Complaint Review: Grand Discovery Travel - Cary North Carolina

We decided to go to the presentation so that we could get the free airline tickets and hotel stay that was offered. No purchase or payment required. They make it sound so great during the presentation but in reality never tell you the bottom line cost until they send you off with a travel agent. We didn't even bother speaking with a travel agent because we knew that since it wasn't mentioned during the presentation that it was going to be way outside of our budget. But the woman who did the presentation wouldn't let us leave until we talked with her. She said that was part of the presentation in order to get our gifts (although the 90 minutes had passed). She told everyone in the group at the beginning of the presentation that this was a no pressure presentation, if we liked it and it was something that would work for us then great, if not, we get our gifts and can be on our way. This was a complete scam. The whole positive attitude changed very quickly when we said we couldn't afford it. Even after we told the presenter that it would be a hardship for our family and that we were not interested in putting anything on a credit card and going further into debt, she questioned whether our credit cards were 'maxed' out. I explained that wasn't the case (not that it was any of her business) and we wanted to keep it that way. And to add insult to injury she got the calculator out to give us the "employee package", the lowest deal which still came out to about $2,600. We still let her know even that would be a huge risk for our family financially and that we didn't have the means to travel to all of these resorts or to take off work. And to top off the horrible experience, we drove nearly an hour each way and the free gifts were NOT free at all. The airline tickets you have to pay $75 per person for reservation fee (non refundable after your reservation is confirmed), then $100 (refundable 30 days after you take your trip) to activate the gift by money order or cashiers check you have to send the money in 60 days in advance and have to wait until 2 weeks before departure date to know if it is approved or not. You also have to send in 2 or 3 different dates and destinations. Then you have to pay for all taxes and fees on the airline tickets. The hotel card was no better. It's a $50 card but you are required to stay a minimum of 2 nights and have to book from select destinations only. It is not a cash card like they present it. And the 2-3 night stay in hotel you also have to send $50 up front for that too. They make it virtually impossible to meet the criteria to take this trip. Needless to say, we threw our free gifts in the garbage when we got home for fear of getting ourselves into a mess that would cost us financially. Don't waste your time on this, it really is a scam!