Deborah with Summerwinds Resort called me on March 29 to offer me a vacation package at a great discount for being a valued customer of The Sandcastle South Hotel in Myrtle Beach, SC. I have been staying at the Sandcastle for the last 5 years so I listened to their offer. I was told the package was for 5 days and 4 nights for $190.00. She said I would also receive a $50.00 gift card to Broadway At The Beach plus an extra bonus vacation of 3 days and 2 nights at one of 92 destinations including Myrtle Beach for free and that I could take up to 1 year to use it... All I would have to do was go through a timeshare tour to receive all of this for the $190.00.
I asked if this was for an oceanfront room at the Sandcastle Hotel and she said yes as long as one was available on the date I intended to go. I asked if I had to make the decision right now and she said yes, it was a one time offer. I was hesitant in saying yes because it sounded "too good to be true" but after she kept on with the pressure tactic for another 10 minutes I finally gave in. I ended up giving her $110.00 to secure a room for 1 night on my debit card. She told me I had to call an 800 number to reserve the other 3 nights within 30 days and pay the other $80.00 at that time. I was sent a confirmation letter in the mail on April 22 with the 800 number that I needed to call to finish up my reservation, but when I called it the number did not go through. It started out saying message RNK and to try again later, which I did many times and it still said the same thing. There was another 800 number at the bottom of the reservation and it did the same thing. I immediately started thinking I got ripped off. There was a 417 number also at the bottom of the page so I called it and finally got through to someone.
I gave reservations the dates I wanted to go and she said that Deborah had already given them the paperwork stating that I would be staying at the "Olympian Hotel" at Myrtle Beach (this hotel is 4 blocks from the ocean!). I told them there must have been some kind of mistake because Deborah had said I would get to stay at the "Sandcastle South" Oceanfront. I was put on hold and when she came back I was told if I wanted to stay there I would have to pay an "upgrade". Deborah never mentioned anything to me about an upgrade or I would not have taken the package at all. I have gone to Myrtle Beach since I was a little kid and have NEVER stayed anywhere that wasn't oceanfront.
I called Deborah back the next day and she could only put me in a different hotel but it wouldn't be oceanfront unless I paid the upgrade. I told her she never said anything about an upgrade and she told me that she did. I argued with her over this and finally told her I wanted my money back she could not back up her original offer. She said I would have to write a letter to Lucinda Waters who is head of Marketing to get a refund, which I did the very next day.
In the meantime, I noticed that the paperwork they sent to me had OCEANIA at the top of the page with Summerwinds East Coast Division underneath it. I googled Oceania, found out it was actually Oceania Family Resorts located in Myrtle Beach on Kings Highway, got a phone number for them and asked them what their connection was with Summerwinds. I was told that Oceania contracted Summerwinds to promote their timeshare plans for them. I told them what was going on with me and they were pretty upset and said if I didn't get it taken care of with the letter I wrote, to let them know. Oceania owns at least 6 Oceanfront Hotels at Myrtle Beach.
I never heard from Ms Waters but a man called me from Summerwinds and I told him what had happened and he promised me he would take care of it and do his best to get me the oceanfront room at the Sandcastle South that I had originally wanted. On April 29 I received a confirmation letter stating that I would be actually staying at the Sandcastle on the dates I originally asked for. To play it safe I called the Sandcastle to make sure I actually had a reservation and they confirmed that I did, and it was for an oceanfront suite!
I went ahead planning our trip as usual for the next few months because my reservation was for arriving August 7th and departing August 11th. On August 6th I decided to call the Sandcastle Hotel to see if their was a coffee pot in the room and I was put on hold. When the girl came back to the phone she asked me if the reservation was originally made by Summerwinds and I said "yes, why?" She said "I hate to tell you this but Summerwinds cancelled all their reservations a month ago, didn't Summerwinds call to let you know?" I said "Obviously not!" I could not even believe this! If I hadn't of called to ask about a coffee pot I would have drove 5 hours to the hotel to find out I didn't have a reservation anymore! I immediately called Summerwinds (the 800 numbers still didn't work after all these months) and asked them WTF! I was told that Oceania cancelled their contract a month ago and they were gonna call me to let me know today. I said "You were gonna call me today!?! My reservation is for tomorrow and I was gonna leave at 5:00 am to drive down there!" I told her I wanted my $110.00 back immediately and she said I would get it very soon, that they were refunding everyones money that bought a package from them on their Oceania contract. Still waiting on my money!
This is a major lesson learned on my part, and something I will never do again! Hopefully those who read this will learn not to accept any deal that sounds "too good to be true" because it more than likely is!
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