Further information in regard to 1-costaricalink. I contacted 1costaricalink and found that there are two different companies. The company that has defrauded me is 1-costaricalink. Attached below is the former partner of the new and dishonest website that has defrauded me.

Quote from received email--------------

Thank you for writing, but you have me confused with my ex-business partner

who is pulling this scam. Unfortunately, he is now cheating the public, as

he cheated me in the past, and he has been doing this against tourists for

almost 4 years, and then I get the complaints because of the similarity of

our names.

After we split, he started a new website by using a DASH, that is

www.1-costaricalink.com His company is Falmingo link SA. My company is One

Costa Rica link SA, a Costa Rican corporation, and my website is

www.1costaricalink.com . For an almost full explanation, go here:

1costaricalink.com/eng/web/warning-credit-ca…

The reason I say almost complete is that I received many more complaints

than listed on the page, but was not receiving any complaints for awhile

because Credomatic cancelled his merchant account about 6 months ago. Then,

he changed his logo a few months back to DWT, Discovery World Travel, took

off Flamingo Link SA, and took off their names - Joern and Angela Malek from

their site. I have also read on tripadvisor.com where he is now using other

websites to scam people, having made such a bad name for himself on

tripadvisor.com with 1-costaricalink.com DASH.

If you search other posts for 1costaricalink.com and 1-costaricalink.com,

you will see the difference. I would appreciate two things: first, that you

correct your current tripadvisor.com comment, and secondly, tell me who it

was that charged your credit card. I mean, was it Credomatic again? They

told Costa Rican Trails, who also gets my complaints as they process my

reservation requests (I collect no money or make reservations), that his

credit card account had been cancelled. I want to know who has it now, so

that they can be informed and the scam will be stopped. Please let me know,

and send any other documentation / emails so that I can follow up on this

end, too.

There was a report on this back in March. Type in 1costaricalink in the forum block. I hope you get your money back.

There are lots and lots of warning about this site here on TA and other travel related sites.

I am sorry you were victimized - but thank you for warning others.

Before booking, do some research....

I spent weeks doing research. Even with wonderful sites like TripAdvisor unless you hit the right search terms you can mess up. I actually hit their site searching a specific hotel and that website came up.

Sorry this happened to you Cara

similar problems with

www.1-costaricalink.com

in July.

Reported them for fraud to my CC company.

Revesed the charges got ALL my money back.

So contact your cc company to report the fraud.

Good luck...

On July 17 2009 I was going to book a stay at VillasLapas and somehow got this same websight. The rate they quoted was considerably cheaper than what was quoted on the hotel web site. I was suspicious and did some further checking and found that the whole deal was a scam.

I am lucky I checked before any money was sent.

Bruce, B.C. Canada

Thank you Cara...and I'm very sorry about...the same situation with Red Lava Tours and Lava Tours from La Fortuna ...Porras brothers are bad news...please do not deal with either!

Just buckle up and enjoy the ride in PARADISE!

Hi Road Advisor,

Please correct your recent posting where you mention both Red Lava and Lava Tours in La Fortuna. I think that you are referring to companies other than LAVA TOURS (www.lava-tours.com) that is a company based in Guadalupe and is a biking and adventure tour operator since 2003.

I believe that the companies that you refer to are agencies based in La Fortuna that are primarily resellers of tours.

We are currently engaging at least one companies that you refer to in order to stop them from using our legally registered trademark (Lava Tours) in accordance with local laws.

If you have any questions please contact me at carlosjcardona@lava-tours.com

Sincerely,

Carlos Cardona

Owner

Lava Tours

www.lava-tours.com

Sorry Carlos...but is hard to anybody to understand what is going on with the name of LAVA TOURS or RED LAVA TOURS...I'm referring to the crooks in Arenal...I did have no idea about your company...I have no idea who you are and the company that you own or represent...of course I have nothing against you!

Roadadvisor