To new Prospects looking into Coastal Vacations

Oh please

Coastal members sell travel memberships.

This is the kind of false information that can put people at risk..


What is a Seller of Travel?
A Seller of Travel is any resident or nonresident person, firm, corporation, or business entity who offers for sale, directly or indirectly, at wholesale or retail, prearranged travel or tourist-related services for individuals or groups, through vacation or tour packages, or through vacation certificates in exchange for a fee, commission, or other valuable consideration. The term includes any business entity offering membership in a travel club or travel service for an advance fee or payment, even if no travel contracts or certificates or vacation or tour packages are sold by the business entity.

...

If you or the company you are representing, are not registered licensed and bonded, you should not be in the business of selling travel.

It is the law Adam

cheers
Maria

 

GREAT POST!!!

I agree totally...that was great...!

CoolGoose~~

 

Just my 2 cents ... but that definition, Maria, is based on Florida's
law. Coastal therefore, no longer ships packages from the Florida
fulfillment center until they either resolve to contest that law or
not.

Every single State is free to and does write their own definition of
what "travel" and "seller of travel" means. They don't all have the
same wording.

But, for $75 ... what's the issue with getting the license to resell the
packages if that's what your state requires?

There is no "law" that says someone must be CLIAA certified or
bonded as a TRAVEL AGENT if they don't actually BOOK travel.

Even though I'm no longer involved in Coastal and don't own the
call center any longer, this style of "terrorist marketing" trying to
scare people into looking at a deal, to me is taking the lowest of
the low roads.

If your deal it better ... say why. Don't just attempt to scare people
into inaction.

So, back on a positive note ... 8 years with Coastal, I was contacted
twice by my State to ask about our "travel" activity which we had
NONE since we don't book travel ... and that was the end of it.

Best to you all....

 

Hello Jim

if you mean pointing out the law is a scare tactic that is honestly a shameful statement.

Nearly every state has a reseller of travel law and every Canadian province...not just Florida.

Talking about FL Jim....
it requires a little more than a $75 registration fee as you stated...

"IMPORTANT: Sellers of Travel that offer vacation certificates MUST submit a completed registration form, a $300 non-refundable registration fee, $100 non-refundable document submission fee, $50,000 Surety Bond, Irrevocable Bank Letter of Credit, or Certificate of Deposit, and the vacation certificate documents required by ss.559.9295 and 559.932, Florida Statutes. "

"The term includes any business entity offering membership in a travel club or travel service for an advance fee or payment, even if [b]no travel contracts or certificates or vacation or tour packages are sold [/b]by the business entity. "

This is just FL (Anyone doing business in or traveling to, even if you are not the one doing the booking)...

I suppose you just hope that anyone purchasing a coastal membership does not travel to the states and Canada that have these laws...is that the thought process here?

This thread is about Coastal, not about what I am currently doing.

My statements are not meant for people to take inaction but to educate prospective members to what they are really getting into...to protect them, as they have been informed by many coastal directors that they are not reselling travel when they are, and not to worry, when they should be.

It is honestly black and white no matter how anyone tries to use ambiguous verbage, seller, not reseller, travel, not travel...it is what it is and I stand by my post....


Jim I am shocked you would state I am involved with "terrorist marketing". I knew I would get ridiculed (AGAIN) for telling the truth. It does not really hurt anymore, you can see from previous posts I have been attacked for stating it as it is...

Anyone doing a little research would know I am telling the truth.

Jim if you are no longer with the coastal closers, why do you have a link to them in your sig line?


cheers
maria

 

Hi Maria,

I don't have a link to coastal any longer. My sig file link is just to my
personal website now. The old posts I just checked are catching up
to the change in my profile.

Blogs and forums are hard to "work" --- but that's what most people
are doing here, including you. And each has their own tactics.

But it would be refreshing to see posts that tell it all as it really is,
not just a narrow sliver of a view that is meant to "get a reaction"
from people.

