pornclerk

So I was at a concert a couple weeks ago and filled out a ballet to win a free cruise. I didn't actually expect to win anything so I just fluffed it off.

Last night I get a call telling me I won a free trip to the Bahamas. I was half excited because I knew there had to be some catch. The guy said that all I had to pay was a $299 luxury tax per person, which is not bad for an 8 day trip. He told me all there was to know about the trip and it seemed pretty good.

I was told I would receive all the information by mail and I could choose when to take the trip as long as it was within 18 months. I was fine with all of this, but then he asked for my credit card information. I got a very bad feeling about it and did not do it. I surely was not going to give them the money before I had a chance to review the terms and conditions of the trip. I asked him for a call-back number so I could think about it and look at their website, but he would not give me one. He said if I wanted the trip I had to pay the $299 per person now. In the end, I said no because it all seemed sort of sketchy. I don't feel comfortable giving someone my credit card number over the phone, especially since he was the one who phoned me.

Does anyone else think I am crazy? I am interested to hear other peoples' stories of "free" trips or scams.

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ratbastid

I agree, that sounds sketchy. Especially since it had to be right then and you couldn't have an opportunity to verify it.

Also... $299? That's a price for a product, not a tax. Taxes are either percentages of something (and so some weird figure with a strange number of cents) or an even, round dollar value.

Nosir, I don't like it.

la petite moi

Yeah, definitely a scam. The only time I heard of someone winning a trip was my cousin and her husband who won an anniversary trip to Las Vegas through a radio station. It was completely free.

Sultana

There is absolutely no reason for anyone to get your cc#, and you would have been crazy to give it to them.

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Baraka_Guru

1 + 2 + 3 = scam

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MexicanOnABike

my friend won one with sears i think. but it was a local trip. from northen ontario to toronto for 3days all payed. i didn't believe it till she left and came back without paying a cent.

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kramus

The ex took her Mom for a Caribbean cruise and a weekend in New Orleans (pre-Katrina) c/o a free offer from a time share group. She paid zip. Flew down from Toronto to Miami Beach, had 5 days cruising, the N.O. visit, and then flew back. Apparentley the ex and her ma slipped through the cracks because the daily hammering by the time-share people never touched them - they had no sales talks, no conferences they had to attend, nothing. They had a ball and a lovely time for free.

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The_Jazz

A tax is payable to some government by definition. It would be due after you went on the trip, not before.

The fact that he wanted a credit card and wouldn't give a call back number are huge warning bells.

I have no doubt at all that this was a scam.

That said, I just got back from an actual free trip to Pebble Beach for a week with all expenses (save airfare) paid.

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Jinn

You made a good decision.

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spindles

Their ain't no such thing as a free lunch. I'm amazed at the amount of cold calls I get at home saying I've won something, all of who sound amazed when I tell them I'm not interested. There is *always* a catch. Even a free trip won on a radio station has a catch - you have to listen to their station, boosting their ratings - ok may be a minor catch, but one nonetheless.

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snowy

My friend who won a trip to New York from Paramount found out about it via mail. They included all the information she needed, including what exactly her trip entailed and dates she could take it, in the letter, and a form to return to them telling them when she wanted to go. They sent her the tickets for everything in the mail...so yeah, I'd say if they asked for your credit card information, it's a scam.

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warrrreagl

Me and Grancey sort of won a free "ride" if that counts as a trip. I think it was 1988 (Grancey would know for sure) and the state of Alabama was celebrating one of those goofy off-year anniversary thingys, and it was something like the Sesquisasquatchysoupycentennialishable Celebration. At an Arts and Crafts Festival near our hometown we entered a drawing for a free train ride across Alabama on the Freedom Train (not making that up) which would be an old steam engine pulling several cars of celebrities and others. And then we forgot about it.

A couple of weeks later we got one of those letters from a bank we don't use - you know, the kind you throw away without opening? For some reason we opened it and WE'D WON! Inside the envelope was two free tickets aboard the Alabama Freedom Train.

On the appointed morning, Grancey's mother drove us up to the station in north Alabama where the train was to depart and we took off. The only celebrities on board, though, were the Governor and Fannie Flagg. The Governor at least got out and walked around shaking hands and stuff. Fannie Flagg didn't even drag her tired ass out of her private compartment to mingle with us little people. The ride took most of the day to reach our destination, and I think it was in May so the state was totally lush and beautifully green and sweltering! We hung our heads out from between the cars like dogs and got soooooo much soot and ash in our eyes that we were nearly blind by the end of the trip. It was so awesome. They had a snack car instead of a dining car, but it didn't matter.

My father drove to the destination station and picked us up when we finished and Grancey sewed one of the official patches from that ride into her denim jacket and wore it around for years.

Does that count as winning a trip?

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The_Jazz

Gee, I would've thought they would have dug up The Bear for something like that, or at least gotten Bill Curry to show up.

/threadjack & Tide-bashing

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uncle phil

and i am soooooo jealous...

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maleficent

I get time share type free trip offers at least once a month (how i got on that list I will never know, I haven't had a real vacation in years)... generally it's a 3 -4 day trip to some fancy resort, all expenses paid - except airfare and ALL you have to do is sit thru a sales presentation... I've never taken them up on the offer... sales presentations make my head explode

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rockzilla

Yeah, if they want your cc# and don't want to give you phone number they're definitely scamming you.
I've never won a free trip, but a girl I worked with years ago won a week at a resort in the Dominican Republic from a contest on the radio. All she had to pay was the cab fare to and from the airport.