Ameri-scam.
Two months ago I wrote a short article about a telemarketing call that I received from AmeriVacation. It has very quickly become one of the most viewed pages on this site, and also the most commented upon, by many people who are worried that they have been conned.
With just a little digging I’ve started to unearth some more information on AmeriVacation, and some “companies” that appear to be related.
It appears that AmeriVacation is only the latest front. They set up a website, to appear legitimate and then cold call people, anyone whose number they can get using an automated calling mechanism (which is very simple to do with a computer). They then sell a package that is not what it appears to be and then make it very difficult to obtain a refund.
Sadly the people that get scammed are often the most vulnerable people who can least afford to lose such a large amount of money.
Through my digging I discovered a little about the history of the scams, and a little about how they’re all related. What follows is a brief review of the links so that others may pick up the trail more easily.
The currently active websites (which can be linked through identical wording, identical phone numbers, IP addresses that resolve to the same physical machines, etc) are:
- www.amerivacation.com
- www.expertholidays.com
- www.yourvipholiday.com (bad press) (more)
- www.flbahamastravelhome.com
- www.mydiscountholiday.com (bad press)
- www.doublevacations.com
- www.affiliatedtravelnetwork.com
- www.brilliantholiday.com (bad popup press)
- www.destinationcenter.net
- www.myffc.com (bad press)
- www.mydiscountholiday.com
- www.floridaholidayusa.com – discovered July 2005
- www.holidayfloridausa.com – discovered July 2005
- www.sunrisetravels.us – discovered August 2005
- www.imperialvacation.com – discovered August 2005
- www.5starholidays.net – discovered August 2005
- www.floridatouristbureau.com – discovered August 2005
Now, anybody that sells a holiday from Florida, or sells a holiday to Florida must be registered. The last entry in the above list , “mydiscountholiday.com” claims a Florida Seller Of Travel License Number of ST35170. In fact, this next list of sites all claim to have that same license number.
- www.mydiscountholiday.com (bad press)
- www.usafamilygetaway.com (bad press)
- www.sandyvacationsllc.com (bad press)
- www.floridabureauoftourism.com
- http://www.destinationsforyou.com
- http://www.celebrationpromotions.com
Another useful thing for linking companies is the address, several of these companies have used “600 North Highway 1792, Suite 120, Longwood Fl 32750″ including:
- www.yourvipholiday.com
- www.usafamilygetaway.com addres link also mentioned here
That link is important because without it these appear to be two separate groups of companies, when in fact, it’s one big cloud.
The next link in the chain is the phone number, all the sites below are connected because they use the same UK freephone number 0800-917-7462. What’s especially nice is that three of them have also decided to share testimonials too!
- www.windsorvacations.com
- www.myvacationschoice.com
- www.vacations-paradise.com (bad press)
- www.sohovacations.com -bullshit testimonial (bad press)
- www.centuryvacations.com – bullshit testimonial
- www.firstclicktravel.net – bullshit testimonial
- www.usafamilygetaway.com
The other address in use is “7632 Southland Blvd, Orlando, FL 32809″ and this is used by:
- www.myffc.com
- www.mydiscountholiday.com
- www.brilliantholiday.com (bad press)
- www.destinationcenter.com
Currently www.destinationcenter.com looks like a bit of a sales force advertisement. However, by looking at the caches on google and web.archive.org, it’s apparent that it was also used as travel sales site (hence I got the address match above), selling these same packages – i.e. not just a coincidence, this was the same outfit.
So, who’s behind it? Well, according to this story, it all comes back to to a Altef Hemani (aka Alex Hemani), who has a history of such scams.
His name is as good as mud on the internet, so he’s tried to combat this by buying a few websites and and writing eulogies about himself.
Each of those sites, incidentally, is owned by the same company: Travel Express Investments 385 Center Point Cir, Altamont Springs, FL 32701.
