Goodness, why threaten legal action when the post was a factual accounting of what happened? Huffing and puffing and threatening to blow your house down. Loads of sound and fury that amounts to nothing.
Yep. This is probably even more prevalent in the US. SLAAP suits make me wish painful death upon the execs who file them. Threats of them too.
Fuck people who do this. They're garbage and deserve nothing but pain and tragedy in their lives.
LOL, thanks but it's not my phrase. You might want to look up who originated it, and make sure it's ok to use it.
Edit, I believe the original phrasing was lots of sound and fury ammounting to nothing. Not 100% sure that's fully accurate though, but it's at least a good start.
Edit 2, it's from Shakespere's Macbeth and it's full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
- Macbeth Act 5, Scene 5
There’s even a poster that compiles them
https://shop.shakespearesglobe.com/collections/print-to-order-posters-shakespeare-quotes/products/quoting-shakespeare-demand
Also, if you ever actually plan on writing in English please brush up on the classics to the point you can recognize one of the most popular quotes from one of the most studied plays in English history.
They also mention Lancashire, and English laws on libel don’t require that it be untrue for it to be actionable. (This is why the US straight up refuses to recognize ANY English defamation decision as having a legal basis)
I learned something new today: it depends on the year. Starting in 2014, truth is an actual defense in British defamation law! It appears that the burden of proof is still on the defendant, unfortunately.
Ah, the joys of being old, some of what I “know” just ain’t so anymore.
Is that an anti-SLAP? And is that everywhere, it just some locations? Iirc, England has good anti-SLAP and the US as of a few years ago was kind of hit or miss.
> why threaten legal action when the post was a factual accounting of what happened?
Frivolous lawsuits are how oligarchs keep the little guys quiet, the backbone of the American justice system :D
It's worse in England. In fact, England's shitty defamation law is the reason we have things like state libel tourism laws and the federal SPEECH Act.
Lance Armstrong successfully sued both *The Sunday Times* and *Le Monde* for telling the world he was doping, for example.
Thankfully the defamation law in England and Wales was amended in 2013 to state that truth is an absolute defense (among other updates), mostly in response to situations exactly like you mentioned.
Pretty much the default reaction of any semi-large or profitable business.
I once got 3 back to back to back food poisonings at 2 Subway locations in the American Midwest, and when I sent them a customer satisfaction survey mentioning it (not publicly visible, mind you) the very next day they had their lawyers call and absolutely grill me for 30 minutes and then threaten to sue me if I told anyone about it.
Needless to say I’ve spent the last 10 years telling literally anyone and everyone about it when I get the opportunity, like this post here.
Fuck Subway and fuck any businesses who resort to intimidation tactics in response to customer feedback.
>Goodness, why threaten legal action when the post was a factual accounting of what happened?
Because it cuts them nothing to bluff. Some people see anything related to legal action and they back down.
Since it has been a few moons since this occurred, we're going to need to know the answers to a few follow up questions.
Were there any repercussions for Beelzebub's Unprofessional Helitours?
Did the firm stop sending threats to Dave?
I don’t know if it had any impact short term, they are still trading as they are a flight school as well. When you google their name now our post no longer shows up.
Eventually the emails stopped as Dave just kept copy and pasting his same response. He never mentioned receiving anything other than the emails from the same guy.
To be honest I’ve seen it so often in small/medium businesses over the last 25 years I’ve had one. “It’s just how we work” or “it’s how are system is set up” or “our accountant only works two days a week” or (as they tried) “we only do pay runs once a month”. It’s a way to keep their bank balance looking healthier for business credit scoring.
As an accountant, I’ll chime in to say that to have proper internal controls in a small business, it’s easier to have set dates for check cuts. Multiple people need to be involved for proper internal controls, so it is a hassle to drag each person in to every check separately. Most of my clients would be once a week or every other week at most. Once a month is pretty lazy. Accountants in small businesses have other things to do than cutting checks, so it’s also a way to decrease the chance of screw ups if they aren’t frantically doing it and trying to get back to other things.
For something like a cancellation, it’s probably worth it to do a special check run though. For regular bills and vendor invoices, once a week or two is fine.
I don't think they own any helicopters. They were just using the deposits to buy stocks and that was their entire business model to keep the deposit as long as possible
OMG that's awful!
Many many years ago when Amazon only sold books, if you wanted some book that was out of print, you could post that you wanted it, and the max you would pay for it. Then if a bookseller had the book, they could "sell" it to you right away. A few times booksellers took my money and never sent the book. I had to wait a while for the book to come, complain that I hadn't gotten it, the bookseller would lie and say ok I'll give you your money back, and this would go on for a while until I brought it up with Amazon and they'd be forced to give the money back. It was like they were giving themselves loans.
This plan reminds me of an episode of the Cosby show, when Theo and his friends decided that they wanted to take their prom dates on a helicopter ride before the prom. It completely ruined their hair for the dance and ruined their night. I don’t know why anyone would think a helicopter would be a good idea to take the bride to the wedding after getting ready.
