Being a naive 21 year old at the time of entry, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I was just gallivanting around the mall when I stumbled upon a sweepstakes entry box. I didn't think anything of it! All I knew is that I was sacrificing five minutes of my life to fill out a slip of paper for a contest I had very little chances of winning...
Well, y'all better slap my a** and call me Sally, folks! About a month and a half after submitting, I received a phone call from a travel agency called Palm Rio, informing me that I had won the Grand Bahama Island Sweepstakes! Of course, I was baffled because never in a million years would I have thought that my drawing could be chosen; and this is coming from a girl who hasn't won anything ever before!
Now I don't like to think of myself as a stupid person. I have my hunches about certain things that seem suspicious, and this was one of those instances. However; I wanted to see if I could deal my cards right and find out if this contest was a charade. I pressed on with my conversation with the travel agent on the phone and asked multiple questions to see if there was any reluctance in their voice. My overall goal was to see if there was anything I could do to catch them off guard.
The agent seemed to know exactly what to say in response, which made me more and more vulnerable. To make things even more legit, the agent sent me a photo of my submission via text message and documents proving that this contest was, in fact, issued by the state of Florida. It got to the point where I caved in and I asked the agent what my next step would be to continue the process...and here is where things got REALLY fishy.
My task was to go online and set up my account associated with Palm Rio. Ultimately, this would become my sole reference and itinerary for my trip to the Bahamas. I was allowed to take one other person on this free vacation, so I enlisted my best friend, Katie, to help me look further into it.
She and I learned that in order to even create the account, we would have to pay a setup fee, which was like, "Okay, that's a red flag if we ever saw one!" We went back and forth about it for a while, but after some time, we came to the conclusion that we were desperate for a vacation and would risk losing all the money in our bank account for a potential scam. (It really just goes to show how bad of an influence your friends are, ladies and gentlemen.)
$40 later, we are eligible to select different transportation methods to and from the Bahamas; one option was to board a cruise called The Grand Celebration. Katie was all gung ho about it and thought we'd be able to swing the extra $140.00 per person! I am thinking to myself, "I swear to God, we're gonna get stranded and end up like those b*tches from Fyre Festival!" What's worse is that all of our money would be gone because we spent all of it on this freakin' trip!
We would have to find a way to arrive at the port that was located in Ft. Lauderdale. Naturally, there is a fee for boarding as well, so we booked a round trip flight from Milwaukee and paid all the fees -- a grand total of $541.00 per person. All in all, there was no turning back after we shared our account information with this travel agency. I knew I could have done more to investigate instead of making the rational decision to throw my money every which way. Part of me was hoping one day I would look back on this, laugh, and consider it all a learning experience...only after being voluntarily robbed.
The real joke here is that I thought I had won an all-expense paid trip! I wasn't the only alleged winner either, for I kept seeing this promotion at every mall I went to. Clearly I wasn't the only one falling for this BS! Like, for real, you wanna know what was free out of of this entire thing? The cost of the room we'd be staying at! (Which by the way, is the Viva Wyndham Fortuna Beach in Grand Bahama Island.)
The resort was another thing Katie and I had the ability to choose, and in fairness, we could have narrowed down our finances if we wanted to. Out of the three places we could have stayed, we chose the most expensive one, which led us to paying for the hotel and service fees as well. There goes another $475.95 from our wallets! I don't know why we couldn't have gone cheaper, but we tend to live by the saying, "Go big or go home."
Boy, did we live up to that phrase or what?! Everything from the account setup, to the flight, to the port, to the cruise, to the resort, and etc. Katie and I each paid well over $1,000, which is a thousand dollars more than I intended to spend!
In the grand scheme of things, the only thing that was considered fraudulent about the sweepstakes was that hardly any of it was free! As shocking as it is to believe, Palm Rio is an actual travel agency despite the lack of reviews or difficulty accessing it's site.
If I learned anything from this journey, it is to ALWAYS read the fine print! Know the warning signs, people!
Although I failed to recognize them when I should have, my optimism towards all the content I plan to write from this experience rings true. I plan to post more articles and more WiscoGirlsVlogs :D after we embark on our vacation, which will be on February 17th, 2020.
Last but not least, you all know that tax season is coming up! My accountant from HR Block wanted me to inquire Palm Rio about a 1099 form which they may or may not send to my address. I understood why the preview could have been necessary to report. Generally, one would need to for winning a sum of money or prizes so that it could be taxed.
Turns out this prize was non-deductible (sponsored) and Palm Rio will not be sending out any 1099's to those who have decided to take advantage of this trip. I figured I would put that information out there so that anyone who is going through a similar situation can be properly notified.
Keep your eyes open for more of WiscoGirl'sTravelBlog down the road. I try to post as often as I can and I appreciate any and all feedback on the content provided for my viewers. I am also open to your fresh ideas! Is there something you want me to write about? Leave a comment below, or you can reach me at wiscogirlsvlogs@gmail.com. Feel free to follow my instagram @WiscoGirlsTravel as well.
Thanks for reading, my fellow Wisconsinites! ~Netassia Nufer A.K.A WiscoGirl
I'm from Wisconsin too! I live in the city. I was legit like you all the way up until the $40 I paid that gut tomorrow makes my first $69 payment so I'm doing research before I pay anything lol. But did you go? Was it legit? I know you paid a lot for it but everything else checked out?