National Vacations, DBA Horizon Travel; TCI High Pressure Sales + Deceptive Advertising + No Refund Policy + Crafty Contract = BIG RIP OFF! Arlington Texas

First of all, I am preparing to file a small claims suit against Horizon Travel.

Once I discovered how badly I got burned (just weeks after I signed up), I tried to reason with Horizon Travel for a refund. But they refused every opportunity I gave them. They even IGNORED a letter from my attorney!

After reading from the Fort Worth Texas BBB, the State of Indiana Attorney General (Horizon Travel is now BANNED from doing business in Indiana), and from postings by so many other victims who have and continue to be deceived and ripped off, I believe suing Horizon Travel is the appropriate action to take now--and I told Horizon Travel I would if they didn't refund my money. Their response: "That is your right." (My interpretation of that is "Go right ahead!")

I regret that I, like many other victims, fell for the bait-and-switch business trap being perpetuated by Horizon Travel. Horizon Travel is owned by National Vacations, Inc.

For those who are interested in the details of what happened to me and gain insight on Horizon Travel's business model, keep reading.

I was contacted by phone and offered a free cruise for attending a presentation. At the presentation in March of 2006, Mr. Yaqut Abdullah, a Horizon Sales representative, put us all at ease by telling us that, instead of doing a 90-minute presentation, he would like to do it in 45 minutes--if that was okay with us. Of course, we all liked that and breathed a sigh of relief. But that was just the first trick!

The presentation actually went on for about two and a half hours, by which time I was very hungry, tired, and pressed for another business matter I had to attend to on that day.

Mr. Abdullah led attendees to believe that HUGE discounts were realizable via the membership due to Horizon Travel's ability to buy cruise vacations at the wholesale level, and as a result the $4000+ cost of membership could be recovered in about four cruises. Only later did I discover that I could get the same price for a cruise from Horizon Travel's booking services as I could by going to the cruise line's booking service online. NO SAVINGS AT ALL!!!

The crux of the scheme is this:
There are SEVENTEEN places where you have to sign on the contract. At the end of clause 14), it says: "I/We acknowledge that there have been no separate oral or written promises, representations, agreements or warranties between the Club and me or any sales representative."

Bingo! If you make the mistake of signing that clause, then they can use that as a weapon to excuse themselves from any responsibility of their salesperson(s) makeing false promises and/or misrpresentations. You see, nothing the salesperson says matters; only what's written in the contract matters.

So they promise great savings in the presentation, wear you out, then barrage you with the contract and trick you with the buried clause. Deception is the rule.

Clever, huh?

To this day, I have received NO BENEFIT from the membership I purchased. But Horizon Travel appears to be intent on keeping all of my money. And of course they want MORE on top of that in the form of annual dues at $179 per year.

I read about another victim who picketed near Horizon Travel's business to warn others before they got victimized, and in an effort to recover her money. I am considering doing that as another course of remedy.

In any case, I feel people should be warned about the schemes perpetuated by National Vacations and their subsidiaries.

Note that David Vavro and Melissa Vavro own National Vacations, which in turn owns Horizon Travel. The Vavro's were sued by the State Of Texas in 2003 for their deceptive advertising schemes under Sun Country Travel and they lost.

From what I can tell by my research so far is that the Vavros responded to the injunction against their subsidiary company Sun Country Travel by opening a new one--Horizon Travel--and then further refining their sales techniques and methods to get and keep maximum dollars from new victims.

Jaime
Mesquite, Texas
U.S.A.