Jul-24-03 19:57 PDT
One user posts:
I was so close to buying those 2 for $59 airline tickets until a wiser person sent me to this sight, I also e-mailed the seller for some specifics and was told nothing then I e-mailed another person who had left postive feedback and asked her how the transaction went and then she told me he had solicited the feedback and she had received nothing, he offered her 5% off of the total for feedback before she paid or received anything,remember, if it sounds to good to be true, it usually is, buyer beware
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#1
Note, positive back is always immediately after seller and buyer exchange money, after never after a trip. Why, because the buyer never gets to take their trip. If, you ever receive anything from the seller, it will be accompanied by a bill, for more money. Its the big run around scam and at the end you get nothing.
#2
I agree completely. I purchased travel certificates back in December. Instead of having to just pay taxes as advertised, I had to pay an additional $598 if I wanted the travel package. When I asked for my money back, the seller only refunded a portion of what I paid.
This travel certificate seller is very sneaky. The seller changes names constantly. This seller also asked for feedback immediately before I had a chance to review the certificates. It was also impossible to check with the BBB about complaints. The seller was from Georgia but on every item she listed, the seller's state was shown differently.
Square Trade and Pay Pal were useless in trying to get my money back. They seem to be pro seller. My credit card company, however, sided with me and I got my money back. I also filed a claim with BBB. Good luck!
#3
Hate to admit I was taken too. Seems I bought nothing for my $99 plus additional $50 via check. TSN Vacations has not responded to my certified mail or numerous telephone call messages. Beware.
#4
The certificates you are all talking about are not allowed on ebay. Check the prohibited items. I am sure you will find them there. Also in order to sell travel on ebay you must be square trade verified in the travel category, and be a certified seller of travel in all 50 states. Yes beware of the travel certificates, they will always require additional fees.
#5
Unfortuantely, this one got me too.
BEWARE of any and all auctions that list R/T tickets for $59 or $79. This is a complete scam. I bid on the auction, send the seller my $59 dollars, then found out that I was required to purchase lodgings. When I asked him about it, he claimed it was a "posting mistake," and would be fixed the next time it was listed, yet when I see this same auction, no matter what ID it's posted from, it always has that same mysterious mistake. When I tried to cancel my order, via the "guaranteed 30 day money back" promise, I was told to return their certificate and I would receive my fee back minus a small restocking fee. I returned the form, BUT NEVER GOT MY MONEY BACK!!! Now when I contact the seller (sellar's ID was nannypalmer by the way, so stay away if you ever see that ID) he pretends that he doesn't know what I'm talking about, if he responds at all.
COMPLETE RIP-OFF!!! Ebay needs to do something about these scams. The auctions are always posted in the same format, I don't know why they still allow them.
#6
Okay guys - I did get taken but is was from an individual that I don't belive is a registered Seller. He contacted me directly through the Ebay message board wanting to sell his Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Voucher. This is his story: His job sends him on training all the time so he accrues about three a month. He had a problem with his car and needed to gather some cash. After assuring me that these items were not previously listed on Ebay , I agreed to buy three RT vouchers. After wiring the money to him, gee guess what, I have not heard from him. BUT I have an email address of "[email protected]" and his cell number (which I don't believe he would have given me if I had not surprised jim. I know that he lives somewhere in or near houston, Texas. He gave me that name Jason Tandy BUT I am pretty sure that his real last name is Hardy (b/c of email address). He has not responded to the multiple emails and phone messages I have left him. I am contacting the Texas State Attorney Generals office on Monday and I figure through my family and friends connection with the Austin Police Department and Texas Department of Public Safety (its good to have friends in high places). Basically I want to know if ANYBODY has had any contact with this man. If he has successfully scammed anybody out of Texas then he has broken federal law. If he has scammed over a certain amount of money total it then becomes a felony. I would appreciate any comments (besides the ones that tell me I should have known better). Thanks everyone
#7
Yes we are being scammed. And worst yet, Ebay is powerless to do anything about it since it is not in their programming. There are no humans really at Ebay. I received the following message when I try to make a FRAUD COMPLAINT on Ebay:
"Unfortunately, eBay has no record of this item". Thats because EBAY WIPED OUT THE TRANSACTION NUMBER AFTER I PAID! Funny thing is, I still have the sociopath's positive feedback that I paid him quickly, while I WAS NOT ALLOWED TO LEAVE FEEDBACK! So there must have been a transaction.
