB, but one of the people that keeps you paid (by sending in $50 a month) has some questions and it seems that you are ignoring her!

• Sigi wants to know what happened with the Atlanta Road Show--but that was 16 days ago, so probably a moot point.
• Sigi also wanted you to contact her by email on March 19th. But that was about a week ago.
• Apparently you never emailed her so she asked again yesterday--this time a little more urgently.

I know you are having problems with your "trained and experienced" Carnival Help Desk and there are still unacceptable wait times for your "travel agents" to speak with the "experts", but are you having problems with your email as well?

In case you are, I am reposting Sigi's requests here--you do read this blog, right?

Sometimes A Typo Is Too Good To Pass

Perhaps there is some truth in there. I bet she makes more money from her couch than she makes from her Coach!

Zero Support

This seems to be the latest battle cry. Despite Kim's assertions that travel is still in the forefront, it seems that maybe it is not so much!

I need help with booking a group for a cruise. I have called and asked who my sponsors were, got the name of a person and she has yet to return my calls. The sponsors I had are no longer with YTB anymore. I saw on ZAMZUU who I am suppose to report leads to, but has never received a phone call from anyone to say hey how is it going, I am your new sponsor or nothing. When I first started this business, I had support, and then that changed, people started drifting away from YTB. I have sent emails to previous people whom I thought were still in YTB and they never responded to emails. Who do I go to when I need help if I can't get anyone to contact me? I feel like I am don't have any support to help me with my business. This is very frustrating! I have been with YTB for a while now and the support I have gotten has been Zero.

And the best Coach can do is say go to Facebook for training? At least he admits that this woman is not alone.

Hey Maria! You're in the right place! Keep plugging into all the different tools, conference calls and especially Facebook for different techniques! For the group cruise, I would suggest calling our support department. They're always there to help with anything you need! Also, are you following Kim in travel on Facebook? He does a lot of great training on his Facebook page. Check him out! http://www.facebook.com/JKimSorensen. Jeanie Sharpless has a great travel training call and I think even a ladies only call. Hope this helps Maria! Hang in there! You're not alone! 

Unintended Consequences

Remember when YTB was losing the California lawsuit and decided to settle for a million dollars rather than risk going to court? One of their workarounds for the settlement (and I still maintain that the way they circumvented the intent of the settlement was brilliant) was to not allow everyone to talk about the program. Only Power Team Leaders were able to "sell" the program. This was to (theoretically) insure that false claims were not presented.

The Reps were encouraged to register the email addresses of everyone they knew and the PTL would follow up. And for every sale a PTL made, the referring Rep woudl get $50 (it might have been $25, but I don't want to go look for it). This amounts to nothing more than spamming people--a violation of the Can-Spam Act. It borders on identity theft as this person obviously had no interest in the program and some unscrupulous Rep merely passed along an email address and contact information he had hoping  his PTL could close the sale. Where did this contact come from? Was it lifted from a fishbowl in a restaurant? Did a friend or family member pass it along? Was it someone from a business relationship? Really, if anyone gave a name, phone, and email address to anyone--and a YTB Rep got a hold of it--BINGO!

Well, as expected, that did not work so well as is evidenced by this Facebook post.

And for those who may not be able to view the post with any legibility, here is the text:

Sorry to be a wet blanket but...this is my experience with Zamzuu.

Do you want to get text messages at all hours of the day and night, 7 days a week? Mindless text messages notifying you of conference calls. Conference calls that aren't really a conference, just a droning recorded message. Or, invitations to meetings a...t someone’s house (with no address given) or offers to $5000 bonuses for this or that. Of course these text messages never have any way of contacting the sender. DOESN"T THIS SOUND LIKE YOUR LIFE DREAM? If it does, just get involved with this crap. I've never heard of Zamzuu until I started getting these text messages out of no where. Some guy named Joe and/or CJ, from Lilburn, Georgia keeps sending them to me and I can't get him to stop. He did have his number (voice mail only) on one text so I called. He did call back, and claimed he had my number by mistake, saying he would remove it. But I'm still getting the texts and it's filling my inbox. My phone is for emergency response and a full inbox is going to make me miss an important notification. If this is any indication of how these people run things I'd stay far, far away from Zamzuu. Hopefully someone with the company will see this and contact Joe/CJ and get me removed from their contact list. If not I’ll keep posting this in every venue related to Zamuu that I can find. Out of decency I won’t post Joe’s number but if you want to contact him just get in touch with me. Maybe they're legit...their actions now will tell the tale.

