Absolute Reservation Center ripoff, scam, fraudulent Maitland Florida

The travel package we purchased was supposed to include a stay at the Ramada Inn at Ft. Lauderdale Florida and at the Amerihost at Disney Maingate.

We were told when purchasing that our dates were available. No where in the conversation on the phone or in the travel packet did it say we had to take a timeshare presentation. It took over a week for Absolute to send the travel package info, and the day we received it we mailed it in.

We allowed 5 days to go by before calling Absolute to find out about the hotel reservations. We were given voicemail boxes to leave messages which were never returned. Eventually we got through to someone who then hung up on us a few times. We corresponded with the company that sold us the package and after numerous arguements with them they finally gaurunteed that we would have the dates requested.

We then waited until 3 days before our vacation, and hearing nothing from either company, we continued to call to find out if we had any reservations yet. Finally, the morning that we were leaving, we got the name and addy of the hotel (which was to be the Ramada) in Ft. Lauderdale.

We drove to this hotel, were told the whole family had to go to the resevation center, (here it is 11 at night and 12 hours of driving) so we all go in. Inside we are informed of a timeshare presentation that we have to go to the following morning. (First time we ever heard mentioned timeshare) and then we are also informed that we have to drive another half hour to 45 mins to a different hotel, that our reservations arn't actually for the Ramada. (Which we were told they were from Absolute)

The next hotel was supposed to be the Amerihost Resort at Disney Maingate. We arrived there after traveling 3 hours to find out that Absolute had reserved a room at a different hotel for a week before we were to travel, needless to say that we had no place to stay.

After contacting Absolute and the people that sold us the package, it took over an hour for them to get us a room. This room was again at a different hotel, The Quality Inn, which was no place near the hotel that we were suppose to be in. Then to top it off we had additional fees to pay to the hotel because the rooms werent booked in advance.

The travel voucher said we were to get free breakfasts which never happened. We were to get a free shuttle to Disney and area attractions, which we didnt get either. None of what we paid for was actually received. We have informed the Florida BBB and are looking into also speaking to an attorney to receive some sort of compensation since it was all false advertising and not to mention a pack of lies.

We highly recommened not dealing with either of these companies, as they do not follow through with any of the promises made.

This Katy says we never got back in touch with the company. There she is lying, we called everyday, up until the 16 of April which is when our trip was scheduled for. We did not find out until that day where we were staying. They gave us a hotel name and address, when we got there to check in, we were told that they only did the timeshare presentations and we had to actually stay at a different hotel that was located half an hour to an hour outside of Fort Lauderdale and after unloading all the family to check into this hotel, we find there is no reservation for us.

The following day we had to go to a timeshare presentation which we were told would take an hour at most. Mind you we had three kids ages 7, 4, and 1 with us. This timeshare garbage was not mentioned when we bought the travel package. The presentation lasted over 4 hours with us saying no numerous times.

We were at this hotel for two nights and three days, of which we had to pay extra to stay at. During this time we called to find out where the next hotel was located and be sure that we had a reservation. All we got was put on hold numerous times and hung up on.

We finally got through to a person who informed us of our next hotel info. We drove nearly 3 to 4 hours to this hotel which was suppose to be in the maingate of Disney. This hotel had no reservation for us, nor could it even locate a reservation from Absolute Travel in our name. After numerous phone calls to Absolute from us, they finally contacted this hotel and then the hotel informed us that Absolute had us a place reserved another half an hour away and we had to sign up for a timeshare presentation.

This whole thing was a rip off and a scam and there should be a way to get your money back. We have reported it with the Florid BBB and hope that other people dont fall prey to this scam like we did! They tried to ruin our vacation but it didnt work, my family still enjoyed it even though they put us through a nightmare with the hotel lies.

At the time Dawn purchased her travel package, the dates she wanted were available. We received her request 9 days later. In the travel industry, availability changes daily. We were given a two week notice to honor her vacation during one of the busiest times of the year.

During our original contact with Dawn it was explained to her that there was a possibility that we wouldnt be able to accommodate her but it was also explained that we were going to jump through hopes to try and accommodate her. Our reservations and the payments are sorted by a mail clerk and checks are automatically deposited. If we were unable to accommodate her, we would have glady refunded monies paid to Absolute REservation Center.

We apologize for her frustration in waiting for confirmation, but the truth is we could only give her confirmation when we receive it. Not sooner. This was explained to Dawn on a few occassions. It was also explained that this would be a last second confirmation. We had a lot of involvement with the sponsor who sold the package as most of her phone calls were made to that company.

Her complaint was posted on this website on 4/11/05 and she received her final documents on 4/15/05 for travel on 4/16/05. She went on her vacation, rooms were provided. Dawn never posted a follow up. We havent heard from her since.