817-313-3326

Yup-  received the Happy B-Day postcard. From traveling so much with my job, I thought it Maaaay be legit- yeah right. After talking with 'Brock' at 877-313-3326, he said it was legit, answered a lot of detailed/trap  (on purpose) questions. These guys are good, even when I mentioned my close family friends with the Sheriffs Dept. This dirtbag didn't even blink, so I thought, with my AA Platinum card and Marriot Gold member, it may be real. Thank goodness I checked the website- arggghh. If my little fiend Brock saw me or my friends, he would crap his pants. I kept asking very pointed questions- I do REAL high end sales for a living, he was slick. Crap- just when you think you may get a goody for spending lots of $$$$ with Marriott etc, you think you may get a pass. Please folks- run/run/run. I called back in and called them on the carpet for what they are doing, Then on top of it- when I called them out, spoke with Charles- I mentioned that I used to be in Pharmaceutical sales, thought from all of my travels that I may get a goody. he accused me of causing ADHD in kids- I do IV solutions that save peoples lives. I hate the other side of Pharma and have left it due to having deal with hospital pharmacies that only care about price. These timeshare, blah- blah - blah are the most despicable animals I have ever dealt with. BTW- they are out of Daytona Beach FL, which is why I left Florida 20 years ago- dirtbag city.

I was PO'D I meant to type 877-313-3326

Brock gave me his personnel # 877-313- 3326
This is a Travel Club Scam, I got scammed last year, still trying to get my money back.

MPR

Grand Design Travel
Posted: 2010-07-11 by    alfredogarcia  

Fraud

Complaint Rating:
Company information:
Gulf Shores, Alabama
United States

This is a scam. They get you to come to a high pressure sales presentation with promises of "free" gifts, but nothing they give you is free. Everything requires you to mail money to get your "free" gift. The membership they are selling is priced anywhere from $10, 000 to $1, 000 (they start at $10, 000 and keep coming down hoping you will bite somewhere along the way) and they promise you huge discounts on travel for the rest of your life. Only problem is that once they have your money, there is no more customer service or concern about you. They refer you to another phone number (another company) to book your travel and none of the travel discounts they quote in the sales presentation are really available. The "discount" travel they quote you is not better than anything on the internet you can book yourself.

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3. Written by Scamed in Alabama, on 14-04-2010 17:20

They are now doing business in Gulf Shores Alabama under the name of Grand Design Travel acting as agent for Outrigger Vacation Club which is one of the Royal Palm sub-names. They are using US Mail to send an invitation for free stuff if you go to their presentation IN GULF SHORES ALABAMA. They have the noise factor, don't leave your side for more than a couple of seconds, have multiple people working on convincing you to purchase, rush you through the paperwork and telling you that they are reputitable. They are using RCI literiature, films of RCI properties and imply repeatedly that they are affiliated with RCI. They say you don't need to read through the paperwork/contract, just sign it. When you do have the opportunity to read the pages they have given you to take home, you find major differences and contradictions between what you thought you were getting and what you are going to get. The telephone numbers you call give you the run-around, send you to voicemail that they don't subscribe to or send you to another telephone number. They are good at their scam. Took us for $3995.00 this past weekend. We contacted Bank Of America and sent a complaint. They say they will investigate the company as possible fraud/scam. We are waiting for yet another telephone call to see if they are going to do the right thing and refund our money. WEAR CHANEL 3, hope your reading this. Get your cameras ready, you might see a picket line at this NEW office location.

Thanks for input just called number from happy birthday post card,, you get free airfare, two nite stay, free $75.00 expedia card etc. sent up meeting for jan.8- sat. in gernnie il. just sit through 90 minute meeting buy nothing get all the goodies!!! called expedia guess what they do NOT have this offer out there! Then called bbb about" Wholesale travel services" who offered this great deal guess what NOT with the bbb, they do have an operation in mass. though the bbb lady told me to be careful and good luck!!  then called local travel agent,guess what never heard or worked with them !!
so guess i won't be going to las vegas for new years!! not going to gurnnie il. on sat. for meeting either!!
thanks everyone you are right had to be to good to be true!!!  ***adriene the lady who booked this meeting  with me shame on you, hope they pay you good for scamming people !!!  yes the call back number is 1-877-313-3326 , let me know if anyone has had a good experience with 'WHOLESALE TRAVEL SERVICES' only travel agents reply in the usa, I will check you out toooo. So no more scammers.....

