Sundance Vacations

Oh yeah they got me good.
They caught me in a moment of weakness and vulnerability AKA at work. I’d just finished bashing my head into my whiteboard as several of my high school students argued that Prince George’s County is a city in Maryland. Right after class ended my phone rang with a shepherd of the devil telling me that I’d just won a free cruise.
Normally I would’ve hung up, but the person reminded me that I signed up at Disney On Ice the previous weekend. She also provided me with a physical address that was right down the street from the Lord and Taylor in Friendship Heights. She even told me the catch: I’d have to pay about $ 180 in taxes since this counts as a gift. It sounded legit.
I realized that I’d been had when I showed up to pick up my voucher and the woman said, «the presentation will begin shortly.» I could’ve walked out then, but I decided to stay for two reasons:
1) I’d never been to a timeshare presentation before and wanted to give my inner Scrooge a sparring partner.
2) They mislead me, and my honor needed to be avenged.
I sat through the presentation and the subsequent one-​on-​one with the sales rep. TWO hours went by and I emerged victorious with a voucher for a «free» cruise. Once I got the details I decided to not use it. You have to pay up front and then select your dates. Imagine having to pay to log on to Expedia and then hoping they have the dates you want available. No thanks.
They win this round. I’ll get you next time, Gadget. Next time!

This place is a classic timeshare scam. They entice you with offers for free vacations, then rip you off with vacation packages that are terrible value and nearly impossible to redeem.

Here is my personal experience and opinion: They got my info through a contest entry, which does not seem very honest to me. Told me I had won a trip. I scheduled a visit. My wife said it was too good to be true, so I canceled the visit. Then they kept calling me every week. Leaving messages. I finally talked to one of them, and they were very aggressive. Glad I did not waste time attending their meeting. They do seem to be offering a real discounted trip that some people take, and have actual products. So they get 2 stars.

Do not go in to their presentation and do not sign up! It is all one big SCAM!!! Noth worth your time!

Went to the DC autoshow and got a call saying I won a vacation. I attended the meeting which was a long and boring sales pitch. The pitch is somewhat convincing when they tell you the prices but you are limited to US destinations only. The upfront cash amount is dumb to payout at once. You can take better vacations using travel websites or a travel agent.
So I got my «free» trip, but had to put down a $ 100 deposit. I did it and it was the longest process because:
1.wait for your deposit to get processed (2weeks of waiting)
2.you pick dates, the most INCONVENIENT DAYS (3weeks of waiting)
3. You get confirmation to reserve your vacation where they tell you the horrible departure times for your three day trip. Aka you really only get one full day there because u depart your city on a red eye flight, get there tired, then have to leave at 7am the next day. Of course if you want to get better flight times you can purchase the $ 699 premium package.
I received my voucher in February and it’s now may so including the busy daily schedule the time and effort to get this «free» trip is not worth it in my eyes. You are better off buying a nice international vacation off grpupon or livingsocial.

I got a call from them right after an event. They told me I won free 3 nights 4 days vacation and $ 25 dinner coupon. I was skeptic but I gave a shot just in case.
I had to cancel the appointment from Monday 20:00 to Tuesday 20:00. It was a pain in the… They told me it’s limited and they did not have this chance next week. I know they have almost every week according to many people’s comments. They called me again and told me they would have a meeting by chance and I could squeeze in. I called them later again to make sure about the free trip and a dinner coupon and parking lot. Then they told me that I could not get the dinner coupon. They changed their words. I wondered they changed rules when I join the meeting.
I was late in a few minutes. There were some families and couples. They seemed to have been to the same event and signed up for some goodies like a new car, coupons, a free trip, and etc… They had cold water and coffee and mint candies. I was starving. I thought they have some snacks like other meetings.
I moved to the room next to the entrance around 20:10. One lady explained about their company and their resort package with a screen and a white board. She finished in 30 minutes. Some children were crying and talking loudly. Nobody could stop them. An old couple left as soon as this meeting started. They should show nicer resort pictures to make me imagine amazing vacations.
The meeting was over and some staffs walked into the room and called names. I moved to the next room with her. A big room with many tables and seats. There is a kid’s room. It has tv and some toys. The staffs gave me 2 pieces of paper. One for my signature to agree this deal and the other for questionnaire. She explained same things I had already listened. It sounds that i have to buy a package first and pay extra every time I book and an annual fee. I told it’s not a good deal and I do not want it. She called a manager and he explained same things and I replied him in a same way. No high pressure. It was about in 10 minutes. That’s great! No cold water and hot coffee here. I was starving…
I moved to a waiting room. Another guy showed up and we moved to his room. He explained about the free trip and gave me a broacher. At the end, he asked me if I wanted to buy their vacation pack without paying the extra booking and annual fees. No thank you.
About 1 hour meeting without high pressure is right. But the dinner coupon is not right. I hope I will make this free trip someday soon. If I make it, I’ll post it here. We will see.

I have successfully managed to cancel my vacation package. What a headache though! I had to contact the attorney general in DC (SUPER helpful) and ultimately ended up settling for getting my money back less $ 350 in «administrative» charges that they kept. Sucks but I decided to walk away with most of my money. I can make $ 350 back faster at work than I would fighting with them so I just decided to move on. If you are stuck with one of these packages and are now realizing you made a mistake, please know you CAN get out of it. And move fast to avoid losing even more cash.

Complete scam. They say you’ve won a vacation cruise etc after you fill out a card at a game (wizards etc) and then they tell you taxes aren’t included. So then you’d have to pay $ 100– $ 185 to cover taxes and fees. Once you pay that your reservation is magically canceled and you don’t get a refund. Ignore their calls and don’t pay any attention to those people handing out cards at basketball games and Disney on Ice.

1. The method of obtaining people’s information is a lie. I filled the form out thinking that it was an entry to win a basketball NOT an entry to give your company my information for vacations.
2. You don’t give your ‘customers’ information to prepare them for the meeting they are going to. This makes me think that you know people are not going to be prepared to drop nearly 3000 for the charter package that you advertise hence you obviously getting more money with the standard package that is offered.
3. The ‘free gift’ is not at one of your owned or leased properties to show a glimpse of your company for a future investment. If you were 100% confident in your product you’d have no qualms about the free gift being at one of the owned/​leased properties.
4. Also if you believed in your product you’d give people more than an hour presentation to decide if they want what you offer. 15,000 to 20,000 dollars is a large investment and should take far longer than an hour presentation to decide on if one would like to spend that money. Think of how long the house buying or car buying or college education choosing process is. When dealing with others monies respect their money and give them time to decide.
5. The employee that I dealt with was not professional in that she showed her disappointment and frustration with us not taking their offer. As a former sales lady I know how important a poker face is when someone does not like your product. Her face, tone of voice, and even her handshake change once we declined.
6. Will update if I do decide to take advantage of the «gift vacation»
Paige K. Slade

I wouldn’t recommend joining because there are cheaper deals available through other organizations. I recently booked a vacation (to Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic) through Sundance Vacations thinking it was a good deal. Then the same vacation became available through another organization for about ½ the cost. We paid $ 755 per person ($ 1510 for two people) and the other deal below is for $ 747 for two people. We are staying 7 nights instead of 6, but I’m not sure that’s worth the extra money. If I could get a full refund I would, but I’m already invested… oh well.
They had my post previously deleted because I mentioned the website/​organization offering the lower deal.

This is an initial review for Sundance and I just experienced the sales pitch. With 5 years of sales management in a different industry, and an impressive closing ratio, I was kind of excited to be in the receiving end of the table for this one. I love hearing other companies pitch their product to me.
When it comes to a company that’s trying to sell you something, you must keep in mind that it’s not always a scam. Not all sales people are sleeze balls, and Sundance is not trying to rip anybody off.
Here’s the way they work. They have share in stock for specific resorts around the country in which they lease sections of the resorts in bulk for exclusivity to their club member. These club members (you and me) pay an annual fee and invest into the share in order to get discounted rates for the time spent on the property. In essence, it’s like a timeshare but not really because it’s for resorts and not condos. This isn’t a scam. It’s a business. And a very good concept. The gift trip they offer out of their excess inventory is actually a legitimate offer. They’re taking their bottom of the barrel property shares and dates, then offering them out to prospective clients. Still a really nice barrel to be at the bottom of, and it’s smart business. Fees and taxes are fair to get out of town for a few days.
Being the sales guy that I am; I had a lot of fun with their process and negotiating the prices. The only disappointment was that they wouldn’t give us time to think about it and we walked away not making a deal. Had to make a decision right then and there with, and my fiancé and I are the type of people that have to sleep on it. Doing a hard close like that will inevitable lose business.
I would encourage everyone to take the opportunity to check them out. They were aggressive sales people, but very friendly and professional the entire time. If you don’t like being sold to, consider approaching it like you’d approach a comedy routine. I know sleazy when I see it and these guys aren’t it.

I received a phone call from Sundance Vacations stating that I had been gifted an all expense paid cruise to the Bahamas (minus taxes and fees). All I had to do was come in for a presentation and pick up the paperwork. Sounded too good to be true. But I went in and I sat through a presentation with Karl Wendel. I didn’t know what to expect because I was unfamiliar with Sundance Vacations prior to this meeting. As with any company, Sundance was selling something, they sell vacation packages. Karl explained everything and laid out a plan for me to afford these vacations, however, I explained to Karl that at the present time I was not in a position to afford purchasing vacations. Karl was understanding and did not try to force the issue. He even paid for my parking. After I spoke with Karl I was sent to a room to collect my gift cruise. Jaime gave me all the paperwork I needed and offered me an even more appealing approach to purchasing the vacation packages. Although extremely tempting I knew my situation and told Jaime I appreciated his approach but just could not afford it. He was very kind about it. We chatted a bit more and I received my gift cruise voucher and left.
Both Karl and Jaime were extremely kind and professional. I never felt pressured or intimidated. The more I learned about Sundance Vacations the more interested I became in being able to purchase the vacation packages.
Sundance Vacations is definitely something I’d like to do in the future but for now I’ll accept the gift cruise and will return to purchase more vacations in the future.

Had a wonderful experience no pressure to buy anything and got my incentive for coming in to listen to the presentation. My representative Karl Wendel was innerstanding of me not wanting to purchase a, vacation package from them. No hassle. Manager spoke to me and the upper management and they were all innerstanding. If I had the finances and they had more international locations definitely would have purchased a package.

Ok, first of all, the below reviews are wrong. The people at sundance make it very clear that you didn’t «win» anything.
The cruise is a promotional event from the company in return for you coming to a presentation. Yes, they sell wholesale vacation packages anywhere from 15 – 20,000 per package, but that gets you 30 week long vacations.
If you ask enough questions about their packages you will find that everything is written in black and white and they let you know about all extra fees and taxes up front. It is not a high pressure sales pitch. It is the simple «here’s the price, here’s the price if you sign today, and then the managers special if you say no.»
They do not «force» you to spend money or take any of their trips. You’re an adult.
They offer discounted rates for buying in bulk. This isn’t a scam, it’s wholesale. And if 20,000 seems like a lot, I challenge everyone who gave bad reviews to go to any travel agent and any travel website to book 30 separate week long vacations for less.
My sundance experience? They were very curtious over the phone and in person, told me all extra costs up front and in writing, and the one hour meeting was what I expected for a travel company. The sales person my fiancé and I delt with was a little redundant and slow with the process, but after reading all of the fine print and doing my due diligence online, we decided to go with one of their packages. Don’t be fooled by bad reviews from people who didn’t listen to what they were told.
If this company contacts you;
1. Listen to the terms of your cruise.
2. Ask any questions during and after the meeting.
3. And make an educated decision based on your own personal situation.
I will update this review as I begin taking my vacations.

