A 2 Z Vacations, Inc. ; Worldwide Travel Resources, Inc.; Tad Ferguson; Scam hotel sales presentation regarding membership in an exclusive travel club. Casper; Metairie; Wyoming;Louisiana

My wife and I received an invitation to attend a uniquie travel opportunity seminar.  Just for attending we would receive two round trip airfares anywhere in the United States good for 18 monthes at no cost.

We made a call to confirm or reservation at the seminar and were told when and were to go.

The seminar was held at the Airport Sheraton Hotel in Cleveland, Ohio in March 2013.

When we arrived, we had to show our picture ID and a valid creditcard.

The sales presentation lasted about 45 minutes and was put on by a gentleman who went by the name of Tad Ferguson.  There were many slides of very nice travel resorts and destinations, which Tad gave pretty acurate figures on what it would normally cost to visit any of these resorts.  He then asked if anyone would be interested in going to any of these spots for a fraction of the cost?  The discounts were in the 60% to 75% off.  Naturally almost everyone in the room raised their hand.

He then went on to explain that the cost to join the club would be $7,995 one time up front and $299 per year to continue the membership allowing for up to 4 vacations per year for the member and their imeadiate family.

The presentation then ended and every couple in the room (about 7) was paired off with a sales representative to answer any questions if you were interested in joining the club.  If not, they would get your information to get you the free airline tickets for coming.

In our private one-on-one, Tad went into more detail on all the good things joining the club would mean if we joined.  We expressed interest but thought the $7,995 up front fee was way too much money.  Tad went on to offer discounts if we agreed not to take the two round trip air tickets and have the money applied to the purchase of the membership.

We ended up agreeing that $4,000 was a fair price if joining would produce all the benefits Tad said joining would provide.  He stressed that if we were not sure we wanted to join, we should not sign up because if we joined and tried to cancel later, there would be significant penalties.

We pursued the purchase, with the mistaken thought in our minds, that whatever we signed up for, could be canceled without penalty within three days of signing up.

We were then turned over to another gentleman that prpared our signup documents and showed us where to sign or initial on each page.  There were at least 10 papers that were put in front of us and we probably signed in at least 20 places and initialed 20 more places.

When we finished we were driving home and felt very uneasy about what we had just done.  When we got home we went on the internet to look up the company and saw nothing but warnings not to do business with A 2 Z Vacations or Worldwide Travel Resourses because they were nothing but a scam.

The scam was that there was never any intention to provide any of the services presented.  All they wanted was the creditcard authorization to chaarge the $4,000 we agreed to (or any agreed amount) because what they were really after was the cancellation fees written in the contract.  $499.99 for not returning their replacement kit; $399.00 member processing fee; and 15% of the agreed purchase price.  When you add up the charges and fees, cancelling cost about $1,000 to $1,500 depending on what you agreed to as a purchase price.

One of the forms we signed was a credit card authorization form that allowed "Universal Concept, Inc." to do the banking services for the company.  Universal Concepts is a legitimate company that provides this kind of service for their customer (I'm sure for a fee).  

We contacted our bank (Chase) to hold the $4,000 charge because we felt we were scammed.  They put a temporary hold on the charge and contacted Universal Concepts to show proof why the charge was legitimate.  The sent copies of all the papers and signatures, but agreed to refund all the charges except the cancellation fees.  In my case they added up to $901.65.  The bank for Universal Concepts said thet the fess were legitimate and they would not return the cancellation fees.

That is the real scam.  The free tickets and the over priced membership fees were just just a ploy to get prospects to sign up for any amount, because what they were really after was the cancellation fess.  And they had the VISA network's backing of the bank's obigation to stand behind a signed contract with a cancellation policy to allow them to give back something in good faith, but keep the cancellation fees.

When you read the details of the contract, it states that by signing, you give up your rights to persue the company in any other state except Wyoming.  And further agree not to purse them in any court at all but agree to a manditory arbitration association to settle any disputes.

The trick now is to try and find the people behind the bogus company to bring them to arbitration.  Even if you could actually track them down and bring them to arbitration, it will cost more to make that happen than the charge you are chasing is worth.  

So you just thow in the towel and write off the $1,000 as a lesson in life.