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report scam| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| City | Woodland Hills |
| Address | 6300 Canoga Ave Suite 500 |
| Phone | (800) 315-2065 |
| Website | http://www.casablancaexpress.com |
They make the process very difficult and complicated on purpose and hope for people to fail in the process so that they dont have to provide the service~ it is ridiculous to have a process this complicated with so much mailing with paper documents in the 21st century. The only explanation to this is the hope for failure! They tell people that they dont get their mail so they disqualify you~ This is more ridiculous, because why would people just send their money and not send the confirmation letter?...... be aware, if you choose this company, track everything~ you dont know what they will lose~ And remember to ask them back for the money if they disqualify you because they wont if you dont ask~
They make the process very difficult and complicated on purpose and hope for people to fail in the process so that they dont have to provide the service~ it is ridiculous to have a process this complicated with so much mailing with paper documents in the 21st century. The only explanation to this is the hope for failure! They tell people that they dont get their mail so they disqualify you~ This is more ridiculous, because why would people just send their money and not send the confirmation letter?...... be aware, if you choose this company, track everything~ you dont know what they will lose~ And remember to ask them back for the money if they disqualify you because they wont if you dont ask~
Last year we were enticed ,as we walked in the street of Las Vegas in Aug2016,to a FREE 2 person trip to Hawaii or PV, just to listen to an hour of presentation at the Jockey club. We were sucked into buying a $9,998.00 sapphire timeshare ownership and given a certificate for the free trip. We were told not to call casablanca to avail of the trip until December,2016. Once we called we were told to send $470 for flight insurance and tax. We were then advised to call in March,2017 to schedule the trip. We called in March to schedule and were told that we could only book for August,2017 to puerto vallarta. They could not give us the hotel nor airline information for Puerto Vallarta because they still had to find the cheapest flight. By the first week of July,2017, we were called and informed that we could only travel on a Monday and be back on Wednesday and that we will be booked in a remote 2 star hotel in Mexico unless we pay another $750.00 to get to a hotel near the beach We were supposed to secure our own transportation.
At this point we realized that it was a scam (shame on us) I requested a full refund of the money i sent and was told they would refund it. To this day despite calling several weeks ago to check where my money was, no call nor money has been returned. These people are merciless, opportunistic thieves that would take advantage of your vulnerability during a vacation, please do not engage nor waste your time with them .Sapphire cannot even accomodate us on the days we request. To this day, we have not been able to use our timeshare points. A class action lawsuit can be worked on , if we could all get on this, for the sake of others
I don't know how this place has four stars on yelp. Every review you see with the word "scam" is absolutely true.
I plan to also post this review, or rather, warning, on websites like tripadvisor and that may be on the verge of getting tricked into the same timeshare presentation that we did.
Welks resort promised us a trip to 3-day, 2-night trip to hawaii for attending their timeshare presentation. It is completely bogus. If you read the fine print on the photos i attached of the casablanca express promotional voucher, you will see how their language is intentionally vague to not tell you just how crappy the trip is.
First of all, from the fine print it says that your flight would leave on a monday or tuesday between 1pm and 7pm and then return two days later between 6am and 1pm. Then when you get their representative on the phone, which, by the way, are extremely hard to reach I must have called 8-10 times and they never called me back --- you have to be really lucky for them to actually pick up your phone call instead of letting it go to voicemail), the representative proceeds to tell you that your flight will most likely leave closer to 7pm and arrive in hawaii past midnight and then return two days later around 6am, leaving you really a day to spend in hawaii.
The rep also proceeds to tell you that the accommodations in this case are really bad, at a "backpackers hostel" about an hour away from the airport. Because the flights and accommodations are so crappy, they are offering us an upgrade that would allow us to fly out earlier to hawaii and come back later as well. The hotel is something like aqua aloha surf right in waikiki.
The upgrade is going to cost us $1150 out of pocket on top of the $150 we had already paid in "supposed taxes."
It took me no time to figure out in my head that even if i bought myself two roundtrip tickets to hawaii and a two-night stay it would cost less than the $1150 they're going to charge me for the "upgrade." so not only am i not getting my "free hawaii trip," i'm not getting any sort of deal or discount on the upgrade, i'm paying the full amount of the trip expenses and they're making money off of me!!!
