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Florida Vacations Review
September 28, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Florida vacations are supposed to be fun. I found that there is a lot of “fine print” that you do not see until you are here.
I decided to experience the “cheap” route and reserved a rental car through “Payless” car rental. I’ll tell you this; you get what you pay for. First of all, Payless has no cars at the airport. Second, they seemed to only have a couple of shuttles between the airport and their facility over 15 minutes away. Third, when I informed them that I would waive their insurance, I was informed that “I do not accept any outside insurance company for MY cars.” [My Cars?!??] My insurance carrier in a major national company and I carry FULL COVERAGE. The “fine print” for Payless is that since I am waiving their insurance, I would have to allow them to put a $350 hold on my credit card. Given the time already wasted, the distance from the airport, the time I would have to spend getting back to the airport, I accepted the terms. Also, they did not do a “walk-around” inspection before allowing me to take the vehicle. I went back in and asked for an inspection form. I did my own walk-around to protect myself, especially since they seemed to be setting me up to take my $350.00 with a false damage claim.
Upon returning the vehicle, I did another walk-around in their presence with my camera clicking. I don’t want them coming back later claiming there was any damage.
You’ve got to protect yourself!
Here a a few of the reviews I found after my ordeal:
by caroline
09/21/2009
I rented from payless last year and while there was a bit of a wait – the price and friendliness and lack of any problems caused me to go there again – something changed – not only do they charge more but the person behind the counter was rude – mad that we didn’t upgrade I received a much worse vehicle than I paid half price for the year before and am all around dissatisfied – I will NEVER go to payless again – do yourself a favor and listen to these people – it is the WORST CAR RENTAL experience I’ve ever had. If I could give it 0 stars I would
by PatriciaC
08/24/2009
DON’T USE… We got a quote on-line. I printed it out with the confirmation..when we got there…they did not honor the quote and charged almost $100 more! We had no choice because this is an off-site rental (they bus you from the airport to their building off site). They wanted to charge more for insurance even when I brought my car insurance info with me from home..There website states bring a copy of insurance card and you wont be charged. I will never use them again..Dollar car rental is in the terminal…use them!
And to be fair:
by Jeremy L
04/17/2009
I reserved an economy car at an incredibly low rate online, and thought I was going to have trouble with the rate reservation but they honored it without question! They were very professional, and their shuttles were frequent and the drivers were very nice. The car was clean and was ready to go. The line at the rental agency was about a 10 minute wait to get helped by an agent, but they also had 5 agents working the front, which was more than I expected. I would definitely rent from this company again, and coming from Boston, they exceeded my expectations by far!
Lesson: “cheap” is just that. CHEAP.
Rating for Payless Car Rental: -1 of 5
The major reason my wife & I are were in Florida was to do an inspection of Celebrity Resorts Buena Vista.
The staff at Celebrity were warm and helpful. We asked to see one of the units and was not barred access. Juan Carlos showed us a three bedroom unit that was immaculate. We were greatly impressed with the location and the access to the local shops and restaurants. We saw reviews online that let us to believe that this facility was less than “par” but upon our inspection, we determined that the negative reviews were probably from guests that had small children and this location seemed to cater more to an older crowd.
The timing could not have been better. At first, we wondered where the people were. We are here during the week of September 20, 2009, most kids are back in school, most people are back to work as a result of the kids being back in school and the weather is perfect. Not too hot as the weather begins its fall move.
Rating for Celebrity Resorts – Buena Vista: 4 of 5
We are staying at the Celebrity Resorts II, Again, the staff is warm and professional. High honors all around.
My only problem was that they do not provide free wireless internet access. These days “motel hell” will provide free internet access. Celebrity seems to have a contract with a local carrier (with kick-backs I’m sure) for $11.95/day. The most I’ve ever paid was $9.95/day when I was pressed.
I allowed myself to be subjected to the “timeshare/vacation rental” pitch in exchange for cash. (I stalled until they upped the ante)
As in all of these presentations, the sales rep is warm & friendly, the “supervisor” is warm & friendly with a bit of “let’s get on with it” and the finance guy is also warm and friendly & gives you a offer you can’t refuse, until you refuse it and they try to make you look stupid for not taking the deal, then the real person comes out and they can’t wait to get away from you only to come back with a final offer that is ridiculous because you know there is still a big mark-up left in order for them to make any money.
Beware newly-weds; don’t let anybody snowball you into a mortgage that is not YOUR own residence. The annual maintenance fees will run you in excess of $750 and at that cost, you can stay at most any hotel, resort, condo for a week if you plan ahead.
Staying at a vacation rental/villa rather than a hotel room is by far the best route to go.
There’s no point in enumerating the countless reasons why a hotel room is so inferior to having your own vacation rental, but just in case you still need some persuading here are a few without embellishment.
Do you honestly want to spend your vacation living in one room? If you have children, do you really want them to have their own hotel room? Would you be able to relax and sleep well at night knowing they could be anywhere? What if they are too old to share a room? You now have three hotel rooms to pay for, and at what price?
