Coastal Vacations: Scam or Home Business Opportunity?
An online search turned up plenty of people who had bad things to say about Coastal Vacations. PRWeb claims that Coastal Vacations director Dean Marino is a respected businessman, and that scam artists in the home-based business were lone operators. Marino claims that the business attracts both honest and dishonest distributors. Apparently he helps new people in the company who have been defrauded by bad sponsors. He detailed five different scams which these sponsors use to take the money and run.
However, there seem to be significant problems with the way this business is set up. New salespeople are required to pay outrageous sign-up fees, and then are required to pass the full amount of their first two sales to their sponsor. So they have to make three sales to even have any hope of making their investment back.
It seems like the Coastal Vacations "home business opportunity" is awfully prone to scams. Where are these sponsors' supervisors? Why aren't they being watched and controlled? Why are the new people supposed to be held responsible for figuring out whether or not they're being victimized?
Although several companies named Coastal Vacations have been accredited by the Better Business Bureau, none of them appear to be the home based business opportunity. Search as I might, I could find absolutely no references on the web about where the Coastal Vacations headquarters were, or who owned or founded the company. It would seem that sales reps habitually give people the run-around when they ask these questions. When asked, they simply state that Coastal Vacations is run by a board of directors, and that the members are the owners of the company. They do not reveal the names or addresses of these owners. According to the Coastal Synergy Group website, Coastal Vacations is an association with "no centralized office, no corporate entity or legal department." This, they claim, "allows the business to operate with very low overhead."
So what on Earth has Coastal Vacations got to hide? Why does a legitimate business need to conceal the identities of its principal operators. Why has it got no home office? The lack of these features equals a lack of accountability. It becomes very easy to blame individual distributors for flaws within the company "structure" or lack thereof.
The father and son team Matthew and William Webster discovered some very unsavory facts about Coastal Vacations when they joined the Multi Level Marketing business. The fact of the matter was that 95% of those who joined failed to ever generate a single sale. Despite this fact, the Websters are still apparently with the company. Instead of denouncing it, they describe themselves as a team with a rare success story.
This all points to Coastal Vacations being a pyramid scheme. A pyramid scheme, if you're not aware, is an illegal business in which the majority of the profits come not from the sales of a product or service, but from the sign-up fees paid by new salespeople.
At the very least Coastal Vacations is a Multi Level Marketing scheme or MLM. MLMs are inherently unfair because the people on the bottom rung get a bad deal, while the people on the top of the pyramid (since all MLMs have a pyramid structure, whether legal or illegal) get a lot more money for a lot less effort. Very few people can climb to the top of the pyramid. There simply isn't enough room. So it isn't an equal opportunity business.
If we are complacent, bad business practices will continue to proliferate. It's up to us to take action against people who seek to take advantage of us.
I recommend that you do not join Coastal Vacations. If you have joined, and feel that you've been defrauded, the best course of action is to contact the Better Business Bureau about your distributor. You can also call the Attorney General for the state your distributor is registered in. Also, contact the Federal Trade Commission.
"Coastal Vacations Scam Operators Flee." PRWeb. URL: (http://www.prwebdirect.com/releases/2006/6/prweb398723.php)
"Coastal Vacations Director Dean Marino Exposes The Top Scams." PRWeb. URL: (http://www.prwebdirect.com/releases/2006/4/prweb372520.htm)
"Coastal Vacations." URL: (http://www.quatloos.com/qforum/viewtopic.php?t=175)
"Who Is the Coastal Synergy Group?" URL: (http://annette.winningwithcoastal.com/WinningWithCoastal/Pages/WhoIsCSG/index.htm)
Published by Jennifer Claerr
Jennifer Claerr is an online writer who has been published on prestigious sites such as Intel.com, MapQuest.com, Texas.com, PC.com, Demand Studios and Associated Content. She publishes on a wide range of top... View profile
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7 Comments
Post a CommentWhen I wrote this two and a half years ago, Coastal Vacation's business model wasn't sound. Today, with cheap, reputable travel booking sites like Expedia and Priceline, it's even more ridiculous to think that a Coastal Vacations rep could sell a vacation. The thing that bothered me most about this "opportunity" was that in all their promotional videos, they never showed a salesperson selling a vacation. They were always selling the business opportunity to another potential salesperson. That's the sign of a pyramid scheme. I honestly don't know how many vacations they sell. I doubt it's very many. Anyway, the "vacations" are probably just a front to hide the pyramid.
By the way, I just checked annette's winning with coastal site. The sites for sale, she just put it up.
In the Fall of 06 I was ripe for the picking. My divorce was finalized. I was fired from my employment for being outspoken. Get the picture? I was approached by coastal because of the money you could make with them. I have been in sales all my life, and was told that you could direct sell. I sunk a lot of money into this company. I even joined an online travel agency that I think is legit. You had to buy leads. The better leads cost more. I think 95% of those not making a cent is right. I think that buying of leads helped those on the top. The more you meet with failure, the more you want to buy the better leads to get your sales. Really we were harvesting the best leads so your up line could use them after you quit. It is my opinion that folks should stay as far away as they can. Saying that you are a rare success simply means you are better at the scam than most. I ruined my credit, had huge amounts of money to pay back. I guess P.T. Barnum was right.
Thank you for doing the homework for me. I just got an email from this group, assumed it was a scam, but you gave me the information I needed to back up that decision - gave the information with objectivity, as you say, not actually saying it is a scam. That made your work even more powerful. Thanks, again. I hope many people will find your article.
If you read my article carefully, you will see clearly that I did not answer the question of whether or not Coastal Vacations was a scam. However, there are very significant ethical issues which I had to address. The simple fact of the matter is that many, many people have been defrauded in this business endeavor. Many people have been misled. Various pages devoted to scams are filled with reports from people who feel that they have been taken advantage of. If Coastal Vacations were a truly good and legitimate business endeavor, this would not be happening. Please note that all ad hominem attacks, misinformation and propaganda will be deleted.
Hi, everybody. I just wanted to add some additional resources so that people can educate themselves on this issue. Here are some articles: Coastal Vacations Board of Directors issues new Directors Releases to stop rip-off and scam artists. http://www.pr.com/press-release/1262. Search Results: Coastal Vacations. http://www.ripoffreport.com/searchresults.asp?q1=ALL&q2=&q3=&q4=&q5=&q7=&q6=Coastal%20Vacations%20&searchtype=0
I came across this opportunity online about a year ago. Since I've always been interested in travel and wanted to try making money in the travel niche, I was interested in giving it a shot. But as I was reading, I came across the sign-up fee that I couldn't afford and that made me give it a pass. And the requirement to pass my first 2 sales onto someone else left a familiar and sour taste in my mouth.