Castaways vacation club Complaint - Complaint

Posted by Hugh_Jorgen on 2006-02-22:

Do you think you could come up with even one example of how they did you wrong? I Googled them and it appears they specialize in "clothing optional" vacations. Did they promise you you could get naked and once you got there you had to stay dressed? C'mon, share with us!

Posted by ejack053824 on 2006-02-22:

Basher belongs to this prestigous club!

Posted by 2latesmart on 2006-04-24:

I just returned from a sales meeting for castaways vacation club. No mention was made as to the nude nature of the club. I then went on the internet and saw the descriptions you saw. Yikes. I think I want my money back! Could there be two clubs with the same name?

Posted by hankie on 2006-09-27:

I would like to clear up some confusion about Castaways Vacations Club. It seems that some of our customers are confusing us with another company called "Castaways Travel". Castaways Vacation Club is located in Austin, TX and "Castaways Travel" is located in Spring, Tx. They are in no way related to one another. Castaways Vacation Club specializes in "members only" travel discounts. Encompassing all facettes of travel especially discount condos, rebates on cruises, resort stays and lowest available airfare with no ticketing fees. Castaways Vacation Club serves the vacation family and group travel market who must be members of the club. Memberships are sold by distributors throughout the country. Castaways Vacation Club neither endorses nor approves any sales practices of its distributors. If we find, however, that a distributor does not follow the letter of the law, then we will cancel their contract. Castaways Travel is apparently a clothing optional/swingers group that specializes in catering to that segment of the market place. We want to make it clear that there is no connection or affiliation between our companies and we appreciate this matter being brought to our attention. To clarify this, Castaways Vacation Club may be reached at info@castawaysvc.com or members may go to our website at www.castawaysvc.com or call 866-729-5541. To verify you may also wish to contact Castaways Travel (the nude travel company) at 800-470-2020. Remember, if a customer mistakenly types in "Castaways Travel" in their search engine they will get the nudist travel site.

Posted by mewmmw on 2006-10-03:

We recently attened a sales presentation by a company called Beachcombers in Frisco, TX. Turns out they're a distributor for Castaways Vacations Club in Austin. After getting worn down during a high-pressure sales pitch, we signed a contract with them. During the presentation I asked about a 72 hour cancellation policy to which they replied, we don't really have to do that, it's just our company policy to do. When we were reviewing all their paperwork, my wife was given a contract to review while I was given a worksheet w/ some related figures that if combined would have led us not to sign anything. Turns out that Beachcombers wants to retain a large amount of your money if you decide to join and cancel later. (About $800 in our case) My understanding is that the consumer should have a 72 hour cooling off period to cancel with a full refund. We're currently disputing the charges w/ the credit card company based on deceptive practices by Beachcombers. If they treat you this poorly before they even have your money, I'd stay far away from this company. I also found a link that indicates they're under investigation by the FTC at: http://www.traveltrade.com/headline_news.jsp?articleID=7432

Posted by kattie on 2006-10-05:

I would like to add to what mewmmw posted on 10/03/06. Castaway Vacation Club is the BIGGEST ripoff, and it gives reputable Vacation Clubs a bad name. The most interesting FACT is that William (Bill) Bailey ...(look up his name with vacation club on google) is the true owner of Castaways. His live-in- girlfriend Christy Spensberger is listed as the owner.Bill Bailey can't use his name, since he is a known crook in the industry. It will be very interesting reading. BUYER BEWARE OF CASTAWAY VACATION CLUB. There is an investigation on Bill Bailey and Castaways Vacation Club. If you purchased and realized you made the biggest mistake and cancelled within your 3 day recission and they kept 15% of your sales price Contact your credit card (you have 1 year to dispute) and CONTACT your local BBB and Attorney General!!!!! They make so much money even when you cancel. These two are the same crooks that owns Funseekers Inc, in Litchfield, Il, and that owned Bailey & Ass, the list goes on. Look up the companies in the BBB online at www.bbb.org, and you will be so amazed on how these two are NOT IN JAIL.

Posted by kattie on 2006-10-05:

I would also like to mention, Castaways Vacation Club, Bill Bailey keeps the first years dues, processing fees, restocking fees.... if you cancel,not the sales people at Beachcombers. LETS ALL STAND UP AND REPORT CASTAWAYS!!!! GO TO RIPPOFF.COM also, and report them. That site is very powerful.

Posted by kattie on 2006-10-05:

typo error.... The site to report Castaways Vacation Club that is very powerful is...... www.ripoffreport.com

Posted by ocdrift on 2006-10-12:

Hey,"kattie", if what Molly H says is true did you know what your telemarketers were doing? How can a business owner not know whats going on in his own business? Did you know exactly what you were promoting, like a good telemarketing company (salesman) does? Why would anyone agree to promote anything for anybody under a contract if you don't get any benefit from it? (Did I see a reference to "partner" in that post somewhere?) So many questions. And just for the record, a 72 hour cancel option applies only to certain selling situations in the U.S. according to the Feds, but "Do Not Call" is uncompromising.

Posted by dawson on 2006-10-12:

I read everything before I put my signature on it. I'm on the Do Not Call list. If this RGH company calls me they'd better have all of their ducks in a row.

Posted by kattie on 2006-10-13:

BY THE WAY.... My real name is Katherine and my nickname is Kattie, you idiots. You must be Christy or Bill, and just trying to shift my attention to the Hallecks. Well now I have more names to add to my suit. I couldn't find a link between the Hallecks and Bailey. I did check with the BBB and they show nothing on RGH. My suit is with Castaways and Beachcombers. All I found was the link between Christy and Bill at the BBB with these companies. Again, thank you for the names, I will do more research!! KATTIE

Posted by kattie on 2006-10-13:

Molly H, Where did you find that info, and what is RGH's number?

Posted by ocdrift on 2006-10-13:

a question for kattie. Where did you find names on the Castaways & Beachcombers BBB reports? I just checked both companies on the BBB myself. I can't find any names references anywhere on either companys' report. I can't find any of the info you have given here that you say you got from the BBB sites?

Posted by ocdrift on 2006-10-13:

Just so's I won't be referred to as "idiot", I did find Castaways and Beachcombers on BBB, just not the detail you say you did regarding ownership and "such".
On a totally different note and please don't take offense -This is a national posting site. You should make sure your research is accurate before you post and show a little class with your name-calling if you want others to be sympathetic towards you. You get more flies with honey.

Posted by kattie on 2006-10-13:

First off I must say I should have done my research before I signed a contract. This is a lesson learned(the hard way). This is a short version of my findings.. When I put in Castaways Vacation Club on the internet a site "ripoffreport" came up. From Mary in Fl I got all the names of the companies. From the BBB under Funseekers Vacations were the names *Mary had said. On the BBB report stated they even try to disclaim a connection and tried to sue the BBB and lost. I look up their names... Alot of misrep and lawsuits on Bill Bailey and his companies. Also in my search of Castaways and Beachcomber I found a posting for employment for Castaways in resorttrade. I look up the email mrktgo1@yahoo and a Phoenix Inc. came up. shows same address as Beachcombers. Also the email show a posting on Get up &Go. It was from Bill Bailey, Carlinville Il. I look up also the address in Carlinville Il, a site usmma admission field showed the address and again Bill Bailey's name. The BBB says there is an investigation. My suggestion is to call them yourself, and they will tell you. I do have an attorney, thank god he is a relative!!!! He has help put all the pieces together. Hopefully I can put this bad experience behind me. Anyway, I posted my finding to make other consumers aware. Now, I will leave it in the hands of my attorney. This is my last posting since this is very time consuming, and my anger of feeling rip-off has calmed down. I hope I have helped. Thank you, Kattie

Posted by kattie on 2006-10-14:

Btw...Forgot to mention... with the address of Bill Bailey and Beachcomber being the same...18686 country club, carlinville...That shows you the connection to Beachcomber and Bailey on the internet. The address is a private residence, not an office.. With every thing I found, I gave to my attorney, from there, he has found more links, and proof. All I wanted was to get a full refund. Now the rest is in his hands,and the law. Thank you and god bless.( This is my last posting on this matter) Kattie

Posted by Cinmont on 2006-10-14:

Kattie, just want to say BRAVO!!! If that was the short version for your research, I feel sorry for the companies. You must have done detective work before.I would never have thought to look up an email address to find postings. I did see the address for Beachcomber Vacation and Bill Bailey being the same on msn. How can they explain that? The BBB did have alot of info on Funseekers, and the aka companies. A lawsuit for 975k. Hope you get your money back. Good Luck!!! I am still confused in one issue. What reason did they give mewmmw and Kattie for charging for a re-stocking fee. How can you re stock a vacation, or is it another scam to get money?

