Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Global Discovery Vacations is a SCAM

All I can say is I'm both sorry and elated to find individuals like myself that were scammed for travel services by Global Discovery Vacations. This company is a total consumer ripoff. How dare anyone of this company, at whatever satellite office they have moved into this month, even try to defend what this company is selling. All of your stories on-line sound so familiar to what has happened to my husband and I. This company couldn't be more of a joke.They start by calling you on the phone stating you have a free trip (usually 2 nights, 3days) with a choice of 5 or 6 places to go for attending a 90 min presentation for travel services. After you agree to the 90 min presentation you drive to whatever office they have set up for that time period. I have noticed that all of them have short life spans. After you hear what great discounts they have (and I'm the first to admit how embarrassed I am for buying in) they negotiate a lifetime able to be passed on for generations "vacation club." The membership fees all started out in the $15K range in my presentation.Here's the scam. They have a couple of people working out of a real office somewhere. Then for as long as it takes to sign up all the suckers like me they have several "temp" sales offices. These are where they give sales presentations. Once the consumer buys in they have 3 days to break the contract. The travel services department (if you want to call it that) is only open Mon-Fri. The presentations are given on a Friday or Saturday by the time you call on Monday and by the time you get a response you can no longer void the contract. Once your stuck they rely on your frustration to take over. Most people only get two-three weeks of vacation a year with a couple of long weekends. This equates to only being able to go on 4-5 trips or so a year, if your lucky.You can't see where you "might" be able to travel, you have to submit more money to this joke of a company for the chance at a vacation resort. GDV needs an attorney with some time to put them out of business once and for all. I was lied to about all inclusive vacations being a part of my membership, which is not so (regardless of the 4 stars I won't use this year). I can get "discounted" trips thru an affiliated travel agent, which it didn't take me long to figure out that the discounts they give aren't really discounts at all. It's just a few people looking up what you can do yourself in about 5 minutes on the web (minus the comission rate for providing this "exceptional" service to you, you will find the web prices about 20% cheaper). This goes against everything they told me in the presentation of buying airline tickets in bulk and buying blocks of rooms each year for members. YADA YADAThese employees have to know what GDV is doing. Anytime I have called trying to get information about the company I am either forwarded to voice mail or given to 'Tamara' if that's her real name the supervisor on duty and the highest power of lack of caring the company can offer.I would be more than happy to be a part of a class action lawsuit against GDV (GLOBAL DISCOVERY VACATIONS) if anybody is interested. I will be keeping a close eye out on new reports. This is not an isolated incident. There are many other travel companies scamming people out of their hard earned cash.CLOSE DOWN:GLOBAL DISCOVERY VACATIONS1935 SHERMER ROAD SUITE 100NORTHBROOK, IL 60062847-205-0725Parent addrese provide (may have moved by now):5360 College BoulevardSuite 200Overland Park, Kansas 66211913-498-0960