StopSylvia email: "Thank you so much....."

RSLancastr

www.StopSylvia.com
RSLancastr
Joined
Sep 7, 2001
Messages
17,135
Location
Salem, Oregon
Here is an email I received at StopSylvia, with thesubject "Thank you so much.....":

Mr. Lancaster,

Hello, my name is [Name] and I want to thank you so much for your website Stop Sylvia Browne. I am embarassed to admit I was taken in by
the books, the website and the hype....a friend told me about her and loaned me a couple of her books to read. Of course the books were so positive
and the wonderful descriptions of what she could do, I went right out and bought some more books. And although I did pick up on some inconsistencies
(such as the black panther animal spirit totem tale from the policeman and in then another book about herself), and (the wings vs wingless angels), I figured
hey, at her age, who can remember all the little details, right?

So I called and signed up for a telephone reading in January 2012. I was told my reading would be in March 2012. I was charged $695 on my credit card
(they were having a "special rate" period - and I was made to feel like I was "lucky" to get that cheaper rate!). One day before my scheduled reading
I was called and told Sylvia couldn't do my reading because she "broke her hip." Well I felt so bad for her that I didn't question a bit having to wait 3 more
months for my reading now scheduled for June 2012.

Well, a couple of days prior to the reading I stumbled across your website and oh my, I was devastated to say the least. I read story after story...one
of the most interesting was about her being in a wheelchair for a "hip injury" dated some years ago. I thought, what? She broke her hip twice????
As I read the stories I was sickened by how some very distraught and helpless people were treated on that television show, how callously they were
talked to....The more I read the more I felt that I was being duped and was sure I'd be put off again, instead of actually having my reading. Sure enough
the day before my reading I got a call from her people saying Sylvia was in L.A. for something (frankly I don't remember what, because I was angry
because I knew they were going to put me off again!!! And they did!!!)

I told the woman on the phone that it was unacceptable for them to do this to me again, and I would either need my reading in the next couple of days. She told me
that would not be possible that I'd have to wait another 3 months!!! I told her that I believed they were scamming me and I wanted my money back. She
hemmed and hawwed and said she'd have to "put in for" my refund request at the office and see about getting my money back, but it would take several days.

I told her then that I'd either get my money back posthaste or I'd have my lawyer after them! She said I'd have my check back in 10 days. I said they should put a
credit back on my credit card and she said they couldn't do that as the charge had been made more than six months ago, I told her I KNEW how long it had
been, that after all was the problem!!!

I did get my check back within about 5 days, but the point of this email is that had I not come across your site, I probably would have been ok with waiting
longer after all, she was advertised to be such a remarkable psychic and wonderful person, what is the harm in waiting???

Well, I am a bookkeeper by trade, and it doesn't take much math to figure if they are charging hundreds of people $695 to $800 apiece for readings, and put those
people off for months and months, the interest amassed on that money is astounding!!

So thank you for providing me with an eye opening experience and being a voice for the victims!!!! I of course am getting rid of all the books, and going back to my
friends and letting them know to check out your website. If it can prevent others from being duped, you have done the public a great service.

[Name]
Click to expand...

Twice this year I have received emails from people telling me that Browne had told a story (at one of her "shows", IIRC) about tripping as a result of some pads the pedicurist had put between her toes, and had broken her hip.

Dunno if those times were the same show, and if they were at about the same time as this correspondent's story occured, but, added to Browne' story that one of her husbands (DuFresne, IIRC) slammed her into a door during a fight, breaking her hip (thus her current need for a wheelchair), it DOES seem like she needs to buy a cast-iron hip guard or something...
 
My Reply:

[name]:

Thank you so much for taking the time to share your story with me.

I am glad to know that you feel my website was helpful to you.

I have received at least two emails in the past six months or so from people who said that they had just attended one of Browne's live shows in which Browne told the audience that she had recently broken her hip. If I recall correctly, she told them that she had tripped over the edge of a rug in her hotel room sh still was wearing pieces of foam between her toes - foam placed there by a pedicurist earlier that day.

I do not know if those emails were all about the same live show, or for multiple shows which took place so close together that Browne might have told both audiences about thesame accident, nor do I recall if these shows were reportedly at about the same time as Browne's staff used the "broken hip excuse" with you.

It is conceivable that there was one incident this year in which Browne broke her hip, and your email AND those others are ALL about Browne - and her staff - legitimately reporting that accident.

And yes, I have been told that Browne, who has been in a wheelchair in recent years, has said thatshe is in thatchair as the result of an incident many years ago, in which one of her many husbands reportedly shoved her against a door during an argument, breaking her hip.

It is actually quite possible, perhaps even common, for a person to break a hip multiple times. After it breaks the first time, the bone is fragile, and so can be more prone to break in future, even from bumps and jars far less forceful than the one which resulted in the first break.

But yes, it sounds as though Browne may have just stumbled (so to speak) on a story which she and her staff use to excuse any time she is late, or needs to postpone a reading or an appearance.

And, at Browne's age (and weight), her falling and breaking a hip is certainly a plausible story.

