[2009] Ever hear of Vacation Station?

[sandcastles]

We just returned home from Charleston, SC and went to a presentation at Vacation Station. Don't remember all the details, but it was somewhere around $5000 for a standard membership, and around $10,000 for the plus membership that "almost" everybody buys. (sure they do)

For this you got 4 weeks of vacation per year. They guarantee you can go wherever you want. Even Sanibel in February. There is a small fee per year, around $200, and no more costs. They say they can guarantee it because they have access to properties that others don't. Private homes, etc.

When I said I didn't think this was possible, they said I was calling them liars, they didn't want our business, etc. Reminds me of the TS practices of many years ago. This was a very low-class operation.

 

[theo]

Ain't gonna happen...

They guarantee you can go wherever you want. Even Sanibel in February.

Did you ask if you could see that particular guaranty in writing?

 

[forthofjulyguy]

Vacation Station Charleston sc

I also attended one of these presentations at the end of may. I must say I did purchase their program and have used it twice. I'm sure all companies have people working for them that may be rude, and I'm sorry this happened to you, but I have been vary pleased with the Vacation Station up to this point. The Vacation Station saved me almost $3500 on an Alaskan cruise for my wife and I. We also booked a hotel room in Washington DC, and I saved almost 40% off of the best price I could find on the internet. This is even more than they guaranteed. I would recommend the Vacation Station to anyone that is traveling.

Alexander

 

[geekette]

The Vacation Station saved me almost $3500 on an Alaskan cruise for my wife and I.

Holy crap -what cruise/category did you book???

 

[ctyatty]

I reviewed the Vacation Station website. Wow, and to think I got miffed when my local travel agent starting charging a $10 service fee to issue airline tickets.

Pay the travel agent $10,000 in advance for a lifetime (or whenever the firm is defunct) of selling me hotel rooms and cruises and such.

yeah, right.

 

[Mel]

Funny how this is Alexander's one and only post here - and as a Guest. We all know what that means.

So Alex - what cruise did you go on? What category, at what price? $3500 is a lot to save on a single cruise. Was that $3500 off the brochure price, or off consolidator prices, because I find that very hard to believe, unless you had a top category suite - and you would have to have gotten if for free, since I can get one of those for $3500 on RCI cruises (which isn't even the best deal available).

 

[geekette]

that cruise booking was between now and May, when the travel package was purchased, according to that post.

Alaska this year is VERY CHEAP. When is the actual sailing?

What was the bottom line that you paid for this cruise, after getting that much discounted?

 

[oregonguy]

The Vacation Station saved me almost $3500 on an Alaskan cruise for my wife and I.

I've been on two Alaskan cruises...the way prices are, you can practically take a family of 4 on a cruise for $3500. I don't buy it for a second that you really saved $3500 because even in the higher cabin categories, there simply isn't that much to save based on what prices are.

 

[kevin1957]

I think 'The Vacation Station' is a station I would rather not "pick up".. Kevin J.

 

[roberthall]

Vacation Station Charleston, SC

"Buyers Beware", research previous complaints first, Google also see Yahoo, Vacation Station Charleston, SC posted complaints.
42,000 members claimed, yet only 3 positive comments posted by Randy Gardner, CEO, at ilovecharleston.com
Better Business Bureau rating "C" , "Buyers Beware" 36 complaints filed.
I am presently requesting a full refund back from Mr. Gardner. However, he
has not responded to my communications.
More updates to follow.

 

[iluvmn]

vacation station

Dito...We have a similar experience and no responses to communications

 

[pointsjunkie]

We just returned home from Charleston, SC and went to a presentation at Vacation Station. Don't remember all the details, but it was somewhere around $5000 for a standard membership, and around $10,000 for the plus membership that "almost" everybody buys. (sure they do)

For this you got 4 weeks of vacation per year. They guarantee you can go wherever you want. Even Sanibel in February. There is a small fee per year, around $200, and no more costs. They say they can guarantee it because they have access to properties that others don't. Private homes, etc.

When I said I didn't think this was possible, they said I was calling them liars, they didn't want our business, etc. Reminds me of the TS practices of many years ago. This was a very low-class operation.

if you own any timeshare and are part of II or RCi then you do NOT need vacation station. It is a rip off and i feel i just gave them my money and then realized that all they were giving me was getaways from RCI or II. beware!!!!

 

[iluvmn]

have you had someone contact you stating they were an attorney for a client. I have and wonder what this is all about other than I am in same boat as others and Mr Gardner has ignored communication.

 

[Tucson mike]

Just returned from charelston

My wife and I just returned from a vacation in Charelston. We saved 150 bucks on our vacation with vacation station by saying he!! No and taking there money. Thanks vacation station! These guys are a rip off!

 

[LannyPC]

Upfront Fee Scam?

I received a call from VS. The guy's name was "James Johnson". His claim? He works on commission (10% of the selling price). He said my unit could sell for nearly double what I paid the developer. He claimed that he just sold 5 units in the Orlando area over the Memorial Day weekend. All he needed was a $279 lien search fee.

