My quest in cancelling the vacation club!

As I originally wrote I signed up on the Conquest Sept. 11, 2006, for platinum ($9,995.).
I came home Sunday morning the 17th. On Monday, I found this web-site about cruising, and the thoughts on "the club". I decided I wanted to cancel "the club" because I didn't want all the other trips, just the cruises. I was mislead in believing that this was a part of Carnival Cruise Lines.

Tuesday, Sept. 19 th., I over-nighted my cancellation letter with a return receipt request vis US postal service.

Now, I started calling the billing center for "the club" for my cancellation and refund.

Thurs. Sept. 21 st., at 8:50 pm CST. I spoke to Chris Rameriz. He tells me there is nothing on the computer yet about my cancellation, and the cancellation coordinator has left for the day; call back Friday at 11:00 CST.

Friday. Sept. 22 nd., at 1:40 CST (I couldn't call earlier, I was at work). I spoke to Trisha Burleson. She took my memebership number and also told me that there was no information yet on the computer. She said she couldn't verify getting my cancellation letter because the "cancellation coordinator -'left early today'". I was also told that the offices wouldn't be opened again until Monday.
I asked for the name of the cancellation coordinator.

I found out there are actually two: Samantha Durbin, who "left early today", and Rachael Ortiznau, who "is on vacation" (I wonder if it is a CVC $299 resort stay somewhere?).

Anyway, I have no progress in cancelling "the club" (I am in the 3 day window), but I have names.

Trisha did tell me that "if your cancellation is approved, it will be 2-3 weeks before the refund is issued." (HUH?)In the meantime, I'm waiting for VISA to send me a charge dispute form, but I do have a payment that is due now that I have to pay on my VISA as my statement date was Sept. 18!

I'll post again Monday to let you all know if I've made any progress in cancelling "the club".

Call the visa card company back and ask for their fraud deptartment. Tell them what you have told us in this post. Tell them you want the charge denied.

CVC (ICE) is delaying you until the charge can be put onto their books. Then they will wait and get the interest off of your $10,000 for that 2-3 weeks whihc will turn into a longer time period.

Having someone "leave early" is not a legitimate reason for you not to back out of th sales contract.

I you read this thread from the begining and search for vacaton club you will fidn other discussions in here and people's posts that went through what you are now going through. You may gt some helpful tips.

Good Luck!

Thank you Jim,
I called Candice Spaulding at Visa (fraud division). She said that she hadn't see a case involving this much money before. However, she didn't feel it was fraud, but more likely "a run around" to keep my money longer, as you suggested.
Her advice was to continue through the "disputed charge" avenue, as I am already doing (she saw the notations in my VISA file already). She said this would be less frustrating for me to let VISA handle reclaiming the charges, if I have the proper documentations, as I claim (copy of contract, disembarkation date, copies of when I sent the letters, return receipt).
I've learned a valuable lesson. I'm not turned off by Carnival. I can't wait until my next cruise.

my wife and i joined the vacation club last year. we are getting ready to take our second cruise since becoming silver members and will probably be able to get 3 total cruises out of our points. we were also able to book a beautiful 2 bedroom condo in orlando for our daughters family. there are some drawbacks to the club. it definatly isnt cost efficient for families, you would be better served to pay cash for your cruises. you also must be flexible in your travel . cruises that cost 4000 points in the summer months are in some cases less that 2000 in the off-season. as for the sales staff, they dont lie to you but they dont tell you the whole truth either. anyone looking into the club should ASK QUESTIONS !. as far as the resort vacations go, yes the best places can be hard to book but again if you can be flexible and travel in the down season you can find great locations. the club is not for everyone but so far (knock on wood) we feel we carnival has delivered. we will be sailing on our 16th cruise in feb.

quote:

Originally posted by donnie5:
my wife and i joined the vacation club last year. we are getting ready to take our second cruise since becoming silver members and will probably be able to get 3 total cruises out of our points. we were also able to book a beautiful 2 bedroom condo in orlando for our daughters family. there are some drawbacks to the club. it definatly isnt cost efficient for families, you would be better served to pay cash for your cruises. you also must be flexible in your travel . cruises that cost 4000 points in the summer months are in some cases less that 2000 in the off-season. as for the sales staff, they dont lie to you but they dont tell you the whole truth either. anyone looking into the club should ASK QUESTIONS !. as far as the resort vacations go, yes the best places can be hard to book but again if you can be flexible and travel in the down season you can find great locations. the club is not for everyone but so far (knock on wood) we feel we carnival has delivered. we will be sailing on our 16th cruise in feb.

