We were contacted by phone May about purchasing a package from Back To The Caribbean. It was offered as a 3 trip deal for $500.00. Weekend of September 4, Labor Day Weekend, we took the first of those three trips. Our reservation was in Daytona Beach, FL. We picked up our information at the Welcome Center in Daytona. There must be some affiliation with Back to the Caribbean and Welcome Center, not sure. Anyway we found our dump because that is exactly what it was. It was an old run down hotel they call as Resort, Perrys Ocean Resort. Yes it was on the beach but it was still old, rundown and nasty. Their parking was unbelievable. You could hardly have squeezed a bicycle in the spaces provided, what few spaces there were. It was so cramped and tight and if you didnt get in early you could forget it. Sometimes there wasnt any parking to be had. It was not in a good part of town, there were prostitutes all along there and many of the buildings were up for rent or lease or just empty.
There was always something stuck in our door whenever we came and went. Some solicitation from businesses. The towels were cheap and like sand-paper. We were hounded by the staff about taking care of the taxes of the room, which I guess we were responsible for. Even though they were given our credit card when we checked in to make a copy of, they still hounded us. Come to find out they didnt make a copy after all. They called and/or came by our room every day. It is a requirement that you attend a 90 minute presentation while you are in the area. Our appt time was in our pkg of info we picked up at the Welcome Center, along with the address of the location we were to go. When we went to the address listed it was an empty lot. We called the Welcome Center, were told they dont make appts for 12:30. We were sent to another resort, Plaza Resort and Spa, parked, went in, wasted time there. Dont know why we were sent there, they dont know.
All they did was give us directions of how to get to where we were supposed to go and the name of the place. Upon arrival, we were late of course by this time. We tried to check in at Florida Sports and Recreation. We were told we could not because we were late and had missed the presentation. We were treated so rudely from the moment we went in the door. The person telling us this said, Ive done all I can for you. She wouldnt help reschedule or anything. She said they were told we had rescheduled. We cant figure out who would have told them that. We only called Welcome Center and the other location we were sent to that person called someone while we were there. Dont know who or how he knew who to call, but it had to be one of the two of them. Anyway, we finally called Welcome Center, they rescheduled us for that same day.By this time most of our day there is gone. We went back at the appointed time, now that we knew where to go. We were treated so rudely. We filled out the required areas on the form, turned it in and were soon called in to the presentation.
Our rep came to our table, sat down, starting explaining things and another employee (Brian, and very rude), walked up and said very rudely, Who filled this form out? Its only 90% filled out? We told him we filled out the required areas. He was already angry about something when we came up because he was combative and argumentative, or maybe they are all trained to be that way all the time. When we answered him he asked, Is this how it is going to be? Did you want to go ahead and leave now? Our mouths were on the floor because we couldnt imagine why we was treating us like this or speaking to us like he did. Of course the rep at our table acted like nothing happened or nothing was wrong. Of all the questions on the form that werent required the only one he kept hounding us about was, Do you own a timeshare? He just kept on and on and on. Numerous times he tried to embarrass us and call us out in front of others. We had our cell phone on the table and he (Brian, and very rude), walked by and asked if we were filming the presentation? Another time he told us we needed to chill out.
We were just sitting there not doing anything, not saying anything, and he provoked the situation each time. I finally told him that we were just fine; we didnt need to chill out. And by the way, when they told us we were late and couldnt go in, we wouldnt have made anymore disturbance than all the people walking in and out and everywhere that supposedly worked there. It was a constant in and out of doors and slamming doors and a lot of distraction from them. We had presumed that everyone attending would receive a gift for coming, it was mentioned 3 times while were on their property. Only to find out, no gifts. The person doing the presentation (I think Barron) mentioned it during his speech. Anyway, when it was over our rep asked if we had any questions and we said no that we were not interested. I guess they are trained at the point to raise their hand and guess who came over again? Brian, he also asked if we had any questions and we told him we werent interested. He kept prying and asked if money was the problem? Again, we said we are not just interested. It really made him mad and he flew off and said, Get them out of here. There is no money to be made here. We were escorted out only for another employee at the door to try and get us to go next door.
We didnt want to go next door. She asked what was wrong and we told her what had happened and asked if he treated everyone like that. Of course you know her answer was, No.! She finally took us back next door to get our appt card validated and he (Brian) was standing there and as we went out the door he said, They were just rude anyway. He also came out in the parking lot as we got in the car, I guess to make sure we left. We were just in disbelief and shock at the way they conducted their scam of a business. Of course, that helped ruin the trip. We took our appt card to the Welcome Center so they could see we went and wouldnt chg us again for our room, told them of our experience and they were in disbelief too. They had us fill out something stating what had happened and said they would let them know and wouldnt send anybody else there.
So we are not sure if the where your appt is Is left up to the Welcome Center or Back To The Caribbean. Florida Sports & Rec only shows to have about 4 or 5 employees that work there, I bet there were 35 people in that room that day (that supposedly worked there). They also mentioned they had been in business 20 years. I read on one of the websites associated with them they had only opened in 2004 or 2005. Were confused by the whole thing. We tried contacting Back To The Caribbean after this happened. Apparently they are not there on the weekends. We e-mailed them as well. They contacted us after we got back and we told them all that had happened. Of course they deny ever having any complaints about Daytona Beach, Perrys Ocean Resort, and they act like they dont even know who Florida Sports & Rec is. Holli is the person we have been dealing with through e-mail. We have requested a refund because first we dont wish to ever subject our selves to another presentation that this company would have set up, or go on any other trips through them. Second, they misrepresented themselves 100%, standard accommodations doesnt mean to me staying in a dump.
On their website they only show the positive experiences people have had through them, they dont show any of the complaints. However, I have read many complaints through websites, just by pulling up their name. So the cheaper the motel the more money they can save. Even though if you pull up one of their websites they list all these exotic place for you to stay. But they dont actually come through with those. They are trying to give us a trip to make up for an awful trip. I doubt any would be any better or different. I dont want their trip. They say they will upgrade us to a condo, etc. Why couldnt that be done to start with? In one of the e-mails from Holli, she said they never promised the Ritz Carlton. Well, I have never stayed in the Ritz Carlton so I wouldnt know. But I have never stayed in a dump like they put us in. We want to be done with these people. We want our money back and they dont have to worry about ever dealing with us again.
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