Tags: Scams
Ameri-who?
March 7th, 2005, by Rich.
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I just got a wonderful telemarketing call …
| Me: | Hello. |
| Me: | Hello?. |
| Me: | Helllllo? |
| Me: | [pauses] |
| Me: | Hello?. |
| Me: | Sorry I’m not receiving any audio from your end, so if you can hear me, hang up, or if you’re an automated dialler I’m just going to keep on so you pay for the call. |
| After just enough time for a generic answer phone message to have completed, a recording began to playback at me: | |
| Recording: | Congratulations! You have just won the jackpot! Hi my name is Michael Smith from the Corporate Reward Centre in Las Vegas. You have just won the jackpot! Please call ring free 0800 091 0084 to claim your prize and matching your claim code: Jackpot. Again that number is ring free 0800 091 0084. Congratulations, and we look forward to speaking to you. |
So, noting that my star sign is Inquisitive (with Curious rising) and knowing that 0800 numbers are freephone; I called them:
| Kitty: | Amerisuites Vacations this is Kitty, how may I help? |
| Me: | Who? |
| Kitty: | Amerisuites Vacations this is Kitty. |
| Me: | Sorry, What Vacations? |
| Kitty: | Amerisuites, like America but without the ca and add Suites. |
| Me: | Oh, OK, I’d like to collect my jackp… |
| Kitty: | *click* *beeeeeeeeep* [Kitty ends the call] |
My telephone number is registered with the Telephone Preference Service a UK body that regulates commercial phone spam, so legally they’re not allowed to call me, but they’re trying to force a loophole where commercial calls are banned but, they theorize, by calling it a competition, they can avoid prosecution.
So, not only has this company cold-called my TPS registered number, but they’ve also hung up on me, that’s just plain rude, I wanted to know who and what they are:
So, I called them, again:
| Carla: | Welcome to Amerivacations this is Carla. |
Carla proceeded to take my first name and asked for the number from which I’d called to check what prize I’d won. I gave her a false number. Surprisingly this had no ill effect because Carla came back and told me that I’d won £1301 towards a holiday in Florida, and that it was part of a prize fund allocated to 100 people and there were only 10 claims left on the fund - [irony alert] what luck!
Being a happy soul about this I mentioned that I’m in the UK, and that Carla didn’t sound local; she told me she was in Orlando Florida, and reiterated that this was a free call for me (just to make me really feel like I was special).
She then went on to explain that to claim my prize I’d need to pay the balance on a holiday in Florida at a Ramada resort near near Disneyworld - the package balance £598 for 16 days holiday for 4 - effectively an 80% discount.
The is is not a competition or a lottery, this company is selling holidays; there is no way to claim a “prize” without actually purchasing something, at which point they’ll discount the value of that prize from the purchase cost.
From the TPS website: “Under Government legislation introduced on 1st May 1999 and replaced on 11th December 2003 by the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003, it is unlawful to make unsolicited direct marketing calls to individuals who have indicated that they do not want to receive such calls.”
Carla also explained that they are trying to rekindle interest in America as a vacation venue. She also explained that they are able to make these amazing offers because they keep their costs low, which they do in two ways:
- Direct Dialing.
- Word of Mouth.
Well, by direct-dialling me, unlawfully, they’ve certainly got a little word-of-mouth advertising.
The comments below add a lot of detail and you might also be interested in this followup article.
May 23rd, 2005 at 7:55 pm
Curiosity made me check the web after a cold call. Wow. Thank God.
They got annoyed with me because I kept saying in England we have been warned of cold calling and have been seriously advised not to give out any credit card details!!
Not only are we ex-directory we are also registered with the tps.
May 24th, 2005 at 5:38 am
Everyone should also file complaints with the Federal Trade commission. https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/wsolcq.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU01 I got already a reply yesterday and I sent an email on Saturday.
May 24th, 2005 at 9:38 am
Hello everyone,
Just to let you know l have found an interesting web site: http://www.timeshare.org.uk/soho.html
It gives some good advice about cancelling an holiday in America. It says:
May 24th, 2005 at 12:34 pm
Del,
Thank you so much for that very useful link.
Tom
May 24th, 2005 at 3:15 pm
Dear All
I was also fooled into AmeriVacation’s ‘offer’ - being the #1.000.000 customer getting a 3-day cruise to Bahamas if I purchased an additional holiday at one of the resorts to be seen at http://www.amerivacation.com
Now I urge everyone who did as I to do the following. Write an email to their customer-service with yourself as BCC-recipient. Then you have proof of asking for recourse, which is legally binding when you proceed the legal claim through Visa.
Good luck!