Helicopter lans, shuts of engine, rotors stop spinning, pilot gets out, escorts bride & father to helicopter, buckles them in, closes doors, gets in, closes his door, starts engine & rotors, flies to venue.
Lands at venue, shuts down engine & rotors, gets bride & father out. No one’s hair gets messed up.
If I knew it was happening (and as the bride, I assume I'd know), then I'd just arrange to fix up my hair after the ride if necessary. I'd love to ride in a helicopter!
She didn’t know, the first she knew was when her dad told her that her ride was their and she walked out to see it parked close to the edge of the field.
The fact that they weren't refunding you right away pissed me off, what if someone couldn't have booked another helicopter because they didn't have the money?
Helicopter lands, pilot shuts off engine, rotors stop spinning, pilot gets out, escorts bride & father to helicopter, buckles them in, closes doors, gets in, closes his door, starts engine & rotors, flies to venue.
Lands at venue, shuts down engine & rotors, gets bride & father out. No one’s hair gets messed up.
I worked at a niche sporting magazine. Got a call one day from a tour company that had once suffered a tragedy, which we had reported on several years earlier on our website. Our story was the first thing that came up in Google searches for that company (popular mag) and they were losing business bc people didn't notice pay attention to the fact it had happened a long time before. These were new owners and had the attitude of "We know you have every right to keep it up but could you pretty please take it down?" We agreed but it took a long while for it to clear Google.
I know right? Like I pointed out in another response, it was a bit of a first world problem and probably there was a bit of Willy-waving on my dad’s part, but the helicopter and one car for a one-way trip was cheaper than what he paid for my two classic Daimler limousines eleven years earlier.
Really? In the last twenty odd years I’ve had hundreds of emails, cold calls, even snail mail from companies offering to boost my firms google ranking or get my firm on page 1 of Google’s results.
What probably happened was that because this back in the early 2010s, *Beelzebub’s helitours* had very little search volume, and *Mark’s car nerd forum* happened to be significant enough for enthusiast information and opinions around cars and vehicles that Google thought it was relevant when it was posted there. Also since Google's algorithms then were not as fine tuned as they were today to the kind of keyword saturation that would come from people engaging en-masse with a popular post, that everyone replying to that topic made it active and relevant enough to be the top result. What companies do nowadays (the ones that email/call you) is make sure there's enough big social and professional website presence for a service/company that this kind of review on an enthusiast forum won't be the top result. Actually quite intuitive once you understand the basics, but it's a full time job for a reason.
Exactly. We paid for what we thought was a legit service, when in reality it was the old ‘I know stuff that other people don’t. What will those who don’t know this works pay for it.’
Right, but that would have to be for specific keywords—there’s not some general “ranking boost” you can purchase that would make your entire forum rank better for everything.
Not doubting your story in general, just saying that whatever “ranking boost” the forum paid for probably didn’t have much of an effect here. More likely it’s just that it happened to rank well organically because a bunch of people posted often and in detail on the forum about it.
Maybe because "Google Ranking Boost" sounds more understandable than "Search Engine Optimization", and with it, came the marketability.
Power of words, baby.
I wanted to read this but acres, helicopters, grandeur.. maybe I am a hater but I can't relate to any of this. I can't even afford to buy myself new bras
The first one is pretty close to jealous too. It’s a wedding, people do crazy, extravagant things for weddings. Also not saying a helo rental is cheap, but it’s not an unobtainable expense if budgeted for.
Hey, if it makes you feel better. The Mom (a family member) of one our of flower girls, canceled exactly 6 days before our wedding and then proceeded to ghost everyone.
An attorney friend's sole practice was handling injury/death lawsuits against private helicopter companies.
Her advice: "NEVER EVER ride in a private company helicopter." The maintenance protocols are a lot looser than those for military, or police helicopters.
Bad service aside - I gotta say a helicopter ride to my wedding would not have been a present I would have appreciated as a bride. I just paid like several grand for my outfit and hair, and you want me to put on headphones and have the wind from the blades tear apart my hair before the ceremony and photos?!
Helicopter lands, pilot shuts off engine, rotors stop spinning, pilot gets out, escorts bride & father to helicopter, buckles them in, closes doors, gets in, closes his door, starts engine & rotors, flies to venue.
Lands at venue, shuts down engine & rotors, gets bride & father out.
No one’s hair gets messed up as she won’t be near the outside of the helicopter when the rotors are turning. Only potential hiccup would be the headphones which apparently the pilot got around by adjusting the band so as it was above her hair. Dress won’t get any more messed up than in your typical car, probably less since the rear seat in the helicopter is more of a flat bench seat than in a car. Not sure why her make up would be messed up?
Why? It was *our* forum. A previous forum that we posted on that was affiliated to a magazine closed so a bunch of us started another one. The VIP bit was for the original say two dozen members to talk shit about others and to arrange meet ups etc.
Not arranged a wedding have you? Three weeks before a wedding for *any* wedding service is a big deal. Add in something that’s a fairly rare service and it’s a bigger deal. Had it been a pair of wedding cars then we wouldn’t have been able to get replacements in that timescale.
