Options Travel Group Lawsuit: BBB Complaints, Refunds, and Indictment

No government agency or private class action lawsuit against Options Travel Group has surfaced in publicly available records, but the Missouri-based timeshare exit company carries an “F” rating from the Better Business Bureau, a formal December 2024 BBB consumer warning, a documented pattern of complaints from consumers in at least 28 states, and a president with a prior federal indictment for mortgage fraud. Consumers who paid the company thousands of dollars report receiving little or nothing in return.

What Has Been Filed and What Has Not

Based on available records, no state attorney general, federal agency, or reported private plaintiff has filed suit naming Options Travel Group. That absence sits alongside a substantial paper trail of consumer harm collected by the BBB and posted in consumer forums, and alongside enforcement activity against other timeshare exit operators in Missouri and elsewhere.

The company, registered in Missouri in June 2020 under the parent entity DVD II Group, LLC, lists addresses in Affton, Missouri, and Spring, Texas. The BBB noted that a leasing agent at the Missouri address said they had “never heard of” Options Travel Group or its parent company.¹ Frank Blacketer is listed as president and Christina Gillespie as Director of Operations.²

The BBB Warning and Complaint Pattern

On December 5, 2024, the BBB issued a formal consumer warning about Options Travel Group. At that point the bureau had documented 32 complaints and 43 negative customer reviews from consumers in 28 states.¹ By mid-2026, complaints had grown to 38, with only nine listed as resolved.³ The company is not BBB-accredited and carries an “F” rating along with a formal Pattern of Complaints alert.⁴

The grievances follow a consistent shape. Customers say they paid large upfront fees for timeshare exits that never happened, received travel club memberships that offered no meaningful savings, and then could not get anyone at the company to return their calls. When they asked for refunds, the company told them that “not all files are eligible for a refund.”¹ In responses to the BBB, the company has claimed to have “over 7,000 happy and satisfied customers.”

What Consumers Say They Paid

The amounts vary. The BBB warning highlighted a Utah couple who paid $8,295 after an August 2023 seminar, a Virginia man who paid $7,000 plus an additional $1,000 to an outside law firm in November 2022, and a Colorado man who paid $8,000 the night of a December 2022 seminar. None reported a successful timeshare exit.¹

Direct BBB complaints report higher figures still. One consumer described being charged $11,495 across multiple fees. Another reported $11,616. A third said they were pressured into opening two new credit cards and running up over $18,000 for services that were never performed.³ A separate account posted on JustAnswer described a senior couple being told they needed to pay $14,000 upfront to escape their timeshare, plus a $299 annual travel club fee, before their credit card issuer flagged the transaction.⁵

Sales Tactics Complainants Describe

Multiple complainants describe high-pressure seminar environments. Several say representatives called them claiming to be affiliated with Hilton Grand Vacations and invited them to meetings described as informational rather than sales presentations.³ Once at the meeting, consumers report fear-based pitches warning that their timeshares would become a financial burden on their children or that maintenance fees were about to spike.

Several complaints involve elderly consumers on fixed incomes, ages 73 to 75. At least one complainant submitted a doctor’s note stating they lacked the mental capacity to sign legal documents, which the company allegedly ignored. Others describe being physically blocked from leaving meetings. The company also allegedly told customers it held an “A+” BBB rating when the actual rating was “F.” When one consumer confronted a representative about this, the representative reportedly dismissed the BBB as a “scam” that gives poor ratings only to companies that refuse to pay it.³

Refunds and the Seven-Day Window

Getting money back has proven difficult. The company’s standard position, according to BBB records, is that contracts include a seven-day cancellation window and that fees are non-refundable after that period. Some consumers say they were verbally promised longer cancellation periods only to be told later that the written contract’s seven-day deadline controlled.³