Oh yeah, I posted this on their other page and they removed the Reviews altogether.

We Want You Back!

Yes, here it is hot off the press!  No need to check with your travel professional when you can click here for the complete PDF that lists all the fabulous prizes you get for sending in your $50. Yes, for an additional $50 for the hotel, an additional $199 for the cruise, plus the taxes and fees for the airline discount. So this special "gift" package is really not too much of a gift at all.  And anyone want to take a guess if the hotel /resort or the cruise is actually redeemable? Their partner does not have too good of a reputation for fulfillment!

I still want to know why YTB is "not the same company"? After all, when I went to a recruiting meeting, I was told that I was in the right place, at the right time with the right company.  Donald Bradley told me that himself. I heard Scott Tomer say that in Bowie,  and I heard Coach Tomer also say that at Bowie State University.

So, what is the deal? Was everyone at the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong company? That seems logical. And if so, why the hell would anyone trust these people to do it all over again when the last one was such an apparent failure?

And here is the pitch:

To all our Reps!

Do you have people who quit their travel business that need a little extra nudge to see the power of ZamZuu? Well, we're going to help you get some of those accounts back! Anyone who was previously paying $49.95 a month with us will receive a special gift pack for choosing to come back.

We've put all the information together in this special flyer. Just send them the following link to their preferred method of contact whether that's email, Facebook, or even Twitter!

http://bit.ly/bvViTY

Bonus! Here's some copy ideas for a quick email, Facebook, or even Twitter! These all fit within the 140 character limit! (Which means you can send this as a text, too!)

Version 1- YTB wants you back! They're offering a gift pack if you do. Just take a look! They're not the same company! http://bit.ly/bvViTY

Version 2- Hey [NAME]! I know you think YTB was not for you, but you have got to check this out! They're not the same company! http://bit.ly/bvViTY

Hurry! This special incentive only lasts until March 30, 2010 at 7:00 A.M. Eastern. Let's get those accounts back!

This Just In

In advance of the release of the financial reports for 2009, YTB is holding a call for selected individuals withing the company this afternoon. While the content of the call is still unknown, I suspect it will be a typical rah rah call to give talking points to address the inevitable questions from the field and to stem the expected latest round of RTAs fleeing the ship.

As news comes in, this page will be updated, so check back and refresh!

3:55 PM 3/19/2010  On the line, listening to soothing music. Spelling will not count!
3:56 PM 3/19/2010  Someone picked up. Beeps. Bermuda called. A lot of people talking together. Atlanta, Idaho, Florida, Jeannie Shapless. Great news great news a lot of people calling in. Welcome to the call Minneapolis. Welcome Florida. Welcome Alabama.
3:58 PM 3/19/2010  Bobby Simpson: thrilled that so many called and they are starting in two minutes. Scott and Coach will be on the call. Have had great Zam Zuu success thanks to all and it has been a great ride since January. Wants you to roll up shirtsleeves and get to work. In creation mode to help you grow your business.  Gonna start in 30 seconds.
4:00 PM 3/19/2010  Scott Tomer: Exciting things happening with Zam Zuu. Seemed like forever that they launched the company. 40 $5000 bonuses have been paid out. PTL have earned 1000 bonuses. Sales of Zam Zuu are way up over last month. People leaving is down dramatically. Lot's of people coming in. Approaching 2000 people that have reactivated their business in the last 64 days. Juliett said that a lot of people did not know about Zam Zuu but were still paying $49.95, so Juliett got them excited. What can ZamZuu do to reactivate old people.
4:03 PM 3/19/2010  Coach:  Wheels started to spin and talked with Roland to bring the family back and have a family reunion. Started working a week or two and did some more work. Wanted to give old people a free month. Then decided they needed to give people a reason to see how valuable the business really is.  Starting right now, they worked out an arrangement for when a person comes back and pays their first $50, they will give them an incentives. One thing is a three day two night vacation. Second thing is one that Chriss went on-a cruise Bahamas Vacation. Cruise from Ft. Lauderdale and then Freeport for three nights. This will be a hundred air credit companion ticket. $50 rebate on spa. When a person re-ups, they will see the new Zam Zuu and will get all these things delivered to them. Coach is so pumped up that he can't stand it!  This will be announced in an hour.

