World Travel / mytsonline.com review: Fraudulent Service 2

In August, 2012, my wife and I responded to an offer to join a travel service offering "members" priority access to discounted cruises, flights, hotels and events. We listened to a presentation at 1501 Hughes Way, Long Beach and then discussed the "deal" with Gary Brooks, Chief Accounts Manager, and two women, Ronna and Tracy. After we negotiated away several services that did not interest us, we settled on a $5, 543 package, paid for the package with a Visa card, and requested a reservation at a motel in Seattle we were planning on staying at the following week.

That night, "Amanda" called to request we sign a cancellation waiver before she could book the motel, and we did so via email/scan-pdf response. Gary called later with great news: four nights at the Silver Cloud Inn for $396.45 - the best we had seen on our own was $700 plus taxes - and the confirmation number. When we checked in, the motel had the reservation, but at the standard $700 rate. The motel manager insisted the reservation had been booked by a standard online service (Orbitz or Expedia) at standard rates. We phoned Amanda and were assured they would clear up the misunderstanding. Basically, one of them was lying. When we checked out, the hotel manager was sympathetic and gave us a token discount. Later, World Travel credited our credit card with a portion of the promised discount.

We were very disappointed and phoned Gary Brooks to ask out of the service. He and Amanda begged for another chance and we (foolishly) agreed, asking them to arrange a trip for six to New Orleans for the 2013 Jazz Festival (which Gary claims to have helped found!). A few emails with Amanda seemed to get things rolling, but we have never received any confirmation of any reservation and have had no response to repeated phone messages and emails. A stern email and voice mail requesting cancellation and refund have gone unanswered.

On December 5, I spoke with the Visa card company about the deal and explained that we have paid for services but the company appears to be a ghost: no corporate address, no responses to emails, no returned phone calls and many defrauded customers. Visa is going to investigate and if World Travel does not prove their good faith, then I will get a refund. NOTE: your claim needs to be submitted to Visa within 120 days of the claimed fraud.

I tried to track my way to an owner or parent company, but found only that it seems to operate under at least these five names:

Interval International
RCI
World Travel
World Travel LLC
world-travelservices.com

Gib Hoxie