Spirit Incentives

[GWMG]

Posted by GWMG on December 18, 2003 at 12:46:49:

I just got back from a nice cruise. It was awarded to me through my company. I was taken care of by a company called Spirit Incentives. ..just to let you know that there are still some places that provide good service.

[Don Cameron]

Posted by Don Cameron on February 24, 2004 at 19:10:07:

In Reply to: Re: Spirit Incentives posted by Barb on January 03, 2004 at 13:52:26:

I had nothing but grief from this company. I gave up, but not before complaining to my local ActionLine column and also reporting Spirit Incentives to the Southeast Florida Better Business Bureau (of which Spirit Incentives apparently is a member (!)). You might want to do the same. They have a Web-based reporting system that is fairly user-friendly; check it out at URL:

http://www.bbbsoutheastflorida.org

If enough people do this, then at least Spirit will get the message that their tactics are not going unnoticed, and maybe BBB will "un-list" them.

Best of luck to you.
Best of luck to you

[Barb]

Posted by Barb on January 03, 2004 at 13:52:26:

In Reply to: Spirit Incentives posted by GWMG on December 18, 2003 at 12:46:49:

I have been trying to book a trip with Sririt Incentives since March pf 2003. They do not respond to E-mails. They fail to call you back when you leave messages and wait so long with booking plans. You feel that with all this hassle why take the trip. I have faxed,phoned, and written letters. There is still no trip after monthes of time invested. I sure am glad we did not invest in properties!

[Amanda]

Posted by Amanda on January 05, 2004 at 01:10:37:

In Reply to: Re: Spirit Incentives posted by Barb on January 03, 2004 at 13:52:26:

I recently was also awarded a vacation from that will come through spirit incentives. I was wondering how the planning phase went, for instance, were you given the run around?; was everything completed as planned?;... etc. Any further information would be enlightening.

[alicia Lowery]

Posted by alicia Lowery on January 28, 2004 at 20:33:48:

In Reply to: Re: Spirit Incentives posted by Amanda on January 05, 2004 at 01:10:37:

I am wondering if the trip will come through as promised on the web site, 2 airline tickets and 2 nights at the Sahara in Vegas for $59.95. Is it too good to be true?

[Navarre]

Posted by Navarre on February 03, 2004 at 14:36:18:

In Reply to: Re: Spirit Incentives posted by alicia Lowery on January 28, 2004 at 20:33:48:

We have been getting a run around for nearly a year, and they just keep asking for more checks and we have gotten nothing in return. Has all the earmarks of a scam. I was thinking of trying to contact the Florida Better business bureau.

[Michelle]

Posted by Michelle

Michelle on January 28, 2004 at 17:48:35:

In Reply to: Re: Spirit Incentives posted by Barb on January 03, 2004 at 13:52:26:

I also booked a trip to Las Vegas with Spirit Incentives. I bought the trip in August, and finally received a firm travel date in December. Although it did take awhile, and I did indeed have to write letters and send e-mails, the price of the trip versus the value I received did balance out in the end. I would suggest e-mailing the owner (as I did)
Gary Baron. You will find his e-mail address on the website http://www.travelsucks.com/... Don't give up yet!!!

[Janet]

Posted by Janet on February 07, 2004 at 18:23:10:

In Reply to: Re: Spirit Incentives posted by Barb on January 03, 2004 at 13:52:26:

2 round trip airfares, 3 days and 2 nights in Las Vegas, all for $59.95 per person. this is just to good to be true. Scam Scam Scam.

[Rick]

Posted by Rick on February 12, 2004 at 11:35:16:

In Reply to: Re: Spirit Incentives posted by Barb on January 03, 2004 at 13:52:26:

My wife and I did everything we were suppose to. After waiting and waiting on this, we finally get our card back with a check for $50 stating that the date (only the first one, not the other two) was no good. In order to try for the other two dates, we'd have to start over again.
My question is why not just take what they're given and if ALL THREE are no good, then send back the money? I'm not sure this is a scam, but I do feel that they give you so much runaround it's not worth the headache.

