Sky Handling Partners – The Return – So who’s signing me up for dating websites?

UPDATE: Legal letters sent to me demanding I take this post down.

This morning I noticed someone snooping around my website after coming to the site with the search “sky handling partners”. It has happened before. Now for some background, I have had issues with this crowd losing my baggage. See my Sky Handling Partners are… post.

Just before lunch I started getting email confirmations from dating sites, including gay ones saying my account for their site has now been created. Seems someone was creating profiles saying I was looking to meet men and had rather interesting profile descriptions. One of the emails disclosed the IP address where the person submitted the details from:

62.77.175.251

A quick reverse DNS shows that the IP allocation of this eircom customer is:

inetnum: 62.77.175.248 – 62.77.175.255
netname: CITYJETHLING
descr: City Jet Handling Dublin.

City Jet Handling is the former name of Sky Handling Partners. Dun dun dun. Now to be clear, it is not concrete yet that Sky Handling Partners rent this IP but according to the DNS details, it is them. I will check from another source if this lot do not get back to me.

I contacted them before lunch and said I wanted to report abuse coming from that IP. They took my phone number when I asked to speak to a manager. They would not put me through to a manager as requested.

I heard nothing back by 15.55 so I called them back, spoke to a girl who didn’t know anything about this and wanted to take my details. I strongly said I was not going to be called back, let me talk to a manager. After much talking in the background I got put through to another woman who was aware of my complaint and said their IT person was investigating. I asked how, since no details apart from my mobile number were ever taken. They grudingly took details. I really didn’t like the attitude.

I pointed out that signing up to dating websites using my details was fraud and I could happily call the Gardai and let them sort it out. Quoting from Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act,. 2001 to the lady seemed to make her take the matter seriously. I also pointed out I felt that posting untrue details about me on at least 3 websites was not on, especially what was written and I said I felt I was libeled. They took my phone number and said they’d get back to me and again I did not like their noticeablely angry tone. I said they had an hour.

It has now been an hour and they have not contacted me.

What do you think I should do next? (A link to this would be appreciated)

Update: Go here to DIGG this.

Further Update: Big thanks to my Irish Web hosting company – Blacknight who moved me to a new dual quad core server with lots of ram since the post hit the front page of DIGG.

196 Responses to “Sky Handling Partners – The Return – So who’s signing me up for dating websites?”

  1. Tekno says:

    1) Call a Lawyer.

    2) Call the Media. Newspapers, radio stations, TV. OH, and keep on blogging.

  2. Duglas says:

    Companies like this have to provide better customer service, the great thing about the internet is we can write/blog/email about the bad service we receive & companies have to be concerned about that.
    The negative publicity this company is receiving worldwide will be very damaging to their business…& that is their main concern….as well as the person whose pc was used to join up to the sites haha…they’ll be shitting themselves, the intelligence of these guys! Treat other people & their property with more respect!!!
    I for one, will never use this company, all my support to you Damien on this issue!

  3. […] A cautionary tale for any companies not yet aware of the power of bloggers. An Irish luggage handling business has been sprung for adding the details of a disatisfied customer to gay dating sites. The story started when the company (Sky Handling Partners) lost this guys bag and he blogged about the poor customer service he received during the incident. Later he received emails from some dating sites confirming his profile addition and he was able to reverse dns the ip address used to create the profiles. […]

  4. […] Today, he found he’d been signed up for a number of gay dating sites without his knowledge. Using internet gubbins, he found that the IP number of whoever had done so had been one owned by Sky Handling Partners. He says he feels some of the false statements attributed to him are defamatory. […]

  5. Offalycool says:

    Take em down to China town 🙂

  6. Kenneth says:

    I believe someone from Sky Handling reads digg and decides that he’s gonna pull a quick one on you.

    Little did he know he can be tracked this easily. Someone is going to lose his job for sure.

  7. Totallyawesome says:

    Take a screenshot of each dating site, and any other online evidence. They may go and try to remove the postings.

    Print everything out, keep it in a (real, physical) folder.

  8. […] Interestingly, in this case, it is not the injustice of the treatment Damien Mulley suffered at the hands of Sky Handling that has become top news, it’s the fact that someone from Sky Handling apparently started signing him up to online dating agencies. He has blogged his reasons for thinking this is what happened here and to be honest I think his reasoning and his conclusions are pretty sound. It looks like someone probably got a slap on the wrist for mishandling his lost luggage case and decided to get some revenge. The fact that the person didn’t realise they could be traced back (or that what they were doing was in fact criminal) is in itself an indictment on the company however… At the very least their employees should be taught, as part of their training, about the potential effects of misusing company resources! (Acceptable Use Policy anyone?) […]

  9. Gordon says:

    Good for your webhost, Blacknight, that they bumped up your bandwidth. I clicked on a Digg link yesterday where the site had been shut down, apparently for getting too much traffic after being Digged.

