Comments on: Ramada Plaza Resorts ripoff?

By: pete

pete — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 20:23:06 +0000

I just returned home from this sorry excuse of a vacation. Adam, you should stay home if you’re planning to spend expensive airline tickets. If you live near by Florida and are driving, you may consider it if you are willing to spend an extra $250 per person just on taxes. etc that you were probably led to believing you paid for already. Amanda, you clearly work for them so stfu!! How can you possibly suggest to people that the place was “spa like”. The indoor pool at Ramada Maingate west in Orlando reeks of chlorine so bad you can tell they NEVER changed the water. The day i arrived, they didn’t even have keys (!?!) for anyone’s rooms- supposedly their “system” had shut down for the last three or four days. There is one maintenance guy going from floor to floor, if you could even track him down, manually opening doors for people. But, guess what, he never checks to see if you are really the person occupying a particular room (?!). Some people suggested that Orlando was the “better” part of this trip, but that’s where i had to check out. I didn’t feel safe knowing that anyone could ask for my room to be opened. And Brice, how can you call these people cheap? Don’t people have the basic right to know EXACTLY how much a trip is going to cost them before they leave their homes. People are complaining about the hidden fees that were HIDDEN from them. Also, if the trip cost $798, tell people it’s a cheap ass trip. Don’t pitch it as a once in a fucking lifetime LUXURY vacation and then shock the hell out of everyone by delivering PURE CRAP. I met so many people who brought their family and friends and were red-faced with embarrassment the whole time–they must have told people they were bringing them on a lux vacation. I sure did. I even upgraded my cruise cabin to what Maureen at the call center said was a “VIP suite”–i paid $200 more for the room and got an outside cabin that was the size of a closet with dirty windows. The people at the Welcome center are plain rude and pushy. They make you go to the timeshare presentation in order for you to receive a voucher for the cruise– at embarkation, no one knew what to do with the stupid voucher–no one wanted to look at it. How weird when Sasha at the Ft. Lauderdale welcome center threatened me that my ENTIRE vacation would be cancelled if I did not attend the timeshare presentation. Mind you, i never even heard the word “timeshare presentation” until two weeks before the trip when I received an itinerary that said i had a “resort tour” scheduled. I researched the tour a little too late, and that’s when i found out that i was scammed. Despite learning about the worst-case scenarios, i went on the stupid vacation and wished i hadn’t. I hope someone can put an end to this scam. The issue here is HONESTY and nothing else. I have nothing against bargain vacations, but I have a huge problem when someone says it’s luxury at a bargain when it isn’t and then turns around and upsells you even more once you bite their bait. Ramada is not an honest company if it allows the guy who owns Ramada Plaza Resort and Bahamas celebration to continue to con people.

By: Adam

Adam — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 17:02:23 +0000

Please someone who has had a good experience with this email me at Craigslister_gap@yahoo.com My wife and I are going at the end of June and if we just want to know if we are making a mistake?!

Thanks,
Adam

By: Chris C

Chris C — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 07:41:22 +0000

DO NOT EVER DO BUSINESS WITH RAMADA PLAZA RESORTS AND DANIEL LAMBERT OR NATIONAL TRAVEL SERVICES. Their packages are a complete scam. We were suckered too back in 2000, however we played hardball and in 2003 demanded a refund of the $1030 advance we paid with a letter that included every law and statute in the state of Florida that they broke during the time they had our money held hostage. They’re terrible scamming fiends. Look online…the complaints are everywhere.

By: Lydia Hendricks

Lydia Hendricks — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 16:25:12 +0000

SCAM, SCAM, SCAM! Please the read the numerous consumeraffairs.com alerts regarding this “business”. This Ramada Plaza Resort [RPR] vacation scheme has been a huge headache for thousands of angry and disappointed consumers who were promised one thing and received another. In fact, RPR has had to settle multiple class action suits on behalf of these justifiably angry vacationers.

The RPR “agents” are incredibly pushy, arrogant, and become extremely hostile if you try and refuse an “upgrade” or attempt to get a refund. RPR frequently laments that they are non-refundable, which should jump out in red letters in this economy. Be sure to document everything, the date of any conversation and all important dialogue exchanges.

