World Vacations - Marine Vacation Sales Training And Consulting owned By Fred Slagle swindled American tourists in St.Maarten selling Bluegreen Leisure Path. Crossville Tennessee

Excerpts from certified letter that was returned to me "unclaimed."

Dear Mr. Slagle,
I am a 62 year old disabled consumer who was sold a Bluegreen Leisure Path Travel package on May 25th, 2005 in St. Maarten by your company, World Vacations, LLC. I am sorry to report that the representatives of your company were not forthcoming with accurate information regarding this purchase. I relied on the integrity of the presenter and his intimations as conditions for the sale. The product and its services were misrepresented and do not offer the value as described. I was very clear with the salesman that I could not afford to buy the membership. He led me to believe that my timeshare would be sold for me to offset the purchase cost. He failed to disclose the true facts regarding the timeshare sale and I depended on what he told me to agree to place $9249.00 on my credit card.

After I returned home,I cancelled the Leisure Path membership and sent the member's kit back to Leisure Path by insured mail. BlueGreen Corp/Leisure Path says that World Vacations LLC was the distributor of their product/service. Mini-vacations credited the initial $180.00 annual fee within days of my request. Resort Solutions,Inc. sent me a partial refund for the timeshare advertising. RSI could not verify that the lady I was put on the phone with -to set up the timeshare sale agreement during the transaction- really worked for RSI.

The Agreement for Purchase contract states "all payments for the purchase of the travel club program will be paid to World Vacations, LLC." I put the payment issued to Marine Vacation Sales into dispute with my credit card company. Since you own both companies, I respectfully ask that you demonstrate accountability for the deceitful, deceptive and unfair business tactics used and issue an immediate credit to my account.
I am experiencing considerable emotional and financial hardship in all this time it is taking to get my money back.
Sincerely....

Mr.Slagle has never responded to my phone calls, emails or letter. When he did respond to the Discover dispute, he said that my husband and I were both present in the office and we signed the Agreement for Purchase and initialed all the terms, showing we both understood and agreed with all the terms including no recission period. The truth is, my husband has never set foot in St. Maarten. My daughter was my traveling companion. My copy of the Agreement for Purchase has no signatures on it at all.

I have filed complaints with BBB's,AG's,FTC,FDIC,and anyone I think might be able to help. I e-mail regularly with the eleven other families that I know of that were victims of this same scam.

In my research, I found that The National Consumer Law Center has identified 10 consumer injuries that can lead to significant client recoveries and attorney fees. One is:

Contracts providing that a lease, future service contract, or other transaction cannot be canceled or that a dealer is not subject to the oral promises of its employees. These and similar attempts to limit consumer rights are unfair and deceptive, and can lead to consumer recoveries of multiple, statutory, or punitive damages and attorney fees under a state Unfair and Deceptive Acts and Practices (UDAP) statute.

The laws are written, but how can consumers get them enforced?

Charlene
Scarborough, Maine
U.S.A.