Smart Travel and Incentives Ripped off- 7 day cruise and 2 R/T airline tickets Port Orange Florida

My husband and I received via US mail an invitation to attend a presentation by Beyond Expectations November 2013 at the Hilton,Hotel, Fort Collins, CO.  As a reward for attending the presentation we were to receive a free 7 day cruise and 2 R/T airline tickets. After the high pressure presentation we were given a certificate called Premium Gift List Vacation Selection and told to go online at choiceselectioninc. com to receive our vacation certifiicate. 

Instructions were "once you have received your "certificate type" and "claim code" send your $70.00 money order which corresponds to our gift selection certified mail to Choice Selections, Inc. This was called a "redemption fee". This company promised delivery of our gift selection info in 4-6 weeks.

We then received from Smart Travel and Incentives "travel vouchers" for a seven night cruise and one for 2 R/T airline tickets with a page of instructions that included the paragraph:" all assignees are on notice of the consumer's right to cancel under section 559.933 Florida Statues. Smart Travel and Incentives is a registered "Seller of Travel" with the State of Florida registration #38366.

We filled out the information with our requests for travel following their instructions to the letter to avoid any surcharges and to accomodate all the restrictions listed and sent via certified return receipt requested US mail our requests and a check for $99.00 REFUNDABLE deposit. We are now sitting at $169.00 of our money out the door for a "free vacation"...one can't help but feel embarrased and naive. 

Almost a year after the presentation, we received an email from Donna at Smart Travel (donna@travelsmartincentives.com) on September 29,2014 with an offer of a 7 day cruise for $818.04 minus our $99.00 refundable deposit= $719.04.  I responded to Donna saying we declined their offer and would like a refund of the $70.00 and the $99.00 deposit. She responded by saying she had no idea what the $70.00 was for.  I find this very strange as we were contacted by her company only after we sent the $70.00. 

After calling numerous times I spoke to a guy named Travis who said that their Accountig department received our request to cancel and that it would take 4-6 weeks to return our money.  We received a check for $79.00 on October 29th with a letter saying they deducted $20.00 "activation fee". Isn't it a little late for an "activation fee"?  I am so very angry and wish I had the $ to take out an ad in every US newspaper to expose Beyond Expectations and their scam along with the two companies listed above. I am willing to go along with a class action suit if anyone of you are willing to do this.  We are embarrassed that we played into their deceptive business.

Isn't what they do "mail fraud"? Shouldn't the US government be notified that they are using the US postal service as a vehicle to defraud people from all over the US?  I know many are saying, "Well, there is nothing ever given ffor free and we all should have known better" but that is not an excuse for this to happen.  Imagine the amount of money they take from honest people if only one of the 12 couples who attended the presentation falls for the sham as we did?