Vacation Operator Ordered to Cease Telemarketing Efforts
A federal court yesterday ordered a travel firm that promoted vacation packages through telemarketing to cease marketing travel products and pay $20,000 for consumer redress to settle fraud charges.The California-based company, Holiday Plus Travel, also must post a $200,000 bond before conducting any future telemarketing. The Federal Trade Commission charged the company with using deceptive claims in its telemarketing campaigns.
Holiday Plus generated leads by inviting consumers to fill out contest entry forms at public events. Telemarketers later contacted consumers who signed up.
Consumers were offered travel packages for an "incidental" fee of $350 to $399. However, the company failed to disclose until after consumers paid the fee that they must pay other fees as well and that no refunds would be available.
In addition to the bond requirement and redress money, Holiday Plus was required to submit to standard monitoring and reporting requirements.
