TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Actions taken to stop travel companies in Florida accused of deceiving consumers were announced Tuesday by Attorney General Pam Bondi and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam.
The defendants charged for items advertised as free, sold vacation packages that could not be used because of burdensome blackout dates and overly restrictive terms and conditions, refused to provide refunds or allow cancelation of purchases, greatly exaggerated savings, and made unauthorized charges to consumer credit cards, according to consumer complaints.
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Bondi filed enforcement actions against the companies, alleging violations of Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act and seeking consumer restitution, civil penalties and injunctive relief, officials said.
"People plan and save for years to pay for a family vacation, and it is disgraceful that anyone would use deceptive and unfair trade practices to take their money and ruin their plans," Bondi said. "Thanks to this coordinated effort with Commissioner Putnam, we are taking action on behalf of travelers and to protect families from harmful business practices."
"I thank Attorney General Bondi for her action against these travel companies, which allegedly defrauded consumers," Putnam said. "By taking this swift action, my department and her office have helped protect Florida's consumers from deceptive business practices."
In conjunction with Bondi's litigation, Putnam initiated administrative actions, seeking to revoke the licenses of two of the companies.
Millennium Travel and Promotions, Inc. allegedly sent millions of misleading mailers, promising travel awards, but failed to disclose terms and conditions or the total cost of redeeming the awards, officials said. Only a small fraction of these consumers were ever able to redeem the promised travel awards.
Grand Incentives, Inc. allegedly failed to fulfill travel requests by citing overly restrictive terms and conditions or blackout travel dates, collected deposits and failed to timely return the funds when the consumer was unable to book travel, misrepresented the nature of fees charged to consumers, and made unauthorized charges on consumer credit cards, officials said.
Bondi also filed a complaint against Global Connections, Inc., which allegedly allowed its Florida distributors to use unscrupulous sales tactics to induce consumers to purchase its vacation club memberships by greatly exaggerating the true savings, nature and value of the memberships, officials said. Global allegedly did not honor its cancellation policy, and did not make consumers aware of restrictive travel terms and conditions and limited availability of vacation destinations.
Global Connections, Inc. is currently exempt from registration by the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, officials said.