Florida Sport And Recreation Scamming "discount" company, rude ignorant people at company, no answers from them! Daytona Beach Florida

Here is the timeline of what happened in our case.
Florida Sport and Recreation offered us a vacation package for about 250.00 to come down and stay for about a week. A few days in Orlando, where we had to attend a 90 minute sales pitch, then a few days in Daytona beach where we had to go to Florida Sport and Recreations sales meeting. This was offered in the fall of 2004. We chose the 4 day 3 night at Calypso Cay resort, then 4 days 3 nights in Daytona beach @ a very empty, creepy hotel, but on the beach. We went to the sales meeting at 2665 N. Atlantic Ave #312 in Daytona Beach on August 17th of 2005 in the morning.

While in the meeting, I have to be honest and say they had the best sales people working there. They really know how to make their "packages" VERY appealing and promising. They are trained to get you excited, and work on your adrenaline to get you to sign with them. If they were not great, we would not have bought into it. I have attended several vacation ownership pitches, and this was great. We are current vacation owners through Blue Green Vacations which is VERY LEGIT and actually deeds you ownership in a property. You actually hold a deed to real estate, not just some flimsy contract...

Anyway, The main salesman who was making the pitch was unforgettable. I will never forget his face or his charm the rest of my life. He talked about how with their company, they are able to give such great discounts, and that they would be able to get 50% or more off of air fare, hotels, cruses and more. He gave us an example fo how going on an Alaskan cruise for 14 days and 2 port stops, all inclusive and a day trip hike would only cost around 1200 a person AND THAT INCLUDED TAXES, PORT FEES, and all fees pertaining to taking a cruise. We of course would just have to get there on our own, but hey, we could get a "discount" through their company... He said that by using their "points" system it translates into HUGE saving. We could also literally be outside a hotel in the parking lot, call their "travel agent" and get a room.

He didn not mention that it was not 24 hours and that you would have to call during normal 9am-9pm mon-thurs, friday 9am-5pm, sat 10am-4pm, and Sunday they were closed. So he misrepresented that. We did not get that info until the C. C. had been processed, and the documents were signed. He assured us it would work out great! We were there approximately 2 1/2 hours, 1 hour 30 minutes in the presentation, and another hour or so in a high sales pitch atmosphere.

They wanted to start us off at 8,000 for a "package deal" and we were like, there is no way that is happening! see again, we paid 8,000 through Blue Green vacations, and we own a deed in property! We thought that was crazy to pay that much for a "discount" program. We have access to discounted cruises, air fare and hotels with them, but what sold us into this finally was that our families could use it. We just had to give them all their info and they would sign them into the system. Both sides of our families travel frequently, and according to them, this would be so worth our families taking advantage of for travel.

The main sales guy, mr. Charming that he is, and So incredibly generous then brought it down to about 5,000. Again we were like ok, we are out of here. Then he was like well, I could give it to you for around 2,000.00 and in one year, you could give us referrals of 10 people since you are getting this deal. Well on our contract they did not write the sales price in there. The only place I have proof of the purchase and the price is on my credit card statement. They wrote the original price on their paperwork, just like car salesmen do when they have you in the "box" at the dealership. They also explained that if we had our yearly fee deducted automatically, we would save 20% and the fee would only be 119.20 annually.

Well when renewal came up in August of 2006, and there was no auto withdrawl. We also never received an email, letter, bill or anything of the sort. They just shut down access to the site on me. No one sent an email to us that they were withdrawing from the account, or that it was even set up. I called on this and no one had my file, or my paperwork. I was told to call several places to find out if there was paperwork. I was told to call the reservation center at 800-309-0572, and they told me they can't help me. They told me to call the main office since they have my contract. Their email also did not work at the time either.

This was in the fall of 2006 when I started trying to get this resolved. We were trying to see if we could get a discount on travel for the holidays, and that is how I found out they shut the site down to me with no warning. EVEN THOUGH I PAID 2000.00 for this service! I called to talk to the office, and was directed to a guy named David on 1-23-2007. He told me he would direct me to Walter Everly their manager by email, and see what could be done. Nothing was ever done. He told me that I could have access for free until August 2007 since they did not auto withdraw from my account the amount that was due.

Actually, they just shut down access to the site on me with no notice, and he was "trying to make up for that". I told him this was crap, and I wanted my 2000 back! He told me there was no way to do that at all. No refunds are ever given back.

We talked for another 30 minutes or so and I told him the many problems I had with the company, the unproffesional way they handle business, and the issues with the contract.

Ok so a few months have gone by and it is now September, a month after my free access for a "year". I recieve a bill in the mail from Universal Acount Servicing which is a billing company that I also go through for my school loan. I called and spoke to Jodi on September 13 2007 at 12:50pm. I told her I was no longer giving money to this company and after I had spoken with David who had also reassured me the yearly fee would be auto withdrawn, I still received a bill for 149.00. (I had received a previous bill on August 7th, for the same amount, and I had called in then to cancel. The woman I spoke to said sure, and cancelled the account no problem, apparently not!) I recieved the bill again and Not at the 20% off they had promised at their meeting. Jodi told me I could not cancel because I had to pay. I was like hmm, that makes a lot of sense! Gee I can't cancel because I have to pay...

After fighing with her, and telling her the company is a rip off, and I will not pay another cent to them, she finally said she would mark the account as cancelled. Basically to get off the phone with me. She also informed me that there would be a 250 activation fee if I wanted to reinstate the account. I was like fat chance! I then received another bill on October 10th 2007 saying I was 60 days late, and that I will have my privelages suspended if I don't pay. I was like wow, I don't pay after a year of buying this crap and they suspend my account with no notice. I then get a bill a year later, and they are finally on top of their billing? I guess when they give you a few months of "free" access, they want to make sure to actually collect the yearly fee...

After all that I decided to call the main office in Georgia. I was directed to a Jamie Ingersol but was told she was out of the office. I talked to another lady on November 28th 2007 and again on the 30th. She said she would send an email to Jamie and that they would discuss what could be done and then get back to me. That never happened.

I called again on December 3rd 2007, the day she said they would get back to me and I was told by the mystery lady NOT JAMIE, that I paid for a license use, in other words to make them money, not for actual travel discounts. She said they were DEALS NOT DISCOUNTS. In her own words, "You shouldn't call them discounts", because they are deal packages. Although in the sales pitch everyone I was there with was told they were discounts. Hmmmm, the whole company can't get their story straight!

So, the actual contact or the principal contact is a Ms. marion Daily the executive of admin is Mr. chuck Speiros (owner) and Mr. Andrew Zic (owner). They gave several contact numbers of 386-334-9048, 386-672-6009, 800-309-0572, 800-677-2247, and 2 fax numbers of 866-510-2981 and 386-677-2247. I have yet to hear from Jamie or any of their staff, it is a year later, and I am still without answers, or what to do.

I think my next step is writing the attorney general nice long letter, as well as the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services which is the regulator of Sellers of Travel www.800helpfla.com or you can call at 1850-488-2221. LET THEM KNOW YOUR STORIES! The license number theirs is for selling travel stuff is ST36256. You would add that to your report as well.

Mary
Joliet, Illinois
U.S.A.