The message from Ebay continues: "This could be because the item does not exist, or because the auction ended over 60 days ago in which case you cannot file a fraud claim for this item." OR IT COULD BE THAT EBAY WIPED OUT THE TRANSACTION NUMBER AFTER I PAID!!!"
I paid for this item immeadiately with Paypal (big mistake) then Ebay wiped out the transaction number AFTER they found out it
#8
Folks, read the posts on the thread"Suspiciously cheap travel"(See below on this page for the pasted posts), and I believe it will be fairly easy to see who is the honest ones are.
The scam was that they state we were told on Jan. 4th, that our dates were unavailable. We never received that email. (Gee, does anyone in their right mind think we would keep begging for an answer, if that email was received??) However, we received an email on Jan. 16th, stating the Feb. dates were good. What the business owner may have not realized until now is that I have all of her correspondences, and have shown them to all of the proper authorities, and it is easy to see who is being scammed, and it is not the business owner.
I imagine she thinks we are "easy prey".
And, to this day, I am still waiting for my refund check, and restitution for her breach of contract.
#9
yes i agree I bid on a package and paid right after auction ended,then the following day e-bay cancelled the auction.well i contacted the seller she agreed to refund my money..I sent package back unopened with tracking verification...I have not heard anything from her since..paypal and e-bay refuse to help me with this matter..by the way her user I.D. is elvisonharleyd..
beforewarned DO NOT bid on these auctions...they are scams...ive tried everything I know to get help...
contacted e-bay filed complaint..paypal..my bank..everything...BEWARE
#10
I was just scammed a few days ago, and I feel like an idiot!! The seller was advertising two round trip tickets to anywhere in the United States for $53.00.
ebay contacted me right after I paid and left feedback (just like a good buyer would do) and told me that the seller had been suspended, and that the contract was null and void!! No one has been able to help me yet, and I tried to track down the seller (right20008) and finally after realizing that she has many email addresses, I sent her a demand for either my money back, or the actual merch that I bought.
She actually had the nerve to call me a lame ass, and I would get no refund!! The tickets I received are for a resort that I have to stay a minimum of 7 to 10 days!! I called the police, ebay, paypal and the BBB. I live 3 miles from ebay headquarters and I am thinking of going over there to demand some help!!! Any advice? The worst part, I made plans to see my sisters baby and I won't be there!!!!!
#11
Run, run, run!!! I luckily got refunded by PayPal. Otherwise, I would have been out $83. Big, huge scam.
#12
PLEASE DO NOT BUY ANY "2 ROUNDTRIP AIRLINE TICKETS FOR 79.00.......LET'S TRAVEL INC....APPARENTLY THEY HAVE CHANGED THERE NAME RECENTLY TO AMAZING TRAVEL DEALS'
NOT ONLY DO SOME PEOPLE NEVER RECEIVE THEIR TICKETS, BUT WHEN EBAY ENDS THE AUCTION FOR IMPROPER LISTINGS....LETS TRAVEL GETS A REFUND FOR THEIR LISTINGS....AND KEEP IN MIND THAT THEY DO IN FACT RECEIVE MONEY FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVE ALREADY PURCHASED THE TICKETS VIA PAYPAL PRIOR TO EBAY ENDING THE LISTING....SO BASICALLY THEY ARE GETTING A FREEBEE ON EBAY BY NOT HAVING TO PAY THE FEE'S.....
