Ever heard of Divine Getaways? Receive 2 free 7 night cruise?

[dixie]

You have to attend a 90 minute presentation. Anyone done this? What is the catch? You are supposed to receive 2- 7 night cruises and 2 RT airline tickets. Hmm sounds too good to be true!

 

[DeniseM]

The catch is that the cruises will be nearly impossible to schedule, and there will be undisclosed fees.

 

[stalyn78]

Strings attached

If we are planning to use the cruises on off times will it be worth it? I got the same card. Also, do you still get the cruise and airline tickets if you don't buy into their offer?

 

[Passepartout]

Anything that seems too good to be true generally is. Either you can't book the cruise, airfare isn't included and must be bought through them or it is a cabin the size of a closet down in the bowels of an older ship. There is an extra charge if you want to see daylight or eat in a dining room. It ain't worth your time.

Jim Ricks

 

[cgeidl]

Heavenly Divine Getaways

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Divine Getaways

Has anyone heard of Divine Getaways? My husband received 6 postcards from them on the same day.
Reply to This Message betsys55

2 weeks ago
Apr 05, 2011 04:19 PM

Divine Indeed...

betsys55 wrote:
Has anyone heard of Divine Getaways? My husband received 6 postcards from them on the same day.

Divine Getaways indeed.... Was the postmark perchance "Heaven"?

If so, perhaps hubby should be concerned that this multiple mailing of an "invitation" has some deeper, spiritual meaning. Maybe the "getaway" invitation is for the REALLY BIG, FINAL "getaway"...
Last edit by ken1193 on Apr 08, 2011 03:52 AM.

Reply to This Message ken1193

2 weeks ago
Apr 05, 2011 04:48 PM

Divine Getaways

betsys55 wrote:
Has anyone heard of Divine Getaways? My husband received 6 postcards from them on the same day.


I too received an invitation to Divine Getaways presentation in April 2011. I searched the web and found a BBB site listing them as officially VIP Client Services. A search on that name with BBB shows them with multiple aka business names. See paste from a BBB site below.
------------------------------
Business Management
Brandon Bizar, Vice President, is also known to BBB as a principal in the following companies: Vacation Link of Florida, Inc., California Vacation Holdings Group, LLC, Preferred Guest Services, LLC, Summer Bay Getaways, LLC and Summer Bay Partnership.
For a complete report on any of these companies, please visit www.bbb.org

Contact Information
Primary Contact: Ms. Cheryl Arscott (President)Mr. Walter Elvy (Director Client Services)Mr. Rick Arscott (Vice President)Mr. Brandon Bizar (Vice President)
--------------------------------------

I searched on a sampling of their aka names to find a mix of BBB complaints and that the BBB reported the company had resolved almost all the complaints, and about 50% were confirmed by the customer as having been resolved. The nature of the resolution is unknown, and not disclosed by BBB. But I also found 2 sites listing multiple complaints for Summer Bay Geteways. On one site, customers were frustrated trying to dispute billing issues and the phone numer had been disconnected. Someone else had found that the company name had been altered and a new phone number was in use. Odd practice for building loyalty. One client reported on that site that she did have a good experience with her trip and the price she paid. The second site is full of frustrated clients.
URLs to the complaints are below.

 

[Unclearnie]

Even if you are retired?

The catch is that the cruises will be nearly impossible to schedule, and there will be undisclosed fees.

Denise

We are retired and are free to travel just about any time. Does your caution still apply? Also, having cruised before we are aware of Govt' and port fees, daily automatic tips and the possibility of fuel surcharges. Are you talking about these fees or some others?

Thanks
Unclearnie

 

[dougp26364]

The catch is that the cruises will be nearly impossible to schedule, and there will be undisclosed fees.

And usually on some off brand cruise line with a name that sounds a lot like a major cruise company. Ramada use to do something similar using Royal Cruise Line, which sounded a lot like Royal Carribean Cruise Line.

 

[dougp26364]

Denise

We are retired and are free to travel just about any time. Does your caution still apply? Also, having cruised before we are aware of Govt' and port fees, daily automatic tips and the possibility of fuel surcharges. Are you talking about these fees or some others?

Thanks
Unclearnie

We once attended on the promise of airfare and hotel for a 3 night trip to Vegas. We have flexible schedules and can travel just about anytime. We were required to send in a refundable deposit and a list of dates we could travel.

At first, it seemed as if it would be smooth sailing. We recieved a reply stating to pack our bags, we were on our way. A couple of weeks before we were suppose to leave we received a letter stating they were unable to secure our reservations/flights and to choose another date OR, pay a little extra and take another, more expensive ground vacation to someplace like the fabulouse Orlando (timeshares).

