Divine Getaways

Has anyone heard of Divine Getaways? My husband received 6 postcards from them on the same day.

betsys55 wrote:

Has anyone heard of Divine Getaways? My husband received 6 postcards from them on the same day.

If so, perhaps hubby should be concerned that this multiple mailing of an "invitation" has some deeper, spiritual meaning. Maybe the "getaway" invitation is for the REALLY BIG, FINAL "getaway"...

betsys55 wrote:

Has anyone heard of Divine Getaways? My husband received 6 postcards from them on the same day.

I too received an invitation to Divine Getaways presentation in April 2011. I searched the web and found a BBB site listing them as officially VIP Client Services. A search on that name with BBB shows them with multiple aka business names. See paste from a BBB site below. ------------------------------ Business Management Brandon Bizar, Vice President, is also known to BBB as a principal in the following companies: Vacation Link of Florida, Inc., California Vacation Holdings Group, LLC, Preferred Guest Services, LLC, Summer Bay Getaways, LLC and Summer Bay Partnership. For a complete report on any of these companies, please visit www.bbb.org

Contact Information Primary Contact: Ms. Cheryl Arscott (President)Mr. Walter Elvy (Director Client Services)Mr. Rick Arscott (Vice President)Mr. Brandon Bizar (Vice President) --------------------------------------

I searched on a sampling of their aka names to find a mix of BBB complaints and that the BBB reported the company had resolved almost all the complaints, and about 50% were confirmed by the customer as having been resolved. The nature of the resolution is unknown, and not disclosed by BBB. But I also found 2 sites listing multiple complaints for Summer Bay Geteways. On one site, customers were frustrated trying to dispute billing issues and the phone numer had been disconnected. Someone else had found that the company name had been altered and a new phone number was in use. Odd practice for building loyalty. One client reported on that site that she did have a good experience with her trip and the price she paid. The second site is full of frustrated clients. URLs to the complaints are below.

www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/summer-bay-getaway-c126968.html

http://www.ripoffreport.com/directory/Summer-Bay-Getaways.aspx

BBB ranked Preferred Guest Services an "F". URL below.

http://www.bbb.org/central-florida/business-reviews/vacation-certificates-and-vouchers/preferred-guest-services-in-winter-park-fl-18000577/complaints#breakdown

After 20 years in sales and marketing, I might be left skeptical as to why any company would change names so many times. What you want most from your hard work is brand recognition and customer referalls. My assessment is the name changes are to hide a very, very tarnished brand(s), and start over again with a new name but the same old high pressure, half truth, sales tactics. Buyer... Beware.

marke214 wrote:

My assessment is the name changes are to hide a very, very tarnished brand(s), and start over again with a new name but the same old high pressure, half truth, sales tactics. Buyer... Beware.

You hit the nail squarely on the head .... the scammers close shop and start again under another name.

Exactly

Has anyone actually used the complimentary cruise certificate offered upon completion of their 90 min. presentation ? is my concern..since we have to activate the gifts with a dollar amt... i was wondering if they are legitimate before I send my check out. btw. we also received a complimentary round trip airfare,...again in order to activate it, we have to send them a check.. and after 15 days we are to receive a packet to fill out, and would only be eligible for travel after the 90 day period...

Anyone ??? Thanks, Ann

anng185 wrote:

Has anyone actually used the complimentary cruise certificate offered upon completion of their 90 min. presentation ? is my concern..since we have to activate the gifts with a dollar amt... i was wondering if they are legitimate before I send my check out. btw. we also received a complimentary round trip airfare,...again in order to activate it, we have to send them a check.. and after 15 days we are to receive a packet to fill out, and would only be eligible for travel after the 90 day period...

However, be aware that there is a consistent pattern reported by many others regarding virtually ALL such "complimentary" cruise and air travel offers. The restrictions, limitations and "blackout periods" associated with these "gifts" are so numerous and so severe that it is nearly impossible to derive any actual use or value from them.

MY advice would be to just put your checkbook away and don't send these people a DIME, but it's your choice and your decision.

I called the 800 number listed on the postcard and was placed on hold for approx. 4 minutes. A person finally came on the line by anwering "hello", I was confused as to why they had not answered by using the company name. I asked who I was speaking with and he said "Andy", I then explained that I was dialing an 800 number, he laughed and handed the phone to another person who again asked "hello?" I again asked who I was speaking with, the response was "uhhhh, Divine Getaways", I said that I did not feel this was very professional and she states "well then, call back!" and she hung up!!!! LOSERS!!!! People don't waste your time!!!!!

well..def a red flag.. I was @ the embassy suites last evening attending their seminar where i received the complimentary cruise & roundtrip airline cert... i did some research today on the BBB, they have an 'F' rating...I also checked by all of the names they provide on the papers given to us. Then i 'yelped' them .......DO NOT EXIST I called 'embassy suites' to try to locate anyone there giving more seminars.. i was transfered to the room, the guy that answered was skeptical in answering any of my concerns, then handed me to another person that says...well you signed off on all liability and responsibilities and hung up on me....such professional customer service !! NOT I immediately called front desk, where they need to be aware what is going on in their luxury hotel, scam artists are breeding and scamming innocent people.. BTW... if you go on their company's website, ..it states that payments can also be made thru 'paypal'.. what legit company works thru paypal ? ...we are obviously not protected, like we would be thru american express or visa should we need to retreat our lost monies... ps..i am too skeptical to be putting out any money.. they are going by the names.. EAGLES CHOICE DIVINE GETAWAYS CELEBRITY PRODUCTIONS

I attended their seminar last evening... and have been doing research on them. everything comes out looking like scam.. they either do not exist , or they have a very bad rep..on BBB. they are going by diff names and none of which i am able to find on google nor yelp.

From some of the above experiences and observations, it sounds more and more like these folks might actually be quite adept at "getaways" themselves. Sounds like their business practices might routinely require "getaways" (divine or otherwise) from their dissatisfied clientele... ;-)

Oddly, the above "hooray for Divine Getaways" post constitutes the ONE AND ONLY (... and very vague) positive "endorsement" among numerous other specific and detailed negative reports of experiences and observations concerning that same entity.

The individual reader will just have to decide for themselves which postings about "Divine Getaways" are likely accurate and truthful --- and which ones might just instead be shills "plugging" their own business with some bogus "happy talk".

This is definitely a scam, come on type of operation. The so-called "free" cruise actually costs over $800. And it has so many limitations that it is virtually impossible to use.

If you want a deal on your cruise, better to avail yourself of the cost savings that you can get by last-minute bookings. Cruise lines will almost give away cabins to fill up their ships, because the really big money they make are for services, alcohol, gambling, excursions, etc.

My husband and I attended the seminar for Devine Getaways. It sounded good, but we wanted to do more research. We did sign up and after returning home that evening we were already writing our letter to cancel. We found nothing good about the company. Seems they change their names a lot. The following day we drove to the Reston, VA location, gave the letter to cancel and the book back. We are now waiting our money back.

Don't do it. Check out the internet and you will find a lot of negatives about the company.

marke214 wrote:

betsys55 wrote:

Has anyone heard of Divine Getaways? My husband received 6 postcards from them on the same day.

I too received an invitation to Divine Getaways presentation in April 2011. I searched the web and found a BBB site listing them as officially VIP Client Services. A search on that name with BBB shows them with multiple aka business names. See paste from a BBB site below. ------------------------------ Business Management Brandon Bizar, Vice President, is also known to BBB as a principal in the following companies: Vacation Link of Florida, Inc., California Vacation Holdings Group, LLC, Preferred Guest Services, LLC, Summer Bay Getaways, LLC and Summer Bay Partnership. For a complete report on any of these companies, please visit www.bbb.org

Contact Information Primary Contact: Ms. Cheryl Arscott (President)Mr. Walter Elvy (Director Client Services)Mr. Rick Arscott (Vice President)Mr. Brandon Bizar (Vice President) --------------------------------------

I searched on a sampling of their aka names to find a mix of BBB complaints and that the BBB reported the company had resolved almost all the complaints, and about 50% were confirmed by the customer as having been resolved. The nature of the resolution is unknown, and not disclosed by BBB. But I also found 2 sites listing multiple complaints for Summer Bay Geteways. On one site, customers were frustrated trying to dispute billing issues and the phone numer had been disconnected. Someone else had found that the company name had been altered and a new phone number was in use. Odd practice for building loyalty. One client reported on that site that she did have a good experience with her trip and the price she paid. The second site is full of frustrated clients. URLs to the complaints are below.

www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/summer-bay-getaway-c126968.html

http://www.ripoffreport.com/directory/Summer-Bay-Getaways.aspx

BBB ranked Preferred Guest Services an "F". URL below.

http://www.bbb.org/central-florida/business-reviews/vacation-certificates-and-vouchers/preferred-guest-services-in-winter-park-fl-18000577/complaints#breakdown

After 20 years in sales and marketing, I might be left skeptical as to why any company would change names so many times. What you want most from your hard work is brand recognition and customer referalls. My assessment is the name changes are to hide a very, very tarnished brand(s), and start over again with a new name but the same old high pressure, half truth, sales tactics. Buyer... Beware.

Do not, do not, do not sign on with this company. My husband and I went to their presentation today, in Greenville SC. We fell for it and wrote a check for over $4,000. We also signed an agreement that allowed them to automatically collect the $319 annual fee on a credit card draft in 30 days. We came home, started doing some research and decided to back out. Only....when we started looking at our credit card online statements...the company had ALREADY drafted our credit card for the total $4000 amount to a different company called paradise something.

Another thing that really bothered us is that the presentation was not very professional, no name tags, no business cards, no stationary. When we asked for business cards, we were told that they were on order. Lesson learned....too good to be true.

I recieved a postcard and made reservations with devine getaways for the 90 min presentation. My husband and I attented and was told it was overbooked, but received the vouchers for the free cruise and two round trip airfares. After futher investigation, we first had to pay 170.00 acitivation fee to receive the travel documents. Then, pay fuel surcharges between $50.00 and $60. 00, 911 security fees range from 179.00 to 259.00 per person, on top of that the port charges, taxes, services charges.. which was not disclosed at the meeting. So, it's not a free giveaway like they claim. If someone from Devine Getaways wants to clear this up call me..

Where was the presentation in Greenville? We were considering attending.. and was wondering if it is the same one?

I agree with Audram12!

My fiancé received a postcard in the mail from Devine Getaways indicating two complimentary flights along with 7 days cruise if we attend a two hour Divine Getaway presentation in Embassy Suites, Anaheim, CA. We attended the meeting this past Saturday. Since we mentioned we were getting married this year, they offered us the “newlywed” package deal of a one time payment $3,249 membership fee plus $299 processing fee and $149 renewal fee to receive 2 weeks and 2 short notice weeks for condos at any location in the world plus unlimited discounts on cruises, hotels, car rentals, etc. and we can add four of our family members to share our package. This seems like a really good deal, right? Of course we signed up. While my fiancé was signing the contract, I had already felt skeptical about the process. This is when I realized the paperwork looked unprofessional (photocopied), pens had no logos (used Embassy Suite pens), business cards looked homemade, binder/portfolio for the contract did not have a logo (looked like it was bought at office depot), certificate to redeem complimentary tickets had a logo of Eagle Choice (who is Eagle Choice?), and none of the representatives had on a logo shirt or name tag. I thought I was being too paranoid, but we went through with the purchase anyway. Right when we got home, I searched for Devine Getaways customer reviews, and all I read were negative reviews of a scam. Great! One of the documents in the binder had a memo with a lady’s name, number, and email address for questions or concerns before our membership is activated. When I call her number, it’s a cell phone that goes straight to voicemail and email is a gmail account. We are now writing a letter to cancel our membership to Devine Getaways. Things just don’t add up. We wasted three hours of our day, felt used, and crossing our fingers we get our money back.