681 Comments

• Debbi Buys says:

  31/01/2006 at 19:14

  I was also caught!!! Student in London from South Africa. Now I lost 600 pounds. I have phoned every week since July 2005 and can’t through. Spoke to Angela and Kim and Paula on the times I got through but to no avail. Can we not sue this horrible person????
• michelle says:

  05/02/2006 at 04:13

  i too received a phone call (i live in australia) this guy larry rice f
  from celebration world resort told me that i won a holiday to disney land and a cruise to th bahamas i wasnt to sure about this.he wanted
  me to give my credit card details over the phone and when i said no
  he put me on hold and got his so called supervisor to talk to me ,
  who kept on hassling me for my account details, when i told him that
  i needed to speak to my husband first he got really angry with me i
  ended up hanging the phone on him , thank god that i didnt fall for
  him i knew it was to good to be true
• Tony Lyubey says:

  08/02/2006 at 09:26

  Hi,

  I am at present in the process ofbooking in for my holiday to Flori da. I am talkingto a lady called Lynn and so far all seems OK. I hoprpe to go in May 2006. Shall let you know of my experience. I am sorry to hear that some people have not been happy.

  Tony
• Nimrod Sabag says:

  09/02/2006 at 17:57

  Hey,

  Half year ago, i have orderd 4 vacation vouchers from “Starr-Getaways”.
  after i visited that site and read the article i was scared and tried to call them, to see if its a scam or not, my call have been redirected to “Florida Tourist Bureau”, seems like they used to be agent of “Florida Tourist Bureau”, “Florida Tourist Bureau” tald me that “Starr=Getaways” are out of buisness, i tald them.. what now? they tell me to fax my voucher with my name , i fax them only one voucher and also tald them to call me back,
  they got my fax and called me back , and tald me that everything ok, and they have my whole package including my 4 vouchers vacation, and they know and have all my order details. all vouchers will expire in more year and half, and its all ok, and ready for me to make the reservation request anything i want , and take my vaction.
  Can anyone tell me please, if “Florida Tourist Bureau, INC” are a realy company that not doing scams? if they telling me thats all is ok, so all is ok?

  Thanks,
  Nimrod.
• Vicki Judd says:

  11/02/2006 at 12:01

  Hi.
  I’m from southern NSW in Australia. My partner & I bought this package last September after replying to a pop-up on the internet. I was on the phone to these people for nearly an hour,one whose name was Ed Stevens, and was finally persuaded. I now know what a stupid mistake that was.A few weeks ago we booked the holiday for April 06, on- line at
  ccayresort.com and received a reply from a woman named Carol and had
  to send confirmation to her e-mail,cadames@calypsocay.com which I did.
  Haven’t heard anything since, I’ve sent emails, phoned 4 1800 numbers
  over & over but haven’t received any satisfaction.I can’t get onto
  any of the websites now and I have just, now, waited nearly 2hrs on the
  line of the last 1800 number left thats not disconected, 1800426300,
  NO ANSWER. The $800.00 was taken from my partners Mastercard last
  September so I don’t know how successful we’ll be in getting a refund.
  I wish I’d have seen your site back then and saved a lot of
  disappointment.I hope these people are stopped soon.
  Thanks Vicki.
• Jasper says:

  13/02/2006 at 20:30

  I also got my card debited by sunrise travels some 6 mths ago, and have consently tried too phone them, and email them and they try giving you another 12 mths too take hoilday which is a 3 days & 2 nights at Fort Lauderdale, 3 days & 2 nights at daytona, followed by a 4 days & 3 nights on a bahamas cruise, i was unawere that i would have too pay for flights too Orlando, untill after my card was debited. I will keep trying too get my money back, all i can say if you see something flashing on your screen saying you’ve won something, it’s probley too good too be ture. If you read this and live in the us, do me a faver and dont use sunrise travels, as it is a disgrace too America….
• phil says:

  13/02/2006 at 20:52

  I was conned out of £200 deposit way back in 2003 by a company called http://www.sandyvacation.com I e-mailed them about my concerns and that I wanted my deposit back I never heard from them again until tonight ,when a guy from Calypsocay.com Scott Lyons rang to say because I never took the holiday (how did he know )I now had the equivelent of £777.00 pounds towards a fantastic holiday all I had to do was pay another £223.I said how about you refunding me my original deposit,he said he worked for Maris Suite Resorts and didnt want me to loose out on the holiday of a lifetime which included a cruise.

