Facts about myself/Bassethounds Barcelona July 2010

[dalip]

I am writing this to make clear the events that transpired between Tristan (Bassethounds), myself and our families in July this year.

I am putting this in the watchout section as all other posts regarding issues with Bassethounds have been posted here. Mods please move if not appropriate in this area.

I do this because I feel it’s important to get the information out to all members.

I have also had several requests from other TRF members to please make this all clear.

This is not designed to do anything other than completely inform members here so they may be aware in the future. We are always vulnerable, and it's been a valuable lesson to me.


Tristan has already been banned from this site for his actions in the deal with Steve. Specifically the forged FedEx document he sent during that issue.

I am aware that he cannot offer any response to this which is why I make no accusations in this post - but am simply listing the facts/events as they occurred.

Please note: I will be emailing this entire text to Tristan so he is FULLY aware of what I am saying here.

Please bear with me while I take you through this with as much clarity as I can offer.

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Please note as a pre-cursor: My family and I would never have stayed at the type of hotel Tristan booked for us. We only stayed based on 'good faith' and his promise of a significant discount which he guaranteed us he would arrange from the beginning.

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My family and I were going to Europe for a 4 week vacation. 6 days were going to be spent in Barcelona – 9th-15th July 2010.

I contacted Tristan via email as he lived there and I wanted some advice on places to stay as we had never been to this city before.

This is a direct quote from that mail:

Dalip: "In regard to hotels can you recommend any? Not over the top...but 4 star...well located....? Would really appreciate advice."


Tristan: "Let me have a look around on the hotel side . I'll get back to you on monday .


Tristan asked me for a price range – I said around $150- $200 USD per night.

He told me that he could get us into a lovely hotel with a special deal that he would arrange and to wait:

After various emails over different hotels Tristan listed he contacted us:

"Hello , My friend

I have possibility to get you into Hotel Omm on Rosselló There is just no better location in Barcelona right on the corner of the main Rolex AD hahaha . This is just something else . Of course as with everything this will be a bit over the initial budget . We are looking at about $1200 usd for the 5 nights .

Let me know I can only hold this option till later today “


There was then a problem with the booking as I was unable to get to my mail when abroad and a call I made to the hotel was not dealt with appropriately.

So then I received this from Tristan as the hotel was fully booked and the only room available was the junior suite at 359 euros (hotel price), rather than 281 euros for the Superior room.


“Hi dalip


I have left a message for my friend that arranged the discount vouchers . The thing is , the Omm does not directly participate in these campaigns , the group that owns the Omm does , so it was arranged from higher up . It seems that the staff at the Omm itself were not notified correctly and the reservation was pending . Someone is going to get his ass chewed at one stage , but that does not get you the room today . Time is ticking .
The deal offered in compensation is fabulous in quality , of course the 750 discount will still be valid , but are you willing to spend about 1500 USD for your 6 nights . It is possible that I can arrange the whole thing and get it all down to the original deal . But as we speak I can not assure this .”


We said that was fine and decided to treat ourselves. It was way above our planned budget but at this stage we felt he had gone to so much trouble and it was great that we would stay in such a place for that price.

BUT we based this decision of 'good faith' in that the 750 euro discount Tristan had promised was guaranteed and Tristan's statement that the total for the room would be " about 1500 euros for 6 nights" - that's 250 euros per night rather than 359 euros per night.

On our arrival we met Tristan at the hotel. He was there to assure our booking (?). That evening my wife was exhausted so went to bed early with our little one and I spent it with Tristan.

We ate and drank merrily - I had no problems with that.

Please also note: Tristan was very keen to sell me a DJII he had brought with him. I declined. He told me I could wear it for my visit and see how I felt. I declined.

When the bill came it was around 400 euros - I paid for that evening myself.

I also had presented Tristan with a beautiful bottle of top cognac as a gift on our arrival for arranging the hotel for us. Again – I was happy to do this. I mean..as far as I could see this TRF member had been amazing.

Please note: Tristan did come and pick us up a couple of days later - take us to his house in the hills - take us out for lunch to the beach - and that evening we went to his Tennis club and he paid for our food and wine and arranged (basic but fine) accommodation there for us that night as it was a distance away from our hotel. Very kind and we were so, so grateful. In fact I was quite overwhelmed. You saw the post and pictures I’m sure.

