On June 23, I received a phone call telling me that I had won a free cruise in a sweepstakes. I was told it was for an ocean view room on a 7-night cruise for two and that even the airfare to get to the port was free. She also said we could take the cruise at any time within the next 18 months to any location that Royal Carribean or Carnival sailed to, subject to availability of cabins. The caller said the only thing we would have to pay for was the taxes. She said all we needed to do was attend a short "reception" at the Marriott Hotel in Woodbridge, VA, on June 24. I often enter sweepstakes, so nothing seemed wrong at this point. We went to the "reception" and learned it was a presentation where they were selling vacations. We did not buy, but did receive a voucher for a free cruise and air travel from EAGLES CHOICE in Woodbridge, VA.
We were told by Premier Marketing Concepts, LLC, (who made the presentation at the Marriott) to follow the instructions given in the voucher precisely. We were told in the instructions to send in an "activation fee" of $98 for the "free" cruise, and $70 for the "free" airline tickets. We sent Eagles Choice checks for $98 and $70, as instructed, and a few weeks later we received an envelope with voucher certificates requiring more money for "activation fees"—this time from Fun Times Vacation Travel Center (supposedly the people that would assist us in booking the cruise). Now they wanted $55 more per person for the cruise. I gave them a check for $110, mostly because I had already invested $168 and didn't want to lose it. I was told that I would receive a package in two weeks with everything I needed to book the cruise online and all I would need to pay further was a $100 for the taxes for the cruise. That sounded reasonable, since the original caller said we would be required to pay the taxes. Two weeks later on August 9, I received a package telling me that the free cruise was for an inside cabin during off season, that the free airfare I had already paid $70 for could not be used in conjunction with the cruise, and that I had to submit 3 choices of dates for travel each of which had to be 30 days apart. I was to submit all of this via certified mail to Infinity Incentive Group in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, with a check for $598. So, so far we have paid $278 for this "free cruise" that was supposed to be for an ocean view cabin on a 7-night cruise that we were supposed to take at our convenience subject to availability of cabins. Now that money is lost if we don't give them an additional $598. Total so far for the "free cruise" that I won in a sweepstakes is $876. There is no indication that this would be the end of the requests for money.
Realizing at this point that this was nothing but a scam, I tried to get info on receiving a refund on my money. Eagles Choice has no published phone #, neither does Infinity Incentive Group. I did reach someone at Fun Times and was told that I could request a refund by emailing FunTimeDonna @aol.com with my name phone number, email address and reason why I deserve a refund. I did. If I don't get any of my money back by the end of September, I intend to pass this information on to my entire email address book and ask them to continue passing it on to everyone in their address books until these scammers are run out of business.
I want people to be aware and not send them anything. They are definitely scamming people out of their money!!!
0 comments