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Report: #931745

Complaint Review: Vacation Inspirations - Isle of Palms South Carolina

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  • Reported By: cascadecalvin — Portland Oregon United States of America
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  • Vacation Inspirations 1204 Palm Blvd. Suite E Isle of Palms, South Carolina United States of America

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My wife and I are both pastors who attended 90 min. presentation in SW Portland, Oregon on June 28, 2012 in response to a postcard invitation we received in the mail advertizing 2 free round trip air travel tickets. 

During the presentation statements were made and a flashy presentation given about the "20 year history of this very reliable company that is registered as Vacation Inspirations LCC in Charleston, South Carolina."  As the price offer kept dropping for great vacation locations throughout the world and in anticipation of our retirement, we decided to purchase their travel membership for approx. $3,500.

Shortly afterward our daughter contacted us to express her concern that this might be a rip-off so we contacted the Attorney General's Office in South Carolina and found they have no record of this company as an LCC as stated on the contract that we signed (a copy of which we have retained). We also have a written certificate from the Secretary of State of SC confirming the above.

Multiple calls to the company were evasive and Membership Services Director William Stenson to whom we were directed was very defensive and suggested we send a letter to their "board."  So we mailed a certified letter requesting a full refund on August 6 along with a copy of the certificate of "no record" from the SC Secretary of State.  On August 23 we received a written response from CEO Randy Gardner dated August 20 denying our request for a refund but saying nothing about our proof of fraudulent advertizing.

After a google search we have since found his name listed under "The Vacation Station" and have come upon this website and read the many complaints about this company which is an AKA for Vacation Inspirations and, Lord knows, how many other bogus travel companies.

As Vacation Inspirations has just recently moved into Oregon we want to shut them down before more people like us are scammed.  We have contacted the Office of the Oregon Attorney General and issued a formal complaint.  We will try to get a local Portland area television station to cover the story.

We are saddened that $3,500 of our hard-earned savings have been essentially stolen.  We want to alert others - especially in Oregon - and would love to hear from people who would like to join us in devising creative, effective strategies to stop this fraudulent operation that especially preys on senior citizens!

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 08/23/2012 05:22 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/vacation-inspirations/isle-of-palms-south-carolina-29451/vacation-inspirations-the-vacation-station-best-destinations-the-travel-club-scammers-hav-931745. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

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REBUTTALS & REPLIES:
3Author
5Consumer
0Employee/Owner

#8 Consumer Suggestion

Rights of recission

AUTHOR: Travel Wise - (United States of America)

POSTED: Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Just FYI since the companies in question reside in the state of south carolina they are bound by sc state law.

The SC law of right of recission or better known as the "cooling off period" states that consumers have 5 days to cancel a deal of this sort and others. Sunday is not counted in those days either.

See Specific Purchase Transactions topic http://www.ehow.com/info_8447835_south-carolina-buyers-remorse-laws.html

Further is does not matter if you purchased this vacation deal in any of the United States. The company is bound by SC law per this piece.

This company may further be not following the law if they did not provide you with all that is required in your specific state. Ie. in Texas two copies of a right to cancel forms must be provided for these transactions.

Shop wise travel wise and always buyer beware and informed

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#7 Author of original report

Refund Was Received

AUTHOR: cascadecalvin - (United States of America)

POSTED: Wednesday, December 12, 2012

We sympathize with the investigative efforts of the person who posted the most recent message casting doubt on whether my wife and I (residents of Portland, Oregon) had truly received a full refund, from Vacation Inspirations.   We simply want to restate that after taking extraordinary measures we DID receive a refund of approximately $3,600.  So don't give up seeking a fair and just settlement!

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#6 Consumer Comment

Vacation Inspirations refund scam

AUTHOR: Dan - (United States of America)

POSTED: Wednesday, December 12, 2012

We too made every attempt to get a refund for the misrepresentations made by Vacation Inspirations in their sales presentation.  We have found the email address and telephone numbers given by them on their business cards are no longer active and when asking them directly we were told by the local office that they do not give refunds and we must deal with the corp. office on the east coast. We than tried there and were completely ignored.

IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THE RIPOFF REPORT CLAIMING A REFUND IS A LIE!
We took the time to research the report claiming they had received a refund from Vacation Inspirations. As it turns out there is no individual by the name used residing in Tualatin, or Oregon at large. It is suspected this report was posted by Vacation Inspirations to further their fraud scam.

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#5 Consumer Comment

Exactly the same experience

AUTHOR: JoEl - (United States of America)

POSTED: Tuesday, October 02, 2012

We have been trying desperately to cancel our membership.  We signed on July 29, 2012.  Finally after attempts (face-to-face, calls) to resolve this issue, we received a call back last week.  During the conversation we were told that the agreement is not subject to Oregon's rights of recissions (3 days to cancel) laws.  After looking at the paperwork we did see this mentioned but unfortunately did not know to ask to explain while signing the agreement.   I am happy you mentioned the legal aspect of the name, etc., the information is helpful.

