The Vacation Store Review

TANSTASFL! You just wanted some blog fodder!

Ugh, I remember my first one of these ‘scams.’ How naive I once was.

Anything on your new dad?

So everything what this innocent ppl are sayin is tru… You go there where u meet these skany dressed spanish girl Wendy and Diane where they will ask you to fill out some form and rudely asking you how you vacation.
Next a ‘representative’ will come and assist you to the other room where the presentation will take place.( Mind you they have a plasma tv inside to make you think thats something you may win…RIGHT!)… What i also noticed is that those representative dont answer any questions… they always say ill get my manager to answer that… i listened in on other peoples conversation and its the exact same thing Wow was actually amusing
From there you will get an annoying ugly looking indian speaker by the name of Charu Pal…cant even understand her accent where she will try n make you feel bad about the way you vacation and her way is best. after the presention thats where ur suppose to get that delicious meal but it was hmm Ok… After eating your so kind representative will take you across the hall into another room where they introduce the program
49000 pts for $21 995…if u refuse this offer heres where manager(s) come to your table offering only TODAY incentive and drop the price
i met Roula wife of Damien w.e
then that dumb speaker Charu came again
i sat for another 10min where a man came n dropped the price even lower who couldnt even speak english… i recall him sayin he was Russian… very ugly man too
finally the last one… rudest of them all Darcey some spanish lookin dude
…it can go as low as $1500 no points involved… how does that work?
and for some reason somebody is always somebodys manager… they all do the same job same position thats all BS.
after they finally let u out at 11 they take you for your prize where youll get some stupid trip to florida or mexico –where u pay airfare taxes food(what a prize)
i was so furious… i jus wasted a night where i couldve spent it with my wife… but we learn from our mistakes
Lettin everyone out there kno be AWARE OF TVS

So… I got this call on Friday, the 23rd of October. From the very beginning I was very careful of what I said to the “scam” artist on the phone. After telling me what all the so called prizes were, he said to me in a confused voice ” For someone that just won a fabulous prize, you dont sound very happy”… and thats when I replied “Im not stupid, and I know this is a scam” The guy went through my coupon that I know I didnt fill out, and gave me the information that was supposivly on it, and just as I thought some of the information was WRONG, but going on with the fact that I knew it was a scam from the beginning, I told the guy that the info was correct (even though it wasnt)….Anyways the guy went on to transfer me to his manager, so he could tell me when to meet them and what not. While they were transferring me, I looked up the business name on google, and found out that is was in fact a scam. Well…I went on to tell the “manager” what I had found and he tried to tell me I was wrong, then I was getting mad, and told him to shut up and listen to what I had found… he said “NO! you shut up you b*tch”..and hung up the phone on me.

I WIN!! in the end I was completely satisfied on how the call turned out, and hopefully the guy tells all his scam buddies not to call my house anymore.

Yup, got that call at 10.00 this morning, saying I won one of 5 prices, but I had to bring my wife, I told them she away in San Diego for a week, she was a bit purturbed at that, sensing that I upset her I asked her if I could bring my “bimbo” and she said great yes. and wanted me to attend the meeting at 6:45 pm. but I needed time to check them out, so I had her call me back in 10 minutes.

I googled this company (TVS Vacation) aka Grand Centre something. and came across all this stuff.

I went through one of these many years back, I went to the prize drum after 3 hours of hell and pulled out a “dinner for two” at the downstairs restaurant….

anyway, she called back, I told her I am sorry we will not attend, she was very pushy and offered to pay me out of her own pocket if I wasnt happy (Like yea thats going to happen).

Gawd…

anyway, said goodbye and saved myself 1/2 tank of gas and a lot of grief.

thank you for your information. you saved my “bacon”

Brian

Just got off the phone with them. My “scam” senses were tingling and a quick google found this discussion! As soon as I told the guy I had just looked them on online…he hung up on me!

Thanks all!

