Universal Fun Pass Scam

Not that I bother to do any surveys, but I am also a member of that site and my details have not been compromised (that I know of).

While it is possible you are right, I tend to think that it may be from somewhere else.

I do understand where you're coming from, however other than legit internet purchases (i.e. Amazon, Tesco, HMV etc.) this is the only other place in the last 6-9 months where my details may have been exposed. I do also remember completing a survey about holiday preferences a couple of weeks before receiving 'the call')

Excellent information Alberis

Thank you for posting and well done on ensuring the bank takes action. Well done

That's how they get your info aberis - questionnaires, competitions, booths at exhibitions - in fact any place where you're likely to hand out your name and address and phone number.

Unscrupulous people/companies are selling on your details to scammers who will use any lie to get your card details. Even victims find it hard to understand how it's happened, but usually the reason for getting the details will be holiday related, so the scammer knows it's something on your mind, and that's enough for them to work on.

I can understand it because in my baiting exploits I've made scammers make international trips and get themselves arrested, and I don't possess psychic powers. It's all down to pressing the right buttons and manipulating people. Of course, I only use my skills against scammers, and not to make money, just to frustrate them and enable me to warn potential victims.

There's no such thing as a person who isn't invulnerable, so there's no shame that they caught you, but a lot of satisfaction in that you had the last laugh.

Hi All

Just an update from my previous posts.......money still in bank and they don't appear to have tried to get it again......I have had a couple of answer phone messages left on my phone saying it is imperative that I ring them(a manager of the comany)......as yet I havent......any advice on whether I should ring them back.............when it initally happened to me i e-mailed them saying i wanted to cancel all services.......just not sure now if i should get into conversations with them as i know that this is when they try to get into 3 way conversations with bank/cc companies and play the recordings....any advice I would be most grateful please

The very best reply - would be no reply.

Thank you for your update - any information is alerting and making others aware. Well Done

Hi folks
Just wanted to add my experiences here - I was caught by these folks back in August- stupidly gave my details - realised while on phone that it was dodgy and tried to cancel but they wouldn't let me - they also told me they were taking much less money than they eventually did etc etc. I cancelled my card immediately and spent an awful few days being very anxious and feeling so stupid... lots of phone calls to my bank and card company but no real hope there, I kept getting different people and had to tell them all the whole story from the beginning. But when I got my new card I noticed a clause about fraudulent use and that it had to be notified to them in writing. This was direct to card services (Bank of Scotland) so I wrote to them (as opposed to all the calls and emails) and got a letter back asking for all documents to be sent to them. I did this - and detailed all the steps I had taken ie
repeated calls to the company for the transaction to be cancelled
emails to the asking asking for the transaction to be cancelled
copy of an international signed for delivery letter (I found their address by using whois on their url) stating that under Texas law (where the company was based) I had 7 days to return the goods unused if they had been bought from a telemarketer (found this on the Attorney General of Texas website http://www.oag.state.tx.us/consumer/telemarketers.shtml) and that I was now requesting this cancellation under these terms
I also stated that their so called recording (which they edited) proved that I had been duped as the last line states that "the only amount taken out today was...." proving that this was read out to me after they had taken the money (my card only let them take out £250 and they started an instalment plan for the rest in $50 instalments - which I most certainly never agreed to)
and that I had repeatedly requested a copy of this recording which I never received

I am very happy to say the bank charged back the money to my account but warned me that they had 45 days to come back and prove that the charge was genuine. The time limit has now passed and no more money has been taken out! I so nearly gave up several times (and was starting to worry about the phone bill!) but decided I had to fight on and am so glad I did. I hope this helps anyone else - it sounds like people are starting to getting their money back.

I should have said I think they got my details after I filled in an online holiday competition via Facebook - one of those 'fill in these questionaires to get free cash/coins' for one of their games.

Hi and welcome to Scamwarners. And thanks for the tip about using distance selling laws.

Welcome to Scamwarners dupedbutfighting.

Thank You for posting these details and helpful information here. Well Done

Many will now know the correct steps to take to resolving this - saving themselves money and hassle.