THE GENTLEMAN WHO RUNS THE COMPANY RUNS HELP WANTED ADS IN THE PAPER TO WORK FOR HIM......HE PAYS PEOPLE 15% OF EACH TRANSACTION.....HE HAS THEM SET UP A EBAY & PAYPAL ACCT.....THEN HE CHANGES THE USER ID WITH EBAY......AS FAR AS PAYPAL GOES......HE WILL COVER A CHARGEBACK ON SOMEONES PAYPAL ACCT ONCE......AFTER THAT .....HE STOPS WORKING WITH THAT PERSON....AND THUS THE INNOCENT PERSON WHO WAS MERELY TRYING TO MAKE SOME EXTRA MONEY IS NOW FACED WITH A DELIQUENT ACCT WITH PAYPAL.....AND THIS GENTELMAN....HIS NAME IS STEVE RAINEY....JUST GOES ONTO THE NEXT PERSON WHO RESPONDED TO HIS AD IN THE LOCAL PAPERS...........HE IS VIOLATING BOTH EBAY AND PAYPAL.....
NOT TO MENTION THE PEOPLE WHO NEVER RECEIVED THEIR TICKETS/VOUCHERS....I WOULD ADVISE ANYONE WHO HAS MADE THE PURCHASE ALREADY...TO CONTACT PAYPAL FOR A REFUND OF THEIR MONEY......
I LIKE MANY OTHERS HAVE ATTEMPTED TO MAKE EBAY AWARE OF THIS.....
#13
Indeed a scam. Keeps changing member ID's so that no feedback can be carried forward. I have just finished a seven page document researching the $79 rountrip airline tcket scam. Letters (and responses) sent to Paypal, Ebay, Squaretrade, sellers, etc are included. There is also a discussion regarding how to find airline tickets only (not whole vacation packages). A whole package was indeed what $79 was/is and will be offering...but one certainly would not know it from their "omission" description. Information regarding Ebay declaring auctions null and void is included. Also there is a discussion of recovery methods, if you paid and could not get a refund. Do not delay in requesting refund from Paypal. You must file within 30 days of the auction closing. If you wish a copy of the report please send me a request at [email protected] and I shall send it within two days. Good Luck from ohsweetrose.
#14
I just want to say that not ALL voucher programs are a scam. I have dealt with very legitimate 3 day 2 night hotel accommodation vouchers. I have taken a few vacations and stayed for only $34.00 a night total for 2 people in a nice Radisson that would normally have run me $98.00/night. Don't judge all programs. There are some good ones out there. It's just sad the scammers are ruining it for the actual legitimate ones.
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I've been looking at getting a couple tickets to Paris, France lately, and ran across an auction here on eBay that seems a bit fishy. I won't post the auction #, etc, per eBay posting rules, but the tickets are being sold for a Buy It Now of $59.00. How can this be? Are there going to be some sort of hidden/additional costs?
Any help is appreciated.
#2
IT'S A SCAM!!! DON'T BUY!!!
Not only are there hidden fees, THERE AREN'T ANY TICKETS!!! I was taken by this scam -- here's my story:
The "tickets" I purchased from this seller (who is not a real travel agency, by the way) came in the form of a voucher that can only be redeemed with a $20 US membership fee & purchasing 7-14 nights in a hotel of THEIR choice. I checked out the voucher manufacturer's web site & found out the tickets are only good for a max of $400 each (at least they now specify that point on their item description). Without sending them more money I was not able to get what I paid for.