I happened to apply on one of the work-at-home jobs as a home-based telemarketer. The name of the company is “Digits Interactive”. I was very happy when they gave me a phone interview and pass. An hour later they put me on a training with other telemarketer trainee. Then i found out that 3 of the clients they’re serving is “the vacation store” and “global united”, which both has its own issues. The other one is “all card association”, which, according to Sam Archer (someone with American name but with Indian accent), our trainer says, all card association was located in Miami, Florida, but according to the sample conversation they sent us, Kevin Reid (another one with American name but with Indian accent) spoke to the customer and says all card association is located in Chicago, Illinois. I’m confused so I searched that company on the web and found none. I went to Chicago, Illinois and Miami Florida’s directory and found out that “all card association” doesn’t exist. I wish i could attached the sample conversation. Anyways, the name of the recruitment manager is Eddie “Ed” Burns, again, someone with Indian accent. They’re teaching us how to persuade people. I don’t agree with how they treat customers. They are so rude and arrogant. And very pushy too.

Thanks for the post, i just got home from work and received this phone call that i’ve won a prize. I decided to
Google search the the name of the company “TVS or The vacation Store” and found this scam info. while i was on the phone with the telemarketer i made me decission there and then HANGED UP THE PHONE..people don’t buy into this..don’t get scammed.

thnx

beware of The Vacation Store!!
WE did not know what is it about and wentr there last year. After that they started harrasing us with their phone calls. I filed a complaint with Phone Busters, RECOL as well as with a local police station. It helped apparently – they stopped calling us. Since then we moved – and those bastards have our new phone and started calling us at our new place.
Those are numbers (appeared to be Los Angeles, CA cell phones)
(213) 709-6917
(213) 709-6831
(213) 709-6793
(213) 709-6842
(213) 709-6808
(213) 709-6791
(213) 709-6792
(213) 709-6880

I went through all of the above last Saturday. I emailed TICO, as they made a big deal about being affliated with them. In other words, if they went “belly-up” TICO would be there as the insurer for them. During the several phone calls I had with The Vacation Store, I was told everytime that TICO was involved. The sleazy old guy that did the obnoxious and rude presentaion in the little room where I ate wrote their name on the white board. He wrote in large letters “TICO” and then continued to talk about Conquest Vacations and how, when they went bankrupt, consumers were left without being ablee to take their vacations. I contacted TICO and they are NOT a member and have not been registered with them. The CEO contacted me via email and they are being investigated. Maybe we can shut these predators down. I’ll keep you posted!

I just received TVS phone call tonight. They told me that I had filled out a vacation survey (which I must have somewhere since they had all the correct answers). Then they said I had won one of five vacation choices: airfare & 4-star hotel included. They clearly said both airfare & 4-star hotel are included several times over. I kept asking “what’s the catch?” They said it’s just to promote their new travel agency, to come to the dinner, someone will speak with us, and then show a driver’s licence only as I.D. to pick up the vacation prize which must be used within two years. I figured it was a scam, but the dinner is next week, and I thought well I’ll google this, and see what folks say, and perhaps just go for the free meal if nothing else. Hmmmm… Spider senses tingling.

Oh, in addition to above post, they actually named off the five choices of destinations (Vegas, New Orleans, etc.), and said if we arrive five-ten minutes early, we also get a trip to Niagara Falls or Mont Tremblant, Quebec.

I asked the telemarketer if at any time they ask for our credit card number. He said no. I asked if the one-on-one talk during this dinner presentation was to sell us a timeshare or condo, he said no.

We’ll see! I may just go to the dinner just to be able to post here again with details.

I’m baaa-aaacckkk!!!
All of the above folks’ comments are true. I went solo to this din-din at 216 Chrislea Rd. The TVS floor is set up with generic travel brochures and big pictures on the wall of cruise ships, vacation destinations, sunshine, & beaches. There are some sort of “trophies” on desks and in corners but they all looked like copies of one and the same.
The only “too personal” question asked on any of their phone calls and questionnaires is, do you make over $50 grand. I did not have to give credit card info (nor would I have!).
I was assigned to a representative who had such a strong Russian accent that I could barely understand him. He was pleasant enough, but I had to say, “pardon”, quite a few times to try to figure out what he was saying because of his accent and because the piped-in music was blaring. He chatted about his family, fishing, his own various trips around the world, no pressure.
Then, a lady gave the presentation just with marker on a large wipe-board showing facts & figures. Of course, she spoke clear English and was an enthusiastic, motivational type speaker. She gave some comparisons of what you would spend on timeshares, all-inclusives, cruises, etc., and compared it to their point system.
The point system is basically as already quoted on other forums:
49,000 points with a 49-year expiry on these points.
Each time you take a vacation, you use so many points and pay what sounds like a good deal for the suite type hotel room(s). The points used just keep deducting off the 49,000 until you have used them all. You could technically take 24 – 50 trips on this plan, depending how you use your points. It all sounds pretty good in theory if that’s the way you like to travel.
I cannot recall the exact figures (I had gathered up their scribble pads of papers to take home at the end, but they whisked them away from me) – something like one suite-bedroom, 2 persons = 500 points, and $460.00 total for a full week stay.

