Complaint Review: Ramada Plaza Resorts

Here is our Story, and please...don't fall prey to this company there are many, many complaints and lawsuits against them!

During August and September of 2001, we received a series of phone calls from a Sales Rep for Ramada Plaza Resorts in regards to what he referred to as a great vacation opportunity for our family.

We resisted the initial sales call, and tried to blow off the Sales Rep during several calls after that, but he was persistent and called back again and again. We were pressured by these calls as well as his representation that this vacation would be a wonderful and inexpensive opportunity to stay in new and recently opened luxury hotels and surroundings. In return, our family would critique these hotel/resorts for Ramada Plaza Resorts.

After receiving calls from the Sales Rep for several weeks, we finally caved in on September 7th and put down a deposit on the vacation package.

The opportunity we accepted over the telephone was:

First class Accommodations for four at 4 and 5 star hotels in both Ft. Lauderdale and Orlando.

A Cruise for four to the Bahamas on a luxury ocean liner. We could even add additional people to the cruise if desired for $99 each child and $198 each adult.

Four mini-vacations to Las Vegas Nevada, Gatlinburg Tennessee, Williamsburg Virginia, Porte Vallarta Mexico + additional overnight accommodations at various other locales.

Balance due when we actually booked the Ft. Lauderdale/Cruise portion of the vacation.
All expenses covered excluding airfare (and meals for the Florida portion of the vacation).

The Sales Rep guaranteed that our family would not be required to attend any type of seminar or presentation promotion unless we so desired, and if we did agree to attend a 30 minute presentation when we arrived in Fort Lauderdale, we would receive:

Free Rental car upgrade.
Free Accommodations upgrades for Florida (beachfront rooms) and the Cruise (an exterior stateroom) that the Sales Rep described as unbelievable!
Discounts on tickets to the Theme Parks for the Orlando portion of the vacation.
The Sales Rep said that we had 18 months in which to take the Ft. Lauderdale/Cruise portion of the vacation and that we could request an extension if necessary.

We are a busy family and when the vacation package arrived several weeks later we watched the video that was provided and left it at that.

Within several months of purchasing the vacation, we were repeatedly called and pressured (ONCE AGAIN!) into paying the remaining balance on the vacation and reserving false dates so it wouldnt expire on us, even though the Sales Rep knew that we were not ready to take the vacation and were asking for an extension on the 18 month time period. At this point in time, we had viewed the video but not the remainder of the vacation package.

We recently had a few days to review the remainder of the vacation package and plan our vacation. As a result of this review and recent communications with Ramada Plaza Resorts Customer Care we are very disappointed with the vacation package we have received in comparison to what we believed we had purchased.

The end result is:

We have sent the vacation package back and are requesting a full refund excluding the additional fee paid to extend the vacation package. We feel we have legitimate cause for this request for the following reasons:

Our Ft. Lauderdale accommodations are at the Ramada Plaza Hotel, 5100 North State Road 7. We have been unable to find the Star rating of this hotel or any photos that would represent the room accommodations and are doubtful these accommodations are the luxurious beachfront accommodations we purchased.

The material included with the video we received indicates the cruise portion is for two people only and we would have to pay an additional $287.00 for our children to accompany us.

The Cruise Line Imperial Majesty which was our choice between the two Cruise Lines offered is advertised as a Budget Cruise Line, seems to have only 1 50+ year old ocean liner and is not the Cruise on the Luxury Ocean Liner that we purchased.

Carnival Cruise Line is not an option for us as we had indicated to the Sales Rep that we had sailed Carnival in the past and both our accommodations and experience were so atrocious we would not sail that cruise line again.

Car rental and accommodation upgrade information indicates any upgrades are to be paid by us.

The material we received indicates further additional charges of taxes, fees and insurance we were unaware of.

We have yet to receive any information on discounts to Disney World or Universal Studios.

We recently confirmed with Customer Care that the false dates the Sales Rep scheduled for the Ft. Lauderdale/Cruise/Orlando portion of the vacation are in the month of December 2003. Our request for a refund allows sufficient time for Ramada Plaza Resorts to cancel these reservations.

The more my husband and I look into this situation, the more concerned we are becoming. There are many websites that seem to be dedicated to uncovering and connecting Fraud and Scam to the vacation deal we have purchased from Ramada Plaza Resorts.

I have called, written and faxed requests for a refund!

Susan
Harrisonburg, Virginia
U.S.A.

Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on Ramada