Originally Posted by
DealsRock
javabytes -
I have two memberships to Global Discovery Vacations which I believe is a part of the Global Vacations Network. The prices you listed sound the same or similar.
You will find naysayers. You may also find people, like myself, who are able to use the membership advantageously.
I have stayed in Oahu, Maui, Molokai, Kauai, Colorado, Banff, Bermuda, and other locations using GDV. For a family, the separate bedroom(s) and kitchen are preferable to a hotel room, for less than a price of a hotel room.
But, you need to be very flexible in location & timeframe and patient with the booking process. Don't expect to travel in peak time periods with this. Be careful with the seasons as well.
I never even got that far.
Red flag #1: When all four of my family members who attended a ski show each got a call from the same person at the local Global Vacations Network office, and each were told they had won a free vacation. As in "won", done deal, already in the bag. And the representative made it sound as though only one ticket was pulled.
Red flag #2: Three of the above people (after giving some basic demographic information), received calls later telling them that they hadn't, in fact, won anything yet, and that they were finalists in a drawing for some other prize. They were to hear back within 2-3 days if they had won anything. And of course, none of them ever heard anything back, and could ever get a hold of anyone at the GVN office again.
Red flag #3: The remaining person, who happened to be the oldest and with the greatest income (not sure if the income was divulged to GVN), continued to be told they had won a prize, but had to come into the office (1.5 hours away) and sign up for all kinds of things, meet the office staff, see a presentation, etc. to claim the prize. When asking why this needed to be done if they had already won, and why the certificate couldn't just be mailed, GVN had no good answer. That conversation ended, and just like in the other cases, GVN was never heard from again nor reachable by phone during business hours.
Needless to say, the communicating family members smelled a rat way back at #1. 4 related people don't each get a "we actually pulled your ticket in the drawing!" without something fishy going on. And sure enough, just like it sounded, it was too good to be true. Fortunately, everybody was aware of what was going on and never had any chance of getting baited, but I can't help but wonder about individuals who might not have had the advantage of seeing what we saw.