Fun For Life Club International

[Col127]

hi guys!

my fiance got a call from Fun For Life Club International saying she won one of 5 prizes, either a vacation to some nice place or a plasma tv. they asked her to go to a location in mississauga for a 90 minute presentation and the draw. she was guaranteed to win something.

has anyone heard of anything? i did some searching and it seems potentiallly like a scam. i enter draws all the time for me and my fiance so i don't know if i actually entered a draw or if this is a scam!

the posts i've read so far, people were hassled into signing up for membership, but no one has mentioned if they actually got the prize!

i'd appreciate any feedback. have any of you dealt with them? got a call from them regarding the same thing? thanks!

[CanadaBoy]

Some sort of presentation = scam

[Jucius Maximus]

Just from your description it has "bait and switch" written all over it.

Very reminiscent of "timeshare" sales practices.

[Squiggles]

Pretty sure they called us too. I hung up on them. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

[Byrns]

Her prize will be a crappy pen not a TV or a trip. It's a scam.

[Col127]

what's a bait & switch technique? and what's the timeshare sales practices? pardon my ignorance :0

i actually got a call from the same company today. same story. my fiance and i filled out some ballots for some draws over the past weekend, i'm guessing this company was there and got both our info.

[Byrns]

what's a bait & switch technique? and what's the timeshare sales practices? pardon my ignorance :0

i actually got a call from the same company today. same story. my fiance and i filled out some ballots for some draws over the past weekend, i'm guessing this company was there and got both our info.

Google knows all.

[Ham]

Here is my experience with Fun for Life...

My fiance went to the bridal shows in Toronto at the start of the year and filled out tons of ballots for stuff. We figure this is where they got her contact information. She got a phone call in early February saying she has won one of five prizes (4 trips, plasma TV). She got excited and took down the info and said we will go. She then told me and my instant thoughts were about scams and the sort. I was going to a hockey card show in the same area that weekend so I agreed to check it out with her.

We went there and they put about 30 people in a room and showed a short 5 minute video about what they offer. Then representatives come over to each couple and asked them to come to another room to discuss the details. I thought we would at least get to go into a private type office... but instead it was another big room with all the other couples and their salesman. It was so loud from all the talking going on and there was music playing. It was actually kind of annoying.

The saleslady asked some question about our travel habits in the past and how much we paid and stuff. When my girlfriend told her how much she paid for her trip to Cancun, she laughed in our face. She was trying to make a point I guess... but all it did was annoy us.( And for the record, my girlfriend got a decent deal for her trip to Cancun.) Anyway... she went into a big sales pitch and showed what they can do.

Basically, they have a computer system/database in which you would get an account. In your account you can then book flights, hotels, resorts... all of those type of travel things for pretty low costs. Like an all inclusive trip to an island in the Caribbean would cost about $400 per couple. She kept pulling examples out like that but I never saw any proof or evidence that what she was saying was true.

All of these perks are available to you for a one time, low cost membership fee. I was thinking it'd be about $3000 or so...boy was I wrong. They wanted something like $14,000 to give you a 20 year membership and access to all these deals. We kept saying no and giving reasons why we don't want it.

Then she got some big-shot head manager guy to come over and try one last sales technique. They tried to make it seem like we were getting a special deal, but obviously they offer this to anyone who says no. They basically said for $4000 we can have a membership for 20 years that allows us to do 20 trips with them. They presented a financing plan that would make it cost $45 per month with nothing down. I told her I don't care how little the monthly payment is, the commitment is still $4000. I guess they didn't understand that line of thinking because they kept saying how it's less then we probably pay for gas in a given month. It got pretty annoying and I told both of them that if this is such a great deal then we should be allowed to go home and discuss it, think about it, research it, and get back to them in a few weeks. They said it is only being offer right now and that's it. I told them if they are not willing to let people think about these things then it's obviously not that great of a deal. Finally they gave in and accepted our rejection. The whole time this was going on, we were making eye contact with the couple beside us and we all kept rolling our eyes at each other. I'm sure they were experiencing the same annoyances.

