681 Responses to “Ameri-scam.”

Pages: «1…4567891011121314…69»

1. 81
   Jacqui B Says:
   July 20th, 2005 at 10:27 am

   Dear Jeroen

   If you view ameri-vacation’s site, the pics and the rest of the blurb is all the same as the site you provide in your message. DONDERSE BLIKSEMS - you’ll hopefully understand that being Dutch!

   I reported Sunkissed Travel to the Better Business Bureau (though it’s of little use as it’s non-profit and they do mediation. Mediation will get you nowhere: I manage an arbitration and mediation organisation and the latter is best suited to parties who have a future relationship worth preserving, as well as very little animosity and lots of common sense between them. It is of no use if you have a recalcitrant defendant as the parties make the decision, not the presiding officer/commissioner/mediator.). Report them to the IFCC of the FBI, the Florida Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services (DOACS).

   Oh, and no harm done in a bit of honest open dialogue on http://www.ripoffreport.com as you create an awareness for other unsuspecting buyers. The more, the merrier.

   Best of luck!

2. 82
   Jacqui B Says:
   July 20th, 2005 at 11:45 am

   Those who have been conned with Ameri-vacation, Sunkissed, etc. will find this interesting reading:

   “While some travel opportunities sold over the phone or offered through the mail, Internet or by fax are legitimate, many are scams that defraud consumers out of millions of dollars each month. The word “offer” can be a clue to hidden charges. When you get the phone call, or place the call in response to a postcard, letter, fax or Internet ad, you also get a sales pitch for a supposedly luxurious trip - one that you could pay dearly for.

   The salesperson may ask for your credit card number to bill your account for the travel package. Once you pay, you receive the details of the “package,” which usually include instructions for making trip reservation requests. Your request often must be accompanied by yet another fee. In addition, many offers require you to pay upgrade costs to receive the actual destinations, accommodations, cruises or dates you were promised. Some offers may require you to pay more for port charges, hotel taxes or service fees. ” - Federal Trade Commission.

3. 83
   iris munter Says:
   July 20th, 2005 at 5:58 pm

   i got a call from floridaholidayusa.com, i’m from holland
   u just can’t trust anyone these days, a shame

4. 84
   Michel Says:
   July 20th, 2005 at 6:54 pm

   “We won a cruise!” my wife yelled through the telephone yesterday afternoon while I was at work. It turned out she had been called by a computer that left a message on our answering machine to dial a toll-free 0800 number to get our prize. Of course my wife called this number and the rest of the story you can probably guess. In all her goodness and naivety she provided those people from HolidayFloridaUsa.com with our Credit Card details. When she informed me about the 16-day trip to Orlando including a cruise to the Bahamas but that she had to give the our Credit Card for them to validate I freaked and told her to immediately block the Card but it was already too late: An amount of 864,53 euro’s was “reserved”. As I have not yet spoken to the Credit Card company myself, I am still not sure what “reserved” means but I guess the card will be charged in the next few days.

   Our Credit Card company (Mastercard) told us there is nothing we can do to “unreserve” this amount. They advised us to immediately call this organisation and to send emails and registered letters (copy the CC-Company) as a prove that we did our best to cancel the whole thing. Should we receive the package this should also be returned to sender registered. I have called the number of HolidayFloridaUSA customer services but these were false. I then called the original number and tried to politely explain the situation and to cancel our order but everytime I said the word “cancel” I was hung up. I called them back several times (I think it was about a hundred times, well, it was toll free anyway) but was hung up time after time. I guess Action 1 wasn’t very successfull but I did get a pretty good idea about the number of people that were answering the phones there, guess there were about 6. I hope Action 2 gives better results as the emails I also sent are still unanswered.

   But there is still hope: Mastercard informed me that in such cases, where an amount was charged to your Credit Card this way there was a possibility to get this amount back via a company in the Netherlands called Interpay (this company takes care of electronic payments in the Netherlands).

