Hello recently me and my fiance got a 3days 2nights stay at the viva resorts any of our choice. I was wondering if this is true and not a scam. We wanted to go to viva fortuune beach resort for our honeymoon. How is the place service and people, also is this backage reliable? We want to go in April 2004

Hi Sylvia! I just responded to your other posting on the Viva Fortuna message board. Please check my response there.

check out this site for more comments from other people http://www.partypop.com/forums/General/m49526.htm

What kind of response did you get about the package? Was it a scam? My finace and I were also thinking about taking our honeymoon with one of these packages.

Can anyone let me know about this because I just received a phone call about winning a choice of 2 vacation packages and a 35mm camera

This is a scam!!!!! Go to www.ripoffreport.com and search for Royal Prestige...you'll read horrible comments from consumers and the fraud vacation package they are trying to give away.

Hi,

My fiance and I also received a call from Royal Prestige saying that we won one of two vacation packages and a 35 mm camera and 100 rolls of film. We were supposed to attend a show they were giving in Orange, CT. We ended up not going, and now I am so glad we didn't waste our time. I found it strange also that they never called us back to see why we did not attend.

Hello. Yesterday- 4/26/04 I received a phone call saying I was also a winner of a 3day, 2night vacation. I'm glad I've read some of these responses before I went and wasted my time! Thank you all!

Hi, I am very interested also if anyone has gone on one of these trips the give away. Fortunatly we did not buy any of the cookware (whew!) but Are very curious about the trp and $500 gift certificate. Can any one help?

I cannot see the "ripoffreport.com" page...everytime I try it won't connect. What kind of scam is this? My fiance and I too, have "won" but do we really win anything? Is it all a scam? Is it dirty, cheap, etc? What's the deal?

Wow, I just got a call from them, and thought it sounded amazing! Glad I read this...I thought I could go pick up my stuff and not get suckered into buying anything!

We also recieved this same call. If I understand correctly, the trip has to have a cash deposit made? This was not told to me on the phone, but one the website ripoff.com

Hi all
We got married last september and received the same call a few months before our wedding and we attended the demonstration. and we were told the same thing. we actually did get the trip, we got 3 trips total.. the catch ofcourse you have to buy something to get the big trip which was 6 days and 7 nights.. once you arrived over there you automatically got another trip.. which we are taking next spring.. overall it was worth it.. and I love my cookware!!

We have not gone on our vaction yet and don't plan on it. I don't know if the vaction itself is a ripe off, but royal prestige is. DONT BUY ANYTHING FROM THEM. We spent about 3,000 dollars on pots and pans . They are horrible. The knifes they gave started to rust just a month after use. We I called they told me to use some wool and dry them carefully when I take them out of the dish washer. Go and get the vaction if you want, But don't give in. Walk out as soon as the demenstration ends. Hope this helps!

Please don't fall for these "cookware scams." They are very common and Royal Prestige is not the only one out there. They prey on newleyweds and engaged couples. The very people who usually have the least money, and it ruins them for years. They lurk out at bridal fairs and the like, and get addresses of unsuspecting brides/grooms. They send you a letter or call you and say you've won a "free vacation." They tell you to come to a place to recieve the prize, but when you walk in, they have a whole salesman thing set up with garbage pots and pans. Phony claims about the "dangers of aluminum pots" that you already own, fast talking and scare tactics dominate. A high pressure salesman and lies, lies, lies. Before you get your coupon for the "free vacation" they pressure you into buying crappy pots for outlandish prices. Some poor couples were scammed into charging $2000 though their payment plan, which, of course uses crazy 20%-30% interest rates. When you get home, you find out the "free vacation" only covers the cost of some dumpy hotel, and you regret you just flushed two grand down the toilet.

Luckily were were skeptical about the whole thing, walked out, and threw the vacation coupon in the trash. I feel sorry for the couples who didn't see the truth behind it all. TV shows like 20/20 have done invetigations about these slimeball companies, and there has been some action taken in recent years.

I am soooo glad I saw this web site!! I just received a call (7/29/04)telling me we have won a trip to a viva resort and a $500 gift certificate to World of America... I was a little strange about it, but now I know to STAY AWAY!!! Thanks to all!!

I just recieved a call about a 3day 2 night vacation giveaway from Royal Prestige and a $500 gift certificate to World of American Gifts. I asked for a website and they said they did not have one but they told me to search it on todaysbride.com I did not find anything but eventually found this and am very interested to know if anyone has gone on the trips and more information so I am not ripped off. The BBB of TN only had 1 complaint which was resolved on this company.

