Vacation Travel Club

We attended a presentation by Vacation Travel Club at Five Points Travel agency in Willow Grove, PA in Sept. 2008. We were "sold" a membership in the amount of $4500, but we were charged $4964, $500 more. Vacation Travel attempted to charge our credit card twice without our authorization. We did not receive the services and goods promised. I asked for a refund, and was denied. They no longer operate at the location in Willow Grove, PA and I cannot trace them.

We have been defrauded of almost $5000. We have spent numerous hours dealing with our credit card company about the excessive and unauthorized charges. Vacation Travel Club's fraudulent activities have cost us financial problems, and wasted many hours of our precious time.

I lost money to Travelbridge - located in the same exact location several years ago. Company claimed to have no affiliation with them however they use the same marketing service Fly Free America and scam people into paying for the 'free' airline tickets - only to find out they are only useable if extravvagant hotel accommodations are purchased for a minium of 7 nights.

Last time around we lost $300 but this time all we lost was 2 hours of our time.

We joined this travel club in May of 2008. We were promised discounted rates on hotels and all inclusive trip packages, domestic and international. No one returned my calls and requests for service for the first three months. Last week I requested quotes for a weekend trip to Las Vegas. I did recieve a call saying that it would take a few days, and was told that they could do an all-inclusive (meals included) trip.

After not hearing from them, I followed up and there was no record of my request, and I was told to 'just call back another time'. I asked that someone contact me instead. A few more days passed with no call, so my husband called and was forwarded to a supervisor. After complaining to him, we received an email with four different quotes (each with the same flight, but different hotels). The per person rates seemed high so I went online and quoted them myself (same airline, flight time, hotels and type of room) and was able to get better rates myself. The travel club was going to charge on an average two hundred dollars more than if we just booked it ourselves online. I understand domestic airline rates change often, but there was obviously no discount on the rooms, and none of the quotes were all-inclusive, like previously promised. We have been told that there are no refunds of the initial sign up fee, even if the service (or lack of) is substandard.

We paid 1,999.00 to join and would like to have this money refunded. We have not obtained any service from the Vacation Travel Club that would justify payment owed to them. I would understand if they felt the need to retain an administrative fee for entering us into their system and for mailing us a membership card.