Finally… time for the meal. Had a mediocre but plentiful lukewarm dinner, but the rep sat at the table with me throughout the meal. Even when I went to the washroom, when I came out, I noticed he had followed me to that hall – to make sure I hadn’t made a quick exit??!
After we finished the meal, each rep takes their prey to an “office” type cubicle to chat further with more details; i.e. – how much.
Yep – he starts out with simple 8-1/2 x 11 pad of paper – no letterhead – no printed documentation to support any of this:
49,000 points = $21,995 !!! Today only for this great offer.
When you quickly say no, he says wait a minute, I’ll check with my manager to get you a better deal. The switch-off of reps was mind-boggling (each getting younger and “prettier” and clearer English-speaking, so I highly doubt they were the “manager” of the one before).
In no time at all, they went through at least six, possibly seven different male & female reps coming to talk to me.
It was an “instant” change-off of workers too. There was no time for them to “discuss my file” with the previous rep to find out my needs and so on, yet they acted like they had done just that before coming to sit with me and try to make the deal match my travel needs and funds.
It was almost laughable. They went from $21,995 down to $1,500. The only stipulation: the $1,500 was just a trial of 5 years and 10 weeks, no guess what, they just received authority to bump that trial to 8 years and 16 weeks of vacations (instead of points).
After about the third rep, I asked to see a copy of the contract. They sent in another rep – again “instantaneously” (all these people must have been standing right around the corner) with a simple legal size piece of paper with writing on both sides. I read the entire thing through and made them wait.

I do not think they liked my “calculations” of the cost of their vacations.
They kept looking at my questionnaire on which I had noted my last three vacations and total costs of each. They kept saying: look you spent $1,000 on this entire one trip. You could spend $1,500 for eight years and sixteen weeks of trips.
Then in a separate breath, they would say, look only $460 (or sometimes even $299 if it is a hot deal last minute special), for a full week’s stay at a four or five star hotel.
I replied, no it’s $460 plus approximately $150-$300 each trip (a portion of the $21,995 or at lowest $1,500 membership fee), plus you have to get there.
My vacation total on my questionnaire included everything, lasted two weeks, there & back and food, etc.

Also, there is a yearly $99 maintenance fee on top of the membership.

They even tell you your vacation club membership can be used by your friends or sold (but when questioned about selling, this has to be done through an independent broker).

They have been in business 16 years and have 18,000 families as members. I had the audacity to say, that doesn’t sound like very many members for 16 years of business.
About the fourth rep in, said I’ll be right back with a business card. He never returned. Instead, someone else came in with the next best offer.

When it finally came down to my last “no”, they sent in one of the young gals who greeted us at the door to take me to get my prizes.
Now, on the initial telemarketer phone call, we are told that the prize is their way of getting their company known since they don’t advertise in papers, etc., and as a complimentary gift for us coming to hear about their travel agency.
You are given a piece of paper only (two if you arrived early). Both require you to send $16.95 for postage/handling/processing to just an Ontario numbered company. Supposedly, then, you will receive the documentation and info to make arrangements to book your trip(s).
Two nights accommodation plus airfare (but from Buffalo!! = this was never stated in any phone conversation or meeting chats) to one of five destinations.
Also, two nights accommodation (no airfare/travel) to Niagara Falls or several other destinations.

** I do not intend to mail away $16.95 to who knows who just to see if I could actually book a couple nights somewhere.
LET ME KNOW IF ANYBODY RECENTLY DID, AND WHETHER IT WAS LEGIT, AND YOU SUCCESSFULLY TOOK THE FREE HOLIDAY ?? !!

these guys are unbelievable, they called and asked for me (I was stupid and filled out one of those draws).