Your friend who initially brought Browne to your attention: have you told him or her about what you have learned about Browne from my web site?

I was glad to hear that you received a refund of the fee for your canceled reading.

I am not currently able to add new articles to the site but, do I have your permission to use your email in an artcle (removing your name and email address, of course), once I am able to do so?

Best regards,

RobertS. lancaster
Founder and Webmaster,
www.StopSylvia.com
Click to expand...
 
rambaldi said:
Perhaps she needs to improve her Karma by giving back money to the people she scammed :-)
Click to expand...

...which will likely happen right after she makes good on her agreement to take the Million Dollar Challenge.

... which will likely happen right after she produces proof of her Masters' Degree in English Lit.

I received a reply to my reply. It read, in part:

Yes, the first person I told was the lady who loaned me the first books by Sylvia. I felt bad to have her tell her that I think Sylvia is a fraud, and gave her your website. Then I went to everyone I loaned books to and told about Sylvia and apologized to them and asked them to please throw those books out.
Click to expand...

Paying SSB forward!
 
I am pleased that this individual received a refund. But there are lessons here: (1) Be wary if the seller charges your credit card before the services are supplied or before the goods are shipped. Payment of a down payment or deposit or earnest money is one thing, getting billed for the whole enchilada up front is another. (2) If you think you're being "strung along" (that is, maneuvered into taking no action or waiting for a longer time), get your credit card company involved right away, and send letters to document everything. Write old-fashioned paper snail-mail-delivered letters; don't just rely upon email or phone calls. Phone calls can yield results sometimes, but often the person on the other end will do his/her damnedest to string you along even more, by making assurances that may or may not be legitimate. And if you wait too long to try to get your money back, even your credit card company won't help you.
 
I did get my check back within about 5 days, but the point of this email is that had I not come across your site, I probably would have been ok with waiting
longer after all, she was advertised to be such a remarkable psychic and wonderful person, what is the harm in waiting???
Click to expand...

Boy, are people naive.
 
Interesting that someone would attribute her inconsistencies to her age when they originated when Sylvia was so much younger.

Many companies don't charge your card until they fill your order. I didn't know Sylvia did it this way, but it seems like it would create a lot of unnecessary hassles for her since, as I recall, Chris often was cancelling and rescheduling his readings too. It seems like a lot of people have commented on their readings being put off, so if that's an ongoing pattern with them, you'd think it would be easier to just wait.
 
ExMinister said:
Many companies don't charge your card until they fill your order. I didn't know Sylvia did it this way, but it seems like it would create a lot of unnecessary hassles for her since, as I recall, Chris often was cancelling and rescheduling his readings too. It seems like a lot of people have commented on their readings being put off, so if that's an ongoing pattern with them, you'd think it would be easier to just wait.
Click to expand...

maybe easier, but not as profitable, especially with them sometimes making the refund process as convoluted and difficult as possible, and making people who are dissatisfied with a reading feel like it was their fault that the reading did not go as they would have liked, or that the reading actually was accurate, they just haven't given things enough time to pan out.

From what I have been told, this often makes the person give up on applying for the refund.

If enough people give up on it, or are never ballsy enough to ask for the refund to begin with, the money generated (or, more accurately, the money not lost by SB Corp.) more than makes up for any hassle caused by the cancelling and rescheduling of readings.
 
Last edited:
Someone who has paid money to get a reading and the reading was deferred should see a lawyer. Was there a contract that was broken by Sylvia? Is it legal to charge a card and not deliver for several months?

I am sure this issue has come up before.
 
rjh01 said:
Someone who has paid money to get a reading and the reading was deferred should see a lawyer. Was there a contract that was broken by Sylvia? Is it legal to charge a card and not deliver for several months?

I am sure this issue has come up before.
Click to expand...
There is at least one aricle on SSB about this very thing, I believe.
 
I rceived two Syvia Browne book, sent by this correspondent.

The books are:

  1. Mystical Traveler
  2. Afterlives of thr Rich and Famous

I hope to read them soon, looking for the usual: inconsistencies, contradictions, erroneous claims and the like.
 
RSLancastr said:
I hope to read them soon, looking for the usual: inconsistencies, contradictions, erroneous claims and the like.
Click to expand...

any possibility that you could let me have a list of her books which you currently don't have access to?
;)
 
thanks for asking, Marduk.

There is a list of her books wich I need, on the site's Support Page (http://www.stopsylvia.com/support/#donatebooks).

It was current at the time of my stroke, so is missing many/most of her books which have been published since then, and does not reflect any of her bookswhich I have obtained since then (Offhad I can think of none but the two mentioned in my previous post).
 
RSLancastr said:
You may be downplaying how physical pain can interfere with one's psychic abilities...
Click to expand...

Depends on which fantasy universe one is going by, in a decent number of them physical and emotional trauma actually increase the psychic ability.

So, just sayin, maybe if sylvia really wants to wow people she should hire someone to smack her every so often, just to make sure those psychic power meters stay topped off.

I mean, i'd do it for minimum wage, hell, i'd probably do it for an IOU and a pack of smokes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom