Wholesale Escapes

Scam! I did not buy into their scheme but others have and have lost their money. Beware! Vacation Inspirations… Same company.
My wife and I were pitched this great deal that we could sit and listen to a vacation presentation, in exchange for vouchers to use on a tour and eating out, and if we were interested at the end then we could raise our hand. If not then we could just walk out. However, it was not that easy.
Great presentation… High entry price to join a vacation club. And at the end of the presentation we were 1 on 1 with a sales lady who would not take no for an answer. We literally had to walk away with her still talking. She said things like, «surely you like to vacation», «are you telling me you don’t have any extra money? How will you eat tonight?», and «so you came to Charleston but don’t have money to have fun here».
We were appalled at the needy tactics they used to try to get us to book. She even offered to let us put $ 100 down on the fee and pay the rest each month. The total entry fee was $ 7000. Seriously? Who can afford a $ 400 condo week when you fork out $ 7000 for a membership!
The only good thing was that we DID get two tickets (voucher) for the harbor tour and $ 100 to eat out with. It cost me about 2 hours of my time and a little frustration but saved us $ 140 on our vacation because we were going to do this tour anyway and we were going to eat. Lol.
Summary:
BEWARE. Do not buy into their scheme. Just pick out your vouchers and restaurant, I recommend Charleston Grill, Go sit through the meeting, and when it is over walk downstairs and get your envelope with your vouchers and check for $ 100 in it. Again, do not buy the vacation package. Everyone has had problems with this company and I believe the only positive comments are from employees.

BEWARE, when you file a complaint with any SC agency, Wholesale Escapes sends their standard, generic response denying any responsibility in the lies they spew and the fraud they commit! Worse, these agencies accept their «no rescission» response and close your case. Still hoping credit card company disputes get justice. Come on people, let’s keep at these scammers and let others know to STAY AWAY! Keep sending complaints and updates.

We were visiting downtown Charleston one morning and were stopped by a young, good looking guy (Marc) on the sidewalk of Market St. and he gave us some coupons for some touristy locations around the city. He then started asking us what we had planned to do in Charleston during our visit. He whipped out a list of attractions and then the speech started. «If you come and see our no pressure presentation, I will include x, y, and z.» We were reluctant, but hey, we like free stuff and he was even offering to give us cash for the stuff we had already booked and paid for as well as an extra dining voucher totaling $ 50. So we agreed to spend (aka waste) 60 minutes of our time. We came back after lunch at our appointment time and, even though had been promised we wouldn’t be alone…“it’s a group thing!”…we were the only couple. Awkward. We get checked in, and meet our «representative.» Her name was Janie. I felt like we were being interrogated from the moment we sat down with her. Finally we go see the slideshow. So Mike was very good at «selling» the program and had a very good presentation. Afterwards, they offer a time for questions… except it wasn’t much of a Q&A session. As soon as we sat back down with Janie she says «So which package are you going to buy?» Obviously, we weren’t going to spend $ 3500-​$ 9000 on a whole sale vacation package… even more so now that it seemed like a total fraud. When telling her we didn’t think that it was for us, she pushed and poked and prodded and asked «well, why not? is it JUST the money???» AHHH… this woman! We also were hesitant because we like to research these things before committing. Janie said «well, we can do that in 5 minutes, let me get the laptop, we have an A+ BBB rating.» These people are the pushiest and most aggressive «representatives!!!» They preach that it is a no pressure tactic and they will not push you to do anything. That is the complete opposite of how we felt and I was very uncomfortable from the get go. FINALLY, we got our free vouchers and $ 156 later we ran outta there like crazy. NEVER AGAIN.

See my previous posting. Contact me for more information on wholesale escapes aka 1^st choice sales and marketing aka other names. These people need to be stopped.

Nice staff… Good travel deals through exclusive membership web access.

My experience with Mike at the Tourist information booth was very good. I was looking for a recommendation of where to eat in town and he suggested High Cotton and S.N.O.B which were very good. He offered my a free soda and showed me many other activities in town. Carolina Polo and Cotton Co will be taking my fiancée and I around for a tour of the town.

Run don’t walk is RIGHT. Shame on this company for trying to take advvantage of people. It should be a crime and they should be run out of Charlestonl. It is a scam. Don’t fall for it. BTW we got them down to $ 3,000 before we walked out. I wanted to research them online (something they tried hard to avoid) before I bought. I’m glad I did. My mom was ready to sign up — I’m so glad we waited. This would have been a total waste of money and ruined a good vacation too.

Thank God we ran. At first the deal was 10k then by the end of two sales reps donging us it was down to 1k for the same thing? Where there is smoke there is fire folks. I did enjoy the free carriage ride but due to the 2 worthless hours at the presentation we had no time for the cruise which other reviewers say the cruise company will not honor anyway.

Again, I would give it O stars if one existed. I want to respond to «Randy» a representative from Wholesale Escapes. Suddenly they have a representative. I called their office 12 – 15 times over the first two weeks and no one called me back. Check the BBB listing of D– and 49 complaints to a company over 1 year under its current name. Also, please call the Dept of Consumer Affairs who sided with me and suggested to them that they give my husband and I the «favorable» respond to our request of a refund of $ 7,229.00. for a service that we state was sold under false pretenses. Their response was to send a letter from their «legal representative» that they were not even considering a refund. Randy suggests that I make a reservation and when I «prepare to pay» then I get the magical price. Really?

If you’re on your phone looking up Wholesale Escapes in their office like we were just RUN THE OTHER WAY.
Yes, the free tickets do work at the other locations, so if you want to sit through the presentation then it’s worth it, but then run. Do not buy anything. The reason they want you to sign up right then and there, is so you can’t go home and google the company. The «A+» BBB rating they show, is a lie. Look them up and you’ll find a TON of scam complaints and their actual «D-​» rating. Apparently they won’t refund your money, that website they show you is always down, and it actually won’t save you money.
Just run. RUN NOW.