Passport to Travel Prestige Travel Clubs; Vacation Passport Disgusted and Angry Tampa and Internet, Florida

I just wanted to echo the scam concerns that the others have written about.  My wife and I have encountered a very similar set of circumstances.  We were supposedly getting a "Complimentary" cruise.  When we contacted Passport to Travel to redeem it, no one ever answers the phone.  You leave a message to initiate booking your travel and then they only deal with you via email.  After getting a response, the "complimentary" cruise ended up costing $688 for each of us.  I went on the cruise line's own website and found the cruise, with all taxes and port fees included, for just $239 more.  That is a long way from complimentary.  A discount?  Yes but hardly complimentary.  I would have never sent in my deposit had I know what I know now.  Getting my deposit back is proving quite difficult.  No one answers the phones and no one returns my calls after leaving many messages.  I will be filing my own report on here with more detail.

Actually,

PTS travel and all names are not accredited with the BBB and have no rating as such.  you are obviously an employee yet had you done a BBB search you would have realized before you spoke that this company is not accredited and rateds and are not members of the BBB.

PTS Travel has been in business for many years and has thousands of satisfied customers.  The BBB has given them an A+ rating based on 16 different factors. They are also in good standing with ASTA and CLIA.  Unfortunately some companies selling discounted travel, totally misrepresent the product and the terms and conditions that apply which results in many unhappy and dissatisfied customers.

Further investigation reveals that Prestige Travel Services also operates businesses under the name of:  Passport to Travel; CruiseBrokers.com; PTS travel; Getaway to Paradise; Tourbrokers.com and Prestige Vacations.  The corporate officers are:  Ron LaScala (President), Anita LaScala (Executive VP), Kimberly D. LaScala (VP), Lena C. Cleary (CTC, Dir. of Air, Car, Hotel), Amaris Kroslak (Dir. of Cruise Operations), Pamela Evans (Director of Business and Finance).

The following complaints on Rip-Off Report all involve the same company:  254335, 401919, 642479, 568132, 679135, 114722, 476931, 162726, 413056 (8 separate complaints in conjunction with Tripres.com).  They may also be associated with VIP Travel in Celebration, Florida.  The BBB of Hillsborough Co. has registered 76 complaints in the last 36 months with 30 of these complaints being closed in the last 30 year. 

Alternative business address for President, Ron LaScala is 5814 Schooner Way, Tampa, FL  33615.  Florida's Dept. of Agriculture & Consumer Services (850)488-2221 is the government agency which investigates complaints about companies in Florida.  The can also be reached at (800)HELPFLA.  Their e-mail address is:  800helpfla.com.  Prestige Travel Service's license # is ST17788.  Their business license with Hillsboro County Occupational License is #110468 (813)635-5200.

They use multiple names, phone numbers (11), websites (7), etc. which I believe is to make it look like there is less dissatisfaction with them than there is.  Please consult the BBB site for all of the different numbers and websites which are them.

P.S. After 3 months of dealing with the company, they have yet to issue the "money-back guarantee" in spite of the fact that my credit union is conducting a fraud investigation on them.  I am going to contact the Rip-Off people to begin the official process for a class action suit.  Check back after I have gone through the official process.