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wise traveller

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Everything posted by wise traveller

  1. I can't confirm that Consolidated Resorts (a.k.a. "Soleil Mini Vacations") is a scam or fraud or not, but I can confirm that they are definitely iffy, so you want to be careful. They pay celebrities (in my case Roseanne) to endorse them on radio, saying something like "I [the celebrity] have arranged with [my agent whatever] for the first 50 callers to get tickets to [my show, etc] and a free stay in Vegas, call the following number [insert 800]". If you call, you're told you've "won" and then they cleverly offer an extra night and/or gas money etc in exchange for listening to a presentation. Then comes the kicker: they need a small (refundable) deposit (in my case $129). Supposedly you get this back *if* they can schedule a weekend for you *and* if you show up, etc. It's a classic bait-and-switch; I'm embarrassed that I fell for it. In my case, I wanted written information from them. Despite them calling me several times, and always promising to send me material, they never did. Gee, maybe because that would make them susceptible to local state as well as federal mail fraud laws?? I'm currently disputing the charge thru my credit card company. My *theory* is this: it's the usual timeshare "scam" (which is more of a "con" than a scam, basically enticing you to overspend on a vacation home), but they've figured out a clever way to lower their marketing costs. They know the bulk of people they talk to will never actually show up for the deposit, and if they do, they're a potential customer, so it's a win-win. Plus, by positioning it as a "free trip with show tickets", they can entice clueless celebrities (Scientology-style) to implicitly endorse a timeshare operation. That's the clever part, really. Lots of free radio publicity with clueless radio talk show hosts etc who think that they're just interviewing some celebrities. So on the whole, pretty slick. My *guess* is that if you are careful and patient, you can navigate this and end up with a few free nights of hotel in Vegas.
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