I had to register just to share some of my thoughts and the red flags that came up for me when going through the Just Dreams presentation, so this is my first post but I'm not a Planted poster.
This is a total scam.. We got suckered into a free car rental and some restaurant gift certs for our 90 minute presentation and we reluctantly agreed.
Here's some thoughts/flags:
1. The original person who offered us the presentation and tickets at the "free activities booth" specifically told us to lie and mark a higher pay range on the application at the sales pitch. Also, no mention of the company names "paradise blue" or "just dreams" were included by the activities booth.
2. Once arriving, they claim that they have a lease on the entire 6th floor of the Bank of Hawaii building (this isn't true though as there are vacant offices on that floor). Additionally, if you look at the buildings directory, as well as the plaques on the wall next to the office doors, you will see NO MENTION of the names "Paradise Blue" or "Just Dreams." Thus, there is no proof that they are there to "stay" so to speak, and they can up and leave any moment.
3. After arriving and filling out paperwork, we sat in the waiting room with a few other couples that were already there. It's very possible these couples could have been "dummies" and were planted there.
4. Upon arrival of our sales representative and being ushered into the presentation room, we were REQUIRED to turn off our cell phones IN THE PRESENCE OF the representative! HUGE red flag! We also could not use the restroom while in the presentation.
5. Our presentation was given by a gentlemen named "Seyi" who was very persuasive (I've seen his name mentioned in other complaints as well). He mentioned the price of $10,000 at the beginning of the presentation, claiming that was the final price and that there was no other hidden costs aside from the yearly renewal fee.
6. During the presentation, they mention that they help "subsidize" costs by paying part of the hotel/condo/cruise booking costs. They also showed slides that indicate the amount of savings one would receive. Each buyer is entitled to "X" amount of fictional vacation dollars to spend towards hotel/cruise/condo reservations ($3,000, for example). When you book a stay, they take money out of this fund, which is replenished yearly.
They DID NOT, however, specifically say HOW MUCH you can take out of this fund AT ANY GIVEN TIME. Seemed very evasive and vague, and I have seen complaints stating that you CANNOT USE THE FULL AMOUNT TOWARDS A SINGLE VACATION STAY. This makes the cost of the condo/hotel/cruise EXACTLY the same as it would be on orbitz, hotels.com, hotwire, etc.
7. During the presentation, they used screenshot slides that were still shots of their website. They DID NOT use the Live Software to show ANYBODY any price on any given destination.
In my experience, any presentation that DOES NOT show live software is HIDING SOMETHING.. I know because I've seen it done in other companies that I've worked with in an entirely unrelated industry. They use the excuse that the presentation would drag on too long past the 60 minutes they had if they used the live software, since everybody would want to see their destination of choice.
8. At first, we were spoken to by our sales representative. When she quickly discovered that we were skeptical, a manager was almost immediately brought in to pressure us more.
We were brought into a private office in the back and after being further skeptics they brought in the "big guns" a.k.a. the presenter/VP manager of the office who gave the presentation. He further pressured us into purchasing the program.
9. The price plummeted. It was $10k originally, then went to $8k, and drastically dropped as low as $2,500 for a budget friendly package. Any product whose price drops this much should have it's legitimacy questioned immediately.
This is not only a shady marketing/sales tactic, but the manager blatantly told us that "nobody else got this same offer that you did..." Yeah right.. that's a blatant lie, as I've seen many other complaints online stating that they too received the exact same drastic price drops and offers, including the "free vacation voucher" that they toss in to try and sweeten the pot.
10. Speaking of private offices, the office we entered was very "sterile" and BARE! If this is in fact a legitimate business, and the resting place of this company, wouldn't there be personal effects in there? No pictures on the wall or on the desk, just a bare desk with a keyboard and monitor. I'm guessing this is so they can get out of there quickly if another DBA name change is needed.
Also, when we went back to cancel 2 days later, the return private office we spoke in was also bare and had no personal effects.
11. We decided to buy just to get out of there. After paying (with our credit card) and leaving, the anxiety and panic sunk in. We started thinking logically and wondered what disastrous thing we had done.
Sure enough, not a lot of legitimate complaints exist out there for Just Dreams yet. It seems that's the case because this name is fairly new, so not a lot of places exhibit legit complaints yet.
12. 7 day cancellation policy, but it's obvious you wont get your key code to access the software for AT LEAST 7 days. This is another HUGE red flag, and they will manipulate it and "talk" around it all day long, claiming that the filing process takes several days to activate your account and gather your keycode.
This is ridiculous. I sign up for programs online frequently, and there is no such process to go through to get an activated account. You can register online for any number of discount hotel/flight/car rental programs (hotwire, orbitz, etc.) and your account is activated almost IMMEDIATELY, giving you the right to utilize their services right away. This is the 21st century after all.
13. After deciding to cancel, we went in on Monday morning to the office to cancel. We were taken into another private office (which, as mentioned above, was also bare), and we were given a huge retention push. It was obvious that he was trying to retain us as a customer and get us to keep the program, but we were determined to cancel.
14. After trying to cancel, the manager continued to follow us outside and asked us questions about why we cancelled, etc. It seemed like he wanted to hear legitimate feedback, so I was inclined to give it to him.
Every time I mentioned one of these red flags, the guy simply evaded the real question at hand and gave us vague and manipulative answers. The manager would simply NOT give me a decent straight forward answer.
If this company was legitimate, wouldn't they gladly be receptive to positive critical feedback? Many, MANY other individuals have posted complaints and have mentioned MANY of the same red flags that I've mentioned above, yet he talked his way out of every single one of them.
15. No free trial offer or longer cancellation period. Incredibly high sales pressure tactics.
Any legitimate company would have:
a.) A free or discounted trial - Allow me to try your software for free for 'X' days, or allow me to pay a one time fee (say $100 or so) to use your software ONCE to get a discounted vacation. If it works, I'll come back to you and pay the full price. This option doesn't exist and they will laugh you out the door if you try and mention it.
b.) Longer cancellation period - a "no risk" trial of 30 days, 60 days, etc. is very standard and should ALWAYS be an option. There was simply just TOO MUCH RISK to get involved at a 7 day return period for SUCH A LARGE AMOUNT OF MONEY.
c.) No high pressure sales - I'm a firm believer that a good product SELLS ITSELF. If it's such a great product, it doesn't need a high pressure sales pitch, and if we want to leave without buying they should gracefully let us go!
16. When asked, the manager said he DID NOT HAVE AN EMAIL ADDRESS. Who in this day and age of business does NOT have a direct email address?
After that, I asked him for a business card. He handed me a card which was simply a generic business card for Just Dreams, and did not have a direct number for him or his name anywhere on it. Yet another red flag.
I argued for a good hour or so, after which we finally discovered it wasn't worth it to keep arguing and we left. The guy sure did try hard to make us feel bad about cancelling though, but in the end I'm incredibly glad it didn't work.
Avoid this place like the plague. Our 4-5 hours of wasted time on our Hawaii vacation wasn't anywhere worth the $160 or so in free gifts that we received. If I see credit card charges come across for this company I will go to war with them and do anything in my power to get it back.