EHS - Exhibitors Housing Services
Complaint 342853 Details

Received an unsolicited call from EHS this afternoon (caller identified himself as Kevin Case), stating that Dr. ________ (my employer) was a scheduled speaker at an upcoming symposium. ("Kevin Case" even gave me the date and time of my employer's presentation.) "Case" stated that available rooms at the conference's hotel were almost full (only 5 remaining) and encouraged me to make a reservation. He "transferred" me to "reservations," a young woman by the name of "Laura" then came on the line and asked for my e-mail address in order to send me a reservation form. "Laura" remained on the line with me to "walk you through" the process. Part of the "process" is supplying your credit card, CVC number, and expiration date.

I queried both "Kevin Case" and "Laura" as to whether they were third party agents or directly affiliated with Keystone, to which they each affirmed they were booking agents for the conference, suggesting I could find a link to their business in the Keystone e-mails sent to me but they were calling speakers because of the shortage of rooms. After completing and submitting the form, I realized that this was nothing more than a sweat shop, given that I could hear "Kevin Case" in the background while I was speaking to "Laura" in reservations. I immediately contact American Express and the symposium. Long story short: what EHS is doing is having you sign these reservation forms for $XXX/night, then they contract through an agency (bookings.com) to secure lower than stated room rates on another credit card (other than yours) and charge your credit card the difference. I was able to contact the symposia director AND the credit card company within an hour of this transaction. EHS had already posted a $595 charge on the AmEx account, but we refused the charge. These people are slick. DO NOT DEAL WITH THEM. THEY ARE SCAM ARTISTS!