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.
August 7th, 2006 at 11:36 pm
I called them up again, they told me the west oakland blvd address is moving out within next week so the park center drive address is their new one. Please correct me if i am wrong..
August 10th, 2006 at 8:07 am
While surfing the internet i was told to phone this number to receive my prize of 2100 us dollars. When i phoned i was told it was for a holiday package with a lot of extra’s etc it sounded good but our connection was bad next thing i was without my 898 us dollars. When i phoned to cancel i was told that there is a non- refundable clause and that it was clearly explained to me… after reading all the documents that they send me it clearly states that you have a seven day cancellation period ( which) i used) but now they refuse to give me a full refund… so what now??? After numerous phone calls to america i am still non the wiser… if anyone has any ideas please let me know….
August 11th, 2006 at 2:34 pm
hi i was tricked into the 8 day 7 night Florida Bahamas dream vacation package july 2005 however i have been messed around by barclay debit card services. they have refunded twice and taken out three times which then left me over my bank limit this then charges a fee each time a transaction is taken from my account, this is awful.
I was advised by my bank this was fraud and they would get my money back, however this still hasn’t happened so not only has the holiday fraud company messed my money situation up, Barclays has made it even worse. This had ruined my life i was hoping to get my college course out the way however I had to quit to get a job to pay these debts that I have just paid off. I hope no one else gets this terrible incident happen to them.
August 15th, 2006 at 5:58 am
Recieved a call this evening from gvd stating that I had won a trip to the bahamas, (filled in the ballot for the vacation door prize at the Terrace,BC, Riverboat Days) After verifying my information from the entry ballot to make sure I qualified the representative asked to have my husband on the phone at the same time to tell me the details of what I won. Fortunately for me, my husband is out of town for a few days and she wouldn’t give any of the details without him on the line (this was suspicious since I’m the one who supposedly won the prize). She did give me the package # and the web site so I was able to discover that tours and such would be required. After further searching I found this web site which thankfully saved me from falling for a scam. They’re calling back this weekend with the details, I’ll be anxiously awaiting their call….. ;).
August 15th, 2006 at 10:27 pm
Aug 8th 2006 - I recieved a phone call from “Best USA Vacations” stating that I had won a trip within Florida ( cruise ect). I was not cooperative and asked how they were able to get my number and why they called. Sales rep told me that I had recently purchased a flight to Florida and my name was enetred into a draw. I told sales Rep that I had not purchased a flight to Florida..he insisted that I had and suggested my credit card my have been stollen. He said he could grant me a refund if he was able to confirm some information. I regretably repeated my credit card number and date of experation. He then told me they would need to collect a little more information on recording to confirm my refund and that he would pass me on to someone else. I was passed on to another young male who proceeded to ask for my email address, home address and confirmation of my credit card number. He said the message would be recorded for MY protection and to save any questions I may have had until the end of the recording. I was aggreeing to information I believed to be necessary for my refund. At the end of the conversation I was unable to ask any questions because they hung up on me. I realized that instead of a refund they had me agree to a purchase. I called back right away ( 2 seconds later) and told them I wanted my refund. They had manipulated me, tricked me, and stolen from me! They told me that if I had purchased a package they were non refundable. I called VISA the same day to cancel my card and check what the damage was….598.00 US$..My card had never been stolen in the first place! It was them! they tricked me! I have called them every day since..I always get a different person and a different answer…I am going to send them a letter explaining Florida State Statute 559.933..and demanding my money back. Regardless fo that law THEY STOLE FROM ME! A Package was sent to my house ( DHL Express) which I refused to recive or sign for. I don’t want anything from this company except for what is already mine MY 598.00US$!!!!!
August 16th, 2006 at 1:17 am
I sent a complaint via BBB. The wonderful GVD/Blue Green Customer Service called me. She was like a robot, cutting me off and repeating herself about how everytime I or anyone calls in - they ask the customer’s name/aphone number - since they have so many different vacation programs, they have to look up the the account to see which package was purchased and when it was purchased. I explained that several times that i called, no one asked for this information. A manager came on the line, same thing.
So, right now I’m in the process of getting my cell phone records as proof that I called. If I can prove that I called even once and they don’t have a record- I’ve got a case. So, as of right now, they declined my refund and sent information to the BBB that I didn’t follow protocall. The only thing I didn’t do was send the package back. But I called and tried to cancel at least 3 times.