I said ” I am sorry he is away for two months on business trip” they then asked who I was ” I gave them a fake name” and then they started to sell me.

unbelievable.

stay away, stay away as far as possible.

Thanks for the info. I got called, googled this post and decided what I needed to do – not go.

Sandy, great move contacting TICO. I hope they can do something.

i know realize why this website is called idiot on a stick. obviously this sounds like disgruntled employees bashing a company. i went and looked up the vacation store on the better business bureau and they have a b+ rating same as the bank of montreal and better then canadian tire who has a b-. so anyone falling for this i feel sorry for you.

Today is Jan 14th 2010. I just met with Patricia and all the foresaid blogs are accurate. This is a ridiculous scam, but while I was there they got a sucker umm I mean a member to sign on. It is terrible.The fun thing is that my husband unbeknowst to them is a detective for the 52nd precinct. Oh yeah fraud dept. I;ll let you know.

Thank you everyone for your comments, just got a call from TVS tonight and googled while i was talking to them – I promptly told them I was not interested in their scam!

thanks so much for your comments was going to go today but after reading such bs about this scam….save me my time, my gas and i had a fabulous lunch with my partner….

thanks to site like this intelligent people can be aware of these scammers…..

Everything in the above mentioned emails is true, the phone calls, the presentation site, trophies, latina ladies, shady presenters, posters, websites, food, cubicles, etc.

To make a long story short: my sister+hubby bought into their 5-year trial membership @ 1,500.00 in 2008, and got their member’s folder, which actually is titled :Resort Villa Vacations, located at 690 Rowntree Dairy rd, suite 201 Woodbridge, ON L4L 5T7. The 216 Chrislea address seems to only be their presentation location.

The vacation “prizes” they then received where all so very restricted that they never made it to Cancun, Las Vegas nor Orlando, cause you could only book tue-thursdays, not incl. holidays, and the administration fees were like around $600.00, only to make the “not guaranteed” reservations. Furthermore, the prizes were only 6 months valid!!

When my sister signed up for the travel membership, she was told verbally by those gangsters that she would receive a membership confirmation from them by mail within a week, so that they could still cancel the membership within the 10 days cancellation period. Needless to say, that the “confirmation letter arrived 14 days later and that Roula-witch told her that they’ve surpassed the 10 days cancellation period and were thus bound to their membership agreement. My sister yelled at that woman and said that she would go and stand in front of their presentation site and warn everyone from this scam, but Roula told her that she would sue my sister for blackmailing and trespassing private property. My sister swallowed the humilliation and violation of her dignity, and is now just paying the dues and waiting for the 5 years bond with those money-suckers to be over and never to be associated with TVS, eresortvillas.com, Resort Villa Vacations Club Inc., Bona Vista, nor Triad International ever again.

My sister also mentioned that an other couple had bought into the points programm early into during their “cubicle session’, which wa then ‘celebrated’, however, she now came to the conclusion, that that couple was probably one of the scammers themselves, a tactic to make the whole deal look more ‘attractive’ and less harmful.

My sister+hubby fell for those gangsters after feeling absolutely mentally exhausted after the 4 hours presentation ordeal, and thinking that the 1,500.00 won’t tumble them into financial distress anyway, which it didn’t, but the violation to their dignity was the hardest to swallow.
They’ve since been to a couple of other shady time share/vacation club presentations, just to slam a big fat NO to those shameless scammers after initially enthusiastically giving the scammers some hope of a jackpot sale and wasting all their skills & efforts in the process.

