Letter from Hamilton Gates about free airline tickets
July 24, 2010 – 9:31 pmToday I received a letter from Hamilton Gates telling me that I have qualified for an award of 2 roundtrip airline tickets. It says to call 866-391-0391. It looks like it was actually signed by Brittany Dale, the Vice President of the Travel Awards Division.
The www.hamiltongates.com website exists. Here’s the whois info: http://www.whois.net/whois/hamiltongates.com — registered July 6, 2010.
My envelope has a 44 cent actual stamp, postmarked from Phoenix AZ 852 on July 19 and my address is hand written (although on this one they were writing very quickly)!
Here are some things that seem to be related in some way:
Notice anything similar to hamiltongates.com with these?
Madden Hall: http://maddenhall.com/
Davidson Powell: http://davidsonpowell.com/ (http://twitter.com/davidsonpowell)
Nicholson Barnes: http://www.nicholsonbarnes.com/ (http://twitter.com/nicholsonbarnes)
Warner Rowe: http://www.warnerrowe.com/ (http://twitter.com/warnerrowe)
Larson Keller: http://www.larsonkeller.com/ (http://twitter.com/larsonkeller)
I have found the answers to this mystery thanks to the great work of the folks at BBB in Tucson, AZ:
http://www.bbb.org/tucson/business-reviews/travel-clubs/southwest-travel-club-in-tucson-az-20007983
I am the proud recipient of a replica of this letter with the name of Madden Hall. See my earlier blog post about that letter.
(I will be including a scan soon) Here is the letter and envelope (click to see larger image):
TEXT:
I am pleased to inform you that you have qualified for an award of 2 roundtrip airline tickets. Congratulations. These tickets are valid for travel anywhere in the Continental U.S. The retail value of this award is up to $1,400.00. Certain restrictions apply.
We have attempted contacting you several times without success. This is our last attempt. If we do not hear from you soon, we may need to issue the ticket vouchers to the alternate.
Please call me today at 866-391-0391.
Regards,
Brittany Dale
Vice President, Travel Awards Division
info@hamiltongates.com — www.hamiltongates.com
AW-25473 at the bottom
26 Responses to “Letter from Hamilton Gates about free airline tickets”
I just received the same letter today w/ the exact info from Brittany Dale, hand written and 44 cent stamp. I think this is a scam. I am going to call over my Ooma VoIP phone and find out. I will report back with what I found.
By Chris on Jul 28, 2010
Thank you so much for posting this. My boyfriend received the EXACT same letter postmarked Phoenix, AZ 852 on 7/27/10. I said I would try to investigate it for him, but I don’t think we would ever have learned the truth without your post. The BBB doesn’t have Hamilton Gates listed yet, but I sent messages to both the Phoenix and East Tennessee BBBs to please add it to the list of scam companies with F-ratings. I heard the other day that Tennessee was one of the #1 states for being targeted with internet spam, which is just a newer version of the letter scam…
By Wendy on Jul 30, 2010
Thanks for posting this. As an FYI, I received the same letter today (7/30/10) in Columbus, OH.
By Dan on Jul 30, 2010
I too live in East Tennessee and have received phone messages at home and received a letter from Hamilton Gates today. Reeked of scam so I decided to google it. If I had ever entered any kind of drawing I would have put my cell number, not home, so that was my first tip. Thanks for the info. What do they try to do if you call? Anyone tried it?
By Courtney on Jul 30, 2010
It looks like they try to get you to come to a sales presentation. Read the BBB link in the post.
By brmorris on Jul 30, 2010
I received the same letter today! The date on the letter is July 26, 10 and have till just Wed. Aug 4th to reply. Envelope was out of Arizonia and hand addressed.
By William Miller on Jul 31, 2010
I live in California and received the same letter today (July 31, 2010)
By Joe Marquardt on Jul 31, 2010
I/we live in east Tennessee. I LOVE the Internet and our new found tool to research companies. The BBB report suns it all up.
By Michael Yaros on Aug 1, 2010
Same letter, stamp, address, phone number and hand-written envelope. Clearly a scam. Doesn’t the fed investigate “mail fraud” like this?
By Steve B on Aug 2, 2010
Another one that’s in East Tennessee that got it..gotta love Google!
Thanks for the info folks!
By Michelle Feldman on Aug 2, 2010
I have received this same letter today (Aug 2). Like the rest of you, I am wondering what this is about, since they NEVER tried contacting me ‘several times without success.’ I am glad I have found this website to know that others have received this too.
By Shirl Vernon on Aug 2, 2010
Just received a letter too – I am in Pennsylvania. Sure looks like a scam to me!!!
By Mark S. on Aug 2, 2010
We got a Hamilton Gates letter today. Their letterhead boasts New York, Chicago and Lost Angeles as branch sites, but no mention of a physical address for any of them. Hmmm… at least they used spell check.
By Susan on Aug 2, 2010
I received this letter yesterday. The letter head was ‘ Hamilton Gates ‘. It seems they are now operating in Ohio. They have been trying to contact me by phone for more than 2 months. However I did not recognize the number and refused to answer. Happy to know my first instinct was correct. Thanks all for the info.
By Sherri A on Aug 3, 2010
I got the same letter in E.Tennessee. I have been doing something I have never done before and that is return the Publishers Clearing House letters. Wondering if somehow they are connected. I haven’t ordered form Publishers and haven’t given my phone #. I also got a scam letter from International Award Advisors. It could just be coincidence. I have been getting lots of calls from Unknown numbers but I don’t answer them.
By Frances on Aug 3, 2010
Has anyone called them?
By Frank on Aug 3, 2010
just recd my ltr today. it will make good starting fuel for my burn barrel.
By ray on Aug 3, 2010
Got my letter from Hamilton Gates yesterday. I actually laughed when I opened it. I hope no one falls for it.
By Amy M. on Aug 3, 2010
got the same letter today
By T on Aug 3, 2010
I live in East Tenn, and I received the letter today. Here is the website of the actual company: http://www.southwesttravelclubs.com/
By Ian on Aug 3, 2010
Live in LA. Received same pitch. I called and they want you to goto a travel agency and hear a pitch. In return you get a voucher for free tickets. “All we ask is that you pay the airline taxes.”
Seems VERY scammy to me. I told them ‘no thanks’
good luck to everyone else. seems like a total waste of time.
By marc on Aug 4, 2010
That BBB link was all I needed to see…any time cash/credit card is asked for before you are handed any kind of “certificate” is fo sho a scam. It was fun to see everyone else got those too
By Chris on Aug 4, 2010
Live in Pittsburgh, PA. Received the Hamilton Gates letter today. Total scam!
By Amy on Aug 4, 2010
I’m in Lenoir city, Tn and I received the same identical letter shown above. Looks and sounds official, but I’m sure it’s a scam. I’m sending it to the bbb in Arizona.
By mary macdonald on Aug 7, 2010
I assumed it was a scam, but was curious as to who they were shilling for (GLOBAL DISCOVERY VACATIONS). Went to the presentation but got turned away because my wife wasn’t with me. The letter to me only, so I never mentioned her to the phone rep. I had a bit of a tizzy fit about how they ripped me off by having me drive over only to get turned away and what a scam the whole thing is. A few “winners” obviously heard me, but not sure if it did any good. Looks like it is either a scam for selling time shares or vacation packages.
By Tim on Aug 10, 2010
Received letter last week in California.
By Howard on Aug 11, 2010