Complain about a product or service

American Travel International

Deerfield Beach, FL

Richard of Freehold, NJ, writes:
At a children's fair, my wife, Pam, dropped her name in a drawing box which stated that a drawing was being conducted and the winner would receive a free week's vaction in Florida, along with a cruise to the Bahamas.

The next day she received a telephone call informing her she had won. She was asked that in order to validate this she was required to have her husband available on the telephone at the same time as her to go over the prize package.

They called back that evening when I came home from work. That was on February 22, 1999. When the first person called he spoke of trips, one free week hotel lodging, add-on trips to other places and a myiad of other things that she had won. What we had to do was purchase a $598 travel certificate. This had to be done at that moment or they would select the next person on the list. (as it turns out, everyone who dropped their name in the box was contacted anyway).

We had to make the decision right then and there. We said it sounded good but we would like to think about it. They insisted we couldn't and that when another person called us within the next few minutes we had to confirm our acceptance and give them our credit card number for the $598 charge. When the person called us right back we did confirm that we were interested and stupidly gave them our credit Visa credit card number. They also made us confirm on tape that we accepted the charge and that it was non cancellable.

After we hung up we had second thoughts and looked on our caller ID and called the number back. It was a telemarketer who said to wait until we received the information package regarding the trip because we needed the certificate number to cancel.

When we received the package, about a week later I called back and couldn't get through on the number I origanlly called. I called the number listed in the package for American International Travel and explained what happed and that I wanted to cancel. They informed me that I couldn't and that we confirmed our credit card approval for the $ 598 charge on tape , therefore, it was final. They became nasty and said "that's the way it works".

When I called my credit card comany to dispute the charge they sent me a form to fill out, which I did. On April 22, I received a letter from the credit card company saying they were looking into the matter and would hold that transaction in dispute and I would not be charged for that until they notified me. I called the credit card company again in May and was informed that they were waiting to hear from the merchant and would get back to me as soon as they had.

Since I didn't hear from them in awhile, I called today and they informed me that they sent me a letter requesting more information. I never received that letter. Today when I called, they said since they did not hear back from me, they assusmed the case was resolved and they closed their file. When I informed them I did not receive the letter they sent out in May and that I wanted to still dispute the charge, they said it was too late.

Again I called the merchant American Travel International and again they were nasty and said the deal was final when I confirmed the charge.

What can be done to resove this matter and to expose this "scam"? Do I have any rights or am I stuck paying the charge. The trip is basically a bunch of bull when you read their package.

You should send a certified letter to the credit card company with all of this information, including the exact dates. Tell them you have consistently disputed the charge, you still dispute the charge and you want it removed from your account. Be sure to send the letter via certified mail.

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