First off, it's against eBay's policy to sell these vouchers. Found on the index page of the Help menu under Travel policy: "eBay does not permit listings of "choice" travel certificates by any user. Choice travel certificates are documents that are not issued directly by a single provider of travel, but by travel wholesalers, consolidators, or other middleman travel sellers. These certificates generally offer the holder free or low cost travel services with a choice of multiple hotel chains, resorts or airlines, the exact location often being at the choice of the buyer or seller. Such certificates are highly regulated in many US states and in many cases require additional purchases that violate eBay's fee circumvention policies -- they may not be listed on eBay by any user. "Note: "Sellers must disclose any additional fees. 1) All non-shipping and handling fees paid to the seller or any other private party must be included in the auction price. 2) The precise amount of taxes paid to government agencies or fees to provincial or local regulatory bodies do not need to be included in the auction price, however they must be noted in the item description. Listings that appear to have excessive government or regulatory fees will be ended. Failure to clearly and accurately disclose all additional fees may also result in the loss of the Travel Seller Verify by SquareTrade seal."
I called the contact number eBay supplied for the seller, but the fellow I spoke with said that he doesn't know anything about the company; they just send him a cheque every month to use his eBay account. So, I sent eBay a complaint. Under the section called "False or misleading contact info" on that same Help index it states: "On eBay, it is not permitted to falsify or omit your name, address, and/or telephone number when registering to use our site. It is also not permitted to use fax or disconnected numbers as your telephone number."
I checked out eBay's policy regarding feedback & discovered the seller cannot "buy" feedback as this guy did with offering 5% off or more tickets for positive feedback at time of purchase. In the Help section go to the index you'll find it says "Offering to sell feedback, buy feedback, or trade feedback undeservedly is strictly against eBay's feedback policies. Such activity is called feedback solicitation."
I checked out the seller's SquareTrade verification as they did not have the seal on the item description page when I purchased my "tickets", but stated they are verified. I e-mailed ST and asked them if this guy is allowed to use their verification # without the seal and they said he has been suspended because of too much negative feedback. The new sellers have the seal, and are indeed ST verified, but it seems ST does not know this is the same seller they suspended before!
Just to let you know, I also checked out "American Travel", "All About Travel" and "Let's Travel" (travel agencies supposedly used by the seller -- I'm not too sure who your seller said he used) and, as far as my research goes none of them exist!
Refunds are hard to get. I paid them twice accidentally. They refused to refund my over-payment, so I contacted Paypal & Paypal refunded me my money (I used them for one payment). I then returned the voucher for my refund (dated April 12, 2003) & they received it via Purolator May 5, 2003. They then told me I sent it back 38 days past the issue date when it was only 23 days, so they weren't going to refund me my money. It took two and a half months and many, many e-mails, complaints, fraud charges and the like to finally get my money back. I'm one of only two people I've ever hear of getting a refund (the other woman had to go through the same channels as I to get her money back).
I have copies of the voucher, every email, bill of lading, you name it. Because of the situation I found myself in with the seller, I was very thankful I took photocopies of everything before I sent it back. Every one I've contacted regarding the 2/$59 tickets thing has had the similar experiences -- no refunds, no vacation, just ripped off. I can provide you with their e-mail addresses if you want verification of what I've said.
If this is anything like what happened to you, you have the option to do the following:
I know this is a lot of info and I hope I didn't overwhelm you with it all. If you have any questions or comments to add to this, please feel free to contact me. And if you so desire to send this info to anyone interested, by all means, SHARE! Hopefully this whole thing will be stopped and everyone will all get their money back.
If you want to verify anything I've said, e-mail previous buyers of these "tickets" and see what there experience has been. I'm sure they'll tell you the same thing....
Take care and keep me posted!
#3
I wish I had gone to this board first! I've paid with a money order, for two round trip tickets to Mexico. Sent the money $62.00 to "All About Travel" . I dealt with a guy who calls himself JIBA. I plunked down my money on June 24. Should I wait for the certificate (if any) that I'm supposed to get in the mail, or should I register my complaint now?
#4
Hello, readgail300!
I'm sorry to hear you, too, got taken in this scam. Now, what to do: if I were you, I'd begin complaining now. Although you cannot file all the complaints listed above until you get your voucher, you can at least file "Feedback Solicitation" and "Solicitation of Off-site Sales" on eBay's Help menu (item #2a & 2e) if they apply to this situation.
