Astar Travel
Astar travel takes advantage of gullible kiwis who don't know the true cost of this holiday package

My experience with ASTAR travel began a year ago while I was surfing the internet. A banner advised me I had won a discounted holiday to FLorida, USA bur had to reply within 15 minutes otherwise I would miss out. Boy was I excited. I immediately got on the phone and was connected with an extremely energetic guy congratulating me on my fantastic prize. He told me the whole speel about the cruise to the bahamas, universal studios and everything else. I was reeled in hook, line and sinker! It wasn't until he asked for my credit card to secure the deal that my heart sank and I immediately became suspicious of the whole thing. He said all it would cost me would be $900 or thereabouts. My instincts told me to hang up the phone, but this guy was SO CONVINCING (con being the best way to explain it) that I went against my better judgment. I told him my card was maxed out, and he said "do you have another card?" I did but was reluctant to give it out. He also said if I had 3 cards he could spread the payments out between them bla bla bla. He was really good at breaking down your defences.
I told him I wasn't sure about giving my card details over the phone, but he said it was 100% safe etc. I said it was nearing xmas and I needed to use my credit card for that. The worst part is, even though I told him I wasn't sure etc. I don't believe he gave a hoot... He just wanted to secure the deal. So... Against my better judgement, and with all my misgivings I went ahead and got SUCKED IN to giving my credit card. At this point he transferred me to another lady. I knew straight away I wanted to pull out of the deal so told the next lady I had changed my mind. She stated it was too late and that my card had already gone through. Reluctantly I hung up and knew I had made a BIG MISTAKE. I looked them up on the internet and found all of this... Oh no. WHY HADN'T I DONE THAT BEFORE I GAVE MY CC OUT!
Then I started to think about it and knew that they couldn't refuse my request to change my mind. That would be ludicrous and totally unprofessional. Luckily, I had written the phone number down which they had displayed on the internet banner, and demanded to speak to the person in charge. I told her in no uncertain terms that I wanted to CANCEL the deal. Surprisingly, she said OK that would be fine, however it would take about 7 days for my card to be credited. What most people don't know is that you can cancel within 24 hours of the deal over the phone - they just don't let you know that and bully you into thinking you can't change your mind when in fact you can. Don't let these people bully you!!! You do have rights. Needless to say my credit card was credited within a week much to my relief.
This company is not a fraud, they just do fraudulent practice. The trip is not worth the money they say it is. For instance, if you have been to America (which fortunately I have) you would find out that the motels they are advertising at such a GREAT DEAL are actually cheaper than one might think, and in the end you would be paying about as much for the trip on your own as you would for their supposed discount holiday. The cruise is a joke because they say you only have to pay the taxes of $298 per person when in reality the cruise itself costs that much, so you are actually paying for the cruise itself - FREE CRUISE? I don't think so.
This company takes advantage of people that don't know what prices are like over there. You are better off to plan your own holiday and would probably save money instead of sinking it into a supposed discount holiday which in the long run, works out to be more expensive. Not only that, kiwis (New Zealanders) don't realise that booking an airline ticket to Florida costs WAY more than booking a flight to LA (which by the way you can see universal studios there as well) so from the get go, you are losing money not only on flying to florida, but the expenses along the way. Did you know a hotel in vegas can cost as little as $40 a night? Now that's cheap.
MORAL OF THE STORY - if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Book your own vacation and stay away from rip offs trying to take your hard earned money. Oh by the way, if you are in LA you can get a 3 day cruise to mexico for around $300 dollars tips. Hope this helps others out there. Just remember to keep the original phone number you dialled and demand a refund within 24 hours. You won't get any luck dialling the goastar website number. Don't take NO for an answer.

Jazz
hastings
New Zealand

Company: Astar Travel
Country: USA
State: Florida
City: Orlando
Site: www.goastar.com

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