Won a FREE Cruise at BTS...

[Researcher]

We knew what we were getting into after we received the 'you won a Free cruise' phone call. But we still decided to listen to the hour long program and the pitch for us to buy the vacation program.

The pitch was not hard core which we appreciated and for what it is worth, if you are avid travelers and vacation ALOT - this may be a good idea. Think of it like the Costco of Vacations. However we were not financially able to plop down money or take on more monthly payments so we politely said no to all of their offers.

But we still were getting a free cruise - so I was excited about that. Until I get on the phone at reservation time only to find out that NOTHING is free. We were aware of the taxes and fees that we would have to pay - and that was cool. But unless you want a cabin with bunk beds, and you are OK with traveling when they tell you and you are ok with paying for a hotel the night before cruise and night after cruise returns and paying for transfers to and from port and hotel...all which adds up to almost an additional $250 pp...then this is the incentive for you.

I ended up canceling our free voucher for a cruise knowing that I could book a cruise for less than $250 a person and fly as cheap as $100 roundtrip and PICK the dates and flights that work best for me.

Not too mention I spent over an hour on the phone with the reservation people...25 minutes on hold waiting for a representative and another 45 minutes of them trying to get reservations.

Bottom line- take it with a grain of salt....they will try to make it as inconvenient as possible so you will make upgrades and forget that you are slowly but surely spending almost a $800-$1000 on your so-called FREE cruise!

 

[Researcher]

And then there's this from Elk Grove, IL.

I entered to win a $50, 000 prize at the 'tour de elk grove' (a summer festival) when I 'won!' a trip for 3 days, 2 nights at a Marriott of my choice.. After being very spektical, as I should have been, then HARASSED me almost by calling me nearly 2 or 3 times a day.. The telemarketers are EXRTEEMLY pleasant and REALLY make you feel like they understand your sketisim.. SOO she now offered me 'free airfare' and a 'free $1, 000 online shopping spree' ahhhhh RIGHT! but I figured they specifically said this is NOT for a timeshare or to buy anything.. that its just their way of 'advertising their travel discounts' So what DO i have to lose?? well over an hour and a half of my time and LONGER if you dont have the 'i'm out of here' attitude..

They insisted I bring my boyfriend because we live together - so we went.. It was a rainy friday night, we didnt have anything special to do, its right down the street - and if we can just stick to the little weekend get-away they we offering - cool! then I had NO problem listening to the 'presentation'

To my surprise a room full of people also showed up! I figured that we ALL couldnt be suckers!! but anyways - The presentation was short but introducing us to their sales pitch.. for a FIFTEEN THOUSAND DOLLAR TRAVEL PACKAGE!!! $15, 000!?? WOW! for not 25 BUT 30 weeks of VACATION! (on special that day! of course!) Then Dwayne ends the presentation by having a SWARM of sales people wisk us away to their desks to see if we would like to right a check or finance the $15, 000 package...

I just started laughing!! my boyfriend asks the kid that 'has been there 4 weeks' if he was serious!? of course he says, 'yeah, why!?' He said well its $12, 000 today - with the 20% off not $15, 000 BUT THAT MONEY HAS TO BE PAID THAT DAY - AT THAT TIME - NO time to even think about it! Then or never they said!!!

When I made it clear that we ARE NOT interested in purchasing ANY type of package and that I would NOT be writing him a check or having the package financed.. He brought his 'boss' over to the desk.. The boss then does us a 'SPECIAL deal' of $7, 800 for a smaller package.. which we were so aggravated that I wasnt even listening what it was for.. So I said NO.. please just let us go - we arent buying anything.. the kid throws in there 'wow! he never passes that out! he must have liked you guys..'
PLEASE!!!

Then they sit us in another little room to wait for the manager to 'validate our vouchers' I asked the girls that were sitting in the room waiting with us if they were offered the 'special deal..' and the guy must have liked them too because they were offered it!! SURPRISE SURPRISE!!

