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We Got Scammed into a FREE Bahamas Vacation

  Рет қаралды 17,113

AikenAdventures

AikenAdventures

Күн бұрын

Пікірлер: 107
@mirandasapphire8203
@mirandasapphire8203 7 ай бұрын
Thank you so much for sharing your experience! This helped me understand what this "free" trip truly entails. I filled out a slip identical to the one you shared on the screen at the mall in Monroe, Louisiana, back in early May. I received a text today saying I won, and here I am, researching because it felt scammy. We also have two children who would be coming along with us. Thanks again for the warning. I'm genuinely sorry you all dealt with all of that stress on top of the financial burden resulting from a supposedly free vacation.
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 7 ай бұрын
We ended up having an enjoyable time and perhaps it was significantly cheaper than if we had booked the same trip ourselves, but the marketing feels a little like a bait and switch. It is weird how this trip weighed on us for a number of years, though, we were kind of glad to get it out of the way-such a weird way to feel about a vacation! 🤪😂
@lukek2068
@lukek2068 Ай бұрын
So glad I found this video and your channel!! I am currently in a similar situation where I have been on the fence with this vacation for nearly 3 years now!! Crazy how hard it’s been to find real reviews and videos of people who have actually gone. This makes me feel much better about proceeding with the payments and gets ride of my worry’s about it being a “scam” and them taking all the money leaving me stranded
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures Ай бұрын
Right. At least it really does result in an actual trip with an actual stay even if the marketing is just a little deceptive.
@lukek2068
@lukek2068 Ай бұрын
I would also love to connect with the KZbinrs here over the comments or email to understand their checkin process and if they were able to call in and confirm their reservation. Or if you have to blindly trust Easton vacations ( I have trust issues 😂)
@cjoi
@cjoi 7 күн бұрын
Thank you this video!!!
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 7 күн бұрын
You’re welcome! Hope it helps.
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 7 күн бұрын
Did you get “selected” as a “winner”?
@cjoi
@cjoi 5 күн бұрын
Yes ​@@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 5 күн бұрын
@cjoi do you think you will pay the fees and go on the trip?
@roseannameagher7832
@roseannameagher7832 7 ай бұрын
My "free" trip is in August. I got everything paid for and I'm excited non the less. I'm glad I found your video. It helped with knowing what to expect.
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 7 ай бұрын
You know, it’s not that bad of a deal really. It’s not “free,” typically races have to be paid on ANYTHING that is “won.”
@cristinacarvalho6798
@cristinacarvalho6798 6 ай бұрын
WHAT DAY IN AUGUST IM GOING JULY 30 TILL AUGUST 1
@nancywells5626
@nancywells5626 8 ай бұрын
I love the hand's free bucket. LOL Thank you for sharing your video.
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 8 ай бұрын
Hey! Always great to hear from you! Thanks for all your support! By “hands free” are you referring to the fact that we weren’t holding the camera for most of this video?
@nancywells5626
@nancywells5626 8 ай бұрын
@@AikenAdventures I was referring to Pierce wearing the green sand bucket on his head with the handle as a neck strap. He can carry the bucket on his head and not depend on carrying the bucket by the handle with his hands.
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 8 ай бұрын
@@nancywells5626 oh yeah, that makes more sense. 🤪 he LOVED wearing that bucket as a hat. 🤦🏻‍♂️ 🤣
@isaacdillon630
@isaacdillon630 2 ай бұрын
I still don’t know, I entered in this drawing and received a text today saying I had “won”. I was a bit skeptical (as one should be in these types of situations) so I called them to ask for more information. The guy I talked to wasn’t the friendliest. He tried to get me to pay the registration fee right away but I had to tell him I’m no place to at the moment and don’t even know who my guest would be if I did go (I’m in no place for a vacation at the moment being a college student with a thousand different commitments). He just told me to call them back when I was ready and hung up as I was talking. I’m going to do more research on the company and other’s experiences with this before I go any further.
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 2 ай бұрын
I understand. The vacation is real and I guess it’s still less than you might otherwise pay, but with all the taxes and fees, it’s not really “free.”
@carlacardozo955
@carlacardozo955 8 ай бұрын
Oh boy. That was some trip. I love the sit down style video, I would love to see that with recommendations and ideas as well, I love the vlogs but this format is very informative too.