   As I was not aware about these kinds of malpractices I am thinking about making this public, at least in my region of the Netherlands. This way we might be able to warn other people for this telephone-terror. The war on telephone-terror has started! This time they picked the wrong guy!

   To end this story (for now) it is not the money we lost that hurt me. It was the guilt and the shame my wife felt afterwards that has really struck me.

5. 85
   Pia Hansen Says:
   July 20th, 2005 at 7:53 pm

   Today when I got home from work there was a message on my answering machine that said exactly the same thing as Rikke Andersens : that I’ve won a free Vacation for a Caribbian cruise. All I’d had to do, was to call a number: 80882837.
   Since it was a danish number I called this number and a nice lady told me to hold on for a minute then the there was a lot of noice in phone (a lot of people talking english in the background) and then the one I was supposed to talk to hang up so I didn’t get to a real conversation with the people in the other end of the phone.
   I hope that this means that I haven’t lost any money just by calling this number???

   When I tried to find out exactly who this phone number belonged to the danish phonecompany TDC told me that this number is a free number in Denmark so the owners of this number cannot be traced…

6. 86
   Angie Says:
   July 21st, 2005 at 1:51 pm

   I have just spoken to a lady called Kathy from ‘Expert Holidays Incorporated’ after being told I had won a prize on the internet (my nine year old had found it!). I was very suspicious especially at the thought of handing over credit card details, why would you need this if you have won something? so whilst she was on the line I did a search for holiday scams and found this website! I knew it was too good to be true, I told her it was a scam and she politely said goodbye.

   She gave not details of their address when I asked, so that is suspicious.
   Their telephone number is 1-800-417-0512
   Angie - UK

7. 87
   Jacqui B Says:
   July 22nd, 2005 at 12:32 pm

   What is a Tour Operator and How do we Communicate?

   The term “tour operator” actually refers to any entity that packages vacations. This can be a company or an individual that combines one or more travel elements – such as hotel accommodations and airport transfers – into a prepaid “package” or tour. A tour operator – or vacation packager — creates, develops, and markets vacation packages.

   A packaged vacation can range from the simple hotel and airport transfer, to an all-inclusive, escorted tour. Most vacation packages are designed for independent travelers who want to be on their own, but have some of the details planned in advance.

   When selecting a tour or vacation package, be certain that you understand both the company’s policies regarding their responsibilities, and yours as a consumer. This applies to elements included in the vacation package, refunds, and cancellations. Also, ask which association the tour operator belongs to, and how your dollars are protected in the event the company ceases operation or goes out of business.

   To best protect yourself, be certain that you travel with a company affiliated with a major travel industry organization such as the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA), the National Tour Association (NTA), or United States Tour Operators Association (USTOA).

   For more information on USTOA, visit http://www.ustoa.com; or contact us at information@ustoa.com. You can also phone us directly at (212) 599-6599. For a free copy of USTOA’s “Travel Agent’s Kit,” phone 1-800-GO-USTOA (1-800-468-7862).

8. 88
   Xander Says:
   July 22nd, 2005 at 4:14 pm

   Oh, just got a call from Florida Holiday USA…And I won this amazing trip, etc…LOL…Well, I decided to go through it and see where it led to…They wanted my creditcard number…No way…But I bet many people fall for this and might end up losing money on this…

   Xander

9. 89
   David B Says:
   July 22nd, 2005 at 5:04 pm

   Thank you, your website was helpful. While surfing I was informed to be the 1000000 visitor and had won a prize. I had to fill in my name in a checklike form stating it was worth 1804 Euro. When I was requested to fill in my address and other details I quickly checked the website travasaurus.com on my other computer and found it to be blank. So I checked the internet and luckily found your website. I hope no harm has been done by giving away my name.

10. 90
    Klaus Poulsen Says:
    July 22nd, 2005 at 5:40 pm

    Pia Hansen:

    I tryed with Tele2’s number info 1818
    They sadly also do not have anny info on them, they told me also that the particlar number does not even have to be danish. The number can be located enny where in the world.

Pages: «1…4567891011121314…69»