Esben Egeskov
May 24th, 2005 at 5:25 pm
So is this definately a bogus company and is the product they claim to sell Non existent?
May 24th, 2005 at 6:08 pm
Are they “bogus”? Good question. We don’t live in a world of bi-polar logic so until an officially appointed legal representative declares that they’re bad, they’re just like you and I - innocent.
Personally, based on the one phonecall I initially had, I was sure that:
Breaking the law once or twice like this is foolish and can be written off as a mistake, swept under the carpet, and forgiven. This is two months on from the call I received and they’re repeatedly cold calling ex-directory numbers that are registered with the TPS. These people don’t just break the law, they flout it.
If a company is willing to break the law to sell to it’s customers, what reason is there to trust that anything else they do will be legal and above board?
Personally I’m hopeful that everybody who’s found this site WILL get a refund if they ask for it (and most of them are likely to ask for it when they realize that there are all kinds of hidden costs such as airfares, port tax, nights in hotels for the times between the cruises and the hotels that are provided, etc.).
Only time will tell if these guys are running a reputable company that wants to build a good reputation or not. History however suggests that they’ll change their name, change their phone numbers and keep selling.
May 24th, 2005 at 6:21 pm
Hello just a quick update:
Have recieved an e-mail from the Florida Department of Agricultere and Consumer Services.
As follows: Mrs Brown who is assigened to my complaint will attempt to contact all parties and attempt to mediate a solution.
So hopefully after all this there might be a light at the end of the tunnel! Well l can only hope.
May 24th, 2005 at 6:31 pm
Hey
Today Jennifer Scott from Amerivacations rang our home stating that our number was chosen from 100 selected, and due to the decrease in tourism since 9/11 they promoted a discounted holiday which im pretty sure all of you have heard of. Again, the number she rang was ex - directory and TPS registered.
They tried to run a check as to whether my mother was elidgable to receive the holiday, in the mean time i had doubts due to that “too good to be true” feeling. So i ran a few searches in google and came up with tonnes of websites just like this with hundreds of ppl in the same position.
Luckily i informed my mother just as the questions prompted answers involving credit card numbers. . . . .
We were quite scared that they could trace the credit card number from all the personal information that was given, and indeed when reading this site, i saw some people reflected this issue.
We phoned several credit card companies and asked them whether it was possible, from giving all info bar the credit card number, it was possible for a company to trace any credit cards……
Luckily, they all said it was impossible. I think the worst case scenario is the company being a nuisance through phone calls, letters and emails.
One issue that plagues me is whether the holidays offered are any good, and i hope to acquire information from people that have gone on this “holiday”.
What was even more strange was that whilst my mother was on the phone to the company i spotted “Jennifer Scott” in a complaint posted by a person on another site that read :
“It would seem Soho is now VIP Holidays. I was contacted by an auto dialer which connected me to Jennifer Scott 0800 091 4761 ext 280. She gave me all the blurb about the same discounted holiday for £598.00, State Licence No ST 35765 and how it was reservable and transferable for 1 year or 2 at no extra cost. We went through everything and it sounded good till she said payment. Suspicious old me said not until i see the paperwork. Off she went and on came Michael Baruch 0800 091 4762. He was good too. I genuinely had to pick up my son and said we should pause now and resume later. He was off like a shot. I checked out the Licence No and could find no record nor any of VIP holidays. I called them and checked the address (grumpy response). When i found your site i followed the link left by a member to the Florida criminal records. By coincidence there is a Michael Baruch and Jennifer Scott. Not wishing to suggest anything, it is amazing how these coincidences happen to honest Travel Agents.
I don’t think we will take the offer.”
I believe that the best way to catch these fraudsters is to prepare the people. I’m pretty sure if people were made aware of this holiday scam in advance by openly placing it in the medias eyes, then there would be less incidents in the future like ours.
Those who have been conned will struggle to get a refund, however it is fundamental that those who have been or would have been conned must let everyone else know so that more people will not be affected in this way, and the fraudsters ultimate plan will not succeed.
The law can only do so much in the world of trading, the consumers must do the rest!
I leave the rest to you all.
May 25th, 2005 at 10:02 am
My disabled neighbour was contacted by this company yesterday and £698 was taken from her credit card almost immediately. She has cancelled her card however, her company have stated that at the moment they cannot claim a refund. This poor woman is too frightened to tell her husband. I have attempted to read all comments on this site but being disabled too am finding it difficult to understand everything in order help. Is there anybody here who would be kind enough to send me the necessary contacts in one message in order for me to help my neighbour. I realise this is very cheeky of me but writing is very difficult for me and it would take me ages to jot everything down for her. Hopefully we can sort this mess out before her husband finds out !