Well arnt I lucky.  I can not add to what CS wrote back in may........................ but.................. I was asked the same kind of questions.  They are now using the name Travel Suppliers of Amnerica.  The show now in Toms River NJ is offering $1398.00 for air fair and hotel fees.  My Mommy always told me nothing for nothing.  In the trash can it goes..................................

Oh first you call1 855 879 8217 This dude represents 38 companies so I needed to give him my 2RR1206W.  The deal only smells fishy.  

I received and responded to the mailing I got for "free airline tickets and a 2 night stay at a Marriott" for two.  I am so grateful for all the postings since I will be canceling this reservation and saving my Saturday.  The whole things DOES sound shady and the telemarketer gave the company's name as Global Connections.  The part that made me suspicious is a paragraph in small font on the opposite side of the letter (very easy to miss seeing) that mentioned taxes, fees, and delivery/handling fees may apply.  WOW!  I figured those fees alone would negate the "free" part of the offer!!!!  Thank you, everyone, for your postings!  I feel like I dodged a bullet.....

I responded to a letter mailed to my father who died 18 years ago. First person I talked to was very sympathetic, gave me the 877-313-3326 number. I called and beforew I could even get the reference number out I was rudely interupted. When I complained that the letter was to my dead father she said there was nothing she could do. I let her have it with a sruing of navy and railroad four letrter words. She hung up so I called her back, was told the conversation was being recorded and I was harassing HER. If I called back she was goling to filke a complaint against me. I was tempted but decided it wasn';t woth any more aggravation.

Got the legitamate looking mail voucher falsley using US Airlines name on it.  It said we qualified for 2 round trip ticket to anywhere in continental US and a three days stay at any Hilton.  I called and it and booked an appointment.  I told them that my boss (wife) would have to confirm it later.  They called back two days later and spoke with 1-800-pick-a-fight (AKA..wife).  Wife was not at her sharpest moment and booked an appointment.  I think the wife figured this was her chance to throw down face to face.  I should have just let it happen.  I could have filmed it and posted it to youtube.  Anyhow, cautious as we typically are before drinking the snake oil but still placing the glass to our lipps,  we googled the phone numbers 877-313-3326 and VTU and found the Blogs.  I canceled the appointment.  Not before 1-800-pick-a-fight (AKA.. wife) spoke her trash though.  God I love that woman!  Anyway, Thanks guys!  Darn that snake oil looks better and better each time it comes around.

Thank you so much for posting this.....I'm actually facing foreclosure of a timeshare that we purchase with false allegations. I will be calling to cancell our reservations & willnot be attending or doing any kind of business with any company that's concerned about our income & if we have a major credit card.

I received a call from a company call VTU 1-877-313-3326 it a scam.

BS!!

Times have changed and there are enough cowards hiding behind a computer trying to pressure people using lame methods.

Back in the day, this offer would be tempting to sit through.  Who has time to waste on pressure degrading conversations.  There are way to many deals out there on the net that you can enjoy surplus inventories on pennies on the dollar if you can be somewhat spontaneous.  Spend the 90 minuteson yourself.

We received a"Happy Birthday" card which said I'd been selected to receive an 8 Day/7 Night Cruise for two with an outside cabin, leaving from any port in the U.S.  The card uses the Carnival Line logo to look like the offer comes direct from Carnival.

My wife called and the very pleasant who answered girl set up an appointment in an office about 60 miles from where we live.

I luckily found this site on the internet and we immediately cancelled the appointment.  I know you never get something for nothing - but it sounded like anything we had to pay would be reasonable.

Thank God for the internet, this page and the ability to track the company by entering the phone numbers they give you.  Our 'Birthday Card' listed 877-547-7302 and when my wife called that number, the rep gave a callback number of 877-313-3326.  Both numbers lead to this page and descriptions of the scam.

Thank all of you for taking the time to report this.  You saved my wife and I from the scammers.

Thank you for all your postings and help. this time around its a cruise.

Not gonna waste my time!


