Complaint Review: Fulfillment International Corporation - Coldwater Michigan

Do Fulfillment International Corporation provide a decent holiday at all, or have we been ripped-off?

My girlfriend and I have also 'invested' in a holiday to Florida and the Bahamas, plus possibility of a short stay in Mexico. 5 days in a hotel in Orlando (Holiday Inn), 4 on a cruise to Nassau (Royal Carribean or Carnaval cruise lines), plus a 'bonus' couple of days at a resort in Mexico.

I was telephoned by 'FIC' a couple of weeks after filling out a competition lottery on the internet. I was contacted by Nancy 'employee no. 907'. Like many other folk, I had apparently won, in the promotional lottery, a 12 day holiday for two people, for which we were to pay only 20% of the cost. Fulfillment International Corp. were to cover the rest. Sounded like a good offer, as we have friends in Florida would like to go there again. It seemed to be believable and realistic as a promotional offer for the 'lucky' lottery winners.

The big problem was that our 20% of costs ($937) should be paid immediately by credit card (what happens if one doesn't have one). Uhm! Ahh! Not sure about that! No way! But then we buy other things over internet, including all of our normal flight tickets. Anyway, after discussing the chance for an hour with my girlfriend, we decided to go for it.

I know it was risky giving my card details over the phone, but I believed it to be an established American holiday company running a promotion in Europe (and other areas of the world it seems). I checked their web site and those of the cruise companies mentioned, before booking. They existed as described in my telephone conversation with Nancy 907. I agreed with Nancy that I would pay half now and half one month after (once I had received the luggage, tickets and information promised in 14 days). I asked for a recept to be sent to me through the internet for the amount I paid ($488), which I received the next day. OK. No big worries, (once that came through).

I was maybe sceptical about having won a big lottery, but felt it to be a reasonable price for what was on offer, in an area of the world we wanted to visit again anyway. Nancy was quite clear about the fact that we must ourselves pay the costs of travel to and from the destinations plus taxes, and we decided we could manage that.

Then my girlfriend found this Rip-off Report site with the collection of reports from other, mostly potential, customers of FIC.

Are they ripping people off?

What I really want to know is whether there is a holiday at the end of this process. I'm definitely not paying the second half of the cost until I receive the package with luggage, tickets, etc., but I would very much like to read of anyone who has been on a hoiday arranged by FIC.

I would be especially glad if the lady from Melbourne could report back, because she was so definite about travelling in Jan, 2003. How was it? Should I pay the rest of my deposit?

I'm not so worried about the people who didn't go for the promotion- probably a wise decision, because one is not sure what will come out of it and I'm sure one can be cheated. But it seems from the Rip-off reports that no-one has been directly swindled, yet. Problems occurred that could be put down to mistakes or slow admin.

On the other hand, no-one has wrote in with a positive report (but then, that's not what this site is for, is it?)

Assuming there is a decent holiday at the end of this agreement with FIC, I must write that the way the holiday package is sold, as if won in a lottery, is underhand. It is a very clever sales ploy or confidence trick (whichever) that we have fallen for in booking our holiday to Florida. This may be OK for us, as we wanted to go there anyway. It is a cheat if people are persuaded to go, under the false pretenses of winning a lottery. Ultimately paying for something they didn't want or couldn't afford.

I hope someone can tell me what is happening with this company, before I should pay the second part of my deposit, at the end of March.

Hope you have a good holiday, all those that book with FIC.

Karel

Copenhagen
Denmark

Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on Fulfillment International