Information on a Ramada Plaza
Resort Luxury Vacation
Hi, this is Robyn Jenkins with Direct
Reservation Center. I'm sorry for the message, but my previous
tries with getting in touch with you have been unsuccessful.
However, I do have some good news. You've been invited to celebrate
Disney's 100th anniversary, a 4 day 3 night vacation stay at
the Ramada Plaza Resort in Orlando Florida, near world famous
Disney World.
Plus you will enjoy 3 days and 2 nights
on the sunny golden beaches of Ft. Lauderdale Florida, all for
only $99 per person. Kids under 18 stay for free. When you call
to confirm your invitation, you will also receive two complimentary
day passes to Disney. Congratulations.
The confirmation number for your invitation
is Disney 714. Now you're gonna need this, that's Disney 714.
And you need to call the Direct Reservation Center, at 800-490-4601.
That's 800-490-4601. Now we can only honor your confirmation
for 24 hours, so please call as soon as you can and enjoy your
Orlando Disney experience. The toll free number, once again is
800-490-4601.
Call on behalf of: 9113-7992 Quebec, Inc d/b/a Corporate Travel
06/21/02
From: "Michi Moniz"
Subject: Help Requested / Advice Needed
Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002
I have a lengthy story and really hope you can help me. My boyfriend
and I were scammed by a Florida Company called Ramada
Plaza Resorts.After it was too late I found out that Connecticut
was previously involved in a class action suit against this company.
I am writing to see if you can help me get a refund from this awful
company.
Back in August 2000, my boyfriend Aaron was called by Ramada Plaza
Resorts trying to sell him this "Romantic Vacation Package".
They claimed to be selling this in partnership with his credit
card company. Unfortunately, he believed them.
They painted a picture of blue skies and moonlit nights - all
for a complete package price of $598. This was to include two nights
in Fort Lauderdale, a two night all inclusive cruise to the Bahamas
and three nights in Orlando, and a rental car - all first class
luxury accommodations. All we had to pay was airfare.
Wow! What a deal! We got the package in the mail and looked
at the video and brochures. It all looked okay, but being the skeptical
one, I still didn’t trust it. We tossed it aside and kind
of forgot about it for a while.
Then, in October 2001, we decided we wanted to go on vacation
to Florida and remembered this "package" we had. I called
the reservations number printed on the materials and spoke with
a person named Adrian who informed us that the $598 Aaron
had originally paid was for ONE PERSON .
If he wanted a guest (real romantic alone, huh?) it was to be
an additional $598. I requested a refund since this was not made
clear at the beginning and they insisted we could not get one.
So I asked a million additional questions - including: There is
nothing else we have to do except pay this additional $598 and
we buy our own flight tickets and go? He repeated yes. I said,
okay, lets do it for the week of February 9, 2002 to the 16th.
Now the fun begins, starting with the rental car. You only get
a little vehicle - about the size of a Geo Metro - to travel
around with a week's worth of luggage. So, I agreed to pay for
an upgrade for a larger, better car for an additional $170, not
including gas.
Then I enquired about taking the complete vacation in Orlando
and skipping the Fort Lauderdale portion. "No problem",
he says. We are to fly to Orlando, get our paid rental car, go
the LUXURY RESORT hotel and have a good time.
We then move on to the Luxury Cruise portion of the trip aboard
the Ocean Breeze cruise ship from Imperial Majesty. This is to
be an ALL INCLUSIVE LUXURY, ROMANTIC, FIRST CLASS CRUISE.
We are to have an Inside stateroom cabin with a double bed. All
port fees are paid for. All inclusive, as we cruise to the Bahamas
to spend a fun-filled day in the city of Nassau.
Closer Isn't Always More Romantic
Adrian then tells me we can upgrade our cabin to the Outside State
Room for $99 extra per person and he can guarantee a double bed
in the cabin. "What? Guarantee a double bed? What do you mean?
