Ed Bridges in Costa Rica brief discussion

[AndyLee]

I recently signed back on Planet-Love because I received an email from Ed Bridges, ARS Corp, St. Augustine, Florida and San Jose, Costa Rica.
He wrote to me to ask me to retract a review I did back in 2010 about his dating service in San Jose, Costa Rica. Here is my review and a follow up review:
http://www.planet-love.com/index.php?topic=5738.msg70692#msg70692
http://www.planet-love.com/index.php?topic=6691.msg93050#msg93050


I did a quick Internet search on Ed Bridges Costa Rica, and Ed Bridges Costa Rica Scam and found a lot of useful information and some links to YouTube videos about him and his family, and a link to a sample of his kindle book How To Get The Costa Rican Girl on Amazon at
https://read.amazon.com/?asin=B007XIVPU6


At this moment I don't have time to delve into this question deeply, so I will make a retraction statement as follows:
I personally do not know if Ed Bridges is a "con man and well known scammer" as I stated before. Those words may be incorrect because I do not personally know of other men have been conned or scammed by Bridges like I was.
I do not want to disparage anyone or interfere with their business or their book sales. But, in my opinion based on my own experience which I briefly outlined in the msg thread above #93050 I would say that I personally was definitely scammed.
Based on my experience I would classify Ed Bridges as a con artist. He is very persuasive and friendly online and in person. When I first came in contact with him he sent me 250 pictures of very attractive Costa Rican women that he said he could fix me up with and asked me to choose the 40 that I wanted to meet. In the end he actually introduced me to 3 women over a 7 day visit to Costa Rica. The first woman was a professional dater, the second woman wanted a fancy restaurant meal, and the third woman was not one of the pictures he sent me and was totally unattractive to me and I felt she was rude and anti-social.
The trip cost $1000 paid to Edward Bridges, and another $1000 for airline and hotels. The Edward Bridges part of my trip was a dismal flop, but fortunately I had also been corresponding with women through Latin American Cupid who lived in San Jose, Costa Rica, and I was able to have a good time and meet some nice women in spite of Ed Bridges and his Ed's Ticas dating service.
Here is a link to the most recent discussion about Ed Bridges
http://www.planet-love.com/index.php?topic=7573.msg109873#msg109873

[bcc_1_2]

I do not know what is going on, but I suspect you would not be posting this comment out of the blue. Let me just say to all these businesses out there that these "retractions" by posters don't look good for your business AT ALL (in my own personal opinion of course... please don't threaten legal action against me too for having travel experience in Costa Rica and posting it  )
When businesses put the screws to a former customer it just looks bad no matter what the circumstances. I'll take over for AndyLee because I have been in Costa Rica this year. You don't need any business outside your hotel, taxi service, and the local newspaper. My wife placed and advertisement (they are cheap) for a friend and he had LOTS of dates. And the nightlife is fantastic. Heredia, Heredia, Heredia... the women are there. Spend your time in that community which is part of the greater San Jose area. Spend your money in air travel, hotel, and food/entertainment/transport in Costa Rica.
With the newspaper and internet you don't need any of these businesses in Costa Rica.

[Tom1952]

Dear Andy Lee:
 
I saw your new post on Planet Love. It was more honest, but you still accuse me of scamming you.  I simply do not understand that. 
 
In the last email you sent to me below, you sounded very satisfied with the trip and you were planning to return to meet more women. But I guess you decided to use another service in Colombia to help you find someone and I am very happy for you that you found the woman you were looking for in Colombia.
 
All I can do is to introduce the guys to the women they select until they meet one that they like. After I make the introduction, it is up to the guy to decide if he wants to pursue more dates with her or move on to meeting another one. 
 
I have tons of great references from the guys I have worked with and I am happy to let new guys contact my customers directly.
 
Sincerely, Edward
 
-----Original Message-----
 From: Andrew Lee [mailto:@gmail.com]
 Sent: Monday, July 06, 2009 12:07 PM
 To: ars259
 Subject: thanks, Ed!
 
Hi Ed,
 
I'm waiting for flight at San Jose. My trip to San Jose was successful in all respects except for the brief annoyance with what's her name. I know you were trying to be helpful and unable to attend, so that's okay. Just a temporary set back.
 
Of the three you introduced me to, Rosa Diaz was outstanding, Luz was great. I distinctly feel the language barrier with Luz was the big reason I was unable to control expenses. I think she was just being sincere and trying to have a good time with me. Once I learn the language I'll be able to head off expensive items before they get annoying.
 