I got the lovely "Birthday Card" too and just to spite them, I did a reservation to sit through one of their "SCAM sessions" but never SHOWED! haa.. they had the nerve to call me back and I said oh I forgot.. let me check with my husbands schedule and get back to you. They claim to be a local - Mansfield MA company called Wholesale Travel Sales. But the number they give me to call back isn't under that and I checked BBB and the web for a local company named that.. there is one out of Boston, but is no longer in business. RUN away! SCAMMERS!

FYI. I actually attended one of these things back in July of 2010. Total scam. The free airline stuff they promise ends up costing more than an actual ticket and they claim to give you a gift card of some sort.. and when you go to the seminar.. they, for some reason, don't have them and will send them to you. I never got the gift card.. did I mention that was back in July of 2010? The prior travel seminar I went to was under Alamo Getaways. Just posting this detail to help someone else from getting swindled.

they never tell you free on the phone why do people lie and make stuff up. They are complimentary if you want to use them use them if not then don't they NEVER SAY FREE

Doesn't matter, they never say SCAM on the phone, and that makes then LIARS in our book!

I received an invitation to attend a presentation for Wholesale Travel Service, Vacation Tours USA, Global Vacation Network in Wisconsin, there are several names out there. Heading on invitation was Happy Birthday.  It was actually the month of my birthday, wondered how they new.  Invitation said we would get a $300 food certificate good at any grocery store we choose, plus a WiFi ready Microsoft Laptop/Netbook complete, with new Microsoft software.

I called & asked about gifts & the presentation. The guy confirmed what the invitation said. He said everything was legitimate, company was a wholesale travel service, wholesale vacations, grand opening, with promotion & advertising by presentation, hoping attendees would spread the word about their awesome travel service.  The guy sounded honest & legitimate. I still thought the gifts were too good to be true.

He also said in order to qualify for the free gifts, the following requirements need to be met:
1. Need to attend the entire 90 minute presentation
2. Need to have Household income over $40,000
3. Need to be working or self-employed, cannot be unemployed
4. Need to be married or have significant other
5. Need to be between 25-72 years of age
6. Need to have photo id / drivers license in possession
7. Need to have major credit card in possession

Here is information regarding the $300 Food Certificate.  The $300 Food Certificate is actually a Cash Back Certificate, which is a scam.  You have to send $19.95 in cashier's check or money order (not from the US Post Office) within 3 days of registering on their website. The envelope HAS to be sent registered, certified with a return receipt to qualify. Every month have to send $150 in grocery receipts to Cash Claim Center within 1 day of printing voucher online & again it has to be sent registered, certified with return receipt to qualify which costs $14.75, then Cash Claim Center will send $20. Actually only get back $5.25 every month. There are so many Terms and Conditions that it would be very difficult to qualify every month for only $5.25 in profit. At end of 15 months would have paid $221.25 to register, certify & get return receipts in return for $300. Profit is actually $78.75. At end of 15 months IF I do everything correctly to letter of Terms & Conditions will get back $19.95. Full profit is $98.70. If at any time fail to follow their Terms and Conditions, will not be paid.

My husband & I sat through presentation. An employee spoke first, gave presentation & cost of 15 -year membership, around $8,998. After presentation, several employees sat with couples individually. During those sessions, price kept decreasing from  $8,998 to $3,200 with $400 off if put the full amount on a credit card right now.  We were honest & said we wouldn’t really be able to take advantage of this membership, don’t travel that much, not interested in purchasing.  Then he said what about $79, just checking?  Shall I say more. He then took us into another room to get our free gifts. We also had to sign another piece of paper saying that we received the gifts. Didn’t read the small print, now wonder about that, too late.

I read online where others actually purchased the membership, promises & expectations end up being false.  They are trying to get their money refunded, with no luck. They were really scammed.

We received the useless $300 food certificate. Also received the Laptop/Netbook Computer, they said was new & complete with new Microsoft Software. I should of researched the netbook beforehand.  Ended up being this tiny netbook computer dated 2000, software was dated 1999 & fingerprints all over the monitor screen.   Haven’t yet found a use for it & not able to utilize.  What a scam, both the 2 gifts & membership.

Wish I would of taken the time research online before attending the presentation. When we checked in, they needed to see our drivers licenses & major credit card, now wonder about letting them see those cards, too late now. They required us to fill out 2 other forms, which required information such as name, address, date of birth, age, income, amount  spent annually on vacations, job title, etc. Heading at top of forms was Simplicity Travel. Well, this is enough info. Don’t attend their presentations, it is not worth the time……… Research first online to get feedback, If it says it is free

Additional names: Global Vacation Network, Wholesale Travel Service, VTU, Vacation Tours USA, Simplicity Travel. Additional Phone#s: 877-547-7302, 877-313-3326, 708-429-0432   Email address:  Name@vacationtoursusa.com.  I imagine they change their names & phone numbers on a regular basis, to keep the scam going.