Marketing is marketing though. To each their own.

Now, to answer "what are you doing posting here if you're not
in coastal now?"

Withdrawals I suppose. I don't have anything to sell, market,
present or market about. We have other businesses but we
don't market them any longer, and there's nothing about trading
Forex that I market. That's just my "day job" activity now and is
the only thing that we do for income.

So, since I just basically finished the "hand off" of my company
today, and dropped in here to see what was going on and saw
your post, which I've seen before and not just from you but from
the PD1 people who all jumped ship from Coastal, it just hit me
"wrong" again.

Ok ... so in some states, someone may spend $500 and post that
$50,000 surety bond ... if they want to be "letter perfect" in doing
business. Why not tell people that in one post?

And, why not tell them what a $50,000 surety bond will cost? It's
not that much money. I was required to be bonded for $2 MILLION
just to sell mutual funds and variable annuities when I had my
financial services agency.

Do the members of GRN or YTB or P1D have to get licensed, bonded
and follow all those rules you're talking about?

That would be helpful info here.

Simple straight talk for a change would be very refreshing.

For the rest of you ... there's a lot of money to be made if you
follow a few simple tactics and guiding principles.

1. You should make it your #1 mission to IMPRESS SOMEONE every
day you get up and are alive. That someone should be YOU.

2. SALES is what pays the bills. Not websites, blogs, posts, emails
or other things you can occupy your time with. SALES pays the bills.

3. Sales come from having CONVERSATIONS with POTENTIAL BUYERS.

4. Sales become INCOME when someone pays you.

Hey ... it may not be the most popular news ... but folks, if you can't
get your mind around those 4 things, you need to keep your job.

Everything .. EVERYTHING must SUPPORT those 4 things or they
are not going to contribute to your success. OR your income.

If you use those 4 things as the measuring stick of your activity, tools,
money spent (including any licensing and bonds you feel you need
to be getting) ... you won't go wrong.

Ok .. back to my movie!

 

Hello Jim

great post.
To answer your question briefly, YTB, WorldVentures and P1D all have a CST#
certificate to sell travel, license.
If in doubt, scroll down to the bottom of a travel website page and the CST# will be posted there.

When someone joins these companies, they are not personally taking the money from the sale, the company is, which in turn pays the associate. An associate is working under the umbrella of the company. They are protected with this business model.

From what I can tell (please someone tell me if I am wrong) Morvacations and GRN do not possess a CST#. These companies from what I can tell, allow the associate to accept the money from the sale and are then paid from the profits (the way that coastal also works).

I am not a travel law expert, and I would have no idea how much it would cost to get registered and bonded in all the states and provinces that require it, which is why I am happy to be working with a company who has performed all the necessary steps for their members.

One thing I must disagree with you about, sales do not just come from conversations, they do come from websites, blogs, forums, twitter and such. Personally I gravitate towards people who share knowledge and information and give it freely, without the motivation of getting paid. People will buy from a person they like and trust.

Hope this helps
Cheers
maria

 

Wow this has turned into a happening place again. I'm glad that it has. I want to first say that I tentatively get into back and forth with people any longer as ive learned it really serves no purpose. But as this thread is about new prospects looking at Coastal I think this warrants the discussion.

Much has been stated about whether it is legal to sell Coastal Vacations. I say that it is but as im not a lawyer I suggest anyone looking at the business do the intelligent thing you should do in any business and do your research. Whether that means surfing the internet or getting legal advice you should do what makes you feel comfortable.

Coastal Vacations is a viable and lucrative business opportunity that warrants the serious internet marketer or home based business entrepreneur to take a good look. We market an amazing travel package that will save you $1000's and the $1000 - $9705 profits are great as well. As a new prospect you will hear and read in many place that Coastal is this or it is that. You have to make up your own mind.

