Like so many of you, I received an offer for a vacation package through the mail from Ramada Plaza Resorts. My first instinct was to trash it, but as I saw the names of familiar travel companies, such as Carnival Cruise Lines and Universal Orlando, I decided to take a look at it. Boy, should I have followed my intuition! The advertisement described a wonderful trip to Ft. Lauderdale and Orlando, complete with a Bahamas cruise with an additonal two bonus trips to Las Vegas and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
All you had to do was the call the 1-800 number to get more information on the supposedly wonderful deal you were getting. As I did not understand the offer fully, I decided to give it a call to seek more information.
I was connected with a seemingly affable and friendly guy named Allen who described the package to me so well it seemed as if I couldn't refuse.
Basically, he promised me the sun and the moon and assured me that my boyfriend and I would have the romantic getaway of our lives. Wanting to think further on it, I was informed that the offers were so limited that you must decide at that very moment if you wanted to do it or not.
Against my better judgement, I conceded, feeling as if the package was too good a deal to pass up. Allen informed me that the trip would be $698 a person for my boyfriend and myself, with little to no out of pocket expenses.in additon, I would receive the two bonus trips to Las Vegas and Mexico, and, because he liked me so much, he would also throw in my own choice of five out of ten bonus trips, to choose from places such as Hilton Head, SC and Gatlinburg, TN. And of course I would not have to pay the full balance right now because he understood that people needed time to come up with the money.
I agreed, and was immediately asked for my credit card number and subsequently transferred to a verification department. Everything happened so fast, it was very easy to get sucked in.
Later that night I just happened to log on to the Yahoo search engine and type in Ramada Plaza Resorts. To my utter dismay and horror I came across countless complaints and warnings about this scam company. The hotel rooms were detestable, the cruise was no better than a ferry ride, being both ancient and subpar, and the out of pocket expenses were ridiculous—basically, customers were paying for the trip two and three times over! Not to mention that the so-called short "tours" you had to go to to get the cruise and theme park tickets were lengthy time-share sales pitches, lasting up to three and four hours. Worst of all, I came across dozens of jipped customers who could not get their money back! When I read this, I was truly scared and decided to do some research on the return policy. I ran across in several entries that they had a supposed 3-day return policy (of which they do not inform you about) and the state of Florida itself has a certain period of time of which you can rescind your agreement. I vowed to take care of this business first thing the next morning as I refused to be conned out of my money.
At 8:30 sharp (when the customer care department opens) I gave them a call and was put on hold for about ten minutes before I got through. I was then transferred again to another person when I told the first rep that I wanted to cancel my package, and ended up waiting an additonal ten minutes before a woman named Joan came on the line. I told her that due to circumstances I wanted to cancel, and she immediately asked why and kept prodding me until I told her of the unfavorable reviews and fraud reports all over the internet on this company. She then gave me a sob story about how the company is being unfairly represented and they still have such and such number of satisfied customers, etc. She then went on to tell me that the owner of usacomplaints.com is being federally indicted (most likely to discredit the site). I told her that even if that was true it was still of little consequence to their company's reputation as the owner of the site did not write the hundeds and hundred of reviews! Not to mention the fact that complaints existed on several other sites. She then attempted to lower my entire package down to around $300 for both my boyfriend and me together! This only confirmed that the company is a scam; how can you go all the way from almost $700 a person to around $300 for the both of us?!
I told her once again, quite firmly, that I was not interested in any deal they were willing to make and I expected a full refund of monies charged to my card. She continued trying to make deals and I continued to interrupt her until she tried to say that the company booked packages with the intent to travel. Asking her to elaborate, she basically said that they do not give refunds. I told her that that was a load of crap (not in those exact words) and that the company had a 3-day cancellation policy on top of the state of Florida's even lengthier policy. When she realized this, she shut up and put me on hold once more. She then came back and told me that there would be a full refund to my credit card and gave me my cancellation number. I told her I needed the cancellation in writing and she said that a cancelllation notification would be mailed to my home. To be on the safe side, I then asked for her name and wrote down the time of my call. Before I hung up she even went so far as to offer me a free 4 day trip to Florida. NO THANKS! I wouldn't even accept that; nothing in life is free.
After I hung up I immediately called my credit card company and informed them of what had just transpired and to be on the look out for any billing from that company. They told me if the charge is not off in 4-5 business days they will send me a form to dispute the charges and any future charges this company may try to put on it. I am sure the credit card companies are well aware that this "company", and I use the word loosely, is a sham.
To those who have been duped by this shady business, do not take it sitting down! Get your money back; try to do it as soon as possible after you book it. They have no legal authority to not offer refunds, but they will lie and tell you that they don't give them. Remain firm and inform them that you know for a fact about their cancellation period, Florida law, etc. I for one am extremely grateful for sights like this; otherwise I would have ended up going on a vacation from hell.
Don't give up! You can have the last laugh.
Alison
Birmingham, Alabama
U.S.A.
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