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.
October 13th, 2005 at 12:28 am
Hi Jaime, thanks for your message. It may be useful for readers if you could comment on your circumstances, such as, where you have to travel from for your vacations, who normally travels with you, how many trips you’ve been on, which resorts you’ve been to, what the extra costs amount to, etc. Basically discussing your experience would help some people make up their mind about whether to cancel or not.
October 17th, 2005 at 6:50 pm
Hi,
Thank you for pointing me in the right direction.
I sent a letter to Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services after getting nowhere trying to get a refund from Celebration Promotions. My Father in law who is 80 was subjected to a late night call from this company and paid out £314.95 just to get rid of them, after getting himself in a state with their pressure sales.
After contacting Celebration Promotions help line they were anything but. Then I found your site and I am pleased to say we have received a full refund. The Bank have informed us today that their cheque has cleared.
Thanks for your help
October 19th, 2005 at 5:45 am
My mother recently found herself a victim of this of this scam. We wrote the company on the form supplied with this site only to find out that the address was out of date or the wrong one. If anyone know the correct address to send a cancellation please post a reply.
October 21st, 2005 at 10:57 pm
Hi Rich,
I too was kinda surpriced when calling via a ph# on a popup saying that I was “Visitor of more than 55.000.000″ on this website. The website being http://www.lyricsdownload.com (if I remember correctly). I have just spoken to them for 40 minutes, and - maybe unfortunately(?) - gave them my credit card # and exp. date! The offer was (i.e. my winning price)of a $2100 discount on a travel in CA + Orlando stay incl. free rental car + Bahama’s cruise worth $2898.00!! WEll - I WILL GO TO MY INTERNET BANK AND CANCEL THEIR ORDER- no matter what they do. I want to be 100% sure it’s not a scam, before I pay that kind of money .. to anyone. Even it it’s a legit business. Cause if it is, it will understand my worries and act accordingoy .. or so I hope!
Thank you for this website’s excistense and the efforts that you hereby are infilicting upon yourself ;-) .. I will keep you posted about the outcome.
Cheers,
Bo
October 21st, 2005 at 11:26 pm
Hi - it’s me again. Contacting my bank only 3 hrs after the abv incident didn’t do it! SpecialTtravel already got a confirmation code to get my money, and there’s nothing I can do about it now!! I have to wait untill they’ve actualy charged my account before I can do anything, and that could take a week or two or even longer. Then I have to “question the payment” against the danish payment services (PBS) in ordoer to try to cancel it. I was told it’s a long procedure I thereby have to go through, but I’ll do it. What happens next - if I can cancel it or not - the answer to that is blowing in the wind…. daaaaaaarn!
I’ll be back…
October 21st, 2005 at 11:34 pm
Sorry to disturb you guy’s again. The ph-no’s that I got are 321 397 1870 and 407 896 8680 - the last one belonging to SpecialTtravel’s Customer Service Dep. Does any of you know if they are legit no’s and pls let me (us) know?
I want to thank you for your effort’s in advance.
Regards,
Bo
October 26th, 2005 at 4:44 pm
hi,
i just talked with 2 women from speciattravel, fortunately i didn’t give any card number, i said i would call tomorrow.i’m not sure the gyus are real..all that bahama cruising…did anyone have something to do with them?
thanx in advance
November 10th, 2005 at 6:23 am
I thought I was the biggest dick in the world half an hour after I handed over my credit card numbers to Summerbay Holidays . But I got on the internet and I looks like I’m not the only one silly enough to do this. I’m waiting for the help line to call me back now (dont think i’m hold my breath). Hopefully I’ll be getting my money back very soon.
P.S. it was an internet pop-up that got me (www.urprize2.com). I am a sucker.
November 11th, 2005 at 2:18 am
Hey I was just about another sucker to fall for this scam.
It just seemed to be too good a deal too be true.
Had my son check it out.
It appears to be ONE BIG AS SCAM.
So people think ” If it is too good to be true ….DONT ”
If you have douubt just type in FRAUD and name of company.
Happy Travels :)
November 19th, 2005 at 2:35 pm
Hi there, Holland here..
I think I am one of you now, this time its SPECIAL T TRaVEL.
Same story, same everything. Cant seem to find them anywhere
registered with a department or anything. I have been charged
already and i feel SO STUPID! How could i believe this shit?
Anyway, never fall for it, you choose the operator, not they ‘
choose you!!
Its unbelievable what they do! For a few dollars here and there
I’m so furious!