What do we have if we stay with our Inside stateroom without paying
extra?" Adrian tells me we have 2 twin bunk beds. "WHAT?
You people sell this to me as a Romantic Get-Away and are going
to put me and my boyfriend in a room with twin bunk beds?"
At this point I was upset and wanted to speak to a Supervisor.
I was put on hold for a bit and finally Don, Adrian’s Supervisor,
came on the line. I explained the situation and he started apologizing.
It seems Adrian made a few mistakes.
#1) There are double beds in the Inside State Room and since we
were booking early enough he could reserve one, #2) If we were
to take the upgrade to the Outside stateroom (which meant we had
a window) it was only to be $99 total, not per person, and #3)
the ONLY additional charge on the LUXURY CRUISE TO THE BAHAMAS
would be if we wanted to do any "extras" on the island
like snorkeling or a boat ride.
That seemed reasonable and I felt the he was being honest. He
seemed sincere enough and continued to apologize for Adrian’s
misleading words. He then asked for our flight arrival and departure
times which he needed for the hotel and car rental information.
Don then transferred me to a "Confirmation Specialist" who
confirmed the trip and payments with Aaron and charged his credit
card $768 for the remaining balance. The total for this all inclusive
first class luxury vacation was now up to $1366, which I guess
isn’t too bad for a LUXURY VACATION.
Booked and Not Ready To Go
We called Delta Airlines, bought our plane tickets and were ready
to go. Delta tickets: $670. Total is now $2036 as of October 29,
2001
About 4 weeks passed and hadn’t heard anything from Ramada
Plaza Resorts about our vacation so I called and spoke with a rep
who informed me that we would receive our confirmation information
approximately 4 weeks before we were to depart. I sat and waited
until about the second week in January when we got a letter with
an itinerary. I decided to make a few calls and confirm again what
I was told.
A coordinator by the name of Nick seemed nice enough and answered
my questions. He confirmed we were staying in the Ramada Plaza
Resort in Orlando in a double Queen Room. He also confirmed that
we had a double bed in our Inside State room cabin on the Ocean
Breeze. He also confirmed we had the rental car upgrade and had
paid all associated fees.
I was ready to get off the phone when he jumped into his sales
pitch on selling me the Outside State Room package for $99. He
went on and on about how HE would feel more comfortable on the
top of the boat and have a window to be able to see outside - basically
giving me a Titanic scare. I advised that I was not interested
in paying anything additional and that my only concern was that
we did not have a twin bunk bed.
Now, I forgot to mention, that also in this wonderful package
is the ADDITIONAL BONUS WEEKEND GETAWAYS! Sounds
great! I was told that once we took our initial Florida / Bahamas
vacation, we had two years to take advantage of these Bonus Weekends.
Well, guess what, that too was misrepresented.
I find out from Nick that we only had two years from the date
of package purchase to take all of the vacations, including the
weekend getaways - and it was to expire on February 16th 2002,
the day we are returning from Florida!
Now, let’s say they are correct in saying that they told
me it was two years from the original date of purchase, not from
the date of the Florida trip, that still should bring me to August
2002, not February. So, Aaron called reservations back and a supervisor
came on the line who stated all conversations were taped and they
would pull the tape to prove that it was disclosed that it was
two years from date of original purchase and not two years from
the initial trip.
We hung up waiting to hear back from them but instead we got a
letter stating that the package will now expire on February 16th
2003. How nice of them - I guess there was no tape, huh?
A Word or Two From Your Sponsors
On February 6th 2002, three days before we were to leave, I was
reading on the confirmation letter where it states that we are
to pick up our Hotel Vouchers for our Resort Hotel Room at the
Welcome Center. It goes on about the rental car and then it states
we are to present our Cruise Vouchers to the Port Ticket Counter.
Nowhere did it state where we get these Cruise Vouchers.
So - I call again to ask a rep if I was going to get the Cruise
Vouchers with the Hotel Vouchers at the Welcome Center which I
understood, was at the Ramada Plaza Resort. He stated "No
- you get the cruise vouchers after the presentation".
Presentation? What presentation? He said the Time Share Presentation. "What?
We were never told of a Time Share presentation!" All of sudden,
the computers there suddenly "went down". He took my
name and number and said he would call me back when they came back
up.
I didn’t believe him so I called right back.A girl answered
and I asked if their computers were still down. She said they never
were - I thought so ... Anyway, I again explained to her that I
wanted to know where I got the Cruise Vouchers and she said that
we have to go to a Time Share presentation to obtain them.
I told her this was never mentioned in all the conversations,
confirmations, nothing! She said it was in the material we received
originally. I had all the material and video with me and asked
her to direct me in the literature where it states that. She told
me to hold.
I waited about five minutes when a man named Attura came on the
line. He said he was a supervisor and asked me what I wanted. I
told him I didn’t ask for a supervisor, just merely wanted
to know where and when I was supposedly told about this Time Share
presentation. He said in the original conversation, in all the
material we were mailed, when we made our reservations, and it
was again confirmed when they charged our credit card.
I insisted that there was no way that it was ever mentioned because
we get those type of calls all the time and would have hung up
right away. I also said that I had read that material front to
back and didn’t see where it states a Time Share Presentation
was mandatory, even in the Terms and Conditions.
He then directed me to the last page in ONE of the books where
it states "THIS ADVERTISING MATERIAL IS BEING USED FOR THE
PURPOSE OF SOLICITING SALES OF A VACATION OWNERSHIP PLAN".
One line in four booklets and a video! And does that ONE LINE
state: To go on the cruise you must attend a Time Share presentation?
When I SPECIFICALLY asked Adrian, Don, and Nick if there was any
catch or additional requirements on my part I was told NO!?
Recorded For Our Protection, Somewhere
Now I was mad and so was Aaron who took the phone. Attura just
insisted we were wrong and would have to attend this presentation
to go on the cruise and there was ABSOLUTELY NO WAY to get a refund
of the money already paid. He then said he could pull the tape
of the conversation.
Angered at the fact that we were leaving in three days and we
were basically stuck at this point we still took his offer and
demanded the tape be pulled. "Oh, um, well, that will take
at least 7 days," Attura stated. "Fine - we still want
the tape. We want proof that we were told." Today, eleven
days after that conversation we still have not heard from them
about the tape.
On the day before we were to leave, I was so uneasy about this
trip that I decided to call the Welcome Center in Orlando directly
to ask more questions. I asked about the Cruise Vouchers and this
Time Share presentation. We were to go to the presentation on Sunday,
but they couldn't tell me how long it would be.
I then asked if I could get a confirmed cabin number and confirm
the double bed we were told we had. They didn’t know but
gave me the telephone numbers for Imperial Majesty’s Customer
Service. I had found the Imperial Majesty web site by then and
from the photos the boat really looked nice. It also had a boat
layout with the cabin types and numbers
I called the customer service number first but they told me they
wouldn't have that information. They told me to call Ramada Plaza
Resorts who, since they booked it, would know. I called Ramada’s
reservation department and was told they would have no idea. They
just book the reservation and then pass that along to Imperial
Majesty who actually does the assigning of Cabins. I told them
I called Imperial Majesty’s customer service and they directed
me to call Ramada reservations. She again told me she didn’t
know and couldn’t find out and to try the Welcome Center
in Fort Lauderdale.
Okay, so I called them. They, too, said they didn't know and then
gave me the telephone number for the Imperial Majesty’s Pier
Check-In saying they would definitely know - they are the people
that check you in and give you your cabin info. I called that number
and it rang and rang with no answer.
I AGAIN called Ramada Plaza Resorts Reservations department in
complete frustration and spoke to Rose. Rose again stated she didn’t
know and couldn’t find out. I told her I was leaving the
next day and did not want anymore surprises. I spoke WAY too soon
for that one!
