Is this a scam? Maybe I can’t imagine that vacation after all

by Christopher Elliott on November 10, 2011

Wayne is so embarrassed by his decision to pay $2,300 for a travel club that he asked me not to use his full name. I understand his reluctance. He’s a well-educated professional who was just looking for a way to save money when he traveled, and he feels scammed.

The company that took his money is called Imagine That Vacation and I will not link to its site for reasons you’ll understand in a moment.

Here’s what happened: A few weeks ago, he attended a 90-minute presentation after getting a card in the mail that offered him a free cruise.

They promised tremendous discounts on condos, first-class hotels, cruises and all-inclusive resorts. They promised most would be up to 65 percent off the retail price.

We had been to these types of presentations in the past and never signed up for anything because they were for either time-shares or condo-only vacations. When we travel, we always stay at all-inclusive resorts, so we joined this club.

We foolishly gave Imagine That Vacation $2,300 and signed a contract for their “travel services” without having access to their website to see the actual prices for the vacations.

The timing is important. The transaction took place in Maryland, and state law has a three-day cooling off period, which would have allowed Wayne to get his money back. But it took a week to get him “into the system” according to an Imagine That Vacation representative.

Once we were given access to their system, we found that the prices of their all-inclusive vacations were not at the tremendous discounts we were promised in the presentation. In some cases, Orbitz and Travelocity prices were less.

Also, the first-class hotel discounts we compared were only 10 percent off the retail price (not the 65 percent they promised). In some cases, our AARP discount was the same.

Wayne called Imagine That Vacation the next day and spoke with a representative named Marcus, who had given the presentation.

“We told Marcus of our disappointment in the prices and asked if we could get our money back,” he says. “After several phone calls back and forth, stalling us with excuses galore, Marcus said we could not get our money back.”

Wayne and his wife are deeply disappointed.

“We thought by making this $2,300 investment we would be able to afford to travel again with the huge discounts we would receive from Imagine That Vacation,” he says.

He wonders — is Imagine That Vacation a scam?

In order to find out, I called the company to speak with a representative. Imagine That Vacation lists an 800-number on its site. I was connected with someone who said there was no supervisor with whom I could speak, and that this was just the reservations number. I asked for an address or an email contact, and she said she didn’t have one.

So I tracked down an email address and sent Imagine That Vacation a brief, polite message with Wayne’s question. That was two weeks ago.

Hiding behind a reservations center and making it difficult to contact you — that’s not the way a legitimate business behaves.

I have always contended that a vast majority of travel clubs are scams, and this case doesn’t make me change my mind.

But is Imagine That Vacation illegal, strictly speaking? Well, I reviewed Wayne’s contract, and it looks like Imagine That Vacation paid its lawyers well. The paperwork doesn’t actually promise any discounts, only unspecified travel services. Very clever.

I suggested Wayne dispute the charges on his credit card. He’s been issued a provisional credit.

Update (1/5/12): Wayne’s dispute has been decided. He writes:

We received a letter from Discover on Tuesday with the “rebuttal” from Imagine That Vacation. Basically, they said, and Discover agreed, that there was no promise of the amount of the discounts in the contract we signed. Discover reversed the credit, and the $2,300 charge is back on our account now.

Even though the name of the company in the contract is “Imagine That Vacation”, the rebuttal letter came from a company named “Endless Travel”. I called Sherri Wolff on Tuesday evening (the administrator who wrote the rebuttal letter to Discover). I tried to appeal to her sense of decency, but she stood her ground. Sherri said it doesn’t matter what we were promised in the sales presentation, we signed the contract. If we wanted to cancel, we should have done it within the allotted 3-day cancellation period (the fact that we did not have access to their website to see the discounts for 7 days does not matter.)

When we attended the sales presentation, we were told Imagine That Vacation had an A+ rating by the Better Business Bureau. I tried again today to find the company on the BBB website and there is no listing for either “Imagine That Vacation” or “Endless Travel”. I thought I would make a complaint against them. It’s almost as if this company doesn’t really exist (except to take our money).

(Photo Doug 88/Flickr)

Tagged as: Imagine That Vacation, Scam, Travel, Travel Club

  • Jamisolli

    I think the very name of the company (Imagine That Vacation) should have been a red flag.  And, not that I blame the guy but when you read a contract you should look for where the company is registered (usually the jurisdiction clause) and do a Google search at minimum on the company before paying that much money for something intangible.

