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1/18/08 ordered trips, there were hidden fees galore. Went to station 2/7/08 for refund.had to fill out form. No one at desk dealt with refunds. When returned by us mail, 2/29/08, i got gift certificates for future trips, had to mail in for refund. By now $20 had been deducted from the original amount. 3/14//08 i received letter that i was getting refund week of 4/7/08 but they had the wrong credit card #, i went on line to email station and goggle showed no such address as [protected]@aol.com.
And it looks like now he is a child molester: http://www.clickorlando.com/news/20018201/detail.html
Wihite is back to selling certificates for restaurants and local businesses. He is telling his shoppers that they will not get a refund after 30 days. But Florida Law 501.95 says they cannot have an expiration date. There are some exceptions but very few.
Doug, his family and all connected to his ripoff show are just like the "grifters" who go around the country scamming people.
I ordered something from a credit they owed me in December, 2008. Today is Feb. 11, 2009 and I am still waiting for my certificate. I may have to call the BBB again or Hometown News.
I agree... there was a time when Doug and his family were giving out great deals. But now with all the greed and certs involvement, I have jumped through all the hoops and found myself on the receiving end impossible "terms" and lost countless hours of time obtaining money orders, certified mail, waiting in lines, and all said and done, have found ourselves out about $1000.00 to WELE in hopes of riding the rails and disney passes to nowhere. Why couldn't you all just tell the truth on the air?What a terrible scam for people in todays economy to be took in hopes of a get away. We had great hopes of taking my husband and brother-in-law (both Vietnam Vets) to see the wall outside of Washington, plans were made all their fees were paid, paperwork turned in (on time) and two of five were denied with NO recourse and three were never even heard of again. Thanks all for NOTHING. What a great disappointment. At least we still have freedom to write about it. These guys are still dreaming of seeing the "Wall". Thank a Vet today!
After some 11 years of dealing with them, I have to agree that they are now nothing but a family of scam artists...well not to artistic at that, as now they have been seen for their true desires. I regret that it took me so long to accept that fact. I am now looking for legal advise and hope to join a group of dissatisfied and misrepresented customers in recovering as much as we possible can. Tom
Years ago the trips were more ligitimate, but now it's all about the $$$ the station can make no matter what false statements are necessary. It takes a lot of $$$$ to pay for the cars and the fancy house.
Don't listen, Don't buy!
Complaining the the FCC is most likely the best way to get some results. I too have lost hundreds and hundreds of dollars to WELE. Just one example; I purchased a "dream vacation" for $150.00 with several different items. Prior to purchasing the item I asked Trisha about hidden fees, she replied that there was a small booking fee. When I received it in the mail the booking fee was $398.00, that's not a small fee in my book!
It is criminal that this business has continued for as many years as it has while continuing to misrepresent the truth. Yes, the family continues to tell it's listeners what Christians they are and they do so with a good bit of arrogance, prior to ripping you off.
There are very few items which can be redeemed as they are described. Even purchases of food and pedicures have additional fees which you learn about after the fact. The station now transfers you right to an operator who will bill your credit card prior to reading the fine print...DO NOT DO THIS!
The whole situation is almost as disqusting as the current political race, perhaps WELE should turn into a political station then they will NEVER have to tell the truth!
This afternoon I spoke with an investigator at the Federal Communications Commision and they will be investigating WELE and if they can verify fraud they will fine or remove the station's license. Call the FCC with your complaint!
I totally agree that a class action suit should be filed against these people. My dealings with them have been a nightmare and I am out over $300.
Just wanted to let everyone know " Hometown Newspaper " is doing a story on Wele it is in tomorrows paper which is out already, I know it is in the Daytona Beach, I do not know if it is in the others. Great story Hometown News.
These people rip my parents off for 1000.00 or more dollar they had trip plan for nov and dec that i know was over 450.00. I think the prey on the elderly. Someone need to file a class action law suit on them . Now all you people will be out of your money and they are close. Try calling the phone number. See greed get you know where. I feel sorry for the elderly that they took advanish of. My heart goes out to all of you
I hope they are out of business, and off the air for good. They have taken advantage of alot of people in this area. I agree they should be jailed.
