Online Travel Booking and Bidding Agencies - "The Integrity of BiddingForTravel.com"

All is right with the world; BFT Administrator Sheryl has not lost her world-class sense of irony.

The ethically-challenged Sheryl has a Post from the Administrator entitled "The Integrity of BiddingForTravel.com." By all rights, such a post should be absolutely blank, but instead Sheryl posted some drivel about banning people (as usual).

The notion that BFT has "Integrity" would cause the dead to awaken with laughter. This is, presumably, the same BFT where Sheryl asked for donations saying that she was "volunteering" her time, while in fact she was pocketing the donations and profits. The same BFT that talks about a members' "community" and that banned anyone who spoke of ways to save money by using alternatives to their bidding links. The same BFT that cynically provides links to hotels that have no chance of being Pricelined and calling such hotels "good possibilities."

Sorry, Sheryl: BiddingForTravel.com has no integrity, and anyone familiar with your business practices knows it.

Sheryl is going to find out all your names, all your handles, all your aliases, and you are NEVER going to post ANYTHING on BFT!! :mad:

You hereby join a select but expanding group!! :p

This sould rank right up there with "TheIntegrityOfTheUsedCarSalesman.com" or "TheIntegrityOfBernieMadoff.com".

MisterNice

Sheryl is going to find out all your names, all your handles, all your aliases, and you are NEVER going to post ANYTHING on BFT!!

Actually, I posted this same message, in a slightly edited form, on BFT. Alas, you are correct, I have been re-banned.

It would have been refreshing if Sheryl had actually responded to the comments, which are the same comments that I have made in the past.

I do notice that she still links to properties such as The IC Amstel, referring to them as properties that are "possible" Priceline hotels. Ho-ho.

Sheryl continues to decline to discuss these ethical questions, even though she is a member of FlyerTalk. Until she provides some sort of valid explanation, I will continue to consider "The Integrity of BiddingForTravel.com" to be about the equal of the Integrity of the Rolex watch ads that populate my Spam mailbox.

Until she provides some sort of valid explanation, I will continue to consider "The Integrity of BiddingForTravel.com" to be about the equal of the Integrity of the Rolex watch ads that populate my Spam mailbox.Or even better, The Integrity of Room-Temperature Sushi :eek: :D :eek:

I thought it was the "Integrity of 6 slices of sushi from one roll versus 5 slices." We'll have to ask Connie Wong.

LOL to all.

I do not believe she participates in FT anymore. Her profile says it has been almost 2 years since she logged in.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/members/sheryl.html

Of course, I am sure she still reads this thread.... :)

Sheryl continues to decline to discuss these ethical questions, even though she is a member of FlyerTalk.

I'm Very sure she reads theses threads.

I do not believe she participates in FT anymore. Her profile says it has been almost 2 years since she logged in.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/members/sheryl.html

Of course, I am sure she still reads this thread.... :)

And I'm sure she's got a second handle now...Or a 3rd or a 4th....

Amen for this thread. The couple times I posted some great hotwire/priceline bids on there all she responded with was some comment with a rude undertone to please use some link of hers to book through priceline and hotwire. Well, at first I was nice and did try to cut her a break and use the link she provided to book my PL and Hotwire. However, I could NEVER get that link to work.

So, sorry Sheryl. You are SOL with me you wench.

I've found a far more superior site (that grows better each day as more people post on it). It is www.betterbidding.com. It also doesn't look like a 3rd grader set up the site and it has about half the attitude as an 8th grader :)

I also prefer Betterbidding.com

I don't remember if I was banned or not, but she kept getting all huffy because I put my denied bids in the subject line.

I am glad to read that Sheryl is back, this forum was getting boring without her. :) :)

She's reading..

She tried to chase me down once on another board to find out WHO I was on HER board... So she could ban me!

Sadly, she's become a comedy of sorts in the internet world (Seriously, she's got to be one of the best known out there... all types of travel boards talk about her!)

