“Don’t Waste Your Money”
Thanks to a recent blog post about a scam taking place in Cincinnati, I was contacted by John Matarese, who interviewed me about the scam yesterday. We talked on UC’s campus in front of McMicken Hall for about 30 minutes as a videographer captured my story. I ended up telling him about my experience at American Direct, Inc. as well as my experience with Travel Universal/Universal Promotions. He said he would air both stories, but separate them by a couple of months so people don’t realize it’s the same person being interviewed both times (and on the same day).
Mr. Matarese is a good guy. He was sincerely interested in what I had to say. I was a little surprised by the experience - he basically just let me talk, asking only a few questions. Anyway, he said he’d email me when the stories are going to air, so hopefully I can give anyone interested a heads up. It will air on WCPO Channel 9. I set my Tivo to start recording the news at 5:30 (when he is on) just in case he forgets to email me. Anyway, it was an interesting experience. We’ll see what comes of it…
June 19th, 2006 at 10:31 am
Did you ever receive a trip or did they just take your money and run?
June 19th, 2006 at 11:07 am
Travel Universal does provide accomodations for the $500 they charge you. They don’t cover travel expenses and you’re subjected to high-pressure sales pitches for timeshares, but they do give you accomodations for your troubles. By no means is it worth it, but so it goes…
Ryan
June 19th, 2006 at 2:45 pm
Do they claim to cover you travel expenses?
June 19th, 2006 at 3:12 pm
No. They’re pretty straightforward about that. They don’t claim to cover them… Though I have to admit you kind of think they might at the beginning when they say you’ve “won” something. But no, they never claim they will cover travel expenses.
June 20th, 2006 at 6:31 am
Have you learned yet when the story will run?