Ameri-who?
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.
272 Comments
once again i thank everyone for all thier input, i have chosen to send the package back after numerous attempts of contacting thier customer svc dept and being hung up on when i asked a question, i did see the package on line and that is why i booked because it seemed genuine… i originally recieved a pop-up ad on my computer i called, got disconnected but by then had given my number and they contacted me back, i dont think they have gotten to australia just yet… yes i did find it odd that they quoted me in pounds but i just figured the difference my self..well i am sure this has been a good lesson for all, even the folk in norway are now fighting them…who knows where they will try next….
Hi Marie,
Sounds like they were not being at all cooperative with you by hanging up. So I hope you get your money back.
BTW, can you clarify “I don’t think they’ve gotten to Australia yet?” – because in your first comment here you said “I’m in Australia”.
I have just had a phone call from amervacation complaint department, saying that I can have a refund and a cancelation fee of £150, I said I still thought that was too much as I was conned. They put the cancelation fee down to £89 and I decided to accept this, just so the whole mess would go away, and I really need the money back. They tried to get my visa details agian to put the money back on my visa, but as I had already cancelled my visa, I said no. (I would not fall for this twice). They say they are going to send me a cheque for £609 in the next 30 days. I will just have to wait and see, I really hope I get this back as I go to tunisia next month and have no spending money.
If these people can get away with taking a £89 (=$175) cancellation fee from every person they mislead and sell to, then there’s no incentive for them to stop is there?
According to the DOACS – if you are within your 30 day cancellation period you are entitled to a full, no quibble, refund. Those are the terms under which all companies that wish to sell travel to (or in) Florida have to adhere in order to be in business.
If you have any difficulty obtaining that refund, complain to the DOACS – and then follow that up with a phone call – they’ve been very friendly, helpful and interested to know more when I’ve spoken with them.
Thanks goodness for this website, got a answer phone message from “Michael Smith” an hour ago, but thought I’d do a quick websearch on him before I called back!
Vicky,
I got a complete refund and not thx to Amerivacation. I sent a cancellation letter right away and a copy of it to my credit card company. You really are entitled to a complete refund. Of course you should explain why you are entitled to a refund.
Peter
the DOACS has indeed been most helpful. They sent me a letter stating that they would follow up my complaint. I can also still send them additional documentation to support my allegations. A copy of my complaint has also been mailed to Amerivaction.
Peter
Please can you help me, yesterday, Wednesday 15th June, i done a really stupid thing.
i got a phone call saying i had won the jackpot which was a holiday to Orlando,the first thing i said to them was how much is this going to cost me and was told nothing,so started giving this guy all my details and he said something about £698 and i told him that i wasnt paying anything and he put me through to another guy who then told me no we do not take any money today it gets took out 45 days before you travel,and that was just for taxes
he put me back to the first guy who started from the beging again and told me he was tapeing it. well i was ok with that and gave him all my details again including my credit card number cos i thought that was for the taxes and that it would only be taken out when i go,cos i had been promised nothing would come of my card till i went. i was ok with that,well this morning i checked my bank and £711.41 has been taken so now im even overdrawn and have lost the money cos i have just rung them and they played the second recording , and they said they have not got the first one and it is on the first one that i was promised that they would not take any money,
so now as you can see i need your help im really upset about the whole mess, i am disabled and live on benefits so as you can see i really can’t afford to lose that money.
i look forward to hearing from you. Many Thanks.
Eileen, see this page: http://boakes.org/amerivacation-cancel
I notice that there’s a new new phone number for Amerivacations – 0800 091 0227 – sometimes written as 0-800-091-0227.
Hello
it’s seems that another sucker has been pulled into this scam. I was contacted on the 5may 2005 and conned into giving my credit card details and like a numpty i gave them it. However when i tried to cancel within 20 minutes of the call the money had already been taken out of my account and surprise suprise i could not get through to the company. I am still in debate with the company in regards to receiving a refund surprise suprise again they are unhappy to confirm anything in writting and only wish to record what they want to record. I would like for this company to become known and warn other people of the dangers. A lesson i have learned is don’t give your credit card details out if it is not in your hands don’t pay for it.