Btw, according to our researches, eresortvillas.com just expanded their “business” with zipartist.com, so beware!

http://www.who.is/whois/zipartist.com/

Also check out:

anthony@eresortvillas.com in

http://www.dialing4deadbeats.net/deadbeatlist.htm

AND LAST BUT NOT least to the MORON JAKE in the posting of Dec. 17:

Please check the Better Business Bureau website again, cause the company “Resort Villas Management Inc.” aka http://www.eresortvillas.com, located at 201 – 690 Rowntree Dairy Rd, Woodbridge, ON L4L 5T7; currently does not have ANY rating at all, see it for yourself at (you idiot, you probably work for those scammers, and the only reason people have probably not filed a complaint, is because they have been humilliated to the core by signing up with you scammers, I hope you all rott in hell):

http://www.bbb.org/kitchener/business-reviews/travel-clubs/resort-villas-management-in-woodbridge-on-12103#

This is definitely a scam….even after telling the guy who called to say we had won these prizes about all these comments…he told us that we could leave our wallet at home and just bring 2 pieces of id…not the case read comments above…it is borderline harassment….and by very ugly ppl that wear a tonne of make up that looks like it was put on with a putty knife…this evening wasted 2 hours of our time because half the ppl from the first session didnt show up…an absolute joke…we finally said we just want to leave and got a gift that would have probably cost us about 2000 or more….dont fall for it…it is just like time share

I received a phone call from TVS. In short I told them That I would go. I called them Back to make sure who they really are, but I got the message: The number is not assigned. Then I checked them an hour before I go On internet and I realized I should not go. No one should go to these idiots.

wow stfu yr invited ,ur greeted by prof dressed girl u listen eat dinner and get some sort of prize let me tell u anyone tht goes most likley didnt cancel on such a special night so stop being so obsesive on stupid shit like this its called a form of advertizment cleary there will be rules and clearly no one will throw at u a vaca worth 1000000$ for sitting for fkn 2 1/2 hours of yr life GET OVER IT MAN!!

- TVS member

All the above is so true. they lure you in saying you are guarenteed to win one of 5 prizes. It was all a scam, and guarenteed that noone has won any grand prizes.

Thank you so much to everyone. I almost wasted precious time going to this “prize-drawing” and I am NOT one to be easily swayed! Oops – a moment of weakness, I suppose.

I really appreciate your comments.

Receive a call last week, decided to go and claim our prize, we knew what we were in for and had our answers figured out ahead of time. – in the waiting room, I filled out the “required” forms and flipped one over and saw the maintenance fees and yearly fee – I circled one and showed my hubby – we just laughed – again I just want my “prize” then when I handed in my form and the girl noticed I had not been informed the presentation was 90 minutes, she asked if I could stay and I said yes (dummy) anyhow, I sat back down and another girl approached with two hangers asking to take my coat, I said no, I’ll keep mine – my husband had on a sweatshirt not a coat, she said there are no coats allowed in the dining room, I advised her that I didn’t want my coat with other coats that may smell of smoke or something and she walked away, then another girl came and got us and took us to a room – she asked about the explaination of the 90 minutes and asked me to fill out a form, so I did, it was my mistake that I thought they said 60 minutes on the phone but I had my notes from the telephone conversation and I checked and I did write down 90 minutes, BUT the address given was wrong – anyhow, I filled it out and got our photocopied information sheets on how to send in for my prize – I have to pay $19.95 – not sure about that from what I have read the fees are crazy – I called the 1-866 # later and they said the policy is no coats in the dining room – what is that about? well, after reading all this I am happy that I did not have to sit through the presentation -

not a good idea to attend – they try to talk you into something that is not that great a dea

“The Vacation Store” is now called “Canadian Value Solutions”.
They have a website too! http://www.canadianvaluesolutions.com
Its funny how the site does not mention their address, just a map with a logo and building name.

They are now operating under a new identity since they were probably not getting any more suckers to come to their “presentation”.
Please spread the word so we shut them down even faster.

They are even going around and posting articles on various blogs thanking “CVS” for a terrific vacation.

Raffi

I just went to the whole presentation, but we were able to get out of there fairly quickly telling them that we just don’t vacation that often to be worthwhile. Did anyone mail $19.95 to them and receive anything in return??? My guess is that you have to pay the taxes on the trip which will likely be the same amount if you bought it yourself.

recently found out from a friend that TVS, the vacation store is now operating under Canadian Value Solutions. They changed their name because TVS was having to many complaints on the internet and with BBB. The company is the same company, same place in Vaughn. So do not be fooled by the change of name.

