Vacation Services Of America reviews and complaints
SCAM
We were given a lie of a presentation by Vacation Services of America in Branson. Condos were suppose to be cheap...Houses available for rental for cheap...choice hotels...you pay (in our case $1000.00) for a lifetime membership which is a 149.00 renewal yearly...What they fail to tell you is that you have to go through THEIR agents..which is $25 each time...The time shares they have are junk...bad ratings...and you can buy just as cheap at Expedia or other trip adviser sites...DON'T get fooled by these slick con artist...they are liars...and thieves...and I am sorry we fell for their scam...If any of you know how to go about a class action lawsuit let me know...
Company Business Name: Vacation Services of America
Country of complaint: United States
Address: Branson, Missouri
misrepresentation
I have been in hospital for total hip replacement and I called last week to reschedule and when I called the lady told me that I was not scheduled for Nov 11, 2011 and my offer was good till Dec 2012. Then today i received an email that said if we didn't show for the sales meeting that we would be charged another $75 . also i was promised a cash credit for gas and a coupon book and a meal ticket.Also we were charged &199 for 2 nights at a high end property and the email I received today says they are changing my hotel,
Company Business Name: Vacation services of America
Country of complaint: United States
Address: 3265 Falls Parkway, Branson, Missouri
Phone: 8707475959
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Fraud
I am reporting on an horrendous experience I had in Branson during the week of September 20. I attended a presentation from Vacation Services and got scammed. They had a very high powered presentation and then asked my wife and I to sign up for their promotioon to join a Travel Club. During the entire presentation, they presented themselves as Vacation Travel Club. They used words like "we" and "our" when discussing the Travel Club. I was initially suspicious so I as to see their credentials and they shoued me a Better Business Club Rating of A+. I saw the rating and then signed a contract with them. I soon found out that Vacation Travel Club has a rating of A+ but that Vacation Sevices of America is not endorsed by the Better Business Bureau and in fact has a C- rating.
Vacation Services showed me a bogus BBB report and this is fraud. I am totally upset and want to take legal action against them. If more people read this and we could get together and file a class action suit against them. If you are interested. email me at [protected]@comcast.com. I want these crooks to have to pay!
John Ceschini
Company Business Name: Vacation Services of America
Country of complaint: United States
Address: Branson, Missouri
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
My wife and I accepted their offer of only $30 for $130 worth of show tickets in Branson. Quite a deal and we thank Vacation Services of America and VPG for that. The fellow at the ticket office who encouraged us to take the offer said the presentation would be informative, friendly and no high pressure. Baloney. Later we found out these folks were referred to as "body snatchers". If we had it to do over however we would have paid for the tickets ourselves. The close at the end of the presentation was very high pessure and their closers are well trained. Their initial claim was we could get everything from cruises to condo rentals to air flights at "cost" and avoid the 30 to 150% middle man mark-up. They started with the program being worth $10, 500 but we could get just the features we wanted for $5, 600 plus $199/year. After saying no 3 times to two different closers the initial charge dropped to $1, 000. I still said no because because I had no idea if their claims were true or not and I didn't think travel agents and internet sites commended 30 to 150% mark-up. I also hate offers that they pull if you walk out the door. The agressive close made the whole experience very unpleasant and I would think some couples agreed to pay just to get the heck out of there.
There is no bigger scam than the BBB. If you want an A+ rating all you have to do is buy one. I am a member with V.S.A and I dont know why anyone would travel without them. Get off your couch and take your wife out and do something. You only live once.
You should do your homework before you comment on something. Check out this link, it will explain the BBB. http://cincinnati.com/blogs/tv/2010/11/12/cincinnati-bbb-on-2020-tonight/
OK AGAIN NOW ...REALLY ...
You are pitching a fit about what ...VTC having a A+ ON BBB?
Cancelation and 24 hr. guarantee for travel quote
I was taken advantage of by this company. I was in Branson, MO with a woman who later proved to be a crook to me. She set up the meeting to go hear the speech. I said "yes" to the guy, but felt odd when every clapped. She did not go in the room with me to sign. It was Thanksgiving 2008 I called them within the 3 days to cancel. Tomas, the guy who sold me the plan, got on the phone and said he would send me unlimited condo use. He derailed me. I tried to book a trip and the internet sight did not give me a quote within the 24 hour time frame which was their guarantee. When that happened, I called Tomas again and told him the problem and that I wanteId out. I have written the BBB of MO. He wrote that they would pay my yearly fee for 2010. I disputed it with my credit card and have not paid the card. It has affected my credit report.
