Anyone heard of Paradise Forever? **UPDATED**

[JJZMgailey]

My parents bought into this travel agency last night & they have until Friday to back out. I'm not sure of all the ins & outs of the program yet & I'm trying to do some research about it on their website.

I was just wondering if any of you DISsers have ever heard of it or know anything about it. It is a program that gives you huge discounts on hotels, B & B's, cruises, etc...but I'm looking for more info than that!

Any help you can offer would be most appreciated!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I have never heard of them, but I find it unsual to buy into a discount program.

It is often extremely difficult for you to make your money back in discounts as your ability to travel will be greatly affected by your income.

At least with time shares, outside of maintenance fees--you have a place to stay for free.

Tried doing a google and the only thing I can find is their website which requires you to be a licensee to view.

I'd be leery of a company that doesn't have any public information to view in order to learn about them.

Did your parents seek them out or respond to a solicitation?

 

[JJZMgailey]

Well, they went to a presentation about them last night. I didn't talk to my mom for a real long time today because she was right in the middle of like a million things. I wish that I knew more about it. We'll talk more about it tomorrow when she has more time but I'm wanting to know more sooner!!!

She said that they bought the 4-week program. I just don't know what it all means! I was able to log into their website with their new codes so I'm trying to figure it all out!

Thanks for helping!

 

[JJZMgailey]

Anyone?

 

[Mickeyistheman]

Be careful that it is not a pyramid scheme!

A friend of mine from Highschool, who moved out to Cali, got in touch with me a few weeks ago because he knew via FB that I have been out of work and wanted to help me out. He had this great oppurtunity for me and it was about a travel agency.......

Long story short when I met up with him, he starts out by saying I am not looking to sell you anything.....yeah okay I've been selling since I was 16.

It was A total pyramid scheme and a total rip off. I am not saying that is what they have but you should NEVER EVER EVER pay for something to be discounted. If its too good to be true THAN IT PROBABLY IS.

Good Luck!

 

[lovetoscrap]

My gut instinct is that it is a total scam. I googled my heart out and found out squat. That is concerning. Why is there no reviews? Why do they have a website that tells you nothing? The only time I have seen sites that give no information is for pyramid (MLM) type scams. The fact that they went to a presentation sounds sketchy. It is all the MO of a MLM.

Travel discounts aren't that easy to come by. You can google card mills to find out about some of the biggest travel business scammers.

 

[JJZMgailey]

OK ~ thank you so much for your replies everyone!

I found out some more information. It is (Paradise Forever) part of Reservation Services International in Ft. Lauderdale. They are accredited with the BBB & have been in business since 1981. Everything about it looks pretty good when check their info out through BBB.

 

[KathyTX]

"Accredited with the BBB" means nothing, other than that they signed up to be a member. This is NO assurance that the company is aboveboard.

A web search on Reservation Services International turns up information that seems to indicate this is a fraudulant operation, that operates under several names using the same "pay big bucks in advance for discount travel later" that never happens...

Google "Reservation Services International scam" for the scoop... definite rip-off.

If your parents cannot afford to lose the money they've paid, they need to act quickly to try to recover it.

 

[Seahunt]

Sorry but I also think it's a scam. I agree with Lovetoscrap, nothing on google is a bad sign to me - like they just changed their name or something.

The name PF wasn't on the online Ripoff Report, but there was another provider there whose complaints mentioned the Reservation Services International name you posted. Like these snippets:

they claim to save you thousands of dollars on hotels , condos , airfare and car rentals. They are associated with Reservation Services International(RSI) you can get better prices yourself on line. They offer savings on airfare , which is a blatant lie. Your receive a small savings on hotels , but if your a AAA member you can recieve the same services at a better discount rate. It takes them up till 15 business days before you are able to access their website, insurring your inability to legally cancel your contract. They give you 3 days to cancel your contract but consumers are not aware of the outragous lies that were feed to them until they are able to use the services which again takes up till 15 business days.

The cost to become a member ranges between 4000.00-8000.00 dollars. Its one big scam.

The company avoids phone calls, repeatedly lies to consumers and acknowledges no wrong doing. They have changed names numerous times and open up in various locations.

and another

.. a SCAM rip off outfit that sells fantastic sounding service for discount or reward priced vacation stays and or travel arrangement in conjuntion with Reservation Services International the name of the company who appears to be thier reservation division but they are totaly unwilling to provide any kind of reservations They do provide you with a bunch of cards to give to your friends and relatives which you can use to help these scam artists rip them of as well....

When you call to make arrangements we were trying to reserve a cruise and after they force you through an hour of electronic voice mail hell

They have an additional arm that is thier collection company and where you have to make payments if you took the financing option Which I did but when we could not get the services requested we advised them we were stopping payments untill such time as we recieved service as advertised whereupon we recieved another call from "Raymond" who tells all kinds of glorious things abut has to confirm with his supervisor never to be heard from again and we have nevr recieved any kind of follow up other than from thier collection company trying to scare you into making more payments

....and no matter what you tell them or write to them they will not Quit but I suppose we should expect that as all Scam artists need to get paid
We hope that this will help warn others off from these outfits

Beg your parents to BE CAREFUL!