What’s especially interesting is that the administrative contact for the domains is Arif Rajan who may be the same business man whos only newsworthy moment until now was that in 2002 he was was questioned and released without charge regarding money laundering for terrorist organisations.
Sources
Naturally the information I’ve been able to gather and present here is all freely available to the public. Please feel free to check, corroborate, dispute, disprove or otherwise extended it through your own investigation.
I have found the following resources most useful:
- http://whois.net/ which provides information about the owners of domain names.
- http://sunbiz.org/ which provides information from the Florida Department of State regarding companies, and the persons legally responsible for those companies.
- http://www.doacs.state.fl.us/ the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which regulates travel in Florida.
681 Comments
Hi Ian, it certainly appears that they are using the same method of cold-calling their lucky “winners”. If you have recently made the purchase and wish to cancel, then here’s how.
it seems that i too have been conned out of £698 by soho vacations last year. is there any comeback as to getting my money back or do i just put it down to experience
got a call from dorothy really pleasent lady told me id won this fantastifc prize round america but got suspishous when she wanted my credit card details luckyly i was looking up on the internet and found this before i gave them THANK GOD.
So is there a way to get our $$ back? Scamed
Hi Peggy, does this help?
Hi Rich, another couple of companies doing the rounds are Firstchoicevacations and greatvacationdestination.com who, only offer a 7 day cancellation period. To gain access to their site type in the following code:- uktmov1.
Today I received my refund, $1100. Not from Sunkissed Travel (of course??) but from MasterCard. I followed the advice given by Rich about sending a recorded cancellation letter to the Travel Agency, to the DOACS and to my Credit Card Company. I also sent a copy the local consumer agency here in Sweden. It has taken me from 27th August to obtain this refund.
On 11th September Sunkissed Travel phoned me to tell that my order were cancelled in their system and that a refund were made but I haven’t received that one yet. According to MasterCard’s regulations the Travel Agency has 30 days to carry out the refund from the day it was made. Therefore it might happen that I will receive another refund from Sunkissed Travel 11th October. If that will come true I will post on this site again to inform you because, it could be a sign that Sunkissed Travel is a serious company after all even though they never have acted like one in my contacts.
Thank you Rich and everybody else for your support and good luck to you all!
//Dan
To Dan,
Apparently you do not know how a credit card transaction works. You don’t receive a refund directly from Sunkissed Travel you receive it from your credit card company. When you cancelled your holiday Sunkissed Travel had to notify your credit card company and they refund your money not Sunkissed Travel. Just
to let you know, you didn’t lose any money but Sunkissed Travel still had to pay transaction fees. You go into a store and use your card to purchase something and then return it,the store issues you a refund to your card not cash. Depending on when your statement cutoff date is it could take 30 days for you to see it on your statement. With all the people that they have traveling and all the negativity happening it can be a bit overbearing. Who comes first its those that are traveling with them and not the ones that have wasted there time. If you do by some odd chance receive a second refund and keep it you are commiting fraud. Not only have you frauded Sunkissed Travel but you have frauded Mastercard and can be sued by both companies. I will be contacting Sunkissed Travel to let them know that you already received your money back from Mastercard and will be forwarding your post to both Mastercard and Sunkissed Travel.
Since JohnW has stated that he is no longer employed by Sunissed Promotions Inc. I feel obliged to remind readers that his opinions are uncorobborated and may not reflect the opinions or working practices of SunkissedTravel.com – they’re still valid opinions of course.
I can’t say I’m surprised that Dan doesn’t know how the refund process on his particular credit card works; most people don’t. Most people never find themselves in the position of wanting, or needing, a refund after being deceived into thinking they have won something by a telesales representative.
As for time-wasters, most people object to having their time wasted by telesales people calling them up, or having to interrupt what they’re doing to clear an annoying flashing popup telling them that they’ve won a holiday.
If travel companies behaved more responsibly in generating leads they would experience less wasted time processing cancellations.
