Like others, we were called at home to be "informed" we were winners of a vacation package! I asked what the catch was and was told there was NONE and it was absolutely free! We agreed to listen to their 90 minute sales pitch, but they called us twice before the meeting to make sure we would both be in attendance and that we had a credit card. I was also told if we arrived 15 minutes early we would receive a $30 gift card to a restaurant.
We arrived for our 2:00 meeting at 1:45 on Sunday afternoon and were asked to complete a form.in the waiting area were about five other couples (victims) also completing their forms. We were then called to go to another room where there were several tables set up.
We sat through the (less than comical) sales pitch and I noticed there were a few couples in the back that kept interjecting comments. My husband and I felt they were planted there by the travel club to keep the momentum up. They were giggly about everything the speaker said and talked about how exciting all this travel was going to be! (yeah, right).
Of course the speaker said this membership is normally over $8,000, plus $399, plus, plus, plus! Natually, he could give all of us a FANTASTIC deal today, for only $4,995. And, there were $1000 travel vouchers for the first three (suckers) that signed up!
It really sounded like a pretty good deal, especially since my husband and I dreamed of traveling in the future and thought this might be something we could enjoy with our children. We were rushed through and told we could have a great deal at $4,495.
We were then escorted into another room and noticed the couples in the back had already left! Surprise, surprise!
We were still hesitant about signing anything and told "Michael" we wanted the right to change our minds in 48 hours if we checked out things and they were not what we expected. He said there was NO 72 cancellation like in other contracts, BUT, they did not want unhappy customers and if we really weren't happy within 48 hours he would give HIS word that we would get a refund.
They promptly charged our card for the $4,495 and proceeded to have us sign the papers. We, again, asked about the refund if we weren't happy and were assured by Michael it would not be a problem. He even added an addendum to our contract that stated they only had 7 complaints on BBB and if we found that information to be incorrect, he would refund our money!
Well, within 24 hours my husband send an email to Michael stating we were not happy after reading the reports and wanted a refund. After reading all the stipulations for our FREE vacation, we decided it was worthless!
Michael suggested we take a trip and THEN if we weren't happy, we could discuss it. WHAT!?? @
After several calls and emails, we received a call from another person at their headquarters stating we signed the contract and it would be upheld!
My husband called the CC company to dispute the charge and was told there would be an investigation.
This past Sunday, my husband decided other people needed to be informed, so we printed off several copies of the BBB report and made up a Large, colorful sign that said... Free Better Business Bureau Report on Horizon Travel. He then stood on the walkway outside Horizon Travel and proceeded to give the report to anyone about to go and listen to a sales pitch as well as those that were leaving the previous meeting. Note that he did not approach anyone.instead, he held up the sign and waited for people to ask for the report. He handed out about six of them to folks going into the building.
About 30 minutes into this, Michael suddenly appeared outside and started to approach my husband (in a friendly manner) asking him what he was doing. My husband told him to not come close to him unless he had a cashier's check or receipt showing a refund on our CC. Michael nervously said, "Gosh, didn't you get the call saying we were refunding your money?" When he was told we did not, he said he would refund our CC immediately! Imagine that! I think Horizon may have lost about $20,000 due to that little sign!:)
He asked for my husband's CC and they both went into the building. Michael immediately refunded the full amount and was very nice the whole time.
We called to verify the refund, but the CC company stated it would take about 48 house to show up.
We feel VERY blessed that we have the refund in our hand and can, at least, something to back us up if we need to go to court!
We do not suggest this tactic to anyone else. There was one point where my husband saw a police car drive by and thought Horizon had called them, but they never stopped. You might want to check the legality of doing something like this before you attempt it. We felt, as long as we did not approach anyone, we were doing nothing wrong. We only handed out the BBB report that is available to the general public, so there was only accurate information we were giving to potential buyers.
If they had not refunded our money, we would have filed a lawsuit and didn't care how much it would have cost to bring this into the public's eye! If necessary, we would have gotten the news media involved as well.
On a side note, Michael was always very respectful and professional when dealing with us and our complaint is not about him. We just do not want to see others get ripped off and pay for something they could do themselves by checking out the internet specials.
Wish there was some way we could all get together to discuss this issue and put places like this out of business.
Our advice: Buyer beware! Do not sign anything until you are allowed to go home, check it out and really discuss if it's something you will use.
If it sounds to good to be true, RUN!
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