  • http://www.exclusiveeventsatsea.com Steve Cousino

    I used to work for a company based in Branson, Missouri that had a similar modus operandi.  In fact, that company gave me my start in the travel industry.  I’ve since begun my own company, using more ethical and legitimate business practices.  The way the Branson company did things was wrong, though legal.  If you’re interested in discussing it a bit more, feel free to email me! info@exclusiveeventsatsea.com

  • Joe Farrell

    They wrote a $2300 check to a company they never heard of before?

    Stupid is as stupid does.  Harsh?  Yes. 

  • Vacaygirl

    There are signs in Chicago O’Hare airport by the baggage carousels that say something to the effect of (and I am paraphrasing) “anyone offering you a ride, is someone who shouldn’t be”. I think this is the same rule that should apply to…”anyone asking for your money, shouldn’t be”. If you yourself approach a company, tour operator, provider, etc and want to do business, fine. However, anytime someone pressures you into taking a ride, handing over cash, whatever it is that you had no previous plans of doing, run!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_HMW3OTJSBDWWRKIEKEKWWM7BEA bc

    Looks like Imagine Vacations came here to vote. 1 person thinks it’s not a scam. 

    Seriously though, vacation clubs are all pretty much scams. Sadly, my father and stepmother did something like this many many years ago, though it was much cheaper, it was still a waste of money. 

    This sounds like the same tactics companies like Direct Buy use, high pressure sales, promises of huge savings and no access to the actual prices until after you pay at which time most of the savings never materialize. 

    Sad, but it’s a hard lesson. I would attempt to take them to small claims court and see what can be done in that venue given they didn’t live up to their promises. 

  • Steve Dickey

    A quick look over finds contact information on imaginethatvacation.com

    Imagine That VacationATTN: Legal Department1836 Hwy 54 WestFayetteville, GA 30214

  • LFH

    That’s not the best example. Airport authorities routinely use ground transportation operators to enhance their bottom lines. For example, at New York City’s airports, ground transportation companies compete as to who will pay the highest fees to get licenses to pick up at the terminal curbs. The signs urging people to use certain companies and not others are oftentimes there to keep the money coming into the airport authorities’ coffers, and are not as altruistic as the images on the signs would suggest. But that being said, there are scam operators at the airports, just as this travel club may be.

  • Charlie

    Unfortunately there are many people who will only stop at the law.  They want nothing to do with honor, ethics and morals which, they feel, will only hold them back.  I think the Fast and Furious issue and the Penn State issue have brought that all the more to the fore.

  • Anonymous

    A quick read of the article finds the following:

    “So I tracked down an email address and sent Imagine That Vacation a brief, polite message with Wayne’s question. That was two weeks ago.”

    Also, are you seriously defending a company’s contact info being directed to their legal department?

  • Beautiful

    I beg to differ I recently purchased from Marcus and we have just booked our second vacation. We enjoyed our honeymoon in Italy and are planning to go to Turkey after the holidays. Imagine that vacation helps you book vacations cheaper than using expedia or any other internet service and from what I recall they do offer a price match on any prices that you find that is less . They are very helpful and honest people. Maybe you shouldn’t have purchase it if you didn’t really want it. Many people buy things and than try to say negative things about a company because they later realize that what they purchased wasn’t in their budget. I have told many of my friends and family about the company. In fact I just sold my time share and upgraded with Imagine that vacation. Maybe Wayne thought that he was going to get free trips or pay a dollar for his vacation. And if Wayne would of read his agreement he would of known that the reservation # has nothing to do with canceling his agreement. If I stand corrected you have three days to cancel and it must be in writing, Wayne picking up a phone and dialing a number isn’t writing. It’s people like you that make this world such a mess. It’s people like Wayne that wants everything for free. How can you company credit you for your purchase did they even look at the contract.

  • Elisabeth

    Imagine  that vacations has saved our marrage. We took a trip to cancun and saved over 1000. and my wife and me had a new awakeing. We  have went on alot of presentations and this company has donbe what they say they are going to do we are proud to say we are happy with our purchase

  • Pamela

    People have no lives they bitch when they have no experence  in the fact. I am so sick of people grippin on something they have never turned the key. Me and my wife bought this club and proud of it we are taking twise the vacations we used to and saving money . Thanks to Drew We are a happy couple now…

  • Robin

    I want to thank God for Imagine that vacations. we would never have We love you guys.

