I am a victim of the "free" give away. Unlike most of you we did sign up for the vacation group. We got these GREAT bonus promotional vacations. I missed out on one of the "bonuses" because I was waiting to see about this vacation. We set our dates for May, June and July to Ixtapa, Puerto Vallarta, and Acapulco. We were told we could not travel any of those dates because they were booked. I told them these were the dates that we could travel because of kids, school, etc. I went back and forth with Customer Service (CS) with the same rude responses that most of you others encountered. Finally, Chuck Snow (who recently, like today, told me he was the owner but is just referred as the Directing Manager), told me it should not be a problem to travel the same dates I had originally picked but in 2009.
Then I email Veronica Gonzalez (
[email protected]), the CS Rep and ask her if all is set for this coming spring and she says I must travel before my expiration date. I told her what Chuck had said and she said she would check and get back to me. In the mean time I get an email confirming my Jan 19th, 2009 travel date to Cancun. I forwarded the email to Veronica and cc'd Chuck that I was unable to travel on that date and was not going to Cancun because that was not one of our picked destinations. I receive a very rude voice mail from Chuck asking if I knew how to read.
So, I called him back and left a voice mail for him assuring him that I indeed knew how to read, but I had already discussed this with him. He called me back today chastising me for saying "I was not going to Cancun". So we engaged in a heated discussion of what was said and what was going to be adhered to. He said that we get the destination that has the cheapest airfare. So, anyone coming out of Detroit was going to go to Cancun because it was the cheapest airfare. I asked about flying out of Chicago, and he said I would have to call CS. I did and they told me they would have to contact Corporate. Full circle yet again.
So, here is what it boils down to. Whatever airport you fly out of determines your resort destination. If Chicago to Cozumel is cheapest that is where you are going, regardless of what you put on the certificate. I was also unaware that I was going to have to pay airport taxes (thank you to whoever wrote that in their blog). It was not on the travel certificate given out. I wouldn't have looked on the website, had I not seen it on here. What about the people caught off guard, because they do not have a computer?
I called the Global Discovery Vacations and asked for their marketing department. I informed them this was needed because I was looking into getting a class action lawsuit going against these unprofessional slugs. I also wanted to let them know how poorly they are being portrayed because they are being linked with these sorry folks. They may want to rethink who they recruit to promote their business. I was informed that their corporate office does not handle the promotions (which seems odd to me) and that the local sales office will be calling me. I will be waiting for that call, believe me!
I asked Chuck how he made his money, the vacation people, the resorts, and he did not give me a clear answer. I plan on contacting everyone associated with MEXICO PARADISE VACATIONS and letting them know what type of business they are entrusting to market their company. Maybe they know, maybe they don't, but they will now!!!
God Bless!
Carla
Plainwell, Michigan
U.S.A.