JOURNEYS program question

[possum]

Just FYI, I went to Costa Rica with GM 15 years ago. The hotel was like a prison; it was nice but I was afraid to go near the fence. Outside the "wall" was like a slum. Poor folks were living in corrugated tin shacks. I felt ashamed being there.

Drank bottled water and sodas for the whole week. Last day there, had a Coke with "local" ice.
Got dangerously sick the next day on the way home. 5 months of intestinal issues and clear liquid diet. Lost 30 pounds.

Maybe Scotland or Alaska or some such, but I'm never going to a third world country ever again.

[LOKI1]

I would start with your rep and see what he says.

Funny, that's what I thought too.

[Richard]

Absolute waste of a $1000.

Your GM Service/Parts rep is HEAVILY pressured into enrolling Dealers. The reps are incentivized with EarnPower bribes to get this done.

Like any other Gov'ment program, it only works if everyone's on it, and similarly GM pays a 3rd-party admin company huge bucks to run this, that's what the $1000 is for.

The 1099 tax bill you get at the end of the year includes the trips for the reps that win too. It's a business trip to them, so GM add the cost of their trips to yours.

You're welcome.

If you 'win' a trip, take a copy of the itinerary to a travel agent, and have them give you a quote for the same trip. GM sent me a 1099 for a cruise, claiming it's value at nearly $4k. Luckily one of our good customers is a travel agent, and she was able to build me a quote for the same trip at about $950 a person. Saved me a huge tax hit.

[Richard]

Just FYI, I went to Costa Rica with GM 15 years ago. The hotel was like a prison; it was nice but I was afraid to go near the fence. Outside the "wall" was like a slum. Poor folks were living in corrugated tin shacks. I felt ashamed being there.

Drank bottled water and sodas for the whole week. Last day there, had a Coke with "local" ice.
Got dangerously sick the next day on the way home. 5 months of intestinal issues and clear liquid diet. Lost 30 pounds.

Maybe Scotland or Alaska or some such, but I'm never going to a third world country ever again.

Last GM trip I went on, was a Carnival cruise. The ship was the Ecstasy fresh out of dry dock after 2 years of repairs from a laundry room fire at sea. Our 'stateroom' (I thought it was a storage room, but it DID have a porthole) stank!! Smelled like burnt metal! Found out later that our room was 2 decks directly above the laundry room that burnt....I'll never take another GM trip again (Unless it's Ireland or Scotland, then I might have to really ponder on it).