She put me on hold for about ten minutes or so, then told me that
I had two twin beds in an inside cabin on the cruise. I advised
her that I had confirmed a double bed! She said there was nothing
she could do except advise me to get to the port early and maybe
I could get a free upgrade. A FREE UPGRADE? I was SUPPOSED to have
the double bed already!
By now I was not confident about this vacation at all. We then
noticed in the literature, in tiny print, that all taxes and gratuities
were not included. Uh oh - what does that mean?
This time I called the Customer Care Department and spoke with
a Rob. I told him the story of all the misleading information and
that I felt completely lied to and scammed. I wanted him to be
straight with me on all of the additional charges that he knew
of. Boy, did he have a list.
He said that I would have to pay a Hotel tax that he guessed was
about 11% a night, gratuity on the cruise, car parking per night
fee at the port of about $10 a night and the taxes for the rental
car which included a tourist tax and an airport tax, and any optional
insurance. He wasn’t sure of those figures. I made my list,
sighed and again thanked him for his time. We were leaving in less
than twelve hours at that point and knew we had made a huge mistake.
Smooth Take-off But Hard Landing
We now get to the actual vacation. We didn't really want to go,
but we had invested over $2000 already and simply had to cross
our fingers and hope for the best.
We arrived in Orlando International Airport on time and was transported
by a shuttle bus to Alamo Rental to pick up our car. We had already
paid $170 for the upgrade and didn’t want any insurance.
We have full coverage on our vehicles and brought a copy of our
insurance policy with us.
Aaron gave his credit card for the charge of the taxes which was
$65. The salesman asked when we were leaving and like we did with
Don in reservations, advised him that our flight was to leave on
Saturday evening and we would return the car that afternoon. He
handed us a small receipt folder, which was stapled shut, and wrote
the location of the car on the front. We noted the location and
I carefully tucked the receipt away with others for the trip.
We located the car, which was beautiful. Clean, new, great condition.
We were happy and hoped that the rest of the vacation would be
the same. We headed for the Ramada Plaza Resort Welcome Center
where we would be spending our LUXURY VACATION.
First impressions, this was no luxury hotel. We entered and went
to the Welcome Center desk. The man there, named Manny, gave us
our hotel room vouchers and signed us up for the 7:30 AM Time Share
Presentation next morning. So I thanked him and took our vouchers
to the hotel from desk clerk to check-in.
It was about 11:00 AM and we had been up since 2:30 AM getting
ready, driving to the airport, and waiting in line for two hours
at the airport due to new security measures. We were exhausted
and wanted to nap.We gave the voucher to the front desk clerk who
informed us that check-in was not until 3:00 PM.
I nearly snapped! When the reservations were made they specifically
asked us when we were arriving! Stupid me assumed that would be
for the purpose of making sure our rental car and room were going
to be available!
After a few phone calls, and my huffing and puffing, a room magically
appeared for us to check-in early. "A room with two queen
beds?" That was fine with me. They then wanted a credit card
to charge the room tax which was 10% of their rack rate or $24
for two nights. Wow! That meant we were getting a $120 a night
room in the Orlando area, where it's advertised you can stay at
the Marriott for $50. This must be a GORGEOUS room!
NOT! There were stains on the ceiling & the walls. There were
no ramps or elevators for luggage - never mind if a handicapped
person needed access. The chain on the door was broke, the decor
was old and plain ugly. This was nowhere near worth $120 a night
and definitely not FIRST CLASS LUXURY ACCOMMODATIONS. It was a
bed, a roof and a shower. We again sighed and plopped on the bed.
Total spent so far $2193.
The next morning we attended the extremely high pressured sales
attempt. After nearly four hours of wasted time, we left. We got
our cruise vouchers and went on with our day.
All Aboard Who Wants To Be Bored
The following morning, we woke up, checked out and headed to Fort
Lauderdale to embark on our LUXURY CRUISE! We got to the port and
saw the ship.