We decided to stick it out and pick another date. We did this three times, all with the same result. Pack your bags.......cancel the trip.

It took some effort and searching on the internet but, I FINALLY found a phone number the wasn't a dead end with automated answering services. I was finally connected to their "travel" agency and, of course, they asked us to pick some dates. I had to switch it up on them and tell them to tell me exactly what dates they could give us a firm confirmation, including a valid airline confirmation number. Only then were we able to secure our reservation and recieve our promised vacation.

I would imagine most people would have given up long before we did and either forfited their $100 deposit or paid the additional money to go to an Orlando timeshare.

IMHO, you can be as flexible as you want. You'll still have to fight to get what's promised and, you'll probably find what's promised isn't what it looks like on the surface. Additional fee's often include upgrading to a major brand cruise line such as Carnival or Royal Caribbean. It took us over 6 months and a lot of work just to get that 3 night vacation.

 

[AKE]

If this operates like similar scams (and there are many variations on this) then you will get the free tickets BUT:
1) it will be almost impossible to schedule
2) you will be hit with a number of additional charges (e.g. various adminsitration fees, port charges, taxes etc) so that by the time you get to the cruise you will have payed out more than it is worth.

No-one gives something away for nothing or for way less than the value of the item. If it is too good to be true then its NOT TRUE (I have never heard of a situation where this didn't apply but if you still believe that this is a good deal then I have a bridge in Brooklyn )

 

[Unclearnie]

Doug and AKE

Thanks for your quick replys. I guess I already have enough gray hair so into the round file with thier postcard.

Unclearnie

 

[bcnboy]

Divine Getaways and Reservation Services International are scams

Had to create an account to post about Divine Getaways. I have never been interested in a timeshare but this deal seemed to be too good to be true ("wholesale" discount travel to anywhere).

I did buy a package with Divine Getaways after the presentation in Embassy Suites, San Rafael, CA. But I quickly realized it was a scam. I was still within the 3 day cancel period so I did just that. Thank goodness! Divine Getaways, also My Divine Getaways, is a distributor for Reservation Services International, also a scam, and the 1800 number they provide to book is 1-888-269-6511. I got a postcard for an 8 day 7 night free cruise which I would receive after a 90 min seminar. Reservation Services International is supposed to be a wholesale travel center offering steep discounts. The cancel period is 3 days, but it takes 7 days to gain access to the website. Any consumer should back out of something they can't try before the cancellation period expires.

Did some digging and found 10+ websites that looked exactly like divinegetaways.com. (Ie. http://cozysoft[dot]us, http://abconcepts[dot]info, http://www.traveltbc[dot]com, http://www.platinumrewardstravel[dot]com, http://www.totalaccessvacations[dot]com, http://islandlifestyle[dot]net, http://www.travelmilehigh[dot]com to name a few)

Other boards with similar threads to similar operations: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2319016,
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopi...l_Escapes_Austin_Texas-San_Antonio_Texas.html, http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-800-813-6994/5, http://www.timeshareforums.com/forums/wyndham-fairfield-resorts/116333-rescind-rsi.html, http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopi...l_Escapes_Austin_Texas-San_Antonio_Texas.html

I'm confused as to why 2 posters with verified accounts on www.timeshareforums.com say that RSI is a solid company with good deals. I've only been able to find 2-3 people on the web to vouch for the validity of RSI's wholesale travel discount services and the number of fraud claims far outweighs the positive reviews.

From what I can tell, RSI is a call center and the sales groups ARE an arm of RSI, not separate operations. The sales group tour the country under different aliases claiming to distribute licenses to access RSI or whatever other wholesale company (like in this article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/16/AR2008051601584.html).

Good news for me, however, the same Leslie D. Lenel from the above Washington Post article, claiming to be the Director of Administration of Divine Getaways, did indeed honor my cancellation. My card was pending a charge to a Paradise Escape Falls, which is probably another entity by Divine Getaways or Reservation Services International. All in all, a good lesson to learn and some tips from the scam industry. They sure do work hard on their craft of selling absolutely nothing or just promises of discounts. And at least the sales people and personnel were cordial.

[I modified the links to the suspected scam sites to keep web bot searches from counting them and boosting their web search rankings. - Makai Guy, BBS Administrator]

 

[tjones123]

any idea how to cancel my membership, and get my money back??

 

[tjones123]

any idea who I can contact to try to get a refund?