She is definately reading the thread on FT.

One time I reported on FT that I was banned on BFT and said nothing more, the next day I received a nasty email from her calling me names.

The post demonstrates that Sheryl is frightened to death of the possibility of getting a letter from PL's lawyers if someone posts something that might cause PL to take offense. And it demonstrates that she has no backbone to stand up to them.

I'm Very sure she reads theses threads.

I think she trolls competitor sites, too, as I didn't learn my lesson the first time and, like an idiot, was still contributing to her community posting my bids with an alias. Well, I also found Bidlesstravel and been posting my bids over there in their database, which is far superior to her forums.

Well, long story short, the moment I posted my bid to BOTH sites, I woke up and was banned from one.......

I will NEVER link through her, post to her site, or even suggest that others frequent her concentration camp of a site.

Sheryl is an internet classic. I can't believe so many people hate her.

why is it hard to believe?

Sheryl is an internet classic. I can't believe so many people hate her.

I've found that even if you post something supportive of BFT on its site, Sheryl will post a response correcting it, even if you're right and she's wrong. Very strange. I don't feel any hate towards her but this is not normal.

biddingfortravel.com is now the only site I mention when referring to hotwire or priceline bidding. If everyone did the same Sheryl would slowly fade away. If everyone warned people to lurk on BFT but don't waste their time posting it will help plan her demise. Evil people shouldn't be rewarded.

Evil people shouldn't be rewarded.

I don't know that I'd classify her as "evil"...."amusingly pathetic", perhaps, but evil is a bit much.

Evil people shouldn't be rewarded.

I don't know that I'd classify her as "evil"...."amusingly pathetic", perhaps...

I have no idea or opinion about her being evil, but I am certain that Sheryl's business ethics do not meet even the lowest of standards, for the policies and practices listed in the first post. (Or, to add another unethical practice, why BFT does not refund the contributions of individuals whom Sheryl subsequently bans.)

Sheryl has also consistently elected not to defend those policies and practices.

It's never too late to change your mind, Sheryl. Assuming that you are still a member of FlyerTalk with posting privileges, this thread would be an opportunity for you to explain your practices and clear some of the grime that swirls around your name. Isn't that at all important to you?

I visit the site, read what others have written, and then go to Priceline on my own. I never contribute because of the Sheryl horror stories.

Anyone know what she looks like? Anyone met her? I have a mental picture of that garish woman from The Drew Carey Show, with cat's-eye glasses, her muumuu-clad body surrounded by Chinese-food containers and her many cats. I imagine she smells of coffee, cigarettes and the perfume Giorgio.

biddingfortravel.com is now the only site I mention when referring to hotwire or priceline bidding. If everyone did the same Sheryl would slowly fade away. If everyone warned people to lurk on BFT but don't waste their time posting it will help plan her demise. Evil people shouldn't be rewarded.

David, I'm guessing you mean that "betterbidding" is the only site you mention, right? Old habits die hard.

Actually, Elke, not that looks matter to lousy business practices, but others have previously drawn comparisons to her and Mimi in other threads and other places with real pictures.

.... Chinese-food containers ....Rght continent, wrong country. :)

In fact, the BFT Administratrix is a world-famous aficionado of sushi, and is in fact known to be very exacting as to the presentation and plating of said Japanese victuals ....

I'm not sure if you read these posts but since I have been banned, I have no alternative to reach you. You banned me a couple weeks ago. The worst part is that the account is in my wifes name and she isn't too happy.
I would appreciate a response as to why I was banned. I am assuming that it was either because I asked a question that wasn't related to bidding or that you saw that I didn't use the amazing-bargains link. I am not familiar with BFT and had no idea what that links purpose was. I am planning a trip back east in June doing a baseball road trip. I know my wife has used BFT in the past for hotels in the past and we are planning a trip in Sept. so it would be helpful if our ban was lifted.
An email would be appreciated.

