It is odd. I used to get e mails all the time. I am relatively certain that I also received mailings of catalogs. They probably called her 4 times a year.

All of this has totally stopped.

Several of the people on this thread who have spoken out against Blair are themselves booking agents. This would seem to indicate that how Blair handled himself would be considered improper by the booking agent community at large.

That begs the question(s).

How would you have personally handled the situation if it would have happened to you and your customer?

How does the industry view such occurrences and is there an accepted practice for handling such unfortunate occurrences?

Howard,

Sadly, bad behaviour from agents and outfitters, as well as some clients, more widespread than we realize.

Many people do not wish to share their bad experience on the Internet, and try to get some advice privately.

That is why I consider myself extremely lucky to be hunting with the same family for almost 30 years now.

Saeed, loyalty is very underrated by most people.

It's a valuable commodity in business as well as personal dealings. It's also a two way street.

Congratulations on your 30 yrs of success with the same outfitter/family.

bringing it to the top for ol' jeffaroo's sake.

Did the father get his sheep hunt yet? If so with and cost?

I hope he has managed to do so.

Any new developments here? I drove by Blair's office a couple times last week, and it got me wondering.

Thanks

HAHA.. I finally got another call from Blair.. Phone rang and I saw the caller ID and smiled....Did not even give him a chance to speak as I drilled into him about the $70K still owed to the sheep hunters.. Told them to never call me again...

Within the last 30 seconds, took a call from Blair's. I explained that I would not book from them and why. The person at Blair said that the hunter in question booked a hunt the next year and took a nice ram. He blamed it all on the outfitter and cautioned that not all I read on the internet is true. I still will not book with them.

i just got off the phone with the guy who this happened to and while he did go and get one it was NOT booked thru Blair . So that is just a another thing they are saying that is not true.

The person you talked to is Todd Rice, owner of Sonoran Outfitters. Who is also a salesman for Blair Worldwide Hunting for the past 2+ years. The hunter did not book through Blair Worldwide, he booked direct with Todd at Sonoran Outfitters.

I am still waiting on the other outfitters who weighed in on this thread to tell us how they would have handled the situation.

BLAIR,

So does that mean that he hunted for free the second time?

On YOUR dime?

Since you skinned him alive for fees on his original hunt, and made no effort what so ever to do the honorable thing the first time around, just sat back and watched it all implode...

Just wondering...

There's a whole lot of this story we're NOT hearing.

quote:

Originally posted by BLAIR WORLDWIDE:
The person you talked to is Todd Rice, owner of Sonoran Outfitters. Who is also a salesman for Blair Worldwide Hunting for the past 2+ years. The hunter did not book through Blair Worldwide, he booked direct with Todd at Sonoran Outfitters.

What in the hell does that mean? He booked with your salesman, but your salesman was selling for someone else?

Earlier in this thread you blamed everyting on Larry Heathington (Link to the first load of crap)

quote:

Originally posted by Lhook7:
What in the hell does that mean? He booked with your salesman, but your salesman was selling for someone else?

Seems to me what he said was that Todd Rice owns and operates Sonoran Outfitters and that he, Todd, also works for Blair. Probably during his, Todd's, off season.

Also that the hunter didn't rebook through BWW that he booked directly with Todd and Sonoran Outfitters.

I have not responded for a long time--hoping Jeff Blair would step up to the plate and do the right thing. This has not happened and I feel the need to respond to a couple of posts.

1) to Morning Mist posted May 16th: I could'nt agree with you more that you can charge whatever you want for a used or even a new car. But would guess you would at least have a car in the end. At the same time I would not expect to have a guaranteed successful hunt but would at the very minimum expect the hunt to take place. The $70,000 my kids paid for the hunt didn't happen. How would you feel if your kids gave you a $70,000 vehicle that never showed up? So yes, what does justify the difference?

2) In response to Caretaker--I in no way re-booked a sheep hunt with Blair! I would not ever recommend that to anyone after what he did to my boys!

I did book a sheep hunt directly with Todd Rice of Sonora Outfitters and was successful with a nice ram in February, 2011.

I must repeat--"I did not, will not, and will never recommend booking a sheep hunt or any other hunt with Blair World Wide Hunting!"

This whole situation gets more annoying and repulsive the more I think about it!

Obviously my kids were scammed doing something any parent would be very proud of--and I'm not happy about it......Northface

The name Blair will forever live in infamy among hunters with internet access. I'm wondering if a broadly-subscribed magazine like F & S or Outdoor Life would be interested in this story?

Northface......any chance you would be interested in contacting either of those publications?

Then only the most naive of hunters would be suckered by this con man.......

quote:

I did book a sheep hunt directly with Todd Rice of Sonora Outfitters and was successful with a nice ram in February, 2011.

If, in fact, he has been a salesman for BWWH for the last two years, that's getting way too close to the fire for my tastes. Obviously yours differ. I have a difficult time separating someone who knowingly works for a scammer, selling potential scams, from the scammer but that's just me.

