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 20th, 2005 at 11:28 am
Oh how I whish I’d found this site BEFORE signing up for this “deal”. Like so many respondents I have an ex-driectory number and I usually treat such approaches with a very short response. However I was bored yesterday afternoon when the call came though and I pressed “9″ to see what it was all about. Usually I’m so sceptical but as the conversation went on, and I was passed from one “department” to another I became hooked. I realised straight off that I would have to pay our air fare to Florida but I have plenty of free airmiles so that wouldn’t be a problem. The small matter of Port Fees and Government taxes was quickly glossed over. I still don’t know how much that would be. (Has anyone seen the information pack and knows what I would have ended up paying?)
I insisted on calling my wife on my mobile and when I got back to the salesman he’d managed to include an extra 3 days to Hawaii for free! I guess the one good move I made was to only agree to paying half the fees up front and the rest when I booked my holiday. So I gave them my details. Dohhhh!
After thinking about it, seaching the net and finding this site, and realising I’d been a fool I was straight on the phone to my credit card company (MBNA). The helpful lady there confirmed that £330 had already been taken (no surprise there!) and that they couldn’t stop this, NOR ANY FUTURE payments to Amerivacations. She told me they were well aware of this company and had other complaints.
Her advice was to immediately claim a full refund under The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 which gives me the right to cancel within 7 days. She confirmed that Amerivacations were legally obliged to refund the whole amount without any “processing fees” or other deductions. She asked for me to send them a copy of my letter and if there were any problems they would try to recover the monies on my behalf. So today I sent off my cancellation letter (International Signed For) and I’ll not accept any package that arrives from America in the next week or two.
I have told my credit card company that if they try and take any more money from my account I have not authorised it and they said that while they could not stop it leaving, they would then treat it as an unauthorised transaction and they could get it back.
I did call the “Customer Service” line and got to speak to someone. Far from the friendly original approach, she was cold, unhelpful and frankly dismissive. Another surprise there then!
So there we are! I feel a complete fool and although I am going to fight it, I suspect that as they are in America they are beyond my reach and I am £330 down.
May 20th, 2005 at 2:01 pm
Like all you out there, I have been phoned by Amerivacations and they told me what prize I’d won; a too-good-to-be-true holiday. After an hour of talking about a 16 night free holiday in florida (inc. a crusie) the lovely guy, a Mr. Tom Devitt, forwarded me to their “authorisation depot” where I was told to give my details and Visa number “purely for ID purposes”. A women then proceeded to tell me that £698 would be taken from my account! At this point I said “no” and told her I was not interested in a free holiday that I woud have to pay nearly £700 for!
20 minutes later these people earmarked my account for £699 which was only cancelled thanks to my bank 3 days later when a further £200 was earmarked.
Please everyone, dont give your details! Luckily I got my money back, you might not be so lucky. I wish I knew where to complain!
May 20th, 2005 at 3:07 pm
Hello Jerry, thank you very much for your update! Now I know where I stand. I’ll write another cancellation email right away.
May 20th, 2005 at 5:48 pm
Help!!! I have been scammed too. After numerous phone calls to AMERI WHO? I was informed by Jennifer Scott that I had won a free holiday to Florida. I am also like others on PFS. They took my visa details and deducted £590 from my account after being told I had won a free holiday!!! I was then told by Marcia that I would have to go through the cancellation procedure. I did this and sent the items back at a cost of £50-10p by DHL. It was sent on 28/04/05 and was received on 02/05/05. I have received a call from Marcia today 20/05/05 stating that I was not entitled for a refund as they did not receive the package within the 28 day cancellation period. They then had the cheek to suggest that they send the package back to me so that I could try and sell it to someone else!! My daughter is getting married this year and I cant afford to lose this amount of money. I am at my wits end can anyone please help.
May 20th, 2005 at 5:59 pm
In reply to Del’s question, it took 2 1/2 weeks for the package to arrive at my address. I was out and unfortunately someone else signed for it. All I could get with DHL was an automated service. My credit card company have sorted out this for me and advised me to give the package to the Police as I had a crime reference number for the whole sorry incident. I was advised not to open it as well. If you receive anything I would contact your credit card company for advice on this. It has taken me 2 1/2 weeks to get this resolved but I gather from the above comments that the Credit card companies are becoming aware of this situation now and starting to deal with it.
I only ever got a stroppy response from the Customer Care line at Amerisuites, despite calling and faxing them. Good Luck.
