Vacation Club Scams Are a New Way to Rip Consumers Off

There are lots of scams out there. According to various consumer groups travel related scams are one of the largest growing consumer scams. I will say there are legit companies out there, but they seem far and in between. I would always be cautious.

As we all know there is always some crook out there trying to rip people off of their hard earned money. There are too many scams out there that do just that it would take a book to list them all. I will focus on Travel club scams in this article. I have a personal experience that I will share in another review. This will be a basic idea. Hopefully that will keep some people from falling for the scam. I would advise anyone who reads this article to share it with everyone you know. I could care less if the person reads my article and I get credit for it. I am more interested in making sure these vampires don't continue to rip off people. One thing very important is that while this is very similar to a timeshare presentation they are much worse. Timeshare companies can at least claim some legitimacy as a business. The following is how the scam pretty much will go.

Typically these companies operate as the name of a travel club, vacation club or a similar entity. It will usually start out with the initial contact. Unlike timeshares having people who offer you gifts for a tour in resort towns like Orlando or Williamsburg these leeches somehow get your address and send you an unsolicited piece of mail. It will almost never have the name of the resort company on it (about 90% of the time it will not). When you get it they will be making you some type of bribe offer similar to what a timeshare company will do. Usually it will be two airline tickets, a cruise, free car rental, restaurant gift card or any combination of them. In most cases you don't get the gift or it has so many restrictions on it that it almost is not worth the typical 90 minutes that you have to spend. There are company's that honor their gifts, but many complaints against these companies involve people not getting their gifts. That is besides the people who buy and find out that they have been scammed. They often will be around the time of your birthday or something like that. In many cases the envelopes they come in will have things like "urgent" on them and look like anything from a birthday card to a W-2 document. They don't give any information in the letter except that you get the gift free and you need to call. Requirements are not listed or that you need to attend a presentation in the vast majority that I have seen. The letter says that you need to respond my a certain date (usually one that has passed) in order to get the gift, but

The next step is that you call in to the number in order to claim it. The date that you were supposed to claim it by usually has passed, but lucky for you they will still let you in on it (that is sarcasm if you can't tell). The people you call are rarely if ever associated with the company itself and are basically just telemarketers who receive inbound calls. They will often ask you for a reference number from the letter and then go into a congratulations speech. Another thing to note is that most of the time they will not mention the name of the company you are going to see. They will give you a name that is different. It will usually be initials. For example, We Rip You Off Travel might be called WRYO Travel. This way if you are like many and try to Google the company to see what people are saying, then you find no complaints. They will also mention something like you were "specially selected" or amount a group of a "select few" that are previewing a new company that provides travel services in the area and they are looking for word of mouth advertising. They then tell you the conditions that are almost always not in the letter. They are usually very standard like a timeshare. You have to attend the presentation with a spouse if you are married (most want you to be married or a single woman), you need to have a household income over $40,000 and you have to be a certain age (usually 18-21) and a U.S. citizen. Sometimes they will mention that you need to bring a license with you and a major credit card, but not always. You will then set up an appointment time to come in and they mention to come there 15 minutes or so early. A day or two before you are supposed to go you will often get a reminder call and they will rehash the stuff you need to bring. They often will mention how long the company has been in business and how great the company is. The truth is that they have no idea. One of these companies told me that the company was recognized as an A+ by the Better Business Bureau, but they were actually a C- and they did not know how to respond to that.

Next thing you do is go for the presentation. When you go in the office you will often check in with a receptionist and provide the id and credit card information. Usually they just ask to see it but some will want to make a copy of your id. You then typically wait in the lobby for the salesman (conman) to come and get you. While you are waiting for a travel club presentation you almost always will be asked to fill out some paperwork. It usually has things like name, age, married and how long, that kind of stuff, recent travels that you have taken, were you like to travel, what you do for a living and how much you make. This information is used to assist in building report with you and overcome some objections when they try to hustle you. The salesperson will then take you to the main area were the presentation will be and offer you some type of light refreshment like cookies and soda. You will then discuss things like buddies with the salesman to again try to build report

After that another person will often do the presentation which has either video or PowerPoint elements to it to show you how the program works, prices and so forth. They will mention time and again that they are not a timeshare and how much better a vacation club membership is than a timeshare ( as a point of fact with a timeshare you do have a real ownership in something and if the company goes bankrupt there is protection for you. This is not the case with a travel club). They will then go through a very large number of deals that you can get. None are guaranteed but an example. They claim they are prices their members would find right this second. Some that I have seen and heard include a week all inclusive in Hawaii with a rental car, hotel room, and airfare for like $700 per person at a top notch resort. That is about half of what you would find on your best travel sites. The deal seems too good to be true and is. They mention the same thing about Disney world, London, Italy, Paris and various other key destinations. All the prices seem ridiculously low. Most of the time they lead conman will even ask is that a wow or what. They claim they can do this because like Costco and how buying power in bulk makes things cheaper. They usually claim to be part of a huge network that buys all the unused inventory up and can pass savings onto you. One presentation I was at the presenter said something (one of the few things) that was true. He asked "Do you know what the most expensive room in a resort is"? He then said "The empty one". This is 100% true.