Also, Dan’s been perfecly honest and open about the money that’s been refunded to him, and who has paid it: so if the refund process works as JohnW says it does, then there is no obvious reason for JohnW forwarding Dans post to Mastercard.
Thank you Rich for responding to JohnW on my behalf and thank you JohnW for your clarification. I have to admit that I don´t have basic knowledge of this subject. The words I used were MasterCards own words. When I finally managed to talk so someone at Sunkissed Travel he jelled in my ear that IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO HAVE A REFUND and that he had verified this with MasterCard. So JohnW, it appears that none of them really knows how a credit card transaction works.
I haven’t for a minute belived that I will be able to make a profit on this deal. If there will be a second refund I certainally know that it would be a fraud to keep the money. I don’t even think it will be paid to me in cash. According to MasterCard it could be possible that this transaction shows up twice in my statment if a refund from Sunkissed Travel has been made but again, I don’t have enough basic knowledge of this subject so maybe this is a misunderstanding too.
To Jacqui B.
Just looking over your posts and came across the one where you said you contacted Radisson Hotels & Resorts and you were told that they did not deal with Sunkissed Travel, well that is because Radisson Hotels & Resorts does not own that hotel, it is a franchise. You can find the Radisson Worldgate Resort at: http://www.worldgateresort.com and the company that owns it Driftwood Hospitality Management at: http://www.driftwoodhospitality.com
JohnW
Thank you for your most valuable input JohnW, albeit a duplication of information already posted here. If you read Sunkissed Travel’s response thereto, you will note that they provided alternate details of a gentleman at the Raddisson who is able to confirm that Sunkissed Travel deals with this particular hotel. The Sunkissed representative however gave an incorrect telephone number which was useless, but we did manage to track the man down that she referred to. So… all is well in that department.
Constructive criticism is always welcome JohnW.
Today starr-getaways.com are using a licensed certification number of STST29333. Spoke with sales rep Aquil. Said would check with my spouse. Was told to call back 1-954-239-9924 before 3 pm., with confirmation # 56444. Was told they take no cash or checks, and credit card company would get a recording of our conversation. Told this prize was for four people for a total of $950.00, but first was told the cost in Euros! This was for 5 nights, 6 days in Orlando and Daytona, where we would take a 90 minute Time-Share tour, etc. Then to Ft. Lauderdale for cruise on Discovery to Nassau, Bahamas for 6 days, and would have to pay the port fees. Was given the web site to look up and told to click on upper right at Current Specials. This was a pop-up while I was on a website looking up info for Averetec Computers. Thought he spoke just a little to smoothly, but I looked up the site and found the spam and hoax info. I never did call them back and hope they don’t call me!
I returned all documentation back to Royalty Holidays. They confirmed they had received it on the 18th August. I am still waiting for a refund. They even blamed Katrina for the delay. Now when I call the managers are all in meetings or left for the day.
I am now sending everything to my credit card company and they are going to look into it.
Sirs we keep getting calls from this “Holiday Rewards”. The other night my 6 year old grand daughter answered and was delighted when she thought she was off to Disney. It took some time for the truth to sink in. Here they mostly advertise Disney and I contacted Disney to ask if they realised the damage this was having on them. They did not reply, but from one 6 year old in the UK they come very low on her list of “want to go”.
Im from Dubai…I was hoaxed by Starr Getaways.I paid $475 initially as half of the holiday package and held the remaining after reading an article in a german-based website.
I wasnt able to get anything from the amount I paid. Not until recently when I filed fraud claim from the bank, that a company Florida Tourist Bureau sent me a mail threatening to file a possible libel/slander case against me addressing the same issue.
I am just an overseas employee and cannot even afford to have a holiday.
I hope this wont happen to others as well.
Hi Jof,
The more accurately you can describe what happened to you, the more you can help others who have the same expereience; so how were you “hoaxed”?
Did they call you, or was it an internet popup? Were you misled on the phone? Did you try cancelling? How many times have you called them? What happened when you called? Can you show evidence of why or how this company has intimated that they may be willing to pursue legal action against you?