4:06 PM 3/19/2010 Bobby Simpson:  System in place now. But it is a limited deal--10 days. It is NOT going to be extended. The push is right now. The tools are there and there are sample emails that you can use to contact inactive people. You need to consider this your job. Don't quit what you are doing, but contact these people. They made messages 140 characters so you can tweet and text. Last hing to share till turn it over. They don;t want to just turn sites back on. They want people to give YTB $49.95 based on the value of the packages Coach put together.
4:09 PM 3/19/2010  Coach: That is unbelievable. When people come back and see the new Zam Zuu and the value and the partner stores. So these sales are goping to count for your $2 residual from day 1. They will count to your $5000 check. Reps can make this pay off. It gives you a reason to get people active again. You need to get someone excited again. They will all say "wow this is what I have been waiting for.".  Scott is in Kansas City and it is a wonderful gift to people.
4:11 PM 3/19/2010  Scott: These are people that were in the business. They paid the upfront fee. They paid the $49 monthly fee. This is all about turning their business back on and pay for 30 days and let Zam Zuu show you how much more is there. I just know that when people can see the business they now have, they will see sales of products continue to grow. Been working on commissions. The glitches are identified. The Giada thing has been worked out. Commissions will go out in April. Don't want to see sales drop while they are trying to get people back in. You believed it once, you will believe it again. We are just that confident you will love what you see. The momentum is created. We started in travel and made a ton of mistakes in front of 300 or 400 people and no one saw them. Positioned now to make the business owners and make them absolutely profitable. Wants to end up with  he cant say in words how he feels about this group. You have been with us through this period of time. You are responsible for the one day when they had momentum. Juliett Jerome and Rick, the  Funks, Roland, all positioned to win. Zam Zuu is beginning. There is no momentum. It is beginning. It is the beginning of the wave. This is not the time to say we are back. We need to double the efforts. We need to make one more call or one more presentation. It will mean the difference between those who don't earn and those who break the bank. And he needs you to do a little more in the next ten days. Do a little more.

4:16 PM 3/19/2010 Bobby Simpson:  Happy about new leaders that are stepping up. There ais a whole new group of leaders that are ready to be starters. This convention will be about the new leaders and those new leaders on the call today.
4:17 PM 3/19/2010  Coach:  Let's get out ther and get the word out. Let's keep the momentum coming.
4:17 PM 3/19/2010  Scott: If you don;t want to go thru the hassle, just have people go to wewantyouback@zamzuu.com and they can re-up.
4:18 PM 3/19/2010  Bobby Simpson: Coming up in the next week, they broke some code in the media center to make commercials.
4:19 PM 3/19/2010  Scott: Again this was people who have canceled their sites as of yesterday, no none else we want them back. Proud of you. Have a good weekend
4:19 PM 3/19/2010  End of call

Well, I was partially right. It was definitely a rally to get people back in the fold paying $50. The incentives are presumably the certificates from their BBB rated "F" business partners.

But, no need to hear it from your Coach's Corner Members or Directors. You heard it hear first.

One unsaid, yet important item, is that the financials will NOT be released until the last minute--or possibly extended. This program will not succeed when the financials are public. Hence the "not to be extended" 10 day period. YTB will try to recapture and re-sign as many people in 10 days prior to those people being privy to the 2009 financials. Once they are re-signed, they will have to go through the whole termination deal again!

Thoughts...Comments....

This link is to a a 20 minute presentation that will run every half hour for the rest of the month.  Just wondering about the blog's readers thoughts. My favorite is how he says there is no need to understand the program, just know that Zam Zuu will take care of making sure you are paid.

http://www.zamzuutv.biz/

Is This Legal?

I thought income claims were a no no.

Did anyone at YTB bother to run this past Lisa Madigan and Jerry Brown? Or any of the other 48 states where their "copyrighted" compensation plan is on file?

Jeffrey

Does anyone remember this? Boy I tell you, little children named Jeffrey can make for some good laughs!

From Most Influential To This....

A few years ago, Kim Sorensen was names as "influential" by Travel Weekly. This morning, the St. Louis Business Journal is not sure if he is a boy or a girl.

The company said J. Kim Sorensen remains vice chairman of YTB International, a post she took in November 2008 in addition to her post as president of YTB Travel Network Inc.

Is Kim a shim?

A Pre-Emptive Announcement

From a press release issued today:

YTB Completes Realignment of Management Team
YTB... is pleased to announce the Company has completed the restructuring of its management team in addition to significantly reducing general overhead expense.

