- Report: #220799
Complaint Review: Ramada Plaza Resorts - Ft. Lauderdale Florida
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Ramada Plaza Resorts
2419 E. Commercial Blvd. Ft. Lauderdale, 33308 Florida, U.S.A.
Phone:
800-550-9559
Web:
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Ramada Plaza Resorts Unauthorized credit card debit, if they tell you it's just to validate your card, WATCH OUT!!! Ft. Lauderdale Florida
I recieved a "corporate memorandum" containing a $1,600.00 travel voucher good toward the purchase of a "Spectacular Florida/ Tropical Caribbean Cruise". I called the toll free number 1-800-550-9559 within 72 hours of recieving this voucher as instructed within the letter.
I then spoke with Whitley, who seemed to be a very cordial fast talker who told me that 3 nights accommodations in South Florida, round trip cruise to port of call Nassau, Bahamas, two nights accommodations in Orlando, 7 days transportation by rent a car in addition to 3 days 2 nights in Las Vegas and 4 days 3 nights in Puerta Vallarta, could all be mine (after listening to a timeshare presentation of course) and paying a remaining balance of over $1300.00. Of course I'd have to decide on this call and couldn't call back.
I told Whitley that although I loved the package I simply couldn't afford to buy it at this time. She then offered to break the price down in installments $698.00 now, the rest when I booked my travel dates. After declining again, she then told me that Ramada would be happy to make financial arrangements with me but they would need to validate that my credit card was good. She assured me that it wouldn't be charged and that I'd have to go through a recorded verifications process to authorize any charges.
She then asked me about how much I thought was on my card, I told her about $900.00. She said she was asking because that would factor into what type of arrangement they might have been able to work out with me. Against my better judgement, I gave her my credit card number.
At this point I spoke with her supervisor, who then threw in too many bonuses to recall, among those being additional stays, longer time period to use package (3 years) and a $1000 online shopping spree. I again told him that this was something I simply couldn't afford to do at this time.
He then dropped the initial deposit to $349.00 with payments of about $56.00 per month. At this point I called my fiancee to see if he liked those terms, since he is on the credit card as well. Having been burned by the timeshare industry before, he insisted I decline the offer.
When I relayed this declination to Whitley's supervisor, he became very condescending, told me I'd probably honeymoon in St. Pete, FL (I'm an Orlando resident) and then dropped the initial deposit to $174.00 After declining the final time, he abruptly says, "There's a free gift for calling in today" and transferred me somewhere. After the phone rang about 10 times I hung up.
At my fiancee's request I called my credit card company to ensure my card had not been charged. Alas, there was a pending charge from Ramada Plaza Resorts for the full initial deposit amount of $698.00. My credit card company informed me that if Ramada Plaza Resorts would simply call them to release the authorization (that I never authorized) the matter could be rectified.
I then called Ramada Plaza Resorts sales department back at 1-800-550-9559 to let them know what had happened. I got to speak to yet another condescending supervisor with an attitude, who tried to make it seem as if the whole incident was my fault. He said that it was only a hold, not a charge, and that it would be credited back to my card in 3 days. When I asked if there was something someone could do today, he then gave me the customer service line, 1-800-203-9783, with the assurance that there was nothing else that anyone would do and to call customer service so they could "tell me the same thing".
I called customer service and asked to speak with yet another supervisor, whom I was never transferred to, instead I got a specialist. He basically told me the same thing. He assured me that if the "hold" didn't come off my card in 3 to "5" days, someone from his department would be happy to assist me in immediately getting my card credited, and that although they were able to debit my card without my authorization, "no one in the office could call my credit card company and release the "authorization" before then.
So all of you travelers with wanderlust beware, if any representative of Ramada Plaza Resorts calls you or you recieve any travel vouchers in the mail, immediately hang up and burn the literature, I wish I had. Hopefully the charge will be credited back in 5 business days, but worst case scenario, I'll have to close out my credit card account and have it reissued through the dispute process. All of this is an ordeal I wouldn't have had to go through had Ramada Plaza Resorts been ethical enough to never charge my card in the first place without my consent. Yet they say, "we'd never risk our reputation over $700.00". Well, you could have, and did, fool me!
Chauntrese
Orlando, Florida
U.S.A.
Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on Ramada
Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on Ramada
I then spoke with Whitley, who seemed to be a very cordial fast talker who told me that 3 nights accommodations in South Florida, round trip cruise to port of call Nassau, Bahamas, two nights accommodations in Orlando, 7 days transportation by rent a car in addition to 3 days 2 nights in Las Vegas and 4 days 3 nights in Puerta Vallarta, could all be mine (after listening to a timeshare presentation of course) and paying a remaining balance of over $1300.00. Of course I'd have to decide on this call and couldn't call back.
I told Whitley that although I loved the package I simply couldn't afford to buy it at this time. She then offered to break the price down in installments $698.00 now, the rest when I booked my travel dates. After declining again, she then told me that Ramada would be happy to make financial arrangements with me but they would need to validate that my credit card was good. She assured me that it wouldn't be charged and that I'd have to go through a recorded verifications process to authorize any charges.