[Diane]

Posted by Diane on February 20, 2004 at 15:22:59:

In Reply to: Re: Spirit Incentives posted by Barb on January 03, 2004 at 13:52:26:

I have been trying to book a trip for months, and I also keep getting the run around. I actually received two trip certificates which expire in July 2004. I have been trying to schedule the first trip since August 2003 and they keep blaming me actually never getting a confirmed dateon system errors, etc. They then send me back to square one. If it has been 7 mos. and I still haven't traveled on my first trip, I am positive I will never get to travel on my second. Probably not the first either. These people can not be trusted! I promise you, I have tried every avenue and worked their system to the letter. You probably will not travel...and if you sent a deposit, you may never see it again if you do not request it back in time. That is how they make their money.

[Carol]

Posted by Carol

Carol on February 23, 2004 at 12:48:09:

In Reply to: Re: Spirit Incentives posted by Barb on January 03, 2004 at 13:52:26:

I agree, they accepted $50.00 US and still I have not received anything from them and I have been waiting since 2003. I have called etc......
and still nothing.

This is a joke.

[mtw80]

i have recently "won" a free vacation from filling out a form for a travel agency in cincinnati called smartravel. after going in to the agency and being pushed into buying a yearly vacation package, we refused and were told that we would still get our travel voucher for the free vacation. i have just received a vacation brochure from spirit incentives to book my free vacation. however, i'd have to send in $100 (refundable) after the vacation has been completed. i was wondering if this is really worth the free vacation. they offer that they could fly us free to either vegas, orlando or the bahamas withe 3 days 2 nites accomodation, the only thing we'd have to pay are the taxes. has anyone won a trip from spirit incentives and actually got good results? have you all just booked from the travel agency or have you all won these trips? any help is appreciated. thanks!

[mwdesign]

Good morning. The purpose of this is to hopefully prevent any more people from getting screwed over by this Spirit Incentives. The following is exactly what I've written in other consumer related sites:

Before I tell you my story, I want to say that IN MY OPINION, anyone writing good reviews about Spirit Incentives is paid by Spirit to do so.

11-05-2007
Well, I've always believed that if something is too good to be true, it probably is... But I try REAL hard to not lose faith in people. No more...

The long version:

I signed up for one of those "free trip" raffles at a boat show in Puerto Rico (Similar to something you'd see at the mall). I won (well, whaddaya know!)

I won a 3 day, 2 night stay at the Holiday Inn of my choice for 2 adults, a voucher for $30.00 worth of gas, another voucher for $30.00 at Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Smokey Bones, Bahama Breeze or Outback (Not bad, huh?).

All I had to do was attend to a Celebrity Travel Plus meeting on March 30, 07, which if you paid $7,000 you'd have access to their website & get discounts of up to X percent. I asked to see the site, but of course they won't let you unless you pay (They only show you their salesperson demo) *Beware of insurance salespeople, their software is rigged too, but that's another story.

Bottom line about Celebrity, their contract says that its valid as long as they're in business. So I tell the guy, you could make $100K tonight & close up shop. I told them I wasn't interested, but I sure as hell wanted my free tickets they had promised. I paid Celebrity a non refundable processing fee of $35.00 (which had to be in cash), to then get the Spirit Incentives Certificate, to THEN begin the nightmare with Spirit... If you want more info on Celebrity, read the following links (They're in Spanish):

http://www.elexpresso.com/site/ver_n....asp?n_id=8300

http://www.primerahora.com/noticia/o..._en_ley/124724


We had to mail Spirit Incentives a refundable good faith check for $50.00, for them to send a travel date request form. I sent a company check. Then they sent the form to select our travel dates, which we eagerly did. We eventually got a letter stating that our first travel date had been denied because it wasn't available, & asking if we would like them to proceed with the next date. I called them, & the very first thing you hear on the phone is: for refunds, dial 1. For customer service, dial 2. (They WANT you to request a refund.)
Naturally, they couldn't tell you over the phone what dates were available. You had to send them the request. I agreed, & wrote IF SECOND DATE NOT AVAILABLE PLEASE PROCEED WITH THIRD DATE. At this point I figured, if we get the tickets, great, if not, it was a $100.00 lesson (I felt bad for the people that actually paid the $7K)

