Angel
Orion Township,#2UPDATE Employee
Mon, June 11, 2007
Eric, thank you for sending me the link to your statements so I could respond. My replies are to your quoted remarks taken verbatim from your message... "I need to tell people the truth behind Coastal Vacations. It is a rip off!" We've got hundreds of testimonials spanning many years of people saving more than the cost of a membership on their first vacation. Last year over Christmas we had condos on Maui for a week for $335 (2br/full kitchen/with a/c) for the week. One woman on our team just saved nearly $50,000 on one vacation. Members who've been documenting their savings for several years have portfolios thicker than phone books, showing continual savings vacation after vacation. "Here is how Coastal Vacations really works. When you become a member, whether it's for the business opportunity or to purchase the product itself, you are not allowed to return the products without even having it in your physical hands. So how is that fair to the person buying it? Think about it for a second. Do you buy groceries at the store without looking at them or do you buy clothes at a department store without looking at them? Obviously not!" Every rep has their own return policy. Mine is simple: "Pretend you just got a refund and walk away -- because the product does what we say it does and is what we say it is." "...the product has no real value, and is being offered for $1,295 to $11,000." See my first answer above. I guess this is a big elaborate scheme to trick people, with everyone conspiring to lie? "Once you become a member, Coastal Vacations gives you websites to login to find travel deals and 90% of these websites are already accessible by the public. So how is this a value?" Check your numbers. Yes, for convenience sake, there are vendors to whom we are provided access where the general public could locate the same deals. But 90%? Hardly. Not even close. We have some amazing -- AMAZING -- savings available to us not available to the general public. "Remember they claim free unlimited complimentary vacations that only you can get if you are a member of Coastal Vacations." There are no claims of "free unlimited complimentary vacations" Remove the word "free" and you are correct. On every training call about our product and all material it is made clear that the vacations are not free. We sell discounts. We are in the discount travel industry, not the miraculous free vacation industry. This business is logic, not magic. Yes, it costs money to travel. We just get better deals than the general public in many, many, many ways. "When you call these 'member benefit cards,' no one answering the phone knows of 'Coastal Vacations,'..." This has been explained repeatedly on our nationally broadcast product training calls available to anyone and everyone every single week. And the explanation makes perfect sense. Much of our membership consists of becoming members of other travel clubs and associations, and we are known to them as their members. Furthermore, in some instances the person answering the phone is merely an hourly employee who actually knows little about the contracts and relationships of their employers. They are there to book travel, not to discuss the intricacies of relationships their employer has with third parties. This is logical to deduce for someone looking for the truth. "Also, there are several false promises and much misleading information about 'Coastal Vacations' giving you a FREE complimentary vacation. I am sorry: this does not exist!" The vouchers are given away at times for no cost to the recipient -- no cost for the voucher. ALL of our material and training explains that the vacations have associated costs -- port taxes and a processing fee for cruises; room taxes and a processing fee for hotels and resorts, etc. Nothing is sure but death and taxes. Who in their right mind could actually think you can get 25 "FREE" vacations for $1295 or even for $11,000? "When I redeemed my 2 FREE Vacation vouchers for the Bahamas (and I paid a $53 processing fee for 2 people), Coastal Vacations mailed me a form to fill in to 'Fun Time Vacations; to pay them about $300 for one week to the Bahamas. Again, how is this a free complimentary vacation?" It's not free and nothing says it is. It's also not the first or best go-to voucher-driven vacation, nor a good one to use for a first test of the product. As has been stated many, many times by several members of the Board and people in leadership, our product is not perfect. There are some things that offer amazing, exclusive savings, some things that are so-so, and some things have already been removed for being inferior to the quality standards of the company. You just picked one that falls closer to the latter category than the former. "Again another example, the board of directors claim that most of the vacations cost about $300 a week..." Which is it? They are stating that most vacations cost $300 a week? Or they are telling you they are free? It cannot be both. Listen to the Q&A call every night Monday through Thursday and you'll hear they average about $300 per week -- a really good deal for a resort condo stay. Twice that much would be a really good deal. "The bottom line is this, Coastal Vacations does not give you access to unlimited 'FREE COMPLIMENTARY' vacations." True. Unlimited vouchers are available. There is nothing for sure but death and taxes, and the taxman will get his piece of the action as always. Nobody anywhere says you have unlimited FREE vacations, either. Nor can anyone produce official documentation claiming that Coastal gives unlimited FREE vacations, because that would be ridiculous for anyone to even think such a thing is possible. "If this company gave unlimited free vacations..." Then pink elephants would fly and rivers would flow with sweet wine. No such thing exists anywhere, nor does any honest Coastal rep suggest such a silly thing. Eric, I am sorry you chose to torpedo Coastal after failing with the business. I know precisely why you failed and attempted on many occasions to help you and am sorry to see you leave with such silliness as the above. I do sincerely wish you well and hope and pray you find your place (and your peace) in this world. I really like you and am not sure why you've chosen to torch this bridge. But I guess this is what you needed to do for your own satisfaction. So all I can do is recommend that you stick to the facts and use reason and logic when you're engaging in such tactics. Many blessings, Angel in Michigan