It’s true! People are catching on so they have changed their name. They are sending out emails to their current list of unfortunate ‘clients’ advising of an addition $149 charge or the membership will be suspended. Keep telling people about them save anyone the trouble of even going over there.

Also since when does FREE mean it cost you 39.90??? We were told we get the trip to Vegas if we attended the dinner..and the only thing we were going to have to pay was the taxes when and if we used the trip. Also for just showing up early, we were told we would get another FREE gift that wouldnt cost us anything. The early bird gift was 3 days, 2 nights at hotel in Niagara Falls, and also dinner for 2 at the Manadrian and 2 movie passes. We get there and after we told them no not interested in buying into their membership..at 18,000 plus 499.00 processing fee…we went to get our free gifts and they give you a piece of paper stating to get the gifts you have to mail in a cheque or money order for 19.95 per voucher, so they make 39.90 on every free gift claimed.. CAn you say SCAM and they should be reported under their new names.

Ok. So here’s how it goes:
My mom got this call from “Canadian Value Solutions” and I was like, ok, it sounds LEGIT. I thought, Mom, why don’t you just hand up? But they sounded real, and they wanted my dad to come to 216 Cris-whatever in Vaughan. I thought, Vaughan? That’s like, WONDERLAND! It’s so far away! My mom asked if they could mail whatever it is to her and they said no, you NEED to be there, and she said she wasn’t available, and we weren’t free and they pushed it till Sunday (which was OK as long as my dad came too ?why?), which I thought was weird. As soon as my mom hung up she told me to go look it up, and that’s what I did. I found their website, which said practically the same thing over and over again but on different pages, so I was ready to confirm my theory that it was a scam. Then I found this and just read through it. Thank God that I did. I love calling random people and telling them off!
I’m going to call them back now because my mom confirmed that she would be there, pose as my mom, and tell them that I’m not interested (and neither is my mom !)
Wish me LUCK !

$@r@h,
A Very Smart 12 Year Old ! ! !

I know most of the posts are re: the trips that were promised upon listening to the presentation….but does anyone have any info about the actual program of the club? Is it good? worth it? etc.

Ok, so I spent the $19.95 to mail the coupon and received back another coupon to register for the trip with a cost of $65 US to book the trip. It says that you will have to pay the taxes for the trip also which is approximately $150 per person (US). So now this FREE VACATION package is costing $365 US + $19.95 CDN.
I would do it, but I am hesitant to pay the $65 if I can’t even book the dates of the trip. (only after you spend the $65 they will see which dates are available)
Anyone get further than me?

The trip is only for 3 days. So

These guys are incredible. I got a call last night telling me that I had filled out a ‘coupon’ at a mall around Christmas time and that I was one of the 175 selected winners. He went on to say that they had mailed out a letter to me about my prize and because I didn’t respond, they were bound by ‘state’ law (I clarified that I lived in Canada and not the US) to call me so I don’t lose out on the prize. I played along while watching TV and the caller quickly passed me along to the Quality Assurance Manager to validate my name and address.

It was soooo painful listening to them (broken English – callingn from India with a bad connection full of static). I kept saying that he could mail it to me and he said that I had to appear in person with my wife so we could be “presented with respect”.

The phone numbers that came up on call display were 1-000-012-3456 and “edata135″ – what’s up with the phone numbers???

I figured I wasted about 20 minutes of their time. I hope they call again – it was fun playing along and asking the same stupid questions over and over again.

Sounds like the Cranberry Resort scam – people still call about that one too!

Hahaha, I just hung up on the guy who called me. He wondered why I wasnt sounding happy on the phone LOL. Google Fun For Life and see what you come up with. I almost got bagged by them. Luckily the next day Silverman was on City TV trying to hunt them down. Thanks for this post!

I’m happy I found this site as I also just got off the phone with Canadian Value Solutions and a rep named “John Walker” (with an Indian accent – I’m not trying to be a jerk here, I have a lot of Indian friends, none of which have names like John ‘johnny’ walker, lol). Anyway, I figured it was a scam since I’m pretty sure I didn’t fill out a coupon to win a free trip. Thanks for all the information!