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 8 ай бұрын
Thanks for the feedback. Yeah, for this video, we felt like we needed to be able to take a little different approach in order to tell the whole story!
@christinesmith2385
@christinesmith2385 7 ай бұрын
This video sounds more like you had bad timing and apparently just had a normal "post hurricane" lodging situation. Most of this video is about all the fun you had. The company charged you exactly what you were told you'd have to pay for. The excessive fees ended up happening because you kept delaying, they had problems after the hurricane, and when you FINALLY got to go you had fun. You really should change the video title to "we had problems getting our vacation going, and then we had fun".
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 7 ай бұрын
Sounds about right. Would you have clicked that video title? Also, we did make the best of the situation as we always try to do, but it is kind of a sly marketing practice to make people think they “won” a trip that’s actually going to cost them thousands and everyone who fills out a form is a winner…. So… sorry, not sorry…
@christinesmith2385
@christinesmith2385 7 ай бұрын
@@AikenAdventures I absolutely would have clicked on something that was like, "The real story behind "You Won" travel". As it was, I found another video that was far more balanced and only talked about what you get vs. what you would have spent if you'd gone on the same vacation on your own. Your experience was far more about all your delays and life got in the way, and then oh by the way, we had a ton of fun and has about 20 seconds at the very end of the video that admits you would've spent more if you'd done this. Your experience had a lot of bad luck involved and family planning issues, NOT that the company did something nefarious. And btw, I only watched your video because someone posted the link on a FB page that asked whether the "free trip" was a scam in my local community page. I wasted 14:06 of my time, PLUS the ads, finding out that indeed they gave you thousands of dollars off your trip and you even had fun, but you had bad luck with the hurricane, COVID, and then family planning problems. Most of the extra fees and delays you experienced were first Acts of God that they can't control, and then you having to postpone due to children being born. ((Shrug)) Not really Truth in Advertising on YOUR part either. That's why I suggest changing the title...you WERE NOT SCAMMED. Thank you.
@thepotentialu
@thepotentialu 7 ай бұрын
39.98 account set up fee 279.96 cruise administration fee 258.00 port and services fee Total = 577.94 Did you get to $2,733 because you added your kids not because there was more charges? It sounds like technically my wife and I could take the trip for $577.94 + food, drink, and lift rides. So all and all it could be $1,500-2,000?
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 6 ай бұрын
Fees Breakdown $50 change fee (because we had to postpone) $278 port and service fees $350 additional guests $425.95 resort fees $899.90 resort fees $152 resort taxes $258 port and service fees $39.98 account set up $279.96 cruise admin fees Some of the fees were the result of bringing our children with us. I do recall that some of those fees were due at the time we selected which resort we were going to visit, so I think the $425.95. I think that the $899.90 and the $350 were because of the children.
@kaytiikaboom702
@kaytiikaboom702 5 ай бұрын
Probably flights
@kaitlyn4240
@kaitlyn4240 3 ай бұрын
@@AikenAdventures very informative thank you won the same exact trip and want to bring the kids as well definitely cool we found this video!
@jos6878
@jos6878 8 ай бұрын
Thanks for sharing! Yeah, I think we all are looking for frugal, family fun. So, our attention is piqued when we see the word FREE! 😂
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 8 ай бұрын
Truthfully, I guess we only paid the taxes, and we probably wouldn’t have considered taking this trip if it hadn’t been for the way it was marketed to us, so it all worked out, but we almost felt like we were just glad to “check this off the list” so to speak, so we could finally move on. It felt like this ways just looming over us for a while. Cool thing about this trip, though, is that a pastor showed us around town so we got to experiment with highlighting a ministry on this trip (more videos coming soon), which is something we’d like to lean into more in the future with potentially more international trips.
@toot0107
@toot0107 7 ай бұрын
We did the same thing a year or so ago and we're about to go on our trip. Imagine paying for airfare to get to Florida on top of all those taxes and fees 😮‍💨
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 7 ай бұрын
Wow! Glad we didn’t have to book plane tickets to take this vacation!