Next thing we get is a letter stating that "To finalize the travel arrangements, we are required to pay in full all taxes & fees due before travel arrangements can be confirmed." So we sent in another company check for $32.16. Then my wife called again to follow up & they told her the check had been returned because it was a third party check (They had accepted it for the $50.00 deposit). Once we received the returned check, we sent a money order.

Today we called to follow up, & they said once they receive the money order it takes them 2-3 weeks to enter it in the system.

We'll see what happens, but I'm going to take this as far as I have to. Its not right to screw people over like this.

Keep in mind we have followed the instructions exactly as they request.

*Wife called the Florida BBB & they said these people have almost 400 complaints & an F rating. No legal action has been taken against them so far.


11-13-2007
Ok after filing a complaint with the Florida Agriculture & Consumer Affairs as someone suggested, Spirit contacted us (same day we got the letter from Consumer Affairs). Boy did they screw us over! Hotels are subject to change. Conveniently for Spirit, they had availability at this ratty hotel not too far from here. Even though our certificate expires next year, they obligated us to take this one or request a refund. I mentioned that I had requested a third date, & she pointed out that in fine print on the terms, you need to request 2 valid dates (even though on the request form they ask for 3 dates)

I reminded them that that (supposedly) the Holiday was available but I couldn't book because they didn't accept the company check for the taxes, but they had accepted it for the good faith deposit.

The person who is supposedly the manager, bluntly says "We're beyond that point." This is what we have, etc. Pretty much it was take it or leave it.

So I left it. I requested a refund. It has already cost me more than its worth. I am however, going to review what Consumer Affairs sent & contact them again.

MY OPINION: DO NOT DO ANY BUSINESS WITH THESE PEOPLE. I haven't been so stressed out by anyone before in my life.

12/11/07
After contacting the Florida Consumer Affairs, Spirit sent me the refund. They first sent the $50.00 deposit, a few days later the taxes.


I repeat.It is MY OPINION that anyone writing good reviews about Spirit Incentives is paid by Spirit to do so.

[ChrisS]

We had problems similar to others listed here. My advice, fight them. You can get what was promised. We reported to the Better Business Bureau. I also called the place that gave us our vacation voucher. I had extra leverage because I had become a customer of the business that gave us the voucher. I’m not sure which did it, but we received a call from Spirit Incentives the next day! It was another office. The person we talked to seemed to be the one who works with people once they complain to the right people. She found a vacation date that worked for us. When I asked her why they wouldn’t work with us before, all she would say is that, “ well we are working with you now.” She even returned our call ounce when her voicemail picked up! If the two previous routes didn’t work I was also going to contact the Florida Attorney General. Others on this blog had said that this method had worked for them. I also found a website: complaint.tv I also sent them my information on the same day that we were contacted by Spirit Incentives to work with us. Complaint.tv will send your message to any major city local news channel you want. Now what I am doing is posting to all these blogs so that more people don’t get screwed.

How do they get away with being such a crappy business? You aren’t their customer, whoever gave you the voucher is their customer. They don’t have to make you happy as long it doesn’t affect their relationship with those customers who purchase large quantities of their vouchers. They make more money when they don’t give anything

If you are interested to know what our situation was, we were given a voucher for a free cruise. We elected for the 7-day cruise which meant a larger payment for taxes and fees. They didn’t contact us when they said they would. When we contacted them (lots of being put on hold) they said that all three-departure dates we asked for were taken. We were given one date only which I couldn’t get off work for. They told us, “sorry, too bad, guess you can’t go.” Then they told us they didn’t have a record of our payment!