Lots of questions I know, but your comment was rather “open to interpretation”.
Rich
Hi
I also for the first time I must say got caught up in this sales con. I purchased a holiday through sohovacations Apr 04 after receiving a ‘pop up’ saying I had won 1101.00. I paid just short of 600.00 by credit card. My promotion was for a duration of 18 months. Apr 05 I started to pursue my vacation by ringing 08009177462. To my amazement I was told sohovactions had been bought by celebrationpromotions and given a password to access my holiday on line. After many attempts to view my holiday without success I sent an email to enquire about the change and why I was not advised. As you can guess, I have not received a reply. To date I have sent numerous emails and made many calls which have never been returned. I did speak with someone (Nadia) at 19:05 (UK)yesterday who advised me that my vacation had been extended to Feb 05 and that I could view via http://www.celebrationsresort.com [see below - Rich]. I accessed web site, which is extremely basic and was currently being updated. No where on website could I enter my code and check progress. I had asked Nadia to also send me a confirmation of our conversation about the extension. She advised she would send immediately she put the phone done. Guess what, still no email. Just thought this morning to check previous company sohovacations and picked up these links. Thank God for the person who took time out to research this matter further as I was thinking of actuall spending more money to book my flight. Something I was not advised was not included when package sold. This matter needs serious intervention and I will be pursuing this end with our Trading Standards for advice. There must be some recourse in dealing with such scum.
Hi Stella,
just a quick check: “www.celebrationsresort.com” resolves to an advertising website, nothing to do with the Celebration Promotions company. Is there another URL?
Rich
the real scam is not by alex hemani but it is by an indivsual named arif rajan who runs a company called eastern pacific holdings which goes out and promises resorts they can sell thier holiday packages but arif rajan uses deceptive trade practices and scams consumers. alex hemani has left the business july 2004 and arif rajan is the main culprit and the one behine ameri suites scam and celebration world resort scam through his company called eastern pacific holdings.
Hi “insider”, thanks for your message.
You’ve made a couple of fascinating claims there and I’m sure people would like to know more, for example, how do you know all this for sure? Could you also describe the “deceptive business practices” which you alledge Mr. Rajan uses? Your knowledge of Mr. Hemani’s “exit” from the business is very specific, how is this so?
Rich
Hi Rich
Just re-checked information I was given.
It is actually http://www.celebrationsworldresort.com. Previous to that my contact was through http://www.celebrationpromotions.com.
To add to my previous email. I did receive confirmation of my package a few days after payment. The packaging shows Travel Express Invest Inc – Acct: 803392319, Ref: 58843333776 at Suite 1319, 385 centre pointe Circle,Altamonte Springs, FL, USA. Customer Service 407-282-5660. Sent through DHL on 19/02/2004 one day after my purchase 18/02/2004.
I have 3 reservation request forms for 5 day &4 nights in Orlando, Florida, 4 days & 3 nights in Daytona Beach, Florida and 4 days & 3 nights bahamas cruise. All show State License as ST-35572.
In addition, I have two certificates extending my vacations from 6 months to 18 months from date of purchase.
Finally I have two brochures. One is money off dining, shopping etc. The other shows my confirmation as UK02170402. There is a signature on the first page which looks like Jon/Jan? Hiph/Hyph?- President/CEO. This page refers to a website http://www.destinationforyou.com.
Various contact numbers are shown:
United States – 1-800-583-2057
United Kingdowm – 0-800-917-7462
Denmark – 80881517
France – 0800914544
Germany – 8001824866
Italy – 800786384
Norway – 80016696
Sweden – 020793044
Hope this helps. If I find any further information. I will be in touch.
