The videos were undated, but based on the content, it should be in late September or early October 2009. Upload date was October 27 2009, so that fits close enough.
The video claimed to have spoken to TVI Express board member "Tyroon" (sp?). The only name that came close would be Tarun Trikha, a member of the "TVI Express advisory board" (goes to TVI Express / advisory board).
And who qualifies to be on the advisory board? According to the link above, "Advisory Board is for especially selected elite members and true leaders with passion and dedication to help fellow TVItes." In other words, they are just TVI Express distributors, albeit those who have probably passed "presidential associate" levels (i.e. have bazillion downlines). They supposedly get extra training, but only for "motivation" and such things. They don't advise TVI Express at all.
In other words, Advisory Board's purpose is to advise junior members. At best, they are "senior members" or "community mentors". Are they TVI Express "officials"? That is a very good questions. Are they speaking for TVI Express officially? Are stuff they promised legally binding on TVI Express? Nobody knows, because nobody had bothered to ask!
And if you look through the list of board members, you will see Mr. Tarun Trikha. Mr. Tarun Trikha had been spotted at several TVI Express meetings, including one in China back in June 2009, merely months after launch! He was then already listed as a "presidential associate", with tens of thousands of downlines. In fact, it is rumored that he is the real owner of TVI Express, and the first ever member.
Thus, you can pretty much decide the video is absolutely BULL****. TVI Express does not have a "board of directors". As explained above, "advisory board" is NOT "board of directors". They may sound close, but they are NOT the same. A board of directors advise the CEO how to run the company. An advisory board for TVI Express is to motivate more members, on trips paid for by TVI Express. Says so on their own website.
On the other hand, at least there is SOMEBODY that is pretty tightly connected to TVI Express answering questions. I've actually went ahead and listened to all seven parts of the audio, which lasted hour and a half. And I can tell you, this guy's ability to spew bull**** rivals that of the best politicians.
In order to separate the real answer from the spin, I'll have to separate out the questions and Tarun's answers. The answer is also graded with a simple letter grade. The more detailed it is, the better the grade. I will have to paraphrase quite a bit, because this guy is very good in spewing psychobabble that sounds good, but says little if anything.
There are seventeen questions answered, some of which are repeated for clarification.
Question 1: Why was the server up and down? What is being done about the reliability?
Tarun basically hemmed and hawed for several minutes, blaming everything from "server relocation", "not enough capacity", changing webhosts, to even "hackers" and "competitors". However, he provided absolutely no proof of any of his claims.
Answer rating: C
Sidenote: Tarun claimed in the call that they are moving from like the #3 or #4 host in the world to #1 or something of that sort for better reliability. However, if you do a traceroute on tviexpress.com, you will see that it is hosted by imajhost.com, a host nobody has ever heard of. Furthermore, if you go to imajhost.com, you will find that it is a reseller in TURKEY! Is that one of the top hosts in the world? You tell me!
What's worse, because the traceroute pointed to multiple domain names on the same IP address, it means TVI Express website is not even running on a dedicated server!
How are we supposed to take Tarun seriously if he spins bull**** like this?
Question 2: Where is TVI Express office now, since they are NOT in London any more? (ref: Marble Arch Tower address)
Tarun basically blamed the ramp up of India office taking up management time. He refused to release the new address though. He did not explain WHY is it so hard to publish an address.
Answer rating: D.
Unasked question: if there is no address, WHERE is the company operating from... except in India?
Question 3: Why is there no support at customer service? Not enough people answering e-mail, phone, etc.
Tarun gave no concrete answer, just hemmed and hawed about outsourcing, rapid expansion outstripping their resources, alternate offices, and hopefully resolved in three weeks.
Answer rating: C
SIDENOTE: Support woes continue even today, May 2010. It's suspected that there are at most two people in their "call center".
Question 4: 7-day 6-night trip redemption was shut down in September 2009
Tarun blames rapid growth again, blah-blah about the procedure's inefficiency, some mumbo-jumbo about paperwork, but provides no real answers. Just promises a better system by November 2009. Promises destinations all over the world, but no list. However, did say that India market is more important.
Answer rating: C
SIDE NOTE: the supposedly new automatic booking engine that was supposed to solve the booking problem was supposed to go live on March 1st, 2010, but didn't. Then the company expired their own announcement pleading for more time. Even today the portal is STILL not working, according to some members. Apparently it was supposed to be up LAST FRIDAY (May 7th, 2010), and likely, still not working.
Question 5: When was the $15000 changed to $10000?
Claims $10000 eWallet payout and $5000 voucher for travel. However, does not explain how to redeem one vs. the other, something about the payment in two parts. Website says $15000. Promises answers... the next day.
Answer rating: D. (See question 12)
SIDENOTE: In 2010, the website says just $10000. The $5000 have simply disappeared from the website altogether. And there was no changelog.
Question 6: TVI Express Cyprus bank account? Why no wire transfers?
Tarun Trikha claims TVI Express stopped accepting wire transfers, because of backlogs, and people try to cancel transaction, which cause a lot of paperwork.
Answer rating: C
SIDENOTE: Chargeback of a wire transfer is almost impossible. A wire transfer can be recalled, but once it had been accepted by the other party, it cannot be reversed without the other party agreeing to it. Only fraud will get the charges reversed. (See http://www.bankingquestions.com/accounts/q_reversetransfer.html )
Question 7: World Choice Travel, what is its relationship between it, Travelocity, and TVI Express?
Tarun claims NOT to be a part of deal between TVI Express and Travelocity / World Choice Travel, when questioned point-blank by the host. Claims to be close to the leader, suggest a lot of things, just not that. However, he does not deny that the backend of TVI Express back office is indeed WCTravel.
