tags: Scams
Florida Vacations - How to cancel.
June 16th, 2005, by Rich.
Warning: apache_lookup_uri() [function.apache-lookup-uri]: Unable to include '/pics/2005/ameriwho/beachball' - error finding URI in /home/www/boakes.org/htdocs/mods/plugins/boakes-depicticon.php on line 65
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.
July 1st, 2006 at 9:18 pm
In regards to earlier post in June I was able to get a full refund from GVD. The customer service reps are awful and very rude but I got my money back and that’s all that matters. This is a lesson learned and I will never do this again. Good Luck to everyone! I was completely stressed over this for a couple weeks.
July 2nd, 2006 at 12:32 am
All those who are waiting for their package from Great Vacation Destination, you can see what they had sent me. The “vouchers” had no watermark, no security features (like cheques have), no hologram or embossing. Notice there is a reservation fee of $298 on top of the $798 they took out of my credit card for the Florida and Bahamas portion. If you were to redeem the “bonus vacation” you’re likely to be paying another reservation charge.
I had taken these pictures of (plus photocopied) all the contents before I sent it back to them. It was all printed on normal bond paper, nothing special about the vouchers. The pictures are posted on my blog and are available at: http://www.meltan.ca/2006/05/great-vacation-destination-package.html
July 2nd, 2006 at 6:12 pm
Hi doha with you,
same case as mr lars applies to me.same date and actually same time.A pop up comes on as iam surfing showing that ive won a holiday package worth 2100usd.After calling one of their numbers they quickly convinced me of paying 898usd.I first thought of disregarding but due to the sweet convincing tounge of a mr charlie they took my details not knowing that they are actually draining money from my account.A corrective action should be implemented and to all those who have not encountered this please take care.All i want to know is since ive changed my mind about travelling am i going to be compensated?
July 3rd, 2006 at 1:29 am
How do you cancel? The saME EXPERIENCE IN VANCOUVER AT THE DRAGONBOAT FESTIVAL.
July 4th, 2006 at 11:46 pm
Hi Nicole.
Call your VISA or credit company see what they can do for you. I called VISA and they told me that they are going to put transaction dispute. Since we did authorize the credit card, you have to call GVD to get the full refund.
I called them twice and they told me that I’m only able to get partial refund (they’re going to deduct $598.50 so I only need to pay $199.50). But I don’t want to get a partial refund. I want a FULL refund. So I sent them registered mail. So I’ll see what happens.
The customer representative at GVD told me that their company is losing money because so many ppl want to cancel (I can see why). So call GVD to see if you can get refund and if they say NO, then call VISA and send registered mail outline with Florida Law.
I’ll post some more after they received my registered mail.
KUDOS to everyone going through awful GVD experience!!!
July 5th, 2006 at 5:26 pm
I am from vancouver. Canada….I got a call from GVD…well…let’s tell a long story in a short way…
I purchased the vacation and then I found this website. I know that I am scammed by GVD. So this morning I called the customer service department of GVD…a midlle-age man got my call.
I told him that I want to cancel the vacation and get a full refund of my money. and he told that I can’t because it’s promotional price, and I told him that when they tried to sell me that vacation, they didn’t even say a single word that I can not cancel.
Guess what he said?
He said “Yes, of course, they didn’t because they want to sell the vacation to you!” so I said that by the law I have the right to refund it. He said “No! That’s not true! ’cause it’s a promotional price” and then he hanged up the phone.
I am going to send them a letter and tell them that I want to cancel my vacation. What else I can do now? Anyone has any suggestion?
July 5th, 2006 at 5:40 pm
Hi Sophia, Florida law grants you the right to a full refund. I suggest you follow the steps above, not missing anything out.
Pay special attention to the bit about contacting the DOACS - they are always pleased to hear the full story when a licensed or unlicensed seller of travel tries to deny you the rights that they are there to enforce.
July 5th, 2006 at 6:19 pm
Can anyone tell me the address of GVD? I am going to send a letter to them in order to get my money back?
Thanks.
July 5th, 2006 at 6:54 pm
Hi Sophia,
The Florida Dept. of State, Division of Corporations website lists the official GVD mailing address as:
July 5th, 2006 at 11:52 pm
My family lives in Ontario, Canada.
With regards to Sopie’s post, my Father was contacted by Best USA Vacations and sold the same line: “You’ve won a cruize, now you just have to book a trip with us to enjoy it. Give us your credit card #.”
When we called to cancel the contract as advised here, we were transfered around and hung up on until finally “Eric” told us that “because it was a promotion, that section of Florida law did not apply.”
No where in our package does it invoice or make reference to any payments or what those payments are for. No where in the package does it reference to any promotion or prize.
We are proceeding now to write them to cancel the contract and will file a complaint with the Florida Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The points and advice on this site has been of great use in giving us a “game plan” to deal with “companies” such as Best USA Vacations that give legitimate business a bad name.
We’ll keep you posted.