Classic Escapes
Reviews and Complaints

In August 2017 my wife and I were approached in Cairns shopping Mall and offered to chance to win a holiday through a scratch and win card. We scratched a card each and I won a week holiday on the condition that I pay a $50 deposit and attend a 1 hour presentation. I paid the $50 and booked a presentation for that evening.

Before attending I checked online and saw a) that this company was a timeshare marketing business b) That the presentation would be a high pressure sales exercise.

I attended with my wife and received the $50 refund. What followed was 1.5 hours of high pressure sales presentation, at the end of which I declined the opportunity to spend $9, 800 to join and requested the Holiday Voucher. They then offered an alternative; I had already qualified for the 1 week holiday to be selected from a list of resorts (subject to paying $100 booking fee), now I was offered for only $2, 800 a) 1 week holidays to be chosen from a select list of resorts, plus b) another 1 week holidays to be chosen from a select list of resorts, plus c) the option to extend a holiday stay an additional week, plus d) a "buy 1 get 1 free" on a ship cruise to be selected. The first person would pay a full fare including Cruise ship port charges and government taxes and the second person only paid Cruise ship port charges and government taxes.

There was a timeframe given that the holidays had to be taken within 3 years and the cruise had to be booked within a certain time-frame.

That seemed good value for money - essentially 4 weeks holiday for $100+$2800 = ~ $100/night twin share in a minimum 3 start resort plus in addition (and this was a clincher to the deal) a 2 for 1 cruise ship holiday, so we bought in and paid the amount on credit card.

Since then I have booked the holiday that I have won and paid the $100 booking fee, and booked the first of the holiday resorts to be run sequentially. I searched online for the reviews of the resorts I have chosen, and the bulk of reviews were very positive. So far so good.

I then looked at booking the 2 for 1 cruise (My241Rewards.com.au), the site was easy to use, and I started searching cruises. The first thing I noticed was that the total cost of the cruises was not significantly cheaper (and in several cases was more expensive than deals that I could get through any travel agency or direct from the cruise ship website. I looked at the Terms and Conditions of the My241Rewardss website and it said that apart from Port charges and taxes (and gratuities if applicable) the second person would travel free. Having searched about 10 cruises on average I can say that they take the Cruise line advertised cruise fare per person nearly double it, this becomes the My241Rewards "first person fare", then take a substantial percentage of the advertised cruise fare and call it "Port Charges and Taxes" for the "second person fare".

I note that nowhere on any cruise line or travel agency that I have searched on the web have the Port charges and Government taxes been separated from the cost of the cruise, these are always advertised as Inclusive of such charges. I suspect, that the Port Charges and Taxes figure is made up and not based upon the actual Port Charges and Taxes.

When I queried the My241Rewards consultant and gave details of the cruises which I could get cheaper direct from other travel agencies online for the same cabins, the response was, that they would look in to it as the my241rewards quote on line "should come in with a savings of a few hundred dollars under other cruise online quotes".

So, not the buy one get one free deal advertised.

They then offered that if I would choose a cruise, and another agency was advertising cheaper, they would beat that quote to offer some savings.

Still not the "buy 1 get one free" deal advertised.

I note that these My241Rewards deals have to be substantially paid for up front, so that they get the benefit of interest paid on deposit held in trust, this provides them with additional income.

In summary. The My241Rewards will only provide a small saving compared to online advertised cruise ship fares. The "buy 1, get 1 free" is a scam to hook you in. Since I have paid my deposit, I will choose a cruise and take the minor savings anyway.

Lastly, My241Rewards offers holiday deals including airfares, hotels, shore trips etc. I wouldn't bother, I have done a comparison of several trips and can do all the bookings on line myself cheaper through an online travel agency or substantially cheaper direct to the airline/hotel/cruise ship.

Remedy: My241Rewards "Buy 1 get 1 free" is misleading misrepresentation and should be prevented.

Our client number: 1505169
Approximate date of of joining: 13 July 2014.

Like most of the other complaints on this forum about this company we were "baited" with scratch tickets. Like the others, I won a prize, my husband didn't. We weren't told which prize we'd won - we'd have to go to the presentation to collect it. They told us the "worst" prize was an IPAD. The girl BEGGED us to turn up to the presentation in order to collect our prize. We had to put down $50 as a good will deposit to "show up".

We dutifully turned up to the presentation in Parramatta, Sydney, NSW and this is where they take you through the product they are trying to sell. They showed us all these amazing resort pictures they "have available" - I clearly remember white sandy beaches, palm trees and beach huts. They told us that we would save a lot of money by joining because we could book our holidays as a member and get special prices as low as $199. We now now they never ever showed us the REAL properties at that presentation - we didn't find this out until we gained access to the booking system after we joined as members. They did these calculations on how many weeks holiday we would like to take a year and what we would normally spend per week on a holiday. The outcome was to show us that we would save money by joining their program and it would encourage us to take holidays! We agreed that seemed totally logical!