We insisted we take him and his family out for lunch the day before we left. So, they chose, picked us up and drove us to the restaurant. This is where his car was towed for parking and the restaurant had a warning about that on the Spanish menu but not on the English. So after a tussle with the management about not having this warning on the tourist menu- our bill was wiped.

My wife went with Tristan's to pick up their car...and actually paid for the release - this was about $300 (AUD)

That evening Tristan takes me to a couple of ADs to look at watches. After some negotiating I bought my wife a beautiful DJ. Tristan talked to the AD in Spanish and negotiated on my behalf. He was very keen I bought her the watch.

That evening we all had dinner at the hotel - his family and mine. We picked up that tab which again was around 400 euros. No problem. We were so grateful and excited at having met such wonderful people. We truly felt we had made a connection.

Then check out morning. Tristan told me he would be at the hotel to make sure everything went smoothly with payment. He told me that the guy arranging it all for us (Philippo) was also going to come in to make sure there were no problems.

I get down from the room a little late that morning - and get told by Tristan that "I had just missed Phlippo"...my wife and son were still up in the room at this stage.

Tristan then sits down with me and tells me he has GREAT news. Phillipo had really given the hotel some stick about all the messing around with the original booking...and instead of using the 750 euros in vouchers he had fixed it for 'the entire room rate (minus VAT) to be deducted from the overall bill.... this amounted to approximately 320 euros for each night off! That's nearly 2000 euros overall.’

We were of course overwhelmed. We just expected 750 euros.

BUT he told us that we would have to pay the bill in its entirety...and a credit card reversal was guaranteed for the 2000 euros. He was very insistent that this was an incredible deal for us and it would all be taken care off.

To be honest we were a bit worried about suddenly having to pay the full room rate...but we had a flight to catch and we had a bill to pay.

My wife (Alison) put it on her own personal credit card.

Tristan took a copy of the receipt to make sure of the refund.

Then, this email from Tristan after we left London (around the 27th July):

"Hi my friend ,

How are you doing ? Have you already left for Australia ? If you have , hope you'll have a safe and smooth journey . Let me know as soon you have received the reversal , I'll see my friend on tuesday and will bring him a nice bottle of wine in your name for what he has done .

All the best and hope to see you all very soon

Tristan "

Then (and I quote this email from Tristan in full):


"Hi Dalip ,

I read your mail and called Filipo , I spoke to his wife only to find out that he has been in hospital since last week . After dropping his wife and children off at the airport a 82 year old man has driven into him whilst queuing up at a freeway exit . The old man killed himself , but there is a possibility that Philipo will never walk again . I can call him tomorrow when his wife will be at the hospital ., I may try to go and see him . I cannot see why this would would have stalled the reversal on your card or make any difference . Let me get back to you about this tomorrow .

Tristan

Please note I was initially very concerned...and, although alarm bells did ring, I put them aside and did ot question this story...why should I after all at this stage?

Then I wrote:

Le 4 août 2010 à 17:05, Dalip Sondhi a écrit :

Hi Trist,

How's things over there? Enjoying planning for Australia I hope :)

We are well...settled back now...was very restless for a while! Winter here....so missing the ocean.

Just to let you know that mo refund has come through yet for the hotel omm on the card.....no panic..just wanted to check?

Love to Agnes and little Trist.

Let's talk soon on skype..

Dalip


Tristan then sent this email to me which I quote from:


"Now more serious things .. Philipo is in a bad state , he is kept on painkillers and in a traction , two disks on his spine have kind of snapped and have hit the central nerve system . It is early days , but his wife has been warned that there is a distinct possibility that he may never walk or at least not unaided again . He doesn't seem to know or realize that .. I spoke 3 words over the phone .. but is in a haze .
The old man probably died behind the wheel or lost conscience before hitting Philipo from the back at was is estimated to have been at well over 60K when Philipo was at a stand still pace trying to get off the freeway exit . Philipo was the catapulted onto the car infront of him doing serious damage to the car and occupants too.

I will go in Barcelona on monday and I will go past his office .. I have met his secretary a couple of times and will see if she has any knowledge about the reversal or if Philipo still has

to get involved .

