Complaint Review: Grand Discovery Travel - Simpsonville South Carolina

Hi,

I actually went to their presentation in Simpsonville this evening. I received a call last week offering me 2 " free" airline tickets and 2 nights at a hotel. I thought BS. Asked a bunch of questions about which airline, what hotels, how much does it cost for 'free' tickets, do I have to join a club, is there a service fee. I was told I only had to pay taxes on the tickets and the room. That instead of buying another form of advertising they were giving tickets away hoping for referrals and future travel business from me. They said they were going to explain why and how they were cheaper than Expedia, Travelocity etc. I am a travel agent and was interested in how they were cheaper than the online booking sources so I decided to go listen.

You know how Amway has tried to reposition themselves as NOT being a pyramid scheme? Well they tried to reposition themselves as NOT being timeshare. Which, they aren't exactly like the time shares of old, and they do offer discounts on airlines, cruises, all inclusive resorts etc. How are the cheaper then Expedia? Because they charge you thousands of dollars, as the guy previously said 6k, for 4 weeks a year of CONDO stay at a cost of only $270 - $550 for 7 nights, plus a $25.00 booking fee and an $89.95 annual renewal fee. So by the week booked according to their propaganda, they can 'save' you 50% or more on certain condos. 5- 15% on air line tickets, 30-70% on cruises, I forget the percent on all inclusive resorts. So they can probably be cheaper than Expedia if you only look at your week stay. But you can't look at that. You have to look at the bigger picture and do the math. Long story short, based on an annual week my family takes to the Outer Banks, and the final cost saving amount they wanted me to pay for the ability to book 1 week a year of 2K plus all the fees, and the cost of renting the condo or the week, I'd end up paying the same amount or more than I already pay for a house up there renting from the realtors. So we said NO, not that I ever intended to buy it in the first place.

So I get my voucher for free airline tickets. First you have to send in a form within 120 days with a $100.00 validation deposit by money order or cashiers check only. yeah, sure, I'm going to do that!

But that is refundable 30 days after travel. They send you a reservation letter. To make a reservation you have to fill out a form and send in a $75.00 per person booking fee by cashiers check or money order. Then you after you submit your reservation request via mail, you get a confirmation letter advising you of your tax deposit deadline( $40-$75) that again has to be paid via cashiers check or money order. Of course any excess tax deposit will be refunded but they don't say when. There is a bunch of other junk about dates, days etc. So the answer to my question of are there fees to make the reservations was and out and out lie.

Did I learn anything? Yeah. It if feels like a scam and smells like a scam it probably is. I feel really bad for those folks here that paid their money. They did make is sound worthwhile. You can find legitimate travel vendors online outside Expedia and Travelocity the do offer cruises a deep discounts. Once those ships sail, they can't sell that room, so the cruise lines do offer deep discounts as sailing dates near. Airlines are just crazy and have been since Eastern Airlines left the scene and they used 9/11 to justify all types of nutty fees and surcharges. But what are you going to do if you want to go to Hawaii? You can't drive there!