Visitors to the site are reminded that the details contained within user comments are uncorroborated and as such should not be read as fact but as the opinion of the person who left the comment.
Comments:
I strongly advise anyone out there to avoid this company at all costs and NEVER give them your bank or credit card details. I received a call from them advising me that I was one out of five lucky winners of a holiday to Orlando Florida for 4 people worth around £1499, all for just £199! It sounded fantastic and of course too good to be true so i asked for a website address and said I would call them back when I'd had chance to look at it. I was then told that I would lose this holiday if I didn't accept there and then and it would be offered to the next person on the list. I was speaking to an american man called James Bradford who was apparently a supervisor with the company and he told me that if I paid the £199 I would have a no questions asked 30 day money back guarantee if I changed my mind once I'd received the information through the post but he assured me there was no way I'd want to pull out as it was "the holiday of a lifetime". I have to say that he was very pushy in his sales technique and made out that I would be mad to pass up an opportunity like this, especially when there was a money back guarantee if I did change my mind. Stupidly (and I am ashamed to admit this now) I agreed to go ahead and was passed to what he called a 'validator'. I gave my card details to this man but before doing this I asked him to absolutley confirm that I could get my money back if I claimed within 30 days and I was again assured that this was fine. I was then given a freephone number to call if I had any further questions. After discussing it with my husband we thought of a few things we wanted to ask and tried to call the number, it connected and said "please wait" and then said "we are now exiting the system" and cut me off! At this point alarm bells started to go off and I got a sick feeling so i called my credit card company but unfortunately they were unable to stop the payment going out. They did however, advise me that I could dispute the transaction and they also decided to block my account, luckily they have been most helpful with this. I feel incredibly stupid for falling for such a con as i like to consider myself as quite a switched on kind of person but on this occasion I have been well and truly duped! I decided to come on the internet to see if anyone else had had a problem with this company and low and behold i appear to be one of many! It has also become apparent from reading the other postings on here that this company also use other company names in order to con people as well so just be warned (SOHO VACATIONS). I would also like to point out that one of the postings on here about Celebration World Resort which is from their general manager (who funnily enough does not state his name!) is again just another con. On this post he/she gives a freephone number which is apparently open from 11am until 8pm, yet if you try to call this number you will find that it doesn't even exist! I intend to fight this all the way, not only to attempt to get my money back but also to try and prevent this from happening to others in the future. How on earth these people live with themselves I will never know but if nothing else i have learnt a valuable lesson from all this, nothing comes for free and don't allow people to pressurise you into giving away your hard earned money. Watchdog here we come! Watch this space...........
i would like to say that throught the florida department of agriculture and consumer services i have gotten a FULL refund from Celebration World Resort.
thank you PMcAteer for your positive words.
to everyone else, the very best of luck to you. i hope you get your deserved refunds.
fleur
(no rating given because i'm still not impressed with them)
dear all, thank you for posting on this site it has made very interesting reading. my friend is a victim of the 'celebration world resorts promotions' scam.
she has asked for her money back to no avail. we are currently researching different options.
here are other web sites worth looking at...
www.ripoffreport.com
you can file a report with them
http://www.800helpfla.com/index.html
florida deparment of agriculture and consumer services
you can file a report with them
http://www.nolo.com/article.cfm/ObjectID/9E72D4C3-BB5C-4A02-A4353481CAD0A784/catID/DF30274C-0DE0-4D7A-8E77178D82F090CE/104/284/FAQ/
useful and informative web site concerning consumer rights / protection
www.fraud.org
you can file a report with them
http://www.manta.com/coms2/dnbcompany_fjrct0
you can get a company profile here
www.hilltoptimes.com
an excerpt from their web site says 'Finally, contact any local newspaper, radio station or television station action line. Especially in metropolitan areas, these folks often have an army of volunteers ready to pursue consumer complaints.
good luck
ps: IF we are lucky enough to get the money back then i will post as such on this web site.
i thought i was the only one foolish enough to be taken in by this company if nothing else i feel a lot better having read the comments made concerning same, but what i would like to know is this. In reality this is a time share company as you have to spend time when you are there at a promotions meeting, it says in their literature you have to be in full time employment to avail of this offer so what happens if you are not, surely this is grounds for getting your money back. i would be really grateful if someone out there could confirm this or not. i am still trying to get my money back but it doesn,t look hopeful.Breidge. 27/9/2005
I called the number that flashed on my computer saying I had won something like £1101. Well, it turned out they wanted the nearly £600.00 for the holiday and though he seemed to spout a lot of mumbo jumbo I asked questions and recieved answers. I understand room tax is something like $7-11 per night (not per person) We have to pay for flights and an additional $99-$149 for the 3 day cruise if we wish to take it.