Donnie: I am glad you feel like it has delivered for you.

Thank you for your honest represenation of what you are getting for your money, because that is how people make informed decisions.

If you are a Silver, did you pay $5,000.00.
If so, that is where I get puzzled about people thinking that maybe 3 cruises (if you go off seaon) for 2 people is a good deal.

We are sailing on the Miracle ~ 7 days~ (3 people ~ inside Upper Deck) for $1,000.00.
And this is during "Fall Break". (A time that is growing into a peak season).

As for the condo, that is the Sheraton Vistana (a nice property as long as they don't put you in the 20 year old section) but it is available to any Joe Blow off the street for $199.00 for 4 days. I got the offer myself. No clubs to join and no timeshare tours to take.

Those are the facts that people need to know:

1. the cruises are more expensive (even for just 2 people)

2. the timeshare resorts (when and if you can actually get a booking) are offered to the general public all the time without joining any kind of club.

People need to realize that all they are paying for is VIP Check In and Debarkation, a few on board perks like Platinum member get and a party (IF you are sailing on one of the few ships that has a CVC office). If they don't have an office, you are not even going to get the party in most cases.

Now if thousands of dollars is worth that to someone, then that is the route they should go.
And believe me, there are lots of people who will pay thousands to feel like they are "special". But that is the only reason someone should buy into these packages. Because they do not save you money on cruises or resorts.

All conversations are recorded by ice. The managers name is Diane Watson and her phone # is 602-308-1940.

I have spoken with Diane Watson and she was of absolutely NO HELP! She just passed it on to the person under her - Cathy Gallagher. Ms. Gallagher is no better and she keeps passing the buck down. And so forth and so forth. If conversations are recorded who has the recordings? Are you talking about when you called ICE or on the ship? I wish I would have recorded the conversation on the ship. But then when we turned this over to the Better Business Bureau ICE sent them a sentence from the "contract" that covers anything you were told while on board. PER THE CONTRACT SIGNED BY THE MEMBER ON JANUARY 17,, 2006, PEASE REFER TO PAGE 7, PARAGRAPH 6 AND PAGE 32, NUMBER 22. BY SIGNING THE CONTRACT THE MEMBER AGREED THAT THEY HAD RELIED SOLELY ON THE CONTENTS OF THE MEMBERSHIP DOCUMENTS AND DID NOT RELY ON ANY OTHER REPRESENTATION, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, WRITTEN OR ORAL WHEN ENTERING INTO THE AGREEMENT. In other words ICE is not responsible for anything their representatives say. Since that is in the contract no one has a leg to stand on in their complaints.

We are trying to use most of our points for a big cruise. We spent $5000.00 in points for what comes to 3194.00 in cash. What's wrong with this picture?

Who wants to take a cruise during hurricane season? Or December in Alaska? I looked at the entire European resorts for the last week in May 2007 and the 2nd week in June 2007 (9 months from now). Guess what? The only resorts available are in Tenirife, Canary Islands that is being overrun with African refugees. Not exactly the safest place on earth at the moment.

The very first time I called ICE I talked to a wonderful lady that actually told me that no we were lied to. I bet that conversation wasn't recorded. Also, due to my stupidity, I didn't write that reps name down. I am sure she is no longer employed. She said she would send my message to Ms Watson because she had the ear of the owners. ha. see where that got us.