May 20th, 2005 at 8:28 pm
After thinking that I had a full refund. I checked my visa online today and discovered that egg had put £700 back into my visa. They said that I have to pay this off and that it is not fraud as I voluntary gave my credit card details out over the phone, even though they told me they would be taking no money from it.
I really don’t know what to do next.
If anyone can help please do. I have been to trading standards who have not got back to me, watchdog who have not got back to me and the department of florida consumer services who have not got back to me.
I phoned amerivacation again today and they asked me to send the package back to them, which I did, so I can get a cancellation at the cost of £250. It will be well past my 28 days, so I will probably get nothing.
May 20th, 2005 at 11:28 pm
Like everyone who is ever likely to visit this site I too have had the call from AmeriVacation aka YourVipHoliday.
When we first got the call to our Ex.D number ( a strange and reoccuring theme here), on Friday 13th !!!!
They wife called me as I on route to London to say we had won a Cruise. We both knew it had to be a scam. Our life has never delivered good fortune for free!
The message sat on the voice mail for over a week. I got the number checked with BT, it’s a real phone number, it’s registered via a company called Syntex ( think I got that name right) [a search of companies house didn't turn up an obvious match. rich] a U.K based telecoms reseller of numbers and services. So at least your phone bill doesn’t get bashed. It appears that because the orginal call is being generated outside of the U.K any of the usual Call prefrence services are steamrolled.
And it appears logical that all calls are random dials vai a computer. The school were my wife works also got a call a few days later. Imagine the deal for getting 1200 school kids out state-side!
Two days ago I just felt the urge to call the number, knowing it really was free helped.
I got to speak to the lovely Mike Allen, it was the £698 deal Walt Disney World area resort, 7 day WDW pass, Fort Lauderdale, then the Bahama Cruise, no mention of flight costs, no mention of port tax. Or, as no one here has mentioned it, no mention of Florida State Purchase Tax!
What was my prefered credit card? Well surprise-surprise, thanks to Visa/Master Card he was able to offer me this fancastic deal if I would only give him my card expire date and all the numbers etc.
Thing was, I was pi**ed off with this guy at a number of levels, not only was he scamming me, but he used 911 as the reason for drumming up Florida Tourist Trade but also….. He said he was from VIP Holiday at Walt Disney World!
What this guy didn’t know was I had worked with Disney! That I had visited Orlando Forida more than many Brits and was very very familar with the whole Orlando Tourist District!
He said, when asked were his office was, “It’s at Disney”.
“Where exactly?”
“Right by the main gate!!”
“Really?”
“Yes Really, do you know the area?”
“No” I replied.
“We’re right near the park entrance!”
They story goes on, the guy knew the Orlando Tourist Area as well as I know Bradford, and I’ve never been to Bradford.
I’ve had more calls from Michael Allen and today from Mr Gray, they really thought I wanted time to think about their fantasic offer?!
Today I told Mr Gray to go away in short jerky movements!
I have sent an e-mail with this blog as a link to Jeb Bush Florida State Senator, the refrences to 911 and the fact that he’s related to G.W.Bush, may kick things up a gear.
Failing that I have also passed on information to Disneys Legal department through my contacts.
WDW get into a real hissy fit when someone uses their name in vain!
To those of you who parted with card details, good luck. If anyone has the courage to take up the offer I really hope it’s the bargain dream holiday you wish it to be.
In the meantime I will make every effort to get this lot shut down, this scam is bigger than any of us realises.
May 21st, 2005 at 7:08 am
According to their website (which by the way they moved; it looks a lot flashier now) they should deliver the package in 3-5 business days. I agree with Dumbo that the best thing to do is refuse the package but if for some reason you would have accepted the package and it did not arrive within 3-5 business days I believe you should mention that to your credit card company as well. Maybe you can do that Vicky because it is pretty obvious that you cannot send a package back within 28 days if you only receive it after 2 or 3 weeks.
Good luck.
May 21st, 2005 at 10:43 am
I have found another useful American organisation that investigates internet fraud - http://www.fraud.org. However, due to maintenance it will only be possible again to file complaints electronically on Monday, the 23th of may.
May 21st, 2005 at 10:54 am
Another useful site is the US Federal Trade Commission. Especially this article where it seems that ‘cross-border phone fraud’ is a booming market in the USA and Canada. In my opinion, we should all file an online complaint with the FTC or call 1-877-382-4357.