What I saw was a great product that is easy to sell where I could make enough on one sale to make a living. One a Premier sale (you can get the details on any of our member's website) you make $3200. If you make one of these sales a month that is almost $40,000 a year. All this for a $1295 investment that include now getting your travel for discounted prices. The first major trip I took with my package was to Orlando. Yeah I went to see Mickey. We stayed in a 5 bedroom luxury home with 4 baths and a screened in pool for $735 for a week. The going rate if you didn't have the Coastal Package would be closer to $3600. That's almost a $3000 savings on one trip. Let's do the math. I paid almost $1300 to get my package and about $700 on that trip. That's a total of about $2000. The trip would have cost me $3600 so I saved about $1600. Well guess what next year id probably want to go back. That's what people do when they find a nice vacation place. So in scenario one with no Coastal Package if I paid $3600 each year my cost would be over $7000. In the second scenario with my Coastal Package I paid a total of about $2000 the first year and about $700 the second year for a grand total of about $2700. That's a savings of over $4000. What could you do with that type of money?

So for me I think that getting started in Coastal is a great idea. With all the various groups and training available a new person can get started and making money right away. There is a wealth of talent on this forum (no matter what opportunity or view that they might have) so I suggest that interested prospects contact me or another director that post here to go over your questions. It might be the best decision they ever make.

I do want to point out that I am glad that everyone has their opinion of this business opportunity no matter what side they fall on. I just will repeat that in my opinion Coastal Vacations is a great option. I wish you all well.

 

Just for clarification ...

I can count on 1 hand with fingers left, the number of people who in
the 8 years we worked with Coastal INCLUDING the last 4 operating
our Call Center ... send us money and did NOT ever have a conversation
with us or anyone else on the team or on Staff.

Blogs, forums, tweeting, facebooking, etc ... are all valid ways to make
that relationship happen. And, I actually count email or tweets or
other NON-VERBAL methods of communicating as "converstations" if
the prospective buyer is deaf, mute, or otherwise WANTS to avoid
talking to someone, but eventually enters into BUYING MODE and
is now pinning down the SELLER on exactly what they are buying.

That said, I come back to my 4 things as central to anyone's success
in sales and business.

You must impress yourself (hey let's face it .. you KNOW if you are
really working at your business or not, right?)

You KNOW it is SALES that pay the bills .. not redoing the site again,
or posting one more time to tell someone to get a life, or all the other
"filler type activities" we can to do look busy. Activity doesn't mean
effective. It means BUSY.

And it's common sense that sales come from conversations ... again,
granting that the conversation may not be verbal. I've earned well
over $300,000 from coastal from sales that I never had a verbal
conversation with the people ... but we did "converse" through
other mediums of communication due to time zone differences,
physical limitations, etc.

The point on that is ... sooner or later you have to get a person from
"gettin' to know you" to COMMITTING to you, your product, your
story, your benefits, your offer. It's called selling.

And finally .. SALES BECOME INCOME WHEN THEY PAY.

Ever chased a chronic buyer? Always buying, never PAYING?

It's easy to confuse it when someone doesn't have enough "what
ever you want to call it" to just say "No." or "I'm broke." or "I really
DON'T like (you, the deal, the product)" and go away!

YOU have to make that call at some point. That point is typically
when you suddenly realize this particular person LIKES being chased!

Then again, as mentioned ... all other activities must logically be a
support to those 4 things. If not ... you are either consciously or
unconsciously AVOIDING one of them.

Ok ... time to watch a friend get 3 very large trees cut down and
not squash his house with one of them in the process!

Success to all!

 

Thanks for posting this. It was very helpful, as I became aware of Coastal Vacation recently and have heard bad things about it--you have helped to clear things up a bit...seems more legit now after reading what you had to say...thanks.

 

CALLING ALL NEW PROSPECTS

The recession has made the home based business arena sizzle. With downsizing and high unemployment many are looking at other options to make money.

I recently have seen an Amway, Mary Kay and Avon commercial in the time period that I was watching a movie. That is saying alot for the home based business arena.