Posted by dawson on 2006-10-16:

Do a search for BBB on RipOffReport if you have so much faith in the BBB AND RipOFFReport. RipOffReport is a stand up site and has oodles of posts on the BBB that even mention "racketeering" in more than one. I have my doubts about the accuracy of BBB info MOST of the time. Would rather call AG than BBB to get info on a company.

Posted by dawson on 2006-10-16:

Eye-opener web address for BBB on Ripoffreport http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff1343.htm

Posted by Leslie M on 2006-10-24:

My parents were ripped- off by this company. Yes, they are NAIVE,honest,and hard working folks. I guess that is what this company targets. Not only is the BBB working on this, but the Attorney General is building a case against Christy Spensberger and William Bailey. I hope not only will my parents get their money back, but they will help put a stop to this scam.

Posted by nickle026 on 2007-02-28:

This company is now in Texas ripping off senior citizens using the same high-pressue sales tactics in a Spring, Tx based office.

Posted by globetrekker on 2007-05-17:

Look for yourself and decide.
Castaways Temp password

DS-temp
2002
(case sensitive)

Posted by txgal1970 on 2007-06-13:

I have plenty examples. We joined 9 months ago. STAY AWAY THIS IS A SCAM. We have tried to book 15 trips through them, all came back HIGHER price than Orbitz and Travelocity. We get the run around all the time when we complain. Service stinks as well. It takes 5-7 days for the so called "discount agent" to get back with you. Adrian Miller was our salesperson, now he is the president according to a post he made on a rebuttal. His cell phone if anyone is interested is 817-965-0109. This is a scam, take it from 2 college educated people. We got suckered in and 4K later regret the heck out of it.

Posted by txgal1970 on 2007-06-13:

Forgot to add we have secured a lawyer and if anyone is interested in joining our class action lawsuit. Please let me know. I have contacted the Attorney General and BBB as well.

Posted by globetrekker on 2007-07-05:

TXGAL
I am interested in the class action suit. Can you give me your email. I'm in Euless.

Posted by tate on 2007-07-06:

Wow! I don't know what these 3 people who are complaining so much on here are talking about. My wife and I bought this membership and haven't had any problems with it. Where else can you rent a condo for a week for $299 for the entire week. We just went to Wisconsin Dells (which is about $300 a night at any decent hotel or resort during this time of year) and paid $299 for an entire week. I just saved over $1000 on my first trip. I guess you can't please everyone though. We have our own business, and after reading the few people on here who seem to be posting the same complaints, I feel very sorry for Castaways having to deal with these cronic complainers. Everyone keeps saying to look up the BBB, and all these other sites. Well if you know anything about the BBB or these other sites, you would know that you can look up any company that is big like castaways and find complaints, simply because some people are just mad at the world, and you can't make them happy. Believe me it's the samething in my business. The important thing is how many are resolved or administratively closed. I just looked and all of castaways have been resolved or closed in their favor, that's a pretty good sign to me. Keep up the good work Castaways, and forget about these people on here who have nothing better to do.

Posted by Spartan 27 on 2007-10-25:

Our family has been on two trips that were booked by Castaways and not only did we save money, we had excellent customer service! OK, maybe some of you had a bad experience with this company, but am I to believe you tried to book 15 trips with them and could not save money on any of them? I don't buy it.
I was a little concerned when I first read some negative posts on this company, but our salesman encouraged us to call Castaways immediately to compare their prices with what we could book on our own to Maui. We could not come close to what they quoted us.
The lesson, if you purchase this product check them out first hand to see for yourself if they are for real. If it's not for you fine, get rid of it. But don't prevent your family from taking some great vacations and saving money because someone with some time on their hands has an axe to grind with this company.

Posted by pjluvsjc on 2007-10-27:

Spartan 27 and Tate - I'm really interested in hearing more of your stories. We just went today, but backed out after some research. Can you really get the deals they mention - like a 9-night balcony cruise to the Caribbean for $475 per person? Or round-trip airfare and condo to Hawaii for $571 per person? We'd love to hear more. Thanks.

Posted by Spartan 27 on 2007-10-31:

We had airfare and stayed in a nice hotel for a week in
Maui for $689 a person. I've found some locations and times of year will save you more with Castaways than others. But including trips we were quoted prices on that we didn't take it's been a great investment. The membership will pay for itself within the first few trips.
Hope this helps.