I’ll keep updated
August 17th, 2006 at 6:39 am
Man…these GVD people are everywhere! me and my friend got tricked into filling the ballot off, and they called just tonight (well, it’s past midnight, so last night :P)…this “Christian” dude, probably new on the job, was definitely not pushy enough for the sales thing… but anyways. I got suspicious when he asked for my credit card information, so I said I wasn’t comfortable giving that out on the phone, but he insisted that it was for registration purposes, so I gave it to him (what a dumb thing to do!!! and I thought I was careful with all the phishing and scamming!). Then the dude started telling me about the upfront cost of that same old 800 bucks USD…I was like ‘wow, he didn’t say that before!’ so I freaked, and told him that he never said that it was to be paid upfront. of course, he replies rudely that he had said that (which was really fast, and I’m sure he didn’t mention it being upfront). So anyways, I told the guy, trying to still be polite, and said that I don’t want the damn vacation anymore, don’t charge my credit card because I won’t be able to pay for it (I’m a student for christ-sakes!). then he got all nasty and defensive and hung up on me.
I called RBC VISA card help line immediately, and got a girl referring me to one of the dispute resolution people (one of the higher-up in the department). According to them, since i voluntarily gave up my credit card information, they can still charge me even if I told them that I don’t want it anymore after giving them the info. The RBC person said that except for faxing them to confirm the cancellation, and remember to fax it at a store where they provide receipt for fax going through. if they do charge the amount to my credit card, then it’s a good idea to call the dispute department of the credit card company and freeze that charge (you don’t have to pay it when it’s in dispute), send whatever they sent you back using registered mail (request signiture, costs a little more, but makes sure someone receives it), and provide all of that information to the credit card company so they can help you get your money back. GVD has a 30 day return policy. The advice from RBC, in concise words, is to cover all the bases, and cover you @ss when it comes to scammers. call up the BBB and request an investigation, send emails to consumer reports (consumerreports.org), call up the RCMP (in canada, or the FBI in the states), call up the florida people, call up Universal Studios for all I care, complaint, complaint and complaint!
I got this at the “Taste of Calgary” thing, by Dragonfly promotions. I’m going to call them up tomorrow, and tell them about this situation. They might be able to gather some forces since no promoters want this kind of scams happening during their events. And to warn all the people who were on their mailing lists and attended the event.
August 17th, 2006 at 7:10 am
…follow up
I read their details/fineprint section for the 5th time today, and this is directly quoted from them:
“GVD allows the purchaser to cancel the purchase of the vacation package by written notice within thirty days of receipt of the vacation package.”
I’m going to print this off tomorrow at work, with the screen print and everything, and save that as a proof of method of cancellation.
they also posted their contact info and registration # with all 3 states where they offer vacation packages:
“Great Vacation Destinations is located at 7301 West Oakland Park Blvd, Lauderhill, FL 33319. Great Vacation Destinations is registered with the State of Florida as a Seller of Travel, Registration No. ST 35396; California Seller of Travel Reg. No. 2068362-50 (registration as a seller of travel does not constitute approval by the State of California); Washington Seller of Travel Reg. No. 602-283-711; Nevada Travel Agency Reg. No. 2003-0228.”
remember to quote these numbers if you contact any of the agencies (and if they lie about this, then even better…)
August 19th, 2006 at 5:01 pm
Best USA Vacations made me aware they were recording, didnt say it was a contract..tricked me into thinking i was getting a refund not purchasing…stopped recording at the end and my refusal to authorize any type of charge was not recorded! I am disputing charges through visa after I was threatened not to. Do you think i may get my money back!? That damn recording dosent mean anything to me…will it mean anything to visa under the circumstances? HELP
August 19th, 2006 at 9:10 pm
Thankyou. This has been helpfull. I was also talked inn to accept the “great” offer from Summer Bay Resort (18.08.2006)
they told me I won a:
5d and 4n ORLANDO
Rental Car Unlimited Milage
Daytona Beach 4d and 3n
2 Tickets Sun Cruize Casino
4 tickets at Daytona USA
5d and 4 n trip to Cacuna, Mexico.
For this i should only pay 898 USD.
I did not know of the Florida Florida State Statute 559.933
, but I asked if there was chance for cancelling the deal if i had regrets. First the salesperson tried to miss lead me and talk himself out of it, bu in the end he confirmed that the company would respect the rules of the region you are calling from ( in my case Norway, Europe) wihch have 14 days cancell periode for any phone/internett sales. so i finally agreed to the deal.
but after talking to family and friends i decided to cancell it - as it felt a little weird the whole thing.
So I decided to call back: And it was not easy to get to speak to the right person!
So after several atemts to reach the finance dep. at this number +14072841513 (spending over 2 hour waiting)
(International Call)
I finally got to speak to mr. Thomas Otoole -
He was basicly a polite person - and after playing the recorded confirmation call from the day before, he had to agree to give me a refund and cancell the deal. ( He said I will have my money back between 3 and 7 busines days.)
The refund was stated at the internet page http://www.summerbayholiday.com were I was given a login code using my phonenumber and email adress.
Should I feel safe about the refund now, or is there still a catch here do you think?