Wendy,
Document every conversation, times and names as you are doing. I am not the person LHP reffered to as an expert just have learned some things. When I said in a previous post about the 3 days was reffering to when they did the financing. I had no idea you authorized a charge on your visa for the whole amount. If you have a good visa company interest or payments will not be charged while in dispute. I am surprised the bank let it go through. Best of luck to you.

Everybody has their paper work deadlines. I just got the paperwork from VISA to dispute the charge today. I have 10 days to file the paperwork from the date noted on their letter. In this case, September 19th, and today is already the 26th!So as soon as I finish this post, I have to drive to the post office to send the paperwork, and documentation of my claim that I cancelled with ICE within the 3 day window.
I called "the club" again last night. They did acknowledge receiving my cancellation request but could not tell me the current status of my account.

WendyO,

I hope everyone on this board that took the time to help you pays off for you.

IslandCruz

quote:

Originally posted by IslandCruz:
Wendy,
Document every conversation, times and names as you are doing. I am not the person LHP reffered to as an expert just have learned some things. When I said in a previous post about the 3 days was reffering to when they did the financing. I had no idea you authorized a charge on your visa for the whole amount. If you have a good visa company interest or payments will not be charged while in dispute. I am surprised the bank let it go through. Best of luck to you.

Just want to clear IslandCruz name. I was not referring to Island Cruz. sorry if I inferred that..

Wendy's experience is the kind that I am trying to help people avoid.

Again, if someone is completely informed with honest facts and this is the route they want to spend their money on...then more power to them. Again, in today's society people will spend 1,000s of dollars to have someone (anyone) make them "feel important".
And they have every right to do so!

But when folks like Wendy get taken with fraud and deceit. That's when we should all draw the line.

All I have ever "expected" of CVC is to sell their product honestly and they have not.

Operation Inform starts in a couple of weeks with me on the Miracle. We have a lot of first time cruisers on the different roll calls where I am a member and I have already warned them all!

Wendy: Good luck in your endeavors with getting this resolved. Please keep us posted.

Perhaps it is time that we used those comment cards also. Perhaps a thousand complaints on every cruise that has a CVC office (and even those that don't) MIGHT get someone's attention at Carnival. I certainly intend to!!!

Islandcruz- Who do you think is nuts and why? If you were referring to WendyO, I don't think that comment was warranted.

As for the post from Donnie5 saying that they were using the club- I'm not sure I get it. You state that it isn't cost effective for families.. you have to be Flexible in your travel dates, and resorts can be hard to book...

So why would anyone want to be in this club? I can get better deals paying in cash, and I don't have someone else earning interest from my money.

I just don't get it...

LHP,

Thanks. I read things wrong sometimes. I should not have jumped in to help with something I don't know about. If the person has enough credit to charge $10000 on a credit card, they should have enough sense to not do this.

IslandCruz

Jim, Had not seen your post.

Jim C., Whom I consider a friend.

Would you not be nuts to have your Credit Card charged for $10,000.00 Dollars?

If not then I am NUTS for not doing it.

IslandCruz

quote:

Originally posted by IslandCruz:
If the person has enough credit to charge $10000 on a credit card, they should have enough sense to not do this.

IslandCruz

You make an excellent point!!

I guess this is what really gets me about CVC.
These are not "dumb" people CVC is fooling.
There are people who are obviously responsible, hard working people who are positive assets to our society.

But combine trained ICE time share agents and "alcohol" and if these people are not forewarned...they are easier targets.

That is why all the "slight of hand" is disturbing to me. The guy on another board that just spent $5,000.00 and thought he only "lost" (his words) $375.00 when in reality he "lost" $1,500.00. Perhaps I should not feel sorry for him, but I do. From his posts, he seemed like a sincerely nice guy. He was even "bragging" on multiple posts about how much he got for his $375.00. Bragging about how "numbers never lie"...etc. And the poor fool had no idea what he was talking about.
And he had just spent $5,000.00.

CVC doesn't throw in all those "floating point values" to help people become better at math. CVC does it to confuse the issue and obviously they do it well.

