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My husband and I were duped by Grand Getaways, a Coast to Coast Travel Company (also known as Grand Getaways Vacation Club, Grand Incentives) for $4, 900! Their principal place of business is at 64 Inverness East, Englewood, CO 80112 and they have a Member Care Center at 756o Commerce Ct, Sarasota, Florida 34243. The club is supposedly licensed and bonded by the State of Florida as a Seller of Travel under Registration No.: ST36512. We were solicited while we were on a Royal Carribean cruise with one of the stops going to St. Maarten. When we got off the ship to tour St. Martin, and within 10 minutes of so off the ship, we were stopped in the street by this young man who asked us to play a game with these scratch off tickets. This kid wouldn't leave us alone despite our attempts to ignore him. He kept following us down the road until we finally spoke to him. BOY WAS THAT A HUGE $4, 900 MISTAKE! So, he gave both my husband and I a scratch off ticket. My husband's ticket was determined a loser, and of course I won. This kid was and this kid was SO excited for me because he said that I had just won a 5 day trip to Cancun! He said that to claim the prize, I would have to follow him to a building down the street. At first I said no, but he begged us because to come with him because he was going to receive a commission and told us that these type of scratch off come out a random and I would really be doing him a favor. I didn't want to go because I was off the ship to enjoy St. Martin which NEVER HAPPENED. The nice people we were, we followed him down the street to the building. However, before we got there he was on a cell phone telling his counterparts that he was on his way with a winner! He apparently had to buy some time (I think another couple was reviewing the presentation) so he asked us if we wanted a drink from this stand on the corner just by the building. I think his intent was for us to have a drink and let our guard down. I declined, but my husband had a beer. I was very uneasy about the entire situation, but this kid assured me this was legitimate and reiterated I would be doing him a favor.
When we got to the building, we were greated by the receiptionist who happened to be from Florida from the same area where my husband I were from and offered us ANOTHER drink. Again I refused, but my husband agreed to have one. Eventually, a representative came out and convinced us to sit down and watch a presentation before we "claimed" our free prize. Skeptical we were, but sat and watched a video presentation at their request. I want to say the video was approx. 30 to 40 minutes long. We were both getting very restless. When it was over, they used high pressure sales tatics to convince us why we should buy into this club. They were explaining the different levels of membership such as Diamond, Platinum, Gold, etc. All I could think at the time they were quoting these prices is that I cannot affort $20, 000, $15, 000, etc... The prices were apparently determined by the number of resort weeks you were entitled to use. We certainly were not interested and threatened to leave. So, in comes someone else to start the conversation again...so what do you guys like doing for vacation. So angrly we told them we like to cruise. Well at that point, the pitched changed to be structured on how much they could save us on cruises. Different people kept coming into the room to keep us "company" and to try to find ways to "close" the deal. If you recall, we were there simply trying to claim our "FREE" vacation from the kid on the street! At one point a man came in and said you can save 50% off your cruises and it will essentially pay for your memebership. He said the company buys the cruises at a deep discount because of all their memberships. At that point we became interested. We tested them by asking them to give us quote on the same Royal Carribean cruise, same itinarary, same Jr. Suite and room number, that we booked for the following weeks ahead. I figured the pricing would be very similiar (and likely more expensive because of late booking) since it was close in time to our cruise. The manager came back with a paper showing the price which appeared to be approx. 50% off of what we paid for our cruise---Wow how about that! They also keep reitering how they were affiliated with Chicago Title and Bank of America so it appeared as if they were legitimate and in my mind I thought they must be because they are transacting business with these company and surely they vetted the company before accepting them as a client RIGHT? These two companeis should be ashamed of themselves supporting this type of scam. Well, as noted above the memeberships started at $20k, and when they knew we could not afford those prices, they eventually came down to $4, 900 and said we can apply for a credit card through Bank of America. We thought if we booked the next two cruises with them, it would pay for the membership and we would have those condo weeks in addition to saving on our cruises. We attempted to walk out again, but they threw in additional condo weeks and they "closed" the deal.