I asked him to e-mail me a copy of the contract before I signed anything. When it was obvious that I wasn't going to pay him anything until I saw the contract, he reluctantly sent one. And wouldn't you know it, it was the same contract that all other upfront fee scammers draft that merely promises to advertise and not actually attempt to sell.

He phoned me back some days later and I told him that their contract was the same as all other upfront fee scams. Needless to say, I haven't heard back from him.

 

[vacationgentlemen7]

Happy customer

I have 35000 Bluegreen points and have also been a member of vacation station for 2 years. While I can't speak to the 3500 cruise saving a peak time of year on nicer ship in a suite, I can see how that is possible for two or more people to save that. I booked a silversea cruise and my savings vs the best price I could find on any website or through a travel agent, and believe me I looked. People trash bluegreen a lot to but I have a great experience with them. However, if I had it to do over again I would just have bought The Vacation Station. I recently talked to another Gold member at Bluegreen who had the same sentiment about another vacation club called global resort network. Apparently that one also gives you the opportunity to sell memberships. It sounded like MLM but he sayed it worked great for vacations and he didn't even have a guarenteed savings like I do with TVS. I also booked a ski week at a non Timeshare. The property had no affiliation with II or RCI. So I would have to disagree with most of the sentiments on here. I did experience a slow response from the corporate office when I first joined but I have had a great experience when booking travel. They never mentioned anything to me about selling my timeshare but I think anyone who tells you they will sell your timeshare and wants money up front is full or it. I don't care what company they work for, if they can sell it they can collect there money after the sale. Hope this helps.

 

[TeriClark]

I also attended one of these presentations at the end of may. I must say I did purchase their program and have used it twice. I'm sure all companies have people working for them that may be rude, and I'm sorry this happened to you, but I have been vary pleased with the Vacation Station up to this point. The Vacation Station saved me almost $3500 on an Alaskan cruise for my wife and I. We also booked a hotel room in Washington DC, and I saved almost 40% off of the best price I could find on the internet. This is even more than they guaranteed. I would recommend the Vacation Station to anyone that is traveling.

Alexander

I went to one of Vacation Stations sales pitches and was given a dinner boat cruise and a free 4 night hotel stay for listening. They only gave me a sight seeing tour and I had to have them exchange the sight seeing voucher for the dinner boat cruise, then when I got home and tried to redeem my voucher for the 4 night free hotel stay ( which expired in only 5 days from the time I received it) i found out that the voucher they gave me had already been redeemed by someone else 18 days before I received it from vacation staion. So to say the least I'm more than happy that I did not give them any of our money....

 

[carl2591]

Vacation Station Scams

WOW this thing is getting a LOT of "guest" one posters on board.. guess we hit a nerve with this scam cause we all know it a SCAM..
no matter how you slice it there is now way they can guarantee you a vacation where you want, when you want..

just another bunch of lowclass sleeze balls.. :annoyed:

 

[ralph60]

thanks for dinner

I recently visited Charleston (I had a wonderful time) and had the experience of being shanghaied by a sidewalk salesman from the Vacation Station. My wife and I were invited to a presentation on a vacation club that was going to save us tons of money on trips, sounds good! I figured she was just playing around and we would leave and not return. After negotiating through dinner vouchers, free tours etc. he finally said the magic word, cash. They promised us $125 to sit through the presentation.

We entered the office and I immediately noticed how fly by night the operation looked, the scam flags went up. The supposed CEO of the company appeared and delivered a slick, professional, high pressure PowerPoint presentation. During the presentation he dumped loads of numbers on us including membership fees ($7995.00) and the number of members they had, supposedly 44,000. A little quick math told us that this operation was bringing in well over $300,000,000.00 on memberships alone, yeah right. Nothing added up so we sat until the end then told them we couldn't afford it and left. On the way out I picked up a check for $125.00 and walked across the street to their bank and cashed it.

This operation is a total scam but if you want to sit down for an hour and you are tired of bars it was amusing and we got enough out of them to buy a nice dinner even at Charleston prices. Bottom line with this sort of thing... if the product is good and the company and client are getting a good value then there is no reason why it needs to be purchased right now to get the offered price. Any time you hear that it is a rip off as there is no logical other explanation why today's price would not still be good tomorrow.

 

[MikeMo1947]

Vacation Station Sells Presentation

Today we joined The Vacation Station. In the sales pitch we heard, they said they do not discount airline tickets. They do discount hotels, condos, cruises, and especially travel packages that include combinations of these. We did not feel high pressured and we have been to timeshares that were definitely high pressure. After getting home, 45 minutes away, we got on Internet and saw all the complaints. To play it safe we went back and asked for a refund. The person tried to convince us that the complaints are often one sided and don't tell the whole story. It was a conversation and not a hard sell. After about 5 minutes of discussion, he gave us a full refund without any sign of being upset at us for our decision. He stated twice in the 5 minute conversation that we had a right to a full refund if that was our final decision. They were honest and fair with us. However, we have no experience with their services. We did get our prize but have not used it yet. If we have problems with it, I will log back on and share the complaint.

 

[ralph60]

vacation station?

Google: "Vacation Station Georgia" if you want to know what type of people you are dealing with.