I have not used the service at all. I want my money refunded, @$3, 500.00.
Company Business Name: Vacation Services of America
Country of complaint: United States
Address: 3265 Falls Parkway, Suite G,M & N, Branson 65616, Missouri
Phone: 877-522-8457 or 417-348-1177
i have been scamed by these people its time to get together and sue them call me @[protected]
SO BECAUSE HE GAVE YOU A EXTRA YEAR PAID CAUSE OF THE PRICE NOT BEING CALLED TO YOU WITHIN 24 HOURS OR THE FACT THAT YOUR COMPLAIN ABOUT A PROGRAM YOU HAVE NEVER USED ?
Rude employees
My wife and I were solicited by phone to attend a vacation presentation at Branson. We were to receive discounted theatre tickets in exchange. At the time we made the reservations, which involved THREE phone calls, both my wife and I stated that we have 2 children, ages 3 and 11, that would be with us. We were told this would be fine. When the confirmation email and policy emails arrived, the only thing in them about children was that 'children age 2 and under were not allowed'. When we arrived for the presentation, we were told in an extremely rude manner by the manager, Dennis, that children were NOT allowed. He picked up a piece of paper, started stabbing at it with his finger and shoved it into my wife's face. I was about to make a rather unpleasant scene when my wife hustled me out of the lobby. They had charged my credit card $73 for the tickets. The tickets were canceled by the company and we were told we would be charged the remainder of the $412 for the tickets. I called Chase immediately and disputed the charge and told them to deny any further charges.
These people are crooks! Thieves, liars, crooks, conmen.
Company Business Name: W. Oren Truitt
Country of complaint: United States
Address: Oklahoma
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
We went to a presentation also this weekend. Everything was great at first-friendly, offered coffee, whatever we needed. After the promotion they gave us the price of $11, 995 for the club with $389 closing and $199 yearly rates. After several times of lowering the price, the final price was $1000 with no fees, just the yearly dues. By this time we had said no several times and my husband was ready to go. When standing up and putting chair under table, he hit the table. The salesperson (nephew of owner he said) called security and said my husband was throwing chairs and wanted us escorted out of building. When we were separated by the security guard, the salesperson called my husband a "dick". When he turned to ask him about it, we were told to keep going and had the door shut behind us. We did get our tickets for the show, didn't really think we would. They were there when we went to pick them up.
Would never set in another presentation of any kind again.
After looking online later, I find that there have been many unhappy people with this company. Some just for the rude employees and alot for not getting what they thought they were purchasing.
I hope anyone going to Branson in the future will avoid this company. The tickets aren't that expensive for the hassle you will get from the company.
unfair/unethical business practices
My elderly parents were recently lured into Vacation Services of America to listen to a presentation of their travel club in exchange for a free stay in a condo. My dad repeatedly told 3 salespeople that they were not interested in their membership for themselves since my mom has Alzheimers and my dad has health issues making it difficult for them to travel. They were high pressured into buying a lifetime membership for themselves and 8 family members for $5389 after being repeatedly told, "do it for your kids". They told my parents that the Better Business Bureau gives them excellent ratings. I later found out that the BBB gives them a grade of C- due to the high number of complaints against them and that they actually are not accredited with the BBB. This membership was not sold to my parents with their best interests in mind. My parents, as well as many other elderly people, are not familiar with all the travel discounts to be found online. Their claim that they will match anyone else's price--how is that saving anyone money if you can buy it cheaper elsewhere? My dad called @3pm on the 3rd business day after signing the contract to verify the procedure for cancelling and left a message since noone answered the phone (they close mid-afternoon). They returned the call the next day and told my dad that they can not make exceptions and refused to cancel the membership. After my sister called and spoke with owner Thom Wood, he agreed to give a partial refund of $2000 with the stipulation that all family members agreed and would take no further action. We think that his offer is admission of unfair and unethical business practices and we are sending him a letter requesting a full refund with medical documentation of my parents illnesses. It makes me angry to hear how others are taken advantage of for a scam of a business. We will take further action if there is no cooperation from Thom Wood.
Company Business Name: Vacation Services of America
Country of complaint: United States
Address: Branson, Missouri
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
My husband & I were in Branson last November. Thinking we were fairly intelligent people, we attended the sales pitch for discount tickets to Silver Dollar City. Our 30 minute sales talk turned into at least 3 hours. The guy doing the presentation was very good at his job. We are 72 years old, and do not have the money to spend on something like this. They made us feel like we could go some places we had only dreamed about for a fraction of the cost. I think they must have put a spell on us, because our brains just kind of quit working. We were thinking "wow, we would finally be able to do some of the things on our bucket list", forgetting the fact that we had to pay back over $4000, plus the annual fees! We are so stupid. We have kicked ourselves a thousand times since then, and would love to know if there is anything we can do. If anyone does file a class action suit, count us in.