Now, I have seen the pictures on the Imperial Majesty web site
and realized that they most definitely had a bit of airbrushing
touch-up because this baby was not exactly looking the same! We
got in line and checked in.
We were advised, again, that we did indeed have two twin beds
in our cabin. I calmly explained that we were originally told differently
and could not understand how they could have sold us this package
as a ROMANTIC GET AWAY and stick us in two twin beds! After a bit
of back and forth they "found it in their hearts" to
UPGRADE us to a double bed. Oh yippee - you gave me what I SHOULD
HAVE ORIGINALLY HAD! They made it seem like they did me a favor
or something!
We get on the ship and within the first 15 minutes about eight
different waitresses tried to convince us to purchase a souvenir
cocktail glass for $5.00 - and this was only on the way to our
cabin! We made it safely inside without further attack.
The room was as LUXURIOUS as the boat looked on the outside. Extremely
outdated, the mattress felt like something out of an old sofa bed,
the room itself was a decent size, but again, not as expected from
the description and hype.
We were told to go directly to the front desk to get our "on-board
charge card". This was to be used for gratuity and things
bought at the gift shop, etc. as no cash or credit was exchanged
on the ship. Sounded easy enough...
Gratuitous Hyperbole
We headed over to the Welcome Aboard Lunch Buffet featuring 5
STAR CUISINE! Bologna and cheese is not five star anything.
There were hamburgers - cold little hockey pucks basically. The
best part is this: ask for a CHEESE burger and they take a piece
of cheese, dip it into the hot water the hot dogs are sitting in
and place it on the burger.
The buffet line was in a U shape. At the curve there was a lady
standing there with soda, bottled water and such. She asked if
we would like a drink. We said yes, 2 cans of Coke, please. She
handed us the 2 cans in front of her and then took out an invoice
pad and wrote Coke - $1.75 x 2 + 15%. I questioned this immediately
and she said that the soda was $1.75 a piece PLUS 15% gratuity!
I didn’t know we didn’t get soda on the ALL INCLUSIVE
LUXURY CRUISE. So, I asked for just water.
Sure, she said, $2.75 plus gratuity!! Whoa! AND - what’s
the gratuity for? Handing it to me! I told her I would pick it
off the table myself if it would save me 15%! There was no point
arguing so Aaron signed the receipt for the two sodas.
We then rounded the corner for the other leg of the buffet and
right there in front of us was a table of Dixie cups of watered
down fruit punch and water!!!! They made you believe that
BUYING the drinks before you turned the corner was your only choice! You
see, I didn't ask for TAP WATER. It’s all a word game - and
the game got better as the three miserable days continued.
We sat and barely ate the nasty food and then decided to explore
the ship. They gave no map, no guide except for the poorly color
coded deck diagram on the side walls. The decks were dirty, old
and worn. Nothing as expected. We went to find the pool - the relaxing
LUXURY pool.
NO WORD OF A LIE - it’s a 5 foot hole in the floor. It was
about 6 feet long and was 5 feet deep. I couldn’t believe
that it was barely the size of my bath tub, except 5 feet deep.
We, along with about five other couples, stood there with our jaws
to the floor.By the words, tones and groans of the other passer-bys,
I think our depression was mutual.
Now, I wasn't expecting ice sculptures or wonderful walk-ways
as I would on a Princess or Carnival cruise, but come on! This
ship was an over sized floating garbage can. I don't feel bad expressing
this opinion either because all the others on this crappy cruise
felt the same. We all had been scammed.
We joined the other sad sailors in the Lounge to get a Welcome
seminar and an explanation on additional excursions we could go
on at the Nassau, Bahamas port.
Extra, Extra, Greed All About It!
One activity interested us. A Glass Bottom boat trip. It was said
to be a ONCE IN A LIFETIME EXPERIENCE! "SEE THE BEAUTIFUL
CORALS AND FISH ON THIS MAGICAL EXCURSION!" All for an additional
$49 a person. Wonderful. We dragged our feet over and paid the
fee for the trip. At least I will get some great pictures! After
the Glass Bottom Boat Ride, we were to be dropped off at Blue Lagoon
Island for fun in the sun! Woo hoo.
