Selling Cruises by phone, illegal? Beware.

lowlands

My Wife got a phone call last night from a tele sales person calling from Toronto (number unavail) who was selling Cruises in the Caribbean. She had answered a few questions on a survey a week ago and he told her she was selected for a prize. She was basically getting a 4 person, 3000 euro cruise for next to nothing. Just needed to pay some reservation and administration costs.
She was at first very interested, but noticed that when guy asked her casually what creditcard she would use on the cruise, he also asked the expiry date (to check if it was still valid for that trip).
Much later, after many beautiful stories about free entry to Disney World etc. it finally emerged that she had to pay an 800 dollar fee upfront, but would be able to book the cruise at any day in the next 18 months.
When she told him she needed to think about such an amount, the guy became very persuasive, and said that it was only valid today on the phone., she needed to decide on the spot or let the 3000 euro cruise prize go to somebody else.
Luckily my Wife is not stupid and politely declined to pay.

Have others come across the same scam (I assume it is)?
Is that legal way of selling, surely there must be some standards.
Where can I complain about this?

I believe the company name he mentioned was "Majestic cruises".

BKtje

Sounds like a vareitn of the 419 scams. If she'd paid you prob would never have seen any money or cruise tickets again.

Did she remember the survey.

Dathai

I remember that.
My mam got that one or two years ago and we didnt fall for it.Other people did and gave out their credit card numbers and it turned out that they were calling from Nigeria not America like they stated.

ToxicPaddy

looks dodgy to me...

http://www.majesticcruisesinc.com/

Tox

Gurgle

My wife got exactly the same thing, except it was usholidays.net.

About 2 weeks ago this guy called, asked if we used a credit card to pay for holidays and if so, what type of card. He then said that for taking the call, she would be entered in a draw.

A week later, he rang back, saying she had won the draw, the 'prize' was a 2 week holiday in orlando including a 2 day cruise to the Bahamas all for 25% of the normal cost at $900.

Available any time in the next 18 months.

For some reason, he didn't ask for payment of the $900, he said he would call back because he had to talk to me as well (I was out).

All sounded very dubious.

Anyhow, I had a good dig through usholidays.net and it seemed to be fairly well put together, if its a scam its a big one.

We eventually decided that when (if) the guy calls back again, we would offer to make the payment throught the website, but now I'm not so sure what security you have with a .net website - could it all have been set up as part of the scam ?

What exactly is .net as oppose to .com or .org ?

Is a company using .net a bit suspicious ?

Kold

It's too bad you can't kill people through the phone really

rom1

> What exactly is .net as oppose to .com or .org ?
> Is a company using .net a bit suspicious ?

The rules regulating the usage of .com, .net and .org are the same. There might only be a slight price difference to get any of these domains... Anybpdy can get those provided they are available.
This company most likely bought the .net domain because the .com was unavailable... That doesn't mean in any way that is is more dodgy than a .com company...

lowlands

I checked with my wife and it is actually : Imperial Majesty Cruises.

This is their website:
http://www.imperialmajesty.com/index.asp

Interestingly, I found some reviews on them on http://www.cruisereviews.com/ImperialMajesty/OceanBreeze1.htm

Some ok reviews, some pretty bad like the one I linked above.
We were definitely not impressed. This was our first cruise, and I doubt that we'll ever go on one again. You should see this boat parked next to all the other cruise ships, you'd be embarrassed to walk by them and board on this one. Not only is it much smaller, but it is absolutely covered in rust.

What I forgot to mention is that she had to agree on going to a special presentation during the trip to qualify for the discount. (A sales pitch I assume)

It still sounds very dodgy, because if they really wanted to sell this, why did they not give us the chance to sleep on it?


Gurgle: let us know if they do call back.

rabbitinlights

What I forgot to mention is that she had to agree on going to a special presentation during the trip to qualify for the discount. (A sales pitch I assume)

Have you ever read "snowblind" by robert sabbag.



LOL

Sean

John2002

It happened my mother yesterday. She got a call from Toronto also. Same sh1t, first asked casually which type of credit card she uses, then asked for the expiry date and finally for the card number for payment of €700.

When my mother refused to give the credit card number the lady tried a fair bit of persuasion and eventually after getting nowhere she asked my mother if she had permission to offer the holiday to somebody else.

All very dodgy. I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole.

secret_squirrel

I got a call from them on monday...my scam alarm went off pretty quickly...they havent rung back yet so I can claim my 'prize' - Im sure its just a matter of time. The number was the states tho it had an 001 prefix....

They are definately on the dodgy side...you can find quick a few hits on google for them.

Anyone guess how they got our numbers - I assumed it was because I'd just got back from the states the week before, but seeing as so many ppl are getting hit by them I'd be leaning towards them having an irish mailing list of some kind. Be ironic if it were our credit card co's gave them the list :rolleyes:

Capt'n Midnight

Yeah got a call from an a lady who sounded Indian (asian) - I was off sick at the time - so it was a way to kill time ..

alleepally

Saw a BBC programme about this a few weeks ago and the people running these things have scammed millions and are very rich. THe reporter spoke with a business person in Toronto and the basic problem is that the law over there is very lax and the judicial system can't / won't pursue cases as the perpetraters are directing their fraud on citizens of another country. all very complicated and very lucrative it would seem with little or no chance of anyone ever being caught or charged with an offence.

chopster

Me too , as the saying goes if it sounds too good to be true.......
As soon as the words '...can i have your credit number to.......' then you know its a scam of sorts .

Anyway after some research came across this interesting site....

Rip-Off Report.com

ImperialMajesty is linked to Ramada Plaza Resorts/Hotels which was the hotel used for your ' Free ' stay in Florida.

Nuff said.

:rolleyes:

lowlands

They are still operational ....

From todays Irish Independent:

A DUBLIN pensioner who "won" a free cruise only to have it withdrawn because he refused to give his credit card details over the phone yesterday warned others to be aware of the scam.

John Duff, a 77-year-old living in Sutton, was contacted on Tuesday by a woman claiming to be from Imperial Majestic Cruise Vacations asking if he would take part in a survey.

The woman, who spoke with an American accent, checked Mr Duff's details including his age and marital status, before telling him he had been chosen to be entered in a draw where the lucky winners would be contacted within 72 hours.

Yesterday afternoon, Mr Duff received a call from a woman named Jessica who told him he was the lucky winner of a €3,000 luxury cruise to Orlando, as well as being eligible for a holiday for four to Cyprus.

But there was a catch - unless he provided his credit card details to pay for "insurance" the tickets wouldn't be sent to him.

"She asked me to hold on while she printed my tickets. She quoted ticket numbers but I was beginning to get a bit suspicious," Mr Duff said yesterday.

"I smelt a rat and said I wouldn't give her my credit card numbers because I didn't know who the hell she was. She said 'well in that case I'll have to say goodbye' and hung up." "

Last month, a Labour councillor in Dublin warned people to be wary of the scam after a phone call asked her to pay €600 to avail of the free holiday.

pclancy

Havnt got a call but i constantly get that crap through the post saying i've won €35,000 or something and all i have to do is sign up for the german lotto using my credit card and im sorted. Or the one where you give all bank details and sign a direct debit to cover """"""""""""""""""""""administration fees"""""""""""""""""""" and they'll forward me my winnings. Har Har.

Bastards. They'res nothing worse then seeing or hearing about free stuff or winnings when you're broke! Part of my wants so much to believe!

Dewey

Same thing happened to my Dad. He got a call from a girl called Tammy in Canada saying you have a chance to win a Cruise. I think 1 of the key questions they asked was do you have a credit card? So he answered her questions and she said you are now in a draw with 800 people and you will be contacted tomorrow if you have won.

Surprise, Surprise my Dad won.

They were saying your Cruise is free but €700 for your partner so can we have you credit card details but my dad was saying just send it out in the post. lol.
after my Dad said he wasnt giving any details they got very annoyed and said the Cruise would now be given to someone else.

It was very funny, My Dad heard in the background someone saying get his bank details.

I just hope no one falls for this because it is a scam and you will be ripped off.

BlitzKrieg

they had this on RTE radio today, interviewing ye man duffy who warned people of the scam. After a scam gets blown on the radio and newspaper the chances of success are severly cut so maybe they'll fuk off now and leave us in peace...