I told the chap on the phone i did not have cash to pay in the bank right now but he insisted i give him my credit card details to register me with the promotion as there was a limited amount available and this holiday would cost hundreds more usually. I was reluctant but i was assured that they are an accredited company and was asked to get a pen and write various information down (e mail, web site, pass code careline etc etc. and i scribbled details of the holiday. A few days later i went to draw wot i thought would be my last £10 from the bank to find it was overdrawn and i phoned my bank to find i was going to be charged £32 for not having the money to pay out various direct debits due to celebration promotions being credited £48 (which i assumed is some kind of booking fee) I was upset to say the least but i mustered up the patience to make a polite phonecall to C.W. customer service line. I explained to the lady i was being charged by my bank and the whole situation had greatly inconvenienced me and she put me on hold to listen to the tape. she tried to blag her way out of it and asked if i wanted to listen to the tape (obviously used to blagging people... as if I would not remember the details of a telephone call i had a few days earlier concerning the holiday of a lifetime!) so obviously i declined as i have the opportunity to hear the sound of my own voice anytime i like. i stopped listening to what she was saying by then (i was bored) asked if there were going to be any more unexpected debits to my account to which i was assured there wouldn't be and voiced my concerns over whether i was being ripped off as the payment in deposits to be agreed at a later date was the only way i could ever possibly afford such a holiday and it was suposed to be a bargain dream deal typed thing. I was assured that was ok and the company was accredited by some better business place which i will be looking up. The call ended and quite disheartened by the experience I decided to cut my losses and did not sign up online through their website for the installments debit instruction as i thought i would wait for them to pester me... over the next couple of days my boyfriend told me i had missed a few calls while i was out and they sounded like they may be from this company. i was finally at home when 2 days later i recieved a call from maria from the finance dpt. who apologized and offered me £200 off my holiday to ease the pain of the inconvenience bringing the outstanding due down to £320.00. I then set up my direct debit with her for which u can pay as little as £32 a month by the way. Also, if u ask them they will extend the period of time in which you have to take the holiday from 1 year to 3 years.... which i have also done though we are hoping to go next summer. though we got off to a bad start... i do hope there will be no further problems with the company and hope to enjoy a great value holiday.... i guess time will tell!
Also, i called my bank again and explained it all and was told that they would revoke the charge as nothing like this goes on with my account normally... so that worked out too!
Greetings all! I have just completed the vacation package that I purchased off the internet. I had received a pop-up about 10 months ago, and I purchased the vacation package. I live in Virginia, USA and my family and I travel to Orlando annually. We usually spend A LOT more for our accommodations than what this vacation cost, so I was very curious about the level of accommodation that this package offered. Much to my pleasant surprise, the accommodations were absolutely great. I have spent over $400 per night for a room that couldn\'t have even compared to the room that we had at Celebration. I can assure everyone that reads my post that Celebration World Resort is TOP NOTCH! The grounds were well manicured, and the staff were friendly. Overall, I would rate the experience 9.5 out of 10. I would abolutely recommend Celebration to all who would like to experience some of the best lodging that central Florida has to offer!
hello,just wanne say the same thing happend to me yesturday, i dont usually play on the internet much, so when i was reading my e-mails yesturday i got this pop up on my screen, so i asked my friend if she thinks i should phone and she said i should give it a try. so i did... which i know really regret, i got so exited about it and told my friends that they should start saving some money. bla bla bla.... its the same thing that happend to every person i red about on this site. i just feel really stupid for falling for such a scam. oh well. atleast i didnt have any money in my account, so i just lost about 90£, i just went to the bank and opened a new account and closed my old one. good luck to everybody out there who is in the same spot as me right know, i can kick myself for phoning. atleast now i know better.
