September 1
Dan Lambert, V.P.
Ramada Plaza Resorts
2419 East Commercial Blvd #100
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33308
Tel: (954) 630-9449
Fax: (954) 567-9399
Re: Request for full refund following RPR (Ramada Plaza Resorts) misleading practices of vacation package #EN 033002-048TT travel dates 4/4 4/11/04.
Dear Mr. Lambert,
This letter is being resubmitted since the first time resulted in absolutely no response from above mentioned Ramada Plaza Resorts. You may also note that this time I have also sent copies to the appropriate authorities. My hope is though, that you will take care of this without any unneeded intervention.
This letter is being written the day following our return from a trip we purchased from Ramada Plaza Resorts in 2002. I would like to address the deception of which these vacation packages were sold under. When purchasing these packages, I was NEVER ONCE told these were associated with any TimeShare tour obligation or I would have hung up on them! I was only told what a fabulous value it was and it was only available then and could only be purchased at that particular time. I was only asked if we would like to voluntarily take a timeshare tour elsewhere on our trip to receive compensation (Universal Studio passes for two which I might add we would have had to extend our stay, out of pocket, by one extra day to use them because the timeshare tour was only available to take smack dab in the middle of the day which instead we ended up buying them out of pocket for the three of us just to complete our vacation plans as promised), in fact, after receiving our finally corrected itinerary (we had originally paid for an upgrade to an oceanfront hotel and were not going to get it or reimbursement until we raised a stink about it)
I called the reservation department to ask about the schedule and whether we were to take our tour in Ft. Lauderdale or Orlando since it was confusing as was printed in the literature they had sent to us. At that time, the customer service representative assured me that I was only picking up the hotel voucher and our tour was to be completed in Orlando for the Amusement Park tickets, so imagine my surprise when the very day we were scheduled to drive to our airport destination 5 hours away I receive a call from a Ramada Plaza Representative finally wanting to go over our itinerary with me informing me I have a mandatory tour I have to take upon arriving not at our destination but one hour North (which we were obligated to provide (Alamo rental car which we had to upgrade) our own transportation to).
When I told him that I was not aware of any such thing, he (the representative) told me I should have known this because it was in the terms and conditions of the trip purchases. My question is this, if Ramada Plaza doesn't state upfront at the time of sale (over the phone when you can't read ANY terms or conditions) the terms and conditions of the trips being sold, how is one to know those terms and conditions before purchasing and how is that not considered deceptive and fraudulent business practice?!?!?!?
I am quite certain that there have been violations of Florida State Laws as well as those in Idaho. Once the traveler is off in the middle of a vacation he thinks he has control of his own itinerary (since, in theory, he has already purchased the trip) and in our case, we traveled from the West coast to the East coast (having to add yet another out of pocket stay in a motel in order to get us there by RPR's check in time) and to return early was not financially feasible.
So we did our obligatory tour which lasted not 90 minutes but approximately two and a half hours (not including drive time) and having to endure a very rude and pushy salesperson only to find out our names had been sold to this particular TimeShare Company and we were to receive a free gift at the end and only then. To our amazement, our free gift was a cruise voucher for which we thought and legally we had already paid for!!! We were also told by their representative that each time we used the so called Bonus Getaway Vacations that I thought I had in good faith purchased outright, we would be required to take another TimeShare Tour!!!
I already had in my possession from the time of purchase a receipt for the cruise purchase and had paid an additional $198.00 for our son to accompany us!!! I do not understand why this missing bit of detail wasn't communicated to us in the beginning and how you feel you can legally get away with and I'm quite sure you can't get away with this kind of deceptive business practice. I will send copies of this letter to the Florida Attorney General's office as well as the Florida office of the Better Business Bureau if I do not get compensation for this vacation nightmare. Had I known from the start you were affiliated with any TimeShare scheme, I would not have purchased the original package for the $698.00 for myself, $698.00 for my husband, and $198.00 for my son. PLUS, I paid extra for all the Mini Vacations and Gift Vacations, extensions, upgrades, etc only now to find out what the fine print requires!!!
I would be embarrassed to give a vacation to friend or family only to have them find out AFTER getting to their destination there is a mandatory 90 minute tour smack dab in the middle of their trip which would probably require them to rent a car or take a cab to get to!!! We were also promised the benefit of information on discounted airline fares by a travel coordinator which we never received.
In summary, we feel like we were deceived from the very start of this purchase and fully taken advantage of and we are quite hesitant to book any more trips through Ramada Plaza Resorts because of newly established distrust in them which pretty much leaves the additional trips I purchased worthless to me. We feel like we are due full reimbursement for a vacation that should have been first class, once in a lifetime' as promised but instead we got third rate accommodations and mediocre service (sheets on our bed in our upgraded Ft. Lauderdale hotel had pubic hairs on them and mascara stains still on pillow cases! Electrical outlets did not work, ants crawling on floors, mold growing in bathrooms, dirty dishes in kitchen cupboard, trash under our beds, awful lunchroom style food, etc) We upgraded twice on the cruise ship just to have a decent room and then it was only acceptable.
If it were not for much out of pocket costs of our own, this entire trip would not have been salvageable! Had we booked this trip ourselves, we would have had a much better value for the money and not come home with the feeling of being ripped off and jerked around!!!
I might also add that when we arrived in Orlando to get our Hotel Vouchers we were far from the most disgruntled people standing there in a long line! We watched as several people who were so fed up with the ripoff that they opted to stay in a different hotel just to salvage their vacation!
Sincerely Yours,
Marlene Hayden Lake, Idaho
Cc: Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
The Better Business Bureaus of Florida and Idaho
The Florida Attorney General, Charlie Crist
The Idaho Attorney General, Lawrence Wasden
The Federal Trade Commission
Bureau of Timeshares
Department of Business and Professional Regulation
Consumer complaints.com
Marlene
hayden lake, Idaho
U.S.A.
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