 

[icecreamnvanilla22]

Hi all,
I was speaking with friends regarding paradise forever and they sent me to your site as they had read the posts there. My family loves everything Disney so firstly wanted to thank you for you all for the wonderful information contained here! My hubby and I poured thru all the posts last night and found so many great tips and ideas that we'll be a permanent fixture from now on.
I wanted to put my two cents in about paradise forever as we joined several months ago and have had nothing but great service from them and have referred several friends to them who have had similar experiences.
The primary value we've gotten from the program is in their hotel and condo packages which have saved us literally thousands of dollars on vacations my son and his family took to Florida and then when we took the grandkids to California this last summer. We've gotten great deals on rental cars and resturants as well. We haven't saved much on airfare but they were pretty up front about that. We were able to get a fantastic resort in Whistler and my son went to a Lake Chelan resort just a month ago that were absolute steals so we were very happy about both of those as well. We are also former time share owners and find that Paradise Forever's program is a much, much, better deal than any timeshare program we have seen.
Anyway just wanted to share my experiences as sometimes there are good programs out there and we have found this to be on of them.
God bless and happy trails!!!

 

[KAMLEM]

Hi all,
I was speaking with friends regarding paradise forever and they sent me to your site as they had read the posts there. My family loves everything Disney so firstly wanted to thank you for you all for the wonderful information contained here! My hubby and I poured thru all the posts last night and found so many great tips and ideas that we'll be a permanent fixture from now on.
I wanted to put my two cents in about paradise forever as we joined several months ago and have had nothing but great service from them and have referred several friends to them who have had similar experiences.
The primary value we've gotten from the program is in their hotel and condo packages which have saved us literally thousands of dollars on vacations my son and his family took to Florida and then when we took the grandkids to California this last summer. We've gotten great deals on rental cars and resturants as well. We haven't saved much on airfare but they were pretty up front about that. We were able to get a fantastic resort in Whistler and my son went to a Lake Chelan resort just a month ago that were absolute steals so we were very happy about both of those as well. We are also former time share owners and find that Paradise Forever's program is a much, much, better deal than any timeshare program we have seen.
Anyway just wanted to share my experiences as sometimes there are good programs out there and we have found this to be on of them.
God bless and happy trails!!!

The only positive feedback is from this first time poster, seems suspicious to me. Probably part of the scam.

 

[momrek06]

The only positive feedback is from this first time poster, seems suspicious to me. Probably part of the scam.

Very interesting, KAMLEM!!! Hmmmm......


OP, I would be so careful of buying into anything today that you or your M&D do not have allot of info on. It may end up being a very expensive lesson learned.

 

[agnes!]

Hi all,
I was speaking with friends regarding paradise forever and they sent me to your site as they had read the posts there. My family loves everything Disney so firstly wanted to thank you for you all for the wonderful information contained here! My hubby and I poured thru all the posts last night and found so many great tips and ideas that we'll be a permanent fixture from now on.
I wanted to put my two cents in about paradise forever as we joined several months ago and have had nothing but great service from them and have referred several friends to them who have had similar experiences.
The primary value we've gotten from the program is in their hotel and condo packages which have saved us literally thousands of dollars on vacations my son and his family took to Florida and then when we took the grandkids to California this last summer. We've gotten great deals on rental cars and resturants as well. We haven't saved much on airfare but they were pretty up front about that. We were able to get a fantastic resort in Whistler and my son went to a Lake Chelan resort just a month ago that were absolute steals so we were very happy about both of those as well. We are also former time share owners and find that Paradise Forever's program is a much, much, better deal than any timeshare program we have seen.
Anyway just wanted to share my experiences as sometimes there are good programs out there and we have found this to be on of them.
God bless and happy trails!!!

The only positive feedback is from this first time poster, seems suspicious to me. Probably part of the scam.

Wow, one post and only one post and yet...all these ravishingly positive thoughts about Paradise Forever? And in the most run-on sentences too...

I'm inclined to agree with KAMLEM.

agnes!

 

[lovetoscrap]

Since this was bumped (by what appears to be a spammer!)--OP is there an update? Did your parents buy in or were you able to talk them out of it?

 

[muffyn]

The only positive feedback is from this first time poster, seems suspicious to me. Probably part of the scam.

yea interesting too, they ONLY joined several months ago, but yet have saved all this money on TRIPS

seriously who could have had that much travel time in already?

 

[Octoberbride03]

ok. I'll bite. The title says UPDATED....yet I can't seem to find an actual update.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

ok. I'll bite. The title says UPDATED....yet I can't seem to find an actual update.

Post #7 is the most recent update from 10/29/09.

Then it got bumped coincidentally by someone who had heard that this upstanding company was being talked poorly about and so they felt the need to join the DISboards for the sole purpose of being the one source on the entire world wide web who could vouch for the company and sound like a commercial when doing it.

(heck we love DVC, but we don't sound like a Disney commercial if someone asks us about it.)

 

[crazee4mickey]

Wouldn't be at all surprised if it is a scam....sounds too much like one of those pyramid schemes where you got to the "informational meeting" and then are required to "buy into it" so you can save loads of money!

P.S. Travel agent here and I have never heard of it!