Ripoff Report Needs Your Help!
X  |  CLOSE
Report: #253642

Complaint Review: Coastal Vacations - Boynton Beach Florida

  • Submitted:
  • Updated:
  • Reported By: Boynton Beach Florida
  • Author Confirmed What's this?
  • Why?
  • Coastal Vacations CoastalIncome.com/sample Boynton Beach, Florida U.S.A.

Show customers why they should trust your business over your competitors...

Is this
Report about YOU
listed on other sites?
Those sites steal
Ripoff Report's
content.
We can get those
removed for you!
Find out more here.
How to fix
Ripoff Report
If your business is
willing to make a
commitment to
customer satisfaction
Click here now..

I need to tell people the truth behind Coastal Vacations. It is a rip off! Use your logic when analyzing what I am about to say about Coastal Vacations. They are a pure rip-off, and I was a former "business owner," so its not like I am getting paid to say this. I want to say this to give people a fair warning about the business, and if I can inform you, that I feel I have added value to your decision making process with the business opportunity or the product itself.

I quit the business because I have more integrity than to falsely mislead people, and to stretch the truth. That is why I have quit- plain and simple. Even if I was making $40,000 a month like some of the reps, I would quit because I would not feel good about conducting business in this manner.

Here is how Coastal Vacations really works. When you become a member, whether its for the business opportunity or to purchase the product itself, you are not allowed to return the products without even having it in your physical hands. So how is that fair to the person buying it?

Think about it for a second. Do you buy groceries at the store without looking at them or do you buy clothes at a department store without looking at them? Obviously not!

I am sure the board of directors and the owners are laughing all the way to the bank when more people sign up. Good for them.

To tell you about these travel packages, the product has no real value, and is being offered for $1,295 to $11,000. Once you become a member, Coastal Vacations gives you websites to login to find travel deals and 90% of these websites are already accessible by the public. So how is this a value?

That is like a company saying, I know where you can buy cars for cheap, just look on eBay, Craigslist, and Auto Trader. Is that not just sickening?
I do not need to spend $1,295 or $3,995 or $11,000 to find out about websites that are already free to view!

As I said before, you do not actually see the product until the return period has expired. No one is able to return the memberships without even seeing what it looks like. So in other words, you are trusting that these deals exist. Remember they claim free unlimited complimentary vacations that only you can get if you are a member of Coastal Vacations. Isn't that just so clever of them?

So, how do they get around the return policy? Here is what the company does. They give you a 3 business day return period.
This form is right here, as I can document it:

http://www.officialcoastaltraining.com/CoastalOrderForm.pdf

You do not have to be an attorney to see it says at the bottom, 3 business days from today.

Why such a short time frame? So you will not have time to return the package. Its that simple. You see, when you buy the travel package it takes 7-10 days for you to get your membership approved. There is no approval process, you just send them money and sign the papers. The paperwork states you cannot get a refund, and that you are OK with that, and then you sign. Awesome!

So, because most people are fooled as far as its real value and they will just fill out the application, and then not have time to return it because the return period has expired. This makes sense that they are hiding the facts, because if Coastal Vacations believed there was value, they would give you the membership right away, or at least extend the return date on the disclosures you sign from longer than just 3 days. (And most people are not even given any disclosures).

Also, they give you 20+ membership cards when you join and about 90% or more of the cards have contact numbers you can call even if you are not a member. So how is that a value?

When you call these member benefit cards, no one answering the phone knows of "Coastal Vacations," and you are not getting a discount. This is just great!

Again, I am sure the board of directors and the owners are laughing all the way to the bank when more people sign up. Good for them.

Also, there are several false promises and much misleading information about "Coastal Vacations" giving you a FREE complimentary vacation.
I am sorry: this does not exist!

When I redeemed my 2 FREE Vacation vouchers for the Bahamas (and I paid a $53 processing fee for 2 people), Coastal Vacations mailed me a form to fill in to Fun Time Vacations to pay them about $300 for one week to the Bahamas. Again, how is this a free complimentary vacation?

