Dear Sir
I received a phone call out of the blue to my landline in Northern Ireland The caller was Shelly Adams from Tropcial Grand Vacations in Orlando who advised me I had won a holiday:-
5 days & 4 nights at Orlando Hotel, 2 unlimited hopper passes either universal or disney,
3 days & 2 nights Daytona beach at Floridas Ocean club
3 days & 2 nights Bahama cruise from Fort Lauderdale
Ref no TV1 22608103.
I would have to pay a min of €299 per location. 2 adults and 3 children could avail of this package.
Further I had 30 days advance notice if I wished to withdraw. Shelly happily said she would forward all details to my email address which she had and also to my home address which she had. She then transferred me to her boss who took my credit card details.
Nothing arrived either by email or post and when I finally received my statement I call the no she had given me (08082347528) from Norther Ireland or UK. It would not work.
I called my bank seeking advice on what to do. They advised me of the address and I wrote to the above address.
Still nothing, I was advised to send a registered letter to them which I did - still nothing.
I visited Florida on the 1st May and on the 7th May attempted to drive to the address in Longwood but I could not find it.
On my return home I have ordered a charge back from my bank but they have advised me I may have left it too late.
I was charged 635.87 euro which would be the equivlent in US dollars of the amount mentioned by ms Adams.
It is worth mentioning I was advised by Ms Adams that the company was associated with RCI Real Estate, tel no 1407 248 0240. who had contacted me and I had advised I would perhaps be interested in purchasing a condo in Orlando. However when I was in Orlando between the 6th and 7th May, RCI advised me they not only were not afflilated with this company but not heard of them.
Please advise how I should proceed in order to retrieve this money? It has totally put me off going to Florida as a tourist.
Please email me [email protected]

Back in July 08 I was telephoned at home by Tropical Grand Vacations to offer our family a Florida Holiday for 11 nights to Florida and Datona which included Disney Park Passes for a deposit of £398.00. We dealt with a Mr Jordan. As my husband took the call and I wasn't in he asked them to call back the following evening so he could discuss the offer with myself. They did ring back the next eve and I gave ou credit card details over the telephone to them. I then noticed all these complaints so immediately rang the company back to cancel my deposit, but it was too late as they had already taken the money from my card. As I thought it was a scam I cancelled my credit card with my Bank. I telephoned Tropical Grand Vacations the next day to cancel it with them and they advised me that I had to wait for the official confirmation letter to arrive and then send it back to them and they would then refund my deposit back on to my card. The person who was dealing with this refund was a Sally Jay in Customer Services. I have e-mailed them, sent back the Confirmation letter, rang back numerous times, but I kept getting 'fobbed' off with different excuses. I was informed that I had 30 days to cancel this booking with them after receiving their official confirmation, so I was well within my rights to have this money refunded back on to my card. I rang them in January to request this refudn again and was told that Sally Jay had been given the 'sack' by the company and the person I then spoke to was a 'Candy Bailey' who had taken over her and was looking at all her accounts that she was supposed to be dealing with.
At present this lady is still looking into my complaint. I just wanted to inform any other family that is trying to get their monies refunded by this company to go to their Credit Card Company, photo copy all relevant confirmation letters from them with a letter of complaint and ask them to investigate it for you (there is no cst involved at all) Then your Credit Card Company will return the charge to their merchant bank in the USA. To do this you need to have the Transaction details to send to your credit card company, the date it was taken, the card no, the amount and on your statement send them the transaction number - Tropical Grand Vacation are called 'City Link' and get your bank to refund the monies back onto your credit card.
I have just heard from my credit card company that they have managed to refund my monies and they have now been credited to my card. This has taken 7 months of 'heartache'. So if this situation happens to any other families, just go straight to your credit card company with all the relevant transaction details as it is so much quicker than waiting for Tropical Grand Vacations to do it for you!!!. My Credit Card Company only took about 2 weeks to complete the matter for me!!! regarding this company being involved in 'scamming', I really do not know, I am just so thrilled to get my refund back!!!

I am based in England. I received a telephone call from TGV instructing in me that I had won a free holiday. On further investigation it would seem it was not free at all. You had to pay £499 for a family of four but they insisted it was all luxery and retailed at £3099. This did seem like a good offer. On further questioning they said I had "won" this holiday because I was an owner of a Visa Card. When I checked with the visa card company they said they do not give out this information to anyone. Sadly I did give them my credit card details to the value of £249 and have not had any documentation through regarding this holiday. They said it would take 14 - 16 days for this to arrive and I would have to sign for it etc. It all seemed fairly plausable at the time. Please do not fall for this. It appears a lot of people have lost money. Generally if it sounds too good to be true it is! Am am in the process of getting my money back and will let you know if I am successful.

Tropical Grand Vacations phoned me out of the blue on 22nd September 2008 offering me a holiday in Florida at four locations for £498 valid for up to four people. It was not until I received documents from them on 6th October that I realised that the holiday was for accommodation only. On 13th and 17th October I advised Tropical Grand Vacations by e.mailthat I wish to cancel the holiday. I also wrote on the 17th October returning the dcouments unsigned. I also telephoned on 25th October as I had not heard from them. I was informed I could not cancell as 30 days had elapsed.This is not so. Their terms and conditions states that cancellation can be made within 30 days from date of purchase or receipt of the vacation certificate whichever occurs the later. I was not aware any money had been taken from my account until I received my monthly ststement on 15th October. I have asked for my money £498 to be returned to me but to date 25th December have had no response. Tropical Grand Vacations have breeched the contract and mislead me regarding the sale of the holiday.

I was rang by this compant selling travel packages. When I hung up I googled them and was made aware of the potential scam. I then rang my financial institution to stop payment but it already had gone through. After contacting Tropical Vacations I was told to wait for the package to arrive which I then sent back and have still not received a refund. The original point of contact was on the 14th June. They do not answer e-mails or the phone. I have exhausted lots of avenues with no luck!!