My parents, who are senior citizens, phoned to tell me about how a salesman called them on a great vacation package to Mexico and Florida with a cruise to boot. Two weeks for $698 USD! All they had to do was attend a 90 minute time share.
They bought it. They are now discovering that this is a total scam.
The salesman said it was simple. Give them a credit card number and they would send a package with their vouchers for their trip. No problems. Book when you want, just give 45 days notice.
They did send the vouchers and 2 months ago my parents tried to book their trip. Guess what, the trip to Puerto Vallarta is not available. Now they are pretending to offer hurricane-ravaged Cancun (I'm surprised they didn't try Bahgdad). The other parts of the trip also are not materializing. They can't get confirmation and they keep telling them to call back the next day. This has been going on for weeks. They would appear to be hoping that my parents will just go away so they can pocket the money.
It only took me a few minutes to find out that this was a total scam through an internet search. I phoned the company on my parent's behalf and spoke to an extremely rude woman who essentially said that my parents were "adults" who could make their own decisions and that the money they paid was definitely not refundable. What about the bait and switch and failure to live up to the salespitch? No answer.
I simply can't believe that a company like this has not been closed down and people jailed for this scam. The U.S.A. Normally has excellent consumer protection and yet here persists a company that, judging from all the complaints on this site, is getting away with a widespread global scam.
Ralph
Oshawa, Ontario
Canada
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