  • Carver

    I think Imagine the vacation got wind of this article and is trying to generate some false posts. The last legit posts were about 2 weeks ago.  Then 2 days ago we get a slew of non-native speakers posting how great Imagine the vacation is.

    The last posts sound like possibly the same person, same grammatical errors, female names with wives, etc.

  • Jane

    companies come and go but vacations last forever, My husband and I attened the seminar and bought a package from Larry and loved it we thought it was too good to be true and we were wrong. We took a trip from their program and saved over 1000 on one trip Thanks Larry for the memories…….

  • Mark1

    I am so tired of people grippping about something they bought and never used. My wife and I bought a package from Imagine that vacation and we love it. They do what they promised, but you have to use it to save money, so for heaven sake use the program and enjoy

  • ImagineYouStillHave2300

    This is a total scam.

    No worries, though.  Wayne, the well-educated professional, is useful in business.  There’s a sucker in every deal.  If you can’t spot the sucker, you’re the sucker.

  • Patty1

    This company is so great we saved to much money last year having this program. Thanks Larry so much! This company is not a scam. They need a hugg…

  • William1

    Man we  saved over 2000 dollars on one trip. Thank you Bobby for working with us and giving us a blessing

  • Tiffany

    Thank you Larry for the vacation we never dreamed of we would never could afford a vaction to hawaii we went there for 397 for the week like you promised us. We love You and garanteed you pictures.

  • Luke1

    WOW what a VACATION i HAD!!
    My Wife and I went on a vavation and loved it . Bobby saved us money,but only that the service that they provided.

  • Suebee5

    Thank you Drew for allowing us to buy we had no attentions of buying but you have changed our lives, We are going places that we nerver would have gone. Thank you Drew and your family.

  • Billy2386

    I think Wyane has not taken a vacation if he would try it he would    know it  works

  • Dreamer

    My name is Jon and my wife  Ann have taken alot of trips with imagine that vacations and and we have saved money and we are taking our dream vacation to Italy for 398 for nthe week we are excited

  • James2945

    Larry you sad  it was true but I did not trust you but Thank you and forgive me for not trusting in you. Your staff very professional and helpful. We took our dream vacation for 389 for the week Larry and we are so happy.

  • Tracypilman

    I want to thank Larry for the savings we saved on our last trip to Spain we saved over 1500 on one trip dont listen to these people they are not members , they are people that are negative and have no life and are abusing something they know nothing about. Did you get our post card that we sent you?

  • Doug Bernet

    Imagine that vacation …Big travel scam.
    Review #1  Accessrsi.com -  RSI RESERVATION SERVICES INTERNATIONAL – Scam – Ripoff – Liars! – JAMES JIM CARRY – RON NEW – CHUCK SPEROUS  
    Added: September 23, 2011
    By: AlexJ
    RSI RESERVATION SERVICES INTERNATIONAL
    ALSO KNOWN AS RSIG RESERVATION SERVICES INTERNATIONAL GROUP

    RSI is dishonest and they should be arrested. Hopefully they will be if people like me ban together! RSI uses many scamming techniques such as not answering their phones and making it impossible to reach them except over a period of weeks through regular snail mail. The scam they used on me was to request me to send potential cruise dates. I sent the dates three separate times, and lots of them. Each time, RSI would Slowly respond by mail that none of the dates would work! They would then say, “send more dates.” Well, their technique was to wait until those dates approached thereby spreading out this entire process long enough to eventually say, “Sorry, your offer is expired.” I have complained to the BBB and Consumer Services, The Florida AG office and am in the process of finding an attorney and contacting interested media. Florida should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this type criminal to exist in their lovely state. People need to act, cohesively, to fight this group. I have researched this group as being owned by a group of criminals such as JAMES JIM CARRY, RON NEW, CHUCK SPEROUS. DO NOT DEAL WITH THIS COMPANY

  • Edertpp23

    My wife and I received a card in the mail offering an incentive (free trip / discount on a trip) if we attended a sales presentation by Reservation Services International (RSI). As we were in the market for a new travel agency, we decided to attend.

