Like most I suspect, we were sucked into a sales presentation on December 22 (which was misrepresented to me as being a "survey" by the salesman who called me) with the promise of travel prizes. Despite assurances once we got there that it was not going to be a hard sell, each time we refused to sign up, another higher up salesman came over and coerced us further. This happened twice. Prior to this we had booked a cruise with a reputable travel agency and this came out during the discussions. We were asked details of the cruise and cost which we provided and were assured by all 3 Travelbridge salespeople we talked to that we could save 50% of the cost AND even upgrade our cabin to a suite if we joined and rebooked it through Travelbridge... Well we finally caved in and bit signing up for a $2640 membership largely based on that claim. I immediately faxed all the info to Travelbridge on the cruise asking them to quote it. They came back and quoted a price $361 less than what we paid. Although I requested them to fax me the quote I never got it. However I had paid $100 less than the cruise line advertised price of the cruise from my travel agency and the port charges were $460. If you do the math they may have just quoted the cruise price w/o port charges which would result in 0% savings and may have even been more expensive, but at most I would have saved about 14%... Far less than 50% promised and as far as I know... No cabin upgrade. Disappointed I immediately (12/27) faxed a letter requesting a refund and outlining my reasons for wanting out. I was called by a Ms. Parker in the Houston office wanting an immediate meeting with me regarding the letter. I met with her on 1/2. She was courteous, but basically told me that the salesman had misrepresented the potential savings for my cruise. She did state that there were cruises that could be booked for less. As I told her the salesman were very specific about the savings. I even advised them that I couldn't change the date of the cruise and they said no problem. They even said that Travelbridge would handle the cancellation, but I was later told by the Travelbridge agent that they wouldn't do that for ethical reasons and I would have to do it myself. I also questioned the value of the "Associate ID" card which we were led to believe would entitle us to discounts or upgrades if we presented it at hotels. My salesman even bragged about renting expensive suites at $59/night just by showing his card at the desk. I've since talked to a couple hotel managers who questioned the legitimacy of the card... And most laughingly I just got my card and it says on the back of it that it is "exclusively for internal use". However Ms. Parker assured me that with their training I could use the card to obtain discounts by presenting it at hotels, etc.in the end I told Ms. Parker that I still wanted out... She stated she couldn't authorize that but would fax my letter to "HQ" for approval and said I should hear something in 4 days or so. Well, I'm still waiting which is why I decided to write this... Next step is the BBB and Texas AG's office. Basically the moral of this story is that the Travelbridge sales staff will tell you anything to get you to sign up... Just be aware that they probably can't deliver their promises. I'll update when I get more information. MarkFriendswood, Texas
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