Phone number is also actually 877-313-3326, not 817-313-3326.  Additional names & phones numbers were given to me by others & may or may not be accurate, just possibilities.

My above summary was a first-impression summary.  I use the word scam because the gifts, especially the $300 food certificate, were portrayed inaccurately.  We have not experienced the actual purchase of the membership & travel deals.

In actuality, the company may be legitimate, all involved seemed honest & trustworthy. If you don’t mind taking the time, you may want to attend one of their presentations.  You don’t have to purchase the membership.  The representatives were very professional & did not pressure us at all to purchase the membership.  Just keep in mind that the gifts might not be what you expected.  Good luck.

This company is now operating out of Indiana as Global Holiday Travel is located at 6330 East 75th Street, Suite 136, Indianapolis, IN 46250 in the MetroCenter Office Complex.  You receive a "Happy Birthday" letter promising a 8 day/7 night Carnival Cruise with 2 free air fares.  All you will pay is the taxes.  After calling the number I was repeatedly told that all I would pay is the taxes.  I was told I would receive a confirmation email with all the terms and conditions of the offer.  Guess what?  No terms and conditions.  Please research further on this phone number.  You will find it is a scam operating in other states.

Thanks for taking to time to note your experiences. Just called the Happy Birthday people. I will be skipping our appointment.

We were verified and as a result of this offer, you have won an 8 day/7 night cruise for 2 with an outside cabin leaving from any major port in the US.  Also as a bonus, we receive free roundtrip airfares.

We received a letter from VTU and offered a free cruise and free airfare. When I called the number for VTU which is 1-877-547-7302 number, I was told that I had to attend a 90 minute presentation at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas. I was also told that the name of the company is Perfect Travel. I called the Palms and no such travel agency exists at their property. They also knew nothing of any rooms that were reserved for promotional presentations on the date I was supposed to attend. Thanks for everyone posting their experience with this obviously phony company. And yes, the woman who I spoke to made it all sound very legitimate, and I don't often, if ever, fall for this scams.

Thanks everyone!

Global holiday travel. got a letter, called, sounded to good to be true. hung up the phone and jumped online to research. Thank you guys for being here:)

Now they operating and making appts in texas under simplicity travel.  Thanks for heads up.

My Husband received a Happy Birthday Letter in the mail for 8-Day/7-Night Cruise for 2 with an outside cabin leaving from any major port in the US.  Plus a Bonus Gift 2 Round-trip Airfare with tracking number.  We attended the 90 minute seminar complete with actor who in his spiel claimed he was in his early 30s and then said he was a junior in high school in 1987.  This was a red flag for me because the math didn't work out.  Then he claimed he was friends with Amos Zereoué formerly of Pittsburgh Steelers and used Amos within his presentation.  Then after the very tiring and boring 90 minute presentation they had each couple meet with a representative in a lounge area with blaring loud music.  Didn't quite know what this tactic was for but it was very annoying.  All of the representatives seemed very young like in their 20s.  They kept bringing down the price and kept us for an hour.  They then gave us a very professional Flight and Cruise for 2 brochure that had 2 Travel Request Forms, one for each 'gift'.    You need to pay $75 to get the 2 round trip Airfare and $50 to get the 8 day cruise.  These both are supposed to be 'refundable deposits'.  Now I am not so sure that this is legit by reading everyone's complaint.  Did anyone actually use/get the airfare or cruise???  If yes, how much were you on the hook for or do they just say the dates don't work and won't refund your money?

Sorry, forgot to report that this company is operating out of 3 Penn Center West in Suite 201, Pittsburgh, PA 15276 in Robinson Township.  The phone number they gave us was 1-877-313-3326.  The e-mail address ends with @vacationtoursusa.com.

thanks so much everybody.  i won't be going to this presentation in crystal lake, il friday night.

I received the birthday letter for the carnival cruise.  If all I have to pay is less than $200 or even $300 for flight tickets and the cruise, that would still be a good deal.  I also have to ask, has anybody actually gone through with the presentation, said no to buying any pkgs. and still ended up going on the cruise after paying the fees?  I was told the only out of pocket money would be for the taxes and port costs.  I did check the BBB and the company 'Simplicity Travel' has an A+ rating and no complaints against them in the last 3 years.

The only thing you'll get for you money is TAKEN. But you know that, you clearly work there!

So tell us (when you come back to claim you don't work there, like any shill would), how profitable is lying on the internet these days?