Wow! I wish I would have come onto this site just a few days earlier than I did. I also fell victim to this "wonderful" Ramada Plaza Resorts vacation package that came in the mail. I was too excited to see what it was all about that I failed to do my research BEFORE calling the toll-free number listed on the front of the document. Ok, where to start?
I received the vacation offer in the mail confirming that I was the "Fully Registered recipient" of the $1600 travel voucher. After reading thru the offer, it sounded to be a very nice package and so I couldn't wait to call the number to get more information. Well for one thing, they had my apartment building address on the outside, but not my apartment number. That should have been my 1st sign to throw the offer out. Secondly, according to the offer, I only had 72 hours from the date of issue to call in order for the offer to still be valid. According to the offer, the date of issue was March 10. I called March 16 and lo and behold, I was still able to get the "wonderful vacation package". That should have been my next sign... But I continued to listen... BIG mistake!
The representative who took the call said that she would be right back because she had to go "check" to see if the offer was still valid for me. I waited on the phone for almost 10 minutes before she came back to give me her spiel which was obviously read from a script. She even choked on a few words and tried to act like she had something in her throat but it was all too obvious. But I thought, 'hey, i'm sure they get tons of calls about this per day so thats why there's a script to follow'. Yes, naive, aren't I?
Finally, she went on to offer the $698 for the first two persons and an additional $198 each for the 3rd and 4th person. I told her that I wasn't interested and she asked me "Is this deposit not feasible for you at this time?" I answered yes and she offered to put me on hold while she consulted with her supervisor. A few minutes later, a man comes on the phone to confirm that I wasn't willing to pay that much. He suggested that they could try and work something out for me that was more economical. Ok, so it still sounded good so far. I went on to ask him tons of questions and he seemed to be knowledgeable about the Ramada and even competition hotels. He even went on to give me his name (Bill Barone) and his toll-free contact number and extension number, and said that he was the GM of Ramada's Promotional Divison. Well, after reading all the reports on consumer complaints's website, I will learn that the "promotional division" is just the telemarketing center for Ramada. BUT, at the time, with all this information, I felt like I could trust them and finally, after much persuasion, agreed to the offer. Mr Barone offered to cut my deposit in half to $349 and said that the other half of the deposit would be due at least 60 days prior to my scheduled departure date. Ok, so I give him my credit card info and once that's all jotted down, he says he'll transfer me to a representative who will go over everything and record the convo.
After confirming all of my information, and after hanging up the phone, I thought to myself "What the heck have i done?" I began asking around to my friends, family and co-workers on their opinion of the whole thing. They all suggested that I look up this company on the internet and see if they offer any "spectacular" package like this one. Well, to my surprise, what I came up with was this website (usacomplaints.com) and tons of testimonials from other ppl who were ripped off by Ramada Plaza Resorts.
I have already called my credit card company to report the fraudulent charge to my card. So far, they say that there shouldn't be a problem in reversing the charges but who knows, we'll just have to wait and see what happens. Seeing as I "authorized" these charges, I don't know if they will be understanding and reverse them for me. Wish me luck...
V
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Canada
0 comments