Ramada Plaza Resorts, National Travel Agency
Ripoff Misleading promotion intended to rip off trusting people

My story begins with me visiting the Health and Wellness Expo in Winnipeg, Manitoba. At the entrance and at many booths throughout the event were boxes for a draw to win a trip to Florida and cruise to the Bahamas. I entered once, one of the questions being "do you have a valid credit card?".

Two nights later I received a phone call telling me that I was one of the people who were eligible to win the prize. "Asli Koluglu" was very very nice and told me very slowly about the 3 days and 2 nights in Fort Lauderdale, 2 days and 2 nights on the cruise to Nassau, Bahamas, and the 4 days and 3 nights in Orlando. She explained that I had to get to F.L. Myself, but I would have a paid rental car waiting for me on arrival. I only had to pay the fuel and insurance on the car, she said. I was also told that if I chose to take the cruise that it would cost $198.US per person. It sounded too good to be true and I said so.

I was told that I they were not allowed to give away free trips so they had to charge $349.US per person. I was told about the stateroom on the ship with my own attendant. Eight meals per day. I was told about free passes to Universal Studios. I was told more than once that the trip was fully transferrable and I could also sell it. I was told about two bonus trips that I could take after my Fort Lauderdale/Bahamas/Orlando trip. The two bonus trips were 3 days and 2 nights in Las Vegas and 5 days and 4 nights in Puerto Vallarta.

Asli told me the trip was worth over $3,085.Us. The only thing I had to do was take either a morning or afternoon tour with them.

I would not have listened to this sales pitch if they just called out of the blue, but this was from a draw that I entered at the Health and Wellness Expo, after all. I gave Asli my credit card number, my heart beating so fast because I could not believe this was for real. I even asked if this was legitimate twice, and she said that Ramada Plaza is a reputable company and gave me a registration # of ST30427 for whatever reason.

Anyway, I was then transferred to Louise who would verify my trip info. I had 18 months to use or sell or transfer it according to Asli. Aslie gave me the customer Service # 1-800-203-9783 and a personal reference number, as well as her employee number 665. Louise verified my info and again told me that I would receive my DVD and reservation form from National Travel Agency in 14-21 days via US mail (Asli had also told me this).

I hung up the phone and called a girlfriend and she started to list the cost of travelling from Winnipeg to Fort Lauderdale, and the gas, port fee, etc. She said she would go over the package with me when it arrived and if it looked fishy I would ask for a refund.

Well, a couple of hours later (I had a project to finish under a deadline first) I went on the Internet and found complaints about Ramada Plaza. I checked the Manitoba Better Business Bureau and they also had bad news.
I phoned Visa to see if I could stop the charges, but they said it was too late, the charge was already authorized. He knew of Ramada Plaza and told me of another scam they had going and gave me the customer service number that Asli had given me.interesting, isn't it, that Visa had this number handy?!!? I then phoned the customer service number but the recording told me the hours, Easter time, and I called too late.
The next morning (today) I called and Dwayne answered. He asked for my reference number and asked very nicely what he could do for me. When I said I wanted to cancel he said he would have to put me on hold for a "customer specialist". I was on hold for 6 minutes then Gerson, extention 4017, came on the line. I told him that I wanted to cancel and he spoke to me like I was crazy. I told him the reason that I was cancelling was due to the fact that with all of the additional charges that there was no way I could afford to use this trip.

He tried to sell me a cheaper trip which I refused. I repeatedly told him that I wanted to cancel and get my $698.US refunded. He was not happy at all and would not agree to a refund, but I just kept repeating that I wanted to cancel and get a refund (like 6 times in a row!). He finally put me on hold again, and when he came back he said that he would issue a full refund. He said it would take 7-10 business days. I had to ask for a confirmation number, which he gave me. I spent 18 minutes on the phone in total.

At this point in time I do not know if I will get a full or partial refund. I will update my story as events transpire.

I spent my lunch break today reading stories from Canada on this site. I am so happy that I found the site and that others have shared their experiences. If they had not used the Health and Wellness Expo to make themselves appear legitimate I would NEVER have fallen for this line of bull.

I hope that my story helps others who realize too late what they have gotten themselves into.
Good luck, everyone!

Melissa
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Canada

Company: Ramada Plaza Resorts, National Travel Agency
Country: USA
State: Florida
City: Fort Lauderdale
Address: 2419 E Commercial Blvd
Phone: 4166441155

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