She then asked me about how much I thought was on my card, I told her about $900.00. She said she was asking because that would factor into what type of arrangement they might have been able to work out with me. Against my better judgement, I gave her my credit card number.
At this point I spoke with her supervisor, who then threw in too many bonuses to recall, among those being additional stays, longer time period to use package (3 years) and a $1000 online shopping spree. I again told him that this was something I simply couldn't afford to do at this time.
He then dropped the initial deposit to $349.00 with payments of about $56.00 per month. At this point I called my fiancee to see if he liked those terms, since he is on the credit card as well. Having been burned by the timeshare industry before, he insisted I decline the offer.
When I relayed this declination to Whitley's supervisor, he became very condescending, told me I'd probably honeymoon in St. Pete, FL (I'm an Orlando resident) and then dropped the initial deposit to $174.00 After declining the final time, he abruptly says, "There's a free gift for calling in today" and transferred me somewhere. After the phone rang about 10 times I hung up.
At my fiancee's request I called my credit card company to ensure my card had not been charged. Alas, there was a pending charge from Ramada Plaza Resorts for the full initial deposit amount of $698.00. My credit card company informed me that if Ramada Plaza Resorts would simply call them to release the authorization (that I never authorized) the matter could be rectified.
I then called Ramada Plaza Resorts sales department back at 1-800-550-9559 to let them know what had happened. I got to speak to yet another condescending supervisor with an attitude, who tried to make it seem as if the whole incident was my fault. He said that it was only a hold, not a charge, and that it would be credited back to my card in 3 days. When I asked if there was something someone could do today, he then gave me the customer service line, 1-800-203-9783, with the assurance that there was nothing else that anyone would do and to call customer service so they could "tell me the same thing".
I called customer service and asked to speak with yet another supervisor, whom I was never transferred to, instead I got a specialist. He basically told me the same thing. He assured me that if the "hold" didn't come off my card in 3 to "5" days, someone from his department would be happy to assist me in immediately getting my card credited, and that although they were able to debit my card without my authorization, "no one in the office could call my credit card company and release the "authorization" before then.
So all of you travelers with wanderlust beware, if any representative of Ramada Plaza Resorts calls you or you recieve any travel vouchers in the mail, immediately hang up and burn the literature, I wish I had. Hopefully the charge will be credited back in 5 business days, but worst case scenario, I'll have to close out my credit card account and have it reissued through the dispute process. All of this is an ordeal I wouldn't have had to go through had Ramada Plaza Resorts been ethical enough to never charge my card in the first place without my consent. Yet they say, "we'd never risk our reputation over $700.00". Well, you could have, and did, fool me!
Chauntrese
Orlando, Florida
U.S.A.
Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on Ramada
Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on Ramada
7 Updates & Rebuttals
Chauntrese
Orlando,Florida,
U.S.A.
Thank God, justice was done
#2Author of original report
Mon, November 20, 2006
I am the original author of this complaint. I was eventually able to get my credit card company to reverse the authorization after being called by Ramada's customer service department. The agent emphatically claimed it was my card company who was to blame, and that it was simply a hold authorization to verify my card. Although he had a spare 15 minutes to argue that since Ramada wouldn't be recieving any funds from the transaction they had nothing to gain by keeping the hold on my card, no one had a moment to simply call my card company. Somehow, that doesn't seem like good customer service to me. WhenI called again to request that they call my card company, the agent I spoke with had an attitude saying, "Well, you did give the card number. . .?" as if to say a so called authorization check that I've had other companies do in the past for $1.00 or less was the same as charging/holding $698.00 and that obviously I knew they would do that. In any event, I'd rather sleep under a bridge than at a Ramada.
Nancy
Coventry,Connecticut,
U.S.A.
To J-Anna in Texas
#3Consumer Comment
Sun, November 19, 2006
Your absolutly right! I should have hung up the phone. So, I did a stupid thing just like all these people, and I knew better! Anyway, My card company did a charge back without any problems but I'm sure the pushy people at the so called Ramada will be calling me to find out why. Oh well too bad for them, I just won't answer the phone. Hopefully I learned my lesson. But why are they allowed to keep doing this? Thanks for listening and I hope it turns out ok as it did for me.
J
Anna,Texas,
U.S.A.
I will be surprised if you see your money again......
#4Consumer Comment
Sun, November 19, 2006
unless your cc company will reject the charge. Anytime anyone wants financial information, i.e., bank account numbers or credit card numbers, just to "validate", red flags should start waving all around you. This information should NEVER be given for anything you don't want. Now it's your word against theirs and they've got your money. The first time you told them you weren't interested and they kept making the offer better, you should have just hung up. There are so many of these different scams on this site that I am surprised some of our congressmen haven't been clued in. Good luck.
Nancy
Coventry,Connecticut,
U.S.A.
Scam or not??
