My Free Travel/Grocery Rebate review: fraudulant claims 63

Two college students rang my doorbell one day selling this great rebate program where if I wrote them a $25 check right then, they would give me coupons I could mail in with $100 grocery receipts and receive a $25 VISA gift card back in the mail. The booklet they gave me said to send in $9.95 with your registration form but when I went on the website to register, it clearly said do not send money with your registration form. So, I try calling the number listed in the booklet and got a "this number is no longer in service" message. Sketchy? Let's just say that I cut my losses and wrote off the $25 as a donation to a couple of college students personal lives. It was the same booklet someone has posted earlier about this rebate program.

I received an advertisement from Grant's appliances that if I purchase an appliance worth $399 or more on a specific day I would receive a certificate for $500 in either gas or grocery rebates (Visa card would be sent at a rate of $25 per month for 20 months) for every $100 I spent. I chose the grocery option and Target was the store I would be spending my $100 per month in edible grocery items only. In July I submitted my registration materials as well as the required $9.95 fee. The fee was to be rebated back to me with my first month's Visa card. I have yet to receive anything. I have made repeated phone calls to Grant's. I have made repeated phone call to and emails to groceryrebate.net. Despite assurances that my receipts were received and approve, I still have not gotten any Visa card or even refund of my $9.95 fee. I feel Grant's owes me this money now. I don't want to hear anymore excuses, I just want the promised rebates. I purchased the appliance from Grants because of this offer. Money is tight and it's the holidays. I need the $100 in rebates (August, September, October and November) plus my $9.95 back.

[protected] - That's the newest phone number for this child molester and scam artist.

UPDATE: Newest phone number for Steve Horwitz is [protected]. EXT 301 IS HIS DIRECT EXTENSION. He now runs Vacation Consultants International and is registerd in IL as a sexual offender with a minor.

I have to be honest and say that the businesses passing these stupid things out should be ashamed as well. Maybe not responsible for refunding people or whatever, but they used these stupid certificates to get business and once they passed them out, they did not have nay responsibility for it. In my case the guy called it a prize at a baby show. They are all cheap people who just wanted to pretend to be great without having to give out money of their own!

havsmfn2 - IF CLI is to blame, then why does the guy who owned it provide proof that he sent hundreds of thousands of dollars to My Free Travel (www.myfreetraveldocuments.com)? It looks like they did their part and My Free Travel disappeared. You can still contact CLI and they are open to talk about stuff but Steve Horwitz (The child predator) is hiding and won't talk about it. Let's see, do I trust a child predator registered in the state of IL or a guy I can pick up the phone and call who has no record? I'll go with the latter.

Funny thing is that when I google "havsmfn2" it shows a personal ad for someone in the the Chicago area of IL. Hmmmm...maybe you know the child molester and you are trying to defend him...or you ARE him.

stevebostic, my free travel was the little man. If you look at CLI's history this is the second co that CLI has done this to and it will not be the last. The big man with CLI is now working on his 3rd co in WA Odensa. They are still using rebates and they are also using the Life Time Travel book that My Free Travel came up with.
We are all pointing fingers at this little co and not looking at the big picture... CLI and the man that owns that.
As for people that bought a big ticket item do to this stupid rebate... Why... why would you do that to only get $25.00 a month for 12 months or so.. Why do you think that the appliance store or any one else owes you money.. It's your own fault that you spent $475.00 for a rebate..

To Andyshink: That is because the Big Man at CLI is using the same rebates.. Why don't all of you Ignorante People realize that.. This man at CLI is the con artist he is USING little co to make money.. He is the one that is making all of the money here... We All need jto pull together and get the AG's of all the states to go after him...

If you want to contact Steve Horwitz, who was the owner of My Free Travel (even though he will tell you he only worked there), you can call him direct at [protected].

Tyler, the company Customer Loyalty International was working with My Free Travel. MFT was the fulfillment center and their responsibility was to fulfill the cards. They received the money to fulfill the cards and then they shut down. You can see more proof at www.myfreetraveldocuments.com. The scam artist here was Steve Horwitz with My Free Travel and now Vacation Consultants International.

