Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 23, No. 06, Ed. 1 Friday, June 23, 2006 Page: 10 of 64
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Continued from Previous Page
ments it received from the clients to purchase
tickets for other clients who were scheduled to
travel before them, he said.
The letter, of which Dallas Voice has obtained
a copy, added that the travel agency had hoped to
have funds on deposit from other sales to pur-
chase tickets for their travel. The letter advised
the clients to file for refunds or seek chargebacks
from their credit card companies.
Paul Distenfeld, a Miami resident, said his
wife purchased two round-trip business class
tickets to Johannesburg, South Africa, for depar-
ture on Sept. 4, 2005. Two days before their
scheduled trip, Distenfeld said he received a call
from Halpern telling him the company never
purchased the tickets and provided an explana-
tion similar to the one outlined in the letter.
The couple was forced to scramble for
replacement tickets because they were meeting
friends in South Africa. They wound up buying
coach tickets at a much higher price of $5,000
each, he said.
Distenfeld said American Express charged
back the amount the couple had paid to Pride
Travel Inc. But Distenfeld said he is still livid
about what occurred.
"I consider it to be theft and fraud," Distenfeld
said. "I am completely convinced that these peo-
ple should not have protection under the bank-
ruptcy court, that they are frauds and that the
lawyer who represents them knows that they are
frauds."
Halpern said the operators of Pride Travel
never acted in bad faith. She added that only a
small percent of clients had complained, given
the company's large customer base.
"Pride Travel has not intentionally tried to
screw anybody's trip up, and whatever problems
they had were not anything intentional," Halpern
said.
Halpern said she understands that everyone
who had booked travel and did not receive it had
been reimbursed by their credit card companies.
"The only person who has been hurt through
all of this is Pride Travel," Halpern said. "They
have made all the efforts they can to resolve all
the issues that have come up,"
Hal Jay, host of the WBAP 820 AM Morning
Show, said he lost $3,600 through his transaction
with Pride Travel Inc., and has not received any
reimbursement. Jay said he purchased first-class
tickets to Cancun for his son and daughter-in-
law's honeymoon for travel in October 2005, but
a hurricane forced the couple to cancel the trip.
The trip was protected by travel insurance, but
the chargeback apparently went to a Pride Travel
Inc. credit card rather than his own, which was
used to pay for the American Airlines tickets, Jay
said. The tickets were returned to the travel
agency, and it processed the refund, he said.
"They owe me $3,600," Jay said.
Complaints under investigation by the Dallas
Police Department include a more recent pur-
chase made by the Temple Baptist Church of
Springdale, Ark. Church officials allege that
Pride Travel Inc. accepted more than $30,000
from the church for airline tickets it never pur-
chased.
The airline tickets were for a youth group's
two-week mission trip to Cambodia on June 11.
After raising money for the trip for two years,
church officials purchased 17 tickets in February
after finding Pride Travel Inc.'s Web site on the
Internet.
Greg Corley, operator of Pride Travel Inc.,
acknowledged that the travel agency had failed
to provide services to clients, but he blamed the
financial difficulties on employee theft.
"That is true," Corley said. "There was money
taken and because of that there were problems
with not being able to provide airline tickets at
the time because no funds were there to pay for
them. But the clients have been fully reimbursed
by the credit card companies and by Pride Travel
Tours."
Halpern said the only loss to Pride Travel Inc.
that she is aware of came about as a result of trav-
el agents being paid commissions on trips that
were charged back. She said that she was consid-
ering filing a civil suit based on conversion. She
said conversion is the civil form of theft.
Corley said Pride Travel Tours is his new trav-
el agency company and that Pride Travel Inc. is
now closed.
Jo Kelley, financial secretary for the Temple
Baptist Church, said the youth mission group
was able to leave as scheduled but not because of
anything Corley's agency did.
"You're not the first person who has told us
that he has told them that," Kelley said. "I don't
know why he is telling people that. I can tell you
as the financial secretary that we have not
received payment from him."
Kelley said the youth group was able to go on
its tip because of an outpouring of support from
people in the town and others across the nation
when The Morning News of Northwest
Arkansas published a story about the incident.
She called it a tremendous miracle.
"They've had a wonderful ministry there,"
Kelley said. "In spite of his evil, God has turned
it to good."
Walker, who is the employee Corley alleges
embezzled money from the company, said
Continued on Page 12
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Vercher, Dennis. Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 23, No. 06, Ed. 1 Friday, June 23, 2006, newspaper, June 23, 2006; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth238914/m1/10/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.