Once you get the item, I'd suggest taking photocopies of EVERYTHING (including the voucher itself -- it probably says "Two Fly Away" at the top) before you send it back for your refund. Also, keep track of everything. I'd print copies of every e-mail sent to and by the seller. The police will request all this info when filing your fraud charges.
You might also want to contact eBay about this ASAP as your seller has probably been suspended since you bought the tickets (13 of the 15 voucher seller's I've been keeping track of have been NARUed -- the other two are not selling at this time, so I suspect they will be NARUed soon too). eBay might be able to point you in the right direction regarding this.
If I can be of any more assistance regarding this, please feel free to contact me and I will help as much as I can.
Take care.
#5
Hi! I am so glad that someone posted something about this scam! I was far luckier than you two, however was pretty close last night to purchasing the Mexico trip. Something told me to "Ask Seller Question" first. So I did! I sent an email asking the seller where the destination in Mexico was and if there were "hidden charges" not specified? I also chose "Watch this item". I was looking forward to checking my email for a reply....but what do you know???? First there was NO reply from them and second, I go to "My Ebay" to check my "Items Watching" and it tells me that item may not exist anymore! I immediately went to the travel section and find there are not near as many airline travels as there were last night! Apparently someone put a stop to them! Thanks for the warning!
#6
I was in the process of helping a relative try and find some round trip tickets for a weekend trip to the LA area and we were checking out some tickets listed as 2 roundtrip airline tickets with a buy it now of $79.00 we had the urge to purchase immediately but held off to do some investigating mainly because this guy had 0 feedback.This was in the evening and the next day the listing had been removed and when i did a search for the listing # it came up as invalid. Low and behold that evening several similar listing appeared that were worded exactly the same but had a new user name with 0 feedback. We noted the listing #s and again they were removed and shown as invalid by mid morning the following day. Then on the 3rd evening some new listings appeared by a new user with 0 feedback and worded exactly the same. and again removed by mid morning with a search showing invalid listing #s. So in my search for answers i came to the discussion board to glean as much info as i could to get some answers with the surprise as to find mostly negative comments about fraud and scams when it comes to purchasing airline tickets. I was also trying to find out how i could punch in the square trade reference # given in the listings to see if it was really legit. but so far haven't found out how to do that. Needless to say by now i am totally convinced that i will not be purchasing any travel of any kind thru ebay and encourage any one to refrain from buying anything without asking lots of ?s via email along with investigating who they are dealing with. I have also thought of contacting my local news tv station to do some investigative journalism concerning this aspect of ebay as it seems that there is way to much scamming and misleading being allowed to go on in this category. I am writing this in hopes of helping alert the new buyers to indeed Beware and suppress the urge to buy now and ask questions latter.
#7
We too, were ripped off. We are in the process now of trying to get our deposit refunded back to us. As mentioned in other topics, we did read all of the fine print, asked many questions, and understood the fine print. The only error we made was in hoping that we were dealing with a reputable business.
These people were rude, arrogant, and would not listen to reason. That was the last clue in realizing, that we were never going to take the trip, nor get our money back. EMail me for more info.
#8-Reply to #7
Lee,
You and I both now the reason why you did not get the trip and it was NOT because you were denied dates. It was because you did not follow the terms as far as the 60 days notice and midweek dates. And the real reason why I cancelled your form and you were issued a refund of the $240.00 you paid, keep in mind I have a copy of the original payment on the file and have faxed it to the BBB). The reason my dear was because you started emailing Suzanne in registrations and called her "obtuse", dictionary meaning "Stupid" That was the reason why you did not get your trip. So when posting your comments, be sure that you are honest. You were not lied to at all. Copies of the original payment to us and the refund sent to you have been faxed to the Better Business Bureau, so may be you should just cash the refund cheque and quit playing games.