The so called "free" vacation is a scam. First of all you have to buy your plane ticket to get there, and then when you read the small print on the application for the hotel accommodations it says check-in Sunday to Wednesday only. This sucks, if you want to get away for the weekend you can't even use it... they make is so hard for you to enjoy the so-called prize. I would not even bother going to the presentation... they even ask you how come you don't want to buy - because its over priced and it sucks!!!

I just got a call saying I won a 3 day 2 night stay with a group called Odenza. I have to go to a demonstration to get my prize. Could these be the same company??

i got a call like this, at about 6:30 at night, which i found strange because what type of buisiness makes a call at 6:30 at night of such apparent importance? glad i found all this info. thanks ladies, something like this would have been the last thing i needed right now!

My fiance and I attended a presentation and was most definately sucked into buying their products. Don't get me wrong, the presentation was quite impressive. When we tried to cancel the process a day later, the presenter used very unprofessional language with my fiance. PLEASE LADIES AND GENTLEMEN... DO NOT BE GULLABLE TO THESE FAST TALKERS!!!

I used to own a video store, and also was a member of a barter organization called Itex. One day I was looking through an Itex listing of other members in my area and I found a guy who sold cookware. He was a Royal Prestige salesman. I contacted him and asked if he was interested in trading some ITex money for a set of pots and pans. He was looking for some Itex money to use to buy something else so he said, "Sure!"

I had a little over $500 Itex to spend so I went to his house and bought a 10 pc set of their 7-layer cookware for $350 Itex and one of the 7-layer, oil-core electric skillet for $150 Itex. Itex money is not worth as much as *real* money, so I figured that I got the 10 piece set and electric skillet for around $250.

For what it's worth, we love the pots and pans. We have had them for about ten years now and have enjoyed the heck out of them. Just today I was searching for the company (which is how I stumbled across this site), because some of the little whistles have broken on them over the years. I called their office and they are sending me a new set of whistles and a new pot handle for free. Their warranty is great!

Now, as far as their high-pressure tactics are concerned, they stink. Now that I know how scummy their salespeople act, I am ashamed to own these pots and pans. If you are looking for good waterless/greaseless cookware, you can get very good sets on EBay for well under $300. Many good sets are available on EBay for $150 (Buy It Now). These look to be just as good as the Royal Prestige ones.

To those of you who say that Royal Prestige propducts are crappy, you are wrong. The products are very good. Unfortunately the marketing department at Royal Prestige must not be interested in letting their products sell themselves, and that is sad.

If you can get a set of 7-layer Royal Prestige for under $200 or a set of 9-layer for under $300, you will be very happy with it. If you find yourself pressured to finance pots and pans from anyone, RUN!

--
Phillip

My fiance and I also received a call tellingus we won a trip...3 days 2 nights. We went to the show, knowing the 3 day 2 night thing was a scam because we got the same voucher from a time share tour we did and I did a lot of research on these "Free" trips and found they are a scam. All in all,we liked the presentation but, when the price of the cookware came in, I almost fell off my chair....but thats not all....oh no....the guy then offered the used set at a greatly discounted price. My fiance is a great cook and knows everything there is to know about cookware etc. the overall product is wonderful but, even the cash and carry price was way too high. We offered a resonable sum of money for the cash and carry and it took the rep about 5 minutes of haggling before he agreed on OUR price. I felt it was too eacy and we knew we were about to be had. I said thanks but no thanks and the sales rep knew better than to say another word to us...I was sure to explain to him what I do for work and he backed off.

Just a follow up on my situation, I have been trying to get out of my contract and send the products back . I have sent letters and called many times but the only time I hear from them is when they want money. Now they have taken my money out of my account without my authorization. BEWARE and BE CAREFUL stay away from them!!!

I also received the same phone call and offer and was just as skeptical as everyone else. After reading most of the messages on this website and a few from other message boards, I decided to take my chances. Just to be extra safe I looked up my state government's laws about gifts and prizes, Royal Prestige was following my state's laws. So my boyfriend and I went to the hotel where the demonstration was being held. We arrived about 15 minutes late and were informed that the room was full and that we didn't have to stay for the presentation. The Royal Prestige representative gave us the voucher for the resort and the $500 gift certificate and then we just drove back home. Later on we went online to see if they were both valid and they are. The pros are obvious (trip and "free" money). The cons are the following: we have to pay for our own roundtrip airfare, the website for the gift certificate has limited and outdated items, and you have to pay some sort of fee (not related to S & H) for the purchases you're making. That website sounds alittle weird, but the trip is totally real and we can't wait to go. We haven't picked a date yet but I'll write back after we redeem the voucher. Good luck to everyone else!

