Passenger Trains > Trains Unlimited Tours - update

I filed a complaint with the BBB and the BBB responded that TUT was going to be filing for bankruptcy on or about February 17th. The website no longer shows them as an accredited business (yes that and my bag of cookies, gives me a bag of cookies). I have not received a refund from my credit card company as the original explanation and letter from TUT was not sufficient. I do think they will issue a refund, it's just been a hassle. I have been speaking via Email with TUT and will post the dialog below. He has some points, and does admit that he made a mistake running the Tehachapi trips, resulting in a loss, but everything else is a result of G. Bush. I've been wanting to respond to him, but haven't had the time to craft a response. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. He has his, I have mine and now yours...

PS: I do want to acknowledge that Chris has been responding to my emails. For this he can at be commended. I do appreciate him trying to explain the situation. This is much better then being silent. I offer the dialog below for discussion. Maybe I'll meet Chris and he can buy me a beer. I'm easy.

START OF EMAIL CHAIN - WORKS BETTER TO READ FROM THE BOTTOM UP

Dear Mr. Ray:

You need to wake up and open your eyes, Bush is 100% at fault and I am surprised there is still people around like yourself that cannot see it. I am surprised that you can be fooled so well by Bush's bad
policies.

Bush let the people down with his policies that put us into a recession and you know it. It sounds like you are in complete denial of what has happen to our country, all caused by Bush.

If you would like a run down of what happen to TUT then fine. Most all of it caused by Bush and I am sure the thousands of companies going out of business and filing bankruptcy will say the samething.

Here are your so called "Running TUT irresponsibly" reasons , all caused directly by Bush's mismanagement

1. The first big blow was the collapse of the dollar against worldwide
currencies This caused TUTand many other tour operators to operate
international tours at big losses. TUT's Losses exceeded because of
the collapse of the dollar almost came to 1/2 million dollars. TUT operated
international tours in Germany , Switzerland , Mexico , Eritrea , Japan , Canada ,
England , Peru , Bolivia , Chile , and New Zealand . The only country in this
list where the exchange rate went in our favor was in New Zealand . The
collapse of the dollar happened so fast it caught everyone off guard. TUT is
required to make tens of thousands of dollars in deposits to run a tour up to 12
months in advance with most deposits non refundable 6 months out. As the dollar
collapsed against most of the world currencies TUT had to dig deep into it's bank
accounts to pay for the shortfall. All of this was caused by Bush's bad decisions.
One very good example is our tour to Japan which operated in November 2008.
A month before the tour started we did a dollar by dollar account of our expenses
and we had a nice comfortable profit of $40,000. We started the process
of making the final payments via wire bank transfers to Japan. Because of
Japanese law, wire transfers from the USA to Japan will take up to
14 days. In that two week period we watched in horror as the dollar collapsed
against the Japanese Yen and our profit of $40,000 sunk to a loss of more than
$25,000 in just two short weeks because of the exchange rate and there was
nothing we could do about it. In fact it was on the news just yesterday that the
Japanese Yen has now reached a 13 year high against the dollar. Reason given,
the weak dollar, weak US economy and Bush's government policies.



2. Next TUT was forced to pay last minute "Fuel Surcharges" by a number of
railroads and bus companies early in 2008 when the price for a barrel of oil
reached almost $150. This caused TUT to pay a lot more for a number of
charters. Again, TuT had to dig deep into bank accounts to pay the surcharges.
One reason given why fuel went so high is the fact that oil producing countries
hated Bush's policies and the way he forced himself on folks around the world.
The worldwide hate for Bush is almost unreal. We ran 11 international tours in 2008
and we had clients from over 25 countries. We listened to our clients comments about
how hated Bush is around the world. We listened to concerns from clients and
other international companies in horror on not only how hated Bush is, but of the fact that
everyone was concerned that Bush and his policies would bring down the world. Wow,
they were right and Bush did bring down the World.

3. Next in our 2008 problems: All of the Tehachapi Detour trips that ran in 2008 in
California ended up loosing money because Amtrak and Union Pacific forced the
private rail cars to stay on the Coast Starlight all the way to Seattle and all the way back
to Los Angeles instead of these cars being switched at Sacramento. TUT ended up
receiving thousands of dollars in extra charter fees from Amtrak. We will admit this is the
only 2008 event that is not Bush's fault.