Then on the 18th August in an email:


Tristan: "I'm going to see philipo on friday and I was told the other week that the reversal will be completed as soon philipo signed for it . I believe he is now much more conscience . His physical status and prognosis is not encouraging from what I have heard .

Take care and talk to you soon .

Tristan

Then, after all this - with still no credit card reversal or any sign of one - on the 24th August I receive this email from Tristan. This is the email that made me seriously doubt Tristan's stories about Philippo and the refund etc. Again I quote this one in FULL (please note the emphases are mine)

Hi Dalip

Hope you are well ,

I will come straight to the point :
We are in France and it seems that we will have to stay for a couple days more .
Anyway you may recall that I got that Tudor for "stevo" Stephen Smith .. owner of TRF . Now there is a accumulation of events that are really creating a problem
First I wanted to send the watch out before going to the south of Spain , his wire took 9 days to get here and he insisted NOT to send the watch till the money got in , At that time I was having that "personal" feud with the modes and him about what I wrote to them about me leaving TRF. At one stage I believed that he used this to get out of the deal . The money did eventually arrive and I had to ask the office to send the watch , given that it is holiday period it could not be dropped of at the regular Fedex subcontracter we use all the time and have an account with . Anyway if was collected by a company from Girona . I told the girl at the desk to be careful with the parcel as it was a watch worth 3K euro . I had joined some documents with the declaration.
The company collecting uses other forms , so the girl filled in ... watch ..value 3K euro .
The two forms were submitted and hence blocked by Fedex for irregularities with the custom's declaration . The parcel was returned to us .
I then went to drop it off personally in Barcelona Fed ex HQ and I overlooked the street address line and did not fill it in , I got the receipt of deposit and scanned it to Stephen .. the parcel got never properly registered as they could not find the address on their computer system . Normally they provide the active tracking number the next day .. but that of course never came . We being gone , they called the tel of the office and some "clever" on remembered the that they already called that same number and especially when the had Nuria ( our desk girl) on the phone who of course said .. that all was OK as the parcel had returned .. they immediately realize that it is the same parcel with the same "declaration" fraud .
I now have to go personally to recuperate the parcel ..in Barcelona .
In the meantime Stephen is getting nervous was thinking that I was "punishing him for the TRF feud " and called Fedex only to be told that the tracking and admission form is not valid.. he nows thinks that I have "stolen" his money as he put it.

I'm now basically looking to assure Stephen till I get back to Spain to recuperate the watch and send it out to him .

I somewhere thought if you would be willing to "wire " him $4200 AUS "nationally" that way I do not have to buy the AUS Dollars and pay for the international wire .. extra costs as here in France I would have to go to "our" branch to do that ( 400km ) or do it through a local branch pay through the nose and will take 2 days more .

The Idea would be that , if you get that money to him I would send him the watch asap and once he receives it he can return the money to you . Whatever happens I will ultimately always be responsible to you even if that guy would not return the money . Which I really doubt ,he is a lawyer in Melbourne .. I just would want him at ease and that would give me the time to recuperate the watch and get it out to him or even you . That would also be the "cheapest" way as I do not even make any money on the deal to start with . .. what a balls up !

I do realize that I takes a lot of cheek to ask for such a favor . Please tell YES or NO.. no need for any explanations , whatever the answer we will stay the same friends. It is only that I'm lost for other cheap fast resolutions on this one for a week .

Love to all there

Tristan


So - Tristan is now asking me to pay Stevo what he owes him, bearing in mind he still owes us the Credit card reversal as promised, or, at the very least the 750 euros. I was not happy about this and then what I was also seeing hearing about his transaction with Steve.

Following this there were several exchanges of email and sms/phone calls. Alison was very upset and was insistent that Tristan did what he had initially assured us.

We only booked into that hotel on "good faith" that Tristan guaranteed that 750 euro discount. We would NEVER have chosen to stay there otherwise.

Obviously the events with Steve had come into play as Tristan now asked for me to pay him what he owed. A strange request as I had only just met him and he still essentially owed us.



We suggested to Tristan that he simply paid us the money into our bank account (750 euros) and then reimbursed himself. We felt that was fair given the circumstances.

Here are some snippets of emails.



