All I can say is I'm both sorry and elated to find individuals like myself that were scammed for travel services by Discount Global Travel. This company is a total consumer ripoff. How dare Peder Seglund and his cohorts, at whatever satellite office they have moved into this month, even try to defend what DGT is promoting. All of your stories sound so familiar to what has happened to my Fiance and I. Luckily we negotiated a rate of $3750 instead of the $7500 they were originally asking. This company couldn't be more of a joke. As you all have probably have figured out this is how it works.
They start by calling you on the phone stating you have a free trip (usually 2 nights, 3days) with a choice of 5 or 6 places to go for attending a 90 min presentation for consolidated travel services. After you agree to the 90 min presentation you drive to whatever office they have set up for that time period. I have noticed that all of them have closed.interesting!!! After you hear what great discounts they have (and I'm the first to admit how embarrassed I am for buying in) they negotiate a minimum 10 year contract. Some as high as 20 years for a fee ranging from $3750 to as much as $10,000.
Here's the scam. They have a couple of people working out of an office that is undisclosed (I still have yet to find this place). It is not where they give sales presentations because they know that whoever bought into their scam will be looking to go get their money back and they don't want people raising a stink back where they give the presentations. This would scare potential buyers off. Once the consumer buys in they have 3 days to break the contract. The travel services department (if you want to call it that) is only open Mon-Fri.
Being that most of the presentations are given on a Friday or Saturday by the time you call on Monday and by the time you get a response usually 3 days you can no longer void the contract. Once your stuck they rely on your frustration to take over. Most people only get two-three weeks of vacation a year with a couple of long weekends. This equates to only being able to go on 4-5 trips or so a year, if your lucky.
All that DGT now has to do is hunt down your typical low rate airfare and car companies for certain destinations. If your going to Hawaii they'll check Hawaiian Airlines, If your going to Cabo San Lucas they'll check Aeromexico, if your flying from the west to the east coast they'll check out Southwest or Jet Blue. If your renting a car they'll check Dollar. They call back with a rate (in my case it was always equal or over the price that I would find in a 10-15 min search) and if your lucky to be home you then have to hunt down a better rate within a couple of hours or they have to do it over again. Who want's to hunt down better rates everytime? I don't.
So now you have figured out that the discounts they give aren't really discounts at all. It's just a few people looking up what you can do yourself. This goes against everything they told me in the presentation of buying airline tickets in bulk and buying blocks of rooms each year for members.
So then there's the rebate. OK so they really don't do anything special for you other than look up a few rates online.in order to get the rebate you have to find a cheaper rate online within a two hour time period. Your bound to find a few but most are equal to what they looked up because they went to the typical locations. So you get 3-4 rebates a year maybe. At a 10% discount you'll get back maybe a couple of hundred dollars a year for the vacation time you receive from work (I still haven't recieved my rebate and that was from May 06').
You'll go about doing this for maybe two years before your so frustrated you just give up and DGT is rolling with your hard earned cash. Being that you pay $99 a year (covers most of the rebate money) for renewal they rolling out of there with a whole load of pre-paid cash.By the time you get your money back through rebates your too old to travel.
Ok now your stuck because if you want your money back you have to write a letter to the main office to the Attn: Peder Seglund. Peder, as you all know, will give you the runaround stating that DGT's specialty is discount condos not other travel services like international and domestic flights. How come they threaten to take away all the airline and other travel discounts if you don't sign up that day if they are only in the Condo discount service business?
Why do they claim 30-50% discounts on international airfares and 30-70% discounts on hotels if they don't specialize in that. Have any of you received rebate checks yet or is it just me? I wonder if they plan on giving back rebates at all to those that don't call them on it.
As for the employees that were defending DGT, give me a break. You guys know as well as we do what your company is doing. Anytime I have called trying to get information about the company I am either forwarded to voice mail or given to "Gus" if that's his real name. He then says he's on it and never calls back.
I would be more than happy to be a part of a class action lawsuit against DGT if anybody is interested. I am already pursuing a small claims lawsuit in California now that I finally have a physical address for Peder in St. Clair Shores, Michigan. Who know's how long that will take. Luckily I'm pissed off and stubborn. If anyone would like to talk to me regarding the info I have dug up on Peder as well as the other business pursuits he has ventured into please contact me. I will be keeping a close eye out on new reports.
This is not an isolated incident. There are many other travel companies scamming people out of their hard earned cash.in fact we had received a call from Star Vacation Club a few months after we signed up and they have they same scam going with only a 5% rebate.in fact the same guy that signed us up with DGT in Carlsbad, Ca was now working with Star in Carmel Valley, Ca. His name is Leif Kaufman. Let's blow this thing out of the water people so nobody else get's affected. If necessary let's take it to the media so others can be aware.
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