#5Consumer Comment
Sun, November 19, 2006
I too recently got pulled in to sign up for this vacation. Luckly my credit card company will just do a chargeback for the money they took. Along with the rest of you all the negativity scared me into not taking this trip which I'm sure was the best decision. Maybe this is a scam and maybe it's not but I'll tell you something I noticed. If this is legite then why wasn't everyone charged the same price. I hear $698.00 for one person, then some say they paid $498.00. It seems that everyone was charged a different price. HMMMMM seems a little fishy to me. Now my story. Lucky me! I'm the grand prize winner of a 2 day cruise to Nassau!! Ya right! I should have known then there was more involved. I was offered the same as all of you. But, my price was $498.00 for up to 4 people. They have been doing this for years and now it's 11/2006 and they are still doing this. My daughter just won a trip to Pheonix, Arizona and it didn't cost her a cent. They even paid for her plane fare. Remember, if you gotta pay you didn't win! Thats just a come on to make you listen to the rest of their balony. Guess I should of listened to my own advice but at least my credit card company is backing me. If you used your credit card call them and tell them you want to do a charge back. Don't waste your time calling these people. Give me an 8 day free cruise and I might think about it! Good luck all!
Nancy
Coventry,Connecticut,
U.S.A.
Scam or not??
#6Consumer Comment
Sun, November 19, 2006
I too recently got pulled in to sign up for this vacation. Luckly my credit card company will just do a chargeback for the money they took. Along with the rest of you all the negativity scared me into not taking this trip which I'm sure was the best decision. Maybe this is a scam and maybe it's not but I'll tell you something I noticed. If this is legite then why wasn't everyone charged the same price. I hear $698.00 for one person, then some say they paid $498.00. It seems that everyone was charged a different price. HMMMMM seems a little fishy to me. Now my story. Lucky me! I'm the grand prize winner of a 2 day cruise to Nassau!! Ya right! I should have known then there was more involved. I was offered the same as all of you. But, my price was $498.00 for up to 4 people. They have been doing this for years and now it's 11/2006 and they are still doing this. My daughter just won a trip to Pheonix, Arizona and it didn't cost her a cent. They even paid for her plane fare. Remember, if you gotta pay you didn't win! Thats just a come on to make you listen to the rest of their balony. Guess I should of listened to my own advice but at least my credit card company is backing me. If you used your credit card call them and tell them you want to do a charge back. Don't waste your time calling these people. Give me an 8 day free cruise and I might think about it! Good luck all!
Nancy
Coventry,Connecticut,
U.S.A.
Scam or not??
#7Consumer Comment
Sun, November 19, 2006
I too recently got pulled in to sign up for this vacation. Luckly my credit card company will just do a chargeback for the money they took. Along with the rest of you all the negativity scared me into not taking this trip which I'm sure was the best decision. Maybe this is a scam and maybe it's not but I'll tell you something I noticed. If this is legite then why wasn't everyone charged the same price. I hear $698.00 for one person, then some say they paid $498.00. It seems that everyone was charged a different price. HMMMMM seems a little fishy to me. Now my story. Lucky me! I'm the grand prize winner of a 2 day cruise to Nassau!! Ya right! I should have known then there was more involved. I was offered the same as all of you. But, my price was $498.00 for up to 4 people. They have been doing this for years and now it's 11/2006 and they are still doing this. My daughter just won a trip to Pheonix, Arizona and it didn't cost her a cent. They even paid for her plane fare. Remember, if you gotta pay you didn't win! Thats just a come on to make you listen to the rest of their balony. Guess I should of listened to my own advice but at least my credit card company is backing me. If you used your credit card call them and tell them you want to do a charge back. Don't waste your time calling these people. Give me an 8 day free cruise and I might think about it! Good luck all!
Nancy
Coventry,Connecticut,
U.S.A.
Scam or not??
#8Consumer Comment
Sun, November 19, 2006
I too recently got pulled in to sign up for this vacation. Luckly my credit card company will just do a chargeback for the money they took. Along with the rest of you all the negativity scared me into not taking this trip which I'm sure was the best decision. Maybe this is a scam and maybe it's not but I'll tell you something I noticed. If this is legite then why wasn't everyone charged the same price. I hear $698.00 for one person, then some say they paid $498.00. It seems that everyone was charged a different price. HMMMMM seems a little fishy to me. Now my story. Lucky me! I'm the grand prize winner of a 2 day cruise to Nassau!! Ya right! I should have known then there was more involved. I was offered the same as all of you. But, my price was $498.00 for up to 4 people. They have been doing this for years and now it's 11/2006 and they are still doing this. My daughter just won a trip to Pheonix, Arizona and it didn't cost her a cent. They even paid for her plane fare. Remember, if you gotta pay you didn't win! Thats just a come on to make you listen to the rest of their balony. Guess I should of listened to my own advice but at least my credit card company is backing me. If you used your credit card call them and tell them you want to do a charge back. Don't waste your time calling these people. Give me an 8 day free cruise and I might think about it! Good luck all!