They put pressure on us during that presentation to purchase a $15, 000 plus lifetime membership. We didn't have access to anywhere near that type of money. We told them we just wanted to collect our prize and leave. We were ushered into a special office in order to "collect" our prize. The head guy behind the table kept us there for 20 mins trying to convince us to join. We held our position - he finally said ok your prize is a holiday voucher, but the catch was we couldn't use it unless we were members. He offered us an extremely discounted membership: approx $3, 000 over 3 years, no interest. Somehow he convinced us this was an absolute bargain... so we took it. We booked our holiday with the voucher and found out the "resort" was a poor quality 3 star. They had sales people come to our door during our holiday to try and sell us more products!

After we gained access to their online booking system, the penny dropped! The so called "discounted" properties looked nothing like the beautiful resort type pictures we were shown. Availability is poor for the "specials". Outside the special offerings the prices look no different to prices as a non-member.

We tried countless times to get out of this program and they told us we couldn't and that it was our lack of knowing how to use the system that was the problem. I am going to take this to Fair Trading. Now knowing we are not deluded - we were duped into buying something that had been misrepresented.

Here we come Classic Escapes with a Fair Trading letter!
Allison & Robb

My husband and I were approached in our local shopping centre by a young woman who asked us if we liked to go on holiday. When we said yes she offered us two scratch cards to see if we would be lucky enough to win one of their "wonderful" prizes. I scratched up 3 star symbols at which point she became very excited and stated that hardly ever happens and I must be really lucky. I had won one of three prizes, but to redeem said prize we had to attend a 90 minute seminar by Classic Escapes telling us all about this wonderful opportunity of holidaying cheaply for the rest of our lives. We were a bit sceptical, especially when she told us we had to pay a $50 deposit to attend this seminar, but that it would be refunded the minute we turned up for our appointment. We allowed ourselves to be talked into this, even though we were beginning to have our reservations. On the appointed day we turned up at Classic Escapes North Parramatta to redeem our money and collect our prize - all obligation free as long as we listened to their 90 minute spiel. We did receive our refund when we arrived and were taken into a large room which was not particularly professional looking - a few tables and chairs with laptops at each, and a lot of staff milling around, and music blaring out in the background. Our consultant was a young man who was very friendly and chummy, and he proceeded to ask us questions about what type of holidays we like, how often we go away etc. I felt we were being treated almost like children, especially when he kept going over the same info time and again. When we got down to the nitty gritty, the bottom line was that to avail ourselves of all the "wonderful opportunities" Classic Escapes could offer us, we would have to part with $15000 that day . We explained we couldn't commit to such a large sum so quickly and would need to go home and think about it, at which point our consultant brought in another person who proceeded to try and talk us into signing up. Every time we declined the price came down and more carrots were thrown in - finally we said we'd had enough and we would like to redeem our prize and leave. At this point we were taken into an office at the back of the room, past some rubbish bins, and another man, we believe the "boss", tried to get us to join by offering us free trial for a couple of years. When we still said no, he almost threw our prize voucher at us and told us we could leave by the back entrance - a cleaner had to unlock the door to let us out. The prize we "won" was a 3 to 7 night holiday in one of their hotels, rather than the $1500 holiday money or Ipad which were also listed as prizes, but had "conditions" apply next to them - only receivable if you sign up with Classic Escapes.

After reading other feedback about this company, we feel we have had a "Lucky Escape"! and we'll steer clear from anything like this in future.

We, My wife and got conned in to joining Classic Escapes, a 7th May 2014, we payout 3000 dollars up front, but so far I can get better standby deals and a lot nicer accommodation then what Classic can do for us, but jest recently they sent me a overdue bill for 211.61 for levies due . I would like my 3000dollars put back in my credit account, and have no more to do with this Rip off group regards Ian Locke

HOW CAN YOU TRUST A COMPANY WHO'S REPRESENTATIVES LIE TO YOUR FACE?