YES THEY ARE OUT OF BUSINESS, BUT I DID NOT HEAR BANKRUPT. THEY SHOULD BE JAILED!
I've been dealingwith WELE for years, and always had great success. They have come through with everything promised. I'm not an emloyee or family member - just a very satisfied customer. In reading the above complaints, I see one common thread - the purchasers did not listen to the entire deal. Get real-do you really expect to fly somewhere so cheap without some restrictions? I know many, many repeat customers of this station - I'm one of them!
WELE seems too good to be true and it is. When describing their trips and how "easy" it is to take advantage of the discounts, they're only taking advantage of the listeners. I know because I've tried. You lose money, time and eventually, your temper.
I have used WELE travel show to purchase quite a few event tickets and dinner/cruise-type tickets. They were incredibly cheap and were a big bargain. I only used them once for a hotel, and it worked out fine. The only problem I had was once I got more tickets for an event than I wanted because they screwed it up at the station. It was not fun to work that out with them, but they did fix it.
I would probably not consider any of their bigger travel certificates etc because I know that you need to be VERY flexible on the dates and ready for last minute changes. Also, the customer service I received on the one problem was so poor that I don't think I'd trust a bigger package.
We have friends who have traveled a lot through this station and told us about it four years ago. I listen to it occastionally on the internet since I live in a different part of Florida.
Let me clue people in on how this corrupt travel show works. I purchased something called an Ultimate Vacation Adventure, which entitles me to round trip airfare for two to a variety of locations in the US. This was purchased on the WELE travel show for $125. Now they don't tell you that it costs, $45 to redeem, which again, seemed reasonable when thinking about what you are getting. They once redeemed, you get the certificate and it's there that you actually see the FINE PRINT and HIDDEN BLACKOUT DATES that are mind boggling.
1. You must submit 3 choices and dates for travel, 30 days apart.
2. You must not travel on approximately 9 holidays listed on the form, and get this, NEITHER THE WEEK BEFORE NOR THE WEEK AFTER, these 9 listed holidays. Folks that cuts out quite a few weeks there doesn't it.
3. If you miss one, and only one of these many hidden dates and fee's you VOID ! the offer and everything is gone.
This is what WELE is banking on, you screwing up and not going it correctly, once voided you are history, they keep the money and you go away.
I vow that I will do everything in my power to put this crooks off the air and get my story out to everyone, finally someone will do something and help the poor schmucks that are losing money left and right to this corrupt station.
Comments United States Travel & Vacations
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58 days ago by Amyjlf [send email]
I totally agree. They have over $300 of my money and took away the one and only chance we had for a vacation this summer. STAY AWAY!
37 days ago by Wayne [send email]
We are stuck in the same hell you are.Ripoff is not the word.Even the Disney tickets! Adults only! WE ARE GOING TO GET OUR MONEY BACK THROUGH THE CREDIT CARD COMPANY.
37 days ago by Sandy And Dick [send email]
Within the past year, using WELE offers, we have traveled to La Vegas, Cocoa Beach, Destin, Tallahassee, cruised to the Ocean Reef Yacht Club in the Bahamas, took my mother on a RCL cruise in April, traveled to the Sheraton River Walk in Tampa, another trip to the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Tampa, flew to Chicago and stayed at a 4 Points Sheraton there, stayed at a Crowne Pointe Plaza hotel in Alexandria, VA, gone to Charleston and Savannah, traveled to Ft. Lauderdale, spent a wonderful weekend in Orlando, complete with Arabian Nights show tickets, Tony and Tina's Wedding show tickets, Holyland Tickets, gotten numerous tickets for Weeki Wachee Springs, the Alligator Farm, Trolleys in DC, Savannah, Theater tickets in Savannah, and are booked for the Dominican Republic in September. Pending requests are in for a trip to New York City, 2 trips to Disney, a RCL cruise in December and a trip to Arizona. We have greatly enjoyed the performances of the Ormond Beach Symphony Orchestra, the Sleuths Mystery Dinner Show, and other events offered by WELE. We are BIG fans of WELE and could not have done all of this traveling at full price. Yes, the scheduling does take some time and patience, but it's worth it.