4. The bankruptcy of Gran Luxe during the summer of 2008 indirectly effected TUT.
TUT had money due from a service provider who also did work for Gran Luxe.
When they went in bankruptcy the service provide did not get paid and in turn TUT
get not get paid. This amount totaled tens of thousands of dollars. The bankruptcy of
the Gran Luxe excursion train was caused directly by Bush and his bad policies.

5. The stock market crash and the collapse of the American economy and in
fact the worldwide economies was the biggest blow to TUT. Many folks in the
United States and around the world decided to keep their money for important
expenses and did not spend it on vacations or travel. Fresh new bookings stopped,
not only for TUT but for almost all tour operators around the world. One of the
hardest hit is the cruise ship companies who are operating at massive losses and
some of the big one's are on the verge of collapse and bankruptcy. American
owned Airlines are also being hit hard and ASTA (The American Association of
Travel Agents) expects 2009 will be even worse with a few on the edge of collapse
such as United, Delta and American. United is on the top of the list and lost billions
and billions of dollars in just the 4th quarter of 2008. Oh, I guess you most likely think
that United is running their business irresponsibly along with Delta and American and
let's see, every other American owned airline. Wow, even Southwest lost money in
the 4th quarter for the first time in their history and they too blame Bush and his policies
and the sour economy. . Oh ya, can't forget the American banks that have failed so far,
all because of Bush, but then I guess you would say they run their banks irresponsibly.
Wow, I feel sorry for you not being able to see what has really happened and wanting
to put the blame on everyone else except for Bush.

6. Next the credit crunch hit TUT hard as did many other businesses around the country.
TUT had a line of credit of more than $100,000 to be able to tap into for funds to keep
things running. This was our emergency funds that we could use to keep things running
smoothly. The banks have cancelled this line of credit without notice not only to TUT but
to thousands of business around the country and to many individuals. Come on Mr Ray,
just listen to the news. All of this credit crunch can be blamed on Bush and his sour policies.
If it were not for banks pulling in billions of dollars in credit in which TUT relies on every
year for emergency funds to make payments and pay bills and keep in full operation
then TUT would have had no cash flow problem and you would not be trying to collect
$910 from the credit card companies. Open you eyes my friend, this is all caused by
Bush and his policies.

7 By December 1, 2008 Trains Unlimited, Tours bookings were down by 94% over the
same period in 2007. This was the final blow to force TUT to close down. Again, this is
a result of Bush's policies and the fact that folks not only in the US but around the world
have started to realize that Bush has no idea what he is doing and is not a statesmen and
has no idea how to fix the problem.


Well, Mr Ray, in a nutshell that is it. You know what, It is Bush that has run this country irresponsibly
that has caused all of the mess we are in. Ya, I really like your choice of words "irresponsibly"....I will
start using that word to describe Bush and his policies. Thanks for the idea!!!

Oh, by the way, I see in the news just two days ago that now Bank of America and Wells Fargo Bank is on the verge of collapse. I see lasts week another bnak went out of business, some bank called "First California Bank" closed their doors and put out a press release that it was the economy and the way Bush ran the coutnry that put them out of business. Hum........Plain and simple, just total irresponsible government let loose on the American people to bring down the country and the world.

Now, Mr. Ray, you said in your e mail below you would like to see me answer your questions. Well, I gave you seven answers and thank goodness most of the Americans now realize that Bush has caused all of this. Wake up Mr. Ray and pull yourself out of the dark. If this country is to surivie we need every American to realize what put us in this mess and then to move forward to make sure it does not happen again. It is so plain and clear to most American that Bush and his policies put us in this mess. Now we need to move forward and try to correct his mistakes.

Chris Skow

PS: I would love to sit down with you and have a one on one argument. Too bad you will not be on the
Snowflake Express. By the way, perhaps you have not noticed, TUT is not running the Snowflake Express, another company is running it at their expense.





From: ME
To: tut
Sent: Sunday, January 25, 2009 12:50 AM
Subject: Re: Feedback From Website

Chris,

How about not running trips you can't possibly afford to run?

How about keeping the money for each trip separate?

Don't try and put the blame on Bush, and I'm not Bush fan. Everyone is always looking for someone else to blame, but themselves.

I can't feel sorry for you when it's your own fault. Take responsibility for your actions.