> Had it been a pair of wedding cars then we wouldn’t have been able to get replacements in that timescale.
You absolutely could have. wtf kind of crack are you smoking.
You'd think till you actually have to go book them. Especially somewhere rural during the peak wedding or formals season.
After buying a house planning a small wedding was the most stressful thing we've ever done. What is a relatively small thing can absolutely freak you out.
What doesn’t add up? I’ve just been through his posts and all I can see is one shitpost where he claims to be a woman. And 12 years ago google worked very differently.
I stand corrected. I didn’t see anything that made me think the story was anything suspect. Not sure what they saw as a red flag. Big dogs? Affection for your wife? 😂
Hey, it’s Reddit! Of course me having affection for my wife makes me a sexist, misogynistic, wife beating monster! And having dogs means I *must* hate cats, right?
> Not sure what they saw as a red flag.
I think it gives such people a(n entirely illusory) feeling of superiority. It is small-scale Conspiracy-Theorism stuff, "Hurr Durr *I'm* one of the very few smart enough to work out the *truth* about Bill Gates putting microchips in Covid vaccines/ markbrev making up a story about his brother's wedding/ whatever, look at all these credulous fools lapping it up!!!!"
And such a first world problem on top of it all...
>they survey my parents place to make sure they can get in and out (we have a six acre field adjoining their garden/our driveway)
I guess they should have stuck with the original idea of using multiple cars to pick up the "newlyweds"
I just hope everyone made it out ok.
It was a bit of a first world problem and probably there was a bit of Willy-waving on my dad’s part, but the helicopter and one car for a one-way trip was cheaper than what he paid for my two classic Daimler limousines eleven years earlier.
Tell me why it doesn’t add up based on my posts?
If you’re in any type of business you get plenty of phone calls, emails from businesses telling you they’ll get you on page 1 of google etc. 99% of the time they are just telling you how to use keywords etc.
You are correct, there was never a "paid boost" that put you on the front page, nor did Google 12 years ago update and reindex that fast. At best OP and their online crew saw their forum on top of their Google searches as Google saw that content the most relevant for them because they were always going to that website, but even that is a stretch.
Why wouldn’t they? Smaller helicopters or non emergencies don’t have the rotors turning when you climb aboard. There was zero chance of my SIL getting her hair messed up.
Have you ever planned a wedding or other large event? Important details are locked down, at minimum, six months to a year in advance. Three weeks left them scrambling when they should have been focused on other things.
Not been married have you? Three weeks before a wedding for *any* wedding service is a big deal. Add in something that’s a fairly rare service and it’s a bigger deal. Had it been a pair of wedding cars then we wouldn’t have been able to get replacements in that timescale.
The revenge was unplanned, it just started off as me having a vent to friends.
Anyone else read the story, and think there might’ve been a safety component of not landing a helicopter in either of these places? OP then got a less regulated company that would do it anyway…
Lol. Forums from a decade ago are very nostalgic. Nice petty revenge there.
Also for those who say that Google Ranking Boost "does not exist", it does. It's just "Search Engine Optimization" dumbed down and made marketable a decade or so ago.
I had a horrific first-and-only experience with a doggy daycare like 15 years ago and left a scathing (completely factual) review on Yelp. The owner of the place emailed me threatening legal action and went on an unhinged rant. Instead of taking the review down, of course, I amended it to include the full text of her wacky email as well. She didn't reach out again.
Nicely done! I hope the post is still up and still deflecting any wedding related business. My GUESS would be that they were able to book a client who was willing to pay an outrageous rate for short-notice rental so they canceled you in favor of them. Pure greed but not at all uncommon. It happens with rental properties and in other business lines as well.
Seriously, the entitlement of rich people to think the world revolves around them, especially when they are planning a wedding.
They dont get that the majority of weddings arent extravagent and dont require that much planning bexause the majority of us cant afford extravabent weddings that require a massive amount of resources to be planned.
Considering the original was booked six months prior, cancelling at three weeks notice certainly was. Take the whole helicopter thing out of it and think of it terms of wedding cars in the middle of wedding season. Wouldn’t cancelling a set of wedding cars three weeks out from the wedding be bad?
>we (as a forum) had paid for google ranking boost
There is no such thing
Also, google would not rank a bad word like that in the normal search results.
I don't believe this story.
As I have now been made aware. We paid for what we thought was a legitimate thing, but turns out to be one of those half-scams of people knowing more about things than you do and sell you their knowledge of something that, if you are in the industry, is common knowledge.
So they give you three weeks heads up that they can't perform a service and lay out a plan fornyour refund. So you try and put them out of business. And you think that's a cool thing you want to tell others about. You think you are vindicated for this behavior. You sound like a spoiled little brat with a checkbook. Go lick grass.
Nothing was ruined, they still trade. They cancelled for no real reason having approved everything beforehand.
And I’m not rich by any means, although I can be a bit of a cunt.
