This is apparently a common theme for these creeps, to hustle unsuspecting folks into a meeting room with the lure of free airline tickets, free hotel stays, gift cards, etc. After being convinced to 'jump in' to a greatly-reduced trial plan (after my wife and I told the salesman that there was no way the plan would fit into our finances at this point in our lives), we were given a stack of papers to sign along with a bunch of brochures and crap. When I got home, I did enough internet research on the companies involved in our purchase to frighten me, and immediately called them on the next business day to cancel the transaction (charged to a credit card).
Funny part was, they didn’t even want to know why I canceled but readily provided instructions for doing so. One thing they threw in that wasn’t in the contract, they said $100 would be deducted from the original charge if their stupid folder with brochures was not mailed back to them (extra expense for me). I don’t think it would hold up if they pushed it, but just to be done with them quickly and not have future claims that I failed to meet the precise and specific conditions for canceling, I mailed the folder and a letter to them-overnight mail. They should get it today (May 29, 2013) and we will see where it goes from there.
If they still try to charge my card I will have my credit company dispute the charge and get my cash back that way. Since I balked within their magical ‘3 business days’ deadline I wonder if I can cancel the whole thing easier...
I was initially suspicious on the way home because so many different entities/business names were associated with the supposed one travel company, and later I discovered this is most likely due to them being forced to change their name and location when a legal judgment is brought against them somewhere else. I also found out, by doing a little reasearch on Oracle Travel Promotions, the providers of the 'free' airline and hotel vouchers, that they aren't worth the paper they're printed on and worse-they have bilked many hundreds of folks out of $250-over $1,000 over the last few years. If you happen to receive one of those with Oracle's name attached, don't dare send it in with money attached, you will probably never see your money or any actual services or benefit from it-only requests for more cash and false promises.
Form this point on, I plan to book vacations myself by using vrbo.com or someone who directly owns a timeshare and doesn't use all of the time throughout a given year. Much less risk and more flexibility doing it that way instead of simply trusting someone I've never met to find me what they say is the best 'deal.'
Anyway, thanks to everyone for sharing your stories, we really need to keep getting the word out on these shady deals so many other unsuspecting folks don't fall prey to these crooks.