I was recently and employee of vsa sister company I.T.S. and wow that was an experience i will never forget. My first comment is a company is only has strong as it's leaders, and the person that put the GM Dwayne Smalls in charge does not know anything about running a successful business. He lacks the education, knowledge of running the company. He uses profanity and treats too be-little the staff. He shows favoritism and abuses hes power by having what i have witnessed has unethical sexual relationship with staff. I witnessed before i quit him hire a girl with no knowledge 3 days later he is taking her too lunch and bringing her home and the next week she been promoted to his PERSONAL (###-sistant). The company will never go any where when your employees are constantly threatened and demoralised. MS
Is there any way to get out of a contract after the 3 day time limit. The charge is still on my
credit card and has not been paid by me yet. What are my options. I would like to hear some
suggestions.
The sales presentation all sounds really good, the 90 min. required turns into 'no way can you leave until you say yes, and sign papers! (Kids were waiting to go to Silver Dollar City and it turned into a 2.5 hr. entrapment.) I should have recognized the red flags, but I guess I got caught up in wanting it to be true. Of course being able to save enough to actually be able to go on some nice vacations was tempting. So, I didnt' have the money to pay but a $400 deposit, with the understanding that I could pay the balance after we got home from the trip. After we got home, I checked the reviews before I called to pay the balance. Of course seeing the multiple pages of "Stay away" "SCAM" "Fraud". I didn't send the remainder. I called, but was told that I needed to talk to a supervisor, that was conveniently 'Out' I left the message that I would not be completing the transaction. I wanted the membership canceled. (I would have liked the $400 returned, but it was pretty apparent that not being there to be a thorn in their side--that wasn't going to happen--so it was an expensive lesson, but could have been much worse.) I did also send a letter, because you should do these things in writing!
It has been over a year ago that we were in Branson, today I receive a letter stating that our membership is 'seriously delinquent' This company certainly has gull. They should just be happy that we didn't get a class action law suit together, that is what my husband is now wanting to do!
Thank God for the Internet!. My girl friend and me were in Branson for a vacation. Its a wonderful place lots to do and great people but VSA is a blemish for sure. We took the discounted tickets and agreed to the presentation. It starts off with some interesting information on how timeshares make money and I found that educational. The offers on the wall they showed of discounted trips looked good as well. They spoke of how they do all this at cost and cut out the middle man for you. Sounding great. Then comes the 10 grand price... that was enough to have me run out the door but they keep talking. After the first sales person leaves your table, a person who you thought was just another "sucker" comes over and sits down saying they just want to visit with you. They keep you from talking among yourselves till the next sales person comes over. That person offers you a better price at 5500... then if that does not work they give you the "bottom line" price of 4400. We still said no. The last person was the "manager" he listed to us and then said that he could offer us the employee price of 1995.00 That seemed reasonable based on all the savings we could get if we traveled just once a year. I decided to say yes. Looked over all the paper work and was a little apprehensive but thought I would give it a try. They did say the membership could not be used for 7 days and they did say the cancel period was three days. I signed the documents put the charge on visa and we left. After getting back to my condo I thought I should check it out. I found complaints all over the net from the BBB postings to this board to other boards. I said NO this is not for us. We wrote up the cancel letter and took it to the office the next morning.
The folks who were all so nice and smiling were now in a new mode. I was introduced to a man named TJ Nobles who demanded to know why I was canceling. My letter stated that I did not need or would offer any reason. He asked me four times why I wanted to cancel. I kept saying I did not want to say. He called me rude. He called me a "smart guy.” I kept smiling. He wanted all the contracts that I had been given copies of. Now anybody knows that you can keep a copy of anything you signed but this jerk demanded my copies or he said he would not give me my money back. Since I had already photocopied the critical documents I gave them to him. He refused to give me a document saying that they agreed to cancel. What he did do was write on my cancel letter than they agreed to refund money in seven to ten days, but to show how uneducated these con people are, he spelled “received” as “RESIVED" He tried to bait me into a argument and I admit I almost took the bait and told him that this was going to get nasty and I might have to whip his hillbilly butt. Well he got red but me being 310 pounds probably kept him from doing something stupid. I left with my letter and called my credit card company. They assured me they would follow thru and make sure the charge was not processed and asked that I give them a copy of the cancel letter. Had it not been for research I too would have been taken. These folks are a mess. Smiles and promises but its all a fraud. As many people reported the deals they speak of are not there but you cant know that till after the three day period..
