Branson Vacation Club Scams

Eleven out of 14 Branson-based vacation organizations have prompted complaints. Didi Tang News-Leader Susie and Fred Pfizenmaier used to love the Branson area, frequenting their favorite spots many times. But, after an unpleasant encounter with a local travel club in October, the Clyde, Kan., couple say they doubt they will ever come back. "It ruins our whole idea of what Branson is about," said Susie Pfizenmaier. The couple say, despite meeting all the legal requirements on their end, they have not been able to rescind a $3,400 travel-club membership as promised. "If someone is saying something, we don't know if we can trust them," Susie Pfizenmaier said. "And we're not the only one." At the Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon's Office in Jefferson City, Branson visitors have lodged dissatisfaction with 11 out of 14 registered travel clubs, five of which have more than 100 complaints. Despite new state laws in 2005, travel clubs continue to generate discontent, and sometimes anger, from Branson tourists, who complain the clubs sell memberships that cost several thousands of dollars but sometimes are of little value. In May, AARP Bulletin had an article about potential traps by some vacation clubs, citing an unhappy customer of a Branson travel club as an example. That is not the kind of publicity Branson seeks. "It has a detrimental effect on all businesses," said Ross Summers, executive director of the Branson/Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce and Convention & Visitors Bureau. "It's not the way we want our visitors to come away from Branson," he said "We want them to have a good time and to come back." Guarantees needed Rep. Dennis Wood, R-Kimberling City, may introduce new laws to protect tourists from travel-club traps. "We want to help the (vacation club) industry that offers a great service if they are real," Wood said. "But there's no regulation that requires those people to be bonded, to guarantee they will be in business in a year to provide the service." "They may be in business for a few weeks and then open another location under another name," he said. "It's very easy to get into this type of business." In 2005, Senate Bill 274, sponsored by the late Sen. Larry Taylor, sought to regulate travel clubs. The bill was signed into law on Aug. 25, 2005. The law requires travel clubs operating in Missouri to register with the Attorney General's office, give customers three days to rescind contracts for membership and provide $50,000 surety bonds if they have been judged to have violated the law. The law has worked, said Summers, because the number of complaints has declined and more consumer dollars have been recovered. But there are loopholes, said Scott Holste, a spokesman for Nixon's office. In an e-mail message, Holste said clubs have refused cancellation requests "because a consumer used a dinner coupon or some other insignificant gift given to them when they purchased the membership, and the club has argued the consumer 'accessed' club benefits and became ineligible for a refund." In the case of the Pfizenmaiers, the couple said they wrote a letter of rescission and returned all membership materials to Travel More Now within three days, but the club declined the cancellation request, saying the couple had used two show tickets. The Pfizenmaier said they offered to reimburse the tickets, but Travel More Now did not budge. The 2005 state law says a consumer can rescind a travel club contract within three working days and receive a full or partial refund minus "any services actually consumed or utilized." Travel More Now, which also had its name mentioned in the recent AARP story, is a long-standing travel club in Branson. Last year, it was at the center of a civil lawsuit by the attorney general in Taney County Circuit Court. Nixon's office brought in nearly 30 witnesses from around the country to testify against the Branson club in a four-day trial, but Judge James Eiffert ruled in a one-page order that the state did not meet its burden to find the defendants liable. The ruling came as a relief to Travel More Now, wrote its owner, Jim Kilroy, in a memo to his employees. "We will continue to strive to create a positive business climate for legitimate travel clubs and continue to work on the remediation of practices and policies that fail to represent best practices for the industry or fail to serve the best interests of our prospects and our members," Kilroy wrote. Travis Dunnahoe of Travel More Now was the driving force behind some state regulations of travel clubs. Dunnahoe said complaints against Travel More Now represent about 4 percent of its total membership and "that for those members who may have found a lower price for their travel they have the advantage of the price-match guarantee." But the attorney general's office also had some success. Last year, Eiffert handed out a state-record penalty of $1.9 million after finding Vacation Travel Club to be in contempt of court over violation of state consumer-protection laws. Since 2002, Nixon's office has sued 11 travel clubs, seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars for consumers. At the convention and visitors bureau, Summers said his office is asking visitors to be cautious when signing up for travel club memberships. Check out the company, and know what you need, he said. "We want to make sure people are buying from reputable dealers."