My trial with Ramada Plaza Resorts ("RPR") has ended in partial success, and I wanted to file a report here to encourage any other victims who desperately want their money from this unscrupulous company back to pursue obtaining a refund.
I purchased and paid for my half of the trip ($498.00) in August after receiving one of RPR's infamous $1600.00 travel vouchers in the mail. Although I usually do not respond to telemarketers or mail offers, for some reason the prospect of a cruise excited me. Originally, I was offered the trip—which included three nights in Ft. Lauderdale, two nights in Orlando, and a two night cruise to Nassau in the Bahamas—for $698.00 per person, which also included gambling money and some other perk. However, since I was not expecting to pay much (if anything at all) based on the voucher, I declined the initial offer. The salesman, of course, lowered his price to the $498.00 per person and I agreed to purchase the trip. I was given the whole spiel and told I had 18 months to use the trip.
In October of I realized that the trip would expire soon and decided to schedule my cruise. RPR representatives were also calling my phone number on record in order to warn me that the 18 months were almost up. My boyfriend and I set the trip up for the first week of January in 2008 and he paid the second $498.00 over the phone.in November of we briefly considered rescheduling and I called RPR to inquire about extension fees. However, we decided to keep the originally scheduled trip as planned and booked tickets to Florida at a cost of approximately $277.00 per person.
As the date of the trip approached, I began to wonder why I had not received the itinerary. Finally, two days before our scheduled departure, I called RPR to inquire about the trip and confirm where we'd be staying. It was on that call that I was first told that my trip was cancelled because the ship would be dry docked during that time and, consequently, there could be no cruise. I was absolutely livid and told the many different people I spoke with that they could either give me my cruise during my scheduled dates or they could refund my money, plus the cost of airfare. I spent an entire lunch hour on the phone with RPR "customer service" representatives—approximately 10 of them total—but got nowhere. I was forced to abandon my efforts due to work.
Two days later (the intervening day was a holiday), I called RPR back and spoke with about 15 different people during a two hour period. Among its other qualities, RPR has the worst customer service I have EVER experienced. People transferred me back and forth, told me conflicting information, and hung up on me. Finally, I spoke with a "manager" (not sure I believe that) who refused to give me a refund (apparently, RPR does give refunds) and who acted surprised when I informed her that I knew they did indeed give refunds.
Since I got nowhere with RPR's lower-status employees, I filed a complaint with the Florida Department of Consumer Services later later that week, using as a template a letter I found posted here (I am extremely grateful to the wonderful woman who posted it). As an aside, once I began doing research on RPR, I was absolutely horrified by the amount of negative things people had to say and the number of lawsuits they've been involved in.included in my complaint was a tally of the value of my trip (based on the approximate value of $910.00, I shouldn't have had to pay anything if that $1600 voucher was real) and a detailed account of all the laws they've broken (Florida State Sellers of Travel Act and Deceptive Advertising laws).
After filing the complaint, I sent a formal refund demand letter to Daniel Lambert, Vice President of RPR, and James Verrillo, President and cc'd Consumer Affairs.By that time I had done a little more research (based on my father's advice) and discovered that RPR representatives actually lied when they told me that the ship would be dry docked during my scheduled trip.in actuality, based on the Imperial Majesty's own website and a call I made to confirm the information, the ship wouldn't be dry docked until a week AFTER my trip. To me, this is probably the worst, most deceptive act. However, I included this information in my refund demand letter and informed my investigator at Consumer Affairs of this as well.
On January 24th, only about two or three weeks after I filed my complaint with Consumer Affairs, my boyfriend and I received a full refund of our money. Although my case is now closed with Consumer Affairs, I would like to RPR to give me the $200.00 the airline will charge for rebooking a flight ($100 for each ticket) and I intend to follow up with them (although I am not sure whether I will be successful).
Still, I wanted to share my success with others so that they can get their money back too!
Vanessa
Los Angeles, California
U.S.A.
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