ScratchGiftClaim.com Professional Buying Club Professional Discount Club The company whose services were being solicited was discreet about its real business name, however it referred itself as a or the Professional Buying Club or Professional Discount Club. It used ScratchGiftClaim as a vehicle to market its services with the promise of being rewarded with a prize through ScratchGiftClaim if the recipient of the invitation attends a presentation, but it failed to deliver the prize it guaranteed. it also would not provide a contact unless the attendee purchased a membership for $ 5,000. ScratchGiftClaim.com failed to deliver the reward they guaranteed if we attended a presentation. unknown unknown
On June 7, 2018 we attended a presentation at the Hilton Garden Inn in O'Fallon, Missouri, based on an invitation we received in the mail that guaranteed we would win a prize from several categories simply if we attended, plus an Amazon GiftCard worth up to $ 100, no purchase required. Each of the guaranteed prize categories was significant in value. We attended the presentation which was a solicitation to join a discount professional buying club that claimed to offer deep discounts on all sorts of purchases, but primarily large home improvement projects and travel.
They promised the presentation would take only an hour and that we would receive the gift for attending immediately after the presentation. However, the presentation took over an hour and half and afterwards, we were matched up with an agent who tried to sell us a membership into the club for $ 5,000 plus annual renewal fees. After matching up the scratch-off number, we were informed that we had won either a three-day, two-night get-a-away including paid-for air travel and paid-for hotel within the continental U.S. OR a seven day cruise, plus the gift card. But, we did not receive the gift then and had to go through a registration process on-line after we returned home.
After receiving the voucher number and registering on-line, and claiming the guaranteed seven day cruise at scratchgiftclaim.com, we received an e-mail notification that we successfully registered and that we would be receiving in the mail the documents and instructions needed to receive the free cruise, and that we should allow seven business days for processing and validation.
The notification also asked us if we had changed our mind and if we wished to join the membership. We did not join, but we were still assured we would be delivered the prize because they stated no purchase was necessary and the reward was guaranteed simply by attending the presentation.
It now has been nearly three (3) weeks and we have received nothing. They would not provide to us any contact information unless we gave them money to become members and the only contact information we were provided was the original claim telephone number 1-855-853-6388 and a no-reply e-mail address of scratchgiftclaim@wufoo.com. Repeated calls to this phone number have been unsuccessful as nobody answers the phone and no replies can be made to the e-mail address.
It appears the company does not want any non-members or recipients of the guaranteed prized to know anything about the sponsor, the company, or have any contact information with them. In other words, it appears they do not intend to deliver the prize they guaranteed and they do not want us to be able to contact them to inquire about it.
Therefore, at this time, unless we immediately receive the guaranteed prize and/or guaranteed contact information with the company, we must deem this company to be a fraud and a scam to lure people to the presentation by guaranteeing a prize to attend, but then they fail to deliver the prize and they fail to provide any bona fide contact information to reach them. Unless this company immediately makes good on its promise and guarantee, and promptly delivers the prize that they guaranteed, this outfit should be investigated for fraud and illegal business practices and all who incurred time and expense to drive to and attend their presentations should be promptly rewarded with the prize that was guaranteed to them, plus compensatory damages as well.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Diane
Mission,Texas,
United States
Cruise Limitations-Scratch Gift Claim - ScratchGiftClaim.com Professional Buying Club Professional Discount Club
#3General Comment
Thu, November 07, 2019
It took several months to receive the forms but once we received the travel request, in our opinion, it was even worse than previously described. While documentation originally described a free 7 day cruise on Carnival, Royal Caribbean, or Norwegian with an outside port window it now became an inside cabin with UP to 7 days.
The only choices, if they are able to fill your request, are departure port and departure date. We interpret that to means that they can put you on any 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 day cruise that leaves that port on that date and on any of the 3 cruise lines listed. Their choice - not yours but you can decline. The original "from any US mainland ports, now eliminates New York, Baltimore, Cape Liberty, Charleston, Norfolk and Boston. It also excludes certain classes of ships from each cruise line.
Unless you choose hurricane season - (September through November) or December, a surcharges will apply. Since 7 days before and after a holiday are also excluded unless a surcharge is paid, there is little time to choose since we hit Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas and possibly Veterans Day?