  I managed to get rid of him saying I wanted my money back but he insisted it wasnt a catch and would ring back thur.

  Anyone else heard of this company are they lagit ?

  Phil
• jt england says:

  14/02/2006 at 18:53

  I have just had a call from Calypso Key Resort. Offering to offset
  money that I paid out in 2003 for one of these holidays. They are
  saying that the Federal Government has stepped in and that the resort
  - time share – is willing to offset the original money, even though
  they did not receive it, and that all I have to do is to pay another
  £223 because the value has increased.
  I phoned the FBI and they advise that if the resort is not willing
  to put the offer in writing first – DONT GIVE THEM ANY MONEY
  I cannot find the resort on the web – the old saying stands ‘if it
  seems too good to be true – it is too good to be true’
  If anyone out there knows any different I would be pleased to hear.
• Regula Hug says:

  15/02/2006 at 15:37

  Hy I’m I student from Switzerland.Bestusavacations called me yesterday. I don’t want to write down the whole procedure I was going through- we have enough examples of this on this page. I was very cautious and asked them for a provisional booking. They agreed and made me ONLY pay a deposit of 449 Euros, they said.This morning the Security Department from my Creditcardcentre called me, saying some strange transactions are going on on my account. They told me that the travel agency charged 1486 US Dollars!!!!
  So I tried to call them, as they told me I could always cancel the package within 30 days. Half the morning there was nobody to answer my calls and when I finally got through the lady said she wasn’t responsible but someone would call me back. In addition she mentioned that I couldn’t cancel the package without having recieved it physically. Guess what? Nobody ever called me back and my bank account is empty.
• sally says:

  16/02/2006 at 19:34

  please can someone give me any information on royaltyholidays. i received one of their holiday packages and when i read through it i decided against it, returned it to them within the stated period and also
  sent it by dhl so i know when they recived it back. ive tried numerous times by ringing as their email address sends it back unanswered and am told they are crediting my account but havent done up to know, please help
• sarah says:

  17/02/2006 at 20:36

  Hi im sarah from preston, lancashire and Iv just got off the phone to imperial vacation and they sounded so good for giving me vip tickets to disneyland and a cruise to florida. but looking for thier website I just found all your comments and even though I was biting my lip when they asked for my card details and my boyfriend in the background shouting at me to not be so silly, I did it anyway, and Iv just had to cancle all my bank cards. I swear I had that little glimmer of hope that somone ACTUALLY wanted to give me a break.
• Ann Wille-Jørgensen says:

  19/02/2006 at 15:45

  I have just read the lady’s report above, the one who lost her husband. I too lost my husband. I am 64 years of age and was conned by celebrationpromotions.com around Christmas, my son was about to be married and I got talked into giving my visa number. I lost 703 dollars, my son is fighting for it, in fact he got a mail from them saying I will get a full refund, that was three days ago, still nothing.How can people like that sit on the end of a phone cheating people out of their hard earned money. I wonder how they sleep at night, if they have children. Whatever, it is theft. Try not to be conned. I have lost faith in human nature. But I am still fighting on.
• Carol Webster says:

  20/02/2006 at 13:51

  I am writing on behalf of an elderly friend of mine in Denmark who cannot afford to lose the money that Eastern Pacific Holdings has taken from her Visa Account. Ann Wille-Jorgensen was called in Denmark from this company advising she had won a free holiday. Her son was soon getting married and she thought this would make a great wedding gift. Unfortunately she did give her Visa card number, her card was charged and she is now paying for a holiday she has never received. What can we do to help her. I am writing as I live in York, PA, Ann lives in Denmark, she is a dear friend and I am trying to help her achieve a good result. Is there any way we can get her money back. Please let me know what further steps to take. I thank you for your anticipated assistnace.
• davey from SCOTLAND says:

  20/02/2006 at 21:04

  a couple of years ago we got stung by usafamilygetaway.com and lost
  £500 fortunately we got the money back from the credit card company
  incredibly a company called calypsocay.com phoned to enquire why we
  had not taken our florida holiday had there been some family circumstances which had stopped us going. they then proceeded to tell us that they wanted to make up for the previous company,s mistakes
  and offer us $796 credit on a better new holiday.
  The guy on the phone was called JOE HALL and fortunately for us it was a case of once bitten twice shy and we decided to check them out on the internet.Thankfully we found your site which confirmed our suspicions
  This guy JOE HALL was very persuasive and full of confidence PLEASE DO NOT BE CONNED BY HIM!!!