    The staff worked the crowd (perhaps 8 couples), which included a PowerPoint presentation offering bought-in-bulk / sold-at-wholesale discount travel vacations. The cost of membership was listed at $8995 plus other sign-on and yearly fees.

    During a total period of two hours, a sales representative (Jon), and individual identified as his manager, and an individual identified as an office sales manager tried to convince us of the value of their deal. My wife and I had three requests. The first was a desire to review, for ourselves, the kinds of travel vacations, destinations and discounts their web site allegedly offered. This was denied. (In the office: yes – on our own: no). The second request had to do with the organization’s reputation. (One should spend serious money with those one knows and trusts, or at least has the opportunity to research via the web or BBB.) The third had to do with the contract, regarding its terms, exclusions, limits, etc. It was upon asking for the opportunity to better understand the firm and review their contract that we were shown the door by the sales manager.

    So we were not the victims of a monetary loss, just the loss of an evening. But being denied the opportunity to review the contract terms struck me as being unethical and potentially illegal, hence the filing of this report.

    While a rip off was successfully avoided, the big lessons learned here were simple. Always ask to see, and review, any contract before signing. If a deal is good today, and will be offered to others next week, there is no legitimate reason why an offer made to you cannot be accepted after you’ve done your due diligence. Walk away if you are not given the opportunity to review the contract, or must put money down to do so. When you ask to better understand the merchandise (in this case the breath and value of vacation values) and you are instead get only a for-you-a-better-price pitch, seriously question the value. Finally, pay careful attention to your surroundings?. For a travel service allegedly in business for more than a decade, there were precious few indications in their offices, or on the marquee outside, that they had been in business for any length of time:. When there are no family pictures on the desks, only stock art on the walls, and the stories about families, ages, and vacations taken have inconsistencies, consider all this a red flag/.

    We were given a vacation voucher, as promised, upon or leaving,. The Perfect Select Rewards voucher appears to have little value based on numerous experiences reported by others nationally’. Do not do business with accessrsi..com they are a fraud?. Thank you.

  • Scam

    Our representative Larry of imagine that vacation told us that we had to send is our selection for the type of trip we wanted within 30 days and that he would be calling us the next day to remind us to send in the form We have yet to receive that call, no surprise here.  All lies.

    At the presentation, we were shown exceptional rates, such as $399 for a week in Hawaii at a 5 star resort condominium. We were told that the annual dues were $159 if paid in advance and $199 if not. We were then told that the buy in (like buying a timeshare) was $8,200. Well, we weren’t interested. So the presenter, John Britt, gave us a deal (lowered the cost by $1,000) since he was from Virginia, where my husband had lived for 10 years. Somehow, he quickly got the price down to $6,200. And then, just as quickly, he got the price down to $3,269. Well, this peeked our interest, as we would get $4,000 reward points per year for life (if a property was retailed at $2,000 and your price was $600, the savings of $1,400 is deducted from your rewards total and the amount in your rewards account is all you can use to reduce your costs each year) and it was transferable by will at our death, or we could sell our interest. This sounded like a pretty good deal when considering that you are really buying into a timeshare, without choosing a particular week or home base. We asked him to show us more properties at various locations, which he did, but of course he drove, showing us what he wanted us to see. We came to the conclusion that, although we might only save about $800 per trip, the payback period would be about 4 years, and that the annual dues were actually lower than the amount one would pay to use a timeshare (usually $300-$400). 

    While a rip off was successfully avoided, the big lessons learned here were simple.  Always ask to see, and review, any contract before signing.  If a deal is good today, and will be offered to others next week, there is no legitimate reason why an offer made to you cannot be accepted after you’ve done your due diligence.  Walk away if you are not given the opportunity to review the contract, or must put money down to do so.  When you ask to better understand the merchandise (in this case the breath and value of vacation values) and you are instead get only a for-you-a-better-price pitch, seriously question the value.  Finally, pay careful attention to your surroundings.  For a travel service allegedly in business for more than a decade, there were precious few indications in their offices, or on the marquee outside, that they had been in business for any length of time.  When there are no family pictures on the desks, only stock art on the walls, and the stories about families, ages, and vacations taken have inconsistencies, consider all this a red flag.

    My husband and I, being professionals, never make a purchase like this without doing our homework, but it sounded pretty good for the price, knowing we had 3 days to cancel, and thinking it would force us to travel more (something I was interested in), we bought in,after 3 hours of high pressure!!!!!! 

