Worldwide Expeditions

My experience is almost identical to Marsha M's above. My wife & I made the mistake of joining Worldwide Expeditions at a Hilton Garden Inn in Edmond, OK. With our love to travel, promises of 70%+ on hotels was very enticing. My first concerns were the first week phone calls to their 'headquarters'. Until someone finally called me back, each of my voicemails to 'their phone number' seemed to be a direct line for a Bank. Like my 'WWE Contact' worked at the Bank, did this on the side, and that maybe Worldwide Expeditions didn't really even have an 'office'. Rather dubious from the get-go. Then I got my password & started exploring travel opportunities. Virtually everywhere we wanted to go OR dreamed of going, the best we could do was 10-17% on hotel savings. And more often than not - UNDER 10%. Surely not 70%. I finally decided to try them out on a trip to Napa Valley. Based on Expedia, Booking.com & other sites (which WWE said could not compare with them), I saved about $100 on a 4-night stay in an at-best 4-Star hotel on the river in Napa, CA. I would need 50 more of these types of 'bargains' to break even! That was September 2019. Then COVID hit...and my only Contact with Worldwide Expeditions was a couple of phone calls from Salespeople in San Diego, trying to upsell me on the $199 per year deal that I also signed that pathetic, fateful evening in Edmond. I told them that it hadn't even been a year yet (about 8 months) since we signed up so why would I send $199 4 months early. That stopped the phone calls. But with COVID & no opportunity to travel anywhere, I expected at least a phone call to update policies & procedures regarding the pandemic. NOTHING. So late Spring 2020, I tried to log on to my Account on their website. Multiple times I was turned back because apparently I hadn't paid the $199 annual fee. NOTE: They were more than happy to try to collect their $199 4+ months in advance...BUT ABSOLUTELY NO EFFORT via snail mail, email, phone or text to 'remind' me that the $199 Annual Fee was due WHEN it was due. Did they go out of business? Did they take my $5,000, Marsha M's $5,000 and countless others monies and open foreign bank accounts? Does anyone know what happened to Worldwide Expeditions and/or is anyone still 'reaping the benefits' of their pathetic Membership? Does anyone know of Class Action lawsuits against Worldwide Expeditions or any of their unprincipled Principal executives? I'd love to know why my $5,000+++ payment has only saved me about $100 on my travel. (Oh, yes, that +++the extra money I paid to have one of their 'Legal Vendors' get me out of my Timeshare--which I still have. Their 'pitch' was to get out of the $2500 Annual Timeshare Fees and that would pay for WWE in 2 years. About a year ago, I chalked this up to stupidity on my side...but now I'm wondering if anyone has started a Class Action suit against these Frauds! If so, my wife & I would love to join in the efforts to stop this type of fraudulent activity.
Soon-to-be-retired and apparently not as Scamproof as I thought I was