A few consumers have recovered funds. At least one obtained a full refund through the credit card chargeback process after the company refused a voluntary refund. In another case, the company agreed to a $3,495 refund following BBB intervention. In a third, the company claimed to have issued a $1,000 “good faith” refund in April 2025 and attempted a wire transfer in November 2025, though the consumer disputed receiving the money.³

The President’s Prior Federal Indictment

Frank Blacketer, listed as president of Options Travel Group, was indicted by a federal grand jury on November 1, 2000, on three counts of mail fraud and seven counts of wire fraud. The charges stemmed from a mortgage fraud scheme allegedly conducted through a private business called Creative Funding. Prosecutors alleged that between October 1999 and August 2000, Blacketer solicited investors for home mortgages that were either nonexistent or owned by other parties, victimizing at least 75 people across six states and causing losses exceeding $2.5 million.⁶ At the time, Blacketer was identified as a minister operating the Victory Outreach Center in Springfield, Missouri. The available research does not indicate the outcome of those charges.

Enforcement Against Other Timeshare Exit Companies

Options Travel Group has not been named in any of the publicly available government enforcement actions, but regulators have been active against similar operations. In 2020, then-Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt sued Brian Scroggs and four related companies after the BBB documented nearly 100 complaints and more than $670,000 in consumer losses.⁷ Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey later sued RSI, LLC, a Branson-based timeshare exit company, for allegedly collecting over $800,000 from 114 consumers without fulfilling its promises.⁸

At the federal level, the FTC and Wisconsin Attorney General filed suit in November 2022 against a timeshare exit network operating under names like Square One Group and Consumer Law Protection, alleging a scheme that defrauded mostly older adults out of more than $90 million.⁹ By April 2026, the court had entered a final judgment of over $140 million against lead defendant Christopher Lee Carroll and permanently banned him from marketing timeshare exit services.¹⁰ Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced settlements in January 2025 with three timeshare exit companies for charging illegal upfront fees and lacking proper licenses, requiring $269,378 in refunds.¹¹

None of these cases name Options Travel Group. They do describe the legal theories, chiefly illegal advance fees and misrepresentation, that regulators have used against companies with similar business models.

If You Paid Options Travel Group

The recoveries documented in BBB records point to a few concrete steps. Consumers who paid by credit card have obtained full refunds through the chargeback process when the company refused a voluntary refund. Filing a complaint with the BBB has, in at least one case, produced a partial refund. Complaints can also go to the attorney general in the state where you signed the contract and to the FTC. If a representative told you something different from what appears in your written contract, particularly about the cancellation window or the scope of services, keep the written materials and any recordings or notes from the seminar. The company’s position in BBB responses has been that the written seven-day window controls.³

As of mid-2026, Options Travel Group remains in operation and is actively responding to BBB complaints. One complaint from early 2026 noted that an investigation into allegations of fraud and coercion had been initiated by what the complainant described as a government agency, referred to as “APS,” though details of that investigation are not publicly available.³

1
Better Business Bureau. BBB Warning: Missouri-Based Timeshare Company Options Travel Group Fails in Timeshare Exit Efforts
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Better Business Bureau. Options Travel Group BBB Profile – Spring, TX
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Better Business Bureau. Options Travel Group Complaints – BBB Profile
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Better Business Bureau. Options Travel Group BBB Profile – Affton, MO
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JustAnswer. Seniors Met Options Travel, They Told Us
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Springfield Business Journal. Grand Jury Indicts Springfield Minister in Mortgage Fraud Case
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Timeshare.com. Missouri Attorney General Sues Four Timeshare Exit Companies
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Missouri Attorney General. Attorney General Bailey Sues Branson-Based Timeshare Exit Company for Violations of Consumer Protection Laws
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Federal Trade Commission. FTC, Wisconsin Attorney General Take Action Against Timeshare Exit Scammers
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U.S. Department of Justice. United States and State of Wisconsin Obtain Over $140M Judgment and Permanent Injunction
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Minnesota Attorney General. Timeshare Exit Settlements