Thanks
I just want to let everyone know, that I am good friends with a guy who worked for these crooks for over a year. He has first-hand knowledge of EXACTLY what goes on in this place from one day to the next and can give any information, that anyone may want to know i.e. addresses of owners and managers houses, phone numbers, personal information about the employees, customers………..everything. If anyone wants to assist him and myself in bringing these crooks down we will correspond through personal e-mail. My friend told me that the last week of business, the boss took all the payroll money (YOUR MONEY) and went to Las Vegas, NV and lost most of it gambling. He thought he was working for a legit time-share company, when in the end, he like YOU got screwed and he is willing to assist by giving any information inquiring minds might want………..and lastly HE apologizes for ANY inconvinience this may have cause you and your families. Please contact me if you want any information
Jose,
Thank you,
I again come here to implore you to contact me back, the more my friend keeps telling me, the more that I am certain you would like this information. Ask ANY questions………legal or not. I will get you ANY information you want to know I just do not want to put it on this site, but I will provide privately. I am sickened by some of the stories my friend has been constantly telling me about, help us help you.
Jose
If there are any legal representatives over-seas that would like to contact us as well please do. It’s disgusting to see any type of business get away with this garbage. Our question now is, who’s going to do something about it. We will provide as much information as possible, just inquire (this also means personal information for these crooks). We’re not the only ones who’ve started a campaign such as this, but we can provide you with info that others cant.
Jose.
Jose, please ask your friend to contact the DOACS to discuss what they know. The DOACS can be reached by phone on (850) 488 3022.
they are owned by alex hemani ever heard of this guy
Hi Anonamys, thanks for your message, can you be a bit more specific please? You’ve not mentioned who “they” are, and there are several companies and websites are part of this general discussion, so your message is a bit too vague to be useful just yet.
The name Alex Hemani appears in the article at the top of this page and you’ll note that I was very careful to say where I’d found his name – this is important because if the source is ever corrected, or proven, or if it disappears (as has happened to the original skanked article) then the information held here can still be read and considered in that context.
Any insight you can provide is very useful, but the short message such as the one you just left cannot help anyone who’s lost their money and is trying to explain to their bank how and why they have been duped.
These scams have caused many people a great deal of heartache and dispair, so if you have useful information please explain what you know and why you know it.
To Jose
I feel for the poor unsuspecting people who have lost their money to these crooks. My frustration is similar albeit due to a quasi-ripoff (poorly informed).
However, adopting a vigilanti attitude is no means of dealing with white-collar crime or any crime for that matter.
Do you lads plan on having a kangaroo court hearing and bringing these thugs to justice? Your families would hate to see you involved in such illegal activities, which really makes you no better than the Hemani dude. And your “heroic deed” could land your backside behind bars.
Just a thought. Use it… don’t use it.
Hi Rich, since my earlier postings a vast amount of research has been carried out and information gathered, a lot of which has just got me a full refund of £718, not from Amerivacation or whoever but from the guys down at HSBC, thanks fellas. You will be pleased to hear they are investigating into the affairs of Arif Rajan, Alex Hermani and Eastern Pacific Holdings and Holiday Florida Ltd.
I personally had not received any reply from the DOACS, probably swamped with complaints from the very same or similar companies but certainly the information provided on this site by yourself has without doubt led to my refund from my credit card company.
I would advise anybody else to supply their CC company with all relevant details ie, cancellation date, letters sent, calls made, emails sent and received etc, as they know these companies are fraudsters but wont reimburse you if you dont approach them.
The only down side to this fiasco is that i didn’t get my money back directly from the thief himself.
Keep up the good work Rich and a big thanks for all your help, oh and a company called funpakvacations are offering “free holidays” for £598 to Orlando, Ft Lauderdale etc at the moment.
It’s not over yet Arif Rajan,can you feel the web closing in !!!
Jose: Did you contact the DOACS yet? What did they say?
I haven’t contacted the DOACS yet, is that something that I should consider? What if any actions could they take to help us.
Yes I fell for the telephone call from Royalty Holidays regarding a Florida holiday, I also returned the holiday pack and was told that I would get a full refund within 21 days.