Got the same call from Canadian Value Solutions offering a free trip to Vegas.
She said I fill in a ballot in a Mall around Christmas time.
Don’t remember doing anything like that. She said I would have to come to their office to claim it and I would have to listen to a presentation on the new company since they do not advertise in the paper etc.. Sounds to good to be true. I told her that your company is selling something.I would have to waste my time listening to the BS that they are scooping. Not Interested. She said “you are giving up your prize”. I replied nothing is free…..

Received the same call from Canadian Value Solutions. Very nice and persistant on the phone. After pondering the thought and knowing it was going to be a time share presentation, we know how to say no as we did with Cranberry Resorts, but had a very nice weekend there, what the hell. Trucked off to Vaughan Trade Centre on a Sunday afternoon (no traffic). When we arrived they gave us a form to fill out. They asked for yearly salaries which we did not reveal. The form also asked where we had been on vacation in the last 5 years, how long was the vacation and how much did the vacation cost, well each of those vacations indicated were free because they were my husbands employee incentive trips. That really shook them up because they had no script for that situation and how could they justify saving us money. They took us into a small office gave us our prize forms telling us we were chosen that day to be excluded from the 90 minute presentation with a quick few words telling us to register for these free trips immediately to get the best times. We were there a total of 15 minutes. I almost sent the $19.95 processing fee until reading all the comments on this site. Whoever started this needs to be commended. Making the cheque payable to an Ontario Inc # should be a giveaway. Anyone can get one of these numbers. I really believe these scammers should not be allowed to operate as I am sure they have received $20+++++.

To Sarah,

Do you still have their number? Thanks

We just got a call from Canadian Value Solutions. Aug 13, 2010. We called them a scam to their faces and then after hanging up, they kept calling back to HARASS US! The BBB is a joke. There is no way of lodging a complaint. Found way more useful info (like here) just by Googling these guys. I am going to call the police on them if they call one more time.

HI All!
They tried to call me many times. Today I got phone call from them. They give me a 5 vacation packages with my choice. I got your company name and checked online for more informations then I found this website. I knew it at begining, I asked them mail all packgage to me. They just hang up. they are fucking scame. If they call me again I would call police because of harrasment.

Just got a call from “Canadian Solutions”. Went through the whole phone process, including booking our 6:40pm appointment at 218 Chrislea Rd, then handed “Johnson” to my husband. (My husband hates sales calls). After getting off the phone with them, he e-mailed me the link to your website. Thanks for the public service!

Just got a call from these guys today. He was very persistant, even when I told him I wasn’t interested in his “free” trip prize. So I looked it up while he was squawking and found this place. Thanks!

Just got off the phone with ” Ontario Solutions”, same crap, I have to choose from 5 prizes. and have to show up with my wife. I think they changed their name again. Here is the phone # 905-7545162.