My experience with customer service was great! Understand that sometimes departments get backed up, but don't get discouraged. Give them a ring and they will assist you.
My experience in dealing with thier reservations department have been horable. I called and called and called, nobody ever answered. I left message after message still no rsponse. Now i'm thinking what have I got myself into...Well I call customer service and ask to speak with a manager, which is very very hard to do you stay on hold for ever waiting,and waiting although the representives I must say are very nice, but management is not very prompt. I am not sure if I do have a holiday, reservations is a very guessy situation. Now I do not want to travel and I will get my money back.....thanks to this site I now know how to go about it.
Did the Director Leave his name?????????still a guessy situation
stringer
Dear Past, Present and Future Guest of Celebration World Resort,
I am the General Manager of Customer Service for the Celebration World Resort and would like to be the first to apologize to all guests who did not receive the service they so deserve. Like any other service related company we may have some customer who are not 100% satisfied and we do apologize because our goal is to make sure all guest are well taking care of. We work very hard from the time of purchase until our guest are ready to book there holiday to make this process a pleasant experience for each and every traveler. If a situation does occur, our customer service department will be more then happy to remedy any concerns our guest may have and do this all in a timely manner. I welcome all guests traveling with our property to call customer service with any concerns they may have. We pride ourselves with providing excellent service to every guest who has invested in our holiday and will continue to do so as long as we as a company can provide this wonderful vacation. Please utilize our customer service staff that is here to answer your questions Monday thru Friday from the hours of 11am to 10pm London Time. If you call our customer service department and are waiting for an agent to answer the phone please understand that we are here also assisting other clients. We are dedicated to answering each and every call and we graciously ask that all customers be patient. There is not a problem in the world that we refuse to fix. Give us a chance by calling in to our offices with your concerns and my promise is to have all problems alleviated and to provide you the holiday you so deserve. Once again I apologize to any guest who has faced any dilemma with our packages and will look forward to assisting any client who may have any questions or concerns in the future. Thank you
Customer Service: 0-800-917-762
Times of Operations: 11:00am - 8:00pm(London Time
6:00am - 5:00pm (Eastern Standard Time)
Sincerely,
General Manager
Customer Care
Celebration World Resort
i had vacation through this co. and want to let everybody know that this is a good co.we came to orlando me wife and our son we got everything promise plus the service from resort and the presentation for ownership was so good and there\\\'s was no push as far as purchasing we enjoyed our vacation and wants to deal with same co.in future keep up the good work god bless.
Celebrations World Resort is a lovely resort in the Orlando, Florida attraction area. Celebration is a Gold Crown Rated resort. If you google RCI Gold Crown, you will find out that only a very select few resorts have received that level of classification.
As far as Celebration World Resort being accused of doing anything other than good business, there is no need for the resort to do anything shady.
If any of the people that were so quick to blag this resort would have taken the time to try their holiday accommodations, there would have been no blag at all. I have been vacationing in the Orlando area atleast once a year for the last 7 years now. I did stay at Celebration about 2 years ago for the first time. I had received a promotional offer on the internet and took advantage of it. And that was one of the best experiences that I have had at a resort in Orlando.
The resort offers exceptional amenities, beautiful scenery, and a loveley pool. The staff are polite and courteous and make it a point to go out of their way to make me feel at home.
I would recommend Celebration World Resort to anyone that wants to have an excellent holiday in a beautiful place.
Now that this site helped me I would like to leave a comment with a bit of help for those of you who would like to file a complaint with Florida Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The original description of the holiday, which I was led to believe I was buying can be found here (follow the link below):
http://www.urprize.com/adv65/Winner.htm
This will produce one of the discussed here pop-ups. Click on the pictures and on the links to see the descriptions of the accommodation and the cruise as well as the text of a 100%-satisfaction promise and a written guarantee. You will be able to print these in case you need to show the original description of the deal in order to prove your case.
This also shows that the alleged by the company "special", "limited-time", "winner-of-the-day" offer seems to be available to anyone at his/her own will simply by going to the above address.
For your information the current offer is £1101 pounds to be saved and only £299 to be paid provided that you call in the next three minutes. And when the counter of the remaining minutes reaches zero it re-starts from 60 minutes again and so on endlessly.
