USVI-On-Line

I agree that the whole thing looks very suspicious. My first thought, if the bankruptcy story is true, and one paid with a credit card, send them into the fight. It shouldn't be too hard to find the true owner of the villa and confirm their involvement. It also shouldn't be too hard to confirm the bankruptcy filing with a federal court.

Please let us know how this ends. if it is a bankruptcy, scam or something else, it affects most of us in one way or another.

JIM

Issue resolved. They will have the villa for February.... but certainly not good news for GCG.

Caution to all.

OK well elaborate - you can't start a thread like this one and then end it without answers

Pia

Apparently, they had a family member call as if they were going to rent the place for January and GCG stated that they could pay the owners directly... although I'm not sure why that came up. I'm not sure I completely understood the last conversation I had with them. Bottom line as I understand it is that they will now be paying the actual homeowner for the second portion of the villa rental and that the owner of GCG stated that was how they needed to do it.

I do not know if GCG is in bankruptcy.... but I would think some of the villa owners would be pretty darn upset if they weren't getting paid. They represent quite a few villas.

Certainly something to keep an eye on.

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts on the matter!~

Pia wrote:OK well elaborate - you can't start a thread like this one and then end it without answers

Pia

that makes two of us

** DO NOT SEND MONEY TO GREAT CARIBBEAN GETAWAYS **

Dave Redinger at Great Caribbean Getaways has screwed more than one villa owner on St. John. He has accepted money from guests and not paid the home owners. His checks bounce repeatedly and his business phone # was recently disconnected.

IMPORTANT: If you have made a reservation through GCC, contact the home owner directly IMMEDIATELY to ensure your reservation (and payment) have been received. If you don't know the owner's name, do some research and find out. The villa owner does not have to honor reservations made through GCC if they haven't received payment.

Thanks for posting this! I received two emails in the past couple days from GCG offering a discount off published rates. I didn't really look into it too much but glad you posted. I'm not exactly sure how I got on their email list either.

I've been getting email spam from GCG also. I unsubscribed, but got another email today. My sympathy reservoir for Dave Redinger is getting lower and lower.

I just received an invite to Linkedin from the same David Redinger. It has been more than 5 years since I have contacted GCG when looking for a villa. I found that they were charging a 5% fee but were not upfront about it so I decided to stay away from them.

I also received a Linkedin invite from Dave Redinger, just yesterday; I'm not even on Linkedin so he must be using email addressed to send invites. I've also been getting emails from Great Caribbean Getaways since early January. I didn't think I'd had any correspondence with that GCG but I looked back in my email and in 2012 I had inquired through VRBO about Periwinkle Cottage and the response came from him.

I am the owner of Great Caribbean Getaways. I have read the above comments and they are not completely true. The company is not in bankruptcy, we just have been remolding the format of the business. GCG is a booking agent that no longer does management on island, but operates from a home office stateside. Aside from offering villas on St. John, we also assist with travel throughout the Caribbean. Villas, resorts, and cruises can all be booked with GCG and we offer the best available rates on the market. GCG strives to find the best available option for our clients and sometimes the research is extensive and takes time. Please feel free to contact me either through our websites, http://www.greatcaribbeangetaways.com, http://www.gcgtravel.com , or call our toll-free line at 800.341.2532. You may also send email to us at info@greatcaribbeangetaways.com or gcgetaways@gmail.com .
In regards to the extra 5%, GCG only charges a service fee if required by the villa manager. We have never hid the fact that we charge a fee if required.
There have been some accounting hiccups in the past but we have been serving our clients for nearly 20 years. If a client is uncomfortable with sending funds to us, we encourage them to send payment to the manager directly.

I must compliment you on your prompt response to the addressed issues....Al

ironman417 - now that was funny

Pia

They might as well be bankrupt or closed. After all of this, I don't see anyone on this site giving them a call.

JIM

Wow! What an interesting string this post has been...goes to show how important this forum is in communicating information about St. John....both the good and the bad.