The young lady that I have been hanging out with lately was contacted by a company called Smart Travel and told her that she won a free cruise to the Bahamas. She had filled out a drawing at a recent Reds game and apparently "she won". She asked me if I knew anything about them because it just seemed fishy. After reading a lot about their reviews and what not, it seemed very fishy. Apparently they want you to listen to a presentation and then buy a $15,000 package. There was a lot more, but I don't feel like typing it all up.

 

Anyone else every "won" one of their cruises or free vacations?

The young lady that I have been hanging out with lately was contacted by a company called Smart Travel and told her that she won a free cruise to the Bahamas. She had filled out a drawing at a recent Reds game and apparently "she won". She asked me if I knew anything about them because it just seemed fishy. After reading a lot about their reviews and what not, it seemed very fishy. Apparently they want you to listen to a presentation and then buy a $15,000 package. There was a lot more, but I don't feel like typing it all up.

 

Anyone else every "won" one of their cruises or free vacations?

 

Me and everyone I was with at the Auto Expo got a call a couple weeks later... Apparently we had all won the Free Cruise :lol:...I didn't answer the phone they left me a voice mail and after I listened to it I deleted it and moved on...Sounds to good to be true...

My wife won a cruise a while back. I forget how much she actually had to pay but it wasn't very much (Port fees and flight). She did have to go to some presentation or something and they try to lock you into buying more cruises.

The young lady that I have been hanging out with lately was contacted by a company called Smart Travel and told her that she won a free cruise to the Bahamas. She had filled out a drawing at a recent Reds game and apparently "she won". She asked me if I knew anything about them because it just seemed fishy. After reading a lot about their reviews and what not, it seemed very fishy. Apparently they want you to listen to a presentation and then buy a $15,000 package. There was a lot more, but I don't feel like typing it all up.

 

Anyone else every "won" one of their cruises or free vacations?

 

Me and everyone I was with at the Auto Expo got a call a couple weeks later... Apparently we had all won the Free Cruise :lol:...I didn't answer the phone they left me a voice mail and after I listened to it I deleted it and moved on...Sounds to good to be true...

 

My girlfriend entered to win a new car that was outside of King's Island last month. Of course she didn't win the new car but she did win a free cruise from smart travel "if" she could get to their office within 24 hours to complete the necessary paper work. When she told the lady she couldn't make it then the deadline was miraculously extended. They are crooks and have complaints and bad reviews all over the internet.

If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

I know a girl that used to do those sign up things for smart travel. They are semi legit, you might get a huge deal on the cruise, but have to pay airfare, food, other cost. Oh yeah and the many many many presentations.

 

Basically its a big marketing push to get you to buy way more stuff.

"It's a shame that its a scam, I would have taken you."

 

Dang.

I've heard of cruises, free stays etc. All to make you sit through a talk trying to get you to say yes 100 times until you buy the time share. Then of course "free" never includes, taxes, fees and some other small monetary expenses.

I know a girl that used to do those sign up things for smart travel. They are semi legit, you might get a huge deal on the cruise, but have to pay airfare, food, other cost. Oh yeah and the many many many presentations.

 

Basically its a big marketing push to get you to buy way more stuff.

 

So basically, you should just spend the extra money and skip the stupid presentations so you can actually enjoy yourself. :lol:

So basically, you should just spend the extra money and skip the stupid presentations so you can actually enjoy yourself. :lol:

 

Pretty much, you can find Cruises for fairly cheap these days...

In our younger poorer days, this was a way for us to get an inexpensive vacation. You have to invest a couple of hours of hard sell....but just stick to NO.

I don't know that I would call it a scam but it's a whole lot like a timeshare deal in Gatlinburg or somewhere. You pay a small fee and are obligated to sit through a high pressure sales pitch.

 

I did this kind of thing a few times in Gatlinburg. I was willing to put up with it because I knew I was going to firmly say "no" in the end. If you're willing to deal with high pressure folks who get mad when you reject them, then go for it.

In our younger poorer days, this was a way for us to get an inexpensive vacation. You have to invest a couple of hours of hard sell....but just stick to NO.

 

By hard sell what do you mean? What do they do?

I would recommend in the strongest possible terms that everyone stay as far away from SmarTravel as possible.

 

First, their sales techniques are extremely high pressure, and they tell you their "deal" is only available at the time of the presentation; they will not allow you to leave & think about it. If you leave, they will not speak with you again (which is probably the best thing).

 

If you say "No" to their deal, they will escalate to a "Manager" who will give you a different deal with a lower price, anything to get you caught in their trap. None of their deals are pre-printed on a list or any schedule of options; they seem to be making up numbers as they go.

 

If you take the bait & buy one of their packages, the whole thing is financed. They get all of their money immediately from a finance company, & you are locked into making the payments. If they go bankrupt or out of business, you will not get what you paid for, but you will still owe the finance company.

 

Feel free to fact check me on this next one, but I believe that when you sign up for their "drawing to win a free trip," the slip where you have to write your name, address, & phone number also asks for your SSN. This is so they can run a credit check on you. If you don't enter your SSN, or if your credit score is not high enough, you will not win, because they don't expect you to be able to make the payments. Never, never, never write your SSN on a slip of paper that is supposedly going into a random drawing, because you have no way of knowing what will happen to it later, or who will see it, or who will use it to steal your identity.

 

You would be better off using one of the many travel websites who advertise on television, but I won't mention any names, because I don't want to be accused of trying to promote any one of them.

 

I wish happiness, good health, & prosperity to all good people.

Please support your local animal shelter.

Welcome to the site, but this might be one of the more random first posts I've seen from someone considering this thread has been dead for 3 years haha!