  THE CON WAS :- CALYPSOCAY.COM (THE AMERISUITES HOTEL) 4 DAYS ORLANDO,
  3 DAYS FT. LAUDERDALE, 4 DAYS BAHAMAS CRUISE….. THIS WAS ALMOST EXACTLY THE SAME HOLIDAY WE WERE OFFERED 2 YEARS AGO.

  THANKS

  DAVEY
• Rolf Skogstrand says:

  20/02/2006 at 21:42

  I have read this website for a while because I bought a package from SUNKISSED TRAVEL.
  I can now confirm that SUNKISSED TRAVEL have given me service for my money.
  I am travelling from Norway to Florida on Thursday Feb 23rd and will stay at AmeriSuites Hotel in Orlando, at Vacation Village in Ft. Lauderdale and Bermuda House in Daytona.
  I have doublechecket the hotels and they verify the reservation done through SUNKISSED TRAVEL.
  Though SUNKISSED TRAVEL have been slow in responding and seems to be operating their business not in a very efficient way, Dennis Lennon, who has been my main contact, has done what he can.
  Their response to emails is almost non-existent and Dennis Lennon claims that they have a 3rd-party answering service dealing with their emails! NOT very customer friendly. I look forward to my stay in Florida but agree that the marketing-stunt that they do capuring customers is somewhat shaky – mildly put!
• Robert Keyes says:

  22/02/2006 at 18:53

  I wanted to thank the individual who thanked me for responding to a comment on boakes.org.Once again we are an independant company and fufill promotional packages for both International and domestic customers(US) customers.Please visit our website.We keep it as current as possible with pictures of the actual resorts and hotels that our customers stay in.We do both verbal(voice on tape)authorizations of all purchases.Plus we have a 30 day cancellation policy from the date that the package is received.Mickey Mouse has compaints as does Harrods.We do our best to resolve ours amicably.Thank You-Robert Keyes
• Rich says:

  22/02/2006 at 23:11

  Thanks again for your comments Robert; as I’m sure you’re aware, the hundreds of comments and thousands of visitors that these articles have received all started when I was cold-called in March of 2005, by an American company offering a similar package to the one BestUSAVecations.com is offering. I happened to write a short article about it, because the call was in breach of UK communications laws, and almost twelve months later, there are still hundreds of new readers of to these pages every week and the first two articles have been requested over 70,000 times.

  People are obviously rather concerned about the phone calls!

  Based on some of the comments above, [1], [2], and comments from others sites on the ‘net [3], [4], [5] it appears that BestUSAVacations.com has entered the discussion because it uses similar telemarketing to the other companies originally mentioned, and also sells an almost identical product.

  The comments describe how BestUSAVacations.com telephones European families and tells them they have won a cruise, and you appear to have confirmed that this is the case.

  Perhaps you’d like to take this opportunity to discuss (defend) your company’s apparent use of international telesales calls where the recipient is told “Congratulations! You have just won a free, all-inclusive cruise to the Caribbean!”, when it appears they have won no prize at all.

  Some questions which might help clear the name of BestUSAVacations.com:

  • Does BestUSAVacations subscribe to FEDMA do-not-call lists? This would mean that only people who enjoy marketing calls can be contacted, which is a good start.
  • Can prize winners receive their prize if they dont buy anything from your company? If they can’t, do you think the “prize” story is in any way misrepresentative or dishonest?
• Joe says:

  22/02/2006 at 23:56

  My case is a real beauty: Last October when the debit which is only to appear on your card after you pick a date to travel appeared before this I contacted the bank. They jerked me around until I threatened to move my mortgage when they gave me an email to write to (‘joseqamgr@aol.com’
  ) I wrote got no reply but got a refund 2 months later (but screwed to the tune of €40 due to exchange rate). I moved my mortgage anyhow – had credit on the credit card and didn’t read any correspondance from them – planning to gain as much interest off them before closing the account in April (in Ireland there’s a goverment duty charge on cards applied in
  April).

  Today I found out they (the bank) sent me a letter saying I needed to return the travel pack, or the original charge would be re-applied by
  these scumbags under fine print terms and conditions in the travel pack..

  I have until Friday to return this.