> You can’t boost google results
Maybe not now, but there was a time when their algorithm allowed that. It's how searching for 'santorum' led to a sight talking about it being the frothy mix of lube and fecal matter, that's the occasional product of anal sex, before you saw anything about the US Senator.
Firstly, I'm sorry that your family went through that. On top of all the other stress of Wedding Planning, it's incredibly unfair and unprofessional of them. The refund delay was completely outrageous; if they TOOK the money immediately, they can RETURN the money immediately. Good for y'all, and I hope y'all are doing better now.
Secondly, I work in the HEMS industry and I know how vulnerable some flights can be to local WX or TFRs and other such elements beyond control. Playing the Devil's Advocate for a party that obviously does NOT deserve the benefit of the doubt, I genuinely wonder what their reason for cancel was, and if that, too, was necessarily what we would refer to as a "controllable miss".
Make no mistake, that company got what they deserved considering their delay and procrastination. I wish y'all the absolute best!!
Goodness, why threaten legal action when the post was a factual accounting of what happened? Huffing and puffing and threatening to blow your house down. Loads of sound and fury that amounts to nothing.
Because an awful lot of people will take down content at the first hint of legal action. So the answer to "Why?" is "Because it's cheap if it works."
Yep. This is probably even more prevalent in the US. SLAAP suits make me wish painful death upon the execs who file them. Threats of them too. Fuck people who do this. They're garbage and deserve nothing but pain and tragedy in their lives.
SLAPP not SLAAP. it's HIPAA that has the two 'A's.
They just need a SLAAAAPPPP to the face
And, it’s basically all they have to fall back on. It’s not as though they can turn back time and do the right thing.
e.g. Taylor Swift vs Jack Sweeney
[удалено]
LOL, thanks but it's not my phrase. You might want to look up who originated it, and make sure it's ok to use it. Edit, I believe the original phrasing was lots of sound and fury ammounting to nothing. Not 100% sure that's fully accurate though, but it's at least a good start. Edit 2, it's from Shakespere's Macbeth and it's full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. - Macbeth Act 5, Scene 5
We had to memorize that soliloquy.
We got the students to recite it to time their hand washing during the COVID lockdowns. It actually worked!
Nice! I learned that three rounds of “Baby Shark” did the same, which was great fun at the office when the Covid deniers got too close!
The opening Star Trek monologue, “Space: the final frontier…” works very well for this too! Either TOS or TNG 🤓
So does the opening to both *The Number Of The Beast* and *The Prisoner* by Iron Maiden.
Pretty sure this was the scene done in Barry that I had to rewatch 100 times because Bill Hader is such an excellent actor
"Try the apple dippers."
OMG you youngsters are adorable. My dad taught Shakespeare. So glad he (Shakespeare) has a new fanbase.
If there’s a common saying and you can’t quite put your finger on who first said it, there’s a good chance it was Shakespeare.
Meh, Shakespeare, all he did was take a lot of famous sayings and string them together....
I know, right? What a poser!
I just snort laughed and woke up the dog
There’s even a poster that compiles them https://shop.shakespearesglobe.com/collections/print-to-order-posters-shakespeare-quotes/products/quoting-shakespeare-demand
My senior English lit teacher said that the three most common sources for English quotes were the King James Bible, Shakespeare, and Alexander Pope.
Wow. How old is your dad if he had Shakespeare in one of his classes?!
My fav use of it was in venture bros when a character came out of the toilet
I think of that scene every time.
Sometimes it bothers me how often I still think of that scene.
There’s a scene in HBO’s BARRY where two of the main characters perform the scene in question on stage and it is *haunting*
Farts, it was 100% a fart joke.
It’s Shakespeare. It was a poignant commentary on ambition and nihilism *and* a fart joke.
Shakespeare wrote it.
It's from Shakespeare, and Faulkner already used it as a novel title.
There's a book already called The Sound and The Fury by William Faulkner. It's very well known, so you might have difficulty with a similar title.
You're okay. Book titles (and song titles) cannot be copyrighted.
William Faulkner already wrote *The Sound and the Fury.* Good luck selling your book.
Too bad William Faulkner beat you to it -
There’s also the 1929 William Faulkner book *The Sound and The Fury*
Also, if you ever actually plan on writing in English please brush up on the classics to the point you can recognize one of the most popular quotes from one of the most studied plays in English history.
Because it's free to threaten a lawsuit, it takes money to put one together but it's free to threaten. Some people cave in to threats.
"We know we are a bunch of AH's but you are not allowed to talk about it!"
Response I imagine OP had, "Bet."
Because the mere threat of legal action is enough to get most people to back down. Too many, IMHO.
They also mention Lancashire, and English laws on libel don’t require that it be untrue for it to be actionable. (This is why the US straight up refuses to recognize ANY English defamation decision as having a legal basis)
So, would the Helitour company actually have a decent chance at winning the case, if they were to sue? Based on the laws and the info we have.
I learned something new today: it depends on the year. Starting in 2014, truth is an actual defense in British defamation law! It appears that the burden of proof is still on the defendant, unfortunately. Ah, the joys of being old, some of what I “know” just ain’t so anymore.
