Complaint Review: Imperial Majesty Cruises - Ramada Plaza Resorts - Nationwide

Unfortunately, it is too late for me, as I have already fallen victim to this terrible scam...

I live in South Africa and I received a phonecall on Monday 3rd January 2005 at around 6:30pm, an American lady asked to speak to my parents, who coincidentally were away on holiday. She said it was not a problem and said she would then speak to me instead, she said she was from "Imperial Majesty Cruise Vacations" and that they were conducting a survey in my area. They said I could stand the chance of winning a vacation for four people valued at $3,385. I just had to answer the following questions: Was I over 21? - YES, I'm 22. was I single, married or commonlaw? - I replied COMMONLAW since my boyfriend and I have been together for 3 years now. How much did I spend on my last vacation? - R500.00 (she seemed fairly shocked that it was so little, but I don't really have the money to travel). Did I use VISA, Mastercard or American Express to pay for items on my holiday? - I answered Mastercard as if we do buy at a restaurant or purchase certain items, my partner Wayne usually uses his credit card as I do not have one. Have I been on a cruise before? - NO. And that was pretty much the end of the conversation, she also asked if I had internet access at home, to which I replied YES and she gave me a website to look at usaholidays.net. She also informed me that if I won, I would be contacted within the next 24 to 72 hours between the ours of 5:30pm and 7:30pm. I was also given a registration number to quote should I be called back: SPD132005Y.

I was not online that night and was busy at work the next day, so I never got a chance to look at the website. I also recall that my parents had taken the survey in the past and had not been called back (or perhaps they were just out at the time), so I did not expect to be called back either. But lo and behold, on Tuesday 4th January 2005, I was contacted by a well spoken American guy called Dominic to say that out of a survey of over 2000 participants, I was "demographically selected" to get this holiday valued at $3,385! It all sounded too good to be true (and indeed it was), after all, I've never won anything. He asked me for my registration number, I accidentally quoted the last two digits incorrectly, saying "SY" instead of "5Y", although he said it didn't really matter and went on about how lucky I was to have been selected. He went on in his little speech, outlining my package exactly as it appears on the website

usaholidays.net/usaholidays/53.html. I had not seen the website as yet and so I did not know what information would be available to me, when I asked if he could email me the information, he said he did not have email access from his terminal (yes, I do admit, this was suspicious) and that his job was solely to inform me of the package contents.

Dominic began his speech by telling me that his employee number was 551 and that the holiday I won was for two people. I was going to say something about this, regarding the fact that the survey woman told me it was for four people, but decided against it as beggars can't be choosers. He queried me again about my credit card use on my holidays, I said I did not have a credit card and that the card belonged to my partner Wayne. At this point he asked if Wayne was there and if he could pick up the other line (he assumed we had one, coincidentally we did) to hear about the exciting news of this holiday I had won. Wayne was immediately suspicious and kept on telling me that it must be a scam, but he picked up the phone to hear Dominic out anyway.

I was under the impression that this was going to be an all expenses paid holiday, but this dream soon melted away as Dominic mentioned that it would only cost $125.00 per person and that they were throwing in these benefits for a complementary 2 extra people, which then brought the total up to $898.00 for four people. We also would have to get our own transport to and from Florida, but Dominic stated that this could be organised through ROL (a company they were apparently associated with) who would be able to give us discounted airfares. He also told us that we would receive a rental car in Florida from Alamo Car Rentals with unlimited milage. He said that the vacation would also include either a 2 adult 1 day pass to Disney World or a 2 adult 2 day pass to Universal Studios. The 2 day, 2 night cruise on the "Regal Empress" however was an optional extra which would cost $199.00 for the first two people and $129.00 per person for the other two. It apparently included a roomy stateroom and was all inclusive, excluding alcoholic beverages and room service.

We would also be eligible for bonus holidays of up to 7 nights at a variety of locations for "only" 25 pounds a night.

He then proceeded to ask for Wayne's credit card number. We put up quite a fight saying that we wanted to be posted physical proof, a brochure or something, to prove that this was not a scam. But Dominic gave all sorts of excuses saying that our conversation was being recorded for our protection and that they were associated with Status Insurance. He also insisted that we had heard of "Imperial Majesty Cruises" and that they were a reputable company. Indeed Imperial Majesty Cruises are a reputable company and they are associated with www.usaholidays.com and www.usaholidays.co.uk, NOT www.usaholidays.net - there are not even contact details on this website.

He said that this was a one time only offer and that if we did not accept it right there and then, he would pass the offer to one of the stand by winners. We were not even able to hang up the phone and think about it, or our chance at this vacation would be lost. We said we could simply not afford $898.00 and that we did not want to take four people, only two, however he said this would not change the price. Wayne then told them about his low limit on his credit card and Dominic just replied that they would "only" charge us $125.00 in the meantime and then charge us for the remainder once we had confirmed our holiday plans. We have to confirm 60 days prior to travelling and the offer is valid for 18 months.