Also check for this number 712-986-2525

I received a phone call last night (Wed)  from Simplicity Travel.   The local number  was given to me as 817-909-3007. The first person I talked to was supposedly the manager of the local office in Irving, Texas.  Name was Paul, but had an Indian or Pakistani accent.  Later, I spoke with Bob Dale who was the "senior manager" at the home office somewhere else in Texas -- didn't make a note of the town,  but wasn't a major city.  Even with the American name he also had an accent, but not as thick as "Paul".  He gave me his number as 979-633-4339, but my caller ID showed 979-633-4393 so maybe I wrote it down wrong.  They had all my personal info correct except for our income which Paul said I had indicated was in excess of $60K -- we are retired so not very likely!   They said I had filled out the card at a local mall. I don't generally shop at malls and when I told "Paul" I had not set foot in that mall in about 2 years,  he poo-pooed the idea and said maybe someone else filled it out for me. They offered us either a cruise  including airfare to either Miami or Galveston OR two round trip airline tickets to anywhere in the lower 48 states. I made the appointment for this coming Saturday, but plan to cancel after reading all these comments.

How many of these packages do you own?  Anyone claming to be honest while admitting to selling this junk to unsuspecting people is even more stupid than they think...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuwvlZRo6Bo

We went to their Scam in Irving, Texas.  They promised 4 free cruises just to listen to their sales.  At the end, they gave us a form to fill out at home.  It required $100 to reserve a spot on the cruises.  We send the $100.  Of course, after we sent the money, when we try to call that number, there was no one there who has ever heard of them, nor have they had our name in any reservations list.  Lessons learned!!

RECEIVED A LETTER IN MAIL STATING WE'D WON CARNIVAL CRUISE FOR 8 DAY/7 NIGHT FOR 2 WITH OUTSIDE CABIN.   WE JUST RETURNED FROM A CARNIVAL CRUISE IN FEB AND I HAD COMPELTED A SATISFACTION SURVEY AND COMMENTED ON SOME THINGS OF US BEING DISSATISFIED.   SINCE I WAS THE NAME ON THE LETTER RECIEVED AND I ALSO WAS THE NAME ON THE BOOKING FOR THE FEB.CRUISE, WE LEGITIMATELY THOUGHT THIS WAS A POSSIBLE NAME SELECTION FOR OUR DISSATISFACTION OF LAST CRUISE.  I CALLED THE NUMBER THINKING WE HAD NOTHING TO LOSE BUT HAVE TO SAY, THERE WAS NO PRESSURE FROM THE GUY I TALKED WITH.  HOWEVER, HE SPOKE SO QUICKLY THAT ICOULDN'T UNDERSTAND HALF OF WHAT HE SAID.  I HAD TO CONSTANTLY REPEAT WHAT I THOUGHT HE HAD SAID BECAUSE SUPPOSEDLY THE CONVERSATION WAS BEING RECORDED, SO HE SAID.
WHILE TALKING WITH HIM, I KNEW EXACTLY WHERE THE LOCATION OF THE OFFICE WAS AND WE AGREED TO COME DOWN AND LISTEN TO PRESENTATION.   DID THIS WHILE IN THE CAR.
ONCE WE GOT HOME, I RESEARCHED THE GLOBAL HOLIDAYS SITE AND SAW NOTHING TO MAKE US FEEL TOO UNCOMFORTABLE YET.   THEN WHILE STILL RESEARCHING I NOTICED A LINK THAT CARRIED THE 877-313-3326 PHONE NUMBER THAT WAS LISTED ON OUR CONFIRMATION.  THAT'S HOW I GOT HERE AND FOUND ALL THESE STORIES OF BEING SCAMMED, ETC.   DON'T JUST GO BY THE AGENCY'S NAME FOR YOUR RESEARCH.   WE HAVE CANCELLED.

My experience was very similar to yours.  The 90 minute presenter did pull a cutie at the beginning and asked everyone to turn off their cell phones as he was "easily distracted and would have start all over at the beginning if he lost his place".  It was also a very good way for those with iphones and androids to not look up some of the info he put out.  No company name was given until 15 minutes into the presentation and it was home based out of Kansas, with no specific city given.  Claimed that they were a spin off of of Direct Buy.  He gave a different company name later in the presentation as he was wrapping up.  Then the big boss came in and spoke for the remaining 30 minutes.  Laid on lots of guilt about not taking the little (wife) on enough vacations to keep her happy and you should be able to enjoy the exact same privelges (ie:vacations) as the 1% er's.  They could finance anyone for a 48 month period at 20% if you didn't have the money or credit available.  Both presenters thru out lots of figures and so called dollar "savings" on all of their exclusive vacations.  Always managed to leave out the cost of the airline tickets on ALL of their examples!!  Claimed that they realized that not all people could afford the $12K price tag, but had $7K and $5K packages available (failed to mention that taxes would be added on to the cost) and only 50% of the people at the presentation would actually buy into the program (more like 25%).  After the presentation we were escorted into an old (freshly painted) set of 12 office cubicles with 2 round cafe tables in each cubicle.   Loud festive, think carribean music blared from the overhead speakers drowning out the conversation from the 2nd table in the cubicle.  We declined the associates offer, even after an additional "savings" from the boss of $800 off of the price of any of the "packages".  We attempted to leave but were told that we had to wait for the boss to review his presentation and clarify the packages for us.  Once he arrived, he continued to ask more and more personal questions regarding our finances and vacation history.  Suggested that I less than wise if I didn't accept Global's offer.  His tone was border line insulting and we left.  Found out later that the commison on each package sold was $1K split between the associate and the boss..  Don't recommend this company, Global Resorts, Vacation, International Travel (or whatever name their using this week)  or "ITC".   Cheaper rates can be found on the internet. I don't know of anyone that can afford to take as many vacations as their claiming.