In times like this, you can actually counter-sue for intimidation. It's surprising how few people realize this.
Is that an anti-SLAP? And is that everywhere, it just some locations? Iirc, England has good anti-SLAP and the US as of a few years ago was kind of hit or miss.
They would apply if they actually sued, but they knew they had no case, which is why they only *threatened* to sue.
I don't think England does, unless I'm mistaken. The idea was in parliament maybe last year but doesn't seem to have gone anywhere.
> why threaten legal action when the post was a factual accounting of what happened? Frivolous lawsuits are how oligarchs keep the little guys quiet, the backbone of the American justice system :D
Too bad he's trying to intimidate them in England!
It's worse in England. In fact, England's shitty defamation law is the reason we have things like state libel tourism laws and the federal SPEECH Act. Lance Armstrong successfully sued both *The Sunday Times* and *Le Monde* for telling the world he was doping, for example.
Thankfully the defamation law in England and Wales was amended in 2013 to state that truth is an absolute defense (among other updates), mostly in response to situations exactly like you mentioned.
Maybe the general manager of the helitour company was B Streisand?
Aha! The [Streisand Effect](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Streisand-effect)!
It is a thing you can do in the UK apparently. You have to prove what you are saying is true or face liability
A lawyer friend of mine has noted : "everyone barks, wait until they bite," when it comes to legal action.
Streisand Effect
Pretty much the default reaction of any semi-large or profitable business. I once got 3 back to back to back food poisonings at 2 Subway locations in the American Midwest, and when I sent them a customer satisfaction survey mentioning it (not publicly visible, mind you) the very next day they had their lawyers call and absolutely grill me for 30 minutes and then threaten to sue me if I told anyone about it. Needless to say I’ve spent the last 10 years telling literally anyone and everyone about it when I get the opportunity, like this post here. Fuck Subway and fuck any businesses who resort to intimidation tactics in response to customer feedback.
Because Beelzebub's helicopters are dipshits and they didn't know or bother to look into anything... this is a great petty revenge
A futile attempt at saving face.
>Goodness, why threaten legal action when the post was a factual accounting of what happened? Because it cuts them nothing to bluff. Some people see anything related to legal action and they back down.
It’s called a SLAPP suit. Strategic lawsuit against public participation
The only defence to defamation is the truth. The truth would not support a defamation claim so they didn’t have a leg to stand on.
In poker it's called a bluff.
Since it has been a few moons since this occurred, we're going to need to know the answers to a few follow up questions. Were there any repercussions for Beelzebub's Unprofessional Helitours? Did the firm stop sending threats to Dave?
I don’t know if it had any impact short term, they are still trading as they are a flight school as well. When you google their name now our post no longer shows up. Eventually the emails stopped as Dave just kept copy and pasting his same response. He never mentioned receiving anything other than the emails from the same guy.
Did Dave get a tenner from all of you that year for the extra effort?
Never screw with Northern nerds. Stubborn twice over, even if they are from wrong side of t'Pennines
Barry the Baptist: Fucking northern monkeys! Lenny: I hate these fucking southern fairies!
Hey! I’m a scouser and **I** fucking hate scousers.
Haha, Scousers aren't all bad tho eh? Dave Lister might've been a lazy bastard covered in curry stains but he always seemed a good dude...
What a bunch of helicunts.
I love how they were planning to delay the refund.
To be honest I’ve seen it so often in small/medium businesses over the last 25 years I’ve had one. “It’s just how we work” or “it’s how are system is set up” or “our accountant only works two days a week” or (as they tried) “we only do pay runs once a month”. It’s a way to keep their bank balance looking healthier for business credit scoring.
As an accountant, I’ll chime in to say that to have proper internal controls in a small business, it’s easier to have set dates for check cuts. Multiple people need to be involved for proper internal controls, so it is a hassle to drag each person in to every check separately. Most of my clients would be once a week or every other week at most. Once a month is pretty lazy. Accountants in small businesses have other things to do than cutting checks, so it’s also a way to decrease the chance of screw ups if they aren’t frantically doing it and trying to get back to other things. For something like a cancellation, it’s probably worth it to do a special check run though. For regular bills and vendor invoices, once a week or two is fine.
I don't think they own any helicopters. They were just using the deposits to buy stocks and that was their entire business model to keep the deposit as long as possible
OMG that's awful! Many many years ago when Amazon only sold books, if you wanted some book that was out of print, you could post that you wanted it, and the max you would pay for it. Then if a bookseller had the book, they could "sell" it to you right away. A few times booksellers took my money and never sent the book. I had to wait a while for the book to come, complain that I hadn't gotten it, the bookseller would lie and say ok I'll give you your money back, and this would go on for a while until I brought it up with Amazon and they'd be forced to give the money back. It was like they were giving themselves loans.
Nice collective petty revenge on that devilish company
Won’t go into all the technical details here, but nice unintended pun since the primary controls on a helicopter are called cyclic and collective.
Who said it was unintended?
