Universal Fun Pass Scam

Thanks a ton for all the info. I will definitely remember all of this. Most that's left is to deal with the credit card company once I get a new card. And complaints are going to shoot out to every contact I can get a hold of, definitely.

Any recording they play to the card company will not be represent the whole conversation that took place. otherwise it would scupper their case, so it'll be an edited and incomplete record of your conversation and is thus of even lesser standing legally than hearsay, though we've already established that the public record of the State of Florida is of much greater standing than hearsay.

Making you believe there's nothing you can do is part of the tactic.

Credibility is the crux of the matter and, in my opinion, that's where they're weak.

While you're at it - take a look here at the post by Lioba_Retreat

viewtopic.php?f=35&t=1605&start=150

some advice you might want to take so that. at the least, other Canadians might get warned about this.

Thanks for the heads up. It all definitely opens my eyes to not only the number of scams out there, but how well thought out they are now. You just really never think you would ever fall victim to one.

They constantly brought up the fact that it was recorded to try to bring me down, constantly saying they'll play it for the credit card company. They even played a clip of it to me.. which actually included me hesitating a bunch of times and them constantly reassuring me how they needed the cc number. I don't really know whose side that really supports though, when you think about it.

It helps a great deal to understand how they operate and what tactics they use. They really go above and beyond to make it seem like they've done absolutely nothing wrong, but also that they've NEVER done anything wrong and how it's you that's in the wrong. The person even had the gall to tell me that they've never had any problems with their customers, like I'm the odd one out. It enrages me to no end.

Thankfully I see through these lies. I'm not backing down and I've only just begun to fight. I hope others don't give up.

Of course your case is hopeless - or that's what they must make you believe.

Clearly they're a bit foggy on

Chapter 501 Part II - Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices

Chapter 501 Part IV - Florida Telemarketing Act - Consumer Protection
Chapter 501.615

http://myconsumeradvocate.com/resources.asp

Quoting those statutes at them will make them gulp not that you're interested in them or their opinion.

http://www.leg.state.fl.us/STATUTES/ind ... 6#0501.616

I thought I might have to look carefully to find a transgression, but I looked at the first paragraph

Title XXXIII
REGULATION OF TRADE, COMMERCE, INVESTMENTS, AND SOLICITATIONS

Chapter 501
CONSUMER PROTECTION

View Entire Chapter

501.616 Unlawful acts and practices.--

(1) It shall be unlawful for any commercial telephone seller or salesperson to require that payment be by credit card authorization or otherwise to announce a preference for that method of payment.

That leads to the interesting conclusion that the recording they would seek to use to prove that you willingly gave them your card details (so they say) would also appear to confirm that they did so in contravention of local state law.

Oh bummer.

I haven't looked deeper into this - and this isn't something I've appreciated before, but it looks like a very strong argument to challenge their 'we've got you recorded' argument with your card company.

I'll be out on Wednesday, and I'll give this some thought and perhaps prepare some wording to use with a card company, but if their argument is busted, then so's their whole game.

Wow.

It just doesn't get much clearer than that, does it?

Thank you a million times over for all of your help. I'm looking forward to reading through those links more when I get the chance.

I'm back early.

The significance of what I discovered in my previous post is that the Florida version of these companies seek to justify their card charge by using the recording of their call with the customer evidencing that they got card details from them.

It is my belief that they only play an edited version of the call, perhaps using a pre-planned call transfer to another colleague as a way of creating a natural break, so that a short excerpt can be played as if that's all there is. That way the methods used to extract the details aren't disclosed to the card company.

However, Florida law requires more from a telemarketing company and if they attempt to suggest that an edited version of the call is all that took place then, because it's highly unlikely they offered an alternative method of payment (legal requirement in Florida), then they evidence that an unlawful act took place.

The whole tactic is to make it appear that by disclosing your card details you have made some irrevocable error, which isn't so. What they consider to be irrefutable evidence against you also evidences their own failure to comply with Florida legal statute. They should never have obtained your card details using those methods, and that puts you in a strong position. Make sure your card company knows and understands this.

The recording of your call actually acts as evidence in your favour - not against you. Neither you nor the credit card company should allow these people to use their sales shmooze to steam roller you into believing otherwise.

All Stars was their name and 3 times they tried to take money from my account - $1500 firstup then $600 then $250!
Praise the lord my partner had not been paid yet and we were broke
First time in my life i've been gratful for being poor. Jokes on them for that.

Today at 10:30am i got the call so many here have free trip to Florida for 5 ppl, all i had to do was sit and listen for 90min to some guy tell me about the resort that i was staying in. I'd love to do that. Rest you've alread read above stay at resort free passes etc all i had to do was pay for levis $998.

Customer service number 0018133861099 open mon-fri 10-6pm (even told me he time diff was 14hr behind)
4104 linebaugh ave tampa florida 33624

It all sounded so real and i'm obviously in need of a holiday so bad i fell hook line and sinker.
We've been lucky they didn't get any money off us, i found this website read this thread and cancelled my card. They may not of broken the bank but they broke my heart.
IF you manage to get your money back congratulations. For those who don't karma will be your friend

Hi Jezabelle, welcome to Scamwarners.

I am glad these thieves were not able to steal from you (although another reason would have been preferable) well done

Please be careful with them, they may try contacting you and insist you owe them money, please, ignore any attempts by them to contact you, it willl only be them trying once more to get their hands on your money.