Interesting this; I just saw a search come in for “you have won a holiday to florida” with a new name attached, it seems the original Michael Smith may have been retired in favour of “Simon Brown”
Having just read my stars and the initial J being lucky for me, I answered the phone only to discover that I had won a holiday in a top resort! This is the second time I have won in the space of 6 weeks. How lucky can a girl get! Anyway this time I was selected because someone I knew had put my name forward after using their M&S or John Lewis Chargecard. I listened to the recorded message and when it said press 0 I hung up. Having already suffered at the hands of this company I was not going to repeat it. I did, however ring M&S chargecard and surprise, surprise this is nothing to do with them but they do know about it. How long before these people are stopped?
Im just off the phone with Mr.Smith (how original!). He gave me the whole chat then asked for my credit card details. I said I wanted to think about it and he said he needed this information for ‘verification’ perposes. I hung up the phone and cursed!
Hi. I tracked down the 0800 number to a company called Syntec Telecom. After speaking to them they informed me that they only run the inbound 0800 line for the company in America and route the calls there. I explained to the gentleman that I, and many others, are TPS registered and not happy about the way in which this company does business. He, in turn, called the company and agreed that the ‘lottery’ was not in fact so and that he was satisfied that the company should be looked into further. I am expecting a call back from him after raising the issue with his superiors. I suggest you get in touch with the company too as mine was only the 2nd complaint. Syntec’s details are: Tel 0800 376 7370 (Intl +44 20 8991 9549) and you will need to quote 0800 091 0084 for them to find Amerivacation’s account details and log the complaint. Good luck guys.. hope this helps. If nothing it will mean that the company will lose their routing service.
Thanks for the info in your article. I “won” a competition yesterday, via one of those pop up things that just appear, telling me I’m the winner this hour and must call the number within the next minute to claim my prize – this was Expert Holidays, I assume this is probably how they operate.
I thought it was too good to be true, the woman on the other end of the phone said she would send information of my win via email, I was not prepared to give my credit card details until she had done so. Oh well, such is life – but thanks very much for confirming what I suspected!
Seems the cruise operator of Amerivacaction is also part of the scam. At least their sales practices resemble too much those of Amerivaction. Just read the following report:
http://badbusinessbureau.com/reports/ripoff53598.htm
Have just been conned and we are following all of the advice, have rang them and been hung up on have been given the wrong address etc. Have emailed them and am using the template letter to them and Agriculture dept. But we are wondering why Peter states you should refuse the package when it comes? We have been told that details to cancel are inside the package and have heard of people paying £15 to return it. What have other people done in this case. Please advise
If you intend to cancel and therefore don’t accept delivery of “the package”, the courier is obliged to return it to it’s source; this saves you money. The company cannot make you jump through any hoops to cancel the contract (i.e. they can’t make you fill out a specific form), you just have to send them a letter.
Thanks for that. We will be refusing the package when it comes I dont see why they should even send it in the first place as we emailled our intent to cancel within an hour of the call. I have sent copies of everything to my creditcard company and the Florida dept of Agriculture and Commerce (5 copies of letters, emails etc) Just hope we are successful in getting our money back. Many Thanks for the info I wouldn’t have known where to start!
Hello, what I would also be interested in is if anyone has even ever done this trip.
Interesting reading, I am sorry to know that I am not the only one who has been scammed or what ever I have been? It also makes me feel a little better about my self that I am not the only one who felt for this. Man you feel so stupid afterwards. In Denmark we call it directly translated “farmer catch”. After I hung up the phone I closed my visa but to late Im afraid. I have followed the instructions on this web. They are the same I was told today in my bank, writing an e-mail etc.etc. My bank “lady” told me that somebody had actually gone on this trips. I was a bit suprised and confused when she said that. Have not read any mails yet that says anything about people actually been on these trips. Not matter what I hope I get back my money, and hopefully stop feeling like I have been robbed and helped them doing it.
By the way. A great website. Good luck to you all, either its getting your money back or what you have payed for. I will return as soon as I know how my case turns out.
My wife got scammed of £601.19 by a company yesterday called Celebration Promotions. Are they part of the AmeriVacation? Anyone got an address for Celebrate Promotions? The payment went to a company called Auburn Travel.
Seems that this scams has as many names as the beloved child. Here’s a new one – Sunkissed Travel. I went for the scam, I’m SO angry.
