An Australian-based company selling cheap but worthless travel packages has found its way to Dunedin.
The company, Holiday Fever Club, is a web-based travel company offering holiday packages to customers in the form of memberships.
Four membership options are available and start from $A99 ($NZ125).
Each membership comes with "bonus" vouchers which the customer can redeem either for meals or free accommodation in one of the hotels listed on the company's website.
However, Consumer.org revealed the vouchers were useless and most hotels were not aware of the deal.
A chain hotel in Rotorua said the vouchers were of no value because "it was just an introduction to the hotel" and it was under no obligation to honour the vouchers.
John McGlashan College guidance counsellor Gary Shields said he was recently telephoned by the company's representative.
"A guy saying he's from Melbourne was offering me cheap holiday deals, where I could buy a night of accommodation for $150 and have the next night free," he said.
It was the cheap "too good to be true" deals which sent alarm bells ringing for Mr Shields.
"They were quite pushy. They kept calling back. They wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. They even got rude when you declined. Two of my colleagues have been targeted," he said.
A search on the internet suggests Holiday Fever Club has been around since 2007, as shown in an entry by blogger hoigi on her Xanga site.
In an entry dated August 2007, she wrote about receiving a "disturbing" phone call from a Sydney-based company offering her a holiday package at $A199 for 12 complimentary nights of accommodation.
People replied to her and shared similar experiences about getting phone calls from a very persistent "Annie" or "Joseph" offering cheap holiday deals and then being asked for credit card details.
The company does not list a telephone number on its website and all inquiries are directed to a P. O. Box address.
Consumer.org is asking consumers to ring the Commerce Commission if they have purchased unredeemable "free" vouchers or discounted holidays.
- Michele Ong