Man am I glad I read this!!
I got a call some time ago for a short vacation survey/questionnaire; they asked about 3 or 4 questions (how often do you vacation/when was your last vacation/where did you go/how much did it cost) and that was it.
Some time later – several weeks – I received another call; I had participated in a phone survey and had “won” several prizes. In order to claim them I’d have to come with my wife to a presentation; as the woman heard my boys playing in the background she informed me that they had no baby-sitting services and could not bring the kids to the presentation (for somereason this point was repeated over and over, almost as much as the dress code was repeated). Anyway, after explaining that my wife and I work opposite shifts and could not attend in the evening the lady offered me a weekend appointment. We had plans that weekend so she asked about the following weekend – that was out because I was supposed to be working. After making an excuse and getting off of the phone, I thought I was done.
Let me state here that unlike many of the previuos posts, the woman I was dealing with on the phone was perfectly pleasant and personable – the only knock I’d have is the apparent urgency/desperation with which she was trying to book an appointment.
Anyway a few more weeks later we got another call and my wife answered. She got excited about some of the freebies offered just for showing up, like tickets to 2 theatre shows in Toronto and a ## night stay in Niagara Falls – long story short (or is it already too late for that?) we decided to go, figuring there was some scam but at least figuring we could get the theatre tickets and sell them online or give them to friends. So we made our way one Saturday morning to 216 Chrislea for Canadian Value Solutions (although I believe the name on the sign was slightly different) and made our way up to the 2nd floor. We were told on the phone that we had to be there 15 minutes early (10:45am) in order to claim the early prize (the Niagara Falls trip). Well we were there at 10:40 and the young girls outsied the elevators seemed surprised that we were already there. Anyway we were given some “very official looking documents/forms” to fill out asking for basic information and again asking about vacation history and plans.
While we were doing this they turned on the music and my wife and I could barely hear each other. My wife asked one of the girls if they could turn down the music and she looked confused and told us she would “go and see”. After the music was turned down slightly, we started to read some more detail on the sheets. Ater listing some of the prizes/trips available to us, it was written that several things were not included such as local taxes, processing fees, gratuities, etc, etc, etc. My wife called the girl over again and asked what these fees were for and how much they were? Again she seemed flustered by the questions and our doubting attitude and told us she’d ask. During all of this several more couples had arrived and were filling out forms and talking. I noticed 2 couples were approached by representatives and lead off into one of the 2 “theatres” there (as labelled by signs over the doors of the meeting rooms). Then another young female representative came to us and asked us to follow her to another room – she lead us back past the elevators and opened a door into a small room that had a sliding window to the next room which she quickly went into herself. She informed us that we had been pre-approved for the rewards and didn’t have to attend the 90-minute show. She presented us with one sheet which was the form for the Niagara Falls trip, explained that we’d have to mail it and the processing fee of $19.95 with a self-addressed stamped envelope within 1 month to 1673853 Ontario Inc. (described as ‘An Ontario Marketing Cmpany’) 7700 Pine Valley Dr Box 72029 Woodbridge, ON L4L 2X0.
After asking me if I was a teacher (apparantly because I looked familiar to her), she grabbed another form with whicj we could claim another trip instead of the show tickets – we thought the round-trip airfare & hotel vacation to either Las Vegas/Reno/Orlando/Los Angeles/New Orleans/Cancun/Puerto Vallarta could fetch a bigger fee online than the theatre tickets so we agreed to the switch. This one also instructed us to send $19.95, etc to the same address.
After a little more small talk (only a minute or so), she politely thanked us for our time and reminded us that we didn’t need to stay for the 90-minute show. We took the stairs down so we wouldn’t have to wait for the elevator and maybe draw someone else’s attetion and decided we’d make the 5 minute drive to Canada’s Wonderland and had a great day together!

Afer reading all of the above, I think I have to thank my lucky stars that we were pre-approved for the prizes. Looking back now I guess some of our answers on their forms weren’t sufficient for their purposes, or after my wife kept asking questions they passed us off as a lost-cause.

I’m just glad that we are classic procrastinators and did not get around to sending off reservation forms with processing fees. We figured there was still more of a catch, but for $40 and the cost of a few stamps, we were considering it as an acceptable potential loss.

Now we’re thankful we didn’t go any further with this ourselves, even more thankful we didn’t pass this on to any of our friends/relatives and really thankful we didn’t try to sell these online to some other unsuspecting person and thus become part of the scam ourselves.

Anyway, lesson learned. As I keep telling my wife, if it sounds too goo to be true, then it probably is; you’ll never get something for nothing. You’ll always pay in the end.

from your loving wife… still going to try to get everything for free… and when did you find the time to write this out????

Wow! Story after story. That’s crazy and they’re not shut down yet. There’s something wrong with that. It makes no sense. They’re in Canada now scamming people too. Maybe the BBB will stop them. I’ll have to contact them and see. I can atleast try.

I’m really happy that i found this site.

I just a call at 10pm (!!) from Canadian Value Solutions claiming that my wife had entered a ballot at any of the 60 ballot locations around Toronto. Anyhow, he gave me the address 218 Chrislea, told me to leave my credit card at home… blah blah blah. Told me about the prizes, explained to me how i would claim the prizes…

Best part about the whole call was when he told me what his name was. That’s when i realized it was a scam. Our caller had a thick indian accent and he told me his name was “David White… like the colour white”.

Now if that’s not a scam, i don’t know what is.

BEWARE OF CANADIAN VALUE SOLUTIONS.

I just visit them on Saturday!
What a joke!they believe i’ll give them 19.95 to a company which name doesn’t exist!
Please all of you don’t even respond to their phone calls!
I’m just wondering oif someone went to their “free vacations”?