@karlafranco-ti4ge
@karlafranco-ti4ge 7 ай бұрын
I felt SCAMMED watching this video 😩
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 7 ай бұрын
🤷🏻‍♂️
@katarinatina6802
@katarinatina6802 3 ай бұрын
Me too!!!!!! Horrible title just for views 🥵🥵
@MarkTrades__
@MarkTrades__ 7 ай бұрын
Great piece of advice these days is always, "If something is free, YOU are the Product"
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 7 ай бұрын
That’s so true! Once we went to a vacation club presentation, and one of the sales reps kept going and asking someone else for advice, so I asked if we could just speak to the person to while she was reporting. He came over and yelled at us about how he had spent $X for us to be there and that we were going to sit there and listen to the presentation. Of course we weren’t going to buy that!
@stugooden7826
@stugooden7826 8 ай бұрын
We filled out that exact same card at the mall and “won” the Bahamas deal too. Still haven’t followed up on it… nice to see it is legit
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 8 ай бұрын
We suspect that everyone “wins.” Although, we can’t say for sure.
@travisbuck4571
@travisbuck4571 7 ай бұрын
Just got the text hours ago. We won 🧐 they sent us a screenshot in the text of my card. It says 4 days, 3 nights in the Bahamas. Representative that text me back said 5 days, 4 nights.... Off to a bad start already 😂 appreciate the info!
@stugooden7826
@stugooden7826 7 ай бұрын
@@travisbuck4571 hope it works out!
@gabrielarodriguez3929
@gabrielarodriguez3929 7 ай бұрын
@@AikenAdventuresmy whole family filled it out and I was the only one who “won”
@jacobwilliams1356
@jacobwilliams1356 6 ай бұрын
@@AikenAdventures my girlfriend submitted and won, I lost and we have 2 different last names and shes not on social media so I am guessing every mall has a winner
@LacieSnay
@LacieSnay 6 ай бұрын
We are supposed to be going on this trip this coming March 2025 and we did add our kids as well. I’m always nervous when it comes to taking my kids anywhere though. We payed the $87 free or whatever it was for each kid but did you guys have to pay more to have them at the hotel once you got to the Bahamas? Also did you need passports?
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 6 ай бұрын
We took passports for ourselves, but birth certificates were fine for the children. I’m pretty certain that we paid all of the fees prior to arrival and weren’t require to pay anything else upon arrival except for the taxi.
@AngieCJ77
@AngieCJ77 Ай бұрын
My friend did too but got this message recently "Barbara, an issue has developed that is interfering with our ability to book your cruise portion of your cruise and hotel stay vacation. The US Customs and Border Protection has just taken the position to alter The Cruise lines ability to do cruise and stays starting January 1,2025. US citizens have always legally been allowed to cruise over to the Bahamas, disembark the cruise ship, stay in the Bahamas, and return on the same cruise ship with just a birth certificate and state issued ID. The new regional director of the US Customs and Border Protection In June of 2024 changed the requirements. Passengers were still allowed to do cruise and stay, but a passport was all of a sudden required and has been since June." Did you get same?
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures Ай бұрын
@AngieCJ77 we did have passports BUT birth certificates and IDs were allowed at the time. Didn’t know about that change.
@Entertainmify
@Entertainmify 2 ай бұрын
What name of the company ?
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 2 ай бұрын
Don’t remember. There might be a few travel companies that do this…. 🥴
@BootsTheGrayCat123
@BootsTheGrayCat123 Ай бұрын
Trip assurance booking, total scam
@annefernandez2452
@annefernandez2452 8 ай бұрын
How did you get out of the presentation i have one in June in orlando and want some tips.
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 8 ай бұрын
It wasn’t required for this trip. They just offered it to us for another “free” 7-night vacation, so we just told them that we don’t think it would be a good idea for us to attend since I no longer handle the sales presentations very well.
@johndefalque5061
@johndefalque5061 8 ай бұрын
Time share torture! I fell for a "free vacation', but when I called to book, I sussed out that there was no free.
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 8 ай бұрын
There’s always a fee of some kind! I guess technically most of these fees are standard resort fees, taxes, etc., and $800 was for bringing our kids along, but there was DEFINITELY a cost.
@rkenzie5235
@rkenzie5235 8 ай бұрын
I loved paradise cove!!!! I went there as an independent shore excursion! So fun and worth it!
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 7 ай бұрын
We heard mixed reviews, but it was one of our favorite things from the whole week!
