This is super easy to resolve - call your credit card company and charge it back. Mine took care of it in all of 10 minutes.
Most credit cards only give you 60-90 days to dispute a charge. I had that problem when I bought concert tickets in November 2019 as a Christmas Gift for a show in Vegas in April 2020. When COVID "postponed (not cancelled)" the concert, I tried to do a chargeback/dispute. No luck since it was past the deadline. I had to wait till the concert was rescheduled in 2021 in order to cancel my tickets with Ticketmaster and ask for a refund. (I had 30 days do from the date of the reschedule announcement to do that under Ticketmaster policy.) I learned my lesson not to book things that far in advance unless you are certain the the vendor (not the credit card company) is reputable enough to make things right if there is an issue. I won't pay TTR or DRM the full amount in advance for this reason. One day deposit only until the 60 day dispute window starts. Luckily for the Mexico properties they have been great at letting you reschedule if needed. Sounds like that is not the case for DR properties. Really sucks to hear that they still have not issued any refund.
Yeah as soon as I heard them say they needed to wait 30 days to give me a refund I went through my CC. I knew they were in trouble and they had already been caught making stuff up several times about opening dates.
Don't know if this helps, but I'm in media and am a part of the Temptation / Desire affiliate program and received this email from them on June 30th: "I am writing to you with excitement because I just got back from Temptation Miches Resort and Temptation Grand Miches Resort, located an hour and a half north-west of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. I am happy to inform you that Original Group has taken full control of the operation to ensure that our mutual clients receive the optimum service that they deserve. The properties and our staff is more than ready to receive all of our mutual guests." Seems like the group that runs the Cancun resorts has now taken over the DR ones. This was in the context of them now being able to pay us our outstanding commissions, so maybe things will change there in regard to refunds. Hope so, as I've always been impressed with how Temptation Cancun, etc handles customer service.
Not to suggest putting a pause on anyone doing anything they can to get their money back. I just had a thought that may offer a glimmer of hope that you may eventually get your money. It is possible they may have had to freeze transaction until the sale and transfer is complete. There also may be considerable funds being held in escrow until released by the new owners. If this is the case it still wouldn’t excuse Original for the way they have handled the Dominican start to finish. It amazes me that with the social media presence and dedication to resort this brand has that they communicate so poorly. I mean people put tattoos of the resort logo on their body.
Hello! I became a victim of fraud by a hotel Temptation that ceased its operations in the Dominican Republic. I stayed at this hotel in 2023, and they sold me a membership in their bonus club (Premier). I paid for the purchase with a credit card. Instead of using the terminal for payment, the hotel employee Jesus copied my card details (number, name, cvc code) and used this information to make an online payment. At the end of 2023, the hotel closed. I tried to contact the hotel representatives to get my money back, but they refuse to give money back and continue to withdraw money from my card every month. In total, they have taken about $3,000. I had to block my card to stop them from withdrawing money. After I blocked the card, I started receiving threats from the Premier office, located in Mexico, in my email. They threaten me with international prosecution and involving debt collectors, demanding money. I am sure that all of this was planned in advance.
You should be dealing with your credit card. I had booked in Miches when it was first opening and was delayed. After they told me it would take 30 days to figure out how to reimburse me I immedietly knew it was a scam and got a full refund through Mastercard.
We also booked miches and canceled after hearing about the delays. They did finally refund our card but not until i threatened a chargeback. You see, if a company gets so many chargebacks, the credit card companies deem them a high risk and their credit card fees are increased quite significantly. I know you're past your time, but for future reference, the first course of action after they don't issue the refund is to contact your credit card company and file for a dispute. You will always win since you have the cancellation. For now your best bet is to spread the news on all the facebook groups, etc. Bring as much bad PR to what happened to you as possible.
