Oceania Family Resorts / Summerwinds Resort Services Vacationers Beware! Hotel Time Share Solicitation Package Ripoff Sold By Summerwinds/ Oceania Branson Missouri

Deborah with Summerwinds Resort called me on March 29, 2008 to offer me a vacation package at a great discount for being a valued customer of The Sandcastle South Hotel in Myrtle Beach, SC. I have been staying at the Sandcastle for the last 5 years so I listened to their offer. I was told the package was for 5 days and 4 nights for $190.00. She said I would also receive a $50.00 gift card to Broadway At The Beach plus an extra bonus vacation of 3 days and 2 nights at one of 92 destinations including Myrtle Beach for free and that I could take up to 1 year to use it....all I would have to do was go through a timeshare tour to receive all of this for the $190.00.

I asked if this was for an oceanfront room at the Sandcastle Hotel and she said yes as long as one was available on the date I intended to go. I asked if I had to make the decision right now and she said yes, it was a one time offer. I was hesitant in saying yes because it sounded "too good to be true" but after she kept on with the pressure tactic for another 10 minutes I finally gave in. I ended up giving her $110.00 to secure a room for 1 night on my debit card. She told me I had to call an 800 number to reserve the other 3 nights within 30 days and pay the other $80.00 at that time. I was sent a confirmation letter in the mail on April 22, 2008 with the 800 number that I needed to call to finish up my reservation, but when I called it the number did not go through. It started out saying message RNK and to try again later, which I did many times and it still said the same thing. There was another 800 number at the bottom of the reservation and it did the same thing. I immediately started thinking I got ripped off. There was a 417 number also at the bottom of the page so I called it and finally got through to someone.

I gave reservations the dates I wanted to go and she said that Deborah had already given them the paperwork stating that I would be staying at the "Olympian Hotel" at Myrtle Beach (this hotel is 4 blocks from the ocean!). I told them there must have been some kind of mistake because Deborah had said I would get to stay at the "Sandcastle South" Oceanfront. I was put on hold and when she came back I was told if I wanted to stay there I would have to pay an "upgrade". Deborah never mentioned anything to me about an upgrade or I would not have taken the package at all. I have gone to Myrtle Beach since I was a little kid and have NEVER stayed anywhere that wasn't oceanfront.

I called Deborah back the next day and she could only put me in a different hotel but it wouldn't be oceanfront unless I paid the upgrade. I told her she never said anything about an upgrade and she told me that she did. I argued with her over this and finally told her I wanted my money back she could not back up her original offer. She said I would have to write a letter to Lucinda Waters who is head of Marketing to get a refund, which I did the very next day.

In the meantime, I noticed that the paperwork they sent to me had OCEANIA at the top of the page with Summerwinds East Coast Division underneath it. I googled Oceania, found out it was actually Oceania Family Resorts located in Myrtle Beach on Kings Highway, got a phone number for them and asked them what their connection was with Summerwinds. I was told that Oceania contracted Summerwinds to promote their timeshare plans for them. I told them what was going on with me and they were pretty upset and said if I didn't get it taken care of with the letter I wrote, to let them know. Oceania owns at least 6 Oceanfront Hotels at Myrtle Beach.

I never heard from Ms Waters but a man called me from Summerwinds and I told him what had happened and he promised me he would take care of it and do his best to get me the oceanfront room at the Sandcastle South that I had originally wanted. On April 29, 2008 I received a confirmation letter stating that I would be actually staying at the Sandcastle on the dates I originally asked for. To play it safe I called the Sandcastle to make sure I actually had a reservation and they confirmed that I did, and it was for an oceanfront suite!

I went ahead planning our trip as usual for the next few months because my reservation was for arriving August 7th and departing August 11th. On August 6th I decided to call the Sandcastle Hotel to see if their was a coffee pot in the room and I was put on hold. When the girl came back to the phone she asked me if the reservation was originally made by Summerwinds and I said "yes, why?" She said "I hate to tell you this but Summerwinds cancelled all their reservations a month ago, didn't Summerwinds call to let you know?" I said "Obviously not!" I could not even believe this! If I hadn't of called to ask about a coffee pot I would have drove 5 hours to the hotel to find out I didn't have a reservation anymore! I immediately called Summerwinds (the 800 numbers still didn't work after all these months) and asked them WTF! I was told that Oceania cancelled their contract a month ago and they were gonna call me to let me know today. I said "You were gonna call me today!?! My reservation is for tomorrow and I was gonna leave at 5:00 am to drive down there!" I told her I wanted my $110.00 back immediately and she said I would get it very soon, that they were refunding everyones money that bought a package from them on their Oceania contract. Still waiting on my money!

This is a major lesson learned on my part, and something I will never do again! Hopefully those who read this will learn not to accept any deal that sounds "too good to be true" because it more than likely is!

Razz
Roanoke, Virginia
U.S.A.