I couldn’t even understand everything they said, has such bad accents of spanish etc.
Seems also that these women called CARLA and CARMEN are real superwomen for working for two companies at the same time – Sunkissed Travel and Amerivacations?
I feel sorry for myself, and everyone here. There are SO many of us. Couldn’t we get a lawyer and get this organization to court?
PEOPLE, LET’S MAKE THEM PAY !
Any good ideas?
Just a quick note to let you all know that this is still going on. I received an automated call to my ex-directory TPS registered number a couple of hours ago. Since then I’ve been reading up on this. I didn’t hear the company name but just typed the first line into Google (“Congratulations, you’ve just won the jackpot!”).
Thankfully I didn’t call them or give any details, but I was interested to find out more about this. I work for a credit card fraud insurance company (don’t hate me, it’s just for fraud resulting from loss/theft) and in my job I get many calls from people who are scared because they’ve just given their details. Many are convinced it’s legitimate by the fact that they have an 0800 number.
If people HAVE given out their card details my advice would be to cancel and reorder cards *immediately*. Even if a charge has already been taking, cancelling the original number should stop any further debits.
Also, check with your card issuers about what you’re covered for. Some issuers (for example Barclaycard) have a service called Purchase Protection. I know a lot of these services can be applied for when you take out a new credit card, so it’s certainly worth looking into.
Anyway, good luck to all of you still struggling with this company. Something that may apply to this, although I’m not sure, that most people aren’t aware about… if you make a written complaint to a company and are not satisfied with the outcome, you can then go to the Financial Ombudsman. Again, with this being a foreign company I don’t know if this would help, but for UK companies if ANY complaints are forwarded to the Ombudsman, the company gets billed something like £200-£300 for it, whether the complaint is justified or not.
I was surfing the internet when i received this pop-up saying that i was the lucky winner of a trip to Florida. I had exactly 2 minutes to call the 1-800 number given so as to claim my prize. There was even a countdown timer !1:59… 1:58….1:40………1:12……and so on and so forth. My heart pounded as i raced for the phone. I immediately reached the number given and talked to a pleasant guy who offered a trip for 2 at $299 each,tickets to Disneyworld and even a 3 day trip to the Bahamas! Then he asked me for my credit card number which i immediately refused. He literally became desperate and even lowered the initial price to $299 for 3 people!! I smelt a rat and immediately gave him a fake credit card number. I was transferred to some lady who told me she was recording the call. She asked me to re- confirm my name ,credit number and mailing address. While we were recording , she interrupted the procedure to inform me that my credit card number had been returned as invalid All this in the space of 2 minutes! She even had the nerve to ask me if i had another credit card with sufficient money. By now , i was really enjoying this tete a tete. I then proceeded to give her another fake credit card number. As u can guess , she only took another 2 minutes to confirm it had no funds! By now i was exasperated and told her there was no way i was ever going to give out my credit card number to a stranger. I then went online to check out this company, and i noticed the page containing its board of directors, has posted artificially generated composite pictures of certain individuals. Take a close look at the backgrounds and see how fake they are. This whole thing is a sham. The first operator i talked to had told me they are affiliated to Holiday Inn ,which is a manifestly untrue assertion. This people need to be investigated and apprehended before they bankrupt people and break-up families.
Yet another “victim” on TPS and ex-directory. Yesterday I got the “call” for a second tiem and decided to take some action. The guy who answered wouldnt even give the company name and threatened to keep calling until i bought the package. So after about an hour of converstation, he was quite chatty as he said he was paid by the hour, I found this site. I phoned them back and was offered my number put on a “do not call ” list but refused to give number as I don’t trust them….
I also phoned syntec who basically said they had had several complaints and amerisuites had told them they WOULD use TPS from last week. I was also told that no information on numbers etc was passed to Amerisuites i.e. caller id etc The guy was very helpful and it seems they are considering “pulling the plug” on the freephone numbers.
I too was very tempted by this now obvious scam but luckily give them no bank details. The warning bells relly rung out when after deciding it was a scam and told them I couldn’t afford half of the £598 = £299 (per person) as a deposit they said…
“what could you afford now then sir, most people jump at this oppertunity” I have scanned over the MANY MANY posts here and noticed that the website I was given below is different to most in the posts:
http://www.expertholidays.com
This points to the usual scam of companies constantly changing their names to run from commitments they have made.