The above pop-up was displayed to me, but other pop-ups could have been displayed to you. They apparently can be reached and the conditions of the deal checked if you change the "adv65" to some other number (all numbers from 61 to 68 produce different flavours of adverts and "winner-of-the-day/hour/season/etc" offers).
I feel that the advertisement misled me to believe that I was â??winner-of-the-dayâ? and that this was a â??one-time-promotionâ? offered only to selected clients. The fact that anyone can go to the above address and receive the â??winner-of-the-dayâ? pop-up shows that the advertisement is somewhat misleading in nature. This could be used to prove our case when seeking refund.
THANKS TO ALL WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THIS SITE. PLEASE KEEP ON SHARING!
Add a comment about this blagger
Visitors to the site are reminded that the details contained within user comments are uncorroborated and as such should not be read as fact but as the opinion of the person who left the comment.
Comments:
i would like to say that throught the florida department of agriculture and consumer services i have gotten a FULL refund from Celebration World Resort.
thank you PMcAteer for your positive words.
to everyone else, the very best of luck to you. i hope you get your deserved refunds.
fleur
(no rating given because i'm still not impressed with them)
fleur at 30th Apr 2006, 06:51PM
she has asked for her money back to no avail. we are currently researching different options.
here are other web sites worth looking at...
www.ripoffreport.com
you can file a report with them
http://www.800helpfla.com/index.html
florida deparment of agriculture and consumer services
you can file a report with them
http://www.nolo.com/article.cfm/ObjectID/9E72D4C3-BB5C-4A02-A4353481CAD0A784/catID/DF30274C-0DE0-4D7A-8E77178D82F090CE/104/284/FAQ/
useful and informative web site concerning consumer rights / protection
www.fraud.org
you can file a report with them
http://www.manta.com/coms2/dnbcompany_fjrct0
you can get a company profile here
www.hilltoptimes.com
an excerpt from their web site says 'Finally, contact any local newspaper, radio station or television station action line. Especially in metropolitan areas, these folks often have an army of volunteers ready to pursue consumer complaints.
good luck
ps: IF we are lucky enough to get the money back then i will post as such on this web site.
I told the chap on the phone i did not have cash to pay in the bank right now but he insisted i give him my credit card details to register me with the promotion as there was a limited amount available and this holiday would cost hundreds more usually. I was reluctant but i was assured that they are an accredited company and was asked to get a pen and write various information down (e mail, web site, pass code careline etc etc. and i scribbled details of the holiday. A few days later i went to draw wot i thought would be my last £10 from the bank to find it was overdrawn and i phoned my bank to find i was going to be charged £32 for not having the money to pay out various direct debits due to celebration promotions being credited £48 (which i assumed is some kind of booking fee) I was upset to say the least but i mustered up the patience to make a polite phonecall to C.W. customer service line. I explained to the lady i was being charged by my bank and the whole situation had greatly inconvenienced me and she put me on hold to listen to the tape. she tried to blag her way out of it and asked if i wanted to listen to the tape (obviously used to blagging people... as if I would not remember the details of a telephone call i had a few days earlier concerning the holiday of a lifetime!) so obviously i declined as i have the opportunity to hear the sound of my own voice anytime i like. i stopped listening to what she was saying by then (i was bored) asked if there were going to be any more unexpected debits to my account to which i was assured there wouldn't be and voiced my concerns over whether i was being ripped off as the payment in deposits to be agreed at a later date was the only way i could ever possibly afford such a holiday and it was suposed to be a bargain dream deal typed thing. I was assured that was ok and the company was accredited by some better business place which i will be looking up. The call ended and quite disheartened by the experience I decided to cut my losses and did not sign up online through their website for the installments debit instruction as i thought i would wait for them to pester me... over the next couple of days my boyfriend told me i had missed a few calls while i was out and they sounded like they may be from this company. i was finally at home when 2 days later i recieved a call from maria from the finance dpt. who apologized and offered me £200 off my holiday to ease the pain of the inconvenience bringing the outstanding due down to £320.00. I then set up my direct debit with her for which u can pay as little as £32 a month by the way. Also, if u ask them they will extend the period of time in which you have to take the holiday from 1 year to 3 years.... which i have also done though we are hoping to go next summer. though we got off to a bad start... i do hope there will be no further problems with the company and hope to enjoy a great value holiday.... i guess time will tell!