Here’s the deal…
I entered a chance for a free jersey at the Washington Capitals Fan Fest in July of 2014. I get a phone call from Sundance Travel telling me that I was one of the lucky winners drawn out of the hat for a free 4-​day/​3-​night cruise that includes airfare. I only had to pay the taxes and such which would be about $ 200. Sounds like a great deal right? NO!
The guy on the phone (his name was J.J.) acts all excited and happy and congratulating you left and right for winning this awesome prize. I asked him what the catch was, and he said «None at all. This is just a chance to get our [Sundance Travel] name out there.» All that needs to happen is for you to schedule a time to come by the agency to collect your prize. He was pretty persistent on scheduling a time. He said I would be in and out in less than 1 hour. I just needed to sign the paperwork, get the information, and be on my way. I did a ton of research on this company prior to signing up for anything. First thing… they are no longer accredited with the Better Business Bureau. That says a lot. So here’s what I learned from many people’s accounts…
1) You show up to their office and low and behold there are LOTS of winners there. Apparently… everyone who fills out an entry is called and offered this same prize… so you are not the lucky winner.
2) You are greeted nicely… offered a drink… and the room you are put in (with all the other «winners») is playing vacation-​style music.
NOTE: At this point… it’s great to remember the guy on the phone telling you that you are a lucky winner, that there’s no catch, and all you had to do is come into the office to claim the prize.
3) For the next hour you are given a presentation on their vacation packages. They want to sell you bulk vacations at discounted rates. Oh… and the price is $ 15,000 — $ 20,000. Pocket change! Of course this is a special price that is only good for the day you are there… and they’d be glad to finance it at loan shark rates of 16%. LOL!!!
4) At the end… the ignorant and gullible people start signing up thinking they have a great deal. For those that resist… you get whisked away to meet with an individual sales person. They get much harder with their sales pitch. They do lower the price a little and push really hard for the sell. If you leave during this process, you do not get your vacation voucher prize FYI.
5) Resisting the salesman means a trip to the big boss’ office. You get a stronger/​firmer sales pitch and again. You have to make it through the big boss’ sales pitch to get your voucher. They are not happy with you if you don’t buy anything of course.
6) Your prize voucher requires deposits of $ 100-​$ 200. Taxes of almost $ 200. Oh… if you want to travel on a weekend… you pay extra. If you want anything that is normal to a vacation (but not their’s)… you pay extra. They send you to their partner company that is impossible to deal with… charging you for anything and everything… and if you don’t complete your reservation on the first call… you have to pay a $ 40 penalty the next time you call to book your «free» vacation. They will fly you down the day before the cruise… so guess what… you have to pay for a hotel the night before. They will fly you back the day after the cruise… so guess what… you pay for another hotel. Want to know the best part… you have to pick from a list of dates for which you want to travel. You don’t find out until 45 days prior where/​when you are going.
If it sounds too good to be true… guess what… it is. This place is a total scam. It’s a classic bait and switch shop. Ever seen the movie «Boiler Room?» Yup… these sales guys are just like them! You are not a big prize winner. You are just like everyone else that they are trying to lure into their sales shop to sell something big that you don’t want nor can afford (even though they tell you that you want it and it’s easy to pay for). The amount hoops you have to jump through to get your free vacation… the amount of time you spend getting it… reserving it… working with the people to book it… and all the hidden fees… You really don’t save anything if you had booked it all yourself and done all the planning.
Don’t Fall For This Scam!

Aggressive scammers.
I am so disappointed in myself for thinking I had «won» anything. I never win anything, and I knew there was something fishy when I signed up for a free Caps jersey at a fan event, but I didn’t listen to my guts. I even asked if my email and phone were going to be used for «further marketing» and they lied and said no.
One week later, I got a call saying I had won a cruise and yadda yadda, and all I have to do is pay some weird port fees and other charges. After a quick web search, I see that they have been chronicled by local news stations for their scam. So I called today and asked to be removed from their call list and to cancel the appointment I had set up to watch the «promotional material». I figured it was like a timeshare thing, only for cruises.
They asked me why several times and got more combative every time I said, «I don’t owe you an explanation. Take me off the list.» Finally, she huffed and said «Anything else I can help you with?» and I made her confirm that I would not be contacted again.
If I am, I’ll take this to WTOP.
I hate liars. I really do.

I filled out an entry form at Six Flags and was contacted notifying me that I had been selected for a cruise vacation. I was a bit skeptical about this because there is no such thing as a free lunch. However, I wanted to find out more about this company, especially since I have been reading countless negative reviews. I always believe there are two sides to a story– my legal side comes out.
When its your turn to meet with a salesperson they are extremely polite. They offer you a beverage and you walk into a big room full of other participants. Its kind of like a big party, there is even music! I typically can be very rude since I work in the legal field, however I toned down myself for this and decided to give all ears. I do have to say that the company does offer some great incentives and destinations at fair value. You really just need to read the fine print and listen carefully. As well as negotiate when necessary and not be scared to voice your opinions.
Clearly all the people working there want to make a commission, however they are very nice people and you will not feel threatened. Therefore, tone it down with the sarcasm and just understand everyone is trying to make a pretty penny, but the vacation packages should sell for themselves. In fact the hour session I stayed for was very helpful and from what I saw almost all customers signed up for a package. I also appreciated my salespersons enthusiasm.
All in all I did not sign up for anything and I collected my cruise voucher. I just recently went on the website to redeem my code for the cruise. We will see how that plays out because it does seem like a long process you need to pay attention to. Fortunately I am good at planning and a drill sergeant when it comes to deadlines.
My advice is to take your time and make a decision deciding if you think you can actually use the program. You have the power to say yes or no. Just like you go to a car dealership or any other place where one negotiates, its the same concept. Just be nice and see what happens. Also think about yourself and your needs.
Finally, the next step for me is to wait two weeks to receive an invoice for the taxes I have to pay. This seems pretty standard because I was selected for a cruise, as I did not win a cruise. At the end of the day a cheaper priced vacation sounds welcoming. I am optimistic that everything will work out. I am hoping with my positive rating that this will shed some light and show that the company can be helpful for those that wish to vacation more often.