By taken the travel out of the package is how it got lowered,
4 weeks in timeshare would cost you thousands ...why judge something you haven't even used ...and do it for your kids give me a break if they have alz why are they on a sales presentation?
We also went to the presentation in Branson. I have been in the travel industry for almost 20 years so I felt familiar with some of the companies they spoke of.
The presentation was pretty good and they were up front that the cost was 10, 384.00. This did not include the $149.00 yearly fee. Some of the vacation deals were great. We listened through the whole presentation, had sat through one interview prior, and then had two more sales people make their pitch. The rate started at 9999.00 plus paperwork fee that pushed the total to 10, 384.00. We told the 3rd guy it was out of our budget and wrong time of life. He immediatley asked if we golfed/no then asked if we owned RV/no. He deducted $4000.00 from the package, now we are down to 6384.00. Still not feasible. On comes the next sales lady, she was doing our exit interview. Of course, more questions. Through these questions, knocking off 6 weeks of prereseve weeks at the condos they represent, this left us with 4 weeks a year. Also, it only allowed us to add 8 family members but she told us to we could change family members anytime we wanted. Now the price was down to 1500.00 for the membership. We still said NO! Makes you wonder who really gets the money. In less than an hour the price went from over 10, 000 to 1500.00
Severe Misrepresentation of Travel Savings
On March 19th, my wife and I attended a sales presentation at Branson, Mo. sponsored by Vacation Services of America. One of their top salesmen, Tony, spent about an hour enticing us with incredible travel deals that only their club (Vacation Travel Club) could provide. Amazing deals on cruises, condos and vacation packages were written on the boards surrounding our meeting room. We do a lot of online research finding the best travel deals, so we know good deals when we see them.
We were told that travel agents and the online travel sites like priceline, travelocity, and orbitz were not able to beat the prices available through the Vacation Travel Club. This is because VTC is only one of three companies that has figured out how to buy travel that has been marked up only 5-15% and pass it on to club members at this same price - bypassing wholesale and retail markup that can be anywhere from 50-200%. Some other deals they promised were:
• Get a $120 hotel for $75
• Get a $90 hotel for $50
• Get a $60 hotel for $35
• 2 excursions and ocean view rooms are included with all discounted cruise deals
• You can call and reach someone 24/7 to plan your trip
All of the above promises turned out to be false.
The presentation was very convincing and they even showed my wife a printout of their Better Business Bureau "good" (A or B) rating after she and I were skeptical about their credibility.
At the end of the meeting, the salesman wrote on the board that we could join the club today for $10, 000. Then several salesmen and women came around to each couple in the room and negotiated with them to join the club. Our salesman, Harry Launder, continued to convince us that the incredible deals were real, pulled right off the VTC website and that we should easily be able to save on every trip, since we use the online travel companies like priceline and travelocity to find deals.
We felt like they were telling us the truth, but the price way too much for us. We were still skeptical about joining, so after telling them we were not buying today - the salesman offered his final deal of $3000, but said we had to buy today or we can't join for another 4 years because of some technicality that I don't remember.
We decided to leave the building and take a walk to think and pray about the decision. If the savings were really as good as they said, we felt like $3000 for a lifetime of exceptional travel savings that can't be found anywhere else was well worth it.
So, we joined the club for $3000 on Thursday afternoon around 1pm. By Monday, I had called in and received my VTC member number over the phone and started comparing deals. On my first call to VTC, I asked to reserve a Radisson hotel room in Fort Worth, TX. They transferred me to a travel agent that does not work for the club and quoted me the same price that I could get from Radisson's website. When I asked the agent why she couldn't beat that price, she said that I had to use one of VTC's "choice hotels." We were not told this in the presentation. So I compared their choice hotel prices, and also found no savings - in fact hotels.com could beat their prices at choice hotels. (Quality Inn, Fairfield Inn and others). These were not the savings we were promised.
I found the club's prices for cruises and airline tickets more expensive than what I could find by going directly to the Carnival.com or AA.com.
We decided after several more attempts to find cheaper deals, that we had been sold a lie by Vacation Services of America. We called and asked for a refund. The receptionist had the manager, Tom Wood, call us back. We asked him to compare prices with us online, but he said he couldn't do that, and that we must have heard them wrong or were not doing something right. He offered us $500 or a free weeks stay at Branson to appease us, but refused to give us a full refund. We turned him down, and he said that we could fight it out with his attorney.
