Universal Fun Pass Scam

Just wondering--has anyone who has lost money considered contacting an attorney who handles class action lawsuits to review options? That seems to be the most successful approach with companies using questionable telemarketing practices and those that use deception.

I've been doing some studying and there are clear areas where this company is apparently in breach of US regulations governing tele-sales calls. One benefit is, that if they keep recordings of the call (as they need to to prove they got your card details off you) then they also have the evidence proving their other misdoings. If they have one, but not the other, then that suggests that they are editing their recordings.

She was kinda pretending she already had my cc info "I know it starts with a 4 and has 16 digits" to which I replied all Visa cards are 16 digits and start with a 4....eventually I had to hang up as she would not give up and refused to mail me anything in advance of me giving out my cc info, and she called back twice (I let the machine handle it from there)

That's clearly a fraudulent practice without reference to the TSR regulations. The continuous calling which has been mentioned elsewhere is also contrary to regulations.

Any time that they mention the word 'prize' they fall into a trap, and a new set of FTC requirements.

I have located various websites relating to this set up and, apart from the name of the organisation, the sites include pictures of Disney World and Universal Studios and their logos, which I doubt they have permission to use. It also appears that they are trying to suggest that they are in some way connected and with Visa too.

I have very good details on the people behind this scam, including locations, phone numbers, associates, family history and even photos. It appears that they don't treat their employees any better than their customers, and they have been vocal in giving their view of the set up.

http://www.fivestaruniversal.com/

5 Star Universal or Five Star Universal in Texas are reported to be part of this.

I'm compiling a lot of information and once I've completed it, I hope to get together a note of the best way to handle your complaints and refund demands. As I read it, under US Law, the fact that you gave your card details alone is not enough to bar you from gaining a refund, not if they lied and to you misled you, and missed out giving you important information, like a cooling off period.

The fact is that people providing a merchant trader facility (allowing the ability to process card payments) should ensure it is being provided to reputable traders only. If they don't do this, they face losing money, and deserve to do so.

The recording the company use to deny your refunds should also prove you were duped, and that should be all you need. I'll try to draw up a script for you to use. It's unlikely to help victims who have lost money way back, but I can suggest where complaints should be made for greatest effect.

For anyone interested these are the USA FTC telemarketing sales rules. I have some homework to do.

http://www.the-dma.org/telemarketing/ts ... _guide.pdf

Apologies for coming back writing bits and pieces but I'm compiling a dossier that will, I hope, be assembled methodically, and in a form that will represent powerful and damning evidence.

Meanwhile I found this in my research

http://www.stopjunkcalls.com/bboard/ind ... wtopic=107

It appears that Californians put organisations like this in a deep pit, where they belong.

http://www.myfloridalegal.com/newsrel.n ... E6005B8BD7

We're getting somewhere.

For those who've been scammed some time ago, there isn't a great hope of getting your money back, but fr those who've paid recently here's a guide of what to do. With the variation in state and country law, depending where you live and and which state the scammer is operating from (which seems to vary), this may not be be completely accurate, but as a plan of action, it's a good guide.

http://boakes.org/amerivacation-cancel/

One theme that I have discovered is that these people already know a lot of information about the people they contact. Clearly they have your phone number, but it would be interesting to know what else they knew about you. I don't need the actual information, of course, but just what type of information they knew, such as date of birth, name, e-mail address and so on. I know they claim to already know your card number, but did they ever tell you more than just the first digit or tell you what card you had ?

Knowing that would be very useful, though I am already compiling information from complaints recorded online.

Wow GomerPyle, you're really into this! It feels reassuring that someone who doesn't know the victims of this scam very well will take time to scrounge for information and laws and such. I'm not even sure that the BBB does that kind of research. Maybe they do but they didn't tell me directly. Also I filed a complaint to the RCMP a few months ago and they didn't tell me what they would do with it, but I guess it goes in a file somewhere and they must do the research you're doing. The Canadian government wants to assign officers to scam cases, especially those involving investors who put a lot of money into something that goes nowhere. I don't know how the Universal scam is rated in their list of priorities, because there are bigger scams out there (such as Earl Jones).

I was called in July 2008 and my memory isn't always good. But I do think they had my name and address in their file. As soon as you put these somewhere on the internet it can be retrieved, but I don't know where they could have gotten them. And even though I subscribed to a "no-call list" in Canada, I still get telemarketers calling home to offer me this and that. So clearly my info is out there somewhere and people are using it for their own purposes.

I read the article written on cbc.ca and the recol site isn't trusted by my firefox browser. Does that mean that a journalist of the cbc is trying to get people's information? I got puzzled when I saw this.

To answer Dotti: the only way it could be economically viable to contact a lawyer would be as a group. I lost 500$ to Universal scam, but a lawyer would cost me more on the long term, and I think Universal scammers count on that not to be bothered with any legal action.

You've only seen a fraction of the information that I've collected.

I'm sorry you got taken for money by these people.

There are other people operating the same ploy in Florida, I have discovered. If they aren't related or associates then maybe it's become a well known scam.