I basically then said that i will take the original trip, no matter how crappy the flight times are or how crappy the hostel is Which, by the way, i looked up --- it is super run down and has cockroaches).
In the fine print on the promotional voucher, it says that "this certificate provides accommodations in tourist/economy class properties" and then later "hotel/motel may require a credit card imprint or deposit upon check-in to cover incidental expenses."
I consider "aqua aloha surf" to be enough of an "economy class property" and nowhere on the voucher does it allude to accommodations being in hostels.
They might as well just put " accommodations will be in a cockroach-infested hostel on the north shore of oahu away from tourist attractions." but they won't, because that's how they scam people!
It's also interesting to me how patricia, the representative was super courteous when offering me the upgrade but then when i turned it down, she became really curt and didn't want to give me the time of day to ask further questions. I can't believe this place is still in business.
Ridiculous SCAM! Buyers, prospective customers, BEWARE!
You are familiar with the TimeShare sales presentation, I am sure. At the end of your 90 minute presentation, you still receive what they offered, no questions asked. There are no hoops to jump through, no fees or "taxes" to pay on top of your "free" gift. Not so, with Goldrush Getaways and Casablanca Express.
Goldrush Getaways entices you to come to their sales presentation by offering you a "Free Cruise for up to 4 people including airfare" just for sitting through their presentation. What do you really get? NOTHING. And this is how you get to nothing:
After sitting through the over-the-top sales presentation, and after numerous price hacks by closer upon closer, they abruptly dismiss you from their building by handing you a certificate and telling you to follow the directions on it.
The directions are convoluted and demanding, but here it is in a nutshell:
First you have to pay $50 per person, as a deposit. This is a deposit JUST so they can process your certificate. Um, okay. They promise the deposit will go toward "taxes" on this free cruise offer. Okay, so already it isn't free. But let me continue...
After sending in the $200 (for a family of four) Two weeks later I receive a "Tax Deposit Invoice" letter, stating the date I registered, and requiring me to mail an additional $784 to them within 30 days or my certificate will be forfeited. (Aka, my $200 goes down the drain) I called to inquire about this $784 they needed and was told it is "the remainder of the taxes/fees" on the airfare and cruise. I told them I didn't need the airfare, since we lived in the area, and only was interested in the cruise. I was told that I still had to send in the $784, and that after that step was completed, I would get another letter, which I used to call and book my dates. At that time, I could decline the airfare. Supposedly, whatever money I sent ($994) was not used towards "FEES" and "TAXES" would be refunded to me.
I did not readily send in that $784, mind you. I thoroughly read the fine print and official requirements of Casablanca Express, in order to actually get this "FREE" offer.
You have to send in the money. (In my case, $784.00, in addition to the $200 I already sent. That is $984 for a "free cruise" folks.
The staterooms are interior category 1, on the lower decks. (You can get these staterooms dirt cheap and many times of the year when they have specials. In fact, MUCH CHEAPER, than the "taxes" on this free cruise offer.
You have to provide 3 departure dates at least 60 days in advance of your first date and 30 days between subsequent dates. No travel is permitted within 5 days of all major holidays, MLK, Presidents Day, Easter, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day (really?!), Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. I repeat, NO TRAVEL WITHIN 5 DAYS, of any of those holidays. When, pray tell, would most families be able to go with those kinds of restrictions? If you miraculously found 3 departure dates among all of that blackout nonsense, you would be left with an off-season week that you probably could have purchased at a lower discount rate directly from the cruiseline.
Let's be frank, this is far from "free". If this company cant truly offer a "free" gift then it should not be presented as that. If you have this many steps for using the "free" offer (Initial deposit, secondary deposit, calling with 3 dates, etc.) then you cannot rightly offer this as a FREE cruise. It is not free at all. It would have costed $994 out of our pockets up front to pay for a cruise and airfare that were initially offered as "FREE". Unbelievable. Scam with all caps.
