if the promise of free airplane tickets
arrived at your doorstep tomorrow you
might think it was a holiday miracle or
proof you are definitely on the nice
list this year when it happened to us we
were skeptical and decided to track down
this free vacation guess what happened
here's ABC's chief business and
economics correspondent Rebecca Jarvis
tis the season for giving and traveling
so in to free airline tickets anywhere
in the country plus two nights at a
hotel show up in the mailbox it may seem
like holiday cheer just gonna go in and
ask them a couple of questions tonight
we're on a mission
tracking the anatomy of a free vacation
run around so where's our dresses our
story starts here a couple of months ago
so almond got this note where our then
executive producer received a letter
congratulating him on a dream vacation
that says in addition you will receive
two nights at any one of our over 1,000
Marriott hotel locations the retail
value of this award is up to one
thousand three hundred and ninety eight
dollars sounds pretty good there was
just one problem when we googled the
phone number we were supposed to call we
got this complaints and lots of them
from people who received letters just
like this one and it all goes back to
that phone number that we're about to
call right now so we decided to schedule
an appointment with this mystery company
I received a letter in the mail telling
me to call this number about some free
tickets to claim our free trip it sounds
like you're telling me if I come I stay
for the 90-minute presentation I get two
tickets sounds like a good deal on the
day we sent to ABC news producers
wearing hidden cameras but you tuned to
attend the seminar and pick up those
free tickets if you look at this inside
it's actually a camera the location in
Brooklyn New York
well good afternoon everybody doing the
seminar kicks off with James
congratulating the group on being
invited whatever gifts will promise to
you for coming out today you're all
going to receive it whether you join
here today at that because this is a
presentation of Bob vacation and travel
what we find is a relentless sales pitch
that lasts more than 90 minutes one
nickel not suggested you don't buy but
everybody in this room sounds like
you've done a little travel so you will
be very impressed with what I'm here
with you at the conclusion of the
seminar James's associates come in to
close the sale for vacation packages
that cost thousands of dollars you know
we think we're just gonna not sign up
I'm sorry but that doesn't seem to make
a difference as it becomes apparent our
producers are not willing to sign up
they're moved to three different
locations with three different
salespeople each trying to get us to
sign up over two hours after we walk in
the door were still empty-handed we're
eventually given these vouchers for a
free trip so far our free trip has only
cost us the two hours we spent at the
seminar but there's more to get the
actual vouchers we have to send in money
that's not a trip well it's an
activation form can be sent in 150
dollars only to get more offers asking
for more money an activation form that's
right 15 days after sending in our
activation form we didn't get tickets in
the mail but instead a solicitation for
more money it's been about two months
now since we first
but PPV travel in Long Island now we've
tracked them down in New Jersey and
we're gonna go meet them at one of those
90-minute presentations so we can ask
them a few questions we understand that
they're in the basement right now
preparing to give one of these
presentations that we've already visited
we know basically what happens inside
and we're just gonna go in and ask them
a couple of questions when we first
walked in we saw some of the same
familiar faces from that first seminar
how are you I'm Rebecca Jarvis with ABC
News but they quickly left leaving us
with this guy who calls himself thorne
I'm just gonna ask a couple of quick
questions at the presentation we were
told again that we had qualified for
this complimentary travel right and then
we were asked to pay a hundred and fifty
dollars for that travel we did pay the
money but instead of getting any kind of
complimentary travel instead we were
sent these is this is this a ticket
these are the certificates from the
third party marketing company so does
that is that a ticket is that my
complimentary travel over the next 20
minutes thorne dodges question after
question and can't seem to explain why
that free trip costs so much money but
again I'm not seeing any free tickets
nothing complimentary here where the
complimentary tickets I'll be forward
with we give a 90-minute presentation if
you attended a presentation then this
forum was signed the company claims that
the free gifts are fulfilled by an
outside company and they're not
responsible for fulfilling the trip okay
I'll be frank with you again that's what
this says you were promised gifts my
third party provider the New York
Attorney General says third party
companies can be a sign of trouble these
companies managed to evade prosecution
and make it harder for officers like
mine to track them down by changing
their names of changing the descriptions
we sent in the money we got these then
we were told if you want the ticket you
have to pay an activation fee for $59 a
person which was identified that's a lot
of injury yeah it was the form that you
were promised become yeah
if you read the small print on the back
thorn admits that you have to jump
through hoops you have to jump through
hoops or complementary you jump through
for us how many hoops did you jump
through just an estimation to put in
fact like you now these in follow the
instructions provided all instructions
are followed for instance you've got
these as long as you follow these
individual instructions you will receive
two round-trip airline tickets anywhere
in the contents United States as
promised Thorne requested a second
interview in his offices but neither he
nor anyone else from PPV travel ever got
back to us thanks so we still don't have
that complimentary hotel stay or those
complimentary tickets that we were
promised and now we've been offered a
new deal but that's what we've got in
front of us right now a new opportunity
to do more business with this company
but still no tickets no hotel none of
the complimentary stuff that we were
promised up front if someone is calling
you up or emailing you or writing you a
letter with something that seems too
good to be true it probably is not true
for Nightline I'm Rebecca Jarvis in New
York