Special-T travel - The "prize" turned out to be a travel certificate for which I had to decide right away and make arrangements for the payment of $698.00

Special-T travel - The "prize" turned out to be a travel certificate for which I had to decide right away and make arrangements for the payment of $698.00

I see you already have complaints on Special-T travel, that's how I found your site, I am having a major problem with them, and am looking for other history online.

Check out http://www.consumeraffairs.com/travel/specialt.htm

They have had class-action against them, and are currently under investigation by Consumer protection, and that's just the little bit I know as of yet. I am still digging, and seem to find a foul smell everywhere I encounter their name.

On March 23 of this year I got a pop-up announcement that I had "won" a prize. When I looked into it, I found it was a family vacation for 4 to Orlando, Daytona, 4 days in the Bahamas, and a bonus 2-days in Vegas. The "prize" turned out to be a travel certificate for which I had to decide right away and make arrangements for the payment of $698.00. (Supposedly the package was worth $2300).

The sales people were all very courteous. They spoke in a very "familiar" way with me, referring to what a hectic day it was, how "busy we are with this promotion" and were very upbeat, but not "over the top" in their congratulations on my good fortune. I have never fallen for anything like this before, and am very cynical by nature, usually. From what I read of the many testimonials on the site I gave you above, many other intelligent, "thinking" individuals were similarly sucked into this. The company has this down to an artform.

They start out by giving a history of the company, naming some corporate clients and then say they are trying to extend services into the general public arena. They tell you they have 50 vacation packages that Ford company had leftover after they gave them out to the high level executives as bonuses, and "we were able to buy them back, and offer them at this great rate as a promotion".

Once the pitch was given, and I indicated some interest, she asked me how I would want to pay for the trip. I said we do not have that amount right now. And she said, that's ok, we can do a payment plan. (THAT seemed to lend legitimacy, I've never heard of that in a scam before!) I said, "well, I need to talk to my husband first. " She said, "that is fine", and I said, "well, I'll have to call him". I happen to stay in contact during the day by radio with my husband in his job, so it was easy for me to lay her aside, and pull him up on the radio to discuss it some.

I told him what she had said about payments. He agreed only if we could do it that way. So I got off the phone with him, and we began the process of payment arrangements. She asked me for my card number, and I gave it to her. Then she said, "what I have to do is run this through first. What we do is put it in for the full amount, and if your bank doesn't allow the charge then we go from there, and set up the payment plan." (sounded like a technicality and this made it sound to me like it was an act of seeking information, not a transaction at that point.) I told her " I know they won't allow it, it's not there". (My ignorance in how banking, works, unfortunately!, because without giving me another moment to protest, she puts me on hold and goes to submit the charge.

She comes back on my line and cheerfully announces "Well, it took it".) I say "what do you mean it took it?" And she says the bank gave us the full amount." And I said, well, I don't understand why, because I know it's not there. I had already told her I don't want this to cause any problems on my account. So she goes on to reassure me that if there is any problem, "don't worry, you can cancel this at any time. You have 30 days."

After I got off the phone with them, I immediately called the bank to figure out exactly how this charge could have been approved.

It was explained to me that once they have the credit card number they can charge anything they want, really. I asked her if that included amounts I never gave authorization for, and she said basically, "yes". Because once they have that number in hand the bank has to assume the amount they submit is legitimate, and a hold is placed on the account for those funds if they aren't currently available.

I called back the travel agent, spoke to the same salesgirl, and told her I needed to change this and go to the payment plan like she said I could do because I had checked with my bank and it did cause an overdraft. She said she has never had anyone call her back and say that happened. She had assured me "the way we do this it cannot cause an overdraft." I said what is the difference between what you are doing, and what happens if I go to the local store and write a check for something and don't have enough in my account. She replied that the stores are able to put a hold on your account for the money and "we don't do that". I said well, you did do that. She tried to put it back on my bank, saying it was something they had done wrong in allowing the charge to go through if the money wasn't there. She said it she couldn't change it today, that had to be handled at corporate after 24 hours.

Trying to make this story short, I began the very next day at 9 am and have had the runaround since. Less than 20 hours after the whole thing began, I had in no uncertain terms told them I wanted this cancelled, and was assured that the trip HAD been cancelled, and that the charges would not even go through on my bank card. I thought the money had reverted back to my account after the 5 business days because the bank had said it would if they didn't collect it.

And there was no money in there for longer than 5 days from which they COULD collect it because we didn't get a paycheck until 11 days later. (9 business days). But apparently the hold continued to be there, because when my disability check was deposited, they got the $698.oo. Of course, having thought it was all over, even though it had cost me $60.00 in overdraft fees, I had chalked it up to a lesson, and counted myself lucky it hadn't cost me more. But on April 8th my husband went to withdraw $20.00 and AGAIN found a negative balance on our account. When I looked online at our statement I discovered that on April 2nd they collected the charge, even though I had cancelled the trip WELL before then, and in plenty of time for them to stop the process.

I got the company president's name, Jerry Fields, from the Better Business Bureau report, and I obtained his direct phone number elsewhere. I called it, and he answered it himself. When I began calmly explaining the situation he abruptly put me on hold and transferred me to someone, again, in customer service. All the people I spoke with in customer service about my problem were for the most part surly and unfriendly. Of course quite different from those making the sales. I still get a sense that they purposely keep the sales people in the dark about what they are doing with the credit card charges. That girl would have to be an awfully good actress to pull off the type of "genuineness" she projected. And something the CSR said kind of supports that.