We have contacted a local Branson news station that is willing to do a story on this scam as well as a local attorney who has successfully sued the company in the past. If anyone else would like to help us with this or has successfully received a refund, please contact me. Thanks.
Country of complaint: United States
Address: Branson, Missouri
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
This is also happening in Savannah GA and many other cities. They go by Wholesale Services of America and many different names but are owned by the same person. I can't believe this has been going on so long or that someone hasn't sued them. We need to stop these thieves.
I was also tricked into their scam if there is a class action suit please let me know. I have contacted, Tennessee BB, Missouri BB, Trade Commissioner, Attorney general of Tn and Attorney General of No and got no place with none of them.
Cajahart@yahoo.com.
My husband and I have had a similar experience and are currently in the process of seeking out legal representation. Does anyone know of attorneys who have successfully fought this particular scam? We would also be interested in joining a class action lawsuit.
How do we get started. A friend & I bought into this in August of 2014. We were told that after paying $1, 000 we could start using their services. They took $40 out of each of our account for a year & now they're permanently closed. If anyone knows how to get started please point me in the direction.
Please run from Vacation Services of Branson! The are Big Time Scammers!
My complaints are same as everyone else. We bought into this end of May 2013 and are going through our credit card company to get this resolved. If you used a Credit Card to pay I advise you to call them and let them know this is Fraud! They will help you as much as they can. I'll let you all know how it turns out. If there's ever a class action suit filed I want to be apart of it.
We agree that this I.T.S. is a scam. We have had several different trips presented to them for pricing. We too had no success. We are very surprised that a place like Branson would allow such unethical supposed company to have an office there. The presentation was very enticing but unfortunately untrue. We purchased this plan for our daughter who is a history teacher and would love to travel. I guess that is how they win most people over when they say it would be great for your kids to be able to have, as opposed to a timeshare where there is a high maintenance fee and you are limited as to where you can use it. We tried having places priced out for where we go yearly. No luck. It is cheaper for us to see a reality company to book it than this company. We are very disappointed. We are retired and have watched our money all these years. After all these years of working, we thought we could do some traveling and enjoy and share it with our friends. We really didn't have $ 6, 995 to throw away. We thought it would be a good investment. Instead, we were pulled in by a scam. To any of you who are considering this, just say NO! I too, am very surprised that Branson would have a place allowing these people to sell from their town. I would have expected more from Branson. I, too, would like to be involved in anything that is out there to get my money back and stop these people from suckering more innocent, hard working Americans in to this scam. Also if any of you that read this think I only tried one time, you are mistaken. I tried several different areas, and all the results the same. Disaster! We tried Nova Scotia, Boston, Michigan, Florida. No cheaper rates. I got tired just trying! It got depressing. Where are these 3, 4, 5, star rated hotels located for between $59 and $89 per night. They apparently were not where I was going. If there is some big secret here that I don't know about, I wish someone would share it with me, because I would really like to know how to use it or have my $6995 refunded . I even went so far as to purchase a lovely box to surprise my daughter with it for Christmas. Well, it was not a Christmas surprise. It was just a Big Mistake on our part. One we really couldn't afford. I could take plenty of trips thru Travelocity with the money.
We also bought a membership to Vacation Services Of America, and also feel that everything they told us turned out to be false. We have contacted them several times and was finaly told that we would not get a refund. We also are interested in jloining a class action lawsuit against this company. Please contact us at kdgolf1470@att.net if you have any information reguarding this issue.
We bought our club membership with Vacation Services of America in May of 2010. We are retired and do a lot of traveling. I have to say, in our experience, the Vacation Travel Club has been exactly as represented to us. We never save huge amounts on a trip but we do save money on every trip we book though them. We take cruises each year and I first price the cost of the cruise through the cruise line and then through other discount agencies just for the sake of comparisons and VTC saves us money every time. On our upcoming eight day cruise they saved us $245 a cabin (outside, lower deck) and each of our friends that are going with us saved the same. When there was a price drop on one of our cruises I contacted them and they jumped right on it and got it for each of us. They have been great to work with! We took a tour of Italy with Globus last year booked through them and we saved $600 over what I could book it through anyone else. We have also used them to book a condo for $375 for a week in Daytona Beach. The condo was very nice. I really feel that if you travel a lot you way more then get your moneys worth out of this program.
My wife & I have also been ripped off by these people. I would like to know how to get at least part of our money back.