24 Hours Services Itself?

Wednesday, 04. 7. 2010  –  BLAHG

Chris Richards

I’m not saying this letter running in the personal notices section in yesterday’s 24 Hours is fake, I’m just saying it’s fishy.

“You have in fact restored our faith in the system…”

“…Vancouver 24 Hours takes the cake.”

It couldn’t be more glowing if 24 Hours’ grandmother had written it.

So, I called Kathy, whose number was listed at the bottom of the letter. She identified herself as a salesperson who had been with 24 Hours “since the beginning”, as if the paper had been around for centuries. I asked her if A. Tony Elhage was a real person, or if it was an anagram that when properly arranged spelled out something cheeky. She laughed and insisted that he did exist, even after I pressed her to admit that it was all an elaborate ruse.

After asking exactly who I was and what I was getting at, she told me that A. Tony Elhage had been appreciative of their service and that he ran a small school, but that was all that she could reveal.

Kathy seemed genuine, but I didn’t come to be an unpaid blogger by believing everything I hear from nice women with good telephone manners.

After googling ‘school + A. Tony Elhage’, I came across an Antoine El Hage whose LinkedIn profile says that he’s the President of MBS College. I called the number listed for the school, and Antoine El Hage himself picked up. I asked him if he was the A. Tony Elhage who had written the glowing review of 24 Hours. He said that he had never heard of me, The Dependent or the ad, but told me that he would go get a copy of 24 Hours and call me back.

That was a day ago.

Ominous sign…

I decided to dig deeper, but didn’t want to leave my chair, so I settled for a visit to the MBS College website, where they offer diplomas in metaphysics and hypnotherapy and promise that they can make you play BETTER GOLF or help you STOP SMOKING Guaranteed 4 Life.

It had started with me trying to bust 24 Hours for running a fake Thank You ad in their own paper, and it’s ended with a full-on mystical guru, whose school may or may not have benefited from the god-like advertising powers of 24 Hours.

Funny sometimes where ‘journalism’ takes you…

Tags: 24 Hours, MBS College, The Dependent