We Got Scammed into a FREE Bahamas Vacation

[@christinesmith2385]

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]

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]

@@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.

[@mirandasapphire8203]

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]

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! 🤪😂

[@roseannameagher7832]

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]

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]

WHAT DAY IN AUGUST IM GOING JULY 30 TILL AUGUST 1

[@babymomma20111]

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]

We enjoyed our trip. Kinda glad to get it out of the way. Have you also “won” the “free” trip?

[@thepotential-u]

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]

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]

Probably flights

[@kaitlyn4240]

@@AikenAdventures very informative thank you won the same exact trip and want to bring the kids as well definitely cool we found this video!

[@karlafranco-ti4ge]

I felt SCAMMED watching this video 😩

[@AikenAdventures]

🤷🏻‍♂️

[@stugooden7826]

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]

We suspect that everyone “wins.” Although, we can’t say for sure.

[@travisbuck4571]

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]

@@travisbuck4571 hope it works out!

[@gabrielarodriguez3929]

@@AikenAdventuresmy whole family filled it out and I was the only one who “won”

[@jacobwilliams1356]

@@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

[@toot0107]

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]

Wow! Glad we didn’t have to book plane tickets to take this vacation!

[@MarkTrades__]

Great piece of advice these days is always, "If something is free, YOU are the Product"

[@AikenAdventures]

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!

[@jos6878]

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]

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.

[@carlacardozo955]

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]

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!

[@johndefalque5061]

Time share torture! I fell for a "free vacation', but when I called to book, I sussed out that there was no free.

[@AikenAdventures]

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.

[@nancywells5626]

I love the hand's free bucket. LOL Thank you for sharing your video.

[@AikenAdventures]

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]

@@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]

@@nancywells5626 oh yeah, that makes more sense. 🤪 he LOVED wearing that bucket as a hat. 🤦🏻‍♂️ 🤣

[@rkenzie5235]

I loved paradise cove!!!! I went there as an independent shore excursion! So fun and worth it!

[@AikenAdventures]

We heard mixed reviews, but it was one of our favorite things from the whole week!

[@rhondalockrey9592]

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]

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.

[@xpallodoc1147]

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]

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]

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]

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.

[@kaytiikaboom702]

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]

Honestly, the price isn’t too bad. It’s not free, BUT it’s still pretty inexpensive for what it is.

[@TappedOutTravel]

Glad you all turned a bad situation into a much better vacation. loved that video! Safe travels and god bless!

[@AikenAdventures]

Life turns out best for those who make the best of how life turns out!

[@donnaryland2777]

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]

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]

this just saved me so much money, thank you guys!!

[@AikenAdventures]

Glad to help!

[@darrylprince827]

Sorry y'all got tooken😢but nothing is free 😢

[@AikenAdventures]

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. 😅

[@emma.s.1]

I went to that resort last April

[@AikenAdventures]

Did you enjoy it? What was your experience like?

[@emma.s.1]

@@AikenAdventures it was okay, same experience as you, it wasn’t that good but really beautiful

[@AikenAdventures]

@emma.s.1 yeah, the rooms weren’t that great, but we enjoyed everything else.

[@annefernandez2452]

How did you get out of the presentation i have one in June in orlando and want some tips.

[@AikenAdventures]

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.

[@LacieSnay]

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]

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.

[@princetta]

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]

Glad we could help you make the decision that was right for you.

[@VonnaHussein]

Hi, I live outside of Daytona. May I ask what the name of the restaurant you went to? It looks beautiful

[@AikenAdventures]

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]

@@AikenAdventures absolutely, thank you so much for the reply. We love your channel

[@AikenAdventures]

@@VonnaHussein thanks so much for watching and commenting! So great to hear from you!

[@Thegeodashking]

So it is not free?

[@AikenAdventures]

You have to pay taxes and fees.

[@Theoneandonly-ir1je]

4 1/2 mins into the video and you finish get the review

[@AikenAdventures]

👍🏽

[@ThatsMyBlackOpinion]

I can't get through even a third of this video with the annoying background music

[@AikenAdventures]

Thanks for the feedback