Ramada Plaza Resorts
Total Marketing Group Vacation scam from the rudest, most non-service orientated company I've ever dealt with - a complete rip-off! Ripoff!

Having received a pop-up voucher congratulating me on being the 1000th visitor to the web site that I was on, I noticed this was offering me $1202 in travel dollars toward a Disney Vacation. As this pop-up appeared on MSN and used the Disney name, it looked Kosher!

How wrong I was!

As a UK consumer, we are protected under fair trading and mis-representation laws and I thought it was worth looking into. I telephoned from the UK and was connected with Michael... TMG Vacations sales agent #581.

The sales pitch advised me that this was "today's special offer" which I could only take up from responding once to the ad i.E. This one telephone call - I couldn't research them, then call back and book later. Michael also said he'd never seen one of their vouchers at this high value before! He then went on to explain that it entitled me to the following:

4 days/3 nights QUALITY Orlando accomodation at either La Quinta, Amerihost Resort or Wellesley Inn.

2 complimentary passes to either Disney or Universal Studios, or 7 days free car rental.

3 days/2 nights QUALITY Daytona accomodation at the Surf Side Resort.

3 days/2 nights QUALITY Ft. Lauderdale accomodation at either Hilton or Wellesley Inn.

Plus a complimentary all expenses paid Bahamas Cruise.
Plus a bonus vacation of 2 nights in Vegas and 2 nights in Williamsburg.

I asked about restrictions and was advised of sepcific blackout dates ie Daytona Bikeweek, Christmas, August.

Michael explained that this was a $1600 value package for which my voucher covered $1202. The only cost to me would therefore be $398 to secure my booking, plus a $58 booking cost when I confirm my travel dates (min 30 days advance notice and valid any time 24 months out). The package was valid for up to 4 people.

As my partner and I were planning to take our Son to Disney at some point, I decided to go for it. BIG MISTAKE!

Michael transferred me to a verification officer (Alice) who took my credit card details and gave me a confirmation reference number.

At no time did Michael or Alice mention that I would be obliged to attend a timeshare presentation during our visit. This was only shown on the email confirmation after having paid my $398 by credit card. However, I accepted this as a 'reasonable' trade as it stated "at your leisure, you will spend an exciting part of a morning or afternoon looking at one of our beautiful resorts".

When it came to booking the dates, I telephoned TMG who transferred me to a booking agent. I confirmed travel dates, but the three res agents I spoke with were all unwilling to confirm the exact hotel details. All they would confirm was that it would be Quality accomodation - minimum 3/4 star. I booked the dates but decided to waive the Bahamas cruise and paid my $58 booking fee. I then booked our flights direct with Virgin.

As the weeks rolled by, I started to worry as I had not received any confirmation. I made numerous trans-Atlantic telephone calls to the booking agent and to TMG. Each time I was told "not to worry" and that the confirmations had been posted to me.

Eventually, I received confirmation from NationWide Reservations. The confirmation had been sent in my name and address, but someone from NationWide had hand-written "Canada" on the address window. I live in the UK! These detailed our accommodation in Orlando (Wellesley Inn/Lake Cecile) and Ft. Lauderdale (Ramada Plaza Resort), but not Daytona. Again I contacted NationWide, who said that my Daytona accomodation would be allocated on arrival - not something I ever agree to!

Anyhow on January 5th, my partner, Son and I flew to Orlando, collected our Dollar rental car (I booked this direct) and we arrived at the Orlando welcome center - the Amerihost Resort, where I was told we would be staying as opposed to the accomodation stated on my confirmation.

The hotel was built around an indoor pool area adjacent to an internal pizza hut cafeteria (with Karaoke) and buffet restaurant. The whole thing was cheap, tacky and with no natural light was dark and gloomy - hardly the "quality accomodation" that I had been sold! I reluctantly agreed to stay here, on the welcome center's recomendation that this was better than my designated hotel!

He then told me the presentation would be at 9am the following morning (not "at my leisure") and that I would have to pay a $20 deposit which was refundable at the presentation, when I would also receive my Disney or Universal Studios tickets. Having travelled for 14 hours, I was now getting twitchy!