What if you are spending your vacation with a bunch of buddies? You all need your own rooms, and then you have to be quiet at night so as not to upset the other guests. Sharing a pool with a couple hundred more people? Having to get out to allow the maid do the cleaning? Hotel booze prices and room service prices if you get hungry at night. Need I go on? No!
So, you have made the wise choice and elected for a vacation rental for your vacation – or perhaps your golfing holiday, who cares. It all amounts to the same thing. A 5 bedroom Vacation rental will cost $210/nite in high season when you could pay that for just one hotel room. If there are 5 of you it’s only $42 each a night, or $21 each for 10 of you. The resort/villa offers you a semi-private pool and spa, and you can drink your own drinks at supermart prices by your own pool.
You can stay up till any time you like, and you have a luxury kitchen if you feel hungry and want to rustle yourself up a chili dog or some burgers. Watch your 42 inch plasma screen while the kids pay with their PlayStation in their room. Their ‘room’? They have room each! And you know where they are.
Our travel company, TheConnectionTravel.com offers you the ability to get a vacation rental at a fraction of the cost of a hotel room. (Click the “VILLAS/CONDOS” tab for our Endless Vacation Rentals)
We also offer a vacation club where you get four and five star vacation packages at two and three star rates. http://www.GoGlobalDreamTrips.com Check it out; you will not be disappointed!
Whether you Join the vacation club, or visit our vacation rental properties, you will have a pleasurable experience to share with your friends.
Thank you for reading.
Frank Coleman
1-773-410-1483
http://www.TheConnectionTravel.com
http://www.GoGlobalDreamTrips.com
http://www.EarnGlobalVacations.com
Travel bargains
When it comes to travel, there is no real loyalty.
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Happy traveling!
hey, frank thanks for fixin my computer
your friend chuck.
7 responses so far ↓
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Frank Coleman // April 17, 2008 at 9:42 pm (edit)
Hey, here I am again, I’ll make these posts as comments instead of new posts to keep them all in the same place. Feel free to share your comments as well; it’s all good.”
I know it’s not Monday yet but I’m going to get a head start.
I made 11 calls to prospects today, I made contact with 4 and gave the website info to 2 with follow-up for tomorrow.
Wish I was able to at least get 1 person to go to the site today, no prob; there’s always tomorrow.
BTW: That is my goal, at least 1 new prospect to view the plan each day. Let’s see how I do.
Peace!
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Michael // April 18, 2008 at 9:11 am (edit)
good luck on your journey !
Michael
http://www.myspace.com/guitarmichaelward
Nashv
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Frank Coleman // April 21, 2008 at 8:59 pm (edit)
Hello again, Frank here.
Since my last post, I have had a BALL!!!
Today I spoke to 8 different people of which 2 viewed the business plan.
One was a little “iffy” with a follow-up tomorrow, the other was excited and wants to get his wife in the mix. We will sit down over coffee tomorrow morning.
Went to my back office & found 2 TRAVEL bookings that I didn’t know were there! EXCITING!
I have noticed a few blogs out here in the “blogosphers” that wish to compare themselves with other travel businesses. I will not get into that.
I, personally, will not take my valuable time trying to convince anyone that WorldVentures is better that “the other guy” because there are pros & cons in all of them.
I have had associations with 4 different Network Marketing companies with various levels of success & I’ll tell you this, THEY ALL WORK, IF YOU WORK THEM! Get laser focused on your dreams & goals, chart a plan of action for achieving your goals with YOUR business & forget about the rest.
‘nuf said;
Frank Coleman
Leisure Travel Consultant
1-866-439-1617
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Kim // September 25, 2008 at 3:25 pm (edit)
Hi Frank how are you doing?
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Frank Coleman // September 25, 2008 at 6:11 pm (edit)
Hi Kim, thanks for reaching out. Things are going fine. Groups growing.
Been tied up on activities so I haven’t been posting here like I wanted to.
I have a ministry that I have been working on as well.
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Carla // October 26, 2008 at 9:02 pm (edit)
Hi Frank,
Hi Clancy,
I am living in Santa Fe, NM and saw your World Ventures ad on the internet. I am also in WorldVentures and am trying to get started. I am living on disability so my options are somewhat limited for building my business. I was wondering if you could tell me how you got your website listed so high on the list when you type in “World Ventures”. I don’t want to take anything away from what you’re doing and don’t think it would compete with you.
Can you help me?
thanks, Carla Beene
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Frank Coleman // October 27, 2008 at 7:36 am (edit)
Hi Carla,
Thanks for visiting. I’ll see if I can get back to posting here more often.
Welcome to “Making a Living . . . Living!”
I’m not sure how I got such good ratings. I own a couple of ministry websites that have links to my WV site. I’ve heard that the more links a site has, the better their rankings.
Also this blog has many “key words” that relate to the travel industry as well as the word “WorldVentures”
It also depends on your search criteria.
Which site came up during your search?
Frank
http://frankcoleman.worldventures.biz