Travel Clubs

It's the same old trick, IMP better get out before too late.

Once a victim.

"sdmullen" ¼¶¼g©ó¶l¥ó·s»D
outtravelling.com...
Hi,

I need information. I just signed up with an outfit called
GreatEscapes Vacation Club. They solicit you to come to a
meeting by telling you you've won a three-day, two-night trip to either
Orlando or Vegas. But you must come to a 90-minute presentation to receive
your trip voucher.

They are based in Lakeland, Florida and connected with an outfit called
Advantage Travel. Their Website is www.greatescapesonline.com. They do
travel packages, time-shares, etc., but it costs you $7,000 to join and
you receive life-time discounted travel packages (but it is not free like
a timeshare).

Did I make a mistake? If anyone has any information about this company or
their experiences, please let me know ASAP while I can still exercise my
right of rescission and cancel the whole thing.

Thanks,

sdm

Hi,

I need information. I just signed up with an outfit called
GreatEscapes Vacation Club. They solicit you to come to a
meeting by telling you you've won a three-day, two-night trip to either
Orlando or Vegas. But you must come to a 90-minute presentation to receive
your trip voucher.

They are based in Lakeland, Florida and connected with an outfit called
Advantage Travel. Their Website is www.greatescapesonline.com. They do
travel packages, time-shares, etc., but it costs you $7,000 to join and
you receive life-time discounted travel packages (but it is not free like
a timeshare).

Did I make a mistake? If anyone has any information about this company or
their experiences, please let me know ASAP while I can still exercise my
right of rescission and cancel the whole thing.

Thanks,

sdm

I don't know about this club but most "discount" the travel by going below
the rack or brochure rate. Most competent individuals can get better rates
on-line (internet) or by simply calling an airline, hotel, car rental, or
cruise line, etc. directly.

Get your $7000 back and use it for a great cruise or other vacation you book
yourself on-line.

"sdmullen" wrote in message
lkabouttravelling.com...
Hi,

I need information. I just signed up with an outfit called
GreatEscapes Vacation Club. They solicit you to come to a
meeting by telling you you've won a three-day, two-night trip to either
Orlando or Vegas. But you must come to a 90-minute presentation to receive
your trip voucher.

They are based in Lakeland, Florida and connected with an outfit called
Advantage Travel. Their Website is www.greatescapesonline.com. They do
travel packages, time-shares, etc., but it costs you $7,000 to join and
you receive life-time discounted travel packages (but it is not free like
a timeshare).

Did I make a mistake? If anyone has any information about this company or
their experiences, please let me know ASAP while I can still exercise my
right of rescission and cancel the whole thing.

Thanks,

sdm

I have found that I can always do better than the reputed rates in a travel
club (comparing to friends that have them). A good travel agent is a better
investment. I consider these highly suspcet. YMMV of course, as it always
does.

Julie

LVTravel wrote:
I don't know about this club but most "discount" the travel by going below
the rack or brochure rate. Most competent individuals can get better rates
on-line (internet) or by simply calling an airline, hotel, car rental, or
cruise line, etc. directly.

Get your $7000 back and use it for a great cruise or other vacation you book
yourself on-line.

"sdmullen" wrote in message
lkabouttravelling.com...
Hi,

I need information. I just signed up with an outfit called
GreatEscapes Vacation Club. They solicit you to come to a
meeting by telling you you've won a three-day, two-night trip to either
Orlando or Vegas. But you must come to a 90-minute presentation to receive
your trip voucher.

They are based in Lakeland, Florida and connected with an outfit called
Advantage Travel. Their Website is www.greatescapesonline.com. They do
travel packages, time-shares, etc., but it costs you $7,000 to join and
you receive life-time discounted travel packages (but it is not free like
a timeshare).

Did I make a mistake? If anyone has any information about this company or
their experiences, please let me know ASAP while I can still exercise my
right of rescission and cancel the whole thing.

Thanks,

sdm




--
Julie
**********
Check out my Travel Pages (non-commercial) at
http://www.dragonsholm.org/travel.htm

In article
outtravelling.com,
"sdmullen" wrote:


Did I make a mistake? If anyone has any information about this company or
their experiences, please let me know ASAP while I can still exercise my
right of rescission and cancel the whole thing.

yes, bail out while you can

On Wed, 14 Apr 2004 16:57:14 -0400, "LVTravel"
wrote:

I don't know about this club but most "discount" the travel by going below
the rack or brochure rate. Most competent individuals can get better rates
on-line (internet) or by simply calling an airline, hotel, car rental, or
cruise line, etc. directly.