    Upon our return home, I immediately began investigating. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) was the first place I looked. They told us that “they” only had 9 complaints that they had an A+ BBB rating. RPI (in Orlando) sells licensing to the software owned by RSI (Reservation Services International in Winter Park). According to the BBB, RPI’s rating is B- with 11 complaints in 12 months, 3 of which the BBB didn’t feel that the company made a good faith effort to resolve. RSI didn’t have a rating, but was currently under BBB review (I am not quite sure what that means, but it didn’t sound too good to me), and they had 9 complaints, all of which were satisfactorily resolved. Then I found several postings from people who said run away as fast as you can. 

    imaginethatvacation scammed  us for  all most $5000 we canceled  

  • Debbie Gibson

    They almost got us for $5000

    Imagine that vacation……….

    We cancelled that same night .

    ScAm scam Scam

  • Bob Gravemore

    I am in agreement with the parties indicating that this company is a scam. My wife and I purchased but then cancelled the service well within our 3 day recision period. I have been consistently contacting  for the past 7 months and while the customer service person is friendly I have been promised they will refund the nearly $5000 we had paid. They have indicated for the past 5 months that the “check is in the mail”. Buyer’s beware. I can only testify that they have taken my money, have not abided by the contract they made with 
    Our representative Larry of imagine that vacation told us that we had to send is our selection for the type of trip we wanted within 30 days and that he would be calling us the next day to remind us to send in the form We have yet to receive that call, no surprise here.  All lies. Imagine that vacationImagine that vacation  scam scam

  • Helen269

    Imagine That Vacation Sold me dream vacations at great discounts but did not deliver. I found I could get as much discounts with my AARP card. I can’t reach them by phone. They collected $3609.00 on spot and promised dreams that all were untrue.We are shocked to find out they are still operating in hotels in another town 30 miles away .

  • CMS234

    Imagine That Vacation
    http://imaginethatvacation.com
    Andrew Moore
    President/Owner
    Cell 417-593-9050
    Email drewmoore2005@yahoo.com
    Marcus
    Vice President/Partner
    Cell 443-591-2883
    Email imaginethatvacation@yahoo.com
    Larry
    Managing Partner CMS COMPREHENSIVE MARKETING SYSTEMS $1100.00 Wilkesbarre, PA WILL NOT RETURN CALLS OR EMAIL FOR INVOICE DUE SINCE 12/14/2011 CLAIMS ON ONE EMAIL THAT THEY DON'T PAY BILLS WHEN THEY ARE OFF THEN ON THE LAST EMAIL THAT THEIR MERCHANT ACCOUNT IS FROZEN.THIS WAS A ROAD SHOW IN HERSHEY PA WHEN WE CALLED THE HOTEL WHERE THEY WERE LOCATED THEY HAD ALREADY PACKED AND TOOK OFF !
    IMAGINE THAT
    1/19/12

  • Margaretk230

    Imagine That Vacation
    Scam travel club open in Md ,Pa,new jersey
    We also went to the presentation and were very impressed with what they were offering as we listened to a guy named Zack.  He did his best to make you believe it was a fantastic offer although we were very skeptical.  After the presentation Chris returned and made a feeble attempt to get us to sign on.  Explaining he was new at the game he called in this other guy, I forget his name, but(he reminded us of a used car salesman) and he over a period of a half an hour reduced the $8,995 start up fee to $1995 well we were still not convinced.  He asked us where we would like to go and that he would show us what it would cost us on the computer.  He took us into the boss’s office where two very sleazy looking characters were sitting.  The guy behind the computer was be jangled in heavy jewelry right down to little diamonds on his glasses the other guy dressed in a long sleeve black turtleneck shirt that was so tight it showed every lump on his overweight body.  I felt like I had just stepped in to the Godfather’s office.  This view sealed the deal we were out of there.  There was one women in attendance that we felt was a plant to ask questions that would help their cause.We wasted three hours of our time but we laughed all the way home at the sleaze balls we had just dealt with, that made it all worthwhile.

  • Pg

    Btw Fox should know that Luis , Johnny and Rudy made them lots of money but Bruce missed up everything!! Well guess wat Bruce NO more fox customers for your faggot ass!!

  • Ethel

    Liar, liar-pants on fire!!!

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