Pulled this off the LD Forum:
[i][b]As economic times get tougher, I’m sure we are going to see a lot more of this kind of stuff.
As many of you know, Ben Witter travels all over the world doing trick shot shows and golf clinics. The other day he got his clubs stolen at the airport with an innovative scam. They took the claim tag off of his bag and reattached it to their piece of crap bag with nothing but junk clubs in it. When Ben noticed his clubs were not at the baggage claim, he went to the claim check office. They produce the junk bag with his tag on it and said here are your clubs. Only after protesting profusely, did they consider Ben’s claim. Then an airline employee actually admitted they have seen this scam before.
Apparently, if you are not right there when your clubs arrive, someone will switch tags with your bag and take off. If they get stopped, your bag will have their tag on it and look legit. Meanwhile, you are standing at baggage claim waiting and waiting, not suspecting that your bag has left the building (at least that’s how the airline says the rip-off works). I believe it is way more of an inside job than their description. Ben lost thousands of dollars worth of clubs, only to find out that the airline maximum liability is $1000.
-Make sure you actually watch the airline employee attach your tag to your bag.
-Get to the baggage claim asap.
-I’m going to start taking a cell phone picture of my tagged bag.
Be careful, this stuff is going to get worse!
PS Ben tried to send me some equipment last month. The equipment never showed up, but they sent the empty packaging back to Ben. A postal employee stole all the equipment, and all they found was the packaging. They sent Ben the packaging with a note asking if his package reached its destination. I guess they were hoping that I broke into their facility, unwrapped my stuff, and took off. Make sure you insure your packages
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Back in the day Pre-9/11 anytime I flew with my clubs I could carry them on with me but no more thanks to the TSA laws. From now on I’m going to install a LoJack or some other GPS in my travel case. I have had my babies stolen once and that’s enough for one lifetime. Anything of value now you have to guard with your life. Gotta love this planet. Something to think about.
