Ok, having read all of the complaints about Certs, Inc. I just wanted to let you know it can be done. We received a Wings certificate for going to a travel club presentation 11 months ago. Despite the fact that I read all the complaints I decided to give it a try anyway. People aren't getting their travel, but at the very least the company seems to be pretty good about returning deposits. I followed all of the directions exactly. When they wanted travel dates at least 30 days apart, I gave them dates at least 35 days apart, etc. They did ask for extra money for taxes, which I sent as soon as the request arrived. Our first dates came and went without hearing from them. When the second dates were approaching I received a letter asking for 2 more dates. We finally were confirmed for our 4th choice of dates. They called about a month before the dates to confirm and officially book the flight. I was very surprized that they also booked our rental car (we had a certificate for that too) two weeks later. I figured they would try to book them for different dates so I couldn't use one or the other. The flight going left super early and we returned super late, and the rental car was booked at a downtown location, so we had to figure out how to get the 25 miles from the airport to pick up the car, but over all we received about $800 worth of flights and car rentals for less than $200. By the way, they did refund the amount that we had overpaid for taxes. Would I do it again? Maybe. It was a royal pain. We certainly couldn't have done it if my husband's job required vacation approval far in advance, or if we didn't have relatives that were willing to be "on call" to take the kids for all of those dates. So if you are up for the challenge, really flexible, can have some of your money tied up for a while, and don't expect to actually get anything, you might want to try it.

My experience after sitting through a 90 minute presentation and was promised 2 RT Airline tickets, 3 nights stay at Hyatt, $50 gas reward and $30 Darden gift card, is one I would like to share to educate others about a lesson I learned.

Be sure when it says POSTAL money order not to get one at a bank. They will not honor it! You don't have another chance! Certs, Inc. (supervisor name is Seneca) says "You are not in compliance and the offer remains void. This information is final and do not submit any documents to reinstate your certificate. The offer remains voided due to invalid or missing information on your part." It is a very cold letter and it actually is a form letter with a place to check of that says "Deposit was not in US Postal Money Order form." If there is actually a place for them to check this off, it must happen a lot and they don't seem to be in too big of a hurry to clarify this in their initial "requirements" instructions. They could at least add a sentence that says (be sure to go to a post office for your money order and not a bank). What a let down! There is no room for human error when you send in the requirements! No heart by this company whatsoever! They say it is a "promotion" and aren't making any money from me, though they are from the travel club using them. They don't care about me at all. For 40 years I have avoided these postcards in the mail and finally decided to try one and should have waited another 40 or never at all. Just be careful out there.

Certs, Inc. is a waste of time & money -- After sitting through a 1 1/2 hour sales pitch for a vacation club, we were promised tickets for 2 to anywhere in the continental U.S.
We thought we were careful and followed all the necessary rules (postal order, etc.) -- even called Certs and spoke with a representative, trying to avoid any pitfalls.
Sure enough, our application was refused. They say the second dates we requested were after the deadline... I don't think so, but I don't have proof. Our first dates were certainly within the required time period, but that doesn't seem to count. They sent us our $100 back with a letter saying the refusal is non-negotiable and don't call them. Still, we spent good money on certified mail, etc. Just goes to show you that if it seems too good to be true, it is!

Attended vacation seminar in April '08 with offer of (2) round-trip airfares from the major airport nearest our home to any other major city - free. Listened to entire seminar offer, received our certificate to process our travel, sent in our cash and dates as requested. In June, received a request for more money from Certs. Sent our money as requested. In July, received notification Certs could not fill either of our requested dates and that we must depart from Phoenix, not Tucson. After reading other complaints, this appears to be Certs way of getting out of fulfilling anyones request. We have requested a full refund. What a scam!!

The $100 of free gas must be purchased in exact $10 increments, once per month. Didn’t know about that one. Do not be 1 penny off or the entire offer is null and void! That was easier to do when gas was $1.50/gallon. How do they get away with this crap? With every $10 submission, it must be accompanied with a self-addressed stamped envelope. Of course, you don’t know about these restrictions until you actually try to take advantage of these “benefits”. My opinion is that they try to make things as difficult as they can for you so that you won’t bother trying to cash in.

Now for the one that really has got me going – the 2 free round trip flights. Again, you don’t know what this process is until you try to use it. We mailed the activation form with passport copies on 12/16 as required. We then received a reservation form and mailed it in on 1/29. How’s that for a 6 week turnaround? We also sent in 2 $50 money orders, as required. Of course, they didn’t tell us about that. Wasn’t this supposed to be free flights? Now, the mistake that I made is that they instructed the money orders to be postal money orders. Not being as savvy as I probably should be, I went to my neighborhood Safeway store and purchased 2 money orders. A money order is a money order, isn’t it? On 2/22, we called to find out what the status was. They told us that it would take 30 days for them to process. Huh? What’s with that? On 3/7, we received a letter from them stating that ‘Due to non-compliance with the terms of this offer, we are unable to process your travel request due to the following reasons: Deposit was not in US Postal Money Order form. Please do not resubmit any documents to re-instate your certificate. The offer remains void.’ That was another 5 weeks to get this response. In the meantime, another flight discount coupon that we could have used as a backup expired. So now this is actually costing us more money than it would have if we had just not gotten involved! And my wife wonders why I’m so skeptical and entrusting of such organizations. Oh. One other thing. Also stated was this: ‘We apologize for this outcome; however, there is nothing that can be done.’