I hope something is done about this growing holiday offer/competition problem in general
I really would like to meet thise people! That a person/persons can have a great filling about themselfes, sorry my spelling! Haven´t been writing in englies for many years. we thougt that we had won???? You will get wiser for the mistakes you make, but not richer? Are there anyone in the states I can e-mail or write to about this?? Maybe there are somebody who nows where to find them?
Amerivacation.com
just hang op, don´t fall for the trick, like i did!
They toke 898 euro from me, How stupid can a person bee???
Best of luck too all of you
Rene Denmark
I am from Sweden and received the same message 3 days ago. I got very surprised when I heard it and had to listen 3 times to see if I got it all right!! And yes, a free cruise and a free call number indeed. But, I immediately felt that something was wrong and tried to look the number up. Couldn´t find it anywhere in any directory for sweden on the web. Therfore I started searching the net for a clue or an answer. that is how I found your website and for that I am thankfull. I wont even bother to call the number. I will however try to notify proper authorities about this. Thank you for enlightening me regarding this so called free cruise to the carribean!!
Just to let you know that I also ‘won’ a holiday in Florida. It didn’t interest me much, but thought my daughter who lives in Canada might enjoy it. After reading this Website and thinking about it a bit more – and finding it difficult to log on to the Amerisuites Website, I decided to cancel. I rang the number given and the woman assured me that, if I
decided not to go through with the package, I had 30 days to change my
mind.
The $598 US has already gone through my account, but was not
showing the payee at this stage. I sent an email to the mob at
Calypso to cancel (I did eventually get through to their website and the email address is given there), and although I never heard anything back
from them, the money did not go through my account, thank Goodness.
My guess is that the company is legitimate, but that the savings are not. The place in Orlando is right by the airport, and doesn’t look that great.
anyway.
I shall certainly be more careful in future. Best of luck.
well now they ar in sweden !! i just had the same call you have won blah blah.
glady my boyfriend put the phone down
Hey, same scam happened to me today and I am in Sweden. The telephone rang and it was an automatic message asking me to dial ’9′ to claim a prize so I did and got transferred to a TOM DEVITT who claimed to work for Sunkiss Travel. He was very defensive and well trained and knew how to get information of you. I knew it was a bit odd and when ever I tried to ask more questions like; How did you get my number all the way in Sweden? Why are you offering me this great cruise and this great hotel ‘just right across from Disney World’? He gave me a long argument on how it is cheaper for his company to advertise this way blah blah blah. He then tried to butter you up by telling you all about this great trip then asked me for my credit card expiry date which I wrongly gave it to him to see what his next step would be. I then grew a bit impatient and was worried this call to America could be costing me money instead of the tollfree number claimed. I then asked him ‘When will I get my tickets to America?’ Tom then said they don’t give away flight tickets and was in the middle of some great explanation when I told him to F off! and that I will be posting everything today on the internet to warn others.
Hi all,
I too was accosted by a pop up window proclaiming that I had won approx the value of £1,000 for a holiday/cruise to florida, disneyland, the bahamas blah blah blah… foolishly I called the ‘freephone’ 0800 number and gave a girl called Laura with an american accent my claim number. Laura stated that she was a rep of Calypso Cay Resorts and went through the whole yarn of what would be included, and at the end of that 10 minutes, announced that the offer was a fantastic 80% discount and would ‘only’ cost £298 per person, thats £589 for 2 and the option to include 2 other people for free thrown in.
There it is, i thought. I had stated my skepticism to this Laura a few times during the call and she giggled and brushed aside my concerns throughout.
She just needed my credit card to make the booking. I told her that I’m not in a position to pay for anything on my credit card as my account is in arrears, besides I thought I’d won something for free. I should have hung up at this point but she swiftly interjected with ‘thats ok, I need your card so that the promotion you’ve won can be registered and your winning 80% discount will be guaranteed…’ the jist was I could always call back when my card had cleared and they would at that time (with my authorization) go ahead and make the transaction, should I still be interested in the ‘prize’. Laura assured me that my card will not be debited that day or any other until I called back and gave autho.
I didn’t fully trust but the holiday sounded yummy and ideal for me and my partner after a stressful year.