For starters, don't call it a "300 dollar food gift." It's actually fifteen $20 vouchers with a string of onerous conditions attached to make them totally worthless. If victims were lucky, they would break even in redeeming those vouchers. If victims were unlucky, they would spend MORE than $300 to redeem those $300 worth of vouchers over 15 months. If victims stumbled anytime in those 15 months, they would forfeit future vouchers. And what about the crummy USED 1999/2000 netbook described by CS above that was PROMISED to be "new & complete with new Microsoft Software?" Yes, the free gifts cost you money but that does NOT allow you to deceive the public with FALSE DESCRIPTIONS. I hate to envision what your new prizes look like because "The 75 or 100 dollars is fully refunded once you use the gift" suggests a $75/$100-off coupon and not cash.

"If you gifts are worth $300...you are essentially being paid $200 per hour?" is fake scammer math. CS above states that given all the onerous conditions attached to the $300 Cash Back Certificate (and NOT $300 cash in hand), CS would have only gained $98.70 after 15 months of painstakingly diligent effort to meet said onerous conditions and had CS stumbled anytime during those 15 months, the balance of the offer would be forfeited. The cost of 15 trips to the Post Office will wipe out the $98.70 so CS and her husband were actually paid $ZERO/hour in reality. $200/hour is totally fictitious and a scam offer.

If this is not a scam than why there are so many companies with different names using the same phone number?

I also received a Happy Birthday invitation. We did go to Naples for the presentation. After filling out
the paper work, we were told that we did not meet their income standard. We had to have an
income of $60,000 or more. So as a result we were sent home with nothing. I told them that I
mistakenly checked the wrong box but they did not care. They go by what was checked when we
handed it in. I then called the main office and was told I could plead my case to them and we
would not get any free gifts. What a rip off. PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND TO ANY MAILINGS FROM THEM. What are they selling, GOLD.

HI all I have worked with Simplicity Travel for awhile, many think we are scammers; I assure you we are not. The reason we relocated to Milwaukee is because most the couples attending our Madison office were driving from Milwaukee. We have a temporary office to test the waters and we have been doing great. Within two months our permanent office will be relocated to Brookfield, and we all cannot wait! It is hard to be portrayed as professional when you are selling from a comfort suites, still 1 out of every 3 couples buy our membership. As for the 300 dollar food gifts, that marketing company is no longer with us, we apologize for that inconvenience. The netbooks have been updated and are no longer miniature laptops but they are a tablet in the same design an Ipad, they are an off brand, however, the wifi does work and the setup and use of these tablets are very simple. The cruise and or airfare you receive for attending the presentation are not free. Depending on which marketing company scheduled you, the gifts cost 75 dollars total for the airfare, or 100 dollars total for the cruise. The 75 or 100 dollars is fully refunded once you use the gift. These gifts do take about 6 to 8 weeks until they are fully usable and the tickets are in your hand with one of the 3 dates you selected. There is also one other travel gift given out, it is from the new marketing company we picked up once we dropped the marketing company giving out the food vouchers. Tuesday I will read all the small print and post up how long and how much that gift cost. Our company is not a scam we are just new and learning from our mistakes. The travel membership that we sell has been booking and sending people on wholesale vacations since 1982. So it is simple our travel membership we sell has 160,000+ members. The members join up at one of over 32 smaller travel companies (like Simplicity) that are licensed to sell and distribute the travel club membership. Our membership books 3.2 million vacations a year, as simple as a single plane ticket to go stay with family, or as complex as a European vacation with guided tours, and a cruise all packaged together. We book any type of travel and its obvious we are working seeing as our 160,000 couples with us are booking 3.2 million trips a year for themselves, their family, or even their friends. Anyone can use our membership but an active member must call and arrange the vacation. That is why we have 3.2 trips a year because our members allow anyone they know to take advantage of the great prices we have. Hope this helps, any questions please fire away at me I will get the correct answer as fast as possible and post back up here.

