Illinois-Chicago

"Free" trip from a bridal show - scam?

Hi everyone - thought I'd check in and see if anyone has any experience with this.  I received a call last night that I had "won" a free trip to Vegas from a bridal show (that I attended 2 weeks ago).  In further conversation, I have to go their office to pick up their info, visit with them for about an hour and half to see their options, and then we can have the vouchers to go anywhere in the US. BUT, I have to set up an appointment within 2 weeks and they won't email me any info.  They say they're not a timeshare, but it sounds like it!

I'm curious if anyone else "won" a trip and went through with it.  If it's legit, I'll gladly listen for 90 minutes to their sales pitch and then take a trip.  If it's not, I'm not wasting my time.

Anyone have any experience with this?

Re: "Free" trip from a bridal show - scam?

  • edited December 2011
    My friend had this same thing and yes, it was a scam.

    Think about it this way: why would someone give you a free vacation?
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  • barbbhowwbarbbhoww member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    edited December 2011
    My dad did...he won a cruise.  All he had to do is sit through a time share talk for an hour each day.  He just had to pay taxes.
    It's time. Adoption saving and process started in November 2012.
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  • hz80408hz80408 member
    5 Love Its First Comment Combo Breaker
    edited December 2011
    I received 3 calls from different companies that I'd "won" a trip after attending a bridal show at Navy Pier.  I googled the phone numbers and sure enough, they all were scams.

    Companies can be sneaky and know that brides can be naive.  Be careful!
  • edited December 2011
    Have done one of these in the past, and yes, it's basically a scam.  If you sit through the presentation (and a pressure sell for more vacation time-share stuff), you will indeed get a voucher for a free trip.  However, the vouchers are more trouble than they are worth and often require you to pay fees or part of the total cost.
  • ARJ6511ARJ6511 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    YES!! Stay far, far away! 
    BabyFruit Ticker www.MyVacationCountdown.com Ticker
  • edited December 2011
    Thanks everyone!  I guess I'm surprised that they even are allowed into the shows if they're scams.   And, "winning" 2 weeks later seemed a bit off to me.  Thanks for validating my concerns!
  • ltleenltleen member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I "won" a few things from bridal shows, and none of them turned out to be legit. I regret that I ever went to any of those bridal shows, because all they do is farm your information and use it for crap like this (and we give it up willingly in our giddiness). We never ended up picking any of the vendors we met at bridal shows or ever got any fantastic inspiration from bridal shows, either.
  • edited December 2011
    In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_illinois-chicago_trip-bridal-show-scam?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:72Discussion:86ac83a7-9827-4d24-881a-dc4624172b7bPost:1d9bc3ef-4f94-4f70-876a-ac7cae2997df">Re: "Free" trip from a bridal show - scam?</a>:
    [QUOTE]I "won" a few things from bridal shows, and none of them turned out to be legit. <strong>I regret that I ever went to any of those bridal shows, because all they do is farm your information and use it for crap like this (and we give it up willingly in our giddiness)</strong>. We never ended up picking any of the vendors we met at bridal shows or ever got any fantastic inspiration from bridal shows, either.
    Posted by ltleen[/QUOTE]

    I totally agree with this.  After a bridal expo, my email would be bombarded for at least 3 weeks with junk mail from this or that.  I always gave out an alternate email address instead of my main one at bridal expos.  
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  • zingstringszingstrings member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I'm surprised those wedding vendors actually followed up with e-mails. Would you want to be contacted another way, like text, or direct mail?
    Also, I thought if you won a prize, you won it at the show, and they told you at the show, not weeks later. Hummm....I have heard of following up and offering a discount to brides that didn't win, but never heard about a timeshare.
    PS. I am still trying to get rid of a time share, that my parents owned, a year after they passed on. I would never buy a time share!
  • DivaBMaid2012DivaBMaid2012 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I never sign up for those things
  • I did win a trip for sitting through a time share. After waiting the 2 weeks we picked out 3 dates, then they tell you about 1-2 months prior which dates you get. It was a really inexpensive trip and we had so much fun. We usually spend a fortune, but all we paid for were the taxes and airfare. It was definitely worth it.
  • Same here.  Won a free 7 day Honeymoon Vacation to Hawaii from the Odenza Marketing Group.  Open up the envelope and they require a $100.00 reservation fee, a $279.93 "Resort Booking Fee" plus an additional $39.99 per night.  When you win a free vacation, but have to pay egregious fees, is the vacation really free?
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