K
keeshy2
Guest
Virginia:
My fiancee got conned into buying one of the "vacations" offered by Ramada Plaza Resorts. He was told this "vacation" was ONLY available to airline employees. He signed up for this vacation, which supposedly includes 5 days/4 nights on the beach in Ft. Lauderdale, 3 days/2 night cruise to Nassau, and 3 days/2 nights in Orlando. It also supposedly includes a rental car for 1 week & 3 bonus vacations. He gave them a $500 deposit with $598 due on reservation of a date of travel. This happened in July 1999.
We discovered yesterday this this "vacation" is actually a sales pitch to buy timeshares & is a scam. It is the same "vacation" Robin Leach was promoting to EVERYONE, not just airline employees. He was never told it was a timeshare sales pitch & it doesn't say that anywhere in the video he received (we watched it last night to make sure). The only place it does say it is a sales pitch is on the LAST page of the brochure in like 4-point font (we could barely read it & he has 20-20 vision). We have also found out that the rental car is not free like he was told - in tiny print it says "renter must pay $20/day fee & any taxes & fees". We've found horror stories on the internet saying the accomodations are NOT on the beach, the cruise line is disgusting, and they harass you the whole time to buy timeshares.
Supposedly 17 states (Virginia was not one of them) filed class action lawsuits & at least 12 won earlier this year. People who lived in those states were able to get their deposits back, but they had to file by early April or something. We've also heard rumors that the cruise line they use has declared bankruptcy, but I haven't found proof yet.
The CC company won't dispute it since it's over 12 months old. Is there anything we can do to try to recoup the $500 deposit? Or should we just chalk it up to learning & give the "vacation" to someone we really don't like?
My fiancee got conned into buying one of the "vacations" offered by Ramada Plaza Resorts. He was told this "vacation" was ONLY available to airline employees. He signed up for this vacation, which supposedly includes 5 days/4 nights on the beach in Ft. Lauderdale, 3 days/2 night cruise to Nassau, and 3 days/2 nights in Orlando. It also supposedly includes a rental car for 1 week & 3 bonus vacations. He gave them a $500 deposit with $598 due on reservation of a date of travel. This happened in July 1999.
We discovered yesterday this this "vacation" is actually a sales pitch to buy timeshares & is a scam. It is the same "vacation" Robin Leach was promoting to EVERYONE, not just airline employees. He was never told it was a timeshare sales pitch & it doesn't say that anywhere in the video he received (we watched it last night to make sure). The only place it does say it is a sales pitch is on the LAST page of the brochure in like 4-point font (we could barely read it & he has 20-20 vision). We have also found out that the rental car is not free like he was told - in tiny print it says "renter must pay $20/day fee & any taxes & fees". We've found horror stories on the internet saying the accomodations are NOT on the beach, the cruise line is disgusting, and they harass you the whole time to buy timeshares.
Supposedly 17 states (Virginia was not one of them) filed class action lawsuits & at least 12 won earlier this year. People who lived in those states were able to get their deposits back, but they had to file by early April or something. We've also heard rumors that the cruise line they use has declared bankruptcy, but I haven't found proof yet.
The CC company won't dispute it since it's over 12 months old. Is there anything we can do to try to recoup the $500 deposit? Or should we just chalk it up to learning & give the "vacation" to someone we really don't like?