So you are looking at Coastal Vacations and did a search and came up with posting in this forum, Rip-off Report, Scam.com and a bunch of ex-Coastal business builders that have bought the keywords Coastal Vacation but are now using the rankings to push things like WHY I LEFT COASTAL VACATIONS.

Let me tell you a bit of my story. My wife and I started Coastal 4 years ago. In that time we have been involved with the leadership of various opportunities. My background was perfect for this business as Ive been in sales (could sell ice to the richest Eskimo), law enforcement (makes me have great posture on the phone) and have been doing home based business since I was 21 (I'll be 42 this year). My wife is an avid traveler so this business fit us both.

Now our main reason for getting started was the travel package. 5 cruises, over 25 bonus vacations, all the discount cards and the unlimited complimentary 3 day 2 night vacations for $1295 in the level one package is a no brainer.

I mean even if you never made a dime in this business the savings are worth it. For instance, on one of our vacations we stayed in a 5 bedroom luxury home in Florida for $735 for a week. The normal rate was over $3500 so that's a savings of more than $2800 on that trip alone. That more than covered the cost of our purchase price.

So why does this business fit for anyone. It's the time freedom. The commissions on Coastal Vacations go from $1000- $9705 so one sale a month can make a huge difference. In addition Coastal fits well with any other home based business.

Imagine your total advertising cost for the rest of your primary businesses life being $1295. How is this possible? What if you could give away a vacation to anyone that either looks at your site, buys your product or signs up with you. Talk about incentive marketing.

Now I could spend the next twenty minutes going over how you can market this business but im not. What I am going to do is put the ball in your court. It's time you got educated about Coastal Vacations. Here is what you need to do:

1- Get back to the person who showed you Coastal Vacations. Look over their website.

2 - Then contact them to go over your questions.

If you are just looking and need guidance then more directors in Coastal on this forum have links to their sites in their signature lines. Click on the links and get the details.

I would love to go over your questions and show you how we have succeeded in Coastal for 4 years now.

 

Coastal is the best travel opportunity on the market. In this opportunity you have an unlimited amount of vacations to give away, use as advertising and enjoy yourself. Who doesn't like travel? Especially when it's at discounted prices. The best part is you can make a f/t income in p/t hours. With commissions of $1000 - $9705 on every sale most can supplement or replace their incomes.

So what is your next step? First do your research. Check out the details of the opportunity by going to the website of a Coastal Director. Be sure to look at all videos as well as thoroughly reading the Coastal Profile. This should give you a good idea of what Coastal is all about. Next write down any questions you may have. Then contact the Coastal Director for a one- on - one session. At that time they will answer your questions and create a plan to get your started.

Is there a start-up fee? Yes there is. Most opportunities will have some type of investment to get started. That's just how business works. But your question should be more along the lines of how can I begin to make those $1000 commissions. The return on investment is huge on this opportunity.

So the ball is in your court. Get the details and get started asap.

 

Hello Adam

wishing you well

cheers
maria

 

Thanks Maria.

To new prospects looking at Coastal Vacations I offer you a challenge. There are many travel opportunities on the market. Each and everyday I get ton's of emails about them. What you need to look at and my challenge is for you to do your research. Find out if Coastal Vacations is a viable option for you and your family.

For me, and I can only talk about me, Coastal Vacations was a good choice. My wife and I are avid travelers. We love travel. Heck who doesnt like travel. But for many the cost is restrictive. When we first looked at Coastal my wife had just come off a cruise. A cruise that I couldnt go on as we didnt have enough money for both of us to go. We had did our best to save up the $1000 it took to send her. Then we looked at this package and saw at the lowest level 5 cruises for $1295. So in terms of the product we saw the value. This is not to even mention all the rest of the discounts you receive with the package.