The Company continues to operate through three subsidiaries: the new marketing entity ZamZuu, Inc. (formerly YTB Marketing, Inc.), YTB Travel Network, Inc., and YTB Franchise Services, Inc.  J. Scott Tomer will continue to serve as Chairman of YTB, as well as Chief Executive Officer of ZamZuu, Inc.  J. Kim Sorensen remains as Vice Chairman of YTB and President of YTB Travel Network, Inc.  Robert M. Van Patten joined the Company on a full-time basis in October 2009 as Chief Executive Officer and President, and has been serving as Interim Chief Financial Officer of YTB since February 2010.

YTB reduced general overhead expense nearly $4.0 million in fiscal 2009 and since Van Patten's appointment, approximately $1.5 million in general overhead expense has been reduced in 2010.

OK so they are announcing the restructuring of the management team which included keeping things exactly the same as they were.

But the story here is the pre-emptive "news" about saving a million in overhead expenses. And I think we all know where those savings came from.  Strange timing of this release, just before the SEC filing is due.  I wonder what the legal statements will reveal?

Don't Spill The Beans Too Late!

A copy of an email received this weekend:

John,
As I mentioned on the phone, I am a recently-resigned Director of over 5 years in YTB. Numerous things precipitated this, but watching how the company is handling the 10K Challenge program really took me over the top.

As I have talked with fellow and former Directors, it is appalling to realize see the way that Coach (and Scott) handled a public company like it was their own little playground. I think of the scores of investors, RTAs, Coach's Corner Leaders and Directors who invested money into YTB stock expecting that the company was handling itself honorably, only to find out about numerous "special deals" that were being doled out along the way. From the hundreds of thousands of "loans" to certain high-level Directors, to paying the way of certain Director's guests to Red Carpet Days (including flights, hotel and meals while everyone else paid their own way) to the hundreds of thousands of company dollars spent (I have heard $600,000) to bail Rick Ricketts out of a personal legal matter in Florida, it is no wonder the the stock is worthless today. And again, this was public money, not Coach and Scott's private money. I understand the same kind of nonsense is going on today by giving kickbacks from the featured ZamZuu stores to the "Fab-Five" Directors to keep them in the fold and promoting the new ZamZuu. 

Let's talk about the 10K Challenge. This program is becoming a big problem for YTB. It was the pinnacle of the numerous announcements at the 2009 Convention and I had over 30 Reps in my Directorship downline who signed up for it. I now have numerous Reps who are very frustrated at YTB for changing the program mid-stream. These Reps have invested $500-600 dollars and worked diligently to follow the program and they were on track to make their $10,000. Not only do I have frustrated Reps, but I am hearing the same from other Directors and Coach's Corner Leaders.

With the original program, there was no requirement for the recipient to view the DVD, only to follow-up with them and enter their information into the system. Naturally you would want them to watch it, but the emphasis from YTB when promoting the program was the activity, not the outcome. From mentoring my Reps, even the best people were averaging 1 out of 5 viewings. Many of the prospects were cold prospects and the ratios were not going to be that high. But as long as you got their information and followed up with them, they were entered into the system as a DVD recipient.

A few weeks ago, YTB changed the program mid-stream. They did not offer the ability to stay with the current DVD program, instead they mandated that everyone now go with the web-based video streams that can be emailed to prospects. With the new email video steams, the only way that they count as a recipient is for them to view the video and fill out the survey. They took the required number down from 25 a month to 20 and offered a (worthless) 3-day, 2-night hotel stay from Grand Incentives(another F-rated BBB company). But here's the problem - requiring the Reps to get 20 completed views and surveys each month means that the average Rep has to go though 80 to 100 prospects to get 20 to complete it. That is nearly impossible for most people in the program! Thus, Reps who invested $500-600 dollars since September have a choice of continuing to spend $100 a month or dropping out because they realize that they can not fulfill the requirements. Most are dropping out and, disappointingly, it looks like that is what YTB is hoping for.

I understand 2000 plus Reps initially signed up for the program, including more than 1500 right at the Convention during what amounted to a "altar-call" by Coach up on the stage. People came forward by the hundreds to personally hand their commitment cards to Coach and claim their $10,000. It was bizarre, to say the least. It is obvious now that by upping the requirements, it is is a move by YTB to knock as many people out of the program because they don't have the money to pay people off on the guarantee this September. If few as 300 remain in the program, that equates to a $3,000,000 note coming due for YTB in September!

