I received a flyer in the mail in February advertising a vacation to south Florida and the Bahamas through Ramada Plaza Resorts.
I laid down an initial deposit on the vacation of $249.00 on 2/23/01 through sales representative Bill Hanson. The initial sales call did not imply that a several hour timeshare presentation was required, and the salesman was very pushy, stating that I had to purchase the vacation over the phone at that time to secure the vacation.
(These are both violations of Florida state vacation certificate laws). The inital flyer stated a choice between Imperial Majesty cruise lines or Carnival Cruise lines, although I was later informed that Carnival would require additional charges of over $400.00.
I booked the actual trip on 7/20/01 over the phone, and placed an additional $821.00 on my credit card. Among these charges was $90.00 for a "hotel upgrade" to the AAA three-star rated Pompano Beach Holiday Inn, even though the original flyer stated "first-class accommodations" were already included.
This in of itself indicates deceptive advertising on the part of Ramada Plaza Resorts. I was informed that I would not receive my itinerary until two to three weeks before the trip (which was scheduled for New Years week 2002).
I was never given any assurance or guarantees, or photographic evidence by Ramada Plaza Resorts of the quality of actual accommodations.
I was informed in early December that several states' Attorney Generals' offices had filed suits against Ramada Plaza Resorts for fraud and misrepresentation, and decided to cancel my trip on 12/10/01. I also discovered that Ramada Plaza Resorts was selling customers' names and information to a third-party solicitation list without customers' consent.
Ramada Plaza Resorts refused to refund my money upon repeated requests, and in fact placed an additional $300.00 on my Mastercard to cancel the original travel dates.
During our entire over the phone sales process, Ramada Plaza Resorts violated several Florida state vacation certificate laws.
Mainly listed under 559.9335, these include provision (6) requiring credit card deposit to secure vacation package, provision (7) implying vacation package cannot be purchased at a later time, provision (11) misrepresenting price, quality, and nature of accommodations or facilities, and provision (13) not clearly stating that the vacation was "an offer to sell travel".
I am requesting a refund of the full $1370.00 that Ramada Plaza Resorts has placed on my Citibank Mastercard.
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