Dinner that night was surprising good. The food was tasty. I bought
a bottle of wine for dinner - I mean, why the hell not, soda was
about the same price at this point. There were bottles of water
with empty glasses on the table. The water bottles were clearly
marked $2.75 plus 15% gratuity. Great.
I bought my $20 bottle of Zinfandel (plus 15% of coarse) and sat
and watched as others at our table drank the water. Again, what
is the Gratuity for? We open the bottles ourselves! We had our
dinner and turned in for bed as the next morning we were to arrive
in the Bahamas.
We went to breakfast and were told by the waiters that we should
consider buying a bottle of water because they didn't sell water
on Blue Lagoon Island where we were spending the day. We were not
sure to believe them, but didn't want to find out the hard way
so we bought a small bottle of water and went and waited at the
line up for our glass bottom boat trip. There, again, they were
pushing people to buy the water - "No water is sold on Blue
Lagoon Island! We don’t want anyone to dehydrate! Get your
water now!!"
We all went to the dock where the glass bottom boat was, got on,
and headed out. We went out a ways and were told to head downstairs
to be mesmerized by the beauty of the sea!
The boat had six small scratched up Plexiglas windows looking
out onto brown coral, tires and soda cans on the bottom of this
magical sea. Glass bottom boat my butt! No beautiful pink
and blue corals that were shown on the slide show that was used
to sell this optional trip, nothing of the sort! No schools of
bright yellow and blue fish, just gray striped fish
We stood there all of five minutes video-taping as they threw
bread in the water and we watched these gray fish eat it - the
tire as a backdrop. Another $98 wasted, like magic, as promised.
The boat brought us to Blue Lagoon Island where the rest of the
passengers were. It was a pretty beach with hammocks and volley
ball. But - the BEST PART of Blue Lagoon Island?? Realizing how
stupid I was and how smart the cruise line was.
As all of us dumbies stood there with our purchased water, our
eyes fell upon the cups of refreshing cool water they had for us.
The cruise employees did not lie, they all clearly stated that
they did not SELL water on the island. That’s right, it was
FREE. We all felt like idiots.
We went back to the ship and the rest of that day and night was
basically the same. It got to the point that we drank the cold
water from our melted ice bucket ( ICE WAS FREE!! ) to save on
gratuities.
On day three, we left that horrid excuse for an all inclusive
luxury cruise with an additional $209 charged for the Glass Bottom
boat, beverages and gratuities. Total now: $2402.
We got our car from the parking garage - another $20 - and headed
back to Orlando completely disgusted. We could have cruised to
the Bahamas for a week on a real ALL INCLUSIVE cruise line for
the amount we had already spent!
We returned to the wonderful Ramada Plaza Resort and checked in.
Again our room wouldn’t be ready until 3:00 PM. It was about
1:00 PM so we went out to get lunch. I was tired of arguing.
We were so completely upset with this Ramada Plaza Resorts scam
that we decided to check out and stay the two additional nights
somewhere else after we paid the one night's taxes.
Fed a Staple of Lies
Finally, thinking it was over, we returned the car to Alamo at
about 3:00 PM. based on our 6:40 PM flight. We get in to return
the keys and were advised that we were supposed to bring the car
back by 11:00 AM!
WHAT?? They KNEW our plane didn’t leave until 8:30 PM! Were
we supposed to return the car and hang out at the airport for 10
hours or so? Why didn't they advise us of this!!
Oh, my friend, OF COARSE they advised us. You see, if I would
have OPENED THE STAPLED RECEIPT they had given me instead of tucking
it safely away in my envelope, I would have seen that typed there
was the line that stated that the car was to be returned by 11:00
AM that day. Another $68 please.
Why did they ask us twice when our plane was leaving? Why wasn’t
the additional day charge mentioned to us when we checked in?
