Scam it seems...

[epicor]

Hi, I received an email last night that said I won and included my name and full address.

The email included this line, "CARDS system has drawn your name to receive a prize in our sweepstakes". So I googled that line and found one item basically saying it's a scam.

There is a thread on this site that also mentions "atcoastalvacation.com". It sounds totally illegitimate.

Here is the edited email:
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

The CARDS system has drawn your name to receive a prize in our sweepstakes.

****, you entered on 02/16/2008, from ***.***.***.*** IP address. Simply Click Here and click on "Redeem Prize" enter at the site

your username is ****
your password is ******

For security you must click on the SUBMIT Button or it will not work.

You must claim your prize within 10 days, your prize will be placed back into the sweepstakes if not claimed within the 10 days time period.

Please read the "Frequent Asked Questions" which are found on the claim page. There are different prizes so there are different FAQs.

****, Again CONGRATULATIONS!

Sincerely,
Tim & Henry Dorsey
Vacation Execs
4401 N 6th St Suite 922
McAllen, Texas 78504
1-800-230-7405

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I hope this helps

[elliott_gyal]

yep that is the one i got too!

[Beast Master]

It is really difficult to say for sure.
I did a quick search and they seem to have a lot of contests online.
I would do some more looking into it before making any decision.

[~Shannon~]

Did you call the 1-800 # ?

[epicor]

No, but I did some more looking around on the net and saw a lot of other negative stuff. Also, their contest pages do look kind of crummy and untrustworthy to me.

I think it's has to do with time shares and home business stuff.

I wont be pursuing it.

[SavingKarina]

If you don't remember entering it, it's not good news!

[macphail8]

Damn! You know you're in a winning slump when you can't even win a timeshare sales pitch! lol

But seriously, it looks pretty legit to me. They're giving away surplus rooms that may not otherwise be used, and at the same time, will likely invite you to a sales presentation (not neccessarily a bad thing as my wife and I bought a timeshare while on vacation in Vegas and we would recommend it to others).

As for the cruise prizes, to each their own. I'd ask about the cost of upgrading to an oceanview (if you aren't one to get sea sick), then compare it to the price you would normally pay. If it looks like a deal and is something you always wanted to do, I'd go for it!

Cheers, Derek

[lilaura5]

I won it also and checked the site. It seemed really sketchy so I just deleted it. Not willing to risk it on this one.

[koala]

I've had these. Just delete.

[Hank70]

I think it is time to up-date sweepsers
Yes, we are Coastal Vacation Travel of Texas.

1st Quarter 2008 Stats
429 prizes Shipped - 57,075 Visitors - 1 Prize Per 133
Winning Odds .0075

About Vacation Execs

Vacation Executive Network (Vacation Execs) is a subsidiary of Coastal Vacation Travel. With both companies being registered in Heldago county in the State of Texas.

Coastal Vacation Travel applied for membership in the Better Business Bureau in June of 2007, was investigated and accepted as a Member. However, due to the fact that the Company "Coastal Vacations" operated and managed by N. B. Management* of Kissimmee, Florida. is receiving a lot of bad press that has continued to build and the name Coastal Vacation Travel was being mistaken for the Florida Company. The Coastal Vacation Travel owners made the decision to register and operate a new company called Vacation Executive Network.

Vacation Execs is managed by Henry Dorsey:
Mr Dorsey worked in the travel industry outside the US for 25 years. Working as General Manager of Mexico and Latin America (including the Bahamas) for Get-Aways Inc. a travel company which was based in California. Mr Dorsey worked very close with the Government Tourism Departments and Hotel/Resort Associations as well as individual hotels and hotel chains.

When returned to the US to retire, but wanted to stay active in the industry. Therefore, he registered Coastal Vacation Travel and contacted the people he had worked with for so many years, to purchase travel to be used as prizes to be given-away through sweepstakes.

By setting up sweepstakes, which was one of the things he had been doing for hotels off-shore, he was able to create the desired traffic offering a product after a person enters the sweepstakes. The promotions create a little extra income and allows many people who may never have traveled to travel.

Mr Dorseys' personal site Inter-Mex Ministries. Inter-Mex Ministries carries on with some of the side projects that were created while working off-shore. All donations go directly to the projects.

Vacation Execs manages many sweepstakes, some for other companies.

Vacation Execs
5002 Gollihar Rd #205
Corpus Christi, Texas
[email protected]

* NOTE: Coastal Vacations of Florida provides solid travel opportunities. Their bad press is coming from their marketing system. Many distributors use any method, ethical or not, to create a sale or recruite other distributors. The internet levels the playing field allowing the BAD guys to operate next to the GOOD guys.

There is a link to this information at the bottom of almost all pages on our sites. "About Vacation Execs".

If you paid $4.75 S&H in April 2008 please validate that for us and we will refund $1.00. We dropped it to $3.75 added more optional benefits that can be claimed. This increased our average claim allowing us to double the amount of first prizes given away.

Oh, $40 of the $50 reservation guarantee is refund when travel is completed. The 429 X $3.75 = 1,608.75 divided by 13 weeks = 123.75 per week avergae - we can't hire anyone in the shipping department for that amount. We make our money from Future High-Tech Marketing (FHTM) promos not prizes. Stop by the office pick it up free we have to have that person anyway.

On March 1st 2008 we moved our offices from McAllen to Corpus Christi Texas.

Webmaster

[Sally888]

I get emails like this quite often, I just delete

[roseofblack25]

umm is that hank dude for real???