Posted by Spartan 27 on 2007-10-31:

Posted by deke on 2007-11-10:

I am wondering if anyone tried to cancel their membership within the (3) business day period which is stated in the contract? If so, how did the process go for you? Was there any problem getting your money back? I would say if anyone found them breaching their contract that would be a great adition to any lawsuit as well as crucial info. for Attorney General and BBB offices to prsecute.

Posted by Fort Worth Stan on 2008-01-11:

I too am confused by this comment, my wife and I have been a member with this club in Dallas for almost three years and this is simply not true..

Posted by L A on 2008-01-24:

Wow Spartan, I found a Maui trip at Haiku Plantation Inn with air fare and three day car rental for $707 on travelocity and I won't be stuck paying 100's in annual fees. Try reading Ripoff report they have lots of unhappy would be travelers there too.

Posted by Ollie1217 on 2008-03-24:

Hi I agree that Castaways is a total rip off. I have never found a better deal than hotwire or travelocity. I would like to join a class action suit against them if one exists. When we joined we were told that we only got charged a membership due if we purchased a trip through them. I have never bought anything from them and I have been charged the membership dues the last two years this is BS. Can anyone help.

Jeff

Posted by robert1 on 2008-05-28:

Can someone recommend a good lawyer. I bought my membership for $2,200 in Dallas, Texas. Adrian Miller sold my membership to me. I have been a member since May 2007. I've made countless travel requests, only to find better prices online. As a result, I have never used Castaways.

I have been requesting a refund, but I continue to get the runaround. I think it's time for a lawyer.

Has anyone had success in suing Castaways???

Posted by NotNow on 2009-01-03:

Vacation club and timeshare use is hard for most to understand. Keep this in mind , if your a peak season traveler your probably not going to save very much money or get good deals no matter who you use. The vacation clubs and timeshare work best in offseason or at best the fringe of peak high demand seasons. If you believe or think your going to get a deal at Disney the week of christmas your going to be disappointed. Vacation clubs and timeshare work great if you really don't care when and where you go. They work great for the adventurer and people that like to see new places and really don't care when they go. If the company you work for closes the week ot the 4th then your in trouble. The only way around that is to purchase a fixed week of timeshare at the exact location you want to go. By doing so you want be disappointed. If you buy a off season week and think your going to trade or exchange for a high demand week your going to be a sad person ,if you think your vacation club can save you thousands it aint going to happen either. Be reasonable and honest with yourself. Go to one of the online services , cheaptickets.com or your favorite and try to book something in Aspen in Dec. or Myrtle Beach on the 4th , you will see what I mean.

Posted by NotNow on 2010-08-30:

I have traced it all back to a guy named William H. Bailey who lives at 18686 Country Club Lane, Carlinville, IL 62626. His personal travel related businesses were shut down fairly recently after a BBB lawsuit against him but this kingpin keeps it going by recruiting other people to register distributor businesses to sell his travel club membership. The membership club has gone by many names. One of which is Funseekers Vacations. It is still a currently registered business in IL that was originally incorporated in DE but get this, it is registered to Bill Bailey's live-in girlfriend Christy Spensberger! Castaways Vacation Club is another name but I did not find the state of incorporation or registration. Same thing with the most recently contrived name they use which is SeaLand Travel. These are all one and the same mediocre travel service that does not live up to the claims that are made at the distributor presentations. Each have different toll free numbers but they all go to the same place. Bill still advertises looking for people who want to start a business to sell Castaways Vacation Club memberships.

This particular distributor, Royal Palm Travel in Dallas, is run by Adrian Miller who is just 27 years old but has learned the game well from Bill Bailey. Adrian lives at 1800 Hunters Ridge Dr. in Grapevine, TX. His cell phone number is 817-965-0109 but you won't get anywhere trying to reason with him. He is a slick con artist who will put on the hard sell again and try to persuade you that you are wrong about their con. Then he won't take your calls anymore if you don't fall for it again. It looks like he started a few years ago when he took over Beachcomber Vacations of Florida from Bill Bailey and it was then moved to Adrian’s homestate of Texas. He ran it as Beachcombers for a while then later renamed it to Phoenix Travel (or Phoenix Vacations). Now it is Royal Palm Travel. Actually the legally registered business name is Royal Palms Travel, Inc but in practice they don't put the "s" on the end of "palm" (part of the scam to create confusion).