@rhondalockrey9592
@rhondalockrey9592 8 ай бұрын
It seemed the delays did add up to higher costs then maybe it would of been. Its great you did get a trip out of it because I use to work for a company that traded peoples timeshare rooms to go other places. Some people just never kept up on payments to even use their timeshare & got nothing. It was a win you got a trip & didnt buy timeshare lol
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 8 ай бұрын
Very true, and $800 of the whole thing was adding our children which wasn’t a part of the original agreement. All-in-all, we actually had a good trip, but we were glad to finally get this one out of the way, so to speak.
@babymomma20111
@babymomma20111 6 ай бұрын
If you didn't extend your trip multiple times as well as add people to said trip it wouldn't cost you thousands. Also, it specifically says you have to pay for resort fees travel expenses and taxes. Your video is helpful, but you didn't get scammed into a free trip, read the small print. The title of your video is completely misleading.
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 6 ай бұрын
We enjoyed our trip. Kinda glad to get it out of the way. Have you also “won” the “free” trip?
@VonnaHussein
@VonnaHussein 8 ай бұрын
Hi, I live outside of Daytona. May I ask what the name of the restaurant you went to? It looks beautiful
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 8 ай бұрын
Actually, we borrowed b-roll from a Mexican Restaurant we visited in Gainesville, FL. We didn’t have our KZbin channel in 2019, so we didn’t used to take videos of every place we went in those days and don’t have a video of the exact restaurant, but we thought some b-roll would help us tell the story better. Hope that makes sense.
@VonnaHussein
@VonnaHussein 8 ай бұрын
@@AikenAdventures absolutely, thank you so much for the reply. We love your channel
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 8 ай бұрын
@@VonnaHussein thanks so much for watching and commenting! So great to hear from you!
@kaytiikaboom702
@kaytiikaboom702 5 ай бұрын
I paid a little less than 800 in total.. I’m going in January.. I went on the boat and the resort already paid outright.. but that was only on a day pass through margaritaville and the trip was only 3 days.. So I’m excited for longer
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 5 ай бұрын
Honestly, the price isn’t too bad. It’s not free, BUT it’s still pretty inexpensive for what it is.
@erikmolnar6585
@erikmolnar6585 2 ай бұрын
If you ever go to college and take Macroeconomics 1301... one of the things you should learn... "Nothing is ever Free"
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 2 ай бұрын
Yep!
@AngieCJ77
@AngieCJ77 Ай бұрын
I am here on behalf of a friend. Her friend won, identical slip but she cant go and she was told she could give it to a friend so she did. My friend is currently trying to research and has already paid $278. I was helping her research and it seems quite scammy. It's clearly not free and may not even be worth what shes already paid. HOWEVER, recently she got a message stating "an issue has developed that is interfering with our ability to book your cruise portion of your cruise and hotel stay vacation. The US Customs and Border Protection has just taken the position to alter The Cruise lines ability to do cruise and stays starting January 1,2025. US citizens have always legally been allowed to cruise over to the Bahamas, disembark the cruise ship, stay in the Bahamas, and return on the same cruise ship with just a birth certificate and state issued ID. The new regional director of the US Customs and Border Protection In June of 2024 changed the requirements. Passengers were still allowed to do cruise and stay, but a passport was all of a sudden required and has been since June." Anyone else? if so please let us know. She has been through so much recently, and this is the last thing she deserves is to be scammed out of something that sounded amazing.
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures Ай бұрын
I can’t seem to find information online confirming the new statement. Most sources I’ve found seem to indicate that presently birth certificates with state ID are acceptable when cruising to the Bahamas. Thanks for putting this on our radar. We will keep an eye out.
@lukek2068
@lukek2068 Ай бұрын
Hi! I actually have been in the fence for this vacation for the past couple years fearing that it is a scam. BUT the fact that there’s videos like this and that there’s years of history of Easton Vacations having this “free vacation” makes me feel better. I too revived the notice and am honestly really happy to hear about the cruise issue. Now we are being awarded extra days at the actual vacation (mines viva Futuna)
@lukek2068
@lukek2068 Ай бұрын
They also seem to be working on getting the two days on a cruise added to another trip as an addition (yes this means more fees for a longer stay). Unfortunately they aren’t refunding the $320 I paid for the nights on the Oringinal 2 days but it makes me feel more secure that this is a legitimate travel agency. Rn I’m currently looking at about $1500 total for 2 at the Bahamas, not counting air travel to get there. Overall feeling much better now knowing that I don’t need to stay on a low rated cruise and can go straight to the resort
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures Ай бұрын
Definitely not free, but certainly a cheap vacation! Hope you enjoy!