  I really think this is costing banks money – in my case they certainly did. It might work well to play ball with these scumbags for the small term benefit. In my case I had everything with the one bank. The bulk of this business is now gone, soon everything will move to another bank.

  The sooner banking law is tightened/banks stop sleeping with these sluts the better!
• Stephanie says:

  23/02/2006 at 00:01

  I got suspicious after they called me and a recording shot me through to to a representative. The woman never told me exactly where she was from, although the recording at the beginning of the call said ‘cardmembersolutions’. She told me the company worked with cred. card co.’s to lower interest rates on cards. She asked me how high my rates were and what cards I had. She got my name & address – I assumed they’d be sending me info. Then she asked for the last 4 of my social. I told her I didn’t want to do that, but she assured me it was part of ‘verifying’ that I qualified. I gave her the #s. Then she asked me for my credit card acct. #s. This is when I drew the line. She gave me a website to go to and a # to call her back on to verify the validity of the company. I went online and the # on the site is a different # than she gave me. The site doesn’t seem to match up with her description, either. The # on the site is disconnected, but I can leave a message on an answering machine at the # she gave me to call her back. ANYWAY all very strange, but the street address on the sunshintravelescapes.com site matches one on the accountledgerservices.com web site. HEre’s the info. 4525 Vineland Road, Suite 207-A
  Orlando, FL 32811
  Toll Free: 1-888-331-0521
  Fax No: 1-888-331-0521

  The customer service # that the “representative” gave me on the phone was: 1-800-361-4140. Hope this helps!
• JonPertwee says:

  23/02/2006 at 16:46

  I just moved to Switzerland but hadn’t changed the address of my credit card. I therefore gave them my new address for all the free stuff they were sending me.. Best USA Holidays called me, When it got the crux of the issue and one person said they were sending me to a 3rd party credit verification.. I happened to ask the guy who he worked for.. Best USA Holidays he said.. 3rd Party my foot, and distinctly told him that he couldn’t take a payment from me..

  Anyway, a few days later, they tried to take a payment, and the payment got refused because they had the address wrong.. I got a call from Morgan Stanley’s fraud department and they’ve decided that they’re going to persue these people for attempted fraud.. Ha ha.. They can go to jail I hope!!
• Ruvimbo says:

  23/02/2006 at 19:51

  Hi,

  I fell for the [Royalty Holidays offer] and gave all my details and they took the
  money out of my account even though i had called repeatedly
  cancelling the whole thing. Now they ae refusing to give me back
  my refund and i so need my money back as something has happened
  my family leaving me completly broke…that money i they took
  from me could make a big diffeence in my Life. Please HELP ME
  IF YOU KNOW HOW I CAN GET MY MONEY BACK
• Rich says:

  23/02/2006 at 20:02

  Ruvimbo on the right hand side of this page there is a section called “related articles”. the first article in that list is called “Florida Vacations – How to Cancel”. It describes exactly what you need to do.
• Harry says:

  23/02/2006 at 23:08

  I had a call on tuesday (21 feb) from ‘Royalty Holidays’ it all sounded good 7 days orlando, 3 days daytona beach, 3 days fort lauderdale, 4 days cruise in bahamas all for £590.00 for 4 people, now I decided to look online to make sure the company was all ok, they gave that much assurance and verification I presumed it must be, but now reading this I realise I must have been conned, the package hasn’t arrived yet, but what should I do to get my money back now???
• Rich says:

  24/02/2006 at 00:05

  Hi Harry, on the right hand side of this page there is a section called “related articles”. The first two articles in that list will be of interest because they describe what you have bought, and how to cancel it.
• Cecilia says:

  24/02/2006 at 02:22

  Oh dear! I fear I’ve been conned out of $1000Australian by Celebration World Resort. Sounded authentic – 3 different men with ‘call centre’
  noises in background. Website checked out. Password worked.
  Said holiday was connected to Disney 100yr celebration. 36,000 offers world wide, 200 to Australia. (I’m in Sydney) Offer was an 80%
  discount on similar holiday as described above, with commitment to attend 60-90 minute presentation on their Time Share Properties while in Orlando.
• Robert Keyes says:

  24/02/2006 at 18:58

  This is a response for Jon Petwee. Lets get the facts straight the verification officer does work for Bestusavacations. He makes a 3waycall to a third party verification service that we pay for. That is a requirement of all major credit card companies. It is for your protection as well as ours. If you do not accept the offer then you are not charged and you were not were you? What is done is a pre-authorization to see if you have the funds available. If you do not accept the promotion then you are not “batched” out at the end of the day and not charged. Thank you for allowing me to clear the TRUE facts for you; sincerely, Robert Keyes.
• STEPHANIE says:

  25/02/2006 at 16:27

  I recieved a call last night from ameri suites vacations. They told me that I had purchased a holiday from them 2 years ago and wondered why I hadn’t taken them up on the offer. They claim I paid £595 for the package even though I have no recolection of this. The scary part is they had all my credit card details already,she read them out to assure me that she was genuine and asked me to confirm if they were correct,before I realised I had confirmed. She went on to tell me they could offer me a better deal – 4 days in orlando 3 days in miami and a luxury cruise to the bahamas for 4 days for a further cost of £200. I asked for company names, tel no’s website addresses which didn’t match the details she had described and then found these scams I hope now that they donot try to take money even though I didnt agree to anything. I havr ordered statements from my credit card company from oct o3 but fear there is nothing I can do about that if money was taken 2years ago.
• Jacqueline E says:

  25/02/2006 at 23:06

  I was scammed by amerisuites on 18 May 2005. Have been to hell and back, and been through everything that each of you have – abuse, no refund, could not get through on each phone number I tried. However, I was extremely shocked to receive a refund of £697 on 17 February 2006. This is only £7 less than a full refund!!! Interestingly, the refund was from a company called Calypso – I am guessing this is Calypso Cay Resort. Don’t give up!!! I am enjoying the money, and relieved that the whole sorry experience only cost me £7 at the end of it. I would say I think I have got off lightly as I did not expect to receive a penny! Ok, it took 9 months, but thank God, justice was done!!!
• Gianfranco Chiarini says:

  26/02/2006 at 16:23

  I am writing to warn any potential travelers against dealing with Sunkissed Travel. They stole $600 from me last May 2005. I contacted the company 2 weeks ago to claim my trip for this July 2006. I had arranged with a Ms. Andi who sent me an e-mail from Mr. RJ Randall, who by the way apparently no longer works for Sunkissed, to delete the Orlando, Bahamas, and Cancun in favor of only going to the Dominican Republic. This was okayed. For the past 2 weeks I have sent an unnamed amount of e-mails as well as several expensive phone calls at my expense to no avail. Ms. Michele Taylor portrayed herself as a victim of IP address technological problems and admitted she has dozens or more people at her throat as well trying to claim their trips. My experience with Mr. Paul Gutske, who by the way was rude and uncooperative as well as sarcastic when I spoke to him just days ago. He very gallantly posted his contact info and defended Sunkissed. That is all well and good, I am not arguing that this is not a real company. However, I think that there are scamlike qualities to it. In my correspondence with these people I attached my info with my order and other numbers, the e-mail which states I have been approved to travel to Punta Cana only, as well as the official reservation forms. Mr. Gutske responded by one brief e-mail only and stated I was trying to get a free trip and that I need to pay for Punta Cana. I would like to warn pople against this company. There may be people who have traveled and things went okay, but I believe there are more people like me as well who have been taken for a ride. I have contacted the Better Business Bureau in Florida. I am contacting the Radisson Hotels they deal with. I am also in negotiations with my bank and have reported this companu as fraudulent and am putting in claims to get my money back. i hope this letter serves some good.
• Arjen Brolsma says:

  27/02/2006 at 19:03

  Hi there. Thank god for vigilance! I was called just 10 minutes ago and the above story was put to me aswel; lucky winner, please spell name and sirname, do i have passport bla bla and then….do i prefer Visa or Mastercard…and what was the date it was valid through. I gave the lady nothing and told her i was being very causious. She gave me some juicy details on the prize but i said no thanks. The number i could dial was 0800 811 9088 or 213 537 1057. http://www.royaltyholidays.com. Thank you for doing this research? Keep up the good work. I live in the netherlands and I will put this forward to my creditcard company. Heads have to roll people!!!
• Conrad Henriques says:

  02/03/2006 at 11:15

  I got a call from Florida. Their website calls them celebrationpromotions.com. They sold me a package of a 9 night trip to Florida for USD 698. Being in Australia it did not strike me to ask the currency and all I asked was if that was the full price that would be deducted from my account. They assured me it would. When I realised that it was infact AUD 956 I called them back to check. They then said due to our misundertanding they would refund USD 198 to bring it back to AUD 698. On asking my wife about this we realised that we could not afford a trip to Florida due to other committments. Now we were told that we had 30 days to decide and could cancel the package within that time. When we called up to cancel, they said we couldn’t as they had already refunded us USD198 and we were only allowed one refund. This was the first we were hearing of this. Anyway, we have since been on the phone to them five times and have emailed their Company Director who seems to be giving us no hope of us getting our money back even though we are within our 30 day cooling off period. I would not visit their resort in Florida ever and if anybody who reads this site ever gets a call from them, please be careful and I would strongly recommend that you do not go through them. They took 15 minutes to take my money but its been 7 days and there’s no sign of any of my refund, not even the USD 198 I was told was coming. Its all a scam and I have just lost myself USD 698.
• Me again! says:

  02/03/2006 at 13:30

  TO: ROLF SKOGSTRAND
  We’d love to hear of your experience with your Sunkissed Travel package! Let’s hope it was all you hoped it would be and more.

  The proof of the pudding will only be fully appreciated upon your return from your dream vacation. Bon voyage and we hope to hear from you soon!
• Veronica Fairhurst says:

  04/03/2006 at 17:26

  I have been well & truly scammed out of £592.00 by http://www.royaltyholidays.com – the money was taken from my account by global destination (www.globaldestination.com) – at present I have reported this as fraud to my bank and also to the police here in UK. I have learnt a lesson the hard way – I fell for the scam hook, line and sinker.
  Veronica (UK)
• sheridan says:

  05/03/2006 at 16:09

  hello all,
  i am currently doing research on celebrationworldresorts aka destinationsforyou etc. it has taken a few days worth of searching and i have found another web site highlighting the ‘plus’ points of using the aforementioned company!!
  thanks again.
  all information makes my case stronger!
  sheridan
• Leanne says:

  07/03/2006 at 03:47

  To whom it may concern,

  I am writing to add to this growing pile of letters that aim to deter suspicious victims of this disgraceful and completely disgusting scam.
  I hope that justice will come to them eventually.

  To those who are wondering whether or not to take up the deal or not- listen to this-

  I was in the middle of giving my credit card details on the phone when i suddenly had the thought of doubt. what if this company was not true?
  so- then i made up the last few digits of my credit card and, the expiry date and the last few no on the back of the card and told them that it was my name that appeared on the card.

  They had told me they had just tried to process it and suddenly there was an angry interruption on another line with an appearance of another ‘supervisor’ that there was a problem with my bank. He was very abrupt and curt.I asked if it had gone through and he said that it hadn’ t and was very irate. He then asked if i had another one and just to pretend, i said yes. he then said he would call me back in two days.
  i then called the toll free no straight away and they said that they were closed for the day. When he first spoke to me, he had a heavy indian accent, but then afterwards, when i asked him which part of Orlando did he come from, he immediately put on a thick American accent which was so different to the original indian accent that he first had. This raised a huge warning bell in my system

  There are huge ? on the end of their webpages where there is supposed to be a copyright statement.

  Also, they also operate under the name-”miracle trips”.
  Don tbe scammed, give them a taste of their own medicine. Try to expose them.
• Rich says:

  07/03/2006 at 09:48

  Just from doing the most basic of searches, it doesn’t appear that there is any direct link between miracletrips.com and any of the other sites previously mentioned (other than the obvious one that they appear to sell Florida Travel Vouchers).

  Their whois information appears valid and not anonymised, and they’re apparently based in Canada (whereas most of the previous companies have been Florida or Texas based).

  The obvious negative that I can see is that they have not mentioned their Florida Seller of Travel License number, so it could be “applied for”, or, it’s possible they’re doing the front marketing for the vouchers of another company.
• Jacqui B says:

  07/03/2006 at 12:59

  Hello to those who bought Sunkissed Travel packages. I write to confirm that I have to date not received the copies of the voice recordings on which I purportedly gave my permission for the money to be deducted from my credit card. I tried to take the company on by means of of their authorisation form. This they e-mailed to be a day after my first telecon with them. I was told to sign the form and return by way of facsimile in order to confirm that I give them the authority to take my money.

  I never signed nor returned the authorisation form, but they still took my money on the same day.