I was a victim of a scam by a company called Universal Fun Pass. I honestly thought that they were a part of the Universal Studio Corporation in Florida. They even had the Universal logo on their documentation. And they also had my private Visa details on their files, so there was no reason for me to doubt them.

When Universal Fun Pass contacted me, 15th December 2008, on the phone, they told me that I had won a competition and they needed my credit card details for their file. I was told that I would have to pay an administration charge for the holiday I won.

After paying the amount of ?540.47 ($798.00), I discovered that they were a time share company and I had not won a holiday but in fact paid for a time share holiday.

Never at any point in our conversation did they mention to me that they were a time share company, I even checked their website and there was no mention of them being a timeshare Company.

When I had found out what type of business they were in. I tried to contact Universal Fun Pass (also known as Universal Adventure, which is owned by a woman by the name of Diayna Kolacki, on the many scam internet sites) by phone but I was unable to get anyone to answer my enquiries. I therefore emailed them and asked them to contact me to discuss my ‘competition win’.

I waited for a while but nothing happened, so I e-mailed to cancel my holiday. I was quickly called back by a very rude and aggressive employee of Universal Fun Pass who advised that I could not cancel. I explained that they had used high pressure marketing techniques and misrepresentation and they put the phone down on me. I have since found on Internet Forums details of many other people raising complaints about this company and there is a lengthy section about this company on the website where many people have explained they have been scammed by this Company and have had to reverse the transaction through their credit card company. But with no success.

Universal Fun Pass (aka Diayna Kolacki) had mislead me, then took money from my credit card account. And I had no holiday and no refund.

I was so angry at my self for being so foolish. Even when I was going through the transaction with Universal Fun Pass, the alarm bells were going off, but I choose to ignore them because I was so happy that I had actually won some thing.

The thing is, nobody knows who these people are until they look them up on the website and after they paid their money. And by then it is too late. And they keep on changing their name, first it was Universal Adventures, then Universal Fun Pass and now 5 star universal.

So I wrote to every organization I could think off in the U.S.A., the Governor of Atlanta, Georgia State Government Consumer Affairs Governors Office, the F.B.I (Atlanta), BBB, even Universal Studios. But they just ignored my letters. These people are scamming every one in every English speaking country in the world and these organizations who are supposed to protect people from scammers like them are doing nothing.

I thought a big company like Universal could sue these people for using their name and logo to scam people.

So I wrote to VISA and explained what had happened, I sent them all the information between Universal Fun Pass and myself, but they were very unsympathetic, they told me that because I signed the contract I was not eligible for a refund.

I was ready to give up and use this experience as a very expensive lesson learned. But my friends encouraged me to carry on, they helped me to get touch with the right people and get right information I needed to get my money back.

So I wrote to The Financial Ombudsman Service and told them, Under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, VISA are jointly and severally liable for the breach of contract with Universal Fun Pass and therefore have the same resolution.

With regards to my contract I summarised the reasons why I felt VISA should of refunded my payment:-

- I was originally contacted by Universal Fun Pass by phone. They advised me I had won an all expenses paid holiday and that there were no conditions or catches at all. All I needed to do was pay an administration charge immediately over the phone to secure the ‘free’ trip. I therefore provided my credit card details to UFP.

- It is clear from my conversation with UFP that they lied regarding the competition win and at no stage did they advise me of any of their terms and conditions which were later to follow by contract. VISA have made no attempt to contact UFP to obtain a copy of the recorded conversation.

- Once I received the contract there were many terms and conditions included which were not explained to me over the phone. For example one of the conditions stipulates that an annual combined income of 40,000 – 50,000 is required for the guests going on the trip. I wasn’t told this over the phone and if I had of done I would not have paid the administration charge as I wouldn’t have been able to have met this condition.

- Of course by the time I have received the contract it states that the payment of my administration charge is non refundable. Therefore leaving me no choice but to sign the contract and return it.

- I felt that I have been totally lied to and misrepresented over the phone and feel that VISA should respect this and compensate me for this fraudulent activity. They correctly explain that I have signed the contract but they need to realise that whether I had signed the contract or not there was no way of getting my money back from the company once they had taken my payment over the phone. This means that I had already paid the fee before seeing and signing the contract. Which I am sure is not legal.

