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.
June 11th, 2005 at 12:35 pm
Carl from Peterborough: your comment cannot appear here because you did not give a valid email address (I even checked if sdfgsddsgdf.com is a valid domain, just in case). Sorry. Rich.
June 11th, 2005 at 4:18 pm
Marie..although i agree that the actual holiday may seem good,i would disagree that the price seems to be a good deal. Don’t forget that YOU are responsible for air fare there and back,and travel between places once in America. My dad was conned by this unscrupulous company,and he won’t be going due to all of the extra bits HE would have to pay for. If these people are genuine then why say you’ve won a holiday if you end up paying around £700 which does NOT include flights etc?. Why do they expect you to pay BEFORE seeing any hard proof of what you are getting for your money?. Why take this HUGE payment,often within a few minutes from your account? Are they scared people will change their minds? Why?… As far as i’m concerned they are NOT genuine. If they were then they would NOT have to lie to their “victims” by bringing up 9/11!! HOW SICK CAN THEY GET!!!…By the way,i too had one of the calls but hung up straight away…lucky escape if you ask me..(.After reading all these posts i’ve noticed that NO-ONE has been on this holiday yet…only time will tell if it is all it seems!!.)
June 11th, 2005 at 4:33 pm
Hi Marie,
You’re in an interesting situation having booked, and (i think) having decided to go on the trip; so a few questions…
How much was your particular package and what holiday does it contain?
Did you book flights already and how much did they cost as a proportion of the whole trip?
June 11th, 2005 at 4:47 pm
Marie,
If you want to you can take the risk but keep in mind that other people who wanted to take this trip could simply not go because ‘yourvipholiday’ alias ‘Amerivacation’ declared itself bankrupt/insolvent. You can read all about it on:
http://badbusinessbureau.com/reports/ripoff122801.htm
Keep also in mind that Section 501.616(1),
Florida Statutes, states that it is unlawful for any commercial
telephone seller or salesperson to require that payment be by credit
card authorization or otherwise to announce a preference for that
method of payment.
Last but not least, according to the FLORIDA STATUS OF CANCELLATION people may cancel vacation packages without any penalty or obligation within 30 days of purchase or receipt of the vacation certificate, whichever occurs later. Claiming that high cancellation costs are applicable for people who want to cancel within this period is therefore a clear violation of the law.
Have a nice trip
June 13th, 2005 at 2:26 am
thank you all for the input.. to start out i paid 698 pounds for my holiday..that include 3/2 daytona beach 5/4 orlando with 4 -1- day passes to disney 3/2 ft lauderdale and 3/2 to vegas i think because i held out on giving the details right off the bat, i also have 24 months to use the offer.. yes the fares are approx 300-400 pounds per person for the time of year that i chosen to go and that is for 3 adults, and by the way my husband has no idea i booked the holiday because he would have flipped his lid that i gave our cc details over the telephone to a complete stranger in the united states.. there is also the thirty day cancelation that i still have to decide upon. you have brought up a good point that will the resorts still be in business when i choose to go, that i had not thought about… when a company goes bankrupt they usually are protecting themselves from other creditors, and to claim loss at the end of the year on income taxes. in other words to reap the ben of not having to pay taxes on earned income.. the documents are from the amerisuites not from vip/amerivacations and amerisuites is a reputable resort as far as i can tell.. i work nights so when i am home they are closed and i have not been able to contact thier customer service number during the day because i am asleep then..so will i take the holiday? i hope so lord knows i have paid enought for it..
June 13th, 2005 at 2:44 am
yes this situation has put me on edge… i read the last article where once the company went bankrupt the offer was no longer valid and that has changed my outlook on this package and this company, i have also contacted amerisuites directly and they have assured me that the offer will be vaild for the 24 month period that i recieved on the 7/6 orl 3/2 day 3/2 ft laud the disney tickets and the cruise and the bonus 3/2 to vegas that i have recieved, so the 30 are still in my rights and i may use that option, i work nights and with the time change i have a hard time contacting them about the offer..i also paid 698 pounds for the holiday and the air transportation is about 300 pounds per person for 3 people around the time of year that i have chosen to go. also i have no connection to vip other than being on thier call list.. unfortunate for me but know i am stuck so i may as well make the best of the situation and take the holiday.. i would rather take it than pay 300pounds for a cancelation fee.
June 13th, 2005 at 2:45 am
i have tried to comment but it is not working?
June 13th, 2005 at 9:41 am
Hi Marie, all comments are moderated before they are publically visible. This is necessary to keep the site free of spam. Around 99% of the comments that arrive are actually adervtising, and most of these are automatically binned. All comments that get through the filters are read by me before being approved. That keeps the site content useful.
June 13th, 2005 at 1:10 pm
Hi Marie,
Interesting that you’re in Australia, I am too! Though I’ve not had the pleasure of getting phone calls from these jokers yet..
Where abouts in this sunburnt country are you ?
cheers!
Chris
June 13th, 2005 at 11:35 pm
My girlfriend got the phone 5 days ago, we have tried to get our money back, but still nothing. 899 euros gone!
Amerivacation has been operating in Norway for month’s now, but my girlfriend only got the information 5 minutes too late. She called her bank…and yeah…money gone!
Since there is some Norwegian people posting their worries here, I might just help with some information! Take a look at this Norwegian officals site:
http://www.forbrukerombudet.no/index.gan?id=11002739&subid=0
There you find the correct way to handle the situasjon, and a description of what to do to get a full refund - with no refund fee according to Florida state law!
I’ve also confronted Amerivacation and “ken” about the 30 day regret when selling vacation in Florida state. To this he replied: “well, not if you have acepted the terms and conditions”
.
When he played the famous tape, they started it by saying “accept by saying YES or NO” - my girlfriend jused the word “OKAY” through the whole tape. I told “ken” that this is NOT the same as either yes og no. Then he replied “I’ve always understood the word OKAY the same as Yes”. I said that the word OKAY might be interpritated in different ways, and that the word by no means can be used as a substitute for the word YES in any court, not even in kina.
I also asked who was the manager, supervisor, director, boss - but he could not answer me. I asked how many employers they had, no answer. I asked who my lawyer could contact, no answer (not that I have a lawyer in Florida yet, but I just might get one!).
So tomorrow I’m going to call them again, and again, and again. I’ll maybe even record the conversation and put it out on my web page!
I’m sorry for the bad language - I am Norwegian - a true Viking!
We know how to fight, but not to write! lol