Some of them will then get the audience involved by asking things like were a dream vacation is for you. They might say "Do you want to take your kids or family to a certain place and things like Florida and save money". They are really good and play on emotions. Around this point they will go into price. Most of the ones I have deal with have a price around $10,000 for their top membership program plus around $200 for a one time fee and like $200 a year membership fee. They will be very quick to tell you that their yearly fee is less than a third of what your association and membership fees would be for a timeshare. They are correct in that regard, but remember you own nothing and if the company up and disappears or gets sued out of existence you have nothing to show for your money. This entitles you to unlimited discounts on hotels, car rentals, airfare and cruises. You also get four condo weeks at resorts with the membership and you can choose to add family members and friends to your membership if you so chose to. Now they show you a discount that is up to a certain amount, but nothing is concrete except the condo week. They are typically guaranteed at $250-$800 for the week. Sounds pretty good right? That is what many people think and how many people get scammed.

At some point in this process they will also show a Better Business Bureau webpage that shows they have an A+ and no complaints against them to make them look legitimate. Some may have this. If you read an article I wrote about how the Better Business Bureau has outlived their usefulness you will get more perspective on how they use the BBB in the con. The main highlight is that all companies usually can start with a high rating and it takes a lot for the rating to go down. Oftentimes all the company has to do is answer the complaint and say you are lying and their rating will stay high. Many of these companies will even still say they have and show an A+ rating once they have been dropped to an F. The BBB will do nothing about this incidentally. The main thing about the BBB is that it is a key part of the scam.

After you go through this the first salesman will come back. Sometimes he will be alone or have another salesman with him. They often will ask what you think. If you like it they move in for the kill. If you have various objections like not being able to afford it they start pulling out credit card finance applications that give you 0% for so many months or a really low rate for so many moths. There have been many customers who never fill out applications, but still end up with these credit cards. I am not sure how if you don't give them your social security number, but it has happened. The majority of the salesmen will be very pushy. This is where that paper you filled out will come in. IF you are in a high stress job they might mention how important it is to take vacations. If you are interested in timeshares they will tell you they are a waste of money and it's much cheaper to be with them and you get the same thing with the condo weeks. The reality is those can be hard to get and you could often get those prices or any other price online without paying thousands of dollars. If you are still saying no you will probably go through one more closer that will once again lower the price. Remember we started at $10,000 for four condo weeks. They will usually then go down to $5,000 for 2 condo weeks and out of the goodness of their hearts throw an extra week in for a total of three ( sarcasm intended). If you are still saying now they will drop it down from as low as $750-$1,500 that I have heard for a one week a year condo plus the plan, car, and room discounts. They will often act like it's a special for you and add in an extra condo week. If you are still not sold they might use some other con games. One guy told people that he only takes one vacation week and puts his other three on eBay after selecting ones near tourist attractions. This might be true, but you can find petty good prices on eBay so there is not really a benefit there. The neglect to tell you that you will never get your weeks at a good time at major locations. If you do the prices will be basically the same as free travel sites like expedia.com ( more on that later) but part of the scam is that they are actually just charging you to scour the net for prices on sites like that and charging thousands to do it.

If you decide not to buy you will often reluctantly be given your "gifts". Again, unlike typical timeshare tours, these are usually worthless. The gift will always be through a supposed third party, but sometimes it's the same owners just with a different name. Most cases they want you to either send them a money order or cashiers check, but not a personal check or credit card information. Why? Because those are easier to trace and dispute when you don't get the tickets or cruise like many people. Some people do get them. If you decide to buy your envelope will even say "Owner" on it so the company knows to give you the gift. If you did not you will find just about all the dates are blacked out and it's pulling teeth to get it. The address for a majority of these redemption companies will be a post office box at the UPS store or similar place. This way you can't go there and ask what they heck is up. You also will almost never be able to get anyone on the phone either. In other words even if you don't buy they still can get a couple hundred out of you if you send in for the free gift. So they have a two tier scam going.

