- Report: #1176078
Complaint Review: PPV Elitetravelbenefits.com - Internet
Reported By:
Concerned Consumer -
New York, New York,
Submitted:
Updated:
-
Author Not Confirmed
Why?
PPV Elitetravelbenefits.com
Internet, USA
Web:
elitetravelbenefits.com
Categories:
Business Rating:
(0)
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PPV Elitetravelbenefits.com PPVElite Travelelitetravelbenefits.com PPV/Elite lured us to a motel in Brooklyn to pitch us a bogus Travel Club Scheme with promise of free airline tickets and hotel nights. Sante Fe, New Mexico Internet
*UPDATE Employee ..inside information: Travel Club Benefits
*Author of original report: Interesting Rebuttal, so if this is legit, why is the company monitoring this website so closely?
*UPDATE Employee ..inside information: Regarding Your Concerns
*UPDATE EX-employee responds: ETB is a differnt company
*General Comment: Watching someone get rich
My husband recieved a letter in the mail, promising free airline and hotel tickets worth $1500, all we had to do was see a 90 minute presentation on a Travel Club. We traveled to a sleazy hotel an hour away from our home, to witness a complete an utter scheme going on. We were given presentations about a Travel Club that buys discount hotel rooms, cruise cabins, and airline tickets in bulk, gives them to us at cost, and the only catch is that we have to pay out $10,000 now and $300 per year, for the right to use this travel agency. This business model sounds very plausible, and similar to Costco...with the big exception that real companies don't require an upfront payment, they make money charging annual fees that they will continue to get from happy customers who renew becausae the program is great.
However PPV/Elite, 1) made no promises about specific discounts at specific places, so even if they really have a business and are not a complete fraud, you a paying up front for the right to use a travel agency that makes no promises of having any inventory in the future, 2) I never heard of any of the company names they alleged to be working for, not PPV, not Elite, so if this club was really so great, why have I not heard about it as someone who invests professionally in the travel industry? 3) they claimed to have a website that customers could brouse, but when referenced in their slide and in conversation, did not give the web address, or offer us a computer to look at and see the website...it probably does not exist, 4) they claimed to be selling us "nothing" but actually they wanted 10K upfront and on the spot, for the right to join this bogus club...when we said no, they reduced it to $6K, when we said no they sent in another guy and we still said no, he reduced the price to $3K. 5) They claimed to have 150,000 members already, generating over $50 million in annual revenues, and that they use the $10K that customers pay upfront to buy inventory of hotel rooms for the program. These numbers are absurd. 150,000 members times $10,000 would add up to $1.5 billion, I can say with surety, that there is no way this agency has purchased that much inventory!!! Rather, there are no real members in my opinion, and the salespeople are simply pocketing that $10K and giving you membership to a bogus club that may or may not be a real agency, and that probably gives you the right to buy hotels and air tickets at prices similar to what's available online. 6) They collected all presentation materials, including the orginal letter sent to us, so that we would have no material to do futher research on the Club, even if we had interest beyond today...meaning they knew once we left and googled them, there would be no way we would ever join! My guess is that they don't want to leave behind any paper or email trail that they can later by indicted for based on mail or internet fraud. Most legitimate companies give you marketing material, allow you to take time doing research, give you business cards to contact them in the future, etc, none was the case here.
We finally got them to let us leave without giving any money, but rather then give us our promised gifts of free air tickets and hotels valued at $1500, they gave us a form to mail in. My guess is that there is no way these tickets ever come, and if they do there will be major blackout dates and time limitations, rendering them worthless. A total and utter fraud, in my opinion.
5 Updates & Rebuttals
anonymous
harrisonburg,Virginia,
Watching someone get rich
#2General Comment
Sat, December 27, 2014
I'd like to say that no matter how you dress this up. A scam is a scam is a scam.
It makes me sick to my stomach to think that poor innocent people fall for this crap.I know someone personally who has made millions scamming people, spending money, not paying taxes, paying cash for luxery vehicles and is still walking around as free as a bird. Someone please tell me what you have to do in order to get justice for the victims and see these con artist placed behind bars where they belong? If someone can go to jail for Grand Larceny....why can't they be arrested for stealing this type of cash.
Hit me up on here if you'd like the information on "who" this scam arrest is. I'm sure you know him and his crew.
magnavox
St. Augustine,Florida,
ETB is a differnt company
#3UPDATE EX-employee responds
Thu, October 30, 2014
Actually the company you are referring to does not hold events. ETB is a private vacation club. There are 5-15 customer service reps helping people book their vacations at that company. This is a very elite vacation club with a lot of members. So it may be that another company is selling this one. If fact there are probley many companies reseling it all all different costs. You paid 10,000 and they paid 2,000. So to slandering the wrong company is not right. They hire reputation management companies to come after people like you. Then you will have your own issues online to fix. Now I know many people use these free tickets to go to the border of foreign countries like Mexico instead of buying fake passports online. They come to these presentations is mass and put in the time and effort to get their free plane tickets. They then go on trips to San Diego and cross over into Tijuana. There they buy fake forged documents like they would buy forged documents online. Most get fake passports online, fake ids online or buy fake drivers liscences online. Then they mail the fake id to their illegal family members around the US. Now that they have some fake id online, they get all the benefits of living here. But they do not have to pay taxes because they are not real. They buy a fake passport online or fake drivers liscence online. They do not even get speeding tickets. Because the police do not know they buy a fake id online that matches a real person. Basically they bought a copy of a fake id online. So it goes both ways. People use the seminars to get free airline tickets, and the seminars try to sell the people vacation clubs. If you can say no 10 times you get free tickets. If you lay down on the first pencil, you are going to pay alot for a vacation club. For all those Illigal immigrants who go to the events to purchase fake passports online or on their trip. They are scamming the travel clubs, the events, and the country as a whole. Who wouldn't want a free flight and a fake drivers liscence online. Over one million illigal Mexicans and every college student in America who wants to buy a beer?
Elite
Florida,Regarding Your Concerns
#4UPDATE Employee ..inside information
Fri, September 12, 2014
A member brought this report to our attention so that we could help address your concerns. Our members strive for positivity with their club just as much as we do. We will continue to look into the matter at hand regarding the sales company and the incentive provided.
Concerned Consumer
New York,New York,
Interesting Rebuttal, so if this is legit, why is the company monitoring this website so closely?
#5Author of original report
Fri, September 12, 2014
I find the fact that a company employee rebutted my scam report a mere day after it was posted, validation that this is indeed a scam. Real companies don't monitor fraud websites on a daily basis! Moreover, we looked at the form we were given to mail in for our free tickets and hotels....and it requires a $50 per person activation fee!!!! That was never said in the original letter which was taken away from us, and the fact that I have no proof in writing of the original offer, again validates that this is a complete and utter scam!
Elite
Florida,Travel Club Benefits
#6UPDATE Employee ..inside information
Fri, September 12, 2014
We are concerned to hear your opinions regarding the presentation from the sales company and the incentives that the sales company offered for attending. Our travel club will look into this information further to make sure that each presentation held by a separate sales team meets our high standards.
The travel club that you had the option to purchase into is a private club, not offered to just the general public, which is why only members and wholesalers know about our company. Also, our member base outshines other similar companies, therefore giving us access to the largest inventory in the industry.
Had you chosen to become a member, you would have had direct access to large savings, personalized service and a seamless vacation process. We do not want our exclusive travel club and its thousands of happy members to feel alarmed, as our company is one of the best in the industry with an array of benefits to offer potential members.