Is Blair still in business?

quote:

Originally posted by chuckmaxman:
Is Blair still in business?

Yes, they've called me twice in the past 6 weeks. I get weekly emails from them too.

quote:

Originally posted by Howard:
I am still waiting on the other outfitters who weighed in on this thread to tell us how they would have handled the situation.

The absolute first thing that I would do is refund any commission that had been paid! Then do anything and everything within your power to help recoup the rest of the money frm the outfitter. I'm not a booking agent but thats what I would do

So just to keep this at the top...

Is there any updates to the LEGAL PURSUIT of restitution for the victims here?

P T Barnum called me yesterday and also wanted an e-mail address. So yes, P T is still in business and trying to screw more people.

has anyone heard what affect this has had on their buissness?

I heard it has had a big impact. He had some cancellations and lost some clients. I also heard that he was threatening legal action again the people who lost the $70,000 because of the posting on AR!

Now whether that is true or not, I have no idea. I do consider my source knowledgeable.

Since this started, I have not had a single contact from them. It used to happen all of the time.

I have heard it has had some impact but not near the level that some would hope.

Not a problem. IF he has a booth at DSC or SCI we will all hang around and inquire.

quote:

Originally posted by DoubleDon:
Not a problem. IF he has a booth at DSC or SCI we will all hang around and inquire.

Don, I'm with you at SCI if he's there.

The dirt bags just called me. I asked them to take me off their list a few years ago, but they keep calling. I read them the riot act on how they have acted in regards to this hunt. John Gates said that Jeff was not available and I would have to speak to him to remove me.

I did not receive a call back, so I just called them back to speak to Jeff and John Gates picked up the phone and they have removed me from their list.

This has to be affecting them badly.

When you talked to him, did he have any response as to the reason you gave him for wanting to be removed from the list? I presume you mentioned this thread to him.

I received a call from Blair Worldwide and I told them I had been reading about the people that got ripped off on the Sheep Hunt. I told them that I don't knowingly do business with people like that and remove me from their contact list. If enough people do this maybe it will make a diffrence.

Hawkeye

I got a call from Blair Worldwide yesterday. I told them I would never book a hunt with them and to take me off their mailing/calling lists.

Their response was that there are "two sides to the story" about the sheep hunt fiasco. I told them to bugger off.

Just got my call from Blair. Told them not interested because of the sheep scam. He said ok thanks.

I have been following this thread now it seems like forever, and while I think Jeff Blair could have at least tried to work something out with the involved parties, I also think there are 2 sides to every story and back there somewhere in these posts is a letter from the actual guide outfitter that recieved the payments from Blair, he states her recieved the money, so it would seem to me that if Blair can't recover it then he is in the same bind as the hunters. Just my opinon but it sure seems to me the guide seems to be ignored in all this when it appears to me that he is the real crook here. I don't have any invested interest as I do not book with people or hunt with guides I do not personally know. But it does seem to me theres a big factor missing in all this and it is the guilt of the guide.

quote:

Originally posted by Morning Mist:
I have been following this thread now it seems like forever, and while I think Jeff Blair could have at least tried to work something out with the involved parties, I also think there are 2 sides to every story and back there somewhere in these posts is a letter from the actual guide outfitter that recieved the payments from Blair, he states her recieved the money, so it would seem to me that if Blair can't recover it then he is in the same bind as the hunters. Just my opinon but it sure seems to me the guide seems to be ignored in all this when it appears to me that he is the real crook here. I don't have any invested interest as I do not book with people or hunt with guides I do not personally know. But it does seem to me theres a big factor missing in all this and it is the guilt of the guide.

Wow, Did he ask you to come on and post this. Let's not forget he added an additional charge for himself above the price that heathington charges plus he took a commission and refused to pay back a commission that he never earned, plus I'm sure there was talk of at the time of the second payment he knew that the client would never get his hunt as he knew Heathington was already scamming people. Love to hear Jeff's side of the story of that.

quote:

Let's not forget he added an additional charge for himself above the price that heathington charges plus he took a commission and refused to pay back a commission that he never earned

The extra fee has been speculated upon but never proven. Do you not earn the commission at time of sale or when payment is received? Plus Blair did offer to rebook and waive his commission.

You appear to be an outfitter. Why don't you go on record as to how you would handle a guide skipping on his clients to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars.

quote:

Originally posted by Howard:

quote:

Let's not forget he added an additional charge for himself above the price that heathington charges plus he took a commission and refused to pay back a commission that he never earned

The extra fee has been speculated upon but never proven. Do you not earn the commission at time of sale or when payment is received? Plus Blair did offer to rebook and waive his commission.

You appear to be an outfitter. Why don't you go on record as to how you would handle a guide skipping on his clients to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars.

Heathington was charging $60,000 for this hunt, Blair charged $70,000 not sure that is speculation. Commissions are not just earned at the time deposits are made, we earn them from the start of the booking of hunts all the way to the follow up with client after the hunt. As far going on record as what I would do, I already have done so in this thread.