If you end up having a brief lapse of sanity and buy you may deal with one additional person. This will vary from company to company though. This person will come in with the various paperwork and try to build more report with you. They will also discuss "the benefits" of you membership. If you did not buy the most expensive one they will tell you that you can upgrade to that in a certain number of years and that everyone does that. If you are wearing any type of sports team clothing they might mention being a fan of that team and so forth. This is also were they will bring up the one part of the Travel club membership that always means it's a scam and you should run like hell. This is when rescission (the right to change your mind and that it's not for you) is brought up. The scams always have in the contract that you cannot cancel it. They often will claim they have to do this because of the laws of the state that you are in. The reality is that they do it because they know once you start checking around you will decide that you have been scammed and cancel it. Many of them will also drop the state Attorney General's name and how good of a repot they have with them and that the Attorney General requires the no recession and not the company. That is a blatant lie. If you start to balk at the no rescission clause many of the conmen will try to save the deal. Some will say just give it a chance and if you don't like it they will cancel it for you or they don't members who are not happy and refund people all the time. They will never put that in writing though. They claim they can't. The contract also states that you are not buying it based on anything that you heard. This clearly shows it's a scam. How on earth would you decide to buy it? This is done because they know they can't back up the claims.

Some travel clubs will have you call them to book your travel. Others will have you call a supposedly separate company (again usually owned by the same people) and book your travel through them. There is almost always a website that you can view deals on. If you decide to travel and don't do much research so of the travel will seem decent. This is how they sometimes have satisfied members. Anyone who does not use the net much will love the travel clubs because they don't realize they just coughed up thousands to basically have someone look on expedia.com for them. One website I personally checked out linked to a free website called travelnow which is a subsidiary of expedia.com. The prices were the same if you went directly to travelnow or if you checked the prices by logging into the travel clubs website and searched for prices doing that.

Once you figure out that you have been ripped off that is were the fun starts. You might figure it out a variety of ways. Some people call their state Attorney General and find out that the company has a variety of complaints against them. You might Google the name of the company once you actually find it out and see various complaints. Now in fairness just because you see complaints does not mean a company is crooked, but when you see large numbers and all with the same basic thing. It is pretty hard to say it's not a rip off. Many people find out it is a rip off when they start looking for those super prices that were discussed during the pitch. These of course are never found. When you call about this you are given every kind of run around at first to keep you from starting any issues. If it is not being able to find the prices discussed they may tell you that they must have all sold out at the lower price and to check tomorrow. Some will tell you to book a trip and they will give you the discount when it becomes lower. This is a way they try to get you because then they can claim you did use their services. The pretty nice guy that sold you the membership and said he has given people money back then will either deny that he has said that or say that there are man hours involved in looking for a trip for you and now refuse the refund.

You then have a few choices. You can go to the Attorney General. They can't really get your money back, but sometimes can help you. The problem is that many times the AG's office will be very aware of what the company has been doing, but has not taken action as of yet, meaning more and more people are getting scammed. If they Attorney General does do anything it will take months and months and the company might have either folded up shop or something so they can't recover anything. Either way you should file a complaint with the AG office. You also should file one with the Better Business Bureau. The BBB is really worthless. Many times they are told of the scam while the company still has a real A+ and will take no action and just take the companies word for everything. The thing is with enough complaints their A+ will eventually get dropped and if they are still telling people they have an A+ that only helps you.

One of the last lines of defense that you really have is your credit card company. You do have a legal right to dispute the charge. The travel club will often try everything including illegal things like having someone use a travel service in your name to make it look like you used the service. They also will often reference the no recession clause. Many credit card companies will go by the no rescission clause and end things there. Even were a no recession clause is valid any contract that is entered into by fraud is able to be voided. If you can prove that the company can't provide what they said they you should win. That is not always easy. Some credit card companies do not want to do anymore than they have to and will stop and the no rescind clause. Typically you will have to re dispute the charge at least twice or more. Some people have won cases against travel clubs like I discussed and others have not. Even when the company is a clear rip off sometimes the credit card company will still side with them. You need to do your homework and prove your case. If your contract says that you pay for the services when you book them and they the travel club wants you to pay up front and reimburse you that is a violation of contract and you should be able to win with your credit card company under goods and services not provided as agreed. I would also advise you to check the laws of the state you are in. if you are allowed to in your state I would record all of the conversations with the travel club and save all their messages. Many people have won their disputes that way. You also want to dissect the contract for anything that they are not living up to. If the contract says you can book travel online, but you can't bring that up. It will be an uphill battle though. Any company running a scam is not above lying or trying to accuse you of wrongdoing to your credit card company. If the website for members of the vacation club only links to a free website take a video camera and record logging into the website and show that it links to whichever free site. Get a price at the travel club site then while video taping the screen and go to the actual website that is being used and show the prices are the same. One person I assisted actually had a rep from a credit card company do this and document the account accordingly. This way you can show the company is charging thousands of dollars claiming exclusive member benefits that are available to anyone that can get on the internet with no fee.

