Tunnel SCAM!!!! Be careful!!!!

[chrishines 0]

Please take a few minutes to read this group on Facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=36762954554

Please join the group to show your support.

Thanks in advance :-)

Chris Hines

[tetra316 0]

Would you mind posting the story here? I don't join random groups on facebook.

[JohnRich 4]

Quote

Would you mind posting the story here? I don't join random groups on facebook.

I'm not joining something either that might get me a bunch of unwanted e-mail. But the story is there to see without joining.

First of all, the title here is misleading. It implies that a wind tunnel's management is scamming people. That's not true with this story. It is one individual who scammed another individual out of some of his tunnel time. The wind tunnel employees had nothing to do with it. Hence, I have altered the title in this message to more accurately reflect the situation as described.

I've also omitted the name in the story, below, as I'm not going to contribute to negative postings about someone without knowing the facts. If you want to see that, go follow the link yourself.

Here's the story, with the name omitted:

stole from me

I’ve been skydiving for nearly 14 years. I’ve jumped above many countries around the world and met many different people. Skydivers come from all walks of life, they are as different as you can imagine - doctors, lawyers, students, mechanics, brick layers, IT boffins – tall, short, fat, thin, 13% lard (according to my personal trainer).

In all my time in the sport I have never been cheated by, stolen from or duped by a fellow skydiver. Although Skydivers can be very different to one another they are always decent towards each other. There is a mutual respect and common understanding to have fun and enjoy life. Well that was my belief until a guy named stole from me....

For the non-skydiver a wind tunnel is an indoor skydiving simulator. It creates a vertical wind in which one can fly and practice their skydiving skills. They are truly amazing machines! Take a look at:

http://www.airkix.com/
http://www.bodyflight.co.uk/

The only problem with wind tunnel flying is that it’s pretty expensive. One thing you can do to reduce the cost is to get together with some friends and buy your tunnel time in bulk. The more time you buy in one hit the cheaper it gets. It’s pretty common for Skydivers to get together and share the cost of a bulk buy. This works really well as long as everybody is honest and pays their share.

As I said, Skydivers have proven to me that they are a trustworthy bunch. During my years jumping I have organised holidays for groups of skydivers, demo jumps and tunnel flying. In a lot of cases I have paid for things up front, sometimes the bill has run into thousands of pounds. Nobody has ever failed to pay me back, well, that is now except for .

I met at Headcorn Parachute club a few years back. I recall that I was pretty nice to the guy; I gave him a lift home on a couple of occasions. In July this year I saw at Airkix. After discovering that I had a bulk account with the tunnel he convinced me to let him use some of my time. I was not too sure about it because I did not know him that well, but hey, he was a skydiver he must be a decent guy (?). reassured me, referring to tunnel time sharing he said “nobody abuses it”.

The following morning I took some time out of my busy working day to arrange a tunnel session for . This is not always an easy thing to do, the tunnel is usually pretty busy and it’s sometimes hard to find convenient slots. But hey, I like organising fun things, especially for fellow skydivers.

flew on my tunnel time on 9th July 2008 and never paid me back. I’ve called him, sent text messages and emailed him to ask that he pay me back. On two occasions in July he replied saying that he would pay me back, he never did. Since this time he has not answered my calls.

It really sucks to be ripped-off, especially by somebody you have only ever been nice to.

[rehmwa 2]

Actually, the message indicates someone that is pretty naive.

He goes on about the huge cross section of people in the sport, and then is surprised that such a large cross section has people that are actually dishonest?


in any case, I hope he gets his money back. I also hope he stays sharing and generous with friends he still trusts.

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[chrishines 0]

"naive"? Well, there are worse things to be accused of being so I'll take your comment on the chin.

To clarify one thing, my entire point is that skydivers are a wonderfully diverse set of people but they have proven (to me) to all share common values, well until now.

The group can be viewed anonymously and you can join without providing any personal details to the group. However, please note if you are joining Facebook for the first time you will need to give them an email address. Facebook is a social networking site allowing you to make connections with people and groups at varying levels of privacy.

I would like to keep the story in one place so I can update it if there are any developments. The individual in question may actually respond!

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=36762954554

[chrishines 0]

To clarify:

I am NOT suggesting that a wind tunnel has scammed me.

The two tunnels I mention are purely for reference purposes so as to help describe what a wind tunnel is.

I am saying that an individual has scammed me.

I use the word SCAM because I know that he has done this to others too. There maybe more people I'm not aware of who have been ripped off by him too. I think somebody who steals from multiple people in the same way can reasonably be described as a scammer!?

[JohnDeere 0]

So he is naive for trusting someone, but you hope he continues to trust friends Maybe he thought of this person as a "friend" untill this incident! I dont think he is naive at all.

Nothing opens like a Deere!

You ignorant fool! Checks are for workers!

[chrishines 0]

Thanks :-)

I did not think of this person as a friend, more a like minded invidual with mutual respect and decency. Unfortunately it appears I was wrong!

If you get 2 mins please sign up or the group on Facebook. Or at least think twice about trusting anything that he is involved with.... I would be gutted that this guy gets to rip off more people in the same way.

The other person who commented did at least hope I got my money back, which I appreciated :-)

[rehmwa 2]

Quote

but they have proven (to me) to all share common values, well until now.

here's my point, take it or not

some commonality of a sport, doesn't imply anything other than that

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants