This complain concerns Five Points Travel, Bentley Travel and Dream vacations International, Inc.
On June 2, 2009, my wife and I listened to a presentation by a young representative ("Zach") about the benefits of the Dream Vacations International, Inc. (DVI) travel club, a presentation hosted at Bentley Travel in Parsippany NJ. DVI purports to secure at a discount and resell, without markup, accommodations and trips sold by reputable travel organizations through DVI’s power of bulk buying. We specifically inquired about DVI’s ability to resell travel from a specific favored travel organization we have often used in the past. DVI assured us they could provide real discounts and we requested a quote. They quoted a specific trip, destination and date at about 30% below the catalog price. We also inquired into their affiliation with Five Points Travel (FPT) which had bad reviews on the web; they first disclaimed any knowledge of FPT and then conceded that they had purchased customer accounts from FPT. We signed up - because of DVI’s reassurances and significant discounts being offered only then. Yeah, yeah, I know.
The following day I called my preferred travel vendor whose trip was quoted to us by DVI. They explained that they do not sell their trips through anyone else and promptly asked their legal department to issue a letter, which I now have, explaining that any contrary representation by DVI was fraud. I put my concerns in writing and called Bentley Travel to ask for an email to which I could direct my concerns in writing. I was told to email my letter to
[email protected], the company they had disclaimed knowledge of. I then asked if FPT was the same as DVI and was told they were. I e-mailed and faxed my letter and immediately confirmed by phone that the fax had been received.
In a few hours I had a call from Thomas Mayes, a senior executive, who said that he would be happy to help us since DVI is there "to reduce stress, not to create it" and after all "no harm, no foul". He directed me to contact the office manager, a Gintari Zubrut to undo any charges. I wrote Ms. Zubrut with specific instructions about what needed to be done to avoid the charge being posted to our credit card account. She ignored my instructions and took no action. I spoke to her the next day, cordially, and re-sent detailed instructions - which she also ignored.
Now the charge has posted and the process of unwinding this transaction has become more difficult. It is apparent that Bentley/Five Points/DVI has no intent to act or experience in direct or honest dealings and I urge all, most strongly, to stay away from them.
Fred R. Cohen, Esq.