After being there for an hour and a half they wisk us away now to the manager's office.. who now offers us 'a special package that they only let him use twice a year..' for $895 and he could waive some fees.. blah blah blah - THAT was in fact the final attempt to get me to turn over a check to them.. but a scam none-the less..
I then checked on here (because a friend told me about ripoffreport.com) and of course the place that our FREE TRIP is from is called Spirit Incentives and there's pages and pages of horror stories.. not to mention the complaints about Sundance Vacations..

I know now to check this whenever skeptical!! and just wanted to give a heads up to anyone willing to WASTE their Friday night like we did - DONT DO IT!! its a waste of time and is a complete JOKE!

I have tried calling the location I went to - to question this 'free trip' that they gave us.. along with the Online shopping spree that I did not receive and it keeps looping me through an automated system that wont even get me thru to the receptionist.. And I've been calling the number that they had me do the reservation to hear the 'presentation' thru and they gave me a bogus number to contact Spirit..

I never thought of myself as a stupid person - but holy cow- today I feel like SUCH an IDIOT for going to this thing!! the only thing making me feel better is to warn those of you that are considering going!!

Elk Grove Village, Illinois
U.S.A

.

 

[Researcher]

We were offered a "free" vacation for listening to a presentation on Sundance Vacations, the modern version of a timeshare. After the presentation we were given a certificate for our "free" vacation.

We submitted our paperwork. The paperwork asks for three travel dates that we would like. The paperwork states that summers and holidays are not available unless you pay for an upgrade. We selected 3/31, 6/8, and 7/13. The paperwork states that we will be contacted 30-45 days before the first selected date. We were sent a letter asking for the taxes. We knew this was the case, no problem. After they received the check, they e-mailed us stating that they would call us in 10-14 business days.

We never received a call. We started wondering because we wanted to make other plans if we weren't going to receive our first choice of dates. My wife called Spirit Incentives. It is a long distance call and they put you on hold for usually 5-10 minutes. The woman who took her call could not, or would not tell her if any of our requested dates were available. She said that we have to choose the date we want and if it is available, then this is the date we will get. No changes allowed. My wife decided to wait until she could talk it over with me.

My wife called the next day. Again, she was immediately put on hold for 10 minutes. Here is the conversation:

Wench: I have your choices down as Port Canaveral on 3/31, 6/8, and 7/13. Do you want to upgrade to an outside cabin?

Me: How much is that?

Wench: $199 per person

Me: Do I have to decide that now?

Wench: Yes, in order for me to book a cruise - you will also need to provide payment for that now.

Me: We'll stick with an inside room

Wench: Thank you - I'll check our availability

Five minutes of crappy music

Wench: We can offer you a cruise on Carnival leaving out of Miami to the Western Caribbean leaving on April 5.

Me: April 5 was not one of our dates

Wench: Unfortunately, that's all that's available

Me: For the summer months - we would have to pay extra?

Wench: There are no summer options available - your only option is April 5.

Me: My husband is a teacher and can't take a week off of school

Wench: I'm so sorry to hear that. You can accept this offer or we can send you a refund of all money spent

Me: Can I call you back?

Wench: Now that I've made an offer you need to accept it now or choose to take a refund.

Me: Why didn't we hear from you sooner rather than have to call ourselves.

Wench: We will contact you within 30 - 45 days of the first chosen date and we're in that time period now.

Me: Yes, but I had to call you and the email I'm looking at, dated Oct. says that you'll contact us within 10 - 14 days - at which point one of our choices might have been available.

Wench: We don't get our inventory until 3 - 6 months out - so that wouldn't have worked anyway

Me: Oct. was less than 6 months ago.

Wench: Would you like to accept this offer or shall I do a refund

Me: We'll take a refund.

Wench: It will take 10 - 14 days. Thank you for . . . .. hang up!

I called later that day. I couldn't get anywhere either and was put on hold twice. At the end, the manager that I was talking to said that they didn't have any record of our check! I had to fax him a copy of the check! At this point we are waiting for the refund.

They had never called us. My wife's second call didn't make sense regarding available dates when compared to the first call. They didn't allow us to keep our account active so that we could try a different date later.

Upon further investigation I notice that this company has 409 complaints with the BBB over the last three years. There are various blogs online devoted to this company, detailing customer frustrations. How do they stay in business? That's easy they make money by not giving any vacations. They don't have to make us happy. They just have to keep selling those bogus vouchers to travel companies, airlines, hotels etc.