My weekend with Flory went well. I'm planning to see her again in Phoenix on her next visit to US in August. It might blossom into something, who knows.
 
I'll see you either in September or December depending on cash flow, which sort of sucks right now but I do feel the economy is getting better.
 
Take care, Andy
 
 

[bcc_1_2]

Dear Andy Lee:
 
I saw your new post on Planet Love. It was more honest, but you still accuse me of scamming you.  I simply do not understand that. 
 
In the last email you sent to me below, you sounded very satisfied with the trip and you were planning to return to meet more women. But I guess you decided to use another service in Colombia to help you find someone and I am very happy for you that you found the woman you were looking for in Colombia.
 
All I can do is to introduce the guys to the women they select until they meet one that they like. After I make the introduction, it is up to the guy to decide if he wants to pursue more dates with her or move on to meeting another one. 
 
I have tons of great references from the guys I have worked with and I am happy to let new guys contact my customers directly.
 
Sincerely, Edward
 
-----Original Message-----
 From: Andrew Lee [mailto:@gmail.com]
 Sent: Monday, July 06, 2009 12:07 PM
 To: ars259
 Subject:  thanks, Ed!
 
Hi Ed,
 
I'm waiting for flight at San Jose. My trip to San Jose was successful in all respects except for the brief annoyance with what's her name. I know you were trying to be helpful and unable to attend, so that's okay. Just a temporary set back.
 
Of the three you introduced me to, Rosa Diaz was outstanding, Luz was great. I distinctly feel the language barrier with Luz was the big reason I was unable to control expenses. I think she was just being sincere and trying to have a good time with me. Once I learn the language I'll be able to head off expensive items before they get annoying.
 
My weekend with Flory went well. I'm planning to see her again in Phoenix on her next visit to US in August. It might blossom into something, who knows.
 
I'll see you either in September or December depending on cash flow, which sort of sucks right now but I do feel the economy is getting better.
 
Take care, Andy

That's right folks. If you do business with Tom he'll be sure and post all your personal information online! What a great businessman.  If everybody wasn't running from you before they sure are now. Nice work.

[Jamie]

bcc_1_2  a bit of an exaggeration “post all your personal information online!“ A business has a right to defend itself using communications they had with a customer. Since they both agree Andy only met 3 women I think that alone would be sufficient information to guide future interested parties about the service. Andy I think I will be heading South in December and if so I will be contacting you about dropping by.

[AndyLee]

Good to hear from you, Jamie. I look forward to seeing you again in December.


Yes, I agree that a business has a right to defend itself, just as a consumer has a right to post a positive or negative review.
For Mr. Bridges to use my letter as an indicator of my satisfaction with his service is okay.
Quite frankly, though, I don't understand why I wrote that letter to him, other than maybe to point out that the woman I mention, Flory, was my own contact through Latin American Cupid and she made my trip to Costa Rica worthwhile.
I'm a little bemused about the tone of my letter to Mr. Bridges back in 2009. It does seem as if I'm giving him a thumbs up, when in fact, at that time I was disappointed about the money I spent to travel to a foreign country only to have dinner with two different girls and that was the extent of the matchmaking that Mr. Bridges provided. I didn't have dinner with the third girl, but I did sit in a bar with her for the 5 or so minutes it took me to realize that not only was she not very attractive but she was also not very friendly, having somewhat of a chip on her shoulder or just a generally bad attitude.
This was my very first overseas dating experience and I learned a lot from it. Possibly some of the lessons I learned from that episode have kept me from making even bigger mistakes since then.
I often wonder how it would have turned out though if I had gone to Colombia first rather than Costa Rica. Imagine if I had spent a similar or even double the amount of money at Jamie's or one of the other reputable agencies in Colombia? I would have been light years ahead I think and possibly my life would have turned out much differently, who knows?

[bcc_1_2]

bcc_1_2  a bit of an exaggeration “post all your personal information online!“ A business has a right to defend itself using communications they had with a customer. Since they both agree Andy only met 3 women I think that alone would be sufficient information to guide future interested parties about the service. Andy I think I will be heading South in December and if so I will be contacting you about dropping by.

You don't go around posting a customers name and email along with personal stuff about them that they sent you in confidence online. Simple as that. Hopefully you can confirm your knowledge of North American customer service standards and that you are more professional than this guy.

