Fake name? Of course. Fake pics? To be expected. Fake reviews? Rarely. Fake provider? What do you think? Here's what happened...
Just before the holidays, I came across an ad on BP that caught my eye: cute redhead, new to the biz, and the price was right. Checked TER. No reviews. Googled six ways to Sunday. She had the same ad on a few other sites – no phone number, just an email address – all posted on the same day. I figured I'd give it a shot. TOFTT, as it were. I could always turn around and walk away.
I emailed her about setting up an appointment and asked her for some recent photos. She responded immediately, and included photos and a phone number. We emailed back and forth and arranged a date and time to meet. She said she would email me the day before with the location. A few days later, I received her email, as promised, with the name of a nice hotel across town and another phone number to call when I got there.
I arrived at the hotel at the appointed hour. When I called to get her room number, some guy with an accent I couldn't quite place answered the phone. I hung up. I thought maybe I dialed the wrong number. Or the lines got crossed. I tried again. Same guy answered, sounding annoyed. I apologized and hung up again. Then I called the first number she had given me. Endless ringing. I texted her. No response. I emailed. Ditto.
I waited in vain at the hotel bar for about half an hour. Finally, I gave up and left. As I walked back across town, I kept half expecting and half hoping that she would call with some lame excuse for the delay, a contrite request to come on back, and a promise that she would make it up to me. But ... nothing.
Reflecting on what happened, I'm pretty sure that I had been punked, especially since her ad has never reappeared anywhere. Why someone would go through an elaborate ruse simply to waste the time of someone else who they didn't even know is beyond me. Of course, I could be wrong. It might have been a case of cold feet. Has anyone else had an experience like this?
