During our vacation in Waikiki Beach in July we were approached by someone on the street offering us a free luau in exchange for attending a seminar that would last perhaps an hour. We bought into it. The luau was great.
The seminar took place at Destination Paradise Hawaii headquarters located at a shopping mall right on Kalakahua Avenue. There were several couples there and a woman who they claimed to be a single parent of three children who was in the Army. Low and behold, not more than ten minutes after the seminar was over, she bought into it, apparently committing herself to a $7995 package. We were skeptical at first but I guess they were smart to pick someone from NY who sat with us to explain the program to help us decide. She was very convincing as well as the presenter.
They showed us their website on a screen and showed us how it worked. They showed us that we can vacation in Waikiki at a condo for $700/week. What we didn't really notice is what time of year this was available for. Anyway, to make a long story short, we decided not to commit to such a large package but because they wanted to make a sale, the presented us with more "affordable" packages, one which was $2000 less offering almost the same as the $7995. We decided to buy into it, where we left a $849 deposit.
Joanne P. With the help of Mike Balicki explained to us that we would start making payments of $194 SIX MONTHS after purchasing. We signed contracts that we got copies of without their signature. FIRST RED FLAG!
Their cancellation policy is THREE BUSINESS DAYS from the date of the contract, in writing.
Anyway, in order to access their website, you need a user id and password which you get within two weeks of signing up. I couldn't sign on right away so I called their customer service line only to find out their system was down. I tried the following day, same story. Finally, I got on and their prices weren't any different from other online travel companies such as priceline.com, travelocity.com or orbitz.com. You may save maybe about $10 per night for the price of $6000. Oh, and on top of the financing, you also have to pay them $189 a year to be able to continue accessing their website.
We received our first statement in September owing $300 plus late fees from Universal Accounting
Services... That's where the financing came from. I wrote a letter to Destination Paradise asking them why we were being charged before the six months and Mike Balicki called me to tell me that we were confused and that after six months we were supposed to pay the $189 they had mentioned in the presentation. The financing portion was due one month after the presentation.
Truthfully, we had just taken a trip to Hawaii, spending over $5000 on airfares, hotels and entertainment. IF we had known that a month later we were responsible for payments of almost $200 monthly, we would NEVER have commited ourselves. Mike told us we couldn't opt out from the program although we told him he could keep the $849 deposit. He said he would call Universal to have them start our payments in December. He managed to do that but the late charges and finances were added to our balance which was over $300.
I have since made a complaint to the Better Business Bureau. There are several complaints there. I read some here as well. For the person who is trying to sue them, if there's a way to contact you, please list some kind of information in a follow up email.
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