The hotel room was hot and damp with sealed windows, which resulted in both my partner and Son having a sleepless night as the damp atmosphere aggravated their asthma. There were no alternative rooms available!

The following morning, I went to the Welcome Center at 9am as requested, to be told that the presentation was not at the hotel, but elsewhere. I was given an address to drive to which I attempted to find and subsequently gave up - I was more concerned about my family being un-well and stuck in the hotel.

We remained at the Amerihost for two further nights before heading for our next accomodation at Daytona Beach. The Welcome Center in Orlando had given me what looked like a 10th generation photocopied fax of directions for the next Welcome Center at The Bermuda House, where we were to collect our accomodation vouchers for our next hotel (presumably the Surf Side Resort which I'd been sold originally).

We set off for Daytona, happy to be leaving this hell-hole of a hotel.

On arrival at the Bermuda House, I went to reception to collect our accomodation voucher from the Welcome Center. I was told the Welcome Center was closed (it was now 8pm but the map stated it was open 8am-10pm 7 days a week). I was then told that we were booked into the Bermuda House - No disrespect to the guy at reception, but I stated this was not what I had paid for and travelled from England for!!!

It was dark, I had been driving with my family for 3 hours trying to find this place after a bad experience in Orlando and my 9 year old was tired and un-well. No way was I accepting this and demanded to speak with the guy at the Welcome Center. The Bermuda House receptionist contacted the manager of the Welcome Center (Michael) on his cellphone and I explained the situation. Micahel told me I had no option and would have to stay there. I was not prepared to accept this and insisted he find alternative and more suitable accomodation. He said there was none at which point, Michael became abusive and hung up!

The hotel receptionist understanding my predicament, contacted a higher quality hotel along Daytona Beach and negotiated a rate for me. We headed there and to my surprise, were met by... Michael. He said that if we did not stay at the Bermuda House and attend a resort presentation in Daytona (as I had failed to find the presentation venue in Orlando), they would not honour our accomodation at our next resort in Ft. Lauderdale.

I was now ready to swing! This company had taken my money, put us in a hotel which affected my family's breathing and sleeping, they had failed to provide adequate instructions and were now threatening to terminate my contract! He further commented that if we were unhappy with the Amerihost and Bermuda House, we would certainly not be happy with our allocated accomodation in Ft. Lauderdale.

We stood on the forecourt of this hotel negotiating for 20 minutes while my family sat in the car. Michael then telephoned TMG and asked someone to make various notes of my complaint and the circumstances on my file. We then checked into this new hotel and personally paid extra for two nights accomodation.

During our stay in Daytona, my partner and I discussed what was the best way to spend the reminder of our holiday and we decided to give up on the TMG package completely as they were ruining our vacation. We headed South staying at very comfortable hotels en route finishing our vacation in Palm Beach and Miami.

I am now commencing a battle to obtain a refund from TMG. How I am supposed to do this from the UK, I don't know just yet, so any advise from anyone who has a similar experience would be warmly welcomed.

My only other course of action is to use my contacts at CNN, where I was a Senior VP for seven years. I'm sure my former colleagues in the business news team and Travel Show production unit would be interested to learn more about the ongoing and seemingly widespread TMG/RPR rip-off!!!

So, in total this cost me $476 for three nights crappy accomodation at the Amerihost Resort... Over two and a half times the standard room rate, with no other benefits or accomodation, plus a further $150 in telephone costs. OK I can just about stomach this and put it down to my own stupidity at being sold by theses sharks, but it's the stress, the hassle and the negative effect on my family holiday that reallys pisses me off.

At least my Son met Mickey Mouse at Disney - I never knew though that he also ran a travel business called TMG!!!

Martin
Braintree
United Kingdom

Company: Ramada Plaza Resorts
Country: USA
State: Florida
City: Oviedo
Address: 61 Alafaya Woods Blvd #391, Oviedo, FL 32765
Phone: 8883599353

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