Customers of a Columbia vacation club could receive about $3,000 each after the attorney general ordered the club's companies to refund millions of dollars for making false promises.

Interlink Travel Network Inc., Eagle Rental Inc., and L&M; Marketing Inc., sold memberships in a vacation club and promised customers luxurious visits to "four-and five-star" rated resorts but provided access only to poor-quality accommodations, officials said.

Authorities also said the companies, owned by the same people, made intense sales pitches, failed to alert customers of their cancellation rights and refused to provide refunds to those who canceled their memberships.

The companies, which also operated out of Waldorf, were ordered last week to refund all the membership payments, stop illegal practices and pay a $2 million civil penalty, officials said.

Pub Date: 3/26/99