My son, who is 15, received a letter from Florida Passport on 12/2/05 stating that he was already signed up for three (3) vacation packages, and that if he did not call and cancel the packages, his bank account would be debited.
Note that prior to that letter, my son had made no contact with Florida Passport.
He called that evening to cancel the packages.
On 12/20/05, he received a letter from our bank indicating that his account was overdrawn. Upon reviewing his account transactions, we found a paper check issued to Florida Passport in the amount of $149.00
I called Florida Passport. The first thing I told the customer service representative was that I was recording the phone call that got me the supervisor immediately.
The supervisor said that my son had agreed to purchase the reservation and offered to play me the recording of my son's conversation with the Florida Passport agent.
The recording was of such poor quality that I could hardly understand what the agent was saying. However, when she asked my son to verify his account number, she enunciated very clearly. He unwittingly gave her his account number.
I told the supervisor that I was very unhappy with the way the agent had manipulated my son. I asked him if it was legal in the state of Florida to make this kind of business arrangement with a minor, and he said he did not know, but he would put in a request to have my son's money refunded. I told him that the bank had issued a $30 overdraft penalty, but he said he would do nothing about that.
After that, I called my bank and explained the situation. They said that this was clearly a case of fraud, because Florida Passport had issued a paper check against my son's saving account, which does not have paper checks. They said I would need to file a Fraud Package with my local branch, and that they would probably waive the overdraft charge.
They also recommended that I file a report with the local police; I intend to do that.
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