Next we saw the business opportunity. $1000 at the very least on each and every sale. $1000 a sale is life changing money. $1000 pay a good portion of many mortgages. It also pays just about everyones car payment and insurance. It's as the political saying goes " a game changer". $1000 brings many parents home from work. That type of money makes things happen.

We saw a product that was easy to market. For instance we went on a 7 day trip to Disneyworld. We stayed in a gorgeous 5 bedroom 4 bath luxury home for a total of $735 for the week. This house normally markets for $3500. That's a savings of almost $2800 ( more than our package cost ). This story has helped sell hundreds if not thousands of packages ( many are from my own sales others are from me telling this story when I was a member of the board of directors of the Coastal Synergy Group ). If you tell the stories of the deals you receive using the package people that are already traveling will surely see the value.

Lastly we saw this as an opportunity to give back. How many families could we help in a business where the commission was high enough to really make a difference. It was also easy to show people how to sell this product. Could you invite a group to a home and show a video explaining the product and opportunity? I bet you could. Can you send emails to people looking for a home business directing them to a video doing the same? How about posting in a forum just like this? I bet you could. Well by guiding others to do task they already know how to do we could change peoples lives for the better. This is the fourth best thing that has ever happened to me ( 1st- finding God 2nd- my wife 3rd- my kids 4th- finding Coastal).

So do the research. I challenge you to find a better opportunity. If you do then dont just say hey Adam I got you. If you find something better than sign up. Get started in working from home. It will be one of the best decisions you ever made.

 

Good post Adam

before joining any opportunity, do a search for the name of the company followed by Scam, to find all the negative posts.
Then do a search on the Better Business Bureau website to view all or any complaints.

You might not care if the company you are looking at has complaints, but most of your potentail clients will, so you will need to be armed with a rebuttle if you choose to join the business.

Lastly check up to make sure the business you are looking at has all the correct licenses and credentails. Just because it is being advertised on the internet does not mean it is a viable or legal entity.

Hope this helps
Maria

 

If you are a new prospect I bet you are confused as to how and why to research a home based business opportunity and more specifically Coastal Vacations. Unfortunately in any business or life for that matter the negative is what gets the most attention. This is true with Coastal Vacations as well. There are many directors that have not run their businesses with the highest integrity and that has truly hurt our business.

The good news is that for every bad director there are probably 100 good ones. I remember first looking at Coastal Vacations and doing a search on Google. I came up with first the directors that either had great keywords or most likely paid high PPC fees to get to the top. I also saw post from people that were upset with the opportunity and voiced their opinions. For the newcomer to the business it would be easy to run away screaming after all the stories.

So what to do? Here is what I did. I looked at the companies that were part of the package itself. The names that stood out were Disney, Carnival and Royal Caribbean. I knew these were prestigious companies and the last thing they would want to do is align themselves with a bad apple. This gave me the confidence to get past my doubts and look further. Now does this mean this is the opportunity for you? Maybe not. But as I looked at the product, the cost ( as well as what I got for my cost ), and the profit margin I knew Coastal was a winner.

So ask yourself those questions and give yourself some real answers. Then do your research and ask your questions. I hope that your journey will be as awesome as ours has been.

 

I have a question for you die hard Coastal folks. I bought into Coastal in 2007 at the Platinum level. I spent all of my savings and even money that I should not have, buying into this business. I spent countless hours on the phone following up on leads trying to do my best to get others to join. My wife and I drove the 600 miles to Nashville to the Seminar for newbies, spending money we didn't have, trying to kick it off. By the time I got disgusted and threw up my hands, a few months later, I had placed well over 200 calls, spent somewhere around $15000 of my hard earned money, and have not sold ONE membership. My so-called "Director" sucked big time. No help at all from him. Every question I had, and I had lots of them, he would direct me to the web site, or instruct me to listen to phone calls. He was too busy for me, but he wasn't too busy to pocket $9705 of my hard earned money and run with it.
My question is this: How do I get out? How do I get my money back? I have never activated any vacations (not that I know how, because I don't), or used any of the things in the books for anything but bookends. I am disgusted and disheartened by it all. If I had it to do all over again, I would do it much differently, and this "Director" that I thought was my friend would have his feelings hurt by what I said when he tried to talk me into it. Somebody please help me.

