tags: Scams
Florida Vacations - How to cancel.
June 16th, 2005, by Rich.
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Several people have emailed me, or left messages asking for help in getting a refund from Florida based holiday companies (such as AmeriVacation, YourVIPTravel, etc), either because they have bought in haste, or feel they have been misguided by the sales person. In this article I hope to condense all the comments from other stories into a simple action plan.
Your Rights
According to Florida State Law “You have a right to cancel your purchase and receive a refund within 30 days of the date of purchase” after which, “the seller has 30 days from the time of receipt of your notice of cancellation to send you a full refund”. [source] [corroborating source]
The law exists to regulate Sellers of Travel to and from Florida, as well as Sellers of Travel whose place of business is in Florida - it helps to maintain the reputation of Florida as a welcoming vacation destination and protects the citizens of any country by forcing licensed sellers of travel to follow strict rules, including the ones about refunds; so the suggestions listed here are valid from any country.
Action 1 - Call
- Call the number you originally dialled.
- Politely and clearly state that you are calling because you wish to cancel a contract.
- Ask them to confirm the company name and address to which you should send a cancellation letter.
- If the person on the other end bluffs or prevaricates, remind them that Florida State Statute 559.933 is quite clear on your right to a full and prompt refund.
- If they verbally agree to send you a full refund, accept this happily, but you should not stop yet because if they were to forget to send it, or lose the note to say that you’d called, or had a computer crash, (etc. etc.) then you’d have no evidence that you called within the 30 day cancellation period.
Action 2 - Write
- Write a letter of cancellation.
- This is a generic letter template.
- This is an AmeriVacation template.
- Send the letter by an international recorded delivery service.
- From the UK you could use International Signed For.
- Sometimes the companies will state that “you have to return the package”, this is usually just an obstruction tactic, but if they insist, take photographs (and scan or photocopy) everything that you return (example).
Action 3 - Complain always
If you you’re unhappy about the experience and wish to air your grievance, then please do. Lodging a formal complaint will quickly raise the profile of your scammer so the DOACS can monitor them better:
- Complain to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (who regulate the selling of travel in Florida) using this form.
- Inform your “local” national press so that others do not go through the same experience.
- In the UK there is the BBC’s Watchdog Programme
- In the Netherlands, there is Opgelicht.
Action 4 - Write to your credit card company
- Write to your credit card company and tell them that you are seeking a refund from the vendor.
- Explain why you feel the company misrepresented itself.
- Include a copy of the letter you sent to the vendor.
- Use local legislation if necessary:
- If you’re in the UK and the vendor refuses (or is unable) to provide a refund, then the Consumer Credit Act 1974 section 75 is your fallback. It makes the credit card company equally responsible for any misrepresentation (which in the case of AmeriVacation there has been), so should attempt to claim the refund from your credit card company.
Action 5 - Help Others
If you succeed in getting a refund, using this or an alternative method, let others know by describing your success below, I’ll modify the above steps as appropriate.
April 30th, 2006 at 3:34 am
hi jemma again people still getting scammed to neera cant believe you think these are not scams when u win something u dont pay for it. these people have got ur credit card no now please cancell while u can otherwise u are going to go through hell with these leeches.the scam is they take advantage of hard working people like us and suck us dry.summer bay is sucker bay.so neera get ur money back as soon as possible dont be trapped like me im paying $467.00 off my credit card so some scab can have a nice week on me.
bye
May 1st, 2006 at 2:39 am
Hello Rich,
i was also called by great vacation destinations. i also thought it was a great deal to begin with however after a bit of time (an hour) i got this panicky feeling and tried to cancel the trip over the phone. the company gave me the complete run around and said that i was unable to cancel. now in the verbal agreement and also with the seller i was informed that as long as i cancelled within 30 days of RECEIVING the package i would receive a refund. has there been many other people who have had difficulty receiving a refund from this company? do i have to bring out the big guns? i am going to follow your instructions, is there anything else i should do???
thank you for any advice you can give me.
May 3rd, 2006 at 5:21 pm
Caution: The impartiality of this comment is under question. See below.
What I do not understand is how people say they were scamed when you, yourself!!!!!! have to give them your credit card information or hang up. I was called recently after attending a bridal show, they told me all about the vacation and even gave me the Great Vacation Destination website and the Customer Service number to call if I felt it was a scam because originally I did. But you have to be a little slow to give your credit card on a tape and then say you were scamed. So far I have been calling both the Reservations department to prepare my vacation and Customer Service department and they have been great. We are scheduled to travel September and my family is very excited.
It is very simple for all of those who may be mentally challenged…. you either want the vacation or you don’t. Why complain when it only makes you look dumber than you really are.
Caution: The impartiality of this comment is under question. See below.
May 3rd, 2006 at 5:54 pm
Caution: The impartiality of this comment is under question. See below.