Following a number of telephone calls and a number of dead phone numbers I found the information on your site. I submitted a complaint to the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services via your link.
I have now obtained a full refund of $825.00, I would like to say a big THANK YOU for your article, it was a great help.
I had a cold call from CWRFlorida, who told me that I had won this amazing holiday! (how can you win something if you haven’t entered a competition, alarm bells already ringing!), they wouldn’t take no for an answer, I told them that I didn’t have a credit card, so they told me to just give them my husbands card number, even though I am not an authorised user! Major alarm bells ringing!, they then told me to look at their website, to confirm what a ‘good company’ they are, but told me not to search engine their name!, by this time I was 100% convinced it was a scam! Please do not hand money over to this company!
Just a few words the bad press given to some of these companies
is un called for. I know from personal expreiance that not all
these companies are in fact a scam.And Neil I personaly processed
your refund and my supervisor John Miller in fact called you
right after he finished.You were scheduled for the previous day
bet the money is on your account but I havn’t seen your comment
about that.If you people are going to gossip then tell the whole
story not just the misfortunate mis haps .And the slanderus
remarks should be watched .Any comments post them here or email
me [addresses withheld because I don't believe they're real-Rich]
I live in the Netherlands and received a phone call from Sunshine Travel Escapes today stating that I and my family had won a trip to Florida; 80% paid for and only 20% for our own account. They indeed claim to be doing a promotion for Visa/Mastercard. Calling all the way from Florida did put questionmarks in my head and after 3/4 hour conversation I am pleased I refused to give them my creditcard no. The guy I was talking to even put me through to his manager to try to convince me they were ligitimate.
Nick appears to be associating himself with Royalty Holidays (a deduction based on Neil previously mentioning both Royalty Holidays and John Miller). I have no reason to disbelieve that Nick is in some way associated with this company, but he is not speaking in any official capacity.
I am also in total agreement that “slanderous comments should be watched”, and refer to my previous words on what can be discussed.
Peronally I’m interested in clearing up any uncertainly about any of these companies and I hope they all make pots of cash, legally, by giving people great holidays.
So with that in mind, Nick: when Royalty Holidays were first mentioned I noted that some of their testimonials appear on other websites.
Specifically, Royalty Holidays appear to be republishing testimonials from one particular hotel group, can you confirm whether these hotel customers were also customers of Royalty Holidays?
The same testimonials are used here, here, here, here, here, here and here
well I just got one of those travasaurus you won 2100 travel dollars thingy and I thought well this must be a scam but I called anyways. I was looking up scam reports before calling but couldn’t find anything regarding any prizes so I called and they said they had a great package for me then told me they needed to be sure I had a credit card (which I don’t thankfully cause I would have given the number) because I needed it to be able to get the rental car that they would give me. I got it because it said I was the millionth visitor to some website so I decided to go back to the website and see if it would pop up again but it didn’t so I thought ok then it’s true but then I decided to change profiles and try again and what do you know? I’m the millionth visitor again and it’s the same confirmation number so I just said screw it and I’m not calling back…although they do have my number now.
please will you tell me how to get though to sunrisetravels.us as the phone no 08082346559 is engaged all the time and i can find the webb site
Hello Marylyn,
the website http://www.sunrisetravels.us lists two numbers, one for the UK and one for the US, I’ve just tried the UK number and it was indeed engaged. I then tried the US toll-free number 1-800-361-4140 but that gave me a disconnected tone.
There is a third number listed on the website which is 001-972-250-9001 and that number got me through to a generic customer service answering machine asking me to leave a name, number, and a convenient time to call – per haps you shuould give that number a try.
Their address appears to be located within:
3201 Skylane Drive, Carrolton, Tx – 75006, USA.
In case you’ve not seen it, this comment discusses sunrisetravel.us.
Apart from that, that’s all the info that there is on the web, so let us know how you get on.