[AndyLee]

I agree with bcc that it is not good agency policy for Sr. Bridges to post my email address online in an open forum. That I definitely disagree with. But, it is certainly okay for him to use my name, because it is my screen name on this forum and it is the name I used when I wrote the negative review about him in this forum.
If it is okay for me to post the detrimental review then it is definitely okay for Mr. Bridges to defend himself as he has done, courteously and openly. My only complaint about his responses is that he outed my email address.
My complaint about his dating service is that he asked me to choose the 40 women I would like to meet and he would arrange meetings with the ones in that group who also wanted to meet me. In the end he could only introduce me to two of the forty and then as an afterthought he introduced me to a third woman who was not one of my choices.
As you know, other agencies, such as Jamie's and the other reputable companies in Colombia, will provide dozens of qualified introductions over a one week time frame. One of my friends spent a week at Jamie's service in Barranquilla and met so many women he asked for a day off after four days so he could get his thoughts collected. For example, my friend met 21 women the very first day at Jamie's, not counting the translator.
That is the sort of service that I expected from Mr. Bridges based on him assuring me after he saw my photos and talked with me in chat he was convinced that any one of the 40 women I chose would jump at a chance to meet me. It was based on that conversation with Mr. Bridges that I chose to pay him the money and go to Costa Rica to meet his girls. What I got instead was a big disappointment.
I don't want to come across as a whiner although I do feel like I'm starting to sound that way. But, I think anyone who has experienced this sort of disappointment should write a review as a way to caution others that the service was not provided as it was advertised.

[beulah]

That's right folks. If you do business with Tom he'll be sure and post all your personal information online! What a great businessman.  If everybody wasn't running from you before they sure are now. Nice work.

Nobody is going to run from him.  I can see both sides here. You had no reason to interject your ignorance in this topic.  You are hindering what could be a decent discussion.  You just don't know when to stfu. 

[AndyLee]

I can see both sides here. You had no reason to interject your ignorance in this topic.  You are hindering what could be a decent discussion.  You just don't know when to stfu.

Well said, Beulah. I agree. The poster bcc has not lent anything new or useful to the thread. There is some useful and insightful information here and it should be allowed to stand on its own merits. I'm sort of happy to see that bcc will be spending his future in Honduras and not Colombia

[fathertime]

You don't go around posting a customers name and email along with personal stuff about them that they sent you in confidence online. Simple as that. Hopefully you can confirm your knowledge of North American customer service standards and that you are more professional than this guy.

what a nice 2fer for you bcc, you get to try to do 2 of your favorite things...
1. criticize
2. attack an agency owner


it seems to me that these two guys were having a productive dialogue before you sprang upon the scene


this trip report was from around 4 years ago...so it is hard to say if the observations would pertain to 2013...businesses often change a lot in 4 years..for better or worse...I'd say generally speaking it is way better to under promise to keep expectations down...if it were me I might have still booked the vacation even if the agency owner told me that only about 15% of the ladies would even consider me based on my age if I were 60. 


anyway..chalking it up to a learning experience seems like a reasonable route to take...for both.


Fathertime! 

[robert angel]

Well said, Beulah. I agree. The poster bcc has not lent anything new or useful to the thread. There is some useful and insightful information here and it should be allowed to stand on its own merits. I'm sort of happy to see that bcc will be spending his future in Honduras and not Colombia

Took me a while to get irked with bcc's whiney, predictable spiel, but eventually it did come to irk me. When some other posters--guys who typically don't have an overly negative word to say about anyone, also make comments about him, be it 'not lent anything new or useful' or otherwise, I don't feel bad at all anymore!

[Jamie]

You don't go around posting a customers name and email along with personal stuff about them that they sent you in confidence online. Simple as that. Hopefully you can confirm your knowledge of North American customer service standards and that you are more professional than this guy.

Yes, you are right about the email address, which I did not notice and the name in most cases, but not in this case since Andy's username is his full name. I don't doubt Andy's version, but you still need to be fair minded. A business has a right to post relevant email correspondences from a complaining customer.

[Bob_S]

The merits of each argument notwithstanding, bcc is correct that Tom was out of bounds posting private contact info on an open public forum for just any spam bot to find.


I have since deleted the details of the email address of Andy's.  If I missed one, please point it out to me.


Tom, in the future, while I understand the need to protect your business reputation, please erase clients' private contact information before you cut and paste such correspondences that a member here has chosen not to reveal themselves.


~Mod Bob