They can do the spin dance all they want, trying to fall back on the "but it is free" phrase, repeatedly giving the excuse that they can't pay taxes/fees that the government imposes. Well why not? Isn't that part of what "free" means? How can anything be "free" if the recipient pays money for it? Lets get the basic definition down, Casablanca, and Goldrush Getaways, since you are the company offering these bogus "parting gifts" to those who refuse to buy into your Travel Agency package.
As it stands now, I cancelled my certificate and requested my $200 back. I spoke to "Lorraine" at Casablanca, who made sure she said rudely, "Once you cancel, you can't call back and chance your mind." OH believe me Lorraine, there will be no "calling back and changing my mind". I would have better luck flying to the moon than actually finding a single travel date that worked for the requirements.
That was July 20th, 2015. Today is August 3, 2015 and I still have not received my $200 refund. I already called back and was told "it was mailed on the 21st". Hmm. Something tells me that it wasn't, and that I will be fighting tooth and nail to get my $200 deposit back.
Oh, did I mention that this was a FREE Cruise?
once you pay you get nothing for your money. The web site is non response if haven,t committed don,t.
if you have i am sorry for you! every thing is a lie beware.
Beware, you will pay at least a market price or more by your deposit and “upgrades” that they will sell to you for any “free” staff that they offer. All they need is your money. Good luck with getting your money back if you cancel your reservation. They will not return full amount and will find a fake reason to keep part of your deposit. There is no free staff. They will rip your off.
This company offers "dream" travels for convenient upfront payments. They claim they are part of the RCI group- however this might not be true based on the RCI webpage that claims certain companies are using their name to attract "customers"
I don't know how this place has four stars on yelp. Every review you see with the word "scam" is absolutely true.
I plan to also post this review, or rather, warning, on websites like tripadvisor and that may be on the verge of getting tricked into the same timeshare presentation that we did.
Welks resort promised us a trip to 3-day, 2-night trip to hawaii for attending their timeshare presentation. It is completely bogus. If you read the fine print on the photos i attached of the casablanca express promotional voucher, you will see how their language is intentionally vague to not tell you just how crappy the trip is.
First of all, from the fine print it says that your flight would leave on a monday or tuesday between 1pm and 7pm and then return two days later between 6am and 1pm. Then when you get their representative on the phone, which, by the way, are extremely hard to reach I must have called 8-10 times and they never called me back --- you have to be really lucky for them to actually pick up your phone call instead of letting it go to voicemail), the representative proceeds to tell you that your flight will most likely leave closer to 7pm and arrive in hawaii past midnight and then return two days later around 6am, leaving you really a day to spend in hawaii.
The rep also proceeds to tell you that the accommodations in this case are really bad, at a "backpackers hostel" about an hour away from the airport. Because the flights and accommodations are so crappy, they are offering us an upgrade that would allow us to fly out earlier to hawaii and come back later as well. The hotel is something like aqua aloha surf right in waikiki.
The upgrade is going to cost us $1150 out of pocket on top of the $150 we had already paid in "supposed taxes."
It took me no time to figure out in my head that even if i bought myself two roundtrip tickets to hawaii and a two-night stay it would cost less than the $1150 they're going to charge me for the "upgrade." so not only am i not getting my "free hawaii trip," i'm not getting any sort of deal or discount on the upgrade, i'm paying the full amount of the trip expenses and they're making money off of me!!!
I basically then said that i will take the original trip, no matter how crappy the flight times are or how crappy the hostel is Which, by the way, i looked up --- it is super run down and has cockroaches).
In the fine print on the promotional voucher, it says that "this certificate provides accommodations in tourist/economy class properties" and then later "hotel/motel may require a credit card imprint or deposit upon check-in to cover incidental expenses."
I consider "aqua aloha surf" to be enough of an "economy class property" and nowhere on the voucher does it allude to accommodations being in hostels.
They might as well just put " accommodations will be in a cockroach-infested hostel on the north shore of oahu away from tourist attractions." but they won't, because that's how they scam people!
It's also interesting to me how patricia, the representative was super courteous when offering me the upgrade but then when i turned it down, she became really curt and didn't want to give me the time of day to ask further questions. I can't believe this place is still in business.