I recieved a "corporate memorandum" containing a $1,600.00 travel voucher good toward the purchase of a "Spectacular Florida / Tropical Caribbean Cruise". I called the toll free number 1-800-550-9559 within 72 hours of recieving this voucher as instructed within the letter.
I then spoke with Whitley, who seemed to be a very cordial fast talker who told me that 3 nights accommodations in South Florida, round trip cruise to port of call Nassau, Bahamas, two nights accommodations in Orlando, 7 days transportation by rent a car in addition to 3 days 2 nights in Las Vegas and 4 days 3 nights in Puerta Vallarta, could all be mine (after listening to a timeshare presentation of course) and paying a remaining balance of over $1300.00. Of course I'd have to decide on this call and couldn't call back.
I told Whitley that although I loved the package I simply couldn't afford to buy it at this time. She then offered to break the price down in installments $698.00 now, the rest when I booked my travel dates. After declining again, she then told me that Ramada would be happy to make financial arrangements with me but they would need to validate that my credit card was good. She assured me that it wouldn't be charged and that I'd have to go through a recorded verifications process to authorize any charges.
She then asked me about how much I thought was on my card, I told her about $900.00. She said she was asking because that would factor into what type of arrangement they might have been able to work out with me. Against my better judgement, I gave her my credit card number.
At this point I spoke with her supervisor, who then threw in too many bonuses to recall, among those being additional stays, longer time period to use package (3 years) and a $1000 online shopping spree. I again told him that this was something I simply couldn't afford to do at this time.
He then dropped the initial deposit to $349.00 with payments of about $56.00 per month. At this point I called my fiancee to see if he liked those terms, since he is on the credit card as well. Having been burned by the timeshare industry before, he insisted I decline the offer.
When I relayed this declination to Whitley's supervisor, he became very condescending, told me I'd probably honeymoon in St. Pete, FL (I'm an Orlando resident) and then dropped the initial deposit to $174.00 After declining the final time, he abruptly says, "There's a free gift for calling in today" and transferred me somewhere. After the phone rang about 10 times I hung up.
At my fiancee's request I called my credit card company to ensure my card had not been charged. Alas, there was a pending charge from Ramada Plaza Resorts for the full initial deposit amount of $698.00. My credit card company informed me that if Ramada Plaza Resorts would simply call them to release the authorization (that I never authorized) the matter could be rectified.
I then called Ramada Plaza Resorts sales department back at 1-800-550-9559 to let them know what had happened. I got to speak to yet another condescending supervisor with an attitude, who tried to make it seem as if the whole incident was my fault. He said that it was only a hold, not a charge, and that it would be credited back to my card in 3 days. When I asked if there was something someone could do today, he then gave me the customer service line, 1-800-203-9783, with the assurance that there was nothing else that anyone would do and to call customer service so they could "tell me the same thing".
I called customer service and asked to speak with yet another supervisor, whom I was never transferred to, instead I got a specialist. He basically told me the same thing. He assured me that if the "hold" didn't come off my card in 3 to "5" days, someone from his department would be happy to assist me in immediately getting my card credited, and that although they were able to debit my card without my authorization, "no one in the office could call my credit card company and release the "authorization" before then.
So all of you travelers with wanderlust beware, if any representative of Ramada Plaza Resorts calls you or you recieve any travel vouchers in the mail, immediately hang up and burn the literature, I wish I had. Hopefully the charge will be credited back in 5 business days, but worst case scenario, I'll have to close out my credit card account and have it reissued through the dispute process. All of this is an ordeal I wouldn't have had to go through had Ramada Plaza Resorts been ethical enough to never charge my card in the first place without my consent. Yet they say, "we'd never risk our reputation over $700.00". Well, you could have, and did, fool me!
Chauntrese
Orlando, Florida
U.S.A.
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