Hi! So glad this website is here. My partner and I were considering buying one of the described orlando/bahamas holidays from a man on e-bay. He said he has lost his job so was selling it cheap, but now I’m more inclined to think he knew it was a scam and so wanted to pass the buck to someone else. There are quite a few of these holidays selling on e-bay at the moment, so beware!He gave us the 0800 number to contact but we got no answer, always saying the mail box was full. The company was VIP Holidays. Thank again for making me aware.
Has anyone booked with a company called sunshinetravelescapes.com?
4525 Vineland road, Orlando, FLA. Scam or no scam? I think you web site is a great resource and has me thinking there may be no hotel when I get there. Thinking about cancelling. Please reply.
Thank you, Elaine
Hi Elaine, this article describing the Travel Voucher system may help you understand what you’ve bought.
SunshineTravelEscape’s website is refreshingly candid about what you’re buying, especially their guarantee, so if what you bought was what you wanted, then only you can make the decision regarding your holiday.
i have also lost a payment for a holiday my family will not be going on.
has anybody got any advice to help me try to get a refund?
xxx ripped me off.
I purchased a vacation package from them for alot of money. I was under the impression that my cruise was part of the cost. Not only was I charged again for my cruise, but after I flew over a 1000 miles to the US. I was lied to by xxx. They never paid for my cruise with Discovery and told me that it was cancelled by Discovery Cruise lines. Naturally I was very upset so I proceeded to contact Discovery. They told me that they were never paid for the cruise. xxx NEVER paid them and they lied to me. They never paid discovery.
I have saved alot of money with other travel companies, but with xxx I was Ripped OFF. Period
Nick, your message reads too much like a venting for me to publish it with the name intact. You’ve obviously been significantly let down so I suggest you contact the DOACS and register a complaint about the company. This may (or may not) not help your case, but it will ensure that there is evidence of previous customer dissatisfaction that the DOACS can use in future cases.
Hello Rich and fellow-readers,
If you don’t mind, I wish to post here a message left for me and some other customers (on the Ripoff Report’s website) by Jose who was previously employed by Sunkissed Travel. I obviously cannot say for certain that this message was left by Jose or someone posing as Jose, but I’ll paste it here all the same as he seemed to know the names of some other dissatisfied customers.
[NB: This is an abridged version - it if youre interested enough to be coming here regularly, pop on over to Ripoff Report for the full message - here is the jist of the note. - Rich]
If this is in fact Jose Rodriguez, I can only say thank you for your honesty and recognising that all is not well with your previous employer.
I purchased a holiday from “Royalty Holidays” for £500 in August. The moment I got off the phone to them I realised it was a big mistakeand tried to cancel the transaction with my bank. Unfortunately, because I purchased it with a debit card I was unable to. I was told by the company that if I sent back the package with the letter of cancellation they were sending me I would get my refund within 7-10 days. I am still waiting for my refund. Whenever I call up I just get told different dates. Is there anything I can do to get my money back. I have tried contacting trading standards in the UK but they said it is very difficult since they are based in the UK and I used a debit card. Is there anything I can do. Please help!
can any one of the conned tell me if they ever travelled to the promised destinations & never got what they were promised, after that that we’ll be talking
I just want to make people aware of a company called Royalty Holidays who are based in Corrallton, Texas.
We were contacted by them in the UK, by telephone and was offered what seemed to be a very good holiday package to Florida along with a cruise to the Bahamas. We foolishly paid for the holiday by credit card as they offer a 30 day cancellation period followed by a refund within 10 days.
What a joke that is, we have been trying for 80+ days to recover our money, being made promises that turn out to be false by their so called Finance Director – Heather.
We decided to cancel within the 30 days because after researching the resorts online that they are promoting, they had horrendous reviews from past travellers, the worst I have ever read, a holiday from hell in the making certainly.
Anyhow, I am determined to recover our losses, even if I have to travel to the USA to do so, just be aware of this non-reputable company….what a joke of an outfit.