PLEASE, everyone that was scammed by this company - fill out the Fraud Complaint form through the Illinois Attorney General. Send in all of your documentation. The more compaints they get, the more seriously they will take this. I did receive my $10 back and the first $25 card, but that's it. As far as I'm concerned, MyFreeTravel, or their parent company, or Grant's Appliance owes me $475. Grants sent me a waiver to sign in lieu of a 20% discount on a future purchase! What a joke! It doesn't take long to fill out the form, but hopefully we can get something back out of this. They are STILL advertising these programs on MyFreeTravel and this constitutes FRAUD.

@FitnessTownHater... Looks like your posting got deleted. Send me an offline msg if you see this post. Thanks.

Wow - you all must check out the information Tyler listed, because my certificate looks just like it! How in the world is it possible that this company cannot be affiliated and not share some sort of responsibility with My Free Travel?! Calling the AG and filling out their forms does seem to sound like it's going to be a complete waste of time...anyone have any other contacts for the class action?

One of our local High Schools, Pioneer High, was duped into selling these as a band fund raiser. They collected our money ($50 & $100 increments) and sent 50% of it to the scammers.

I initially went to the website in early December, followed all of the rules step by step and waited until January (the first month we were eligible) to file my first claim. I had heard a rumor that the project was a possible scam, so I sent mine registered mail.

Of course my envelope of gas reciepts came back as "no forwarding address." I will be filing a police report tomorrow in Woodland, CA.

For those who are not aware, Customer Loyalty International was the company that sold the rebate cards that My Free Travel redemed. If you go to CLI`s web, click the products tab and then scroll to the bottom of the page you will see cards almost idenical to the ones you have. They have moved from Joliet Ill. to Seatlle Wa. I have a series of emails from the man in charge of CLI. They start out pleasent then go bad. He basically admits they were selling cards even though they knew MFT was going under. I am working with the Iowa AG. Would be glad to share

I work for a small company that purchased a large number of these certificates to bring in business (as all know it is getting very difficult to compete with big box stores and stay in business especially with government getting involved into every aspect especially collecting taxes from any business larger than 3 people). At the time of purchase we looked into their BBB rating which was excellent, very few complaints compared to volume for 22 years of business. They also state on the front left corner of the certificates that they are insured. Who wouldn't think that this seems stable and a good deal for all around. Well after our customers paid their "refundable" processing fee to My Free Travel and submitted all of their receipts. (You wouldn't believe all their terms and conditions) the problems began. Wouldn't return calls. Wouldn't answer emails or registered mail. Million and one excuses. Even was able to talk to the marketing company, which is actually the cause of their going out of business (Selling these things left and right without working with My Free Travel to make sure they could keep up with onslaught.) A nightmare come true. Customers blame us, lawyers call us even though it was disclosed up front several times they were a third party responsible for all aspects of payout and administration of rebate. And what do you know, even the signed copy of their insurance contract is fraudulent. The Attorney Generals (government again) won't do a thing. It is entirely possible it will also cause our demise, though we are in no way responsible. People just want to blame us though not involved with those companies at all. There is a possible Class Action Lawsuit against My Free Travel, Customer Loyalty International (the Marketing firm who is doing excellent - why not collected billions of dollars and didn't have to provide anything but worthless certificates, ) Kidz Idz and Michael Pouls is in the works Capital Six, Rebate Recovery Program is the name of the company setting up a class action suit. If anyone has information on how to contact this company please post.

I received My Free Travel packets for both groceries and gas at Altmans Billiards and Barstools in Bloomington, Il as an in store promotion for buying furniture. Registered and sent off my $9.95 for each segment and have not received a dime back. Registered in September and sent receipts off in October. Was not until January that I received my envolope with receipts as " Return to sender ". Checked the website at My Free Travel and of course they do not have the funds to send $25 rebate cards. Sent all of my information to Illinois Attorney Generals office in mid January. Consulted with an attorney in Bloomington, Il who is recommending several courses of action including going after Altman's Billiards and Barstools, seeking enough people for a Class Action Lawsuit at My Free Travel, and going after the advertisers listed on the My Free Travel Flyer. Please throw my name in if there is enough for Class Action. My attorney discovered that a Daniel Bullock is the owner of My Free Travel since [protected] based on Incorporation. Interestingly, prior to 9-28-06, a Daniel Bullock, get this that his first name was spelled with an e instead of an a dissolved the same corporation he formed in 3/10/2003. The company from 2003 to 2006 was called My Free Travel, INC while the company from [protected] is called Incentive Travel Services, Inc with the assumed name of My Free Travel.