I gave her my telephone, address, and mindlessly my credit card details, but I knew (or rather hoped) any transactions would decline. Laura then passed me to a rep called Troy with a british accent, who then repeated everything she had said for another 10mins, and then he put me through to another called Israel for ‘a time recorded final verification’. Israel then proceeded to reel of a series of statements concerning the deal to which I was to answer ‘agree’ or ‘disagree’.
I carried on with this CHARADE for another minute or two, disagreeing with most statements which threw him completely. I then said ‘Wait, I’ve been had, this is a scam isn’t it? (Ya think??). He replied, ‘no it is not’, and then hung up.
I called visa who informed me that the holiday company had tried to debit my account for two lots of 0.87 pence at 15:33 and 15:45. I asked visa if Calypso could try again at a later date to take the money off my card when the account had cleared and was informed that I had given the company the authorisation to take money from my card whenever they chose to by giving them my card details.
Needless to say I cancelled my card there and then. I’m not usually this silly but under the circumstances I got off lightly.
Caz
Hi, I live in the Netherlands, and i just got a similar call. I got an answering machine, and i had to dial a 9 to collect the cruise i just won. I got connected with sunkiss travel from orlando, florida, and of course i didn’t believe i really won something so i asked them a lot of questions, but they assured me they didn’t save my number in a database and wouldn’t call me again, and they wouldn’t pass my number to other companies. They were just a travel company and i won a cruise. I have them a number of a cell phone i don’t use anymore, and they started asking me questions if i would be able to collect the cruise, they asked my age, and if i was married, and after that they asked if i had multiple credit cards, so i said i didn’t, and he said that that ws unfortinate and i couldn’t collect the cruise. They couldn’t explain very well why i needed a credit card to collect the cruise, and after saying bye and stuff they hang up :S
Well, now they’re in Denmark as well. Just got off the phone from mr. Tom Dewitt from sunkissed travel. Glad I googled him in the meantime and only got to give him my expiration date. I don’t know how you market your travels in the states, but in Denmark this is a very rude form of trespassing. I’m still very angry! Good luck everybody.
Yahoo! I’ve won the Jackpot!!!!
Yes I had won a “Free Holiday”, you can guess the rest, that was on the 13th May, but with the help of some information from one of the people posting info on this web site (I can’t remember his name) he gave me the website address of the “Florida Consumer Services Dept.”
They have an electronic complaint form to fill in which I did at the end of May. They replied that they would contact the company (Amerivacation) in due course but that it could take up to 60 days and they cannot enforce any legal proceedings. It is now the end of August and have just had a letter from the Consumer Services informing me that the company are refunding the “package” as of 5th August. As of yesterday I hadn’t recieved a penny, but today Lo and Behold, my Mastercard Statement arrives with a refund. Justice prevails, not only that, but they have paid back more than I actually paid them!
For all of you wishing redress contact: http://www.doacs.state.fl.us/onestop/forms/10000.pdf
Good Luck, its worth a try!
dear DAVID
i have readed your story and i’m so glad for you that you have got your money refund from this so callt company.I am the one who brought the DOACS to the attention of the site. It pleases me that the first results are coming now. I’m also glad that Rich took over the advice to advice the people with problems make a contact with DOACS to make an end of all this illegal bussines.
I have followed this site every day from the moment I had the troubles myself to see if there was any progress
in tackling them on ther own territory. It took a while to see, but I think now its the time that the results are going to start.
Again DAVID I’m glad it worked in your case, and I hope that lots of people do the same that you did so that we can make an end of this sort of practice.
I wish all the people good luck and I’m keep following this site for more positive results.
Hi there! A swede named Martin signing in.
Great site – internet at its best, letting people learn from each other and cooperate.
A good remedy to my temper after getting pissed of by getting automated spam from the above mentioned company in my ear just a few hours ago. I put down the phone off the hook before even pressing the button (eight in my case), to let them pay as much as possible with minimal effort from me. Hope the automated system doesn’t kill the call too soon, I kept it off for at least an hour.
Then I used google to find this site.
Great work with hunting these bastards in all possible ways, and a good luck to you!
Hi we are from Australia and had the same thing via a popup which we stupidly went through with. Anyway on the 24th August 2005 we agreed to pay but on the 29th after no email confirmation from them we rang and spoke to Justin and he got pissed when I insisted that we wanted to cancel but agreed not to charge our card.