I have already been with this cruise line 2 times. The cruise is great and the best deal you can find from what I know of, but again, by being a Coastal Vacations member, you are not getting a discount, and these deals are available to anyone in the public.

Again another example, the board of directors claim that most of the vacations cost about $300 a week, although they are FREE, and you need to pay just taxes and a small processing fee. This is not true! You are not paying Coastal Vacations directly anyway. The $300 just goes to a company that has all of the deals. Because I was a member, they give you access to this webpage:

http://tradingplaces.com/beta/Rentals_20/hotdeals.aspx

As you can see, this website has killer deals on travel, such as $300 per week, but again you do not need to be a Coastal Vacations member to get these deals.
Why? Click that link and anyone can use it, even call up the company and ask if they have heard of Coastal Vacations.

So here are the facts. I paid $53 for 2 "Free Vacation" vouchers and all I was given was a piece of paper saying I can go to the Bahamas a week and I need to mail it about $300. Again, I already have been on that cruise (so I knew I could go for about $300), and I am not getting any discount by being a Coastal Vacations member.

The bottom line is this, Coastal Vacations does not give you access to unlimited FREE COMPLIMENTARY vacations. They give you phone numbers and websites of where to get the best deals, but if you look online, you can find that out anyway. Not only that, if Coastal Vacations really did give people real value and all of these free complimentary vacations, then why is it a fact that most people do not know about them, and they claim they have been around for 25+ years.

If this company gave unlimited free vacations, then probably at least 10% of America would sign and they would have 30 million members just in the USA alone. Also, they would be advertising on TV, radio, online, and in print and they would be making billions if they really were able to give free complimentary vacations and cruises. This clearly is not the case, because the reality is, you do not get these unlimited vacations and cruises for free, and if you did, then everyone would be buying them.

Eric
Boynton Beach, Florida
U.S.A.

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 06/11/2007 09:34 AM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/coastal-vacations/boynton-beach-florida/coastal-vacations-rip-off-boynton-beach-florida-253642. 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

Search for additional reports

If you would like to see more Rip-off Reports on this company/individual, search here:

Report & Rebuttal
Respond to this report!
What's this?
Also a victim?
What's this?
Repair Your Reputation!
What's this?

Updates & Rebuttals

REBUTTALS & REPLIES:
0Author
1Consumer
0Employee/Owner

#1 UPDATE Employee

RECOMMENDATION: Stick to the facts if you wish to go negative

AUTHOR: Angel - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Monday, June 11, 2007

Eric, thank you for sending me the link to your statements so I could respond. My replies are to your quoted remarks taken verbatim from your message...

"I need to tell people the truth behind Coastal Vacations. It is a rip off!"

We've got hundreds of testimonials spanning many years of people saving more than the cost of a membership on their first vacation. Last year over Christmas we had condos on Maui for a week for $335 (2br/full kitchen/with a/c) for the week. One woman on our team just saved nearly $50,000 on one vacation. Members who've been documenting their savings for several years have portfolios thicker than phone books, showing continual savings vacation after vacation.

"Here is how Coastal Vacations really works. When you become a member, whether it's for the business opportunity or to purchase the product itself, you are not allowed to return the products without even having it in your physical hands. So how is that fair to the person buying it? Think about it for a second. Do you buy groceries at the store without looking at them or do you buy clothes at a department store without looking at them? Obviously not!"

Every rep has their own return policy. Mine is simple: "Pretend you just got a refund and walk away -- because the product does what we say it does and is what we say it is."

"...the product has no real value, and is being offered for $1,295 to $11,000."

See my first answer above.

I guess this is a big elaborate scheme to trick people, with everyone conspiring to lie?

"Once you become a member, Coastal Vacations gives you websites to login to find travel deals and 90% of these websites are already accessible by the public. So how is this a value?"

Check your numbers. Yes, for convenience sake, there are vendors to whom we are provided access where the general public could locate the same deals. But 90%? Hardly. Not even close. We have some amazing -- AMAZING -- savings available to us not available to the general public.

