Passport to Travel Prestige Travel Clubs; Vacation Passport Disgusted and Angry Tampa and Internet, Florida
I found what I thought was a great deal on the internet. 99$ for discounted travel including a 7 day cruise, 7 days in a resort, discounts for all kinds of things promised.
The first warning was when I called to find out how much the "fees" were which a member would be charged, I was told it was impossible to say but eventually after being pressured, the person indicated that a person would pay $300-$400 for a 7 day cruise to Mexico. I signed up for the program and arranged to pay through PayPal.
Weeks pass with no response from the company until one night someone calls to say there has been a problem with my payment so she asked for my debit # and promised the material would be mailed the following day. That was in the end of November.
It is now 01/05/11 and I have not received any response from the company. Good luck locating any working phone numbers or contact information. I have called any and every number associated with this company and left messages, receiving no response. Finally a couple of days ago a woman answered (I think by mistake) and said, "Oh, I have nothing to do with them, I only sell their products." I asked for a phone # or some way to contact the company, and she said she would have someone call me back. Within an hour someone did call back to say they had no record of my payment and no record indicating I should be a member. She said she would look into it and call me back the next day. Needless to say, no such luck.
In checking consumer complaint sites, I find that Prestige Travel Services, located at the same address has complaints filed against them for recruiting people to sell their products. The complaints indicate this is a scam. I believe they have the poor people who bought into the scam (selling travel packages) as the only ones who answer the phone and that they only do that when they mistakenly believe you are going to place an order. By the way, I have called no fewer than 15 times and a real human being never answers, you can only leave messages which will not be returned.
I am going to lodge a complaint against these people on any and every consumer complaint site possible. DO NOT FALL FOR THE SCAM. I suspect they use different names and websites to make it more difficult for people to make complaints.
4 Updates & Rebuttals
Jay
St. Petersburg,Florida,
United States of America
Also experienced similar circumstances
#5Consumer Comment
Thu, February 23, 2012
I just wanted to echo the scam concerns that the others have written about. My wife and I have encountered a very similar set of circumstances. We were supposedly getting a "Complimentary" cruise. When we contacted Passport to Travel to redeem it, no one ever answers the phone. You leave a message to initiate booking your travel and then they only deal with you via email. After getting a response, the "complimentary" cruise ended up costing $688 for each of us. I went on the cruise line's own website and found the cruise, with all taxes and port fees included, for just $239 more. That is a long way from complimentary. A discount? Yes but hardly complimentary. I would have never sent in my deposit had I know what I know now. Getting my deposit back is proving quite difficult. No one answers the phones and no one returns my calls after leaving many messages. I will be filing my own report on here with more detail.
Garyth
Calgary,Alberta,
Canada
PTS travel is a scam
#5Consumer Comment
Sun, February 19, 2012
Actually,
PTS travel and all names are not accredited with the BBB and have no rating as such. you are obviously an employee yet had you done a BBB search you would have realized before you spoke that this company is not accredited and rateds and are not members of the BBB.
truthfulfacts
Bradenton,Florida,
United States of America
PTS Travel
#5Consumer Comment
Fri, May 27, 2011
PTS Travel has been in business for many years and has thousands of satisfied customers. The BBB has given them an A+ rating based on 16 different factors. They are also in good standing with ASTA and CLIA. Unfortunately some companies selling discounted travel, totally misrepresent the product and the terms and conditions that apply which results in many unhappy and dissatisfied customers.
The Truth
Havana,Florida,
United States of America
Updated info on Prestige Travel Services, DBA Passport to Travel
#5Author of original report
Wed, February 09, 2011
Further investigation reveals that Prestige Travel Services also operates businesses under the name of: Passport to Travel; CruiseBrokers.com; PTS travel; Getaway to Paradise; Tourbrokers.com and Prestige Vacations. The corporate officers are: Ron LaScala (President), Anita LaScala (Executive VP), Kimberly D. LaScala (VP), Lena C. Cleary (CTC, Dir. of Air, Car, Hotel), Amaris Kroslak (Dir. of Cruise Operations), Pamela Evans (Director of Business and Finance).
The following complaints on Rip-Off Report all involve the same company: 254335, 401919, 642479, 568132, 679135, 114722, 476931, 162726, 413056 (8 separate complaints in conjunction with Tripres.com). They may also be associated with VIP Travel in Celebration, Florida. The BBB of Hillsborough Co. has registered 76 complaints in the last 36 months with 30 of these complaints being closed in the last 30 year.
Alternative business address for President, Ron LaScala is 5814 Schooner Way, Tampa, FL 33615. Florida's Dept. of Agriculture & Consumer Services (850)488-2221 is the government agency which investigates complaints about companies in Florida. The can also be reached at (800)HELPFLA. Their e-mail address is: 800helpfla.com. Prestige Travel Service's license # is ST17788. Their business license with Hillsboro County Occupational License is #110468 (813)635-5200.
They use multiple names, phone numbers (11), websites (7), etc. which I believe is to make it look like there is less dissatisfaction with them than there is. Please consult the BBB site for all of the different numbers and websites which are them.
P.S. After 3 months of dealing with the company, they have yet to issue the "money-back guarantee" in spite of the fact that my credit union is conducting a fraud investigation on them. I am going to contact the Rip-Off people to begin the official process for a class action suit. Check back after I have gone through the official process.