19th Sept we received a package and not realising what it was at the time signed for it and found later it was from Amerisuites. After getting the package checked with credit card and found that they went ahead and charged our card without our consent and have since contacted mastercard to have them investigate what is happening with whoever authorises this scam.
When I rang back and spoke to Justin on 26th Sept he denied that he said that there would be no charge to our card but agreed that we had cancelled on the 29th, 5 days later, but it would take 15 to 30 days to arrange a refund. When I informed him that these transactions happen in real time he seemed to think and stated that banks still take their time. I told him I would like him to send a email right away while I was on the phone but he said he could not as he had an assistant that did that for him and it would appear at the end of the day. I told him then I very much doubted it and have since been proved correct as this is the 27th Sept and I am getting ready to ring and find out why.
There is a website http://www.calypsocay.com/ that has a live chat link that is not working but when you click on it, it has a way of sending emails to other departments including owners (hopefully) anyway I sent one to each and have received a reply stating that someone was going to investigate.
Heres hoping! Wish we had of found this earlier, keep on keeping on.
I had a call at my workplace from Amerisuite, telling me we had won a super holiday in Floriday with a free Bahamas cruise etc. etc.
I was told that my wife was on hold on another line at my my home and that l can secure the deal by paying only £598 for 4 adults. I stupidly agreed after much persuation and gave my credit card number. It was only after spending some time
checking flight costs from the UK that l realised it was a bum deal.
I have since tried to contact them on 0800-066-4935 to cancel but l keep getting told that someone will contact me.
Not accepting this delay, l have since sent a letter to the Calypso Cay Resort to cancel the deal but so far, nothing has happened. I have looked into this company (Amerisuiteresort, AmeriVacations, Discount Hoildays etc. etc) and was confused as l did not know which company l dealt with.
My credit card company told me it was Amerisuites Vacations that has taken the money. I am annoyed and want to know how to recover my loss. Has anyone obtained a refund? If so, please let me know how? I will now pursue my Credit Card company!
I am learning the hard way – just put the phone down when the person calling says you have won something!
Mr. Raja, this should help with your refund quest. Please keep in touch and let us know if/when you have any success.
I replied to the :prize: scam on the internet and agreed to participate in the holiday, gave permission to have the money deducted from my visa card. When I recieved my monthly statement these dishonest bastards had deducted 2 amounts for the package. I immediately attempted to contact them to get the overcharged amount returned. Twenty phone calls and countless emails later, plus rude and arrogancy from their so called customer service officers, I finally had my Visa card chase up the overcharged amount. Three months later I finally got the overcharge back. The day I recieved the package, I mailed it back along with a letter to say that because of their complete lack of customer service, I wished to cancel the package and apply for a refund, which I was told at the time of purchase,that I could do. Surprise surprise, no response. Many more phone calls followed, and I was given another number to contact. I was informed that these people had not recieved the returned package and could I fax them another letter requesting a refund and also my postal receipt as proof that I had posted it, the cheek of the mongrels. 2 weeks later and ever time I call their number I am asked to leave my number and someone will get back to me. What a joke! These people should face criminal charges for ripping people off!
Two points then: 1 – you’ve not mentioned the name of the company, which is important in establishing a pattern of misrepresentation. 2 – contact the DOACS (details on the how to cancel page, under Action 3).
I actually received a Congratulation Message on 31 January 2006 (Malaysia Date) telling that I won a tip for 7 Days 6 Night Bahamas Cruise Vacation in my http://www.friendster.com URL-Samuel Chong. Then I called the phone number appeared with 0014077561259 is toll free number, but actually it charge me RM50 in Malaysia Dollars (a prepaid phone card number-0163612083). The caller-Amerivacation(Ms Ashlei) n (the Promotion Director-Mr John) told me that I had won a trip to Orlando Florida and a cruise to Bahamas. This sounds really great because I live in Malaysia and I only have to pay them 798 euros after conducted the others expenses which I actually won 1210++ in euros for others traveling to 7 days in Orlando,3 days Daytona Beach, 3 days Fort lordadaile and a 3 day cruise to the Bahamas for 4 people and they said that can bring others friends and said that it had 12 months period to planned my time after I pay the 798 euros first which mean I can travel it when I free during 12 months. I checked out their homepage-www.caylpsocay.com., it seems ok. I gave my address and my card number to them but I have not yet received the package with brochures after 3 days now. They would send me the mail with the details within 24 hours but I didn’t receive it yet. And that I call to Calypso Cay Sales Center (00140079971732) with its address 4951 Calypso Cay Way Kissimmee, FL 34746 that they give me with my active customer service number 01310611. I request to cancel my package that I have bought with my credit card, they said I need me fax why I want cancel my packaged. I really fax my cancellation letter to the number with 0014079971729 but since don’t have any request.
