Hii Sophie,

I was looking into getting another phone
operator. I kept getting email advertisements
from this girl advertising her business for
agencies and independents as a personal
assistant/phone operator/booker, etc. I went to
her website at www.AlternativeAssistant.com and
looked over what she had to offer.

I emailed and she emailed back asking me to call.
I called and spoke with her and she sounded very
professional, nice, and sounded as if she was
very familiar with the industry.

I asked about the rates she charged and that was
that.

About a month later, my phone operator quit and I
was desperately in need of an operator, as I am
back in school and unablae to answer the phones
while in class. I called her back and asked some
questions

I needed to know and she assured me that she
would cater to my specific needs and would run my
business as I asked. I asked her when she could
start, she said as soon as I needed her to. I
just needed to pre-pay for one of the bundles.

I chose the smallest one of 5 appointments for
$175 and $30 for her to post an ad for me, since
business has been extremely slow.

She takes payment in the form of a Greendot money
pak and explained that it was discreet and that I
should also offer it to my clients. I sent her
$205 total.

Well I called to ask her something one night and
she didnt answer. I called back a couple of
minutes later and she asked if she could call me
back that she was on an international call.

Sure, but I got to thinking, is she going to put
my clients off for her call as well? The next
day, I had a male friend call to check up on
things and asked him to call as a potential
client.

He got no answer, he called again, got an answer,
asked who was working and got disconnected.

She didn't even bother callng him back. He waited
a few minutes and called back, again, no answer.
Called one more time and left a message with a
return #, no answer and no call back.

I called a while later to see how things were
going. She replied that they rang a few times but
nobody booked. The next day I had someone else
call, no answer the 1st time.

She answered the 2nd time and the guy asked who
was working, what did they look like, and what
the rates were. She told him that she didn't have
that info and to go to the website and to call
back when he was ready to book.

Wow, I was pissed. Not all of our clients have
internet access and many of the hotels here block
adult sites so we have alot of phonebook callers.


After 5 days, she had not booked one appointment.
I happen to have my business line thru Packet 8
(Its like Vonage) and it rings to my phone and
the phone I have the # forwarded to at the same
time so I can see the calls coming in on the
caller id.

I saw 2 regular clients #'s on the id a couple of
times as if they didn't get an answer and tried
to call back. I called one of them back and asked
if they spoke with anyone, he said he didn't get
an answer and that nobody ever called him back.

I called her a couple of times and got no answer.
I then emailed her, told her I would not be
needing her and told her about herself in a bold
yet professional manner and asked that she refund
the $175 I prepaid to her, as she did not book
the 5 appointments that I payed her for.

I never recieved a response. I then got another
one of her advertsiements thru email again. I
couldn't believe she did not remove me from her
list. I sent another email and threatened her to
refund the money for the pre-bookings or I would
post bad reviews of her and her business on the
internet.

I still recieved no response.

I made a big mistake by sending money to someone
I had no references for and who wanted payment
that could not be traced, however I also took
into consideration that you have to be discreet
in this business and that she may work on a pre-
pay basis to make sure she gets paid for her
services.

That is understandable and I was desperate to
have someone to answer my calls while I was
unable.

Hmmm, I shall never do that again and I hope to
get the word out to others so that they do not
get taken. I didn't really even have the money to
pay her in advance but thought, well, if my calls
do not get answered, I won't have any money
coming in. So I thought I would need to invest
that money in a phone operator.

Well if you can help me get this out there, I
would greatly appreciate it or lead me in the
right direction.

The girl goes by the name of Sasha and her
business is The Alternative Assistant. Her email
is appointmentbooking@elitebeauties.com. I hope
this may help others.

Thank you for all your updates and infomative
info. I hope you have a Very Happy Holiday!

Cathy at Brittany's