Allen
Trade Show Travel… What would you do?
My experience with Trade Show Travel started last year when I received a phone call about some expired RCI vacation certificates. I was led to believe I was talking to RCI, a company with whom I have had good experience and I trust. They offered me four, one-week vacations to any resort in RCI’s inventory with no expiration date for $599. No mention was made of any sales presentation. I later received a phone call from Monster Reservations Group to set up my first sales presentation. I suspected immediately that I had been scammed. That first call had not been from RCI. But who? I asked for my money back and was told there are no refunds. I researched Monster online and discovered many horror stories from victims like me. Many people had posted a refundable deposit to attend a mandatory sales presentation. Either the deposit was not refunded at the meeting or the refund consisted of a gift card to an obscure restaurant or retailer that was of no interest. Some people arrived at the scheduled resort only to be charged additional fees that were not part of the agreement. I have since received several more phone calls from Monster that all went much the same way. I told them I knew they were a scam and asked for a full refund which they denied. I told them that if they wanted to prove to me that they were not a scam, they would refund my money. They refused. Last week the pattern changed. I got a call from Tiffany with Monster Reservations. She told me that the reason they could not give me a refund was that I had not paid my $599 to them but rather to Trade Show Travel and gave me their phone number. Tiffany was the first reasonable person to call me from Monster. I called Trade Show Travel and talked to Chelly Siri-Dalton. Finally I began to make some progress. She admitted that her company was the one who initially contacted me and is the company I paid $599. She did her best to convince me that Trade Show Travel was a legitimate company that provides excellent customer service and apologized for any misunderstanding with Monster Reservations. Once trust is broken, it is hard to earn it back. Chelly tried. I told her if Trade Show Travel really was legitimate, she could show me by giving me a full refund. She explained she could not do that because they have a no refund/no exceptions policy, but then offered a partial refund of $200. She told me I will still get my four vacations. At this point I don’t know what to think about Trade Show Travel. Their online reviews are much, much better than those of Monster Reservations Group. Chelly kept her word; I did receive the promised $200 refund. But it came from Monster. That’s curious. Trade Show might be legitimate. But if so, why start out deceiving me into thinking they were RCI? I GIVE CHELLY 5 STARS. She was very reasonable on the phone and she kept her word. She did what she said she would do. If they are legitimate, why would they turn their customers over to a frightful company like Monster? Why did the refund come from Monster? That makes no sense to me. I don’t know how to rate this company. I can’t give them 5 stars because I wish I had never taken that first phone call. On the other hand they do have Chelly who appears to really care about customer satisfaction. At this point I am not sure I want to sign up for my first of four vacations and sit through a sales pitch. I will have to pay a deposit. Will I get it back? I don’t know. Like I said, once trust is broken, it is hard to earn it back. What would you do?