I haven’t been the Advocate columnist very long, but it’s already clear that there are two ways businesses respond after being negatively featured in the column.

Some businesses hear the public criticism from their customers and resolve to do better. James Messmore is an example. After his company, Affordable Fence, was the subject of two Advocate stories, Messmore has repaired at least some of the work that led his customers to call me.

But Maria Lanides, owner of A Touch of Class Limo in Albany, seems not to have taken the criticism to heart. She, too, has been featured in two Advocate stories, including one last month that detailed the unhappy experience of a Mechanicville couple. But this letter from a Delmar parent suggests nothing has changed in the way Lanides operates:

I too have been taken for a ride — although it seems that I have managed to exit with less damage than the DeStefano family. I too have a high school senior attending the Bethlehem Central Prom on June 2 with a group of friends. I made the mistake of beginning my search for a limo late (the end of April), and many limo companies said they were already booked. In desperation I saw Touch of Class and spoke with Maria Lanides who assured me that she could find me a reasonably priced, clean, working limo. For the public’s benefit, her contract does not list all of the hidden fees that she attaches which the DeStefanos found out too late. Several days ago, worried that I had received no information from her regarding the company that she had lined up for the prom (and days before seeing your story!) and never having received a receipt or her signature on the contract that I had faxed her, I began e-mailing demanding to know the name and phone number of the company she had contracted for the prom for us, and a copy of a receipt and confirmation of the costs for the limo. Instead I received a response which was bizarre at best—she sent me a new blank contract and acted as though she had never heard of me. That is when I cancelled, and asked for my deposit back. I am sure that she will not return it, based upon the comments following your story. However I plan on reporting her the Better Business Bureau, the Albany county District Attorney’s office and any consumer affairs group I can find. Thank you for publicizing this business for the rip off that it is—

That Lanides hasn’t changed her approach isn’t surprising. Unlike Messmore, who expressed regret at his trail of unhappy customers, Lanides voiced no remorse and accepted no blame. Actually, she compared her unhappy customers to restaurant diners who clear their plates and then have the gall to complain about the food.

From the original story: