Emerson Publications

Vacationers Beware - If It Sounds too Good to be True, It Probably Is!

by:  Joyce Moseley Pierce

I wish I could use the real names of the companies

I'm writing about, because I would like to warn

everyone about the unethical practices that some

vacation/travel companies are using, but in order

to protect myself from a lawsuit, I will not.  I'm

sure there are legitimate companies out there offering

wonderful dream vacations but unfortunately, the

one we dealt with was not!  This is just to educate

you and help you to be more aware before you make

a commitment to something like this.

In February I received a phone call from a woman

who was absolutely giddy about the fact that her

office had been open for about a year and she wanted

to personally invite us to come visit and take a

tour of the facility.  Now I'm not dumb enough to

think that there's any special reason she wants me

there other than to try to sell me something, but

I had a few minutes and instead of hanging up, I

asked a few questions.  I was curious.

I was assured that this had nothing to do with

timesharing and all I had to do was come see the

office and they would give us a 3-day vacation

in either Las Vegas or Cancun.  This just sounded

too good to be true, and turned out that it was.

Since our daughter lives in Vegas and we had a

couple of family occasions coming up this year, I decided

to go ahead and set up a time to come tour her

office.

I first became suspicious when this woman on the

phone had to hesitate just a bit to tell me where

the office was located.  If she lived and officed

in Houston, she should have been able to easily

tell me how to find the office.  Instead, it seemed

that she was giving me directions off of a map.

My husband and I decided to go, but agreed ahead of time that

no matter what they were selling, we would

not buy anything! When we arrived, we had to sign in,

and you could see from the propaganda being generated from

televisions in the waiting room that this was going

to be a high pressure presentation!  We were soon

greeted by a man who tried to act like he'd known

us all his life and we were immediately turned off

by his attitude.  He escorted us to a room where we listened

to some guy who kept assuring us that he didn't care

one bit whether or not we bought this vacation

package that would "solve all of our vacation problems

for the rest of our lives."  I believe the original

price was something over $10,000.  After three

closers were sent to our table they got the price

down to just under $5,000, but we stuck to our guns

and walked out of there without agreeing to anything! 

We walked out with our voucher for the free trip and

felt pretty proud of ourselves for not giving in.

When we got home and I started reading the print on

the voucher, it said that we had to send in the

certificate along with a $100 postal money order.  Once

that was received, we would get our package in the mail

giving us the information we would need to call and

book our 3-day vacation package to Vegas.  We were

assured that the $100 would be refunded once our trip

had been completed.  Again, we were skeptical and felt

sure this was a scam, but we decided it was worth $100

to try it and see.  I went to the bank, got the money

order, filled out the form and sent it all certified

mail so I would have PROOF that they received it. 

And then I waited.  March.  April.  May.  June.  Still

nothing from them.  We were planning a trip to Vegas

in August and time was running out.  Fortunately, I

had kept good records!  I kept the name of the woman

who initially called, along with her 800 number.  I

called and it was no surprise that she was no longer

there.  They told me they were a marketing company and

had nothing to do with the program, but they were kind

enough to give me the phone number of the company where

we heard the presentation.  I called for several days

at different times of the day, but never got an answer.

I finally decided to drive over there to see what was

going on, and when I got there, I saw a sign on the

front door that they had been locked out for non-payment

of rent!  I went to the property management office and

was told everything was still locked inside the suite

and they, too, were looking for the responsible parties.

I called information in Florida and asked for a phone

listing for this vacation company.  I called the number I was

given, and it had an automated message telling me that

I would never get to speak to an attendant, but if I

would put in my information, they would tell me the

status of my vacation.  Well, I punched in all of the

numbers I had, but guess what?  The certificate number

was invalid.

I decided to go online and look up the name of the company

on the brochure.  To my surprise, they did have a website

and it looked professional enough.  It even gave phone

numbers.  I called and had someone search for our record.

Of course there was nothing.  I faxed copies of the

money order receipt and the certificate.  They still

couldn't find anything. They told me I had sent a money

order and not a "postal" money order and said they would have

returned it if it wasn't the right kind of money order.  I

told them I had never gotten anything from them.  If I had,

I wouldn't be going to all of this trouble!  They asked me

to put a trace on the money order and see if it had been

cashed.I was really irritated at this point.  A money order

is a money order!  Anyway, I went to my bank and did as they suggested. 

The good news is that the money order has not been cashed. 

I will be able to stop payment on it and get at least some

of my money back.  The bad thing is that I have wasted a

lot of time for nothing!  Not only the time we took off to

go listen to the stupid presentation, but the time wasted

waiting to hear from them and missing opportunities to

purchase tickets at a lower price than is available today;

the time I have spent chasing down the company and trying

to resolve this problem; and now the money I will lose by

having to stop payment on the money order.

I guess I should feel lucky that at the most, I have lost

$100.  I know someone who actually bought the program and

after repeated attempts to get this company to book

vacations for them, they have never been able to find what

they want.  They recently spent $2200 for a condo in California

for a week by booking something on their own, while they

are making payments on a grand vacation package that is

supposed to "solve their vacation problems forever."

We work too hard for our money to throw it away. While

vacations are advertised as a time to get away, enjoy, relax,

spend time with the family, many times they are stressful

not only because of the hassle of making the arrangements,

but because of the cost involved.  You're better off driving

home to visit family and knowing where your money went than

committing to a contract with a company who may or may not

honor their commitment to you.  Before you sign anything -

vacation package or whatever - do some research and make

sure the company is legitimate.  It's worth the extra time

to protect your money and your sanity!!

Send mail to joyce@emersonpublications.com with questions or comments about this web site.
Last modified: 01/01/01