If you have any questions please ask

Guess what I received in the mail! A thick heavy package from Florida. Surprise surprise.

Problem is I've been waiting for my new credit card to arrive still, which may take another week to get. So I can't dispute anything till I get the new card. So not sure what steps to do next. Should I open this package or not? I'm tempted to return this and track it.. but I'm 100% sure they won't ever refund me (remember they said I'd only be able to maybe get a refund is if I sign the contract and wait the 31+ days.. clearly a scam written all over that) Open it? Leave it? Toss it?

miss9 - under Florida law telemarketing companies are obliged to offer an alternative method of payment other than credit card. To fail to do that is an unlawful act as defined by Florida state law.

If the company play their recording to the card company they are merely evidencing that their call was 'unlawful' as defined by Florida law. It is a fundamental principle that you cannot establish a legal obligation by means of an unlawful act.

This is simple and straightforward and has nothing to do with credit card rules. The company should have used lawful means to obtain your card details. They didn't, so they have no right to use them.

It is now July 2010. I live in Ontario Canada. Nothing has changed.

Over the past couple days I have received 3 phones calls. Same person, different originating tele number; but, the exact same scam. I knew what was unfolding and told the caller that I wasn't interested. I told her to give my trip away to someone else. Next day, I got call from same person telling me that she respected me for being suspicious but this was legit; I had really won a $5000 trip to Florida/Universal Studios/3 days cruise/car rental, etc. etc. etc. etc. My response was ok then; send me something by email and if I'm interested I will get back to you asap. She confirmed that an email would be sent within 24 hours. A short while later I got the 3rd call. She was sooooo excited that I had won that she had forgot to ask me a few vital questions such as: when did I want to book my trip; had I ever been to Florida before; did I or any of my traveling companions have any special dietary needs that the chefs needed to know about; did I want an inside/outside cabin on my cruise; what type of rental car would I prefer; and, oh, by the way, I note that your Visa number starts with a '4', can you confirm your expiry date and security code. Yeah, Right!!!!! My next response was "FO" and I hung up. Haven't heard from her since.

I can't believe that this scam is still in existence. Can't somebody shut them down.

I'm delighted to hear Sirrah that you not only made them waste several phone calls on you, but you also ended by giving them the response their scam so richly deserves.

They no longer dare work this scam in the USA as they've had their behinds richly toasted over it, so now their attention has switched to overseas victims.

Florida has more regulation in this sphere than many states, but these people have the effect of giving all Florida travel companies a bad reputation, so it is in the interests of the reputable companies that these scams are shut down.

People can Google their way here and/or learn about scams, because the more people who know what to avoid, the more out of work scammers there'll be.

Awareness will see the end of scammers.

This is a great site. Thanks to all who set it up.

I'm so glad I found this site and post.

A few months ago I entered a contest for Universal Studios. A few day's ago I recieved a phone call from a friendly man who notified me that I had won the contest and then preceeded to tell me (very quickly) the details of this vacation. A few factors led me to be leery from the beginning of this call. First, the call came in from a local number (Canada), yet the caller stated he was calling from the U.S. and Second, the agent sounded very far away and like he was talking on a cell phone outside. However, I tried to force this feeling away, after all I had entered the contest. Before transferring me to the confirmation department, the lovely agent even asked me to send him a postcard. Once transferred I was then asked by a friendly female agent to confirm my address, phone number and e-mail and that ( by the way) this is a promotional offer so I only need pay $249 per adult for me and my partner and then I could bring two guests along for free and to just go ahead and read off my 16 digit cc #. I then explained that I would gladly call back and do this after being able to verify the company information. The agent then explained that she worked for Universal Studios and that they have been in the service for many years and are a reputable company so just go ahead and read her my cc#. I then lied and told her I didn't have the card with me and she told me that she has access to the 4 major cc companies and can see that I have been sent a cc statement recently so to find it and give her the cc # and to take my time because she get's paid by the hour. I again explained that I would not give this info over the phone and that I did not know where she was calling from or for whom. She explained that as soon as I gave this info she would be able to give me a confirmation number and company info. I explained that as a consumer I have the right to verify whom I am giving this information to and we went around in circles for about 15 minutes during which she told me that I was one of 3% who qualified for this adventure and that I would miss out unless I gave her my cc # now. I ended the call by simply hanging up the phone. I'm glad to have found this post and to have confirmed my suspicions. However, I am saddened for all those who have been scammed by these people.

You were very astute and lucky to have escaped the clutches of these people Morg. They'll tell you any lie to get the one thing they want out of you - your card details, and they know they have only one chance. It's little more than theft by phone and your valuable description of how they work operate the hand off to a colleague is merely the method they use to engineer a segment of the call devoid of all their set up lies that they can replay to the card company.

I had only been thinking about whether or not this particular scam had died yesterday, but if there's ever going to be a time for it to come back to life, it's as the nights start drawing in and the weather starts getting colder. Your suspicion that this operation could be located locally to you is interesting, and quite possible as it's operated like junk share 'boiler rooms' with rented office space and temporary staff paid on commission.

This isn't a small operation, and you won't be a 'one off' Morg. They'll have invested time and money in fake competitions to collect information on likely targets, and the banking and card processing set up remains in place.

I regret we're likely to see this building up again.