I am military and it took me working with Florida’s Better Business Bureau to get my money back. Months after I cancelled my $800 package (2/2009) and received a refund (6/2009), I had the opportunity to talk with yet another antagonistic agent (January 4, 2010). This man stated that I had only cancelled one package and had yet another that was “set to expire.” I had no idea what he was talking about. After 15 minutes of agonizingly high blood pressure, I told him that I would not be vacationing and they could have whatever money they think I paid them (again, he was calling on a bogus package). The agent became irate and said, “It’s people like you that change your credit card accounts to avoid creditors. Well, we have a policy to ensure that we get our money back by force through merchant accounts. We will find you and take the money from your accounts.” Oh, really? I told the rude agent that the conversation was over. I hung up on him and called 1-800-203-9783 [RPR hotline] to speak with a different agent. She confirmed that I had only one cancelled account and said that the other agent was “probably mistaken.”

BEWARE! If you want to be happy, plan the vacation yourself or get a bonafide agent. Stay away from RPR!

- Lydia H.

By: Carl Wolf

Carl Wolf — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 10:43:14 +0000

“is there anyone out there who truly enjoyed the Ramada/Bahama cruise vacation package out of Ft Lauderdale?”

My girlfriend and I went, and we had a great time.

By: Nancy

Nancy — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 04:48:41 +0000

How much were drinks?
My husband and I will be going in June -with our 7 and 4 year old. What do we need to hit first?
As for a scam, I’ll keep my eyes peeled for any weird stuff. I too have a couple of
timeshares and am aware of the tour blah blah. I accepted this trip because we have never been on a cruise (we usually do all inclusives).
I am concerned about drink prices. I’ve heard they’re pricey. And, I want my “little fish to have an AMAZING time.
I’d love any tips you all can give me.
Nancy

By: kelly

kelly — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 13:54:31 +0000

please guys…you have me worried that I am taking the vacation from hell!!! We were given the offer and took it,knowing that we had to go to a time share seminar on the first day. We took it becuase it was our first cruise and did not want to spend thousands on something we were not sure we would like. We leave for the trip in three weeks and I now wish I would not have done any research. Please… is there anyone out there who truelyenjoyed the Ramada/Bahama cruise vacation package out of Ft Lauderdale??? Please put my mind at ease.

By: Tonya Toche-Howard

Tonya Toche-Howard — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 11:45:56 +0000

No Catherine, that is not what my offer was. No survey, no 8 night/9 day vacation. Maybe yours is different. Yes tyou are human and deserve respect, but so does the customer. It seems that maybe the reservations/sales people are very defensive and it may be because of dealing with rude people from time to time, but you (maybe not you personally) have to be respectful and considerate too. You’ll sell more!

Anyways, my husband and I did take our trip. The cruise was the best part. The service on the cruise was amazing and we can’t wait to take another one. As far as the rest…it was okay. We did the required timeshare tour and they were not pushy at all (we got a good company, not all are so easy). We are already timeshare owners and own a better timeshare with more options so it wasn’t something that we wanted (the cruise was!).

We did learn that the reservations/sales department is a different company than the company running the welcome centers and they are a different company than the actual Ramada Plaza Resorts. The cruise line is it’s own company, the rental car company is separate and the timeshare companies are independent companies as well. So basically it is 5-6 companies that have all come together to put a vacation package together. That is probably why there is so much confusion. The companies seem to get upset with one antoher as well. It’s actually sort of comical to listen to them gripe about the other.

Our vacation was not bad at all, but the reservation department gave them all a bad name. And Author is still an ASS!!

So nope, it is not a scam, but there are a lot of variables that can make it more fun or a horrible time.

By: Richard

Richard — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 14:53:25 +0000

By: Catherine D

Catherine D — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 06:03:32 +0000

Hi everyone
I work for ramada plaza resorts as a promotions director in the Ontario office! I would just like to say that NO THIS IS NOT A SCAM! It is a real vacation that u r selected to recieve if u qualify and participate in our travel survey! If u r not interested in the FAM trip which is a promotional trip then don’t do the freakin survey..thats all there is to it! It is 698$ US for an 9 day 8 night florida bahamas cruise vacation! Thats all ur accomidations cover…cruise covered as well as 2 bonus vacations (accomidations) and 3rd and 4th ticket for free and a 8 day rental car with unlimited milege! Where r u going to get all those nights accomidations for 4 ppl for only 698….guess what ur not!
We(atleast I don’t) pressure we r there to help with concerns with the trip and using a credit card over the phone…if u dont want to do it…no worries we jst pass the package to a family that does want it….none of us care cause we r paid hourly!
Everyone get off ur high horse and except it for what it for! If it was a scam do u think we would still be in business??
THINK ABOUT IT! Also plz remember that it is our job to tell u abot it and we r no less a human being then u are so alittle respect and politness is appreciated….THANX