Get your $7000 back and use it for a great cruise or other vacation you book
yourself on-line.


also other way to look at it is this.

if say the average holiday cost $1000. And join this club they wil
give you (lets say 20%) discount. That mean for each holiday you will
save $200. Now you go on two holidays a year. (one in winter and one
in summer.) That mean to just break even you have to go on holiday
for 17.5 years!! These type of schemes are quite common here in UK
and the regulators, trading standard, and watchdog
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/ are always reporting / on them. And
say they are a rip off. Like the other person said get out whilst you
can and enjoy a long holiday instead.
----------------------------------------------------
reverse my email address, and remove the obvious
spam traps to reach me by email.
http://www.callthrough.tk/ = site not updated.

it costs you $7,000 to join and you receive
life-time discounted travel packages
Did I make a mistake? ...please let me know
ASAP while I can still exercise my right of
rescission and cancel the whole thing.


I don't know that company, but the whole thing smells fishy.
And even if they are honest (which I doubt), it would take
years to make up that $7,000. What if they closed their
doors next year? You'd basically have lost all that money.

My advice would be to cancel, and to document your
cancellation carefully, such as send it by registered (or is
it certified?) mail so they have to sign for it and you've got
a record that you sent it to them. Just in case they claimed
later that they never got your cancellation or it arrived too late.

James

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Remove "NOSPAM" from my address when sending me e-mail.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-

Juliana L Holm wrote:
I have found that I can always do better than the reputed rates in a travel
club (comparing to friends that have them).

A year or two ago, a strange $90 charge showed up on my credit card
statement. I called the number to ask "Who are you and why are you
billing me?" The cheerful young woman at the other end told me
"members" got "discounts" at major hotels. I said "Prove it" and asked
her to get a rate for the hotel at which I'd been a few days before.
The amount she stated was about ten percent greater than what I'd
paid.

I said "Cancel my membership and remove the charge" but she started
giving me the full spiel which I kept interrupting, with ever greater
volume leading to a string of explitives punctuating "Cancel my
membership and remove the charge!"

It was done.

She alleged that I had agreed to a six-month free membership on the
telephone. Could have. Don't get such calls no no'.
__________________________________________________ ___________
A San Franciscan in 47.335 mile² San Francisco
http://geocities.com/dancefest/ http://geocities.com/iconoc/
ICQ: http://wwp.mirabilis.com/19098103 IClast at SFbay Net

I must agree with Icono Clast. And we own a timeshare! (to be honest here,
we did not buy it, we inherited it from my husband's granfather.

Even with the fact that the purchase of the timeshare was fully paid when
we inherited it, it costs us about $500 a year (maintenance fee, RCI membership,
plus exchange fee) to use it if we trade, and $300 to go to our home unit
(July 4th in the Shenandoah Valley area).

That is a savings for us, and is great if we have friends or kids along. I
like the self catering aspect.

That said, I'd never pay the thousands of dollars to buy into a new timeshare
(or honestly, a resale one) It is a hassle to trade often, requires planning
way ahead, and sometimes it is difficult to trade, particularly into areas
where there combined facilities.

And the vacation clubs are even bigger rip-offs!

Julie

Icono Clast wrote:
"sdmullen" wrote:
Did I make a mistake?

"Mistake" is such an understatement that I have no idea how to
describe the magnitude of your error.

Get out! Now! Do it by telephone (record the conversation telling them
that you're doing so) and preserve the tape. Send them a mEssage and
send them a letter. You should read the letter to them on the
telephone, copy it to the mEssage and, of course, send it. You don't
want them to say there was conflicting information that they didn't
understand. Use very few, explicit, words such as:

Cancel the order I placed with you on [date and time] with [sales
person] at [location] and include any codes or numbers of theirs. Also
say "Thank you" [for whatever it is they gave you].

Yes, we go to every time share and other travel scam we can. Last time
they took one look at us, gave us a hundred dollar bill, and sent us
away. I've received all sorts of nice things from those sorts of scams
and I delight in what I've cost them while trying to rip off others.

Right here next the the monitor is a 7-inch television set I got from
some camping scam some 20 or so years ago. I've had some decent meals,
worn out some good quality luggage, have received several hundreds of
dollars in cash and/or gift certificates valid at major stores, a
cruise, several other trips, etc.

If you can't resist signing such deals, don't go to them! If you can,
they can be fun. Of course they hate you but, so what? They're crooks.

Searching "time share scam" with me as the author, several posts
returned. Here are bits of two of them:

Tangos in modern, pop music?
Last year, in payment for having attended a Time Share scam, we took a
cruise. ...rec.arts.dance - Feb 8, 2000 by IconoClast - View Thread (8
articles)

Hawaii "MUST SEE" attractions?
... We attended a Time Share scam thus earning three days with a car
at no cost other than a few dollars tax. ...rec.travel.usa-canada -
Jan 29, 2000 by Icono Clast - View Thread (14 articles)
__________________________________________________ __________
A San Franciscan in (where else?) San Francisco
http://geocities.com/dancefest/ http://geocities.com/iconoc/
ICQ: http://wwp.mirabilis.com/19098103 IClast at SFbay Net

--
Julie
**********
Check out my Travel Pages (non-commercial) at
http://www.dragonsholm.org/travel.htm