You let a lot of people down. You took a lot of peoples money who trusted you to be responsible.

I'm personally out $910, and I personally know 4 other people out their money.

I'm out my money, not because of Bush, but because you choose to run your business irresponsibly.

I sure would like to see your response to the two questions above. Am I missing something?


From: tut <tut@PSLN.com>
To: ME
Sent: Saturday, January 24, 2009 2:15:11 PM
Subject: Re: Feedback From Website

Oh, a PS:.................Two years ago I loaned $450,000 to TUT to keep it
going on a line of credit against my home. The loan can now never be paid
off and in turn in a few months I will loose my home. Again, Thank you Mr.
Bush for all of the wonderful hassles in loosing the business and next
loosing my home.

Chris


----- Original Message -----
From: "tut" <tut@PSLN.com>
To: <ME>
Sent: Saturday, January 24, 2009 2:08 PM
Subject: Re: Feedback From Website


> and I am looking forward to having Ex President Bush taken to court and
put
> in jail for putting the US and the entire world into recession that now
> could turn into the 2nd Great Despression. On top of that he managed to
now
> put thousands of American business into bankruptcy of which TUT will be
> next.
>
> You can thank the hassles to Mr. Bush. As to the domain name, check into
it
> and it will bring about $50, wow, that will really help since TUT is now
in
> the red by 1.1 million dollars and we have $21 left in our bank accounts.
> Again, Thank you Mr. Bush.
>
> Oh ya, I too really apprecate the hassle of loosing a business that we ran
> for 25 years and the hassle of closing it down and the pain of telling so
> many of our clients we have nothing left for a refund. Again, we can all
> thank Mr. Bush for this.
>
> Chris Skow
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <ME>
> To: <tut@psln.com>
> Sent: Friday, January 23, 2009 11:00 PM
> Subject: Feedback From Website
>
>
> >
> > Name: Pat
> > Email:
> > Comments: Chris,
> >
> > Looking forward to you continuing to use TUT as a deduction while you
> still have my money. Maybe the money you get from the sale of this domain
> name can be used to pay me back? Oh I still am working with my credit
card
> company. I really appreciate the hassle. I hope the \'Snowflake
Express\'
> turns out to be all that you expect it to be. I\'m really sorry I won\'t
be
> there to have the opportunity to meet you.
> >
> > 23.01.2009
> > 23:00:48
> > 71.138.215.154
> >
> >
>

Thanks for posting. This does give an interesting perspective on the current state of affairs. Very grim indeed, no matter how we got there or "who's fault" it was.

No business can survive a 94% drop in customers, I would think.

But, we can't change the past. We have to deal with it, find solutions, and move on.

B&OB

> Oh, a PS:.................Two years ago I
> loaned $450,000 to TUT to keep it
> going on a line of credit against my home.
> The loan can now never be paid
> off and in turn in a few months I will loose
> my home. Again, Thank you Mr.
> Bush for all of the wonderful hassles in
> loosing the business and next
> loosing my home.
>
> Chris

Talking about irresponsible. Spare me the tears.

Next time one of my customers complains about me I will try the "it's all Bush's fault" response. I guess this replaces the "12 years of failed Reagan/Bush policies" I heard during the Clinton years.

Thanks for posting. A lot of back and forth, but as it stands now, I am still waiting for a refund from my credit card company for the "original" Tehachapi Tour that was supposed to happen in April 2008. While the refund may occur, so far I keep getting the hassle from my credit card company to provide additional information, sign another dispute form, etc. So,I am hoping for the refund for $400 that I have had charged to my account since March of 2008.

Good luck to all in this economic mess!

keithinmiami

ts1457 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > Thanks for responding with some fiction of your
> > own. I suppose it is now all Obama's fault.
> >
> > Bob
>
> Unfortunately, politicians of all stripes seem to
> be blissfully ignorant of economics or chose to
> subvert their knowledge of such to achieve other
> goals. All I can say is "you ain't seen nothing,
> yet".
>
> We can argue about how we got here, but I haven't
> seen anything proposed by those in power that is
> going to get us out of this.

So true. The blame game is in full swing and some can be blamed on Bush 43. But an equal amount needs to be placed on the Congress and the American people who demand rewards without payment. We were building a house of cards based on easy credit and services we couldn't pay for. And couple this with regulatory requirements for everything from energy production to vehicle emissions to global warming cap and trade schemes.

