Clark Howard's Tips

Vacation scams are targeting you

June 21, 2005

The Early Show on CBS decided to take on of those travel fax vacations to see how legitimate it was.

The reporter called up, bought the trip and it ended up costing $1,300.

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She had to pay $400 extra for peak season, even though it was off-season. She was promised she'd get a 4-star hotel, yet she had no A/C and cigarette burns on the beds.

The company that sold her the trip, TravelCom, would not talk to CBS on camera.

But the company has very low ratings with the Better Business Bureau.

These deals are not new. They have existed for years.

And, in this case, Florida is failing in its responsibility to protect citizens.

Whenever you get a pitch from anyone about how you've won a free vacation, throw it in the trash. And the state of Florida desperately needs to get its act together.

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