HMG contacted me through an unsolicited FAX with a hard-to-believe offer for a Disney family vacation. The offer was too good to be true - literally. The stated retail value of the Disney package was $699. The offer price was $398.56, which they immediately bumped up to $498.56 because of the travel dates we chose.
The package included two 3-day "Touch of Magic" passes to Disneyworld. I was promised that we could buy the same passes for our three children for $45 each. The hook was that we would have to take a real estate tour and listen to a 1 to 2 hour sales pitch. This seemed like a fair deal, considering that we were saving four or five hundred dollars on the trip. We paid the $498.56 and waited for the final travel confirmations.
I looked on the Web to see how much we were saving on the "Touch of Magic" passes. They don't exist. When we contacted HMG to find out what the deal was, we were told that we could not buy "Touch of Magic" passes for our children, but rather would have to buy individual 1-day tickets at a total cost (advance purchase) of $405. I spoke with Doug Erron (Aaron?) at HMG and complained about the misrepresentation of the "Touch of Magic" passes.
Essentially, he told me to take it to the Chaplain. I asked about a refund and was told that a refund would take several weeks and that only 85% of our money would be refunded. Then I began looking further and found that the value of the tickets included in the non-existent "Touch of Magic" passes was $270 and that a 4-night stay in the hotel HMG was booking for us cost just $180 - for a total of $450.in other words, we were paying $48.56 for the privilege of listening to their real estate sales pitch and giving up half a day at Disney. I called back to HMG and canceled, despite the refund conditions.
I do not expect a refund at all. Beware of HMG! They are NOT travel agents, they are real estate agents. The travel they offer is just the bait to get you to take their real estate tour. And they will tell you any lie they feel is needed to get you to sign up. Book your Disney travel through legitimate travel agencies. That is what I am now doing, too late.
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