UPDATE:
Lowering my rating because of the hassle of booking the «free» trip through their partner, Spirit Incentives. I called and asked for my deposit back because of the following:
1) Not actually free. They needed a 200 dollar deposit, then were going to charge $ 150 more to go on a weekend and then an absurd amount to cover «taxes and fees»
2) Lack of flexibility: Travel dates are set by them, you give your top 3 preferences, then have to see what happens.
3) Too many unknowns: Since the trip wasn’t actually free, we wanted to be able to just plan it ourselves, rather than end up in whatever flight times and accommodations they decided.
4) Terrible reviews: As I noted, a company called «Spirit Incentives» is the partner used to plan this trip. Their Unilocal reviews are awful and a google search pulls up all kinds of terrible experiences. I don’t think «SCAM» is a fair word, but they certainly don’t make things easy for you.

Unbelievably, I’m still not on the ship. But now that the tickets are (virtually) in hand, I figured it’s time to update:
OK, in a nutshell:
They definitely don’t do you any favors — it’s a free cruise, after all. They sent me an email after I mailed them my deposit ($ 198 that will go toward taxes and fees) that guided me to a website. From there, I had to pick three preferences for dates, and the options were hella spread out. I chose March 21, May 6 and Oct. 24. My package preference was to Mexico, flying out of Baltimore and boarding the ship in Los Angeles.
They were legally required to contact me at least 45 days prior to my first choice, «but they will almost definitely call you sooner,» the guy at the sales pitch event told me.
I kid you not, 46 day in advance, they emailed me and asked me to call them to schedule my trip. I called the next morning, and the whole process took 45 minutes. Of course, they scheduled me for my third choice, Oct. 24, a cruise to the Bahamas boarding in Florida. I asked if there was any flexibility — perhaps if I was willing to go to the Bahamas instead of Mexico, I could get one of the earlier dates? They said no.
Along with the $ 198 I had already sent, the additional taxes and hotel in Florida that I let them book for me at a lower rate (They fly you in the day before you actually board the ship, so you’re responsible for paying for that hotel), I paid another roughly $ 500. So the entire trip for me and a guest, with everything included except alcohol on the ship and ground transportion to and from the airports, cost about $ 700.
One huge thing they don’t tell you: You need to have the legal name and birth date of your second passenger WHEN YOU BOOK. I had planned on taking someone I’m newly dating, but when told I couldn’t go until October, I smartly decided not to put that extra strain on the relationship and had to call my sister to see if she’d be willing to go with me.
The kicker? If you hang up the phone, you have to call back and do that process over again and pay a $ 40 penalty, and if you do, you risk them giving up that spot, and then you get NO CRUISE. Fortunately, the spot was still there when I called back two hours later.
Also, even though you can change your passenger up to 30 days after you book, if you do, that passenger has to pay for their own airfare since they already booked the tickets. Lame. And finally, you cannot change your second passenger after 30 days. And if you decide you’d rather just go alone than with someone you end up not wanting to take, you could be legally obligated to pay that person’s entire cruise ticket. It’s not set in stone, but «it has happened,» the company rep told me.
So that’s it. It’s a pain in the ass, and the «free» cruise for you and a guest ends up costing about $ 700. I was fine with this, and to be frank, I should have been. Nothing is actually free, and this is pretty fecking close.
I can update this again in November when I go on the damn cruise, but as of now, this seems legit. A million strings attached, but far cheaper than it would be to go on a cruise for real. And the hotel they booked for only $ 120 a night at their rate is absolutely gorgeous. Take them up on the offer to book for you.
Good luck!

I received a call that I received a free vacation after signing up to «win» at Nationals Park. I wanted to see what it was all about. There must be a catch, which there was. The vacation is two days at any Wyndham hotel (probably with some exclusions, and the flight will cost you $ 100 – 175 for two people). You also can’t leave on a Thursday or Friday, or use it around certain holidays.
If you choose to learn more, you go to their office, which is pleasantly appointed. Bring on the sales pitch, hahaha. The people are really nice and try hard!
The disappointing thing is that the pitch is too perfect, that one simply can’t trust the company. When doing the calculations, she (Kate) missed out the $ 369 annual fee and the $ 99 per vacation booking, which she previously had mentioned.
I politely rejected all offers. After the sales pitch, you speak with a representative, and then a manager, and then again with another manager after rejecting that one.
It’s totally great if can’t plan a vacation yourself, or plan to take a lot of domestic vacations, but I don’t think it makes sense for most people.