- Report: #7525
Complaint Review: Travelbridge - Nationwide
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Travelbridge
Nationwide, U.S.A.
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Travelbridge High Pressure Sales Pitch & Scam
My wife and I recently attended a Travelbridge presentation in Houston, TX (one of their new sales offices) after being promised a free cruise. We went to the presentation with great apprehension realizing that there is no free lunch (or vacation) without some kind of strings attached. After reading some of the comments here, I'm thankful that we did not give into their sales pitch and fork over $3,000 for this program (scam). We did receive a coupon to send away for the cruise (we'll see happens with that). I wanted to communicate a few of our experiences and observsations from the meeting.
First, after the formal presentation (which was full of all kinds of enticing facts and figures on the company and the great savings on travel packages), we were visited individually by a sales rep. She wasted no time in asking us what we thought about the presentation, program, and possible savings. We thought it looked great. However, not being one to give up $3,000 (per couple good only on that day, otherwise $5,390 / person) of my hard earned money without first seeing some hard facts, I asked to see more info. on the company (i.e., financial statement). She could not produce one and did not offer to get me a copy later. I stated that in order for me to give them any money I would need more time to research the company and program.
I asked for a day or two to decide. She said the "great deal" they were offering was good for that day only. She went on to tell us some story about the Attorney General and travel agent assocation not being aware of this great deal and if they knew about it that Travelbridge would get into some kind of trouble(?). This didn't make any sense to us and we wondered why she would even bring it up. If they were doing something wrong why advertise it?
Second, when I asked to see some more details on the program, the classes, procedures for booking the travel, and other misc. information, she didn't produce any of it. All she could give me was a copy of the contract. She continued to tell us verbally about all the people that got great deals on travel. In fact she used one of the same stories that one of the other sale reps used on us just a few minutes before. Still no hard written facts to back up all the stories.
Finally, we noticed that 75-80% of the attendees were senior citizens and most likely retired (we are in are 30's). Why were a majority senior citizens? Because they usually have more money and time to travel and are looking for ways to stretch their retirement dollars. We realized this afterwards because we didn't get the hard sell that the older folks were getting. Other sales reps had binders full of information. Why didn't we get to see any of this information? They also were sending several sales reps. over to talk to the elderly folks. Our sales spent a minimum amount of time with us and did not have any formal information to show us.
I think it is very important to get the word out about his company. And for anyone considering this "great opportunity", please research it throughly first. Ask detailed questions about the program, the services, procedures for obtaining travel deals, the classes, etc. Ask for associate references, BBB and Chamber of Commerce membership.
There were far too many unanswered questions during the sales presentation. If you do not get all your questions answered DO NOT give this company any money. They have excellent presenters and are using high pressure emotional sales tactics to siphen money out of mainly elderly folks.
If you are a Travelbridge supporter and associate and have some positive experiences to share please do so. I would love to hear about them and see the facts I didn't get during the sales pitch. This sounds like a great deal, but almost too good to be true, so please back it up with facts and figures.
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1 Updates & Rebuttals
#20
Mon, November 05, 2001