crooks

this is a scam

As someone who works for Simplicity Travel in Madison, WI, I can tell you personally that the reports you find on this page are from people who are clearly misguided about the situation. First of all, Simplicity Travel will never contact you directly. We outsource our marketing to 2-3 different marketing companies and do our best to ensure that during their process of inviting couples to come down to our presentation, they do not mislead any person nor misrepresent any information. Unfortunately, that doesn't always happen like that. We've already ended our partnership with one of such marketing companies exactly for these reasons.

The gifts that our couples come out for are certainly not worthless. We pay the marketing companies $300-$400 for every couple that attends our presentation. Vast majority of that money is spent on the gifts that are given to our guests regardless of whether they decide to join us that day or pass on their opportunity. That's right - in my opinion, the couples that do come to our presentations aren't sold anything, but rather come across an incredible buying opportunity. That's why 1 out of every 3 couples that come through our doors end up becoming members with us and leaving with the gifts in their hands and smiles on their faces.

Some of you just need to slightly temper you expectations. Please don't expect perfect gifts worth thousands of dollars for 90 minutes of your time. If you gifts are worth $300, is it really not worth your time to attend a presentation for which you are essentially being paid $200 per hour?

I may be biased in my perspectives, but I am quite passionate about my job. I make sure that whoever I sit down with on any particular day leaves the same way they came in - with a smile on their face, regardless of whether they decided to invest in their future happiness or if for whatever reasons they just couldn't do it that day. As such, certain comments and "scam" claims in here greatly offend me. I am not a scam artist and I do not associate myself with companies that scam people because going to bed with a clear conscience night in and night out is very high on my priority list.

Simplicity Travel Employee

Today I received a very official looking "FINAL NOTICE Verification of Reservation Information Required" with a different number to call [mentioned in CS's initial message above] 877-547-7302.  The Notice congratulated me, but to get my complimentary netbook and 2 roundtrip airline tickets, I had to call the number.  I had a pretty good idea this was a scam, but called anyway.  I have no doubt that the 90 minutes would be a complete waste of time.  The Notice says the netbook is new, but if that means it is an obsolete model [there are many out there] that just hasn't been used, there is no point in going across town and wasting a couple of hours.  Also, the airline tickets would undoubtedly have to be secured through the company and the hassle just would not be worth it.  We went through a painful process in the Riviera Maya area of Mexico last year going through a very high pressure time share pitch.  We initially fell for it, but did our research immediately and cancelled the next day.  A good result, but two days out of our lives that we'll never get back.  Bottom line--ignore the phone sales pitch and don't waste time to go in person to get worthless gifts.

Complete scam don't waste your time. Could not understand first caller, Supervisor called back ten minutes later enough time for me to reshearch on internet and also file a ncomplaint wit BBB in Wisconsin,

They called with the same Birthday gift message and said we had won 2 roundtrip airfares plus an 8 day 7 night cruise for 2.  I set an appointment with this so called A B Vacations, but now I realize nothing is for free.  I would have probably ended up in a Mexican fishing boat swimming the Mexican/American border.  Thx for the advice.

I received a call also from Simplicity Travel, offering a choice of free vacations as their way of advertising their company, but needing to sit through a 90 min presentation.  There were enough questionable things during the phone call that I was thinking "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is" and yet the person I spoke with had a reasonable answer for every question I asked.  I ended up agreeing to make an appointment to listen to the 90 min presentation, figuring that would give me time to do some research on the company and decide whether to attend or not.  BBB gives them an A+ rating, with no complaints received, so I'm glad to find all of these comments.

Got a call from this company yesterday, Simplicity Travel, to come listen to 90 min presentation, and then we get a voucher for one of 4 types of free vacations.  This is in Madison WI this weekend.  Sounds to good to be true.  Definitely don't want to waste my time.  When asked how they got my number they had some random answer, I really do wonder how they got it...
If anyone else got this call would like to hear your take on it