  I have now just been contacted by a fellow South African who just fell for their illicit (and bull) pop-up spam advising you are visitor number 100 000…

  This is what my fellow Capetonean said:

  “I had the same experience whereby they said that they’d deduct the monies once I’d signed the Certificate that they were about to fax to me. I didn’t receive the Certificate and I noticed that the money was deducted from my account.”

  Why bother with the authorisation form/certificate when you just take our money anyway, Michele Taylor??
• sharonrimington says:

  07/03/2006 at 20:24

  i booked a hol threw http://www.celebrationpromotions.com in april2005 and was told i could pay over the 18 months if i couldn,t afford to pay out right. so i paid a deposit of two hundred pounds and gave them my bank details. since then they have took twenty pound a month out. i have not been able to contact them since. i,ve tried to cancel the direct debit but was informed by the bank that i can,t do that. so these con artist,s keep on taking my money and i,ve no way of stopping them. HELP.
• Jonathan Sigal says:

  07/03/2006 at 22:16

  Hello
  I want to know if RoyaltyHolidays is a hoax or for real they have billed me 798 euro for a package deal they “promised”. I live in the netherlands they tell me when my package of papers arrives I can then cancell
  Jonathan sigal
• Rolf Skogstrand says:

  07/03/2006 at 23:04

  Hi “Me Again” and others.
  I have been to Florida for 10 days with Sunkissed Travel. First Orlando (AmeriSuites)- then should have been
  in Ft. Lauderdale, but cancelled and went to see friends in Tampa instead, then 2 nights in Daytona.
  The cancellation cost med $150 which leagally was my own fault – there was a 14 days warning on the back
  of the order forms from Sunkissed and we cancelled the day before.
  The stay at AmeriSuites was very pleasant. Had to go through the 90 min presentation for time-share,
  but the Calypso Cay was quite sivil about it and went through the motions just to justify their work.
  We were promised that there would be no presentation or tour in Daytona, but that was just half the truth.
  When in Daytona we were given the option of a standard room in a standard hotel if we did not take the
  presentation/tour, which was a film lasting 45 min, and if we took the presentation-option they would
  upgrade us to a nice hotel with a beach view room!
  We chose not to take the presentation and had a nice stay in a worn-down motel(but clean and friendly) with
  a beach-view and balcony, nice pool and cold weather (and app. 250 000 Bikers riding all the streets of
  Daytona on Bikers Week 2006)
  All in all we feel that we have had nice holiday and even if we do not take out the rest of the package from
  SunKissed,(Cancun, Bahamas cruise etc.) we are satisfied that we have had our moneys worth.
  Still – SunKissed is NOT a well driven holiday agent. I have used a lot of time and resources to get proper
  info from them and they have been very slow in responding – if at all. I think that they count on people giving up more
  easily than I did, after we had bought their package throug their somewhat dodgy sales campain.
  I WILL NOT RECOMMEND THIS COMPANY TO ANYBODY – BUT WE GOT A NICE HOLIDAY OUT OF IT
  - BECAUSE WE DID NOT GIVE IN OR GIVE UP.
• sheila cassidy says:

  08/03/2006 at 15:24

  hi there
  guess you can add myself and my partner to the ever growing list of victims.after being inundated with calls my partner booked the florida package with royalty holidays back in oct 2005.guess what? we couldn’t obtain a refund although our bank did a check and did state that the company was genuine.well here we are in march 2006 and we have still not been able to make a reservation,we only wanted to take our six year old grand children to spain looks like we’v been had so folks steer clear of ROYALTY HOLIDAYS 1415 HALSEY WAY 310 CARROLLTON,TX 75007 .
• Paul Keijzer says:

  08/03/2006 at 20:38

  I was called by “Mike Davis” from http://www.royaltyholidays.com/
  First it was an automatic message asking me to press “0″ in order to claim the travel points I had won. Than I had “Mike” on the phone.
  He asked for my telephone number. He said the system didn’t show it to him. His phone number would be 0800-0234716. The connection was really bad. It was hard to hear what he was saying. After I gave my phone number he turned out to know my adress.
  He asked me what type of creditcard I have and what also…. it’s expirationdate !!!!
  I didn’t tell him. And than he turned rude. Kept repeating the date-question and suggested I was waisting his time because he couldn’t verify my right on the mysterious prize. I told him I wanted to verify his identity first. Than he hung up.