Just to let everyone know, BBB is no longer taking complaints against My Free Travel, since now they have declared bankruptcy. So don't bother. I work for a company that gave out these certificates, so I see the other side as well. We are out a lot of money purchasing them. The first company went out of business and the second company that "took over" made us pay for the second batch of certificates, too!
Now we have angry customers that feel we owe them $500. If we did that, WE would be out of business in a week. We thought we researched them (been in business for over 25 years, A+ BBB rating, etc.) but don't all Ponzi schemes make sense until they are caught? Thanks for letting me vent, I'm going to try the AIG and/or National Union Insurance you guys mentioned. Thanks.

Just wanted to agree with all above comments, got the 500 in grocery rebates first time around, then this company took over, supposedly didn't send correct id.. which I did. So they kept my 9.95. Never received anything since sending receipts in October and got my December receipts back in the mail saying "moved left no address". Luckily, my veterinary who gave me the offer has refunded me $15.00 for my troubles, but no more grocery rebates. Should've known it was too good to be true after the first attempt. Good Luck!

I'll never entertain any students that come to my door asking for Donations via Magazine subscriptions so they can win a competition and receive cash, or a trip abroad.

These all seem to be a bit weird and they can be pretty pushy.
They never have anything official, other than a well used piece of paper with names and donation amounts on, something I could easily produce with 5 minutes, a few different pens and a rough, old, piece of paper.

I'm sure f they were 100% genuine there would be a school contact number (That could be verified via the Internet or yellow pages)

I also have been waiting for rebates . Bill Kolb Subaru in New York offered a $500.00 gas gift card last March whaen I leased from them. The first company went bust, then they gave me a $600.00 grocery rebate from My Free Travel. Same thing happened to me in August as it did to an earlier writer; I didn't give the required info, fee etc which was all bogus . I called and told them to get it right or I would report them to the Attorney General. I received one Visa $25.oo card in which I activated and then when I went to use it it wouldn't work. I complained again and it was activated. That was in Dec., now I tried to call them and their number is disconnected. I called Subaru and was told to call someone else. So since Subaru's ad and my lease last March I have not received my $500.00 "bait". This is going to the Attorney General as well as corporate Subaru.

To all of you that have been taken in by this scam - keep pushing it with everyone you can think of. I have done the IL AG complaint. I was ready to send in my local state AG paper work when I decided to give the store a heads up first. They must have been pressured by many as they have decided to run their own redemption. Just got my coupons in the mail today. Guess they want to keep their reputation. I also sent a letter to the Arizona AG office. You can get the info from their website. The 'parent' company is Loyalty Products International in Mesa, AZ. Look at their website and you will see the array of brochures they promote. I did call them and actually talked to a 'salesman', which I think was more than that, but he did get extremely defensive, said it was all the fault of My Free Travel etc. Since my complaint is with My Free Travel and the local store first, I sent a letter rather than making a formal complaint with Arizona. If enough people send letters, maybe they will investigate this company also. Let's all keep up the pressure and maybe we can get rid of these companies! What does it take to keep these same people from opening up another business under a different name in a different state? I know this country has more pressing problems than this but I still think it is all worth pursuing.

I am also waiting for my rebates, and this is the second time I've been involved trying to get my "free" rebates. I'm in California and made two purchases at Linders in October 2008. I was given the forms to fill out for free gas and free groceries, and of course, the company went belly-up. Then Linder's "fixed" it and set me up for more rebates through this company, and I'm out $9.95 plus all the "free" groceries and gas rebates. Yesterday, I received my December receipts returned to me by the post office with a "return to sender" notation. Good grief. I will also be filing complaints with the BBB.

The fact that the customer service rep has made several posts on this site offering to make things right says great things about the company in my opinion. Sounds like the customers just like to complain and are too stupid to take the necessary steps in getting their product redeemed.