Also, i called my bank again and explained it all and was told that they would revoke the charge as nothing like this goes on with my account normally... so that worked out too!
callmj27 at 4th Jun 2005, 02:23AM
Did the Director Leave his name?????????still a guessy situation
stringer
I am the General Manager of Customer Service for the Celebration World Resort and would like to be the first to apologize to all guests who did not receive the service they so deserve. Like any other service related company we may have some customer who are not 100% satisfied and we do apologize because our goal is to make sure all guest are well taking care of. We work very hard from the time of purchase until our guest are ready to book there holiday to make this process a pleasant experience for each and every traveler. If a situation does occur, our customer service department will be more then happy to remedy any concerns our guest may have and do this all in a timely manner. I welcome all guests traveling with our property to call customer service with any concerns they may have. We pride ourselves with providing excellent service to every guest who has invested in our holiday and will continue to do so as long as we as a company can provide this wonderful vacation. Please utilize our customer service staff that is here to answer your questions Monday thru Friday from the hours of 11am to 10pm London Time. If you call our customer service department and are waiting for an agent to answer the phone please understand that we are here also assisting other clients. We are dedicated to answering each and every call and we graciously ask that all customers be patient. There is not a problem in the world that we refuse to fix. Give us a chance by calling in to our offices with your concerns and my promise is to have all problems alleviated and to provide you the holiday you so deserve. Once again I apologize to any guest who has faced any dilemma with our packages and will look forward to assisting any client who may have any questions or concerns in the future. Thank you
Customer Service: 0-800-917-762
Times of Operations: 11:00am - 8:00pm(London Time
6:00am - 5:00pm (Eastern Standard Time)
Sincerely,
General Manager
Customer Care
Celebration World Resort
As far as Celebration World Resort being accused of doing anything other than good business, there is no need for the resort to do anything shady.
If any of the people that were so quick to blag this resort would have taken the time to try their holiday accommodations, there would have been no blag at all. I have been vacationing in the Orlando area atleast once a year for the last 7 years now. I did stay at Celebration about 2 years ago for the first time. I had received a promotional offer on the internet and took advantage of it. And that was one of the best experiences that I have had at a resort in Orlando.
The resort offers exceptional amenities, beautiful scenery, and a loveley pool. The staff are polite and courteous and make it a point to go out of their way to make me feel at home.
I would recommend Celebration World Resort to anyone that wants to have an excellent holiday in a beautiful place.
Now that this site helped me I would like to leave a comment with a bit of help for those of you who would like to file a complaint with Florida Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The original description of the holiday, which I was led to believe I was buying can be found here (follow the link below):
http://www.urprize.com/adv65/Winner.htm
This will produce one of the discussed here pop-ups. Click on the pictures and on the links to see the descriptions of the accommodation and the cruise as well as the text of a 100%-satisfaction promise and a written guarantee. You will be able to print these in case you need to show the original description of the deal in order to prove your case.
This also shows that the alleged by the company "special", "limited-time", "winner-of-the-day" offer seems to be available to anyone at his/her own will simply by going to the above address.
For your information the current offer is £1101 pounds to be saved and only £299 to be paid provided that you call in the next three minutes. And when the counter of the remaining minutes reaches zero it re-starts from 60 minutes again and so on endlessly.
The above pop-up was displayed to me, but other pop-ups could have been displayed to you. They apparently can be reached and the conditions of the deal checked if you change the "adv65" to some other number (all numbers from 61 to 68 produce different flavours of adverts and "winner-of-the-day/hour/season/etc" offers).
I feel that the advertisement misled me to believe that I was â??winner-of-the-dayâ? and that this was a â??one-time-promotionâ? offered only to selected clients. The fact that anyone can go to the above address and receive the â??winner-of-the-dayâ? pop-up shows that the advertisement is somewhat misleading in nature. This could be used to prove our case when seeking refund.
THANKS TO ALL WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THIS SITE. PLEASE KEEP ON SHARING!
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