I was just at a huge Bridal Show in Wisconsin, and like everyone, I signed up for every contest available. At the end of the show, I received a phone call telling me of my winnings which included a camera, film (100 free rolls) a $100 certificate for royal prestige products and a trip to either the Bahamas, Mexico or the Dominican Republic. When I told my fiancee, he was more than skeptical (glad one of us was). He found more than just this site about how poor their service is and how much money they suck from people through their scamming. I'm tempted to go to this presentation with papers in hand to pass out to everyone there so they won't get suckered into anything. However, I think it's best just not to go. Other sites that have similar info on are http://www.consumeraffairs.com/homeowne ... e.html#top and http://www.raleigh.bbb.org/CA0704.html

Hope this helps more like me who had no clue. Thank you!

My fiance and I went to a show earlier this year and we did not feel the high pressure everyone else talked about, we went in knowing what we wanted and what we were going to believe and not believe. While some of the salesmans claims we just disregarded, others were very interesting. We have since researched more into the company and are glad that we have the money to just pay the pans off comepletely on the first bill. From all the research, it seems that the worst part of the company is people who feel they were tricked into buying things they can not afford (which we don't) and that the financing is bad (which we won't use) so far everything about the actual product has been mixed.. The whole thing about free vacations.... you can't expect anything for free, there is no such thing as free!

I just got a call at around 9 Pm about a Southern Bridal Honeymoon/vacation giveaway. I have tried to look their company up and I have not been able to get any reliable information on them. I had no idea about these scams until I tried to search for the World of American Gifts which I cannot seem to get a good handle on either! I am so glad I saw this before I drove over 200 miles to their meeting just to get shamed! How rediculous!

My fiancee got a call from these folks today. She told me about our "winnings" over IM, and the first thing that stuck me was: This sounds like a scam. I've heard enough about time share companies who do this sort of thing, lure you into a high pressure sales meeting with the promise of a free vacation. Then sell you a load of lies. And the free vacation ends up to be either non-existant or more costly than they would have you believe.
I think we'll still go, as it is a free dinner, and I have nothing better to do that night. And, if I can at least get a hotel room out of it, I'll take it. I'll drop another post with a post mortem.
BTW, from other sites, it would seem that they will claim that our current pots cause eveything from Alzheimer's to SIDS. This is patently untrue. A quick search will turn up that aluminum has never been linked to Alzheimer's and that the fumes which might come off teflon will only cause mild flu-like symptoms at worst. And that assumes your pans get hot enough to cause a high enough concentration to affect you.

If you've not commited yourself, please don't, take time to go to ripoff.com and see for yourself the horror stories from real people. How could we all not see this coming?

I promised to post a followup to my visit with this company, however, I must apologize, I ended up not going. I had every intention of going and trying to let the other people there know how bad they are getting ripped off. However, my brother, whom I had not seen in over a year, came into town that night. When deciding between dinner with scammers and dinner with my brother, the choice was obvious, family always comes first. If they noticed my absence and attempt to reschedule, I will try to go and then post a followup.
To those looking at going to one of these, remember they old axiom "cavet emptor", buyer beware. This company is looking to sell you snake oil, and extract a huge price for it. They will probably make grand claims about how bad your current cookware is, insist on proof. Second, try to get a night to think about it, then verify their claims with research. If they won't give you a night, that means they are afraid you will realize what is going on; in that case, run. Never let a salesman pressure you into buying with the statement that, "if you don't buy now, I can't guarantee that price." If they use that line, or a derivative of it, they are lying somewhere and are afraid you will notice, given time to think and compare. A salesman with any power to negotiate can always keep a price for you overnight, if they say otherwise, they are lying.

The $500 was BS. You end up paying crazy amounts for shipping.

Hi, let me know what happened. We just went to a timeshare presentation and got a airfare and two night accomodations. I sent away my money order and haven't heard from them. It has been four weeks and I am getting nervous.