Thanks
Jeff
santacruzbreeze@gmail.com

Thank you,
Jeff

Sheryl is an internet classic. I can't believe so many people hate her.
Hate is a strong word. My wife uses BFT frequently and I am going on an East Coast trip so I used it for the first time. Unfortunately, I was banned from it. I had no idea what she meant when she said to use Amazing-Bargains so I went directly to Priceline. I'm guessing that is why I was banned. If she is banning people, an explanation would be appropriate. All it is doing is hurting her business. I had 3 hotels to purchase and because she banned me, she won't be getting any of my business.

If you were going directly to Priceline, then she was not getting any of your business... so I doubt she will miss you.

Believe me, her view of customer service is warped.... I can only imagine the business she has lost due to her bannings.

If you were going directly to Priceline, then she was not getting any of your business... so I doubt she will miss you.

Believe me, her view of customer service is warped.... I can only imagine the business she has lost due to her bannings.

She was not getting any of my business because I didn't know what Amazing-Bargains was. All she had to do was explain it to me once she saw what I was doing. I would have been more than happy to use that site. She obviously spends a lot of time on the boards so if this benefits her, I don't care. The mistake she made was banning me with no explanation. As I've said, my wife uses BFT, not me and this was my first time. I used Priceline 3 times over the past week and will be using it again in Sept. This will be lost business for her.

Welcome to the (large) club: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/online-travel-booking-bidding-agencies/886038-bidding-travel-blocked-my-ip.html

Yes, I did mean betterbidding.com. I'm always mentioning bb on travel websites and never mention Sheryl's. A simple google search will bring up Cheryls picture and home phone #'s. If you want to see what she looks like its not hard to do.

Well, I gave Sheryl some 7 years' worth of free content by posting my winning bids, and would dare say it was valuable content because my "niche" was usually getting the rock-bottom price on a 2-star and often the lowest reported price in quite some time for the entire thread. That "niche" was under-served compared to people bidding $40s-60s for 3-star and reporting results.

I have no doubt Sheryl's job is a hard one, but she's getting some monetary compensation and posters are getting assuredly none. Even if someone doesn't book through the links (the usual reason for getting banned), it's crazy to treat people contributing something of value to you for free as persona non grata. It really ticks people off, and for good reason.

Betterbidding.com has been getting such contributions from me exclusively for the last 3 months.

Sheryl needs to think-outside-the-box a bit and figure other ways to monetize the content. Randy could make a good role model there, as I'm sure FlyerTalk is becoming an ever-more-valuable property now, even though it may have been hard to see it as anything but a cost center at its inception. I sense BFT could be heading the way of Yahoo Auctions if they stay on the current course.

Okay, I guess I should note that "officially" means I've declared it as so based upon my "official" observations, not any JD Power survey or web rating business.

Over the past month, on about a dozen random occasions, I've checked both sites to see the number of users. In all of those instances, BetterBidding has had more people on the site. At this moment, it's 160 to 239 in favor of BB.
Now people need to just start contributing more info to BB.

Another site to keep an eye on is BidLessTravel. They're putting together a database that's pretty nifty and would be completely great if they had more data. And imagine, the administrator actually seems nice. Sent an email a while back about an idea and actually got an almost immediate response, discussing the idea, and thanking me for my input.

Just like Rusty, I gave lots of years of data to BFT and now I'm wishing I could go home and take my ball with me. Oh, wait, they already kind of did that for me when they crashed the servers out a couple years ago. Nevermind.

Posted at BFT - in case you're banned and can't read it and are worried about Sheryl's status: "While it appeared that my health was improving shortly after I posted the above message [Note: the message was that she was ill and would not be attending to the duties at BFT as we are accustomed], it turned out to be temporary. I am not in a position to return to administering BiddingForTravel.com at this time. I just wanted to give an update."

