I have copied and pasted below what I sent to the Attorney General in the county where Cheaptrips is located: Their address: Camden County Department of Health & Human Services, Consumer Protection/Weights & Measures, Jefferson House, Lakeland Road, PO Box 9, Blackwood NJ 08012-0009.
They required that I send them 2 copies, as one copy of everything I sent would be forwarded to Cheaptrips.
Here is what I wrote:
Late at night on March 28th I called Cheaptrips to enquire about membership and to find out if it would be a worthwhile investment for me. I was looking for information about a particular trip to Europe.
The representative with whom I was talking said she didn't have access to this information, but that I would have access, upon paying membership. I had other questions that she ignored and instead she continued trying to sell me other services. She became agitated, almost hostile when I didn't want to add on these extra services. I had to repeatedly tell her that I wasn't interested in these services. Based on her demeanor, I should have canceled right then, but I was desperate for a good fare to Europe. She assured me that I could cancel and that's just what I planned to do if the fares weren't as advertised. I was just happy to get off the phone with this pushy salesperson.
I was told that it would take a couple of hours for my membership to become active, so it wasn't until early the next morning that I first took a look at the members area of cheaptrips.com. It was very disappointing.
There weren't any fares that were cheaper than what I had already found elsewhere. I called Cheaptrips about this and they gave me two phone numbers to call to make reservations through their partners. The rates I was quoted were unacceptably high, coming from a company promoting steeply discounted and even free flights. All quotes were over $1100. I fly to Europe almost every year and never before paid more than $750. This was not a bargain at all.
I called my credit card company around noon on March 29th to put a stop payment on the charge. It was about 12 hours after my order the night before. They told me that the charge had already gone through, and that I would need to deal with it through the company that made the charge.
I called Cheaptrips immediately and told them I wanted to cancel. The person I spoke with said that that would be fine, but that it would take 6-8 weeks to process. She did not tell me that I needed to send a letter to cancel. She gave me a phone number for a person in billing, so that I could call her to speed up the process. I called several times and was never able to get a hold of her, nor leave a message, as her voicemail was always full. I decided to forego speeding up the process, as I just did not have time to continuously call someone who never picked up the phone and with whom I couldn't even leave a message.
I assumed that my cancellation was in progress and went on with my life. I made my decision to cancel very clear to Cheaptrips 12 hours after I paid for the lifetime membership. I had not received anything from them in the mail at this point.
Sometime in April, I received an envelope from Cheaptrips with the membership materials. Nowhere in these materials did it state that I needed to write to Cheaptrips or send the materials back in order to cancel. I held on to the envelope and waited for my refund.
I checked my April credit card statement and there was no credit to my account. I remembered the representative saying it would take 6-8 weeks for the credit to go through, so I waited for the next statement, which arrived at the end of May. Still no refund. At this point, I became irritated and a bit nervous that something was wrong.
I made several unsuccessful calls on June 3rd and I was told that it was too late to cancel. During my final call that day I spoke with a manager. Her name is Suzette. She said that it was out of her hands, but that I should write a letter and fax it to corporate headquarters.
I wrote the letter and faxed it out on June 27th. On July 7th, I received a phone call from Bob ID #432. He said that he was sorry that I wanted to cancel my membership. He said I could do so, but that he would like to offer me 4 free flight tickets as an incentive not to cancel.
I really just wanted to cancel, but he was a salesperson and persistent and I was in the middle of moving out of my apartment. I didn't have time to haggle on the phone. I told him that these tickets weren't useful to me, as they require a 5-10 day hotel stay in resorts, which I would have to pay for. I never travel to resorts and stay with friends and family or in budget accommodations. I don't have a job and am a full time student. Still he persisted. I asked if I could cancel this if I decided to, and he said that I could. So I accepted the offer.
The next day, July 8th, I called Cheaptrips and canceled the order. I was told that I would get a confirmation email and my credit card would be credited.
On my next credit card statement, I still was not credited the refund. On August 2nd I called to see what the status was. I spoke with Trisha. She said that she would email a confirmation to me that the refund went through and that the credit would be on my card within two days. I didn't receive an email or a credit to my card.
I called again on August 10th and spoke with Theo. He said I should have my credit card credited with the $85 within 7 days. I did receive a confirmation email this time. The email states that my Visa card company would receive my refund within 24-48 hours. This did not happen.
On August 18th, I received a package in the mail from Cheaptrips, presumably the free tickets that I canceled on July 8th I marked the envelope refused and return to sender.
On August 19th, I called again to find out the status of my refund. I was told that it takes 1-2 weeks to process, so I should be credited within the week.By August 29th, I still had not received my refund. I called once again and spoke with Sylvia in the Refund Department. She said that she would give my information to Customer Care to research and that they would call me back.
I had now been getting the run-around for almost 2 months and didn't believe I would hear anything back. So, I called my credit card company to see if they could do anything. This was also on August 29th. They said that too much time had passed and that all they could do was to call the company in question and try to mediate. They did this.
We were on a 3-way call, and the person on the line from Cheaptrips was Suzanne at extension 1180. She said that since I had said yes to Bob on July 7th, and accepted the free tickets, that I was out of luck. The credit card company pretty much hung up on the call and left it to Cheaptrips and me. I had said yes to Bob on July 7th, but not without him saying that I could still cancel. I didn't agree to the tickets as an end-all as I knew at the time that it was nothing of real value. I told Suzanne that I was not satisfied and she said I could call back on September 2nd to see if they would approve a refund, but it sounded unlikely.
The very next day (Aug. 30th), I received a Western Union Mailgram from Cheaptrips dated August 25th. It again offered me some options to remain a member and also an option to cancel. I chose to cancel. I mailed my selection back to Cheaptrips through certified mail and they signed for it on September 6th. Since I had mailed back this Mailgram, I did not call Suzanne again, as the Mailgram was more promising. It is now more than 6 weeks later, and I have still not received my refund.
I received a reply back today (Oct22nd) from the Camden County Consumer Protection Agency who I sent the above information and other documents to. They acknowledged receipt of my complaint, but due to an overwhelming amount of complaints that they receive daily, I may not get a response until late November.
Ernst
Santa Barbara, California
U.S.A.
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