(Also see question 9)
Answer rating: D
Question 8: Why is TVI Express so... opaque?
No answer. Claims to be able to arrange contact with management, but still no contact. Claims to contact two people. Claims "Cooper" is VP of the company, and two executives (unnamed).
Answer rating: C
SIDE NOTE: Cooper is listed as "vice admiral" on "advisory board office bearer" on TVI Express website. What that means, or where is he located, was never explained.
Question 9: What is the backend of TVI Express?
WCTravel (Travelocity), Tarun admits. However, he then spins a lot of blah-blah about how good Travelocity is, what a great partner they are, etc., how they only pick the best of partners (hey!)
Answer rating: B
Question 10: problem with Liberty Reserve?
Not quite relevant, blames incomplete paperwork, and the host even jumped in and diverted the question.
Answer rating: D
Question 11: What about the bonuses, incentives, or whatever it is called?
Background: TVI Express promises "incentives" such as computers, luxury cars, cruiser, villas, and so on.
Laptop criteria: need a lot of downlines, basically. Apparently you have to cycle through presidential associate twice or something like that. The higher stuff needs people who have achieved lower level bonuses. Something about at least two who have earned computers in downline for the upline to qualify for better incentives. This is NOT on the website, and he doesn't have exact details. He basically hemmed and hawed a bit , threw around some numbers, and basically razzle-dazzled the audience with psychobabble. Even the host had to jump in and say the website has NOTHING about the incentives and the residuals. Tarun then promises more details by setting up another conference call. Strangely, he never admitted to having received such incentives.
Answer rating: B
SIDENOTE: The details are STILL NOT on the website, six months later.
Question 12: What is the $5000 "travel voucher" for?
Tarun says it is NOT individual travel, but for "group travel" that TVI Express will organize later. Did not explain when such events will be held.
Answer rating: B
Question 13: Alternate language translation of TVI Express?
Supposedly the stuff is being done. Backoffice and homepage? However, no timeline can be given. (Also see question 15)
Answer rating: B
Question 14: Who do you (Tarun Trikha) communicate with?
Communicate with Sam Cooper and Sarah Wilson.
Answer rating: B
SIDE NOTE: Again, members of Advisory Board "office bearers", no position mentioned on website, no information on location. If they are indeed employees of TVI Express, there is no corroborating evidence.
Question 15: Just when can that $5000 be used for?
No idea.
Answer rating: F
Question 16: The 7-day 6-night vacation -- rumor of length reduction?
It's just a rumor, not true at all. Promise good things, and a lot of blah-blah-blah about leadership.
Answer Rating: C (due to too much spin)
Question 17: What is that "credit card" on the page?
TVI Express does not accept credit cards due to fraud and chargebacks. Oh, sorry, I mean it's not available except in Asia. It may become available later, blame Mastercard.
Answer Rating: C
Important insights from all 17 questions?
1) TVI Express has lousy management, as it had NOT anticipated demand for the ENTIRE LIFE of its existence. It had been using that excuse in 2009, and it is still doing so in 2010. That excuse is getting very old. If it a legitimate company, it is horribly run, and all its managers should be fired for disappointing members for months.
2) TVI Express is a VERY opaque company that refuse to issue any statements directly, but instead speaks through "advisory board members". Why was never explained. Such FAQs should be on their website, instead of issued through quasi-official representatives, like Tarun, whose role in the company is questionable.
Further question: What is the LEGAL implication of this? Are "advisory board" members employees or independent representatives or contractors? Are the answer they gave legally binding on the company?
3) Who are Sarah Wilson, Sam Cooper, and some of those people listed as "office bearers" on the advisory board? Those names are so plain vanilla "British" names, they actually arouse suspicion. Furthermore, British don't usually use nicknames, esp. on a corporate website. A Brit would have used Samuel, not Sam. Why? Sam can also be nickname for Samantha. Also, if those are indeed TVI Express officials, where are they located, and why aren't they listed as such? How do you contact them?
4) The alleged $5000 eVoucher in addition to the $10000 eWallet payout is actually NOT for recruitment or individual travel, but some credit toward some future group event that is yet to be named. It is essentially worthless, until TVI Express decides to hold some sort of event in your Area.
5) TVI Express *is* indeed backed by World Choice Travel, which is a part of Travelocity. However, the relationship is misrepresented. On WCTravel.com it is clear that the relationship is merely that of an affiliate: you feed me people who want to buy, I pay you commission. Tarun Trikha, on the other hand, portrayed the relationship on the level of a strategic alliance. Another case of "borrowing credibility"?
6) Tarun Trikha sure promised a lot (none of which was delivered), and also avoided a lot of questions ("I will get back to you tomorrow via e-mail"). Problems regarding customer service is still there 6+ months later. Booking engine is still not fixed for those trip redemptions.
7) Tarun Trikha sure knows how to say a lot without actually providing much useful information. All 17 questions could have been done in 20-30 minutes. Instead. he gave so much psychobabble that the whole thing lasted hour and a half.
So there you go: big questions answered? Hardly. The host never asked any of the really big questions. Most of these questions are whiffle ball to sponge ball in terms of difficulty, and yet Tarun Trikha, representing TVI Express, still managed to duck most of them. In the few cases where he gave a concrete answer, the answers turned out to be lies. So either he's the biggest sucker of them all in TVI Express (i.e. a parrot repeating some mastermind's lines), or he IS the mastermind out to spin bull**** in order to calm fears among the ranks.
So which is Tarun Trikha: sucker, or mastermind... You can decide for yourself.
But neither is good news for TVI Express or its members.
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