The promise of "wholesale" travel prices with membership was not what we found when trying to book travel.
We attended a presentation from Worldwide Expeditions (henceforth referred to as WW) on July 10, 2019, and joined for the fee of $5,000, after being sold on the fact that we would receive "wholesale" prices on travel, especially on resorts and cruises. On July 19, 2019, for our first experience, we booked a Ramada Inn Orlando Convention Center for a trade show in September. The website showed the name and a picture of the hotel as a Ramada Inn. As soon as we hit "book", we received a confirmation for a Red Roof Inn Orlando Convention Center. I immediately contacted a representative at WW to inform them of the error. They stated it must have been a computer error on their part, but said they would not refund our money but would give us 11,000 points for future use. We then had to pay a 2nd time to book a different hotel.
On the same day, we booked a resort stay at the Marriott's Harbour Lakes, also in Orlando for different September dates. I had spoken with two different agents at WW to assist us with finding a resort that was kid friendly and had activities for children. They were totally clueless and were of no assistance. I found this resort on my own but decided to go through WW to book it. The price they offered was higher than that which was offered on the hotel's website. A representative from WW did offer to match the price so we booked it.
We called and spoke with Lisa in the membership office, during the week of September 9, 2019, to let her know about this information and to express our disappointment with the service so far. She said she would have someone contact us. On 9/13/19 we receive a call from Quenton ***, who explained he was with the cruise department and he could get us great deals on cruises. After asking about places we would like to go he offered to send us information on 2 cruises to look at. He promptly sent this information. Both were Mediterranean cruises for December, 2019. The first was with MSC Cruises on the MSC Opera for a balcony cabin. The price was $1,215.05 per person. The price offered directly by the cruise line was $1,279. WW was saving us only $63.95 per person. The second cruise was through Norwegian Cruise lines on the Norwegian Spirit, again with a balcony cabin. The cost through WW was $1,625.00 per person. The cost through the Norwegian website was $1,629.00 per person. WW was saving us only $4.00 per person. These are hardly "wholesale" prices. We expressed our dismay to Quenton and again called Lisa in membership, during the week of 9/23/19. She said she would have someone named Theo contact us. After receiving no phone call from Theo, we contacted him directly, expressed our dissatisfaction and asked for a refund of our $5000.00. He said he would speak with his superiors regarding this. On 10/1/19, he called back and told us that since we had used the service twice, they refused to refund our money. As reported earlier in this statement, the first time there was a computer error on the part of WW for which they refused to refund our money and the second time, the price offered by WW was more than that offered by the resort directly. We have subsequently compared the prices of 3 different vacations in 3 different cities on 3 different dates. In all 3 instances, WW's price was higher than what we could find on the hotels' websites, directly. This is hardly "wholesale" pricing.

My husband and I just attended the presentation today at the Torrance Marriot and thought it was excellent. I am sadly disappointed to read about all the surcharges for the cruise, airline tickets and port charges m***. We haven't received the e-mail from Worldwide Expeditions yet, but I know my husband will be furious with me for strong arming him to attend the presentation if we have to pay a lot of additional $$ to go on a cruise. I am giving this organization a 5 until such time as I read the voucher info. concerning the cruise...

THE MERCHANT DID NOT CONTACT US AS STATED IN MEMBERSHIP PROVISO AND WE COULD NOT CONTACT THEM
EVEN AFTER COLLECTING OUR MONIES
WHEN MY HUSBAND AND I SIGNED UP FOR MEBERSHIP WE WERE TOLD WE WOULD BE CONTACTED WITH IN 24 HRS BACK ON AUG 20, 2019 TO DATE WE HAVE NOT HEARD FROM THEMAND THEY HAVE OUR MONEY. WE TRIED ON SUBSEQUENT DAYS IN AUGUST TO CONTACT THEM W/O SUCCESS. THE 3 DAY RECISION POLICY WAS ATTEMPTED BY US BUT THE ONE TIME SOMEONE ANSWERED THEIR PHONE TOLD US TO WAIT FOR 2 WEEKS AND SOMEONE WOULD CONTACT US. THS FAR NO CONTACT

My husband and I had a very similar experience with Worldwide Expeditions to that described by "retired citizen". We received a postcard invitation to a presentation at the C that promised a free cruise and free flights to every couple who attended. When I telephoned to confirm our attendance, I was assured the free cruise and flights offer was genuine, with "no strings attached".

We attended the Worldwide Expedition presentation at the C at 1pm on Thursday,September 19, 2019. We, along with seven other couples, endured a two hour presentation by a man who described himself as a former professional basketball player. I'm being kind when I describe him as rather disheveled and unprofessional. His poor grammar and bad jokes did not lend credibility or professionalism to his presentation. His inability to correctly pronounce "*** and n spite of being gently corrected by a guest is just one example of his ineptness.