That is pretty much the basics of how it works and some warning signs. One piece of advice I would give for anything, especially as expensive as this, is that you should never buy something that you can't return if you are not happy. I am not talking about something like a fast food hamburger. I am talking about something that is thousands of dollars. Many salesmen of these will say you can't always take a car back. That is true, but you do get to inspect the car before you sign anything. With these crooks you can't even get on the website to look around before making a decision. Most people would not want to think people are that crooked. The ratting from the BBB is enough to help some people fall victim. Sadly I have also seen that many older people are going to these presentations that might not be as internet savvy or able to spot a scam. One presentation I went to I was the only guy there that was either not bald or had a head of gray hair. I think there is a special place in hell for people that victimize children and old people. There companies seem to really go after people who are close to retiring or are retired.

These companies operate all over the place. There is one good example that if you want see how this works you can follow. In my sources and further information section I am going to include an expose by Arnold Diaz on some companies in New Jersey owned by a man named Daryl Turner that are currently being sued by the state Attorney General. Defiantly he keeps opening shop in new places in different names. I will also include the BBB report on some of the companies. It is very important to note that all of the companies were A+ at one time. If you got anything out of my article I would encourage you to pass the information on. Knowledge is power. If people know how the scam works these crooks can't run in. also just as a notice I am not calling any of the companies mentioned crooks. People who scam people are crooks though. You can view the evidence and decide for yourself. The companies by Mr. Turner in Jersey are being sued by the Attorney General's office and that is a fact and the information in the article is general information about many of these types of companies. I am sure that like a white alligator (rare as hell) there are legitimate travel clubs out there. Also for the record triple A is not this type of club, but calls themselves a travel club.

As a last bit of advice remember the old adage. If something is too good to be true it usually is. Also any company that gives a today only offer is one that you really should be cautious of. If that company has a no rescission policy or charges a cancellation fee you should run for the hills. I would also always ask before claiming a free gift if the company takes a personal check and get an answer. If they do not you might lose money trying to claim a gift that is supposed to be free. So far I have heard examples of these companies operating in Nevada, California, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Texas. Unlike timeshare they usually are not in major tourist areas since the authorities there are already used to dealing with travel scams. The exception was one in Las Vegas that I will list the BBB report on below.

Another really important thing to know is a basic about sales. People often buy from people they like. This might not always be true, but these scammers will go to great lengths to build a report with you. They will blatantly lie. If you bring up an article like this they will claim the person is lying. There are people who buy timeshares that are very happy. There might even be one or two vacation clubs out there that are legitimate. I am sure they do not operate the way the above companies do and don't try to have you sign a no recession clause before you even leave the presentation. It is not isolated that there are so many complaints over the net about these people and warning consumers about these scams. Proceed with caution, and if it is too good to be true it is. No one ever got scammed walking away from a deal. If it is a good deal today it will be tomorrow.

The following companies have various allegations of consumer complaints or are being investigated for it. This is based on my opinion all parties are innocent until proven guilty.

Serenity Travel Club in Newark, Delaware ** update, Serenity travel has been closed and the AG in Delaware is suing them again.

Del Rey Travel in Valencia, California ** Update, They have lost their BBB accreditation, like i knew they would a year ago and the AG has gotten many complaints yet they are still in business.

Destination Vacations internationals or DVI in New Jersey

The following companies possibly are doing the same things.

Endless vacations

travel to go scam They have an A+ rating for now, but they have like 12 complaints in the last 12 moths and it appears to be the same scam from all the information online.
travel to go complaints

Sky travel scam
sky travel complaints
Sources and further reading.

As an update Daryl Turner of New Jersey was arrested in July 2011 for running these scams with companies like Dream Vacations International, Dreamworks Vacations and Bentley Travel. Serenity Travel has been closed in Delaware but Del Rey Travel is still opened in California despite warnings from consumers including myself.

www.bbb.org ( it is not tons of use, but you can see what a company is rated)

http://www.bbb.org/us/article/warning-about-travel-related-fraud-709 ( article about fraud on the rise in the travel and timeshare industry)

www.complaintsboard.com ( see if there are complaints about a business not are all valid but not all are just ticked off customers either)

www.ripoffreport.com ( same as above but site sometimes is really slow)

http://www.bbb.org/new-jersey/business-reviews/travel-agencies-and-bureaus/dreamworks-vacation-club-in-gibbsboro-nj-27003221

http://www.bbb.org/new-jersey/business-reviews/vacation-time-share/modern-destinations-unlimited-in-manalapan-nj-90055615

http://www.vegasbbb.org/bbb_rated_acc_rpt.asp?bbbid=72320&tr=NR&lg=NR&ex=4

http://www.dc.bbb.org/report.html?national=y&compid=210920468

http://centralflorida.app.bbb.org/newsearch2.asp?ComID=07330018000517