 

[Researcher]

Quoting Michael77 from "Complaints Board.com"

"This company is a FRAUD. I also got suckered into going down to pick up the free cruise I had been given as a "gift." Now, the customer service agent was correct in that they never use the word "won". Its just a matter of wording to keep their scams on the border-line of legal. And I understood that I had to sit through an hour of a sales pitch..which I was fine with. What I was not fine with were the LIES that they had told me in advance about this free cruise.

LIE #1: I could go on the cruise at ANYTIME during the year. I was told repeatly by the woman on the phone about how I could basically go whenever dates I wanted to, anytime during the next year. Well, that is a lie. When I received my vacation voucher, I looked at the fine print on the back page. You CANNOT use this cruise during the months of June, July, August, or any week of which there is a holiday.

LIE #2: If I didn't use the cruise, I could do with it whatever I wished. I could give it as a gift or sell it. The fact is, you CANNOT. It clearly states that the name of the trip is non-transferable and cannot be sold.

LIE #3: I was told airfare was included and that I could fly from my local airport..which is a major international airport. That isn't true. They tell you where to fly out of. For example, they mentioned Newark, New Jersey as a possibility. Plus, the fine print says it only includes "base" airface. I'm not even sure what the fine print is on base airfare

LIE #4: I was told I would simply have to pay minor taxes on a trip which values at about 1, 200 dollars. Well, the taxes start at 225 dollars per person (35 percent tax???????) Plus, there are all kind of registration and booking fees on top of that.

LIE #5: i was specifically told on the phone I would even receive free gift cards to Applebees, Red Lobster, and Olive Garden if I camew to the 5pm presentation. When I inquired about them, the girl gave me a funny look and told me that "they didn't give them out anymore because people don't use them." What??? I was told only the DAY BEFORE I would be getting them. So, they gave me this piece of paper and said to go eat somewhere (anywhere), attach the receipt to the paper, send a self addressed stamped envelope, and I could get up to 15 dollars for my meal. I'm not holding my breath.

Bottom line, this company is a fruad. They told me out and out lies about the cruise just to get me in. They are very shewd. They have people designed to search these very blogs just to tell you how wonderful they are. There is an old saying. "Me thinks thou protests too much." If someone has to over and over again tell you about all the awards they won and how great they are...makes you wonder why...doesn't it?????"

 

[Researcher]

This post was found at Ripoff Report.com. It is dated February 20, 2010.

"I once was unfortunately employed at sundance vacations.Im going to expose them from top to bottom,but first I must expose myself.I was a hungry telemarketer very much a part of their grimy ways.My name was posted on this site.I truly apologise to all the hard working people who might have been reeled in by my dirty slickness and sometimes downright dishonesty.I work in a more honorable profession now and sleep much better.1-they generate leads(your phone #)at events,concerts,games,etc by getting you or children(ive called children 14-15-16 years old many many times)to fill out an entry for a supposed drawing.2-you get a call to come listen to a presentation(hard sales pitch during which they have the unclassyness to brag about donating to charities-they actually constantly pass baskets around the phone rooms to collect money from the under payed marketers,like church.3-your lured in by a cruise or gas card etc,all of which are nearly impossible to use and they count on that,believe me.4-after the 60 minute sales pitch the sales reps are waiting like a pack of wolves,they push hard,very hard,you must get downright harsh to leave with your useless cruise certificate.Listen,we were all given the so called 250 dollar gas certificate,I know of no emploee who was actually able to use that thing.the drawing that your supposedly in is to win 50,000 dollars or a porche(i find it strannge that the prize porche has been driven by one of the many stepford wives(phone room manager)boyfreind for years.Folks,again im very sorry for my part in all this sleaziness.One of the phone room managers even stole money that we all put in a card for an emoloyee who was hospitalized.The card and envelope were found months later in a desk drawer with no money in it.I only hope they try to sue me for this.what can I say,I did not lie or exaggerate one bit and I have Three exellent attorneys.Oh hey sundance,the unemployment compensation siyuation was a huge mistake made by the uc center,they confused the annual christmas layoff wit something else altogether,they've extended an apology to me.You can forget about that ammunition.Dont even try to match wits with me,your out classed.Consumers,please beware.It is timeshare with different wrapping paper. What a low class operation.You will do much better at a decent hotel.Dont be afraid to correspond with me.Thanks."