The initial request requires 60 days minimum notice and then 45 days minimum thereafter for the 2nd choice. If the first requests are not accepted, you can request a new date- but due to the 45 day limitation, it is impossible to choose a new date without incurring a surcharge as all travel must be completed within 18 months.
Two night, Cuba, Alaska or seasonal cruises are also disallowed.
The initial $99 fee is supposed to be refundable or applied against additional fees. I found the port taxes and sales tax that we would be responsible to pay approximated $200.00. Add the $200 activation fee to that and it seems expensive for an inside cabin when there are all sorts of deals available with perks.
In conclusion, we are canceling our travel request form and requesting a refund.
James
SAINT CHARLES,Missouri,
United States
Additional Information RE: Report ID # 1448922
#3Author of original report
Fri, August 03, 2018
This is a follow-up to our previously filed report: We were promised to receive the reward information in seven (7) business days. However, over two (2) months later (interestingly after we filed our report herein), we finally received the information. It did not consist of travel information or reward information that we anticipated but instead consisted of a single page (both sides) voucher from "CheapTickets.com" back-dated with an issue date about two (2) weeks before we received it with fine print instructions including the next step. The next step was to return an activation form and $ 99 for processing fees to be received by them within twenty-one (21) days of the issue date. In other words, although we were supposed to have about three (3) weeks to respond and pay the fees, they only gave us about a week per the voucher.
In addition, the $ 99 payment must be in the form of a cashiers check or money order (they would not take a regular check), and must be mailed with the activation form by certified mail, ... not by regular mail. The instructions then said only after they receive it they would they send us a travel package including a travel request form (again only after a certain period of time to wait to receive it) to be mailed back, again, this time with an additional $ 99 processing fee times two (2) (for both my wife and I, ... that is a total of another $ 198 in fees). We also would have a limited time to do this.
They would not provide a list of available cruises, but instead required us to choose a first choice and a second choice (at least 60 days after the first choice) from only certain ports in the U.S. No information regarding available cruises, dates, ports, destinations, itinaries, etc is provided. The instructions then stated that we would not hear from them regarding whether our choice was approved until 30 - 90 days before cruise departure. AND, we would be responsible for additional processing fees, taxes, commisionables, port fees, surcharges, and other costs incurred in connection with the cruise, although they would not tell us what these would be or how much in advance.
The instructions also stated that we were not to contact them and that we must wait for them to contact us within this short time-frame before the cruise. In our opinion, the reason they will not advise whether our selection is approved is because it must fall into a cheap-last-minute-category for them to save money on the ticket and there is a reasonable probability that our selection would not be available.
To make a long story short, at this time, we have decided not to correspond any more with this outfit, because it is evident to us that all they want to do is to make money from us (by charging us nearly $ 300 in processing fees), and only allowing us tickets on cheap cruises they can get at the last minute, AND in eventually charging us additional fees, surcharges, and other costs that they would not even let us know what they would be in advance, but the instructions did say we would be subject to these additional fees, surcharges, etc beyond the nearly $ 300 in fees required to be paid to them already. In doing research, we learned that we could book a similar cruise ourselves, for example straight from a cruiseline and not have to pay all of these processing fees, surcharges, and other costs (and would receive incentive freebies to boot) much cheaper than from this CheapTickets.com outfit. In fact, the processing fees that CheapTickets.com required us to pay would not apply if we booked the cruise ourselves.
In our opinion, instead of receiving the promised reward of cruise tickets on any cruise that we wanted within the U.S. that was 3-7 days, as told to us, instead this has turned into a scheme to get us to pay money to them in the form of processing fees, surcharges, and other costs that we were initially not told would be applicable, and then eventually additional fees and surcharges and other costs that they would not tell us what they would be or how much in advance. In addition, they are not timely and their instructions are incredibly restrictive, making it very difficult to follow.
We even called them on the phone to discuss the instructions and the lady who served us was very abrupt, basically simply said to read the instructions, they must be followed, that they do not make the rules, but implied they must enforce them, and she was not helpful. In summary, we still believe this entire process including what we were promised by attending the presentation is extremely suspicious and should be investigated for fraud and illegal business activities. In a nutshell, we were promised a reward by attending the presentation, however instead of receiving it, instead it has turned into a long-drawn-out scheme to get us to pay them processing fees and not get what was promised.