My Experience With
NEWS:
10/15 I'll be setting up a section at the bottom of this page to post your letters of support, letters sent to skyauction and their replies. (i encourage everyone who wishes to write skyauction to send a copy to my address listed at the bottom and I will post it here) Here is the new comments section.
This all started when I was looking for an alternative to Priceline. I came across Skyauction. I went to their website, and this is what I saw at their homepage:
(click to enlarge)
I wanted to see more about the company, so I went to the 'about' page as seen below;
I decided to register, and here is the registration page I saw:
(click to enlarge)
So I gave them my name, address, credit card number.
After getting my registration confirmation email
I proceeded to make a bid, and win, the following auctions (note that my 'handle' is crazy414322) note my handle under the 'winner' section.
(click to enlarge and view complete page)
Excited that I won three auctions, and looking forward to sending my parents on their 25th wedding anniversary to Antigua on a 7night trip.
When I e-mailed this company to find out how to make the final arrangements, I received this email
As you can clearly see, They are trying to back out of the auction and not sell it to me because they 'allegedly' were running a 'test' site. Then they tried to buy me off with a $50 'coupon'. This only confirms that they screwed up and are unwilling to complete the transaction entered into in good faith.
There was clearly no indication the site was not for real, in fact, there were bids on other items. If this were some type of test, then any reputable company would clearly state that, and if they screwed up (which they very well might have) then a reputable company would honor their legally binding auctions.
But it seems SkyAuction may not be a reputable company, and not satisfied with their reply I again requested they honor my winning bid.
After they informed me of this, I could still access the site using the auction pages I book marked. I Then did a password retrieval of this supposedly non-working site, here it is
A series of e-mail then followed, a Sal Esposito, the Chief Operating Officer of this company, they are as follows:
First, He claims the auctions were invalid because I entered through an 'internal' directory. This is false, i entered by simply typing www.skyauction.com and the links that followed were this alleged 'test' site. He then goes on to admit once again that it was his fault, that his 'software engineers' had screwed up. Regardless, he goes on to basically tell me to pound sand.
After I replied informing him I had clearly entered the site the way anyone else would, I received these two emails, the first asking me to send him the screenshots (which I did, and never heard a response) and the second being a bunch of PR BS and again admitting that they had screwed up, that the site looked and functioned like a real site, and then threatens to sue me.
This site is clearly a last resort short of any legal action (although I have been in contact with the attorney generals office, I have not decided whether to pursue any action or not) But I have seen many people asking for advice about skyauction.com on message boards, chat rooms, and other sites. If this can not be resolved (and by the attitude of this company and it's executives I doubt it) I will gladly promote this informational site as a resource to learn the truth and dangers of doing business with this company.
I encourage you to voice you concerns with this company to everyone you know, to warn them that this could happen to you. The internet is a truly wonderful thing, and it gives people, consumers especially, the power to weed out scams and unethical companies.
Please feel free to email this company at support@skyauction.com
If you decide to email them, please send a copy to my address below, as well as any responses and I will post them on this site.
Any comments/questions for me, you can email me here
Note: a Better Business Bureau Complaint has been filed, see it here
USER COMMENTS/LETTERS/RESPONSES
This site if for informational use only, Skyauction.com and the respective logo remain the sole ownership of their respective company. The logo and name are used under the fair use provision of copyright law.
