The Inside Story Of How A Ct Couple Got Fleeced By A ‘Discount’ Travel Club

The following account was written by Laurie Escudero Of Granby involving Berkshire Concepts of Mass. Connecticut officials had put out a warning about this company last fall. I contacted Berkshire and a person there – who refused to identify himself – promised to look into the complaint last month. Ct officials have also received this complaint. If you have had any contact with this firm or other alleged discount travel clubs please leave a comment at the bottom.

My husband and I received a postcard in the mail that looked like it was from Delta, announcing that we would receive two free plane tickets anywhere by calling a number on the postcard.  In small print at the bottom there was information that said that we needed to attend a presentation, but that no purchase was necessary.  We talked about it, and decided to call and attend in order to get the tickets from Delta (we thought).

We made an appointment to go to the presentation and told each other that we wouldn’t buy ANYTHING! We were going simply to get the free tickets, and were willing to put in the time to listen to what we knew would be a sales pitch (we figured it would be a time-share presentation).  But, we had done this before, several times, and never bought into anything and were always rewarded at the end with whatever was promised in exchange for our time.  We knew it was a numbers game, and the companies were happy to get the numbers in the seats to increase their chances of a sale.

We went to the presentation, and things progressed much as you would expect.  The salesmen were all very friendly (now I suppose overly so), and they proceeded to show us their program, which was for a travel program where you could supposedly save money by buying into their software license and using it as your travel source.

There were about 8 couples in the room.  Most of the couples seemed really interested in the presentation, and answered questions excitedly, which, in turn, increased our own excitement in what we were seeing.  (Now I wonder if there were shills in the audience, especially with the closing rate I’ll share with you shortly.)

The salesmen were very slick, but subtly so, using phrases like “isn’t time with your family worth more to you than anything?” and “what wouldn’t you give to spend more time with your loved ones?”  They showed us beautiful trips, like cruises through the Greek Islands, Alaska, tours of Europe, even asking all of the women if they would like to take a trip and stay in a castle “just like a princess.”  They also showed “their prices” for these trips, and showed videos of people who supposedly used this program talking about how amazing their trips were and how much money they saved.

They were really good, and they made what they were doing look like so much fun!  I’m embarrassed to admit this now, but I actually thought I wanted to work with them, and told them so after the presentation was over (I know, they must have seen “sucker” written all over my forehead!)  I still wasn’t ready to buy into the program, even at the end, but I had been thinking about a job, I’m really good with people, and I thought their product had merit (of course, I was caught up in the excitement of the presentation and the responses of the majority of the couples there).  The salesman brought the manager over and he started talking with me about a job.  He kept insinuating that I might be able to work with them, but then kept asking us if we were ready to commit to the program now.

 

After the presentation, one of the managers or salesmen came in and said he had an incentive for whoever could make a quick decision.  He had two gold colored coins in his hand, and said that the first two couples who signed up for the program would get a free upgrade from their regular program to their “gold” program, but that he only had two, and we all had to decide fast!

This was $5,000 they were talking about us plunking down for basically a right to use a website to book travel, but they made it sound like it was it was the bread of life itself, or at the very least, the only way to create unique family memories that we’d certainly never be able to afford on our own.

One couple immediately said they were ready, and of course the salesmen made a big deal about handing them the coin and congratulating them on their “smart” thinking!  He looked at us with the other coin in his hand, but Jim and I still weren’t planning on buying into this (we weren’t ready to leave yet because they were still coming over to talk with me about a job).  A minute or so later, another enthusiastic couple said they’d take the coin, and again, a big deal was made about how smart they were, and how they’d be creating such special family memories that most people only dream of.

During the next 15 minutes or so, a few different people came to me and Jim, asking us about our travel habits and so on.  We had just come back from Disney World with our three kids, and when we shared that with them, they shook their heads as if we were the stupidest people in the world to have made that trip without their assistance.  They told us they could have saved us “so much money” on that trip, and that we would be foolish if we didn’t “take advantage” of the “savings” offered us that day by buying into this program.

 

Now remember that mixed in with this whole thing was the fact that now, the manager had all but offered me a job, telling me that I would fit in great with this amazing company, and that I had such a great personality, etc.  He was also subtly inferring that I needed to believe in this company if I were going to work for it, which is ultimately what pushed me and Jim over the edge and made us sign the papers.

He also kept throwing in things for free, like upgrades for more travel and extras that he kept saying he “never” gave anyone else.  He immediately told me that I could work for them and asked if I wanted to start the next day (Saturday).  I said yes, and he said he would call me that night to sort out the details.

Jim and I went home, and I never heard from him.  We started having second thoughts almost immediately, especially because the promised job didn’t materialize, and by the time the three day weekend had passed, we knew we were going to cancel the contract and get back our $5000.  So on the third business day after we signed the contract and gave them our money, we sent them a Certified Letter, Return Receipt Requested, exercising our Right of Rescission and asking for the return of our money.

We never heard from them again.  I sent them another letter and made several phone calls, none of which were ever returned.  I also filed a Complaint with the Better Business Bureau, #230624, to which the company never responded (their response date was 2/14/12, and I got an email today from the BBB saying there was no response).