Bidding For Travel appears to be legit as many of the posts seem to accurately reflect bids I have obtained.

HOWEVER, the site admin, Sheryl, is a ****. Several months ago, I attempted to use the site, but was traveling and unable to complete her rigid requests in a timely manner. The next time is attempted to login, I was "banned." Does this woman think her site is so great that she would ban people. She is a power hungry loser as far as I am concerned. Go to betterbidding.com or flyertalk for comparable information. In fact, these sites are far better than her crappy site!

Jake,

I've learned that the "ban" sort of expires after a while and I can get back into BFT and check for information. Can't actually sign on as that triggers another ban, but still sometimes it is useful to just look up something.

Also, there are anonymizers through which one can go while the ban is still in place. They are a little slow, but get the job done.

I can't say as I agree with a lot of things Sheryl does either, but have to keep telling myself it is indeed her site. She gets to run it anyway she wants. Her site, her rules. And I have to give her credit for the creation of it.

Romelle

Jake,

I've learned that the "ban" sort of expires after a while and I can get back into BFT and check for information. Can't actually sign on as that triggers another ban, but still sometimes it is useful to just look up something.Romelle

I noticed that the current moderator, Readymade, was answering similar concerns when someone was complaining about being banned. It turned out that this had nothing to do with BFT but is a glitch in the system:
http://biddingfortravel.yuku.com/topic/92264/t/banned.html
The whole thing about Sheryl and banning may be different than it appears, at least in some cases.

Romelle, I notice that a one-time poster to BFT mentioned your name about 2 mos. ago in the "Hey guys--I'll try to keep on top of things..." thread.

Apparently, the BFT people didn't notice anything wrong with that poster's ID, Hugh Jarse. Sounded a little suspicious to me, but, hey, what do I know.

Reading this thread always brings a smile to my face.

The whole thing about Sheryl and banning may be different than it appears, at least in some cases.

While everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I believe the majority of bannings at BFT were personally orchestrated by Sheryl. Notice I said were. Whenever Sheryl leaves the sight for a prolonged period of time, the complaints of being banned slow to a trickle. Sure, I have no doubt a few bannings are the result of some sort of techinical glitch that readymade made mention to. But I've read far too many incidents where people get banned right and left when Sheryl's around. And then they decrease dramatically when she's away from the site.

Hugh Jarse. Sounded a little suspicious to me, but, hey, what do I know. Funny coming from "wide man".

[Sheryl] gets to run it anyway she wants. Her site, her rules.

Romelle, I agree with you completely. That's one of the privileges of starting and running your own enterprise: you make the rules. Those rules have almost certainly cost Sheryl hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenue (if not more), but that's a different topic.

All that said, BFT is still the only site that I know of that has an explicit Rabbit Ears policy: you can be banned from BFT for something that you say at another web site! (And many people have been.)

I think we need "Banned from BFT" t-shirts made up with the URLs of her competitors on the back. :)

Have you guys seen her picture? She does, in fact, look like a meanie to me. ;)

Wirelessly posted (Blackberry8700c: BlackBerry9630/4.7.1.40 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)

Ooh please link to her pic!

Wirelessly posted (Blackberry8700c: BlackBerry9630/4.7.1.40 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)

Ooh please link to her pic!

:D

http://www.johnnyjet.com/folder/reporters/SherylMexic.jpg

She has that "Bwaaahaaaaaa haaaa haaaaa" look like she just banned another dozen would-be click-thru members, no? Classic :)

Yes, I did mean betterbidding.com. I'm always mentioning bb on travel websites and never mention Sheryl's. A simple google search will bring up Cheryls picture and home phone #'s. If you want to see what she looks like its not hard to do.

I googled "Sheryl" and "better bidding" and this is what I got

http://www.ecorazzi.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/crow_bag_whole.jpg

Ding Dong :p
Now if I can only find those telephone numbers you were talking about I'd have something to crow about.