There is a lot of anger brewing from the Reps for having wasted hundreds of dollars (not counting hundreds of hours of time and the cost of postage) on the 10K program and for YTB changing the rules of the 10K agreement. I believe that YTB has exposed themselves to legal action and that more than one Rep will be contacting their lawyer.

My departure was for various reasons, including a (2009) 1099 that was 1/3rd of my 2008 1099. The realization on how YTB (led by Coach and Scott) is taking advantage of good people has been hard to take. Knowing what they did to Ron and Judy Head makes me realize that they will do it to anyone. I only know the Heads from times we have spent at Conventions and Director meetings, but I know many people how are very close to them and have known them for years. They are honorable people and did not deserve the treatment that they got. To mysteriously reduce the amount of RTAs that they were overriding by more than half over the past year was not the way to treat a couple who had been tremendously loyal to YTB. Then to suspend (and ultimately terminate) them without cause and, at the same time, announce Coach as the "Master Distributor" of ZamZuu stinks to high heaven. Now realizing his numerous financial problems (from the man who was "mentoring" everyone on finances) connects the dots.

Let's keep in touch. 

For those confused about the requirements initially laid out for the $10K challenge, you can read the fine print here. Seems difficult to make it work. And impossible when they change the rules on you.

Apropos?

A Slip Of The Tongue?

Did Scott Tomer slip up? Last week on a Director's call Scott was discussing the future of ZamZuu and how it will likely change the face of product distribution.

But, apparently as he was firing up the ZamZuukeepers, he let this slip:

This will be better than any franchise could ever be.

As we have said many times before, we felt the notion of a franchise was merely a ploy to hold off California's lawsuit and to delay the inevitable with Illinois. It certainly seems that this statement indicates that franchising is not on the table any longer.

Gypsys Tramps And Thieves

All work and no play...here's a little entertainment for the day!

More Lawsuits On The Horizon

Last week, we disclosed that  Coach Tomer had been evicted from the River House. And there were quite a few who felt that the story was fabricated or embellished. Today, we present the entire story of the River House as told by the latest court filing.  This document was filed on February 25, 2010, however, the impacted partied were either served with the papers yesterday or will be served today. So, it is indeed new information.  You can read the document with all supporting evidence here.

But for the Cliff Note's version:

• Simmons owned the house
• Coach bought the house for a million shares of YTB
• Without right, Coach cut a deal with Meridien Bank for a $1.3 million dollar mortgage
• That loan has been sold twice and now resides with Shamrock Bank of Florida
• Coach failed to pay property taxes in 2008 resulting on a lien (this is not the IRS taxes he failed to pay)
• Coach failed to pay the community fees in 2008 resulting in a lien
• Coach failed to maintain the house and caused physical damage including the boiler system
• Coach and Simmons agreed that accelerated reversion was in order
• Simmons took title to the property and evicted Coach
• To compensate for damage, Coach agreed to leave some possessions behind when he left
• Simmons is now bringing action to get free title to the property
• Simmons believes there may be additional undisclosed entities who have place a lien on the property
• This document opens the door for all lienholders on the property to either forgive the lien or to go after Coach personally for their interest

Congrats To YTB

YTB is apparently doing incredibly well that they were able to give their CEO a $144,000 per year raise.

From the 8-K filed yesterday:

Also on March 2, 2010, the Board approved the payment of additional monthly compensation of $12,000 to Mr. Robert M. Van Patten for his duties as interim Chief Financial Officer.

Wow--Just Wow!

Well lookie here. It seems that the Feds are aware that Tomer is looking to move to Florida. They already have put the County on notice that they are looking for half a million bucks!  Maybe Coach can ask one of those 10,000 millionaires to loan him a little scratch!

Nothing like a half million dollar bill from the IRS waiting for you when you move to Florida! One has to wonder why there is almost a half million dollars in unpaid taxes from two years when YTB was flush with cash? Wow, things that make you go "hmmmm".

A Reformed Zealot Speaks

I received three emails from a former YTB recruiter. He has moved onto different pastures; and after a year or more of deriding my position in the comments of Travel Weekly, there is a different tone now.