 

Texas man,
It is really sad when you have a director that won't help you. Many of us who have been or are in Coastal have a problem with how it is so easy to get deserted and then have to feel your way around to get some help.

There are people on this forum that can help you like Adam if you will let them. But, they won't help you try to get your money back unless it is from selling it.

One thing that is so hard to understand for so many people is that there is NO guarantee of success with ANY business whether it be a clothing store you open in your home town or a home based business like Coastal. Coastal is not a scam. You can save thousands of dollars on travel and you can make thousands selling Coastal Vacations.

The big deal is that so many are scared to tell you that if you don't work it like a business instead of a hobby AND you aren't willing to invest money in advertising then you will fail. And if you do both of those things you still might fail, anyway.

My suggestion is to wait it out a little longer until the economy gets better and USE YOUR PACKAGE to travel. If someone sees you saving money they they will be more likely to buy the package from you, even if you just want to make your money back.

Entrepreneurship is a hard road to be on and MOST of us have to work harder than we were told just to come out but that is the way it is with ALL business owners who take a risk to have their own business.

I know that this is not what you wanted to hear but you can be successful with or without Coastal and I know you can make your money back if you don't give up. I doubt you could get your director to give you your money back, though. I hope things work out for you.

 

texas man: I have a question for you die hard Coastal folks. I bought into Coastal in 2007 at the Platinum level. I spent all of my savings and even money that I should not have, buying into this business. I spent countless hours on the phone following up on leads trying to do my best to get others to join. My wife and I drove the 600 miles to Nashville to the Seminar for newbies, spending money we didn't have, trying to kick it off. By the time I got disgusted and threw up my hands, a few months later, I had placed well over 200 calls, spent somewhere around $15000 of my hard earned money, and have not sold ONE membership. My so-called "Director" sucked big time. No help at all from him. Every question I had, and I had lots of them, he would direct me to the web site, or instruct me to listen to phone calls. He was too busy for me, but he wasn't too busy to pocket $9705 of my hard earned money and run with it.
My question is this: How do I get out? How do I get my money back? I have never activated any vacations (not that I know how, because I don't), or used any of the things in the books for anything but bookends. I am disgusted and disheartened by it all. If I had it to do all over again, I would do it much differently, and this "Director" that I thought was my friend would have his feelings hurt by what I said when he tried to talk me into it. Somebody please help me.
If its any comfort at all , I too went Platinum and have spent many hours on the phone for the better part of 6 months and went to Huntington WV for the (now debunked) Coastal Wealth masters meeting. (big waist of time and money) only to find at the very time of joining that my Director was not involved anymore. just took my 9750.00 and vanished. Its speaks volumes to have independents running a muck without a real company to fall back on regarding being ripped off. At least you didn't fall for the "Call Center" fiasco
For me I had to pay MORE to get into there program and then learn that they didn't even make any calls . only receiving calls. They failed to mention this when they took my 2500.00 and then another 2000.00 for mentoring with a new director (that now is with Platinum One ) The ones left here are good people but the throngs have left. or went into the vast Debt hole and ended up in Bankruptcy.
Good Luck getting anywhere with Coastal .
If you need bookends let me know.
pitiful and unlawful to say the least.

 

Just for the record, the "We Close Your Sales" call center made me thousands of dollars. I don't know if that is the call center you are talking about but they say on their sites that you advertise the toll free number and your personal ID code and get people to call in to them. They don't say they call out.

 

I am a level 3 director in Coastal and our group DFI is a Christian based team and I would be willing to let you in under me and just take your two training sales if you want to. I understand that there are alot of directors out there who just want your money. let me know if you are interested.