As for the prize, we got to go to the prize room before we left. There was a huge bin with little tickets in it and each one corresponded to one of the 5 prizes my fiance was told about on the phone. We did the draw and won what I consider the crappiest prize: some 4 day, 3 night cruise. This is compared to a plasma TV or a 2 week trip to Hawaii (hence I say crappy). In order to claim the prize you need to mail in some application they give you. However, this prize DOES NOT include airfare (cruise leaves from Florida), food on the cruise, or taxes. I have a feeling you could book something on your own for cheaper than this will work out for.

A few more points to make:

- I don't think this was a "scam". I think what they were offering was legit and may suit some people. But without hard evidence I'm not just going to believe what someone is telling me (when it comes to spending that kind of money). I do, however, have the feeling that what you would actually get out if this in the end is not nearly as good as what they are promising. So I guess that may kind of make it a scam.

- The prizes sound good but with all the stuff you need to pay for it's hardly a prize.

- I never saw the distribution of tickets in the bin. I think that 95%-100% are just the crappiest trip as the prize and there is maybe one of each of the other 'good' prizes (just so they can claim it's not rigged).

- We were told if we sign up (that day only of course) that they would send us for free on our honeymoon (to Hawaii). Again... the whole to good to be true argument applies here.

- Each time someone in the room bought into their offer, they made a big announcement. In the time we were there, they probably made at least 5 or 6 sales. Afterwards we were wondering if these people had been 'planted' there to make it seem like so many people are actually buying this thing. We'll never know for sure... but it wouldn't surprise me.

- This is not a time share. However, it is sold in a similar method as a time share - high pressure sales.

- If you go, it'll take at least one hour and likely more until you are done there.

Hopefully this has answered your questions... .let me know if you have any more.

[chococrazy]

As always, you should check the Better Business Bureau's site for company entries.

Here is the one for this company:

http://www.bbbmwo.ca/commonreport.html?bid=1134592

I too, got the same 'you're a winner' phone call. I booked the appt, but after researching and finding out that some people had tried to cancel their subscription within the warranty period and were given the run around, I didn't bother to show up.

[Jucius Maximus]

All of these perks are available to you for a one time, low cost membership fee. I was thinking it'd be about $3000 or so...boy was I wrong. They wanted something like $14,000 to give you a 20 year membership and access to all these deals. We kept saying no and giving reasons why we don't want it.

Then she got some big-shot head manager guy to come over and try one last sales technique. They tried to make it seem like we were getting a special deal, but obviously they offer this to anyone who says no. They basically said for $4000 we can have a membership for 20 years that allows us to do 20 trips with them. They presented a financing plan that would make it cost $45 per month with nothing down. I told her I don't care how little the monthly payment is, the commitment is still $4000. I guess they didn't understand that line of thinking because they kept saying how it's less then we probably pay for gas in a given month. It got pretty annoying and I told both of them that if this is such a great deal then we should be allowed to go home and discuss it, think about it, research it, and get back to them in a few weeks. They said it is only being offer right now and that's it. I told them if they are not willing to let people think about these things then it's obviously not that great of a deal.
LOL, it's like a travel company stole Direct Buy's business model! :lol:

[hyperion]

Scam.Scam.Scam.

[AzN_RiverdaleCI]

to make this simple: Scam.

[21pro]

I can also add that it appears that Fun For Life is not much more than charging you a 20 year membership fee to have access to vacation booking systems that you can already access for free using other online vacation booking systems. the FFL weblinks up to syndicates like CondoEngine, which is a booking database for RCI and II vacation condo rental networks. Nothing special, here. The fee you pay for your week's rent is what those respective condo's charge to the public anyways...

and on top of that, they charge you an +100 annual web access fee.

it looks like 20 years of membership that allows 4 vacation week bookings per year can cost over $10,000... but, this fee is all gravy, so I'm guessing it can be bartered down to about $3,000... but, this doesn't buy you even 1 week booking at the seediest cheapest vacation they offer, as you will still have to pay the condo booking fee of $300 - $3500 per week.

[Hard_Taco]

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_coj88w7Uq5g/SK8CUEXgCmI/AAAAAAAAAI0/h1nCB8TRm9Y/s400/ackbar.gif