Hey guys,
What’s the big deal with you guys’ bad feelings towards Great Vacation Destinations? I live in Manitoba and I purchased (PURCHASED, they NEVER told me I ”won” lol and they were very clear on that) a vacation package from them back in February and we just got back from our vacation 4 days ago and I must say it was one of the best holidays I’ve ever experienced. From beginning to end the customer service representatives and reservationists were very helpful and accomodating, they even gave me some great tips on things to do while on my trip (the kids LOVED Universal Studios) the ”tour” for timeshares that people always complain about actually was fun and informative (who would figure that eh?) and when i told the sales rep. I am not really in the market for a timeshare he said ”not a problem” and did not keep me for more than my required 90 minutes. The cruise was fantastic (the food was surprisingly excellent and they serve you alot) and I had no problems checking into my hotels or picking up my car rental. The nice lady at my hotel desk in Orlando explained to me that hotel tax is something that is ALWAYS charged no matter who books the reservation or how you set up your trip, it just usually isn’t explained to you they just tack it onto your hotel bill (shame on you hotel companies!) however great vacation destinations was actually one in a million companies that actually told me UP FRONT that I would be responsible for that…thanks guys!! Oh and if anyone on here is hesitant about using their offer or if it’s really a great deal or not, I’m telling you the price for what you receive is PHENOMENAL and I could not have dealt with a more courteous and helpful company…I rate this experience as one of my top 5 vacations of all time and would recommend this package to anyone who wants to see Orlando or just relax on a cruise….you can’t go wrong with Great Vacation Destinations!!!
Caution: The impartiality of this comment is under question. See below.
May 3rd, 2006 at 8:01 pm
Readers will no doubt notice that the impartialiaty of the two comments above has been called into question. As you can see, they were left just 33 minutes apart, and both commenters appear rather fond of “Great Vacation Destinations”.
The impartiality is questioned because both comments were submitted from the same computer. To be specific, it’s a computer within the IP range of the Bluegreen Corporation.
Whether this is an “official” intervention of just someone using the internet at work is unclear.
Perhaps “Mary Jesepheps” or “Jeremy” would like to clarify how the two apparently unrelated comments were made from the same machine, within the IP range of a copmpany that’s in the vacation business.
“Mary”, “Jeremy”; you’re more than welcome to comment and represent any company, but it must be your own opinion based on your real experience. Anything other than that is disingenuous and possibly fraudulent.
Finally “Mary”, please don’t belittle people because they have changed their minds about a purchase; it does not make them look “dumber”, these people are discussing their experience, for the benefit of others.
May 6th, 2006 at 8:13 pm
to be honest, i don’t know if the vacation that i purchased from great vacation destinations would be fantastic or not. that isn’t the point. the point is that i am no longer interested in going and by law i am allowed to change my mind if i like. chalk it up to buyers remorse. but that is my right. i have received nothing but abuse from the customer services department of blue/green. let that be a warning, you may get a great experience, but mine has turned me off florida and vacationing for a good long time.
May 9th, 2006 at 2:16 am
I purchased a vacation certificate from Sunstar Travel and Tours, back in January; when the certificate arrived it had all kinds of fine print stipulations about age and income requirements which were undisclosed at the time of purchase. I decided I wanted out.
I followed all the steps outlined here, I called the company to advise that I wished to cancel (they flatly refused and said they would send the package right back and that I will NOT get a refund as the package was sold on a nonrefundable basis, even though they do print the Florida Statute 559.933 clause on the back of the certificate). I sent the letter of cancellation and the package back within 10 days of receipt, I contacted the Florida Department of Consumer Services, and my credit card company. Both contacted Sunstar Travel, received a letter of reply and closed the case.
I think you should know, that if the company doesn’t want to refund the money, they can just say, “Make Me”. The Florida Dept of Consumer Services sent me lovely little pamphlet entitled “Now you know… Court is Your Last Resort”
Now you know too.
May 10th, 2006 at 6:18 am
Has anyone actually BEEN on one of these vacations? I’m curious to know if they are actually good or not.
I am going to start the process of trying to get my money back. However no where on the fine print in the package does it say ‘non refundable’ or no where in the initial conversation did they say this was a non-refunable fee. On the back fine print it says “GVD allows the purchaser to cancel the purchase of the vacation package by written notice within thirty days of receipt of the vacation package” That’s something isn’t it??
May 10th, 2006 at 10:22 pm
I was using Mozilla today and I got a pop-up. I had won $2100 on a shopping and holiday spree.
I called Summer Bay Resorts at 1-800-405-9271.
JAZZMON OWENS answered the phone.
Told me I won:
5d and 4n ORLANDO
Rental Car Unlimited Milage
Daytona Beach 4d and 3n
2 Tickets Sun Cruize Casino
4 tickets at Daytona USA
4d and 3 n trip to Bahamas
Told me that out of my prize money I had
$498 left.
Then Transfered me to Angela Gunn; asked for
my credit card because I had $498 left to pay.
I then new this was a scam. Slam Cling bye bye.
May 11th, 2006 at 3:09 am
thankyou rich for commenting to mary and jeremy your email says it all.
we are not dumb we are just normal people who got misled and dont want any one else to follow in our steps.
someone falls to save another.