Well fast forward into almost year 3 of the program...WE HAVE NEVER BEEN ABLE TO USE THE PROGRAM, NOT EVEN OUR "FREE" CANCUN VACATION. Their prices ARE NOT LOWER THEN WHAT YOU CAN GET BY YOURSELF ON THE INTERNET OR THROUGH YOUR REGULAR NORMAL TRAVEL AGENCY. THIS COMPANY IS EXTREMLY HARD TO DEAL WITH AND IT IS DIFFICULT TO TRY AND BOOK ANYTHING! Since signing up, we went on two nice vacations...one was another cruise with Royal Carribean and also went to a really nice All Inclusive in the Dominican Republic. Before we booked, we contacted them for their rates and surely thought they would much lower right? Not only was it very difficult dealing with their travel specialist (I mean what an experience) their prices were much higher. Talk about disappointment with this company I cannot even explain. Folks you would be MUCH BETTER GO WITH ANY LOCAL TRAVEL AGENT or USING THE INTERNET. Remember the promise of 50% off...well that was a crock! Then they told me they could price match guarantee? What are they saying I thought? So, I did ALL the work to go out and find the cheapest rate around, and then you tell me you want to price match it. I spent hours of my time researching a cruise. Even if they price matched guaranteed, why wasn't the price lower to begin with since they tout millions of members allows them to buy at bulk rates. Ok...we tried again with the Dominican Trip. Again, their prices were higher than what we obtained from three different agents around the country. I said to myself REALLY? What the hell type of travel club is this! I am so flustered that I don't even know what to do at this point other than to contact all governmental agencies that regulate this industry and this company. I have navigated their website many times just trying to give this company a chance and it is difficult as hell to figure out what the resort looks like or any comments on it. You have be an investigator and go to google to do that! Hopefully. when you are searching google you get the correct resort so you know you are comparing apples to apples. You think the company would make research a bit easier, but its not the case. Also when you search through their condos that you supposedly save on...they all look like some run down Motel 6. I mean you ask people to spend $20k or even my $4, 900 on your membership and you are going to put me up at a Motel 6 REALLY?
So to recap, for $4, 900 we got nothing NADA..no trips, No Motel 6 condo stays, nothing to show for it other than a payment every month on our lovely Bank of America Credit Card. Oh yeah...the rate went up and so we had to switch it to another card at zero percent. Many people were promised that the interest rate would stay low, but that was not the case either...just another selling tatic. Oh...and there is the renewal fee each anniversay year which is supposed to be $199, however, they try to upsell you to getting two years for $349 and they tell you they will through in a $500 Gift Certificate towards airfare. Well, when you get the package and read the fine print, you have to book it through them and they guarantee the lowest rates, however, its only a $25.00 discount for fares between $200 and $299, $50.00 discount for fares between $300 and $399; $75.00 for fares between $400 and $499 and $100 for fares between $500 and $599. Tickets are not valid one week before or after holidays too...and you must give them 14 day advance notice and it must include a Saturday. What a JOKE! On the phone it sounded like you were going to get a $500 Gift Certificate, but they failed to mention the fine print, but they got you to renew for two years didn't they!
I'm ready to file suit against this company for fraud, mispresentation, and breach of contract to name a few. If you are contenplating signing up with this company PLEASE DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND WALK AWAY LIKE MY HUSBAND AND I SHOULD HAVE DONE in St. Martin for the poor little kid on the street who needed a commission...REALLY. I plan on reaching out to others who have been scamed by this company as well as various government agencies. THIS HAS GOT TO STOP. P.S. I looked at my contract and the folks that sold it to us were Jose Velez, Quality Assurance Manager and Hakim Merabet, Sales Direction in St. Maarten, Osprey Drive #4, Unit A &B, Juancho Yrausquin Blvd., Philipsburg, St. Maarten [protected] or [protected], [protected]@gmail.com, as well as Philip Provenzale at [protected]@aol.com. Their websites show on the contract as: www.affinitygroup.com; coastresorts.com and gograndgetaways.com
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
My husband and I were scammed in Willamsburg VA. in May 2012. Please contact us regarding a class action lawsuit.