Tristan:" Anyway as Ali put that ultimatum to me : I will be forced to personally advance the original 750 euro in vouchers which I know I can pick up , and will try to use them at a later stage .So as soon I receive her account details I will order my bank to wire the 750 euro .

Later:


"I will sent the 750 euro equivalent of vouchers originally promised . I will also calculate what I and my family have consumed in the hotel and reimburse you that . As not only I get treated like a criminal on the forum , next I will be considered as a free loader too ? The last I need is excuses !

Good bye to you "

Then on the 29th August I wrote this:

Dalip: "In any case, Alison is simply asking for what was promised. It is the least you can do. Please make sure that you wire that money by Thursday. I will ensure she sends bank details to you by tomorrow morning.

This has nothing to do with the watch issue you have with Steve. That is your business to sort out. I am not interested and do not wish to discuss it. "



Then on 1st September Tristan wrote:


“Anyway a new manager has been appointed from this week and is in close contact with Phillippo . Your case has been dragged from under the pile and will be now one of the first ones that will be dealt with .
I cannot see why the original promise for the total reversal will not be ordered very soon .
I have arranged to see them again on friday morning . They also have your email if they would need additional info .
I will NOT do anything till I have heard from them latest friday .
Whatever the out come the original 750 and consumption's will always stand “



Then on 4th September:

Tristan: "could not get to Barca yesterday , but anyway I have sent a message to Phillipo asking to get in touch with his replacement just to prepare the original 750 worth of vouchers and forget about the rest . A I said I will wire the 750 to you regardless , I could have done that today were it not that the banks in Platja have back to "normal" hours instead of the 2 summer months they open on saturday too.

further in same email:

"I will not be getting to the bank till monday as I will be in London for the day . So at best tuesday .
NO , I do not have the internet service activated on the account I want to do the wire from"

And now on the 13th september we receive this:


Tristan: "My luck has changed !

I have just returned from the bank and due to the 11th of september Catalan nationalist holiday the wire of 750 euro did not leave the control of the Sabadell bank group yet and hence have been able to cancel it .

Not as soon as I told Ali the 750 wire was done and you saw I was banned on TRF you came up with more posts insinuating that I " OWE " you or your family money along the lines that I owed Stevo .. You could have said nothing or the truth , but you preferred to add to the controversy by insinuating that we have had a commercial or financial transaction and I scammed or OWED you money . You can now try and tell me that I do not master the english language properly and that was not what you posted .. tell that to about 10 other members that have contacted me about it and all the others that seem to have understood exactly the same .. just read their comments !

Therefor I have decided to wire you exactly what I "OWE" you and your family as you put it so bluntly to the exact amount of ... 0 ! I will not even bother to make a detour and why should I pay for the parking in the building to go and pick up the vouchers .. I was never sure I could have used them to their full value and reimburse myself for the value I was about to advance !

My conscience is clear ..I have done everything and more to try and accommodate you and your family . I was still working to get you that reversal through Phillipo till you ganged up with Stevo and his "case" . Stevo was never scammed and there was never any scam intended .. Yes , I OWED Stevo the watch or his money and that is why I reimbursed him .
You obviously wanted to be seen to be in a similar position .."Poor Dalip ..going all the way to Spain to meet the nasty one and get scammed" . The way you fueled the fire behind the scenes in that matter was despicable and certainly not in keeping what a "friend" should have been doing in that case ( do not even try to deny it as you have already admitted to that in a mail to me ) Not at that stage and even less now that he has been reimbursed . So you tell me why I should give in to your emotional blackmail about " you promised and honor ..ect " and fork out more of my own money ?

You even indulge in these posts when you know I can not publicly retort and set the record straight ! Many people have received the full and true story .. let them appreciate when they have the facts and not your "insinuations"

I would have kept that "promise" that I received from Phillipo and was transmitted to you that day as a friend , but if what you have shown me recently is friendship .. we obviously do not have the same perception of friendship . I can not expect Phillipo to keep such a promise within the original time frame as to what happened to him . Any friend who is a friend will appreciate that .

Spare yourself phone calls as I will not even answer them , post whatever you want on TRF as I do not expect you to do anything less .. "


End of story.
The facts are here for you to read and make up your own minds as to why.

Dalip