I, too, have been burned by this company. I purchased a washer/dryer from Grant's Appliances in Chicago who encouraged me to register for this program. I will try to get my $9.95 from Grant's although I'm not too optimistic as Grant's has totally blown me off regarding a $200 rebate I should have received for my washer/dryer. Hard to know who to trust any longer. I did file a complaint with BBB. I guess we all should be thankful that we're out only $9.95.

I live in Canada and was taken for a ride with this company as well. The other thing was that the person who gave me the certificate advertised it just as $500 in groceries, so when I won I was expecting a gift card for the grocery store, not this garbage certificate. I knew right off the bat that there was something fishy about it, but stupidly I paid the registration fee anyways. I notcied right on the certificate that they say to check them out at the BBB because they have an "A" rating, I looked it up and the rating had been removed while they were being investigated. Then I recently looked it up again and they had an "F" rating and their BBB accreditation was removed. I don't know who to be more peed off at, the guy who gave me the thing and told me it was all legit(get this he is a financial planner!), or that stupid company.

I am a high school senior that is on regional board for my youth group. My position is Regional Treasurer. This promotional fundraiser was brought to me attention, and I thought it would be something great to bring back to the group.

After selling 40 $50 booklets and raising over 700 dollars for my nonprofit organization I am told that My Free Travel is no longer honoring their rebates.

There is an international conference for my youth group, and individuals spent months raising money so that they could go to the $1, 000+ conference. Now many of these hard working high schoolers will not be able to afford the conference that they have been waiting all of their high school career to go on.

This is an awful situation

Here is more info from his Facebook page...and a little post i made to his Wall...

Scammed here also!...James72, thanks for providing the names Melissa Novotny and Eugene Vinnykov. I searched them, and found Facebook pages. I added them as friends. Melissa first added me and then Eugene. When she saw that Eugene added me as a friend, she must have removed me as a friend. But i still have access to his page. At one point his status said he was "in a relationship with Melissa Novotny" (see attached image). So i'm pretty sure i had the right person (as opposed to a differenty Eugene Vinnykov in the Chicago area) I was sure to get his email address from the page, which is eugenevinnykov@gmail.com before he decides to remove me as a "friend". So feel free to flood him with emails.

I also have a photo of him so I know what the [censored]bag looks like, and now you can too. Photo attached...

Hello all - I now join this long list of folks scammed, although this all started for me from Valley Pools in North Versailles, PA. I would like to offer my time and help to anyone interested in that link with the Pittsburgh-based(?) Union Fire Insurance Company, as I'm only minutes out of the city. Besides filing with the BBB and the Illinois AG, is there anything else I'm missing? Has anyone had luck with their credit card companies (if one was used)?

I, too, have been scammed by My Free Travel.
I'm now going after my furniture retailer to have them reimburse some of that rebate money back to me, but have been unsuccessful thus far.
Has anyone been successful in getting their retailer to be somewhat accountable for this scam?
Also, has anyone gotten any results from BBB?

I have the same situation. I participated with a Fund Raiser for a peer's child's sports program. I had to call to receive my first rebate, but have not received anything afterwards. I called today and there is a message now stating that My Free Travel has closed their Rebate business due to an increased participation and they have run out of funds.

I have, in good faith, submitted all receipts and coupons as directed in the terms and conditions.

Is there any legal action that can be taken due to a breach of contract?

I wonder if they are actually closing or are just not fulfilling their end of the agreement. I still see advertisements for the Grocery Rebate program.

My story is the same as ALJohnson's, so I won't repeat it except to say that ALJohnson could have written my story too.
I intend to file a complaint with the BBB and do whatever is needed to get some satisfaction.
If there are any retailers reading this post, be forewarned, DO NOT TRY TO RUN THIS KIND OF PROMOTION! Sounds like there are plenty of people who have been burned and will not respond to any promotions of this kind.
I am curious as to what the retailers pay to get into this program, and assume that they don't get their monies worth either.

Artic Cat

If you have a complaint, I called that insurance company! (Thanks yellowsun). They are owned by AIG (you know, the one we all own now). Send all info you have (copy of voucher, check, contact info, etc.) to

Attn: Dudley @ AIG
FAX: [protected]

They currently have a legal team working on this.

