Complaint Review: Passport to Travel

My wife and I attended a presentation in Crystal Lake, Illinois by Passport to Travel in October 2011.  We were told the company was a wholesale travel agency and there would not be any high pressure sales tactics used at the presentation.  For our efforts, we were promised two round trip airline tickets in the continental US and a short cruise. 

My wife and I travel frequently so we were interested in learning about the benefits of a wholesale travel agency.  The presenter was brand new and his entire presentation focused on asking the attendees how much they normally spend on vacations and the destinations of their dream vacation.  The entire presentation was shoddy and unprofessional.  Following the presentation we were paired up with a "specialist" and the double talk started.  When we informed our "specialist" that we were not interested (we immediately did not trust this company) he called his manager over to persuade us on signing up.  When we continued to state we were not interested the price kept dropping.  We wouldn't have signed up if their services were free since we did not like their methods or what they had to offer.  Interestingly, none of the attendees purchased anything that evening despite all the "pot sweeteners" they threw out to the group to get someone to sign up. 

When we left we received information for our travel awards for attending the presentation.  We sent off the information to receive our voucher the following day.  On January 9, 2012 we received a packet with a voucher dated December 2, 2011 which stated it had to be mailed to Tampa, Florida within 30 days to be eligible for the airfare we were promised.  The 30 days to send in the voucher had expired. 

My wife called a Cusomter Service Rep, who was condescending and rude, and told my wife she would have to prove the voucher was mailed late by providing the post-mark on the envelope.  We routinely shred our mail after we open it and we shredded the envelope the voucher was mailed in the day we received it so we were told there was nothing they coiuld do.  My wife asked to speak to a manager which was met with resistence for several minutes and then she was placed on hold for 10 minutes.  My wife hung up the phone and I decided to search the internet to report this situation so other people contacted by this company would not waste their time attending one of these presentations in the future. 

Their are many legitimate travel deals available on the internet and elsewhere and we will not be persuaded with any offer to attend these types of presentation in the future.  Don't waste your time and more importantly do not believe what they offer you to get you to attend.