21 days ago by Dawn [send email]
I don't believe that Sandy and Dick aren't somehow affiliated with WELE. We had issues with 2 packages we bought. I picked them up, realized that they were FULL of hidden fees and difficult stipulations. I returned them a few days later and they refused to give us any money back. While waiting to get our certificates, we had to stand in line. Everyone in line with me was a first time customer - NO REPEATERS! I guess everyone who used them before realized what a scam it was and didn't come back for seconds. I with I had known before I spent $180! I tell ALL of my friends and coworkers to help them avoid the same mistake.
20 days ago by Craig Hagely [send email]
this show is a ripe off i to bought airlines tickets ...something went wrong no tickets, no return calls from radio station..dont do any business with these people
17 days ago by Deanna [send email]
I also got ripped off. I cancelled the charge on my credit card and they found a way to get it back. The scheduling and fees are way out. You would have to be availailabe 365 days year, and each time you send paperwork in there is another fee added. I gave up. Now they have over $200.00 of my money and I have not gone anywhere. I think that the attorney general's office in Florida should be investigating this rip off. I WILL BE CONTACTING THEM.
7 days ago by Ronald [send email]
Be warned, wele travel show is a big rip-off.they took me for$300 . doug wilhite and trisha have been corrupted by greed and lust after even more dollars. They shamefully call themselves christians. Dont become the next victim ...
5 days ago by How [send email]
My wife and I experienced the same thing after we purchased 4 packages which which "sounded too good to be true." I got a full refund after paying $124 to redeem two of them and found out all the hidden "oh by the ways". Even though we are retired, there is no way we could use the packages with the restrictions that were put on them, especially the picking 30 day apart travel dates. We wanted to use them for specific events but were useless. They tried to tell me no refunds after 30 days, but I would have sued their pants off if they hadn't refunded my money back. I am glad to see that it wasn't just us that feel this way.
1 minutes ago by Jessica [send email]
I have never in my life had so much trouble with a return in my life! I bought ONE package in APRIL and they ended up sending me FIVE and charged me for ALL of them! I returned everything exactly how they asked and it was just taking forever. I have called them a million times to try and talk to someone and they will never even return phone calls. When I went there to talk to someone in person they lady said they were in the middle of switching the person who was in charge of returns so she said they were a little behind...she wouldn't even look at me when she was talking to me! They charged me around $250.00 for every thing and i finally got something in the mail saying they would credit my account for $110.00 the first week of AUGUST (remember I purchased in APRIL..I work with credit card purchases and I know that it doesn't take 4 months to credit and account). First, $110.00? none of the packages even added up to that and if your not gonna return all my items then send the ones that you won't return back, i mean they are mine! They didn't even say what that credit was for. Second, the lady said it took so long because my return sat in a box in some office and had been misplaced for a while. WOW very organized..by the way it's after the first week in August and I still haven"t even gotten the measly $110.00...they claim advertisements are the reason they can sell these packages so cheap, really they just wait for people to buy things and then they keep their money! I think I've heard somewhere that that's STEALING and it"s a crime!
For those who took the time to respond above: thank you very much. I know you put in the effort in order to warn others and I want you to know it was worth your time.
Friends were trying to get us interested in using WELE offerings. Because of the multitude of customers who have exposed WELE for what it is, we want nothing to do with them.
We have no use for slimey operators.
I have read the various posts both from unsatisfied customers and from Doug of WELE and figured it was time to put in my "2 cents" ...
Doug claims that you need to be "flexible" Hmmm I have in front of me the airline reservation forms one from "Infinity Travel and another from CERTS" and let me fill you in on the "FINE PRINT" as to when you can/cannot travel ...
It says that you can use book travel all 12 months of the year ...
Except that you can ONLY begin your "vacation" on a TUESDAY or WEDNESDAY (No Exceptions) and and you are subject to a surcharge for the following "Peak / Holiday" periods ... You are surcharged for any travel that is within a week prior or a week after the following holidays ... Martin Luther King, Presidents Day, Easter, Spring Break ?, Independendance Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukah, New Years Day ... Plus the months of MARCH, JUNE, JULY and AUGUST ...