    Maybe if you start collecting a list of all the people/places around the world who’ve heard about this, that will get their attention. I’m from Texas, that’s a long way from Ireland.

    It’s almost as if they’re begging for you to call a lawyer/solicitor. In any case, it’s time these folks learn that bloggers … and customers … deserve some respect!

  10. Casper42 says:

    Stop asking for managers and start asking for….
    EMAIL ADDRESSES of the Managers.

    Nothing happens? Well you do have the web address of several popular Gay Dating sites sitting in your email already, dont you?

  11. G says:

    I say good for Sky Handling! He f*cked with them, and the f*cked with him! Turn about is fair play, and anyone who says otherwise is a pussy!

  12. G says:

    I say good for Sky Handling! He f*cked with them, and the f*cked with him! Turn about is fair play, and anyone who says otherwise is a pussy!

  13. Sai says:

    go go justice >:D

  14. Reckon G works for Sky? 😉

    Same advice as others: Keep records. Get a lawyer. Make absolutely sure it was someone at Sky before you talk to the media. It was probably just some dickhead you spoke to on the phone, rather than an order from above. Wankers either way.

  15. […] Yesterday, Damien wrote that he’d been receiving emails from gay dating sites. With some elementary snooping he ascertained, he believes, that he’d been signed up by someone using a Sky Handling Partner computer. […]

  16. butcher99 says:

    So, I take it from this that he was such a prick that someone wanted to take the time to attempt to make his life as much of a living hell as he tried to make theirs? Just conjecture but from the way he treated customer service when he phones back to verify I would say that is a good guess.

    He seems like a prick to me. Perhaps a day at a customer service desk listening to pricks like him yelling at him will change his mind.

    Again just conjecture..

  17. dahamsta says:

    G doesn’t work for Sky, he’s just a dickhead. The double post is a dead giveaway, he can’t see the Submit button for the big, smelly cheesy schlong hanging from his ginormous protuding forehead. Picture that in your head there now Father.

  18. Whoopie says:

    These are mostly all good comments about this, but why not take another approach also?

    How about you go ahead and list, on this page, the names of the people who were assholes in any way to you from the company. Let’s see how many crude websites they end up on?

  19. […] Want to witness a cat being let out of a bag? […]

  20. pie says:

    Go postal on their asses. JK.

    Please don’t add me to gay dating sites.

  21. alad says:

    angry irish parents who were screwed themselves growing up tell their kids to “never let anyone pull you down”. with everyone having this branded idea no wonder everyone seeks revenge on anything an everything that offends, even the most minor thing. the customer was right in this case, good for you m8

  22. Crapola, this made Techmeme!

  23. mpheak says:

    This is funny. As someone referred it, they’re being dragged through the blog mud. This is a great example of the Interweb’s strength, because you are, at this moment, untouchable. Hundreds of bloogers, thousands of readers know your story, thousands of voices can shout if you’re loosing. I’d really hate to be the jackass that did this, because thousands of people are angry with him.

  24. mpheak says:

    This is funny. As someone referred it, they’re being dragged through the blog mud. This is a great example of the Interweb’s strength, because you are, at this moment, untouchable. Hundreds of bloggers, thousands of readers know your story, thousands of voices can shout if you’re loosing. I’d really hate to be the jackass that did this, because thousands of people are angry with him.

  25. Vel says:

    wow i wish something like this would happen to me so i could sue and get a lot of dough.

  26. Gus says:

    Get your lawyer, or someone you know who works at a law office (with the fancy law-office email signature) to email the companies asking them to remove your info. Few companies would get into litigation over something so trivial. Works every time ;).

  27. Sulayman F says:

    Call a lawyer, and have the book thrown at them

  28. Ellen says:

    You shoulda been a detective. Well done for discovering that and I think someone will be losing their job soon. If you DIGG yourself a hole, you’ve gotta lie in it!!

