Nixon sues 9 companies

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Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon is charging nine area travel companies with violating the state's consumer protection laws. Nixon announced Aug. 24 in Branson that he had filed suit against the companies, seeking more than $200,000 in restitution for at least 154 consumers who say they were taken by the companies. |ret||ret||tab|

Named in the lawsuits are: John M. Delgrosso, dba FunTyme Vacations; Worldwide Dream Vacations and William H. Large; Leisure Access, James C. Taylor and Amy E. Harris; Tommy Tran and Tommy Tran Inc., dba World of Vacations and Troy Daniel Bratz; Vacation Services of America LLC and Vacation Services of America Inc. and Thomas Aloysius Wood; Cherry D. Murr, dba National Vacation Sales, aka MVS.com; Oswald Crabtree, Daniel James Crabtree and Linda Kay Caldwell, dba Tickets for Less; and Susan Gannucci, dba Your Best Friend in Branson.|ret||ret||tab|

The lawsuits were filed in Taney County Circuit Court. |ret||ret||tab|

Nixon also sued Student Express, a Colorado corporation, in Perry County Circuit Court, for $42,750 in restitution. |ret||ret||tab|

Many of the companies Nixon sued sold trips to Branson and timeshares in Taney and Stone counties. |ret||ret||tab|

According to a news release from Nixon's office, the companies named in the lawsuits have deceived consumers in several ways, including using high-pressure sales tactics to sell travel memberships and refusing to allow consumers to cancel their orders; charging up-front fees for selling consumers' existing timeshares, then failing to sell them; and promising that joining a travel club would save consumers money, when often they could get better prices on their own. |ret||ret||tab|

The lawsuits ask that the companies repay consumers, pay penalties and stop their deceptive practices. |ret||ret||tab|

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