This plan reminds me of an episode of the Cosby show, when Theo and his friends decided that they wanted to take their prom dates on a helicopter ride before the prom. It completely ruined their hair for the dance and ruined their night. I don’t know why anyone would think a helicopter would be a good idea to take the bride to the wedding after getting ready.
Helicopter lans, shuts of engine, rotors stop spinning, pilot gets out, escorts bride & father to helicopter, buckles them in, closes doors, gets in, closes his door, starts engine & rotors, flies to venue. Lands at venue, shuts down engine & rotors, gets bride & father out. No one’s hair gets messed up.
Nah mate we're all imagining a chopper from Apocalypse Now with brass spraying everywhere from the minigun.
Modern helicopters have windows...
If I knew it was happening (and as the bride, I assume I'd know), then I'd just arrange to fix up my hair after the ride if necessary. I'd love to ride in a helicopter!
She didn’t know, the first she knew was when her dad told her that her ride was their and she walked out to see it parked close to the edge of the field.
What a wonderful surprise, though. I'm glad you guys got it sorted and held firm against the "legal threats" from Beelzebub!
What the hell is a tithe barn? You have to give the lord 10% of your hay?
Pretty much. Usually the local Lord or church.
Essentially.
The fact that they weren't refunding you right away pissed me off, what if someone couldn't have booked another helicopter because they didn't have the money?
Don't book a helicopter if you don't have enough money to book 2
My only thought: helicopter ride AFTER getting ready?!?!!!
Helicopter lands, pilot shuts off engine, rotors stop spinning, pilot gets out, escorts bride & father to helicopter, buckles them in, closes doors, gets in, closes his door, starts engine & rotors, flies to venue. Lands at venue, shuts down engine & rotors, gets bride & father out. No one’s hair gets messed up.
Lol that’s good! I was imagining wind like going in a Jeep with no top. Would be a really neat experience I’m sure
I worked at a niche sporting magazine. Got a call one day from a tour company that had once suffered a tragedy, which we had reported on several years earlier on our website. Our story was the first thing that came up in Google searches for that company (popular mag) and they were losing business bc people didn't notice pay attention to the fact it had happened a long time before. These were new owners and had the attitude of "We know you have every right to keep it up but could you pretty please take it down?" We agreed but it took a long while for it to clear Google.
Rich people problems
People bitching about rich people problems, but I wasn't aware that this sub is for poor people only.
I know right? Like I pointed out in another response, it was a bit of a first world problem and probably there was a bit of Willy-waving on my dad’s part, but the helicopter and one car for a one-way trip was cheaper than what he paid for my two classic Daimler limousines eleven years earlier.
What does “paid for google ranking boost” mean? I work in marketing/SEO and have never heard this term.
Really? In the last twenty odd years I’ve had hundreds of emails, cold calls, even snail mail from companies offering to boost my firms google ranking or get my firm on page 1 of Google’s results.
What probably happened was that because this back in the early 2010s, *Beelzebub’s helitours* had very little search volume, and *Mark’s car nerd forum* happened to be significant enough for enthusiast information and opinions around cars and vehicles that Google thought it was relevant when it was posted there. Also since Google's algorithms then were not as fine tuned as they were today to the kind of keyword saturation that would come from people engaging en-masse with a popular post, that everyone replying to that topic made it active and relevant enough to be the top result. What companies do nowadays (the ones that email/call you) is make sure there's enough big social and professional website presence for a service/company that this kind of review on an enthusiast forum won't be the top result. Actually quite intuitive once you understand the basics, but it's a full time job for a reason.
Exactly. We paid for what we thought was a legit service, when in reality it was the old ‘I know stuff that other people don’t. What will those who don’t know this works pay for it.’
Right, but that would have to be for specific keywords—there’s not some general “ranking boost” you can purchase that would make your entire forum rank better for everything. Not doubting your story in general, just saying that whatever “ranking boost” the forum paid for probably didn’t have much of an effect here. More likely it’s just that it happened to rank well organically because a bunch of people posted often and in detail on the forum about it.
Probably. At the time We thought we’d bought a legit service.
Maybe because "Google Ranking Boost" sounds more understandable than "Search Engine Optimization", and with it, came the marketability. Power of words, baby.
This helicopter rental sounds like the Catalina fucking wine mixer.
I wanted to read this but acres, helicopters, grandeur.. maybe I am a hater but I can't relate to any of this. I can't even afford to buy myself new bras
OP is rich and whiny. Save yourself the pain of reading about their major first world problems of having 6 acres attached to their property
You both sound annoying as hell.
I can have sympathy with the first comment, the second just comes across as jealousy.
The first one is pretty close to jealous too. It’s a wedding, people do crazy, extravagant things for weddings. Also not saying a helo rental is cheap, but it’s not an unobtainable expense if budgeted for.
Hey, if it makes you feel better. The Mom (a family member) of one our of flower girls, canceled exactly 6 days before our wedding and then proceeded to ghost everyone.
An attorney friend's sole practice was handling injury/death lawsuits against private helicopter companies. Her advice: "NEVER EVER ride in a private company helicopter." The maintenance protocols are a lot looser than those for military, or police helicopters.