Prior to this last conversation, the recession topic was never mentioned or stated a problem.  We were lead to believe as you, write a letter and a resolution would take place.

 We had gone back the next day to the rented space where the presentation was held and made calls within 24 hours or less, trying to contact the persons whoms names were given to us at the signing.  We wanted to cancel our agreement but no one was available AND no one returned our calls.  I used their customer service email address  to email  our concern and request to cancel.   Mr. Stinson replied to the request however never mentioned the #7 piece, "not subject to Oregon's rights of recission".  Mr. Stinson also told us to write the same type of letter he informed you to right.  We wrote the letter and called at least three times if not more and left messages for him to call us back for status of our request.  No response to those calls.

As stated above, last week we received a call and we experienced the same, if not more of the same type of reaction as you had.  We were told we could not cancel but we would be rewarded somehow for our trouble.

We paid $6,357.00 for our package.  It was stupid because my husband just retired, I lost my job in January after 22 years and we have one boy in college and one in high school.  I have no idea what we were thinking at the moment.   The presentation was very good.

We feel helpless at this point - so sad.   We were told the calls were recorded so maybe that is a good thing incase there will be an internal review of our case - at least in regards to customer service. 

I really really want to inform others to the section in the agreement, #7 stating in part,  "...not subject to any "right of rescission" under the laws of Oregon" piece.  As you stated, potential buyers ask questions and do your homework so your experiences enjoyable.

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#4 Author of original report

Full Refund Received

AUTHOR: cascadecalvin - (United States of America)

POSTED: Sunday, September 09, 2012

My wife and I are please to be able to say that we have received a full refund of our membership from Vacation Inspirations, Inc.  After receiving a rejection from CEO Randy Gardner following our first written request, we went to the local Portland office of Vacation Inspirations.  We were prepared to let potential clients know of several statements made verbally and in writing that we believe to be misleading and false.  However, the individual who made the initial group presentation again met us and offered to refund our money.   We accepted this proposal, waited for the funds to be deposited into our bank account, and since that has now happened we are filing this updated report.

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#3 Consumer Comment

Update to my experience

AUTHOR: Mustangsusie - (United States of America)

POSTED: Wednesday, August 29, 2012

I am pleased to report that in our case, we were fully refunded our purchase with Inspiration Vacations Portland, Oregon. It took time, writing a letter and an in person visit but Harry, the salesman we worked with, did his best to make us happy in a very uncomfortable situation. The credit could have taken up to 45 days to clear our bank because of the  clearing process of the bank that Inspiration uses. We wrote a follow up letter by us asking them to please try to sped up this process and Harry calling us yesterday and explaining he did talk to the head office and that they had done all that they could.  This morning the credit hit and cleared our bank, we are relieved indeed! We have to share that had the presenter included in their presentation that this company, Inspiration Vacations is only 4 years old, not a registered LLC in SC but that the parent company, The Vacation Station has been in business for over 20 years and is registered where we could actually Google and read for ourselves that information out there we could have made an informed decision to purchase.

We were most upset that there didn't seem to be open transparent sharing of information which caused us alarm and the very wide gap in what people have paid for the exact same packages, $2,000 to $8,00 but had they shared the information and from our research after the fact the program does seem to be above board, a good deal in savings once you use it  and if there were reviews from even 5% of the over 40,000+ members it would have calmed our concerns and along with if they had a reasonable bottom line price that they offered to everyone no matter what State or area they were presenting in and those things would cinched the deal for us and we would have continued in our purchase of this Travel Club! So in less than a week they did the right thing and made us happy and that has to count for a good faith effort on their part as far as we are concerned. Future presentation attendees, do your due diligence with the full facts and make a well informed decision and know there are 2 sides to every story whether you are the buyer or seller!

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#2 Author of original report

Vacation Inspiration Update to Fellow Portlanders

AUTHOR: cascadecalvin - (United States of America)

POSTED: Thursday, August 23, 2012

If you attended a presentation by Vacation Inspirations in Portland, Oregon tonight and paid for a membership with your personal credit card you may be able to put a hold on your payment by contacting your credit card company.  We waited too late and it had cleared so we were out $3,500.  Please see our posting on Portland craigslist.com under "local news and announcements" as we would like to get in contact with you and others who may also have been scammed by this company.

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#1 Consumer Comment

Need More Information

AUTHOR: Mustangsusie - (United States of America)

POSTED: Thursday, August 23, 2012

I am wondering if you could please share more details as to why this is a scam? We too, just today, in Portland Oregon attended the presentation that you are referring to and if you haven't used Vacation Inspirations services yet, how did they scam you? We too joined and your review has caused us great concern as it was a lot of money that we don't want believe we just threw away. Did you find others like us that paid for the membership and then have never been able to use the services talked about? Were the vacations not reduced or did the members not get their rooms? Please let us know what you have found so that we too can join you in getting the word out. Thank you for sharing!

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