Point is, reluctantly, we gave in, I was so excited about taking a holiday, about having actually won something! Wayne gave in because of me, he said I should have seen the look on my face, I was just dying to go, so he went ahead, even though it was against his better judgement.

You see, Wayne and I have had a pretty crappy year so far and I thought that finally something good had happened - my ship had finally come in so to speak. Wayne and I had not gotten any leave this year, we worked on the 24th Dec, had the 26th and 27th off and were back at work on the 28th Dec where we worked until the 31st December. We then came back to work again on the 2nd January... I was so desperate for a break, I have not been overseas or on a cruise, I have barely travelled around South Africa. I could not help but let the butterflies in my stomach overule the logic of the whole situation... and now I'm paying for it - literally. Wayne said that there is nothing we can do to get our money back, since we authorized the charge, he said the most we can do is complain to the credit card company if the package never arrives and basically, after that, just kiss the $125.00 goodbye.

The phonecall to Dominic lasted well over an hour and not once during the entire conversation was the word "Timeshare" mentioned, nor the fact that we would have to attend a presentation at any point during our vacation. Other people claimed that they were only informed about this being a timeshare when they went to pick up their tickets for the theme parks or the cruise, only after they had paid the full amount!

Dominic then transferred the phonecall to another American lady, a black woman who went over our credit card details again. When I was finally ready to hang up the phone, she said very quickly, did I understand that this was not a lotto and that I had not won this vacation, I was somewhat confused, but answered YES. I presumed that I was "demographically selected" because I had not been on a cruise before and they were probably keen to get people to go over and tour America... How wrong I was... It was a very high pressured sale where they were obviously well rehearsed, spoke very quickly and smoothly and were reading from scripts. And yes, very sad to say, I let my excitement of the whole thing get the better of me, and I was taken.

Dominic said that our vacation tickets were in the package, he apparently printed them out while we waited on the line. He said our package would arrive in 21 days or less... Dominic also gave me the following contact details:

Name: Dominic

Employee Number: 551

Customer Service: 001 0800 9175123

Customer Care Line: 001 954 630 9449

Customer Care Line Code: JD010405/007Jo

I cannot afford to phone America and thus have not tried. Reports have said that you are only greeted by rude responses and a high phone bill after being put on hold for ages. A few people who never received their package at all and tried contacting the numbers they were given, they then reported that the numbers they tried were incorrect or had changed.

Come the 5th January, I went into work and did some research on "Imperial Majesty Cruise Vacations" and found tons of terrible terrible websites about them and their associates, "Ramada Plaza Resorts". Stories varied from those who never even received a package in the post, to those who went on the holiday, only instead of finding paradise, ended up on the holiday from hell. There were repeated reports of the hotel reeking of urine, the "free" rental car being small and still costing anything up to $60 a week and worst of all, that this was actually a TIMESHARE scam. No one mentioned that word to me, I would have put down the phone right away. According to complaints I've read, many people were not informed either and when they went to pick up their Disney World or Universal Studios tickets, they found they had to take a 90 minute drive from their hotel to go and view some 3 to 4 hour TimeShare presentation!!! This was not mentioned to me at all!!!

Wayne's Standard Bank credit card was not hit for what was around R1,600.00 until the 7th January 2005, conveniently when the rand had again lost some ground to the dollar. I feel so angry about it all, that I've been "had" and I will not let them take any more of our hard earned cash. The sales person was completely misleading! I tried emailing Standard Bank to see if there was anything they could do, I did this before the credit card was even charged, but received nothing more than automated responses.

I am shocked and appauled at these sort of reports:

http://badbusinessbureau.com/reports/ripoff53598.htm

Simply by searching at www.google.com for "Imperial Majesty Cruise Scam" or for "Ramada Plaza Resorts Scam", returns close to 2000 results.

Apparently, there are over 700 complaints lodged against them overseas and now they are encroaching on South African soil. The public should be warned !! There are some states in America where they are actually not even permitted to do business due to the number of lawsuits being held against them.

I'm presuming at this point that there is nothing that I can do to get back the money spent on this scam and I may as well wave that R1,600.00 or so goodbye. Thanks to the websites I mentioned above, I have been able to save myself from a terrible mistake and from giving them the full $898.00, we have not authorized them to take any further money from us and we will report it as credit card fraud if they do.

Please tell me if there is any remote chance of me getting that money back however.

Please let other people know about this, they are very rehearsed, very practised and have about a million reasons of why you should not turn this down because they are paying for 80% of the "holiday of your dreams". The sales pitch is very high pressured and not like most telemarketers. It is a terrible scam, may others learn from my misfortune.

They even go so far as to make you believe that they are associated with the real "Imperial Majesty Cruise" company (why they have not put a stop to this I do not know), as well as making you think that they are in some way associated with "Ramada Inns" (a very reputable company) who's reputation they piggy-back on in order to get what they want - your hard earned cash.

Please put a stop to these unethical fraudsters.

Coffee

Durban
South Africa

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