  29. […] There are several ways that the company in question could react to this kind of situation, but obviously someone in there decided to take matters into their own hands. They seem to have signed Damien up for a load of gay dating sites – from their office IP which is clearly assigned to the company! Talk about dumb! […]

  30. Gerry says:

    That must be how I got signed up for that sheep dating site. Sheep knocking down my door morning, noon and night now. Terrible thing.

  31. Paul says:

    We had to move Damien to a newer machine to take the traffic from Digg… all is well since around 12:30am IST.

    Paul

  32. Liam says:

    It’s quite a good angle for Tech journos who are being published in the offline press.

    * Web Crisis Management: What NOT to do when an employee goes web postal on you…

    …and if they just happen to use Damien’s experience with Sky Handling Partners, maybe splash a picture of their logo underneath a big f*ck off splash headline, all the better.

    John Kennedy? Gordon Smith? Karlin Lillington? Irish national papers will hurt the company involved the most.

  33. […] Today I read <a href=”http://www.mulley.net/2007/06/20/”>a post from Damien about how he’s been receiving confirmations for his ’sign ups’ for gay dating sites.</a> A bit of easy investigation on his part revealed the IP address of the person doing the signing and it turns out to be none other than City Jet Handling – which is the former name of Sky Handling Partners!! […]

  34. […] Not long after, he started finding himself signed up to various straight and gay dating websites. He was able to find the IP address of the person who signed him up – someone at Sky Handling Partners! More info here. […]

  35. Linkety linked here too. Go get ’em, tiger.

  36. maryrose says:

    I think the PR agency for Sky Handling Partners had better act fast! Maybe they could do a video apology and put it up on new Irish You Tube? They could film it in a sauna or something to show they’re not homophobic either!!

  37. Damien says:

    Starring Conor Lenihan? 🙂

  38. Ben R. says:

    You’re an idiot for not calling a lawyer before every contacting them. You’ll probably lose your case now because they have probably gotten a whole team of lawyers who will turn every interaction you’ve had w/ them into a lie and make this whole thing you fault. What, are you from like 1950 or something? You always call a lawyer first, duh!!!!!

  39. politicalthicko says:

    You should probably update that old post of yours – how-to-use-google-to-get-a-girl-and-get-laid

    Instead of all that effort, Just piss off SHP and let them do the legwork!

    You should forego damages, if all culprits responsible are willing to pack themselves into small cases and be flown in cargo holds randomly round the airports of Europe – Just like your baggage!

  40. I guess you cannot make this your Tribune column? I did post and trackback but no sign of it here. Oh well 🙂

    keith

  41. meneame.net says:

    Un blogger habló mal de una empresa y esta metió sus datos en una pagina de contactos gays por venganza

    Tiene miga la cosa xD. El bloguero en cuestión hizo un viaje y le perdieron las maletas, y lo denunció y posteó en su blog, a los pocos días al ver su e-mail vio como le llegaban confirmaciones de registros de páginas de contactos gays, lo que la …

  42. John Butler says:

    I have over 4 years experience in a customer service environment and I’ve seen people take the piss with customers before but this has to be the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of.

    Sue them, and sue them good 🙂

    Also just on your bandwidth trouble, I don’t know if you’re already using it but the WP-Cache plugin (http://mnm.uib.es/gallir/wp-cache-2/) should drop the server load right down.

  43. monkeydogg says:

    Fucking sue the shit out of them, and do your level best to put these bastards out of business! They don’t deserve to be in business, and shouldn’t be allowed to keep dicking people around like this. Fraud is a criminal offense, and some damn heads need to roll.

    Bring me the head of Alredo Garcia on a stick dammit! Go for the jugular, and don’t let go til they go down like the punk bitches they are!

  44. paul says:

    Now this is crazy. Great detective work on your side Damien ! *dugg , # 1818*

    I hope you get adequately compensated

  45. Bart says:

    Well, since you’re apparently a European citizen, and Europe got these nice, strict laws about privacy, and the use of personal data, it should be fairly obvious…

    Sue them! In Europe, fraudulent use of personal data is no laughing matter, and you may or may not get any damages (since that’s more the US way of dealing with things), but they’re certainly in for some punishment.

    Furthermore, taking it to the press would also be a good idea. I’d love to hear them talk their way out of this one. Probably there’s someone who’ll lose their job over this, and rightly so.

  46. Johnny Coconuts says:

    Woah… surprised to see an irish blog near the top of digg!!

    Fair play, go on ya boya.

    Was half way through the article when I saw the word “gardai”, then and only then did it dawn on me 😛

  47. Fatmammycat says:

    Dugg, dugg like a fox.