Unfortunately, this is the first time in my life I have been scammed.
Received a postcard in the mail for a travel company "promising" discounts of up to 20% on cruises, hotels, resorts, tours, etc. This is not a timeshare. So, booked an "appointment" with them to sit thru the presentation.
Of course, the presentation sounded great - it wasn't a timeshare, the prices they indicated were great deals - or so it seemed. After the presentation, our "sales rep" sat down to discuss joining the club. Of course, the price was WAY too high. She discounted the joining fee quite dramatically. That should have been a major red flag, but I chose to let it go. After all, who doesn't like to travel and go on vacation? In addition, if you automatlically charge the yearly membership fee, you get a discount of $40 per year.
The credit card was swiped. Our logon information (since this is primarily web-based), would be mailed to us in 5 days. Hmm... Turned out to be 9.
While there, I asked specific questions about the discounts for certain tour companies and certain cruise lines and was told "yes, we discount those at least 10% since we are a wholesaler and therefore you don't have to pay all of the commissions". When asked if she could check the prices on some tours I was interested in, she said "I can't right now". (Another major red flag I ignored).
So, in their 3 day right to cancel, we couldn't check on pricing. We were stuck.
Our sales rep even gave her phone number and said to call her if we had any questions.
Now that I've looked at the prices, just about everything I can find online just as cheap or cheaper on my own, without having to pay for a travel membership club. However, they are slick in that if you want to rent a timeshare for a week, then yes, there are discounts. But cruises, tours, decent hotels, no discount at all. If, on their website you attempt to search for something, the search fails every time with an error of "prices change so quickly, please attempt your search again"
I tried calling our sales rep, but it seems to be that her phone "must be out of order" as all I get is a fast busy signal each time I try. For all I know, she used a fake name as well.
I called their "headquarters" and left voice messages - no return calls. Why does that not surprise me now.
The sales rep blatently lied to us about the discounts for the tour companies and cruise lines we use, and we fell for it-lock, stock and barrel.
So, the old adage of "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is" definitely applies in this case.
For anyone thinking about purchasing anything from The Vacation Place/World Vacation Brokers/TheVacationPlaceOnline - please, please, please, don't throw your money away like I did.
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