 

[Researcher]

Better Business Bureau revokes Sundance Vacations' business accreditation!

Sundance Vacations Review - TRAVEL AGENCIES AND BUREAUS - BBB Reliability Report

 

[Jim Lapenta]

You also know when you see one of these things and they require a combined income of a certain amount that it is indeed a scam and that the people involved are scumbags. Once they start talking free and then asking about upgrades it is time to leave. Cause you will end up with nothing anyway.

 

[Researcher]

In case after case of sales organizations that use the sweepstakes ruse as a means of skirting the Do-Not-Call regulations the FTC has taken remedial action and have repeatedly ruled that sweepstakes entry forms, not-with-standing the alleged fine print disclosures, do not waive the consumers’ privacy rights under the DNC legislation. Yet Sundance Vacations aka SunScam Vacations, continues to defy the DNC regulations! What does that say about the ethics and integrity of the company? What it says is that Sundance Vacations doesn’t care about what may be illegal or unethical; rather all they care about is what they can get away with!

(1) Maker of Rascal Scooters to Pay $100,000 for Violating FTC’s Do Not Call Rules

(2) FTC Cracks Down on Do Not Call Violators: Companies Agree to Pay More Than $1.2 Million in Civil Penalties

(3) FTC Announces Law Enforcement Crackdown on Do Not Call Violators

Also see: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Boycott-Sundance-Vacations/172805172735470

 

[Researcher]

Also see the following:


Sundance Vacations’ flagrantly violates the Do-Not-Call regulations, among other consumer frauds! Thecompany practices a very-well designed, subtle and highly sophisticated scam, but an absolute scam nonetheless.

Obviously, this writer views Sundance Vacations with disdain. However, the concern should not be the writers’ personal disdain for the company, but rather the ACCURACY of the information submitted by this writer!

Therefore, I strongly urge that you PERUSE all this material, including the hyperlinks, and then drawyour own conclusions.

In case after case of sales organizations that use the sweepstakes ruse as a means of skirting the Do-Not-Call regulations the FTC has taken remedial action and have repeatedly ruled that sweepstakes entry forms, not-with-standing the alleged fine print disclosures, do not waive the consumers’ privacy rights under the DNC legislation. Yet Sundance Vacations aka SunScam Vacations, continues to defy the DNC regulations! What does that say about the ethics and integrity of the company? It says that Sundance Vacations doesn't care about what may be illegal and or unethical; all they care about is what they can get away with!

(1) Maker of Rascal Scooters to Pay $100,000 for Violating FTC’s Do Not Call Rules

(2) FTC Cracks Down on Do Not Call Violators: Companies Agree to Pay More Than $1.2 Million in Civil Penalties

(3) FTC Announces Law Enforcement Crackdown on Do Not Call Violators



Legal Matters

In July, 2005 Sundance Vacations was investigated by the state of New Jersey for failure to comply with Federal and state minimum wage laws. The investigation resulted in 32 employees being paid a totalof $19,762.62 in back wages. The company also paid administrative fees of $1,976.26 and penalties of $3,000.

On August 11, 2006, a Federal Civil Rights violation was filed against Sundance Vacations in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania citing discrimination. The case was settled out of court. ED.PA. NO. 05-CV-04193

On November 6, 2006, a consumer fraud civil law suit was filed against Sundance Vacations, Inc. and Sundance Vacations Network, Inc. The fraudulent misrepresentation claim was filed in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Bergen County, docket number L-8256-06. The civil suit detailed numerous violations of N.J.S.A. 56:8 et seq. of the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act, by utilizing “false pretenses through the use of unconscionable commercial practices.” The case was settled out of court.

On May 29th, 2010 Sundance Vacations entered into an “Agreement” with the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, Office of Consumer Protection and Nicholas Kant, Deputy Attorney General. Sundance Vacations investigated by the state of New Jersey Sundance Vacations is in repeated violations of that signed “agreement.”