"Remember they claim free unlimited complimentary vacations that only you can get if you are a member of Coastal Vacations."

There are no claims of "free unlimited complimentary vacations" Remove the word "free" and you are correct. On every training call about our product and all material it is made clear that the vacations are not free. We sell discounts. We are in the discount travel industry, not the miraculous free vacation industry. This business is logic, not magic. Yes, it costs money to travel. We just get better deals than the general public in many, many, many ways.

"When you call these 'member benefit cards,' no one answering the phone knows of 'Coastal Vacations,'..."

This has been explained repeatedly on our nationally broadcast product training calls available to anyone and everyone every single week. And the explanation makes perfect sense. Much of our membership consists of becoming members of other travel clubs and associations, and we are known to them as their members. Furthermore, in some instances the person answering the phone is merely an hourly employee who actually knows little about the contracts and relationships of their employers. They are there to book travel, not to discuss the intricacies of relationships their employer has with third parties. This is logical to deduce for someone looking for the truth.

"Also, there are several false promises and much misleading information about 'Coastal Vacations' giving you a FREE complimentary vacation.
I am sorry: this does not exist!"

The vouchers are given away at times for no cost to the recipient -- no cost for the voucher. ALL of our material and training explains that the vacations have associated costs -- port taxes and a processing fee for cruises; room taxes and a processing fee for hotels and resorts, etc. Nothing is sure but death and taxes. Who in their right mind could actually think you can get 25 "FREE" vacations for $1295 or even for $11,000?

"When I redeemed my 2 FREE Vacation vouchers for the Bahamas (and I paid a $53 processing fee for 2 people), Coastal Vacations mailed me a form to fill in to 'Fun Time Vacations; to pay them about $300 for one week to the Bahamas. Again, how is this a free complimentary vacation?"

It's not free and nothing says it is. It's also not the first or best go-to voucher-driven vacation, nor a good one to use for a first test of the product. As has been stated many, many times by several members of the Board and people in leadership, our product is not perfect. There are some things that offer amazing, exclusive savings, some things that are so-so, and some things have already been removed for being inferior to the quality standards of the company. You just picked one that falls closer to the latter category than the former.

"Again another example, the board of directors claim that most of the vacations cost about $300 a week..."

Which is it? They are stating that most vacations cost $300 a week? Or they are telling you they are free? It cannot be both.

Listen to the Q&A call every night Monday through Thursday and you'll hear they average about $300 per week -- a really good deal for a resort condo stay. Twice that much would be a really good deal.

"The bottom line is this, Coastal Vacations does not give you access to unlimited 'FREE COMPLIMENTARY' vacations."

True. Unlimited vouchers are available. There is nothing for sure but death and taxes, and the taxman will get his piece of the action as always. Nobody anywhere says you have unlimited FREE vacations, either. Nor can anyone produce official documentation claiming that Coastal gives unlimited FREE vacations, because that would be ridiculous for anyone to even think such a thing is possible.

"If this company gave unlimited free vacations..."

Then pink elephants would fly and rivers would flow with sweet wine. No such thing exists anywhere, nor does any honest Coastal rep suggest such a silly thing.

Eric, I am sorry you chose to torpedo Coastal after failing with the business. I know precisely why you failed and attempted on many occasions to help you and am sorry to see you leave with such silliness as the above. I do sincerely wish you well and hope and pray you find your place (and your peace) in this world. I really like you and am not sure why you've chosen to torch this bridge. But I guess this is what you needed to do for your own satisfaction. So all I can do is recommend that you stick to the facts and use reason and logic when you're engaging in such tactics.

Many blessings,

Angel in Michigan

Respond to this report!
What's this?
Featured Reports

Advertisers above have met our
strict standards for business conduct.

X
What do hackers,
questionable attorneys and
fake court orders have in common?
...Dishonest Reputation Management Investigates Reputation Repair
Free speech rights compromised

WATCH News
Segment Now