As for the current administration, I posted this on another railfan site in response to the Bush blame game. Here it is verbatim:

Don't let your hatred of the former president [medical term "Bush Derangement Syndrome" or BDS] blind you to goals of the new president.

Look at the actions being taken these past few days and compare against some basic criteria:

* Are the actions currently being implemented by this new administration going to result in more government intrusiveness and regulation in your lives or less??

* Will you have more choices or less in all aspects of your life??

* For those choices you have, how much more will they cost compared to what you have today (e.g. automobiles, energy, health care)

* Are you and your children going to be better off with more debt to be paid off with [likely] inflationary money??

* Do you believe that if you invent, innovate, build a business, or work at a successful family enterprise that you should be overly taxed/regulated so that your rewards for your hard work are denied you, your family and your employees but instead distributed for others to use??

Ask in four years whether "the ideals of liberty and democracy" have been expanded or restricted. And beyond the answer to that question, let's hope that we remain safe and secure from those who would commit terror on our person and in our communities.

Chris must have spent more time watching CNN instead of FOX.

Oh well, I hope everyone gets their money back.

I guess I got lucky in receiving a fairly quick refund from my credit card company (Chase). I sent them TUT's original letter and a link to their website. After a few days and a few simple questions, they credited my account the full $475.

As far as blaming the woes of his business on Bush, wow....nowhere in his explanation does he talk about mistakes that might have been made within his own business. Maybe the huge financial burden on his shoulders is clouding his judgement right now, so I'll cut him some slack.

As far as this being a bad thing for railfans, don't forget that TUT posted a message on TO a few months ago about a PV trip (Tehachapi, I think) that said you can be "away from the foamers with a locked door and no access to them" (or words to that effect), which was a bit shocking to read. I thought foamers and railfans were part of his customer base, yet his words were very disparaging and insulting to many people. I still don't understand why he said those things.

I do not care if you are:
Black, White, Brown, Yellow or Green
Republican, Democrat, Communist, Libertarian, or Whig
Rail fan or not.

To blame Bush for everything that happened to ones business is BS. The only person to blame is yourself. I would like to see the books please. I would like to know the business plan that TUT had. The only thing we can blame each other on is the greed that everyone in this country had. The housing problems and bubble started a lot longer that the Bush years, and the borrowing started earlier also.

I ought to know, I am in a very serious problems personally, and I do not blame Bush, or Congress. I blame myself.

Having run many private car trips, i understand Chris's emotion about the situation. However here are the mistakes i feel he made.

Not being more aware of international currency and economic issues, yes the Dollar has been pounded by the Euro and Pound but there are many places where you can run train trips that have favorable currency situations like Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina. Trying to run charters in expensive places like Switzerland and Japan was crazy, the cost of flying staff, the cost of airfare, eek! If they want to run an international operation you need to be aware of the world economy.

keep an eye of www.xe.com if you want to map currency fluctuation.

They tried to run too many trips in order to justify staff with one trip subsidizing other trips, if a trip cannot stand alone on its own it shouldn't be run. Its hard to run charters as your sole source of income.

You don't take out a loan against your house to keep your shaky business afloat.

You budget for 60% occupancy

Amtrak does suck to deal with, but there are times they forget to charge you for things as well, they also are incredibly cheap compared to most anything else. The second locomotive charges are my personal grumbing point.

Election years are tough on the economy no matter who wins or who is running, the stock market is always at a 4 year low generally, they should have scaled back their operation in preparation for tough economic times, not waltzing into it blindly like so many did (Caterpillar).

When things get bad don't make them worse.

You put customers deposits in an escrow account and dont touch them, you dont use them to subsidize money losing trips.

If a trip, like Tehachapi, has a sudden increase in cost due to having to run to Seattle YOU CANCEL THE TRIP, you don't take money from other money making trips just so you can see Silver Solarium go around the loop.

Your business problems are not the responsibility of your customers, a customer at a restaurant doesn't care if your meat shipment is late.

I hope you all receive your refunds. If you would like to ride a trip with a professional organization where you know your deposit is secure try one of mine or one of American Rail's www.americanrail.com, im sure you'll be pleased.

Adam Auxier
adamscharters@yahoo.com