- VISA also mentioned that the Merchant has offered me the agreed service for 12 months. Well actually they haven’t because when I tried to cancel with them and explained the reasons why and that I’d been lied to over the phone they cancelled my contract and have kept the money.

- If this same situation occurred in the UK and a fraudulent UK Company had contacted me I’m sure VISA would have acted on this, I understand I am dealing with an overseas Company but felt that there should be no difference with the protection cover offered by VISA.

I feel very strongly that VISA have dismissed by claim and would appreciate your help in resolving this situation.

Two weeks later VISA wrote to me still stating that Universal Fun Pass were still in the right because I singed a contract, but charged my money back to my account anyway. I think they thought it would be easier and a lot cheaper to give me my money back than face the Financial Ombudsman Service in court. Thank God, I am so happy that I got my money back.

Please don’t give up I am sure that there are ways for you to get your money back.

I hope this will help any one who is going through this.

Hopefully one day Universal Fun Pass (aka Diayna Kolacki) will be stoped.

Suzanne
London,
England

S,

I am sorry to hear you were scammed and glad to hear that perseverance paid off for you in the end. I have merged your post with the existing topic on Universal Fun Pass to keep everything together and allow others following the topic to see how you successfully got the situation resolved.

I do have one recommendation to make, however--if your username is your real name, I would suggest that you request a name change from one of our admins. We discourage the use of real names on this website, as some scammers have been known to respond to victims who respond to them with harassment.

The actions you took and the agencies you contacted were appropriate, and while you may not have received a response to your letters, by reporting this company you ultimately will help, as some agencies have been known to step in when the mountain of complaints reaches a certain height.

You are correct that Universal has the right to sue companies that infringe on their trademarks, but as a corporation, they will always look at the bottom line (cost-benefit) before starting legal action, so they need to know how much business they are losing if they are going to be persuaded to act.

I'm glad to hear the success stories of people who have been victims of this scam. This isn't the only company running this scam, and be in no doubt that this is just a cheap scam.

It may take a lot of effort, but the fault is with the financial organisations that allow thse people to use their banking systems to defraud honest people. I spent my whole working life in a bank, so I'm not talking without knowledge, and though some may consider I have old fashioned values, I see no defence in allowing scammers to take advantage of people.

I probably suffer from 'Robin Hood' syndrome but that's probably what all members of this forum have in common. We don't like to see life's cockroaches feeding off people.

The accounts that people give of their experiences and successes are very helpful to others, in showing what can be done, how to do it, and that you can get your money back, and every time they are forced into making a refund it should help to get them put out of 'business', as there is no profit to be made from a company that operates the way they do.

Just to let you all know, over 60 days now since the payment was returned and no more funds have been requested. Result!

Sounds like good news, thank you for sharing.

I posted this in another section, but this topic is exactly what happened to me. I cant beleive they even ask others if they like watersports! They had me truly believing that they were happy and excited for me.

Im very glad I found this thread. It's too bad I was a little too late. I received a phone call today, and yes, I thought I was lucky! But, I know everything is too good to be true, and because I was on the road, I couldnt do much but write everything down. The one thing I made sure I asked was after I see this package that Im receiving via email, if I change my mind, do I get my money back. And they said "yes, customer satisfaction is gauranteed". So I confirmed my card number. When I got back to the office, still no email. So I checked my credit card, and sure enough I was charged. When I went online to do some digging, I found this site, and many others warning about UnitedTravelClubUS.com. This is where they told me to go, and log in. They gave me a password and username over the phone. After logging in, Im sure we all get the same username and password, as there's nothing really in the website once you log in. I called my CC company and wanted to dispute a charge, and they told me I would have to try to call them first. So I called UnitedTravel, and they got their back up on me as soon as I used the word "WIN". They went down my throat with legal mumbo jumbo. I apologized and said, Im just worried Im not going to see my trip. If I was guaranteed to go on this big $3500 vacation for $500, then sure, Ill pay. She promised that they were legit, and what not. Which is even more BS the more I find out. I noticed someone mentioned talking to happy and friendly girls on the phone. It was Jessica that called me, and she sounded excited for me! So, I fell for it! They got me! I lose. I still havent seen my email package.. i think they are waiting for all my payments to come out. LOL.