They regularly create different business names in an apparent attempt to keep reinventing themselves so they can keep the scam going by disassociating themselves with the old businesses after they build up too many complaints. Most times the only physical address you will have is the office where they get people in to make the presentations but they won’t even receive mail there. It is just an office with a short term lease. They regularly create new business names and change office locations. For correspondence they hide behind mail drops at places like UPS Stores. They create just enough legitimacy to collect credit card payments and the credit card companies will take their side when you claim they have committed fraud against you. The contract you sign also firms up their position. It does not matter to the credit card company that the names of the businesses are fictitious and the addresses just go to mail drops. The credit card company may call the business and ask about it but they will believe their lies about the fictitious name and address maybe being a "sister company" or something to the legally registered name that was used to charge the credit card transaction. This is also very clever because the complaints build up against fictitiously named businesses and the real business name is kept clean. The fictitious names are often based on subtle changes to their legally registered name. Most of the time they will add or remove an "s" in the name or they change a word like use "travel" instead of "vacations". This creates confusion and keeping people confused is all part of the scam. They also make it very difficult to figure out who is really running the business and where it is physically located.

There is also another distributor that I found in Austin, TX who is selling the same club membership. This is Bon Voyage Travel and is run by Ron Schleppegrell who I found has a questionable history in the travel industry.

Posted by pss on 2010-10-01:

I worked for this Bill Bailey back in the 90's he is a bottom feeder and has taken many people for alot of money. He used to be the owner of Honey Bend Resort in Litchfield Il. He also had alot of other companies. He was taken down and then went right back out there and is doing it again...he needs to be punished for all the money he has taken from all you people! There is a class action lawsuit that you can read on line using mail boxes in differant states and saying there is an auctual address there then the mail gets sent to Litchfield. It is worth anyone that bought to go read the lawsuit. Just do a google of christy spencberger should be the first one up. will be in pdf format because it is an auctual court document.

Posted by pss on 2010-10-01:

http://www.doj.state.wi.us/news/files/Complaint021910_2.pdf

Here's the court document for anyone that lives in WI. And anyone else that got scammed! Oh and also it says that you don't have to be a member to get the same thing that people paid good money to get a discount.

Posted by DebtorBasher on 2010-10-01:

That's enough out of you, EJACK! Yeah, you thought you can get away with a comment like that and I'd never know about it? Wellllll...here it is, 4 years and 7 months later and you reallllllllllllllly thought you got away with it, huh? *Smacks Ejack up the side of his head*

Posted by ejack053824 on 2010-10-01:

Good investigative work there Basher! What took you so long?! Glad to see your on the ball over there...what happened....you hibernate in 2006? *Smacks Basher in the back of the head...like Jethro Gibbs from NCIS does*

Posted by DebtorBasher on 2010-10-01:

BASHER ABUSE!
BASHER ABUSE!

Posted by ejack053824 on 2010-10-01:

You haven't seen abuse yet there twinkletoes! LOL!

Posted by DebtorBasher on 2010-10-01:

Come on over and teach me a thing or two...IF you think you can handle it.

Posted by ejack053824 on 2010-10-01:

You couldn't handle my wrath if I ever got serious. Now...sit there and behave yourself!

Posted by DebtorBasher on 2010-10-01:

Ejack.......

Posted by ejack053824 on 2010-10-01:

That's my name...don't wear it out!

Posted by DebtorBasher on 2010-10-01:

I love you, Ejack! *Batting my eyelashes at Ejack*

Posted by ejack053824 on 2010-10-01:

*smacks Basher on the arse*

Posted by DebtorBasher on 2010-10-01:

I knew you loved me too! :)

Posted by ejack053824 on 2010-10-01:

LOL! :)

Posted by Short 8K on 2012-01-09:

My husband and I were also preasured by the high sales pitch, we had just gratuated from college and got married, we were trying to make a good living and make good investment decisions (we should have done more research and there is no one else to blame but us). We were told this was a one time opportunity and ended up paying 8K on two credit cards...that is correct on credit cards, not a good investment at all specially when we didn't have the money. The idea was that it was going to pay itself after booking trips with our families...nah, we never even got to use it. We were planning on our honeymoon trip and got a better deal through an all inclusive resort. Don't let them fool you, it is a scam!!