I left YTB simply because I didn't want to be associated anymore, and the way Ron Head was terminated and replaced. I am a man that believes in treating people right. I personally did not hear the directors call that day Ron was blindsided.  But someone I have total confidence informed me then another close friend who was on the call asked me what was that all about. If you had heard the story Coach told how  he told Ron if he would join with him in getting His new business (YTB) he promised he would never have the rug pulled from under him again like what had happened in other companies in had been with. A family friend over 30 years and then his so called best friend takes over his master distributorship and over rides the remaining TSO's in YTB. Who needs friends like that. You would have to be around the rallies to understand what I am saying.
Thanks for being straight forward, I am like that also.  I just believe YTB is going under, and it will be because of the  people in charge. The real leadership is departing or already gone in my opinion. Scott has been very cocky in the past and arrogant, and so has Coach in their comments in the past, I think some things has been done in the past without the Board of Directors approval. This is how their attitudes were in my opinion, they didn't want anyone telling them what to do. And the the CA lawsuit did hurt YTB, the business stopped growing as fast and people quit sponsoring because of uncertainity. I wasn't going to sponsor anyone else and stopped.  My income wasn't like some other people because I stopped sponsoring and like I said I didn't book travel very much at all. I wasn't that interested in booking travel. I was part time not trying to be full time. I was pro YTB because people were not telling the truth and I saying anything. I have offended some YTB'ers by speaking out about YTB, but I don't care, truth is truth, no axe to grind.  Check out to see if YTB paid the Reps all monies from shop YTB, if ZamZuu can track all sales and pay on time. They had problems with the systems ShopYTB and ZamZuu.  I heard YTB had not paid CA in full yet, that was 3 weeks ago.  Andy is a true professional and in exit interview with Scott, it seemed the two had a great relationship, so I doubt if Andy will say much about YTB in a negative way.  Andy admits it was a difficult decision to leave YTB. But now I believe he feels better and refreshed since he is no longer there. Just my feeling after I made a decision like that over 30 years ago.  It felt like the world was off my shoulders. I had not realized the stress I was working under until I walked out of the building knowing I would never come back.
The Best to you and your family,

And number 2:

Let me clear my income statement up, I made my best money the first two years and the rest came from residual income. I haven't work the business the last two to three years. I haven't sponsored a person in at least four years. I was 12 wide the first year and six months. So I stopped my personal recruiting to work with the people I had in my downline.

As you know Coach has moved to Fla. to open a office in Tampa, where RICK RICKETTS lives. Rick had purchased a building in his hey day.  I hear that Rick and a couple of Directors are now on company payroll going around the country trying to rebuild SHAMZUU is what I call it. Yes I am aware of how they did the reverse merger with Rezconnect, but in the end it cost YTB over a million dollars to resale it back to the original owners and they are protected from any lawsuits. Where did the supposedly 162 million for 2007or 2008 go?   ,I forgot how much that liberty cost but it was in the millions, because they brag  about it and how many trucks it would take to bring to the convention that year. That was the first one I missed. I haven't been to another one since that time.  I knew the first TIME they amended the BILL OF RIGHTS OR SOME DOCUMENT, I have forgotten which it was, they would change other parts of the comp-plan and find a way not to stay true to their word. I lost trust in YTB and Coach and Scott because of how RON HEAD and his wife was BLINDSIDED. I TOOK IT PERSONALLY, HOWEVER I DO FORGIVE THEM.   KIM S. travel show  was interesting, he talked about the travel side and addressed the questions the travel TSO's had concerning what's going to happen since all the talk was about ZamZuu, however he did explain it as a way to make income immediately, but did not try to push it on the people who do not want to recruit.  YTB has been resourceful in staying alive, getting the AG in ILL to hold off while Coach moved to Fla. and some of the other Tomer family is also moving if they can find a place. Scott says they have somethings taking place he could not discuss now in the exit interview with Andy. I knew Andy wouldn't discuss YTB period. He's protecting his asset I guess since Scott says he will go after people that talk against YTB. I personally think that they will leave Kim on his own if it comes down to who is going to survive, ZamZuu or YTBTRAVEL. That my opinion base on what happened to Ron Head

I think YTB or ZamZuu is on life support, look at the loan amount and the terms they got. I was in the mortgage industry for 8 years. I do know how to structure a loan and get better terms than they received. I may ask them for their business and be a loan consultant for them,no I'm not. You don't need a license in my state or bonded for commercial loans. I believe YTB will fold up before the year is out, in the exit interview , I think Scott was trying to convince himself with Andy sitting there in support that YTB would survive and turn around. They said it had started already. What else are you going to say when you are streaming with a live feed and the TSO's are listing.

