This company that I never heard of charged $249.95 to my account without my permission for a discount membership. This company should be put out of business immediately.
Consumer Complaints & Reviews
On 11/19/05, we attended a sales presentation given by Great Escapes (GE) in their Englewood, CO office during which the presenter (Jim) condemned time-share ownership and extolled vacation club membership. After this 30-minute presentation, sales reps (Steve Duffy and Josh Dierdorff) gave us highlights of the vacation club including:
Up to 50% savings on airfare, hotels, car rentals and cruises
The opportunity for quick turnaround condo rentals (Hot Weeks) costing $99 for 1 week, $199 for 2 weeks and $299 for 3 weeks. It appeared several $99 opportunities were available from a document flashed by us.
The opportunity for significant vacation savings using their prepackaged vacations
A complete orientation to the vacation club and how it is used would be provided after agreement to join
The fact that this is NOT an ownership club
We signed an agreement and paid a fee of $4,970 for the vacation club.
On Nov. 29, 2005 we drove 60 miles one-way anxious to learn how to use the club. When paying close to $5,000 one would expect at least some face time exploring the details of the plan. Instead, we were immediately bombarded with a high-pressure time-share sales pitch. We expressed very clearly that we were there for orientation to the vacation club and not interested in a sales pitch or to buy more property. This went back and forth for 45 minutes. The sales person (Dori) had our pictures taken, gave us a list of phone numbers to call and a packet of materials one of which was a detailed orientation outline (which was never touched upon). We got up and left extremely disappointed, upset and not at all trusting in any future activity with this company.
Great Escapes willfully misrepresented and used deceptive techniques (fraud) to get us in for another sales pitch. No mention was ever made at the first session that a sales presentation would occur on the second meeting. We never received the promised orientation and at this point do not need it as we do not intend to use the program..
During this sales pitch, we gave two or three scenarios for possible vacations we were interested in taking. Dori stated, Oh, those will cost you retail. The only way to save any money on this plan is to go on GEs prepackaged vacations and own the timeshare. Had we known this earlier we would have NEVER EVER joined. In addition, we were told the GE vacation plan was not an ownership club however buying a timeshare includes a deed, which always means ownership. A contradiction or lie?
On 11/30/05 in conversations with Steve Duffy and Scott Patterson (GE CO marketing manager and staff), each stated we were stuck with a contract. On 12/19/05, Matthew Twitty called from the Florida office and attempted to argue that GE did no wrong. Our contentions are that GE acted in a deceptive and fraudulent manner based on the following:
Great Escapes got us into a high-pressured sales meeting under false pretenses, misrepresenting an orientation session for a sales session.
We never received the promised orientation session and believe there never was any intention to provide this.
There are hidden fees described in the literature that were never shared before we signed the agreement.
The availability of the $99 Hot Weeks were considerably less during the second session than what we were shown in the initial meeting.
The fact that we were told we would have to pay retail for the two vacations we inquired about would indicate there really are no air, hotel or car rental discounts.
This vacation club offer was available only on the night we attended the first meeting so urgency was evident.
Had we known any of this prior to the second meeting we would have never joined or would have cancelled our membership.
We will never use the program as we do not trust that we will not be confronted or required to listen to a timeshare presentation whenever we go on one of their programs. As seniors we cannot participate in a progfram where we have experienced misrepresentation and high pressure sales of someting we never will want or can afford. We will never trust this company with any trip arrangements and do not want to caught expecting solid arrangements and then finding out a long distance from home that some part of it fell through or did not turn out as expected.The anxiety this creates is not something we can endure. Being out $5000 is a big issue for us therefore are requesting to be released from this contract and the debit authorization and return of the fees already paid.
We purchased a vacation club membership for annual condominium rental at a fixed reduced rate. Later we discover the company has very few condominium weeks available and although we were shown a book full of pictures of exotic beach units, it turns out most of those don't belong to this company, but an associated company called Advantage Travel which costs more. We called and called. Generally our calls weren't returned. When we were able to speak with someone we were put off and now months have elapsed. We wrote and got no response until our attorney wrote a letter. They refused return of our funds. We've since discovered this company is based out of Florida and also has a time share company. Please advise consumers on your site.
We've paid this company more than $5000.00 and have received no satisfaction.
We hope you can help!!!
We have contacted this company repeatedly with minor complaints, finally resulting in our request to drop our membership and have our fees refunded since they were unable to meet ANY of their promises. They have only responded once. That response was not satisfactory and we replied immediately and haven't heard anything since.