MY GIRLFRIEND WORKED FOR MY FREE TRAVEL AS AN ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT. SHE CAME HOME EVERYDAY TALKING ABOUT THE PROBLEMS THAT THE COMPANY WAS HAVING. THE MANAGEMENT OF THIS COMPANY HAS BEEN ENVOLED IN FRAUDULENT SCHEMES FOR YEARS. THEY KEEP CHANGING THE NAME OF THE COMPANY TO STAY IN BUSINESS. WHEN THE COMPANY CLOSED ITS DOORS THEY DIDN'T EVEN RECIEVE THEIR LAST PAY CHECKS. THEY WERE TALKING ABOUT RELOCATING TO FLORIDA. BUYERS BEWARE. THEY WILL RUN THIS SCAM AGAIN. THE PRESIDENT OF THE COMPANYS NAME IS EUGENE VINNYKOV. THE OPERATIONS MANAGER IS MELISSA NOVOTNY. THEY ARE SPENDING YOUR MONEY ON VERY EXPENSIVE ITEMS. THERE WILL BE NO MONEY LEFT WHEN YOU GET A CHANCE TO SUE THEM.

This MY FREE TRAVEL is totally a fraud/scam. I have been waiting as long as five months now for their gift cards. But nothing came. I called a couple of times but it took half an hour to get through. Now their website is gone. They stole my $9.95 plus my $600 worth gift cards. I am from Surrey, British Columbia, Canada

It says on their certificate that they are protected and insured by by National Union Fire Insurance Comany of Pittsburgh, PA. Still trying to track that down. Phone for Nicole is worthless. I will join class action suit if it happens. The attorneys in a class action suit are usually paid by defendant, all though I don't know if it is all ways the case. I am also notifing BBB not that will help.

I never thought of notifing the TV stations. Thanks

I have forwarded a mountain of paperwork to the Illinois Attorney General, Fraud Department. I figured with the holidays I may not hear from them until next week. I encourage everyone to do the same in their resident state. Television stations work great too...big consumer advocates.

The only people that will gain from a class action lawsuit (if it's even possible) are the attorneys. don't waste your time or money.

I am having trouble with this rebate company also, but my rebate is through Curves. Currently the "rebate" site is "under construction" and there really is no way to contact them. There is a phone number, but I can't get anywhere with them either. I have even sent "snail mail" but no one responds. I got a friend to join Curves because of the rebate offer also. It sounds like this company (Free Travel) owes some folks some money. They were very quick to cash my $9.95 processing fee, but are very slow in updating info and have us waiting months for the Visa cards.

Wanted to share what I found on the BBB's own website:

Out of Business
My Free Travel has informed the BBB that as of December 17, 2009 it has laid off its entire staff and has ceased operations.

Consumers with complaints against this company should contact the IL Attorney General's office by calling the Chicago Consumer Fraud hotline at [protected].

Just as I suspected. I called them last week to check on the status of the website that was "under construction" and the message said they were "closed for the holidays". Now I ask you what "legitimate" company closes it's doors on December 16th for Christmas? I knew then they were gone for good. This company took God knows how many $9.95 registration fees from hundreds of us and they are gone. I tell you this though, I personally have learned a very valuable lesson. And for those that will sit out there reading our comments and say that we were either "greedy" or "stupid", I say you are wrong. I pride myself in believing that anything that sounds too good to be true, usually is. However, many of us were shopping for furniture, etc. and would have purchased it anyway, but the opportunity to recieve $300 in free grocery and/or gas rebates basically helped seal the deal so to speak. Afterall, these companies I'm sure had to pay My Free Travel some kind of fee in order to offer this to their customers, so they were burned as well. I will only allow myself to be burned like this once though because I will run like the wind if an offer of this nature comes my way again. I'm sure most of you feel the same way.

I just found this article from myfreetravel when they first took over the other defunked company that was a ripoff before them

http://www.openpr.com/news/4624/Travel-Company-Steps-in-to-Help-Travelers-Caught-Holding-Travel-Vouchers-and-Certificates-from-Defunct-Company.html

I also partispated in a free travel program as well as many others that purchased certificates from a small home town appliace store. They keep saying they are sending them out blah blah and it has been months and no one has received anything! now the site is under construction and they are closed for the holidays! bunch of bs!