Tropical Grand Vacations Tropical Grand Vacations is a fraud!! Longwood Florida
We live in Sydney Australia and we purchased a holiday package to Florida from Tropical Grand Vacations. We thought we were getting a good deal, because the sales person promised us stays at 5 star hotels with rooms that would accommodate 4 people. We were also promise free breakfast during our entire time there. We made the purchase, planned our US holiday accordingly, and called Tropical Grand Vacations to make our reservations. We were told that we will be staying at Calypso Cay Timeshare resorts, not exactly five star. The reservation manager, Ms Tiffany Jordan, told us the following:
1. There is a US $100.00 reservation fee.
2. Unless we pay a US $140.00 fee to upgrade our room, our booking will not be guaranteed.
3. Free breakfast is not guaranteed unless we pay the US $140.00 for an upgraded room.
When we explained to Ms Jordan that this was not told to us when we purchased the package, her response was that she does "not have time to babysit" us and whether we want to go ahead with the package or not. We asked her if we can see photos of a standard room or an upgraded room and she said that are no photos online of the rooms. From her brief description of the rooms, they sounded like the same room. I visited Calypso Cay's pathetic website and there was nothing on there either.
So what was a US $400.00 dollar package for a 5 day and 4 night stay in Orlando is now US $640. I am not paying this, and am calling my credit card to cancel the payment. My recommendation is for everyone to not purchase anything from Tropical Grand Vacations. They will say anything and everything to get you to buy, than try to get more money out of you to give you what you should already be getting. Calypso Cay has not done anything wrong but they should not be dealing with a fraudulent service like Tropical Grand Vacations, so I don't recommend staying with them either.
I see that we are not the only ones who have been ripped off by Tropical Grand Vacations. I wish I had read some of the reviews on here of other people who have had the same issues I am now experiencing.
Auman
Sydney
Australia
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Old Bill
United States of AmericaIn the UK, TGV is flagged as a scam operator
#3Consumer Comment
Mon, October 18, 2010
Tropical Grand Vacations is only one name used by a scammer that uses predictive dialling to cold-contact members of the public selling "holidays" - anyone foolish enough to give credit card details usually has a debit charged to their account before the call is even finished, usually for much more than any price mentioned for the "holiday" (originally said to be $400, debits are usually around $1,000-$1,200).
Often, nothing is received, and it is impossible to contact the company. All of their various web sites are registered through "Domains by Proxy, Inc" so that it is impossible to make contact through that route.
Their web sites are unlawful in any European country that is a member of the EEC because they do not comply with basic consumer protection legislation. In the UK, the sites do not comply with the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002, or the legal requirements of Regulations 6 and 7 of the Companies (Trading Disclosures) Regulations 2008, made under Sections 82 to 85 of the Companies Act 2006, in that the company name is not shown, nor does it indicate the fact that it is trading as a limited company.
These are criminal offences under English law if the company trades in the UK, which it does by contacting UK citizens by telephone. However, the directors of the company cannot be arrested or prosecuted unless they enter the UK or land at a UK airport in the course of an international flight.
Tiffane
Longwood,Florida,
U.S.A.
GET THE FACTS STRAIGHT
#3UPDATE Employee
Thu, July 24, 2008
My conversations with this customer was never with the person who has made the complaint, it was actually from the girlfriend, Azar. This customer purchased this vacation on 7/5/08. Upon receiving the requested dates to travel, via email on 7/10, I attempted to contact the customer to go over dates and options but she was not available, I left a message. I then did speak with her on 7/16. I went over the options of being able to upgrade her room to include more ammenities. I then emailed her a link to the Calypso Cay website as well. Also in the conversation I informed her of the "one time booking fee" of $99.00. She appeared shocked, however after further investigation, I found that that fee was waived and I told her that. I also told her per our terms and conditions, that were signed by her we require a 45 day advance notice, we have early travel available for a fee..she was giving me 39 days. I also waived that fee.
On 7/17 I sent her an email asking what her decision was regarding the upgrade. I never received a reply. On 7/21 I received a message that she wanted to cancel because they couldn't afford to spend the additional monies ($35.00 per night) for the upgrade. I then sent her an email to let her know the vacations are not refundable after reservations are requested and that I would book her at the standard property. I then received a message from customer service on 7/22 to change her dates..(which once again I did and waived yet ANOTHER fee). Yesterday, on 7/23 I received confirmation and sent it to their email.
As of today 7/24/08 2:01pm Eastern time..I have yet to receive any request to cancel this holiday whatsoever. I simply ran across this information by accident when browsing this site.
I sincerely hope they enjoy their wonderful stay here in Orlando as we are looking forward to the opportunity to letting consumers know to have your facts staight. We will do every in our power to ensure our travelers have a memorable great holiday.
Tiffane Jordan, Reservations manager