George and Tara Williams williamsfamily2010@comcast.net
I apologize the email address is travelclubscams@aol.com
If you believe this company has misrepresented themselves to you in anyway, I am taking down information of potential customers that would consider joining a class action lawsuit. Please send your contact information to the following: travelscams@aol.com. You must include your full contact information for me to respond back to you personally. I will not respond to blind requests. Thank you.
Iam 110% agree with you guys, grand getaways cheat with us. i am ready for class action law suit. contact us ancientspa@gmail.com
I was called and offered credit for my Cheap trips Membership. The presentation made it sound as though I would receive a two free weeks with the Gold Membership plus a free week. I thought it sounded good but still had questions. The salesman Dean said before we go on do you have Visa or Master Card, I said that I use Visa and he said the first number on a VISA is 4 what are the rest of the numbers, lets just get some information first. Then he said let me connect you to a verifier to which I responded, " no, I have further questions before I commit." I asked what the deal was on the free week and he said your only responsibility would be $199 taxes. I asked about my obligation on the two included weeks and he said well it is a forty percent discount and you would be responsible for the discounted fee." I told him I was not interested and not to sign me up! He said, " how about the $199 one year program." I said, "I want nothing do not charge my card for anything." Then he starts asking me why I gave my info. if I wasn't going to buy. I told him I did not have the info. to make an informed decision at that time.Then he started talking about my losing all the money I spent for Cheap Trips with no benefit. I continued to tell him I wanted nothing until I finally hung up because I wanted to argue no more. When I hung up I got a charge confirmation for $349 in an e-mail. I called him back and he said he would look into it and get back to me. He did not call back but I called him again and he said I would have to straighten it out with his supervisor at [protected]. His supervisor asked me why I gave credit card info if I were not going to purchase. He accused me of not fully disclosing the situation. I clearly explained that I did not want the service, had made myself clear on that point and had an unauthorized charge made to my VISA (criminal offense). I held my ground until he hung up on me. I have protested the CHARGE, and will file a complaint with the State of Florida.
I want to know if anyone already start a legal action in order to receive any answer or money from this travel club, I want to join
I am totally agree with you guys, I bought the vacation package in San Andres Islas - Colombia, I paid like U$5, 000 and at this moment I didn´t receive any advantage for this membership, they told us lot of benefits and we still can not use any, I made a lot of hotels request with them and they just give me u$ 5 as a discount, this is a joke! Please contact us for ANY class action lawsuit: marcela138@hotmail.com
I totally agree. What can we do about this? We are all out thousands of dollars and for what? I feel like such a sucker. We have never been able to use our "free gift" airline vouchers...and like another person posted it's not for a free ticket. It's just a small amount of money off. You have to call them. Leave a message. 2 days later someone will call you back. You have to book 6 months in advance, stay over a Saturday, blah, blah, blah. It's almost unuseable. And for what? $50 savings? It's not worth the hassle. 4 phone calls later and you still have no flight. I feel this is one of the worst financial decisions my husband & i have ever made in our 25 year marriage. Unless we sue them we will never see that money again nor we will enjoy the false benefits they portray in their sales spiel. We are still paying $109/month for this! I cringe every time I pay it, but don't know how to stop this madness. I suppose we could just stop paying. And then what? Change our phone number? If anyone wants to start a lawsuit I'd be happy to participate but I cannot afford to hire an attorney because Grand Getaways has my money. If anyone has an idea, feel free to email me at sandiebeach1@verizon.net.
I agree with all of these comments. We've had the service since April of 2012 and we can't seem to get a travel agent to call us back and/or confirm any reservations. The online website is crap. I made a list of hotels and condos that I found with cheaper rates at other online sites. i am up for a class action based n fraud... what do we do next?