I’m actually know that is a cheated but since if anyone would not know it if he/she didn’t try it and this especially from outside country likes East Asean Country! I already try to hang up the phone when conversation with the Amerivacation but they told is one chance direct call only, and that I feel really miss the chance for a wonderful trip but how I know it is really a big cheated!!! I check from website http://boakes.org/ameri-who/all-comments so that i know to do a complaining from Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services-Division of Consumer Services. Moreover, the Caller Company already done voice recorder between some agreement asked question, I just since forced to be to that because our line conversation is actually hang up for first time, but they actually do called me back!! How I can avoid this call since I just the first time to be cheated!!!
After I give my credit card number to the Americavation, I did terminate my credit card after the caller but it seems late, I known. And my credit card company said the calypsocay had already charge me the balances with RM1596 (which 798 in euros), it really can’t do anything that this my credit balances! I hope this case can be settle without I need paid any charges to credit card company, how I need to responsible for this unenjoyable any advantages with big amount charges on credit card balance!! It hurt me until I work with unpleasant feeling, u know this our pity earning money.
I do send a complaint letter to Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services, Hope them can help me!!! Or any 1 can suggest me any good idea? How do deal with charged on credit card balance?
I’m in Melbourne Australia, and I got a phone call from these scammers today. It was an automated american voice telling me “congratulations, you have been randomly selected to receive a bahamas holiday with all expenses paid, press 9 for more details”. I thought it might be someone playing a prank, so I stayed silent and let the message play through again 2 more times. Then I pressed 9 and it transferred me through to the call centre, but I thought “f**k this, I don’t have time to deal with telemarketers” and hung up before anyone answered. I kind of wish I hadnt, though. It’s fun to toy with those people.
I don’t have a credit card and I hate all telemarketers by default, so I wouldn’t have been taken in by this for a second.
I’ve read all 25 comment pages and it makes me really sad and angry at how many people have said “I’m disabled” and/or “I can’t afford this”. I don’t know how those call-centre monkeys can sleep at night, knowing full well that they are ripping people off and ruining lives.
Has anyone been on one of these vacations? I find that their instructions don,t make sense. The girl at yourvipvaction told me I had to book my airfares with sidestep.com. How can the holiday be worked out when I can,t talk to anyone at sidestep. Yourvip said there would be 60% reduction on the air-fare, but they are vague as to which flights or when. I am told to book the flights before confirming with yourvip. It seems to me that to take my kids I will have had to lay out around £1,500, before I know anything.
SUNSHINE TRAVEL ESCAPES Is this the company that is” all in one scam” ?
I invested $350.00 into it. I have been going in circles with them about all the details. They seem to talk in circles and keep telling me to send my paper work in with reservations…THEN they can help me. It sounds like the “cruise” is a scam also. They want to charge $200 for tax and port charges!
HELP- can I do anything about this? Has anyone got there money back?
I found this site while looking for info on a “free cruise” I was offered recently. I turned it down, and felt good about doing so. But, I started to wonder if anyone had ever taken one of these offers and if it was worth it. From everything I’ve read, I can tell you it’s not.
First, I’m an American and I’m so disappointed to find out this is happening. We have enough problems without scammers making people say, “Yep, Americans, there they go again.”
For anyone who has been offered this opportunity and is still wondering if they should take advantage of it, PLEASE DON’T. From what I’ve read they’ll charge you more than what you could have booked the trip on your own. They’ll keep blocking dates until your “free trip” is no good, etc. It’s a scam. Apparently, even if you do get to go, you’ll stay in the worst places. I was offered a cruise on the “Imperial Majesty”, which I’ve read is a 50+ year old ship, and not very nice.
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.