If you do the math, there are approx 103 days that you can travel on out of 365 and actually only 17 days that you can begin your vacation on that are NOT "Peak or Holiday" and subject to a steep surcharge ... Hmm that sure isn't the rosy picture that WELE is selling ... To add insult to injury, you will not know if you have the trip until TWO WEEKS before the travel date at which time you will be notified by e-mail ... THEY WARN They are not responsible for travel arrangements made without WRITTEN notification from them ...
So ... You send in this form, but you need 90 days advance notice to start ... then you have to give them 3 dates 30 days apart BUT you cannot make any other arrangements until they give you written notification 2 weeks before you are to travel ... Does EVERYONE have that much flexibility that you can go to work and say " I need a week or two off" with less than 2 weeks notice ? You have to live your life on the edge wondering if any of the dayes that you wanted are going to be available, but you will not know that till it is 14 days beofre you must leave ...
Let's continue ... To even get this process started you must send them $50 MONEY ORDER for each passenger, so that is $100 and they will have this for the 90 days prior to you being able to start your trip and then up to 90 more days depending on which of your dates are chosen ...
That $100 is in addition to the $$$ you paid WELE to buy the package and then the $$$ you paid to "REDEEM" the package. That is if you even get the package from WELE ... To date I have 8 different packages that are over 30 days old so I can't return them, yet I still haven't received them ... 4 of these packages I am still awaiting after 7 weeks ...
(I have made DOZENS and DOZENS of phone calls, and nearly 50 e-mails ... All with the same basic theme ... They are in the mail YADA YADA YADA)
Also note that if you make a mistake ... for example only having 29 days instead of 30 days between requested dates ... This invalidates the entire certificate and you LOSE yout $100 ... The print on this certificate is VERY WORDY and VERY SMALL, but beware any tiny mistake means that you are out EVERY DIME that you paid ... Thank You VERY MUCH ...
I could continue with MORE outrageaous things that WELE is "selling" for instance ...
Thier MEAL TICKET REWARDS ... You are purported to get $1000 in the form of 100 ... $10 coupons ... You can look this up on MEAL TICKET AWARD.COM ... So we did, what we got back was this rinky dink booklet from HOT MEALS COOL DEALS.COM ... I don't get it, I redeemed a certificate from the former and got in the mail the later ... Now comes the JOY ... First I checked the "available" restaurants in my area ... Burger King and Quiznos ... Gee what happened to all the other places listed ... Oh thats right they are not available in "my area" ... Now to the coupons ... They are not $10 coupons, they are the same stupid coupons that are frequently in your sunday paper or that you get in the mail ... ie ... Buy one sandwich, get one free ... or Buy a Large Sub and Chips and Drink and get a small sub free ... or one was even get a SMALL drink with the purchase of a LARGE SANDWICH ... Wow Whats that $1.29 ... Not exactly the $10 coupon they are advertising ... Heck I'd have to buy 8 sandwiches to get the $10 worth ...
To wrap this up ... WELE wants you to beleive that you are getting a GREAT DEAL ... You are getting NOTHING but a headache ... They make it VERY DIFFICULT to do business with and will gladly pay you lip service to get you off the phone ... BUT in my history I have paid a fairly large sum for various things and have yet to get ANYTHING that is even remotely usable ...
SORRY WELE is a COMPLETE AND UTTER FAILURE ...
I bought a trip package for $71.00. This was to include an airline trip. I paid WELE another $45.00 to get the paper to start the booking. When I saw the information I was furious. It is nearly impossible to even use this. I could pick one day on a Tue. or Wed. on three different months. The date must be 7 days before or after ANY holiday. Entire months are unavailable, too. It cost another $100 which must be a money order. I checked the internet for information on the company. There were many complaints that people never got a date to fly. I wanted my $45.00 refunded for this bogus deal.
WELE has no intention of refunding any money. They sell worthless paper. Stay away from these people.