So you are so right that people "should" know better....but sadly, CVC is making a killing off people who don't.

I am hoping that just by mentioning that these programs are being sold by a "time-share" company on the Miracle will at least get people to thinking before they sign that dotted line.

Comments are warranted when they may help someone else not get in the same trouble.

In one way I am "nuts" in what I did at the time. But as was stated, the people hired by CVC are good at what they do. I was on vacation with my 21 year old daughter, who actually helped THEM sell their pitch.

My daughter and I was scheduled to listen to the spiele right after lunch the first full day on the cruise. We were taken to a elaborbately decorated meeting room and was told this was where more exclusive candidates were meeting. We had noted that other groups were being "pitched" in groups of 2-3 in the general lobby area. With the pre-screening questions, they asked what my cabin number was, so they knew ahead time the type of cabin and accomadations we had. Diana, my daughter, volunteered the information that I've cruised many times before. So that gave CVC the information that I was a likely target. They gave us endless mimosas as we waited to get started.

I'm not a math major and that's where I got tripped up. The point system into dollars didn't hit home until I read this web-site. Then I read about all the other problems. I admit, I was on vaction and I didn't read all the small print of the contract. Tracy, the CVC rep was so nice! She promised things that wasn't true at all! I specifically wanted a European CRUISE and she agreed that would be nice; then I read in the contract that the Carnival European cruises are excluded from the club points!

I admit I was stupid for not reading the contract at the time I signed it, but that is something I'm GUILTY for at my own job. I'm a nurse and so many times I have to have patients signs surgical consents. I tell them, "I know your doctor has told you everything that about your surgery and the possible complications (by law the doctors have to disclose the information), this is the consent for your surgey to sign". People always sign without reading it first. Did you know one complication that is always stated in those surgical forms is DEATH?

We trust nice people and the CVC people were very nice; especially to me when I was on vacation. Having some mimosas with my daughter didn't help the situation. Diana just saw several more vacations coming her way if I joined "the club". Anyway, that's how I got suckered in. My next cruise is in January. I plan to be more careful.

Anyway, 3 more cruises and I'll be platinum! I don't need CVC.

WendyO
You can do a European cruise with the points. We are using ours for a 12 day cruise from Rome. It is taking almost all of the 5000 points to do this, but we want this nightmare to be over. If they told you you couldn't then maybe we have been taken (again).

Islandcruz- I understand your "nuts" comment now. Taken as the one sentence reply, I didn't know what you were referring to. And as far as the friends comment goes.. yes, I would agree that we are singing from the same song sheet.

But having been away from this discussion for about 5 hours several posts have come in since I checked last, so I need to insert some comments-

As far as "nuts" to charge $10,000 on a credit card? No not really. It is probably the best way to handle this assuming this was a good deal. I have many credit cards with limits much higher than that, so using them to settle the charges would not be out of the question. The comment about people who have that kind of credit knowing better, I agree with LHP in that this is the CC agents job.. he is supposed to quick sell people with the trickery they teach them. So, WendyO.. do NOT think you are "stupid" for signing up. They make it sound like a very good deal. Most people with any money and like to cruise can be suckered in with the sales pitch. Heck, I almost did.. luckily I had been on enough cruises when I first had the pitch thrown at me to recongnize that the deal seemed "off". Then when I tried to corner the sales guy on just how many "points" it took to get a cruise, and he couldn't answer without contradicting himself, the alarm bells went off in my head. Then when I said that I would need to think it over and they started giving me the "got to sign up now" speach.. well I knew it was not legit. So, yes, smart people should be able to not be taken in.. that's why the hire smarter sales people.

WendyO, again, don't consider yourself "nuts" or stupid. If you truly were, you would not have investigated the club when you returned and not figured out what the deal was and you would be "stuck" with the club. You were smart enough to go figure things out. That is the reason for the law saying you get 3 days to back out of a contract.. to help people from getting caught up in shananagins like this.

Carnival REALLY needs to get these people off their cruise ships... they are NOT helping Carnival's image.