It's unusual to note that they have a lot of Canadian victims. This may be due to the way US law operates in protecting people in the states where the victims live, which means that it doesn't matter what state the scammer is operating from, if he calls a victim in a US state with strict telemarketing laws - he gets in trouble. However, it's doubtful they get themselves properly licenced as telemarketers or travel agents, so I have a lot of angles of attack, but each state has different laws, but I learn quickly.

It's amazing what you can find out about people using google. That's all I do with scammers, and I can get some very personal information. Then it's just a matter of accumulating it and sorting it to make it easy for law enforcement. It's a bit like the TV show 'The Wire', but it's a drag checking every phone number they use.

Clearly the RCMP is one place I'll go, and maybe approach some newspapers/TV to spread the word about this scam in Canada.

Forgive me. My investigations are mind boggling in discovering the number of companies involved in this type of scam, centred on Florida.

Take a look at this link. I'm not suggesting that there is a connection, but you may recognise the way this scam was perpetrated and what happened to you.

The reassuring thing to note is that the FTC are clearly prepared to take action.

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2000/07/als.sht

Kheten,

That's why I asked about a class action lawsuit--a class action suit is filed on behalf of a group, with the attorneys often working on a contingency basis, and each member of the class receives a fixed payout if the lawsuit is successful.

Class action suits have been successful against credit card companies who have charged inappropriate fees, as well as against other companies that have scammed smaller amounts out of thousands of people.

I'm getting a sense of how this operates.

It's likely that you or your partner have entered a sweepstake competition for a holiday online, or maybe even at a booth at some event. That way you've provided your contact details.

There are so many 'companies' running this scam, connected with Florida, they're either copycats or running franchises for whoever's collecting the 'leads'.

I suspect it's run like a franchise operation and shooting down one company will be no loss as there are many others running the same scam. That's why many have similar sounding names so that they are interchangeable.

I hope that I can compile enough information that pressure can be applied to clean up the Florida tourist industry as these operators are giving it a filthy reputation, and if Florida gets a bad reputation for its tourist industry, it's in trouble.

There is also a tendency for these people to target Canadians, but that's because of the danger of them falling foul of US 'no call' state lists and US telemarketing regulations.

If you come here and read this thread, it's not hard to save yourself from losing the money but you MUST do it as soon as possible after you have been charged. Basically you contact your cc company and tell them to reverse the charge because these people are not following basic FTC requirements and misrepresenting what you're paying for, even lying at times, which makes this fraud and your card cannot be charged with a fraudulent transaction.

See this link

http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/show ... 180&page=2

In amongst my researching I have come up with some very detailed guidance on precisely what to do and say to your cc company and I'll draw it up into a guide here. The more people who manage to get their money back, the sooner these companies go away.

The fact that these companies are following a template means you can fight it with a template rebuttal.

This will not affect any company trading reputably and honourably.

It is irrelvant that the company may have a recording of you giving your card details. If they play the whole recording to the cc company, it will only prove that you are justified to demand a chargeback.

Okay I'm wondering how to do a class action lawsuit in Canada, which may help me to get my money back after more than a year, and may help all the Canadians that got caught in the scheme and couldn't have the fees charged back on their card for whatever reason. Apparently some banks are more understanding than others in this situation.

I regret to sat that I don't hold out too much hope for you Kheten with the amount of time that has elapsed.

The best thing is if I present the dossier, when it's finished, and present it to the authorities and see what happens.

Would it be possible for you to pm me with the name of the company (and its location) that was mentioned on your card statement as the company charging you ?

I don't need any of your details.

http://www.flsenate.gov/Statutes/index. ... #0559.9335

This statute effectively makes it impossible for a Florida company to sell travel over the phone, which is why these companies are so desperate to tell people that they are located elsewhere.

This is an excellent guide on how to go about claiming a refund from a reputable company, however I would suggest that as these companies are largely not reputable, you must contact your cc provider at the earliest opportunity to demand a chargeback.

http://boakes.org/amerivacation-cancel/comment-page-32/

Many people have done this successfully, and others haven't, but when I stop compiling info on these people I write out a checklist to use to confirm that your demand is justified and legally irrefutable. The character of these companies is known to their merchant facility providers, so there's not an issue. If they provide facilities to companies that operate like this then they should be well prepared to accept the repersussions.

One victim allowed the company to ring the card company with them on the line. On no account should you do this. Don't stand for their nonsense.

I just recieved a call tonight exactly the same as these... thank goodness for a sites like this, I did a quick google search for "universal scams" - while the lady on the phone requested my cc info over and over (*it felt like 25 times "blah blah blah *(really fast) now can I have the expiry date of your visa card? I mentioned I didn't feel comfortable giving my credit card info out over the phone, she assured me that Universal didn't want to risk their reputation by frauding their customers, and ALL transactions are covered by your credit card company)... the more questions I asked the faster she talked.

They left a message on my phone last night as well, I think they got my address and DOB information from the 'Canada Free Stuff .ca ' advertisment I filled out on Facebook.