BALTIMORE — With a COVID-19 vaccine on the horizon, you might be planning your next getaway. The travel industry is offering low rates, but be careful of certain steals.
Elvan Price wasn’t looking, but thought he’d come across a great deal.
"I just received a random phone call from a company, travel agency that was looking to sell a package and this vacation package could be used within 5 years and you could select from a number of different locations," Price said.
The trip for four from Resort Go International included everything, so he bought it for just $700. Then he tried making a reservation.
"I just received an email about a month and a half ago saying the company that I bought the vacation package from was out of business,"Price said.
A reservations specialist with Res Push Reservations 7 said they were taking over for Resort Go International and if he wanted to move forward, he’d have to send an additional $349 within 24 hours and to the same billing name.
"They’re claiming they’re out of business but they’re still in business to take more of my money, but they’re out of business for carrying out their end of the contract," said Price.
With any travel offer, look for reviews and ask for references.
Never wire any money or use a prepaid debit card. With these forms of payment, you have no way of getting money back.
And dig into the company — their address, phone number, social media sites, images on their website, odd language or spelling errors.
And Price doesn’t recommend buying from anyone who contacts you without reaching out to them first. To this day, he continues to get calls.
"A similar company trying to sell me a similar vacation package for around the same amount of money, so they’re relentlessly hitting up my phone and I assume they’re probably making these calls to other people too," Price said.