Happy To Be Home
This was a complete nightmare - we couldn’t wait to get
home. We couldn't enjoy any part of it because we were so stressed
by the fact that we were so completely lied to and mislead on almost
all aspects of this trip. We are not dumb people and still can’t
believe this happened.
When we originally purchased this trip I did a search on Ramada
Plaza Resorts and Imperial Cruise Lines and didn’t find much
of anything except advertisements for the trip. When I got home
I did a search for "Ramada Plaza Resorts Scam" and boy,
did the hits add up! If only I had added the word "scam" in
my original search, I would have never paid or gone on this God
awful adventure!
We feel we deserve some sort of refund from these clowns! Now,
from a total cost of $2502, $670 was airfare that I was aware of
from the beginning. That leaves $1895 total that I feel I was taken
for.
Right from the start they mislead then refused requested refunds.
I don’t understand how this can be legal. They lied and soaked
us for money from every angle. I beg you to please advise me on
where to turn.
Sincerely,
Michele Moniz & Aaron Allen
58 Aspinook St
Griswold CT 06351-1802
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ramada Plaza Resorts
Trip was taken February 9 - 16th 2002
Our Client # was SU081600-021TI
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Reservations
Adrian: 1-888-217-2620 ext 4122
Don, Supervisor: 1-888-217-2620
Rose: 1-888-217-2620
Attura, Supervisor: 1-888-217-2620
Customer Service
Nick, Coordinator: 1-954-630-9449 ext 4085
Customer Care Department
Rob: 1-800-203-9783
Welcome Center
Orlando: 1-407-396-8222
Fort Lauderdale: 1-954-735-7474
Imperial Majesty Cruise Lines
Customer Service: 1-954-956-9505
Pier Check-In: 1-954-765-1420
Ramada Plaza Resorts Hotel
Front Desk: 1-407-841-6450
Hi Michele,
It certainly did take a while to read about your adventure but
I enjoyed reading it far more than you enjoyed your trip, I'm sure.
There are so many scams out there that it is only when victims
write in with details that people can truly get the full story.
As for helping you with a refund, I wish I was an expert on this
phase of it but can only give you a few options. First review my
section around Restitution to
see if anything pops up. Then if it was me I would file a claim
in small claims court and hope they settle out of court. If they
don't you should have enough ammo from the attorney generals case
to back up your claim.
In that regard I would file a complaint with your AG and also
with the FTC, see Reporting and
ask the AG for access to the relevant info. Also do a search at FTC/search for
the company names along with search.BBB
Somewhere on my site is a message from a lawyer who talks about
damages as well.
I wish I could help more after you have taken the time to write
such a moving tale. Please keep me informed of your progress which
may force me to devote more research on what to do in this type
of case.
Many thanks,
Les
According to Frank Roycraft, Senior Consumer Complaint Analyst,
Ramada Plaza is properly registered by the Dept. of Agriculture
and Consumer Services ( Florida ) to do business as a Seller of
Travel with registration number ST-30427.
To date they have had over 700 complaints filed against them,
all closed "satisfactorily." Most of the complaints filed
recently have been from consumers who have heard that the company
has a bad reputation and want a refund.
Although the company is not required to give refunds in these
cases because the consumers have been told that the travel packages
are non-refundable, sometimes they do. You may file a complaint
by going to www.800helpfla.com.
The Bahamas-Mon site
also has a forum where many folks have written about their experiences
with Ramada Plaza Resorts.
If you have been a victim or are considering purchasing a Ramada
Plaza Resorts package, Steve Kruzich has started a list-server
to gather and share information.
You can subscribe to the list by sending a email to victims-of-RPR@sct-communications.com making
sure the word "subscribe" is in the subject line.
Web designer Lola Ashfield has set up an informative website and
forum for getting money
back for victims of Ramada Plaza Resorts.
It provides refund requirement details for the Florida
Department of Consumer Services.
|