These people just called me claiming I had $3000 of credit from being a member of Cheap Trips who went out of business and they bought. He even lied and said he had my visa information from Cheap Tickets but it expired so they would take other Visas. The very pushy man was Jim at [protected] ext. 1056 tried to say I can get in on this for the renewal amount you stated with all the exact freebies you stated. It sounded way too good to be true. I have timeshare and membership to RCI. I had never heard of these people. So I Googled Go Grand Getaways and complaints and your complaint came up. Thanks for sharing.
I bought this and really have never used it. Did think we used it where we got scammed with it in Branson. Supposedly we got cheaper show tickets. Have had it now since about 2005. Stupid? Probably, Payed the renewal fee every 2 year. Yes. Will I continue now? Dont think so. They started calling yesterday wanting me to renew or I would lose the $8000 or whatever that I have invested. Need to pay my renewal fee of $350 now for 2 years. They have called and called and called, and the nice thing is I have Patrick as my account executive for LIFE. Makes me feel all rosey inside. The last one just hung up on me after telling me he was calling as a courtesy and had been trying to reach me for days. The calls just started yesterday and I was gone. I must have pissed the last guy off as as I said Patrick all ready bothered me this morning and what is your need to call and dont you check with each other.
I have checked the internet for prices and tried to use them and the internet is always or has always been found to be cheaper. And when I do find something here and try to get it is is ALWAYS gone.
I think we may just chalk this one up to stupidity and experience and forget to pay the renewal.
We also have been SCAMMED by this company. It took us five months to finally get our package that we were supposed to have upon our arrival home from the Bahamas in October 2011. We finally received it March of 2012 and their "free trips" are not worth the paper they are printed on. Am seriously thinking of seeing of ABC 20/20 would be interested in investigating their scam!
We have also had bad EXPERIENCES with these people, for TWO YEARS now! If there is a CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT, count us in! This company IS a scam. If we are able to rent anything from them once a year we are doing good! We WILL NOT be renewing our membership and throwing good money after bad. We find cheaper prices on the internet! EVERY TIME we call or click on a website AVAILABLE vacation we get the same runaround, and are told 'THIS IS NOT CURRENT INVENTORY', if and when they ever get around to calling us back! Of course, if it was EVER AVAILABLE in the first place, by the time they get around to calling you, it is 'already rented'! Oh, but they have something at a HIGHER PRICE for a 2-star resort all the time! Doesn't matter WHICH 'tab' you are on, we have tried them all, so don't let them feed you that line either. Please contact us for ANY class action lawsuit! People should not be able to get away with taking advantage of people like this, especially seniors!
I also had a very bad experience with this people, I am so disappointed with their service and what they promised, that I want to make a formal complaint with the consumer bureau. Anyone else wants to join me?
THANK YOU for this review. I was called by a representative a couple of weeks ago who continually insisted that she wasn't "trying to sell" me anything, which, in fact, is precisely what she was trying to do. We discussed what I could get IF I decided to purchase this membership, I never once agreed. Not at any one time in that conversation did I say, "okay, sure, I'll buy this." She told me information, I asked her questions, it was a discussion. A discussion about a HYPOTHETICAL SITUATION in which I MIGHT decide, potentially, to pay for this membership. Then she said, "oh just to let you know, you're going to hear a beep and this call will be recorded." I've worked in call centers before, so I know that drill, and said okay, that was fine. Then she asked me to state my name, which I did. She confirmed my mailing address. Then she said, "and you're agreeing to the 2-year membership at $349, could you state that that is correct?" I ground the conversation to a halt and said no, I was not able to agree to it yet and needed to discuss it with my other half first. I said that I had never agreed to this. Her entire attitude/demeanor changed and she monotonously told me that she didn't think I realized what I could get out of this. I still resisted agreeing to purchase the membership, and she put her supervisor on the phone who said the exact same script that she did, almost word for word.
I did NOT end up paying for it. I said I would talk it over with my other half and then get back to them if we decided to go for it. I read up on it online and determined that basically, you get nothing out of this and everything they tell you is either strategically phrased to mislead you, or flat-out false. So I'm not going to be buying it. But it made me so angry that the woman tried to railroad me into agreeing on record to buy something that I had NOT ONE TIME even come remotely close to agreeing to during that entire call.