Hi everyone. I just wanted to state that my fiancee and I attended one of these presentations a month ago. We did buy the cookware. We chose not to use their financing but used our own credit card. The saleman was really nice. We felt no pressure to buy. He explained everything to us in simple form. He let us know that the vacation we were receiving was all inclusive with a small payment of 50.00 a day per person. Which isn't bad if you think about it..3 meals a day, drinks, entertainment, non motorized activities, and snacks for 50.00 a person..I can't even go to a nice restaurant for that amount. We got our cookware about 2 weeks after payment was made. We sent in our 75.00 deposit for our trip along with the voucher and dates we wanted to go. about a week later we got a confirmation and the dates we picked were great. We haven't went on the trip as of yet but are sending in the rest of the money for the trip tomorrow. I hope that it isnt' a scam but so far everytning has been true up until this point. We even called the company and had a few questions and concerns. They gave us our salesmans cell number to talk directly to him and he even called back twice. I hope we aren't getting suckered but I think that this will be a wonderful honeymoon.

I am so glad I read this. I got that call today saying that we would recieve the 3 day 2 night special honeymoon package and the $500 gift certificate. At first I didn't get excited cause it did sound like some scam, so i asked the lady who called if we had to pay anything and she said no. So, I was thinking "well if it was a scam then they would say we had to pay something", she told us we had to go to birmingham, al. which is about 3 and a half hours away from where we live just to collect our package. Now I know that they will sucker you into buying all kinds of crap I am so glad my fiance and I did not go. I would have been super mad if I would have gotten there only to find out they were going to haggle me about buying a bunch of stuff we do not need nor can afford. I wouldn't probably be the first person to be irate to find my 3 and a half hour trip, plus taking time off work a waste.

"Hello recently me and my fiance got .."

try ..

"Hello, recently my fiance and I received... "

I assume you consider yourself educated?

Maybe, but not in grammer!

My fiance and I just received a similar call. Nothing about Royal Prestige was mentioned, only the prizes. I know that Southern Bridal Magazine is hosting the show. Please give me any information any of you have!

I went to the Royal Pretige show today, and I really enjoyed myself. The demostration was quick and interesting. I did not feel presured to buy the products at all. I left without spending a penny, and I received my trips and gift certificate. Definately worth the time!!

Went to the presentaion. Did buy it's cheaper on ebay. Got the free trip cert. I've gotten these things before from time share presentaions. They make you pay $50 up front. You go on your vaction they try to sell you a time share or something. Then you get your money back about a month after your done with your trip. So I'm pretty sure this is legit. Of course you won't be able to go during hollidays, but usually you don't have a problem booking the room. So if you don't mind the hassel it's worth it.

We went to the presentation last night. It was interesting, and the cookware looked great, but we couldn't afford it and had already decided to say no before we even went in. I have figured out that obviously the gift certificate is a scam...I won't bother with it. The vacation from Odenza though is what I am wondering about. We won a similar vacation through a timeshare presentation about a year ago, and we used it to go to Vegas in April. It cost us $80 for taxes, and that is ALL. We got 4 nights in Vegas, in a decent casino/hotel, in a huge suite! For $80, it was totally worth it. Can anyone tell me if this Odenza thing is similar?

We went to the presentation last night. It was interesting, and the cookware looked great, but we couldn't afford it and had already decided to say no before we even went in. I have figured out that obviously the gift certificate is a scam...I won't bother with it. The vacation from Odenza though is what I am wondering about. We won a similar vacation through a timeshare presentation about a year ago, and we used it to go to Vegas in April. It cost us $80 for taxes, and that is ALL. We got 4 nights in Vegas, in a decent casino/hotel, in a huge suite! For $80, it was totally worth it. Can anyone tell me if this Odenza thing is similar?

TOTAL SCAM! I actually worked for this place- RP Heath Spectrum (Royal Prestige.) I quit because it was sooo shady! They even refuse to pay me for the time I worked!

They had us call long lists of random people and invite them to their "showroom" to claim their "prize!" what a scam!

The sales people were soo cocky- they said if anyone came down they could get them to buy. I even spoke with people on the phone who had already been called- they said it was a terrible experience.

Trust me- RUN AWAY! Fast!

I just got a call today for the Royal Prestige presentation and "Nikki" (which she said her name was), assured me that i would not have to buy the cookware. At first I was so excited but after reading everyone's posts, I'm rethinking about going to the presentation. Anyone free to talk to me about this?

Sure...here is the deal...
Royal Prestige calls hundreds of women a night to say they have "won" a trip. They make you go down to their showroom and put you through a VERY high pressure sales presentation.
Depending on which subsidiary's presentation you go to determines whether you get the trip voucher. Sometimes you HAVE to buy, sometimes you have to pay a fee, and sometimes you actually get the voucher.
The voucher has a zillion black out dates, and it is almost impossible to stay without adding more days, at your expense!
The thing that bothered me the most is that we would have to tell women they WON when in fact it was just a cold call. Very deceptive.

aa

Ok, I got "the call" today from Royal Prestige. I was so excited because I never win anything! Now I see that it seems to be a hoax or not worth it. Has anyone gone ON the free trips (like to Mexico or the Bahamas) and had a decent trip? I understand you have to pay the airfare and possibly for some extra days to make the trip worth it, but was it a nice resort at all? I can sit through a presentation and walk out, but I won't waste my time if I know the trip is awful. Any suggestions would be great!