At the end of the presentation, we were offered a membership to the Worldwide Expedition Travel Club for $12,790 per couple, with a $3000 voucher available to the first two couples to buy a membership. When there were no takers, the price of the membership was reduced to $9995, and to $6995 when there were still no takers at this point, the doors to the meeting room opened and salesmen entered, one for each couple. And at least in our case, the "hard sell" began. We listened until "our" salesman, in an effort to convince us that if we joined, we could get the two cruises we had just booked on Princess significantly cheaper through Worldwide Expeditions, failed to find us availability on either cruise.

We were told that we would receive certificates for the free cruise and flights via email. Three emails from D arrived within a few days. We quickly realized there was nothing "free" about the cruise offer, the flights offer, the $100 dining offer or the $300 hotel savings card. There was a $49 per person activation fee for the cruise award, a $49 per person activation fee for each flight, and activation fees for both the dining offer and the hotel savings offer. Furthermore, the $49 fees did not include taxes, surcharges, promotional fees or gratuities which "will average $99 per person OR MORE" for the flights and did not include taxes, surcharges, or gratuities or port taxes that will average $199 per person OR MORE depending on availability, dates, duration, and port of departure for the cruise. So much for "free, with no strings attached".

Having said all of the above, I want to add that we were unable to successfully Google "Worldwide Expeditions" or find a listing for them in Daytona, Florida. We say, "Buyer Beware" when considering buying a Worldwide Expeditions membership.

My wife Jane and I purchased a membership from Worldwide Expeditions and were very skeptical at first. We just returned from a vacation in Orlando at a world class resort called Wyndham Bonnet Creek on Disney with our grandkids.
We stayed in a 2 bedroom condo with all the amenities one could want for less than half of the price that I could find it anywhere else on the internet. Furthermore the service was better than all the reviews we saw online. My wife Jane said it was the best vacation we've done yet.

I disagree with the "retired citizen" review. We attended the same presentation on 9/18. We were not pressured at all. The presentation was informative. We told them we would be interested if we had a spare $7,000, and that was that. We signed up for the free gifts we were promised. We have received contacts for them all, and we look forward to our cruise and Cancun vacation. Thank you, Worldwide Expeditions. We are kicking off our retirement in style with your help!

We were contacted by postcard claiming that this company was giving away free cruises to a limited number of destinations after attending a meeting at the local H. The day before the meeting 9/21/19, we received a reminder call asking whether or not my husband, and would by husband and I be attending this meeting and say that there were free cruise giveaways. The day before that 9/20/19 my husband called a phone number on the card to ask "What was the catch." He was told there was no catch and that everyone attending the meeting would receive a free cruise to such places as Florida and the Caribbean.

When we arrived at the H, we were given a clipboard on which was a form that asked our names and address, our travel experiences, experiences with timeshare, and a credit card or debit card number (this we declined to do). The meeting was begun with an interview by a man saying he had long experience in the travel industry and asking us where we would like to travel--anywhere we wanted. This was followed by an intense two-hour lecture about all the properties this company owned and that they purchased unsold cruises and tours from other companies at steep discount rates. Almost immediately the talk shifted to memberships in this travel company for an approximately $13,000 including base price and fees and taxes along with discussions of all the cruises available at discount rates for inside cabins with the opportunity of "upgrading, but at normal rates." The sales pitch was confusing and contradictory with conflicting information. At the end of the lecture, the speaker offered two discount vouchers for $3,000 each to be used on any cruises after the membership was purchased, then walked over to a couple on one side of the room handing them "a free trip to France." Suddenly a door at the back of the room opened and several men walked into the room and sat at different tables, one of which was ours, and began a strong arm talk to get us and the others to buy a memberships. When the first man failed to convince us, he called in another man who sat down and began to pressure us, but we declined and demanded to leave.

We saw this couple after we left the hotel and were surprised, because neither one of them could walk without serious difficulty, and we thought that a trip to a county like France where a lot of walking would be required might be impossible. Because the lecturer just walked up to them and gave them the voucher without asking others if they were interested, we suspected they were hired to be there.