'Too good to be true' deals
Courtney Kaminski
Issue date: 9/11/07 Section: Focus
Basil Murphy writes a blog called Non-Essential, where he usually posts about movies he sees, places he goes, and his everyday life with his dog Eva. The majority of his blogs get a smattering of comments from regular readers and friends, but one in particular has accumulated a surprising 124 comments. It is about a company called Club Par Excellance.
On Oct. 23, 2006, Murphy wrote about his experience going to a vacation club presentation with a friend of his, after getting a call saying that he had filled out a ballot for a $1000 gift card. He remembered filling out the ballot and the company said that he had not won the free gift card, but he had won one of five free trips instead; he just needed to go to their office to draw his prize.
"When I got the call [I wasn't sure], I'm generally skeptical about these things," said Murphy. "Usually it's never as good as it seems. As I said in the post, I called my friend Tammy [Blair] who had heard of similar things. They pitch you on some package, and in return you get a free prize."
Blair went to the presentation with Murphy because the prizes were only open to couples and you had to be at least 27-years-old. The presentation which was only supposed to last one hour to 90 minutes, lasted three hours, with the pair not buying the vacation club membership in the end.
The two were deterred by a few instances that made them question the legitimacy of the package and the company itself.
"I was pretty much sold on the idea until they couldn't show me some basic things," Murphy said. "For example, in the question and answer phase about the savings you get on day-to-day items, I told them I see a lot of movies. They told me I could buy cheap tickets [using my membership]. I asked them to show me the coupons I would use - the actual ones. They have a Web site where you print them. All I saw were US coupons for AMC theatres. Their assurances that there were Canadian coupons for Cineplex Odeon or Famous Players didn't sit well with me. If you have them, why not show them to me?"
On Oct. 23, 2006, Murphy wrote about his experience going to a vacation club presentation with a friend of his, after getting a call saying that he had filled out a ballot for a $1000 gift card. He remembered filling out the ballot and the company said that he had not won the free gift card, but he had won one of five free trips instead; he just needed to go to their office to draw his prize.
"When I got the call [I wasn't sure], I'm generally skeptical about these things," said Murphy. "Usually it's never as good as it seems. As I said in the post, I called my friend Tammy [Blair] who had heard of similar things. They pitch you on some package, and in return you get a free prize."
Blair went to the presentation with Murphy because the prizes were only open to couples and you had to be at least 27-years-old. The presentation which was only supposed to last one hour to 90 minutes, lasted three hours, with the pair not buying the vacation club membership in the end.
The two were deterred by a few instances that made them question the legitimacy of the package and the company itself.
"I was pretty much sold on the idea until they couldn't show me some basic things," Murphy said. "For example, in the question and answer phase about the savings you get on day-to-day items, I told them I see a lot of movies. They told me I could buy cheap tickets [using my membership]. I asked them to show me the coupons I would use - the actual ones. They have a Web site where you print them. All I saw were US coupons for AMC theatres. Their assurances that there were Canadian coupons for Cineplex Odeon or Famous Players didn't sit well with me. If you have them, why not show them to me?"
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