~ Jennifer

I received a call a few months ago from Royal Pretige/Today's Bride a few days after purchasing my dress and attending a bridal expo. I don't know where exactly they got my information from but they did. The woman on the phone informed me that my fiance and I had won a 3 day/two night all inclusive vacation at one of three exotic locations and also his & her $500 shopping spree gift certificates for KEshoppingspree.com. At the others have said, the demonstrations are very high pressure and they do show alot of propaganda-like articles & video clips from the 80's & 90's. We agreed to purchase their lowest priced package because we were told that we would die if we continued to use Teflon and whatnot. He was nice enough to throw in free bakeware and a knife set. I said we wouldn't need either of thos things and that magically knocked nearly $1000 off the price. The more we thought about it the less we wanted it and he called to cancel our order the next day. They did not answer any of our phone calls but luckily their address was written on the contract and he worked about half an hour away from it and dropped the contract off to cancel in person. Now we're hearing all these horror stories and reading about how lucky we were to have cancelled so soon. Had we waited or not been able to return that contract to them within three days they would have persued legal action! They have no return policies, they 50 lifetime guarantee is selective, at best. Although the cookware did seem interesting, the sales pitch was over the top. If the other products on the market really caused Alzheimer's and SIDS and what have you, they wouldn't still be on the market.

The travel voucher is limited but we do have the option to extend it at our own expense. Although it seems sketchy, paying for just airfare, the extension, & taxes still seems like a decent deal to me. It's better than paying for everything. The products on the shopping spree website are complete rubbish. Anything we've gotten from them has been heavily overpriced for the shipping & handling when it was being shipped from only the next town over and the quality was quite idfferent from what was pictured. We had agreed not to buy anything before going into the demo. My advice is that if you go to a demonstration, stay firm and do not buy anything. Take your travel voucher and go back home. If you live three hours away, don't bother going. The trip discount is not worth it and the demo lasts nearly two hours longer than they tell you it will. If you really want Royal prestige cookware, eBay it or be lucky enough to have IPEX $ like one of the posters above.

With all of that said, buyers beware and good luck on your trips if you choose to take them...

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=125996&page=1

The above link is to an ABC article on Royal Prestige's sales tactics and business practices, which the article refers to as "pure fraud."

Thank you for posting that link.

They're doing it again, and this time the location was the New England Bridal Expo at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, CT. This company will be at the Mystic Mariott Hotel and Spa this weekend on Saturday and Sunday. As with the other complaintants, the spiel was pretty much the same.

"Absolutely free?" I asked, about the 3 day, 2 night vacation trip I'd "won". I was skeptical at first. But I started believing it more by the end of the call, with the stipulation that I would ONLY believe it when I had that travel voucher in my hands this coming Sunday.

Don't worry. I've already called them up to leave a message to cancel the appointment.

Y'see... I recall the form they had contest applicants fill out. It does ask what your occupation is. If there had been information given to include that over 10 years ago I briefly worked as an "appointment setter" for a water softener company in PA, and knew how these salespeople work... There would have been less chance of them calling us.

If they had known that my mother works in a law library, and has access to legal records and contacts... I can almost guarantee we would have been left alone.

Instead, let me tell you how happy I was for a friend who has my back enough to warn me about this. It's unfortunate that she was taken in by the scam with her ex-husband many years ago, but she cared enough to make sure we did not fall for it. Simple Google searches pulled up the truth easily enough.

****And another thing.
That vacation website they gave? www.vivaresorts.com
Is actually not even the "Official" Viva Wyndham resort page.

You may notice that there are identical photos on both sites. I have left an inquiry to the Official Site to find out if the "Real" Viva Wyndham is associated with Royal Prestige, and if the other page is just a cheap clone.

Hopefully someone will be kind enough to get back to me about whether or not copyright has been infringed, along with some answers to my other questions...

I called the actual Viva Resort in the Bahamas. The woman I spoke with said because I was calling on a weekend there was nobody that was aquainted with the information i needed on hand. She said I would be called back and I wasn't. We still plan on going because my fiance is insistant so hopefully we don't get ripped off. Everything I've read says this is the bahamas version of super8. greeeeeat trip