When I told him "I told her I don't have that amount, and she said we are supposed to do it this way". (as if as a matter of policy),he said "well, those sales people don't know a whole lot about how credit card stuff works" and I said, yes, that seemed to be so, but your company is still responsible for what those sales people are telling us customers, and they need to be trained. He remained fairly calm until I said "look, I know you guys are already under investigation" and then he got obviously rattled. "Where did you hear that? By whom?" I told him if he didn't know, then maybe he needed to look into what kind of company he was working for, and I certainly wasn't going to do his legwork for him, "not that I believe you don't know."

Anyway. I let them know I have filed a complaint with the States Attorney and the Consumer Affairs department, and was filing for a warrant of debt with the court. He continued to try and get information out of ME, and I said, "you're job is to be helping me, I'm the customer". He said, well, you are the one making accusations, I want you to tell me where you're getting this." (Very unprofessional!!!) I said, I'm not telling you squat, and he said "then I guess we have nothing more to say to each other." I was incredulous at that point and just hung up.

So, to sum it all up. Now I have accrued $210.oo in overdraft fees because of either their first holding my money, and then taking it without authorization, have been without money to provide for my family because of this so far for 12 days out of the last 18, have racked up beaucoup long distance charges pursuing resolution, and countless hours filing complaints and seeking other venues to get through to these people. I can't believe theirscam is so pervasive: Portugal, UK, Norway, Virgin Islands, Australia, Ireland, Sweden, Canada, Germany.

I have the name of the one company I know of that they were in a class action suite with. (and lost) see http://www.napierlaw.com/special_t_travel.htm , and found a blurb about them at http://spl.haxial.net/dishonest-advertising. I plan to keep pursuing this until I get my money back. I am kind of a like a pitbull when it comes to something like this, it just pisses me off and I can't let it go. I hope you will find it worth looking into, because it is a shame they are getting away with ripping off so many people. Interestingly I found one site full of positive and glowing "testimonials", and I tried to write my opininon, only to have it tell me "sorry, the forum is full, please try again later." The last entry was from March of last year. I say even if they are legit, it's ironic they haven't got enough happy customers since then to post. The BBB says they trade under several names. I would like to know all of them.

Sincerely,

Sandra Lloyd

Sandra L

Click this link to e-mail the consumer that posted the above message: //

Comment On This

I have just received a call from these guys advising that I had "won" a holiday for 6, 14 nights, etc etc. Being suspicious by nature, I always think the worst and that it was simply too good to be true, this was reinforced when the visa card details they claimed I had "won" on were "verified" I had closed this account and moved house so there was no way they had up to date information! They asked for the security number on the card to "further verify" but just in case the card issuer let it slip thro' I refused and advised that they (they claimed to have put me thro to the Visa verification Office) always tell us never to give that out, if they told me the correct number I would confirm it! Obviously, they gave me an incorrect number at which i said it must be my husband's card they needed and i will 'phone back later!!!! I still felt a bit confused and that I had maybe cost the family a fabulous holiday, so I found myself googling them and I have came up with all you people and the terrible loss of your money. I hope you get it all sorted eventually, and these companies are stopped.

Comment On This

Dear Sandra,

I have similar problem with Special T Travel and do not know, how can I get my money back. Below is my letter to them. Maybe, it will be helpful for you to fight with them. If you have any questions, you can e-mail me: llobanova AT yahoo.com.

"Dear Mr. Kerby,

I am writing with regards to the issue of refund for the two vacation packages that I have purchased from Special T Travel in May of last year.

I bought two vacation packages form Special T Travel, on the 4th of May, 2007, for the amount of US$996,00 (#s MG 05040704/ MG 05040705), having paid with my Visa card.

Due to personal reasons, I called the Customer Service at Special T Travel with request to cancel my order in one week after the purchase. I was advised that the packages had been already mailed, and that I would have to return those packages in order to get a refund.

I received the packages on May 25th, and send them back by registered mail, on May 28th, 2007. I have tracking receipt from the post office, confirming that the packages were received by Special T Travel, on June 4, 2007.

According to the purchasing contract, I “may cancel this contract without any penalty or obligation within 30 days from the date of purchase or receipt of the vacation certificate whichever occurs later".

However I have been unsuccessful in getting my money back.

Initially, when I followed up on the return of the packages I was told by the Customer Service at Special T Travel, that I would be getting the refund within 4-6 weeks.

When I did not get the refund within 6 weeks, as promised, I called back to Special T Travel, and was told that due to an error they would have to process my request again, and that that would take another 4 – 6 weeks.

Again, when I did not get my refund within yet another 6 weeks, I called back, and the person at the Customer Service, who sounded quite annoyed with me at that point, told me to contact my bank and cancel the transaction. Unfortunately, it was already late to cancel the transaction through my bank, since my bank has a time limit for the cancellations. Your customer service then assured me that the money will be refunded through a regular route.

So, since June of 2007, I have been calling your company every month, trying to get my money back, but in vain.

I spoke with the Manager, Angie, who referred me to the Accounting Department, where I spoke with Julie Kein.

Finally I was referred to you.

Please look into my issue that is taking, aside from a substantial monetary loss a lot of my personal time.

I am very upset and stressed at this point, and ask you to please look into my issue at your earliest convenience.

If the matter is not resolved soon, I will have to pass it over to my lawyer.

I can not afford losing such a substantial amount of money (I believe your company is not going to pay any interest on the money that is being held with no apparent reason), my valuable time, and most importantly my health.

Thank you.

I look forward to hear back from you soon."