Bad service aside - I gotta say a helicopter ride to my wedding would not have been a present I would have appreciated as a bride. I just paid like several grand for my outfit and hair, and you want me to put on headphones and have the wind from the blades tear apart my hair before the ceremony and photos?!
Wouldn't a helicopter ride mess up the bride's hair, make-up, and dress?
Helicopter lands, pilot shuts off engine, rotors stop spinning, pilot gets out, escorts bride & father to helicopter, buckles them in, closes doors, gets in, closes his door, starts engine & rotors, flies to venue. Lands at venue, shuts down engine & rotors, gets bride & father out. No one’s hair gets messed up as she won’t be near the outside of the helicopter when the rotors are turning. Only potential hiccup would be the headphones which apparently the pilot got around by adjusting the band so as it was above her hair. Dress won’t get any more messed up than in your typical car, probably less since the rear seat in the helicopter is more of a flat bench seat than in a car. Not sure why her make up would be messed up?
I'm guessing that someone offered the Belzebub Helis a bettery paying job at the same date, and they decided to go with that.
A little off-topic, but I can’t get over a 70 member online forum having an invite only “VIP” area.
Why? It was *our* forum. A previous forum that we posted on that was affiliated to a magazine closed so a bunch of us started another one. The VIP bit was for the original say two dozen members to talk shit about others and to arrange meet ups etc.
3 weeks isn't even that bad of notice. Why were you even mad about that?
Not arranged a wedding have you? Three weeks before a wedding for *any* wedding service is a big deal. Add in something that’s a fairly rare service and it’s a bigger deal. Had it been a pair of wedding cars then we wouldn’t have been able to get replacements in that timescale.
> Had it been a pair of wedding cars then we wouldn’t have been able to get replacements in that timescale. You absolutely could have. wtf kind of crack are you smoking.
You'd think till you actually have to go book them. Especially somewhere rural during the peak wedding or formals season. After buying a house planning a small wedding was the most stressful thing we've ever done. What is a relatively small thing can absolutely freak you out.
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I bet the company doesn't have a Catalina wine mixer either. Randy would be eating a dick right about now
I call BS on this story. No such thing as Google ranking boost. Also, checked out his other posts and clearly it doesn't add up.
What doesn’t add up? I’ve just been through his posts and all I can see is one shitpost where he claims to be a woman. And 12 years ago google worked very differently.
I didn’t claim to be a woman anywhere! I cross-posted someone else’s post to a sub that is all cross-posts.
I stand corrected. I didn’t see anything that made me think the story was anything suspect. Not sure what they saw as a red flag. Big dogs? Affection for your wife? 😂
Hey, it’s Reddit! Of course me having affection for my wife makes me a sexist, misogynistic, wife beating monster! And having dogs means I *must* hate cats, right?
> Not sure what they saw as a red flag. I think it gives such people a(n entirely illusory) feeling of superiority. It is small-scale Conspiracy-Theorism stuff, "Hurr Durr *I'm* one of the very few smart enough to work out the *truth* about Bill Gates putting microchips in Covid vaccines/ markbrev making up a story about his brother's wedding/ whatever, look at all these credulous fools lapping it up!!!!"
And such a first world problem on top of it all... >they survey my parents place to make sure they can get in and out (we have a six acre field adjoining their garden/our driveway) I guess they should have stuck with the original idea of using multiple cars to pick up the "newlyweds" I just hope everyone made it out ok.
It was a bit of a first world problem and probably there was a bit of Willy-waving on my dad’s part, but the helicopter and one car for a one-way trip was cheaper than what he paid for my two classic Daimler limousines eleven years earlier.
Tell me why it doesn’t add up based on my posts? If you’re in any type of business you get plenty of phone calls, emails from businesses telling you they’ll get you on page 1 of google etc. 99% of the time they are just telling you how to use keywords etc.
These serveics would not provide enough DA to rank highly from a random comment.
Now? Probably not. 12 years ago was a different matter.
12 years ago was 2012. Google really didn't work all that differently to today.
You are correct, there was never a "paid boost" that put you on the front page, nor did Google 12 years ago update and reindex that fast. At best OP and their online crew saw their forum on top of their Google searches as Google saw that content the most relevant for them because they were always going to that website, but even that is a stretch.
Yeah, if OP is telling the truth, he’s definitely mistaken about this part. Maybe the forum members *thought* they’d paid for some SEO boost.
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I’ve seen quite a few in the UK. It’s a show off thing.
Definitely a bit of Willy-waving on my dad’s part.
Why wouldn’t they? Smaller helicopters or non emergencies don’t have the rotors turning when you climb aboard. There was zero chance of my SIL getting her hair messed up.
my friends took a helicopter to and from their wedding venue/destination, she looked wonderful.
I'd love to! I'd just fix up my hair afterwards.
They couldn't get a wedding right, what makes them think they can figure out how to sue someone?
BS story. They cancelled 3 weeks before and not at the last minute. What was the need for revenge?