Have a great week,

Number 3:

John I have been reading your posts on notravelmlm, I have never read them before tonight. I must admit you are correct in your comments 99.999% , that's giving you a lot of respect coming from a YTB'er, Ha ha. But truth is truth and I don't fight with truth because you can not win. Now that I look back over the years I feel I wasted, it is disappointing. A lot of the remaining TSO's do not want to believe that they have been deceived and are not going to make their dreams come true. I was like that also and you know it.  My eyes are open and I made a mistake. I regret the dream I sold to people about making money with YTB.  People come into the program without any business experience in life and expect things to be easy. Most do not know how to work for themselves and never been in commission sales in their life. They take a rejection personally, and most will not follow instructions even when you are trying to help them.  I have come to respect all people who want to be travel agents and are willing to learn that business, I have been in sales most of my life and I sold the dream of owning your travel website, I never put in the time to learn how to sell travel.  I made sure people understood I was not a travel agent but did have a travel website where they could book a trip or airline ticket. I was RTA and then a TSO later, after CA lawsuit. There is this one thing that happened, I think it was at the 2007 convention.  Some Directors were given there bonuses, but  in stock and stock was around 3.00 to 3.75 per share. Some of the bonuses were $50,000.00 + to a million dollars,hold the stock for several yrs. before cashing in. Another way to not pay the Directors in Cash, as they had been doing. well you know what happen to the stock, no one got the money.  They always found a way to steal from the people who helped build YTB.  I bet Coach,Scott,Kim and others cashed there stock and got millions, but handcuffed the Directors. Dirty business in my opinion. YTB has not cancelled my website even thought I sent an   terminating my relationship. No matter if you pay or not your website remains active because they hope to harvest customers that may use your site again. I went on my site thursday nite and still could go into my back office. I believe it was Ron Head who got the Million Dollar Bonus that year, I don't know if he was allowed a favor to cash in on his bonus or not. I want to say this John and it comes from my heart, I truly respect you and now have come to like you because you are a straight up man and fight for what you believe in. I can truly appreciate that in a person.

Sincerely,

Narc That Car & Vollara Gaining Ground

It seems that many who have left the "opportunity" with YTB have joined the ranks of Narc That Car and Vollara. Once you sever ties with YTB, they have no hold on you to prevent you from pitching the new opportunity to those that remain.

From what I am hearing, there is a lot of controversy surrounding NarcThatCar.com and some of it not so good. But I am also hearing that they currently have over 1000 former YTB reps in their mix. This number is not confirmed.

Of course, we also know that Camaron Corr also left the "opportunity" of YTB to go to Vollara. And at this point, I have to say Vollara has an equal, if not greater, number of people from YTB.

Yes, it seems that the folks in YTB are beginning to realize that the comp plan can (and does) get changed on a whim.

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Is Scott Tomer Embarrassed By YTB?

Is Scott Tomer just a bit ashamed about the past history of YTB? I think so.

The latest "tool" available to the Zam Zuu reps instructs them to have prospects call a toll free number and listen to Scott pitch the program.

1) New Peak Interest Call with Scott Tomer. Once your conversation has a prospect at the peak of interest, your next step is to get them on the new Peak Interest call (hence the name!!). Call this number any time to hear Scott Tomer discuss this business further!
1-800-985-1858

Scott goes to great lengths to assure the listener that Zam Zuu is not a new company. He goes on to explain how much experience he has in putting travel and the Internet together. He tosses out a bunch of travel numbers, but nowhere does he mention the name of this company that had so much success. Does he want people to think it is American Express, Expedia, Orbitz? Why not come out and say that he proudly founded YTB--the company that is losing 100 RTAs per day..the one that is being sued by the State of Illinois for $300 million...the one that had their IATAN accreditation revoked...the one who many travel suppliers refuse to work with...the one who lost a lawsuit brought by the California Attorney General...the one where the executives are fleeing like rats off a sinking ship? Why Scott?

As Kim Sorensen tries his best to convince the travel people that travel is still a focus, the CHAIRMAN OF YTB INTERNATIONAL refuses to mention the name of the travel company that positioned them for such "success."  What message does this send to the thousands and thousands of RTAs who religiously send in their $49.95 a month to keep the company afloat? Not too much!

If you have a spare 2 and a half minutes, please give this number a call and let me know what you think:

1-800-985-1858