  P.S. in order to claim my prize anyone can now use my “secret” acesscode : int5757
• kerry mcguire says:

  09/03/2006 at 07:53

  hello my name is kerry, on the 3rd of march i stupidly got sucked in to a holiday
  from summer bay holidays. I have rang them trying to receive my money back when
  i realised it is a scam. The responce i get is that this holiday package is non
  refundable. If you could help me to get some light on this holiday package
  and how to get my money back that would be great. As they said they were only going to
  take $98.00US but when i checked my account i was sadly mistaken.

  thankyou
  kerry
• Robert says:

  10/03/2006 at 00:56

  Hi there. I just got to this site and found out a lot of interesting things. It is extremely iformative. I am basically writing because a few months ago, I too received a call from Royalty Holidays and was informed of winning a holiday. I accepted their offer eventually and got the package, but it has been 3 months, and now I have realised the stupidity of my actions. I know they got £200 from me, and to tell you the truth I don’t care, since it seems from a legal perspective I can only receive a refund within 30 days etc, and all I want to do is to end whatever “contract” there is. Is this an easy thing to do or should I keep a close watch on my credit card? It doesn’t have any money in at the moment, and I do not believe they can use the overdraft.

  Could you please tell me what action to take to end this thing as soon as possible? I’ve been really disappointed by this whole thing, and am actually a bit worried if they want to take more money from me or whatever. What can I do to prevent such a thing? Also I have read other people’s comments on this and all have acted within a reasonable amount of time and do not take the holiday. Do you know of anyone who HAS taken the specific package from Royalty Holidays? Just out of pure curiosity.

  Thank you in advance,
  Robert
• Ingrid says:

  13/03/2006 at 11:26

  Hello.

  We also fell for it!! When they called, they said we won a discount by our mastercard provider.

  They have a new name and website – “AResortWeek“.

  The package comes from Royalty Holidays. They are calling people in Holland now!!

  Hope we get our money back. This is the address:
  Customer Service and Fullfilment
  1415 Haslay Way Carrolton
  TX 75007
  usa 0800-358 3552.
• Rich says:

  13/03/2006 at 12:25

  Hi Ingrid. The website you mention is indeed related to Royalty Holidays in more than just name. It’s also running on the same server (ip address 168.75.194.244) as both RoyaltyHoliday.com and HolidayFulfillment.com

  It must get very confusing for them answering the telephones, because both RoyaltyHolidays.com and AResortWeek.com give out the same Netherlands and Denmark telephone number.

  AResortWeek phone numbers

  1. UK 0800-811-9100
  2. Netherlands 0800-023-4716 – matches Royalty Holidays
  3. 80-882-876 – matches Royalty Holidays

  Three names – one company. There can be no doubt that these different shop-fronts are related.
• Ingrid says:

  13/03/2006 at 13:51

  Hi we also have the name travel agency Trisha Denson AResortWeek (toll-free number 0800 0234716 – This is the number wich they gave over the telephone).

  When we tried to cancel,they said it was not refundable, and also they claim to have the conversation on tape.

  Today we got the package, we refused it, and have a note from it.

  The mister from the postoffice told us, that he had to bring last week in Heerlen the pakkgage,and almost 90% rufused to accept it.this week he hase to deliver in Brunssum, we where the first, which has taken a receipt, that we did not accept the package.

  we also sent a signed letter which we got from the internet. and fax, etc. etc.

  Greetz Ingrid.
• C. Kammermann says:

  13/03/2006 at 23:01

  Hallo

  Today, I’ve also received a phone call from the number +44-972-490-0000 (England). When I picked up the phone, a voice said: “Congratulations, you have just won a cruise to the Caribbean.” The (computer) voice asked me to dial “9-NEW”, which I did. After, I could hear a signal tone. A few minutes later – nobody has picked up the phone -, I hung up. I tried to call the company back, but the number was invalid. So, I started a research in the internet to find out the name of the company, and (by any chance) I found this website: I don’t seem to be the only person who had “won” a cruise. Please be aware that the company – whatever it’s name is – can be dangerous. Do never give them your credit card number.
• ROGER says:

  14/03/2006 at 12:52

  Received a call from Royalty Holidays, with an address in Carrollton,Texas.
  I assume it is the same scam. I have threatened Royalty Holidays with my solicitor Via E-mail three times but to no avail. Is Texas law different?
• Rich says:

  14/03/2006 at 13:23

  Hi Roger, can you be a little more specific about why are you threatening this company? Are you registered on a do not call list and they keep calling you or have you purchased something from them?