@DawgyJones
@DawgyJones 2 ай бұрын
After all my research I’ve been doing man I’d rather person just drive to a sweet Florida beach and stay for about a week. There is so much to do in Florida why even go anywhere else and waste money on the unknown
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 2 ай бұрын
We had a great time on this trip, but Florida certainly has so many things to do!
@xpallodoc1147
@xpallodoc1147 8 ай бұрын
Seems like a pretty awesome trip but you did not win a free trip. Those things are usually some type of scam. A did do a vacation points package time share presentation of course said no and got a 100% free vacation which was pretty good.
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 8 ай бұрын
We have sat through numerous timeshare presentations, and at this point, we just decline to even do trips like that because I get a little combative now, so since I know I can’t handle it, I just don’t even go there. Don’t like the high pressure sales. But we have previously enjoyed some fun trips while doing those things.
@justinetaylor1946
@justinetaylor1946 6 ай бұрын
So me and my husband just won the same thing this more 2x times he got a text so did I so we called and paid the fee I also recorded it to be same everything looks real but i guess we will look more into it…… I’ll follow back up**
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 6 ай бұрын
You will legitimately get the vacation they promise, so in that way, it’s not a scam. Just a tricky marketing gimmick. You will just have to pay taxes and resort fees, which is pretty standard for “winning” stuff.
@emma.s.1
@emma.s.1 8 ай бұрын
I went to that resort last April
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 8 ай бұрын
Did you enjoy it? What was your experience like?
@emma.s.1
@emma.s.1 8 ай бұрын
@@AikenAdventures it was okay, same experience as you, it wasn’t that good but really beautiful
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 8 ай бұрын
@emma.s.1 yeah, the rooms weren’t that great, but we enjoyed everything else.
@TappedOutTravel
@TappedOutTravel 7 ай бұрын
Glad you all turned a bad situation into a much better vacation. loved that video! Safe travels and god bless!
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 7 ай бұрын
Life turns out best for those who make the best of how life turns out!
@Thegeodashking
@Thegeodashking 4 ай бұрын
So it is not free?
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 4 ай бұрын
You have to pay taxes and fees.
@donnaryland2777
@donnaryland2777 7 ай бұрын
THANKS FOR THIS VIDEO. ME MY SON AN DAUGHTER ALL 3 WON' OUR BAHAMA VACATIONS YESTERDAY MORNING. I FILLED OUT THE CARD ON MAY 2. ONE FOR EVERYONE MY KIDS. GRANDDAUGHTER AN NEICE SISTER. WOKE YESTERDAY TO ALL 3 US WINNERS!! WE KNEW IT WAS A SCAM INSTANTLY. EXACT SAME PINK CARD U R SHOWING THERE
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 7 ай бұрын
So funny that everyone “WON!” That’s what we suspected is that, with the fees, etc., everyone could be a winner and they wouldn’t be taking a loss.
@jade_lowerlash
@jade_lowerlash 7 ай бұрын
this just saved me so much money, thank you guys!!
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 7 ай бұрын
Glad to help!
@princetta
@princetta 6 ай бұрын
I “won” one of these a few years and I had a bad feeling so I didn’t go through with it! I’m sorry this happened to y’all! 😢
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 6 ай бұрын
Glad we could help you make the decision that was right for you.
@Darksagan
@Darksagan 2 ай бұрын
Doesnt seem like a scam just not so upfront practices as far as the taxes.
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 2 ай бұрын
Yep, pretty misleading… 🤔
@darrylprince827
@darrylprince827 6 ай бұрын
Sorry y'all got tooken😢but nothing is free 😢
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 6 ай бұрын
I guess that we could have just not paid the fees, and they did provide a vacation in exchange for the payments, so 🤷🏻‍♂️ it is what it is. The marketing is a little shady, BUT we had a good time. We’re kind of glad we finally took the trip and can move on. 😅
@Theoneandonly-ir1je
@Theoneandonly-ir1je 7 ай бұрын
4 1/2 mins into the video and you finish get the review
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 7 ай бұрын
👍🏽
@ThatsMyBlackOpinion
@ThatsMyBlackOpinion 4 ай бұрын
I can't get through even a third of this video with the annoying background music
@AikenAdventures
@AikenAdventures 4 ай бұрын
Thanks for the feedback
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