Horizon Travel, Travel Club International Deceptive savings claimed, high pressure sales, "special" pricing doubtful Arlington Texas

On Thursday evening, June 8, 2006, my wife and I attended a sales seminar at Horizon Travel, 2415 Avenue J, Suite #114, Arlington, TX 76006. The seminar was presented by Abdul and contained believable claims regarding discounted travel (cruise, air fare, hotels, condo, etc.). The membership for this Travel Club International was stated to be $$7,995 plus a documentation fee of $399 and an annual fee of $179. When we showed some reluctance to pay those prices, Abdul then began reducing the membership fee in $500 increments to around $4,017. When we still did not buy, Jake appeared on the scene to tell us about a fortunate circumstance of a cancelled membership (cancelled due to non-payment of a financing plan) that had an unpaid balance of $2,284. We agreed to join the club for a total amount of $2,862.

Since it was after 11:00 PM when we arrived home, we waited until the next day to examine the web site for Travel Club International. Upon doing so, we found that the cruise prices and the air fare prices that we could easily verify were exactly the same, or slightly higher than prices advertised by American Airlines and VacationsToGo (an online travel agency that we have used for previous vacations). Upon learning that, we became suspicious that we were involved in something less than reputable and began looking on the internet for additional information regarding Horizon Travel, Travel Club International, and VIP Travel Incentives (the telephone marketing company who contacted us originally). We found several complaints that identified Horizon Travel and the marketing company as perpetrating a scam by failing to provide promised services, failure to honor an incentive for a free cruise on Royal Caribbean, and for failure to respond to complaints. The complaints described the precise sequence of events that we experienced, including special deals that lowered the price to something under $3,000.

We have filed a disputed claim with our credit card company and have sent a demand for refund to Horizon Travel and Travel Club International.

We wish that we had been able to research Horizon Travel prior to paying the membership fees. Has anyone else had this same experience? Did Richard (Celina) get a full refund? Did anyone get the restriction to delay using the condo rental features until the first of the year?

Ben
Keller, Texas
U.S.A.