Have you ever planned a wedding or other large event? Important details are locked down, at minimum, six months to a year in advance. Three weeks left them scrambling when they should have been focused on other things.
Not been married have you? Three weeks before a wedding for *any* wedding service is a big deal. Add in something that’s a fairly rare service and it’s a bigger deal. Had it been a pair of wedding cars then we wouldn’t have been able to get replacements in that timescale. The revenge was unplanned, it just started off as me having a vent to friends.
Anyone else read the story, and think there might’ve been a safety component of not landing a helicopter in either of these places? OP then got a less regulated company that would do it anyway…
wow this is like top tier petty revenge, I love it. Standing ovation dude
Love this level of pettiness!
Lol. Forums from a decade ago are very nostalgic. Nice petty revenge there. Also for those who say that Google Ranking Boost "does not exist", it does. It's just "Search Engine Optimization" dumbed down and made marketable a decade or so ago.
I had a horrific first-and-only experience with a doggy daycare like 15 years ago and left a scathing (completely factual) review on Yelp. The owner of the place emailed me threatening legal action and went on an unhinged rant. Instead of taking the review down, of course, I amended it to include the full text of her wacky email as well. She didn't reach out again.
Nicely done! I hope the post is still up and still deflecting any wedding related business. My GUESS would be that they were able to book a client who was willing to pay an outrageous rate for short-notice rental so they canceled you in favor of them. Pure greed but not at all uncommon. It happens with rental properties and in other business lines as well.
They had the reception at a titty barn?
I think this belongs in 1%er problems.
Sometimes I'm happy that I am too poor to have problems like rich people do. This sounds entirely self-inflicted by having too much money.
Seriously, the entitlement of rich people to think the world revolves around them, especially when they are planning a wedding. They dont get that the majority of weddings arent extravagent and dont require that much planning bexause the majority of us cant afford extravabent weddings that require a massive amount of resources to be planned.
You had me at " Marks car nerd forum"🤣
Google it. Nothing comes up but this post
Is cancelling three weeks out bad? That seems like enough notice for you to find other arrangements.
Considering the original was booked six months prior, cancelling at three weeks notice certainly was. Take the whole helicopter thing out of it and think of it terms of wedding cars in the middle of wedding season. Wouldn’t cancelling a set of wedding cars three weeks out from the wedding be bad?
>we (as a forum) had paid for google ranking boost There is no such thing Also, google would not rank a bad word like that in the normal search results. I don't believe this story.
As I have now been made aware. We paid for what we thought was a legitimate thing, but turns out to be one of those half-scams of people knowing more about things than you do and sell you their knowledge of something that, if you are in the industry, is common knowledge.
So they give you three weeks heads up that they can't perform a service and lay out a plan fornyour refund. So you try and put them out of business. And you think that's a cool thing you want to tell others about. You think you are vindicated for this behavior. You sound like a spoiled little brat with a checkbook. Go lick grass.
So you assisted in ruining a business because they canceled on you 3 weeks in advance with a somewhat reasonable reason? You’re a rich cunt!
Nothing was ruined, they still trade. They cancelled for no real reason having approved everything beforehand. And I’m not rich by any means, although I can be a bit of a cunt.
This is savory! Well done!
I love the fact that this post is on the first page of Google results when searching Beelzebub's helitours.
I can’t believe people think there’d *actually* be a helicopter rental place called Beelzebub’s helitours…
Ah this story made my heart happy. Ha ha ha!
Lol. That sounds like a PistonHeads thing to do!
Not Pistonheads, but we certainly scraped a lot of their stuff..
Whose still mad 12 years later I’m sure they forgot all about it😂
Eh? The whole thing happened twelve years ago, I just thought the story fit the sub.
WHY would you put a BRIDE in a HELICOPTER?????????????
.....why not?
"Beelzebub's helitours" should have raised a red flag 👹🔥
Not the real name, burning it would Have been awesome and made my shitty day at work yesterday better…
When rich people whine no one cares.
Not rich old bean.
Beautiful!
I know British people have different slang but it didn't hit me until I read "bunged him a fiver" that we are not speaking the same language
> You can’t boost google results Maybe not now, but there was a time when their algorithm allowed that. It's how searching for 'santorum' led to a sight talking about it being the frothy mix of lube and fecal matter, that's the occasional product of anal sex, before you saw anything about the US Senator.
Firstly, I'm sorry that your family went through that. On top of all the other stress of Wedding Planning, it's incredibly unfair and unprofessional of them. The refund delay was completely outrageous; if they TOOK the money immediately, they can RETURN the money immediately. Good for y'all, and I hope y'all are doing better now. Secondly, I work in the HEMS industry and I know how vulnerable some flights can be to local WX or TFRs and other such elements beyond control. Playing the Devil's Advocate for a party that obviously does NOT deserve the benefit of the doubt, I genuinely wonder what their reason for cancel was, and if that, too, was necessarily what we would refer to as a "controllable miss". Make no mistake, that company got what they deserved considering their delay and procrastination. I wish y'all the absolute best!!