Free plane tickets for 2 = $65 "filing fee" each. How to not spend 2 hours.

A few weeks ago we got a card in the mail asking us to sit in on a presentation about joining some travel club. They offered us 2 free plane tickets or a condo stay just for attending. Now of course, this stuff goes on all the time with selling timeshare. I figured it would be cheap entertainment. They were offering 2 free plane tickets in the continental US, so I figured "Why not?", we could give 'em away to family or friends.

Tonight we sat through 2 hours of Vacation Travel Club. The deal truly was good; so good, in fact, that I decided to plunk down $2698. Basically it's this club where you get deep discounts on vacation travel and some airfare. Typical stuff. Well, I'm filling out the paperwork, and not feeling 100% good about it. The sales guy gives us this $300 gas coupon, and it isn't some voucher for $300, noooo, it's this totally hokey looking "FreeBeeGas.com" or something cheesy like that. Looks more like "Free Unlimited Spam In Your Inbox Forever, Junk Mail in Your Mailbox Forever, Unsolicited Phone Calls and No Free Gas For You!" to me. That's the first sign it was a scam. I'm still filling out papers. On the back of their contract the last line about "Lifetime Membership" says something to the effect that "Lifetime refers to the lifetime of the company". That was it. I told the guy I changed my mind and wanted the two free plaine tickets instead.

Now I'm gathering the paperwork I filled out and stuffing it in my pocket instead. I'm suspecting I'll be calling American Express to deny some mystery charges eventually. Anyhow, the two free plane tickets? Well, yeah, you gotta fill out this form, mail it in, and include $65 per ticket in mystery fees for the "free" tickets. So that's pretty much when I knew it was a scam.

I get home and decide to google up "Vacation Travel Club scam" and found out plenty. While they might not directly be a scam, it sure looks like the resellers who are doing the actual membership sales can be pretty crooked. The club itself seems to have some shady background, too. Anyhow, I'm glad we got out of it, much like a a fox gnawing his foot off to escape the snare. Now to see what arrives on our next Amex statement!