United Vacation Network Robbed of our money and got nothing in return, now they want to settle on THEIR terms! Largo Florida

On Friday at 12:30pm, November 9th, I received a voice mail from United Vacation Network. The message went like this This is Amanda calling from United Vacation Network. I understand that you have been having some difficulties lately and I was instructed to give you a call and let you know that we will cancel the account, but you would need to agree to forfeit the funds already paid into the account thus far and we would cancel the loan which is in the amount of $1500.00, which is what is in collections right now. So we would take it out of collections, cancel the promissory note and you would just forfeit ($1700.00) the funds already paid in. If you are interested in doing this, please mail in your membership book.

On April 18, 2007, my husband and I attended an evening seminar with United Vacation Network in St Petersburg, FL. Some time before April we had received a postcard from UVN with a big cruise ship on it which said FREE CRUISE. We have never responded to such mail, but my husband told me to call and see what it was about. Well, thats what led us down this road with United Vacation Network.

The seminar was conducted with visuals of islands, cruises and luxury hotels and was very enticing. They told us that we would never pay retail again once we became a member of UVN. Then they had an individual salesman sit with us. My husband immediately asked if the FREE CRUISE was the same as the people who didnt sign up and he said no, its not the same, yours will be much nicer because you are a member. After his sales pitch, he gave us the cost. We knew we couldnt afford it having just moved to St. Pete in March 2006, bought a house and our daughter was four years old so we were still paying a lot for her to go to preschool. We told him straight out that we couldnt afford it, so he made it so we could afford it. He brought the price way down and changed all the benefits around ending up with a total of $3,000.00 plus the registration fee of $199.00. I tried to explain to them that we didnt really have great credit at the time because we just moved here and we have spent an awful lot over the last year. He said not to worry, that he was sure that it would work out because they could finance us through their own company. So we were in. They were flying all over the place and ran my credit card and threw papers at us to sign. We were the last ones there and they were closing and we wanted to get home to the babysitter so we rushed through the signatures and went on our way.

The next day, I sent the information into PTS Travel in Tampa, FL, with a check for them to process our free cruise. A month went by and we still hadnt received anything so I called United Vacation Network and they told me that sometimes it takes awhile and that we should expect it any day. Months went by and phone calls were made by me to UVN, but no one wanted to help me. While this was going on we also tried to use our membership by making a reservation in a hotel and we couldnt get into anything for the amount they told us in the presentation. Time was passing and I was getting very frustrated that I had paid these people to give us something and we were receiving nothing in return! There was no such thing as a free cruise or a 5-star hotel for $499 a week. I wanted my money back.

After paying the initial amount of $1699.00 on my credit card they were supposed to take $41.67 out of my account, but the money never came out because the credit card that I had given them at the time of signing was lost a month later and I had a new number. I was relieved because I had made so many phone calls to this company and I realized that they were scam artists and so my calls to them continued in a manner by which I wanted out of this contract and wasnt going to pay another dime to them nor give them the authority to charge my credit card. By June 11, 2007, I was already completely done with UVN and called my credit card company to reverse these charges. They did an investigation (minimal), reversed the charges, but then within a couple weeks the charges went back on my account. They told me that I would have to hire a lawyer. Even after this was on the News and out to the public that I stood correct in my belief that they were scam artists, the credit card company still could not get involved in such matters.

UVN were not easy to deal with and I didnt have time to spend hours on the phone or time trying to reach them a priority. I run my husbands business out of our home and that keeps me very busy......personal issues take a backseat. I wanted to hire a lawyer and spoke to my husband about this issue often, but it always seemed to end without a resolution. Without two incomes there was no chance of hiring anyone. To make matters worse I am sick, although I was not diagnosed at the time. Stress was obviously, as with most illnesses, not good for me and eventually exacerbated my symptoms and I was truly unable to cope.

My last series of stressful calls to United Vacation Network was recent. On October 10th, I called UVN and spoke with Casey, Senior Customer Service. She was very nice, but no matter what I said the answer was still NO. She said that she would send me a new voucher for the cruise ship and take the balance owed and put it on hold since I was sick and cant go back to work. She also told me that I should call the credit collectors before it reached my credit report. I was appalled as I had tried over and over to resolve this in the past and now she was threatening me with my credit. I never received anything from UVN or Capital Finance (new company they use for collecting money) stating that my account was in default and was being sent to collections and I had spoken to them on many occasions to let them know that I was going to file a small claim and wasnt going to pay. When I stupidly told Casey that it wasnt an issue, she made it one. The very next day I received a collections letter from Capital Finance in the amount of $1500.00, the entire amount. At that time I only owed $250, according to Casey, who said that if I paid that amount then I would be in good standing and we could move forward. I almost did all that to save my credit, but I was interrupted by business and didnt get back to her that day, thus, received the collection letter the following day.

I also received the cruise voucher within a couple days from Casey of UVN, not from the other travel company that was supposed to send it. I was very honest with Casey and told her that I wasnt working, but I was going to try to work this out with UVN because I didnt want to screw up my credit scores, which arent great as it is. The form she sent me required us to send $400 within one month, which will be this Thursday, otherwise it would be null and void. So in other words, we are not going to even get our free cruise after all.

I was so distraught, emotionally and physically spent over this entire situation. Just when I was about to give up, I tuned into ABCs 11:00 News and there it was. I wasnt alone. The fact that now they are trying to get me to settle on their terms tells me even more and I have been advised not to settle for this. I was also informed by the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services out of Tallahassee, FL that there was nothing they could do right now, as they were informed not to take action right now by the Agency because they are investigating UVN.

I affirm, under penalty of false statement, that my statements contained herein are true and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief, so help me God.

Pamela
SAINT PETERSBURG, Florida
U.S.A.