I have had the same experience as most of you with the con about hooking us to see the presentation, however fortunately I cancelled in time during the cooling off period! However people should be alerted to and know what they're getting into...
LIE NUMBER 1 - Wow, you're the first one I have seen that has three winning boxes. The lieing consultant at Rhodes shopping centre.
LIE NUMBER 2 - We scratched the iPAD as the winning prize. Yippee! ANDY PHILLIPS, Senior Business Manager in Parramatta office, looked me straight in the face on Saturday afternoon and said that they would send us the iPad as they were out of stock and they should be getting them in by Thursday.
LIE NUMBER 3 - When chasing the iPad (after subsequently cancelling during the cooling off period), ANDY lied again saying that he had told us that the iPads were only available to those who had joined and I could have a vacation voucher instead because we had cancelled.
LIE NUMBER 4 - When I received a completely unsolicited voucher to attend another presentation and have the opportunity to have another holiday if I paid a 'fee' I then asked about the 'GIFT" I had won, I was told by ANDY that this was it. Great, a GIFT that required me to pay a few hundred admin fee which I could probably have accepted, but a condition of the gift to have to sit through another manipulative presentation in order to get my gift. Come On. This was the last resort.
LIE NUMBER 5 - After objecting and being forwarded to their Resolutions Officer, I was assured that they would get back to me within a couple of weeks.
LIE NUMBER 6 - After waiting over two months hoping I would go away, I followed up with an email giving one week notice before She then offered to waive the $199 booking fee and requirement to attend the second presentation. Of course she followed the party line and after a somewhat heated discussion she chose the easy way out of the conflict. Just slam down the phone...

Probably missed a few along the way, but I'm sure you get the just of it. I know I am really pleased that I saw the error of my ways and got out with only a wasted afternoon and extreme high blood pressure.

Be warned!

Last year we went to a presentation with Classic Escapes. After joining into another one of these companies and not being able to get accommodation when we wanted it, we had both decided not to be conned again. But, after going through the presentation, we told them that we had already been conned and were not interested in it, they then informed us that we could transfer our points from the other company into this one and use our points that way. I repeatedly asked them 'Are you sure we can transfer our points across?'.
'Yes' was the answer and he called over his manager to show us how easy it was. He told me all I had to do was insert my membership number with the amount of points I had and they would transfer them to points in Classic Escapes. I kept asking 'Are you sure you can do this?' 'Oh, yes' was the reply. I must have asked about 4 of their repesentatives the same question and each answered the same 'YES'.
I still believe most people are honest. Boy did I learn after this.
We joined up, we got conned again.
When we went to book a holiday, we were told we had to transfer our points across. Then on getting onto my other company, I was informed that they did not transfer their points to any other company. We then got onto the man who sold us Classic Escapes and he told us he would look into it. Needless to say, why would he when he already knew that they wouldn't! I then wrote a letter to Classic Escapes PR and told them I was not happy about being lied to over and over and they informed me that my other company had just stopped letting them transfer the points across. Another LIE. I have just found out that my other company has NEVER let anyone transfer their points out. LIES, LIES, LIES. That is all you hear from them.
If I could sell my membership and get out I would but how do I try to sell something I do not trust in.
Classic Escapes are currently in Cairns again and I feel like going to their presentation and telling people all about them. Maybe I should put an advert in the paper!

We attended a presentation by this company after being presented with a scratch and win card at the Sydney airport. We also were asked to pay $50.00 which we were refunded at the beginning of our appointment. We sat through the lengthy presentation and were interested but very undecided as we were not sure if we could afford the ongoing expense of repayments over a long period of time. After much discussion and to cut a very long story short we were offered several alternative packages which included reducing the deposit, extending the length of package etc, we were told if we signed up and were not happy we had a seven day cooling off period in which we could change our mind and get a full refund of our deposit ($300) on returning the kit we were issued along with the cooling off statement. We signed up and I took the kit home for a read and had a look at their site online. We then decided it was not for us and that we couldn't afford the ongoing costs. I completed the cooling off form and my husband returned the kit in its original condition on the morning of the seventh day. The receptionist checked the kit in front of my husband and said that there would be no worries and that our deposit would be refunded that same afternoon. However, it was not refunded and has not been refunded. We originally signed up on the 25th January this year and returned the kit and cooling statement on the 1st February. It is now 6 weeks later and my husband has rung the office manager - Drew, several times. On each occasion he has said he would check up on it and get back to him. On each occasion my husband did not get any return call and we are still without the refund and do not know what is going on. I have drafted a letter to the ombudsman to make an official complaint. Overall everyone was so attentive and promised help, support and follow up until we had changed our minds. Now we cannot get any answers. I have copies of all my paperwork and will follow this through as I feel we were lied to and duped into joining up by telling us about the cooling off period.

We were offered free wireless as part of their service.
They failed to deliver that service which meant 3 trips across Paris to the interhome office to ask for it to be resolved and also multiple trips to find free wireless internet so I could continue to run my small business.
The Situation was not rectified- even when a complaint was made to them when back in Australia.

Nothing was done and our version of event was questioned as being untrue

Andrew