- Joined
- Apr 27, 2006
- Messages
- 904
- Reaction score
- 94
- Points
- 388
- Resorts Owned
- Lifetime in Hawaii, Disney's Grand Californian
I seriously just need to vent. Because little things like this that seem simple to fix irritate me like nothing else and keep me awake at night (sad, I know!). But maybe one of you wise souls will have some amazing advice for me that will help reduce my chances of more gray hairs over this timeshare.
I bought 2 red weeks, because the guy wanted to sell them both together. Fine enough, I was exited about the many resorts in socal. If you book at one socal resort one year, you have a shortened booking window for the following year (9 months vs. 18 months). I thought, no worries, I'll just stay at a different one the next year! Well, after the last bulk deposit, I come to find out they only have July/August weeks at ONE resort in socal. Sigh.
The 2 weeks I bought had both the 2017 and 2018 use years available. You can also buy bonus time and deposit it with an exchange company -- which I did. But for some stupid reason, once I booked that bonus time in 2017, all visibility of 2017 inventory disappeared, along with the ability to book my 2017 week online. They said this is a "new website." Yeah, since July 2016! And a month later, I STILL can't see or book the 2017 week for one of my memberships. They said I'd need to call in to book it.
So new inventory is available to book at the beginning of the month at 6:00 am. They SAID it's the same online and on the phone. But it wasn't, it was available online at midnight. When I asked a MONTH ago, they said it was a fluke, not supposed to be like that. So this month, I got up a midnight to look, and sure enough, there's all the new inventory, but I can't book my 2017 week, because I have to wait until 6 am when they open to call, because it's STILL not fixed.
They also have this other rule, current use years have a 18 month booking window, but roll over weeks only have a 16 month. However, BOTH of my 2017 and 2018 weeks (on the other membership) are available to book online at 18 months (another problem I told them about a MONTH ago). So obviously, I want to use up 2017 first, so I booked with that week AT MIDNIGHT and booked with my 2018 week on my other membership.
I think "that must be an old rule, since it's obviously not enforced," so I call at 6 am and ask the guy to switch my 2018 week to the 2017 use year. He happily obliges. I also ask about changing the view for both weeks and he says he'll have to get back to me.
Someone leaves me a message, stating I have to pay an upgrade fee to be guaranteed a room that "isn't above the bar" (insert eye roll here), so I call to pay. I notice on my online reservation that someone has switched it BACK to the 2018 week. I ask him about that and he says it has to be like that because of the 16 month rule. Oh well, at least I used my other 2017 week to book successfully online, and I pay to upgrade both weeks and get off the phone. Then I check my reservation on my OTHER membership (the one I could reserve online with the 2017 use year) and notice it suddenly ALSO has been switched to the 2018 year. I call the guy back and ask him if he switched that while we were on the phone and he admitted yes! I asked him to leave it as 2017 because that's how I was allowed to book online and because he didn't tell me, but he said no. He agreed to completely cancel it though (because I don't want to be doomed to the 9 month booking window in 2019).
And now, I can't see/book ANYTHING online with one membership (that still has the 2017 use year available). And I can't see/book any 2017 inventory with the other (even though the reservation was cancelled and both 2017-18 years are available).
I sent an email asking them to fix it, since the reservation is completely cancelled and all I get back is "we already told you, you'll have to call to book the 2017 year," obviously mixing it up with the other membership.
I can live with rules, but they can't even properly enforce them. What really drives me bonkers is the loss of viewing/booking online, and the 6 hour unfair advantage that's created because the inventory is released at midnight online. This seems so simple to me to fix, but they haven't, and now I think they've got an ax to grind because I found the holes in their system and used them to my advantage (the rep told me the VP of VRI and president of MROP were involved?!).
If you've read this far, bless your heart and thank you for listening. I already feel better.
I bought 2 red weeks, because the guy wanted to sell them both together. Fine enough, I was exited about the many resorts in socal. If you book at one socal resort one year, you have a shortened booking window for the following year (9 months vs. 18 months). I thought, no worries, I'll just stay at a different one the next year! Well, after the last bulk deposit, I come to find out they only have July/August weeks at ONE resort in socal. Sigh.
The 2 weeks I bought had both the 2017 and 2018 use years available. You can also buy bonus time and deposit it with an exchange company -- which I did. But for some stupid reason, once I booked that bonus time in 2017, all visibility of 2017 inventory disappeared, along with the ability to book my 2017 week online. They said this is a "new website." Yeah, since July 2016! And a month later, I STILL can't see or book the 2017 week for one of my memberships. They said I'd need to call in to book it.
So new inventory is available to book at the beginning of the month at 6:00 am. They SAID it's the same online and on the phone. But it wasn't, it was available online at midnight. When I asked a MONTH ago, they said it was a fluke, not supposed to be like that. So this month, I got up a midnight to look, and sure enough, there's all the new inventory, but I can't book my 2017 week, because I have to wait until 6 am when they open to call, because it's STILL not fixed.
They also have this other rule, current use years have a 18 month booking window, but roll over weeks only have a 16 month. However, BOTH of my 2017 and 2018 weeks (on the other membership) are available to book online at 18 months (another problem I told them about a MONTH ago). So obviously, I want to use up 2017 first, so I booked with that week AT MIDNIGHT and booked with my 2018 week on my other membership.
I think "that must be an old rule, since it's obviously not enforced," so I call at 6 am and ask the guy to switch my 2018 week to the 2017 use year. He happily obliges. I also ask about changing the view for both weeks and he says he'll have to get back to me.
Someone leaves me a message, stating I have to pay an upgrade fee to be guaranteed a room that "isn't above the bar" (insert eye roll here), so I call to pay. I notice on my online reservation that someone has switched it BACK to the 2018 week. I ask him about that and he says it has to be like that because of the 16 month rule. Oh well, at least I used my other 2017 week to book successfully online, and I pay to upgrade both weeks and get off the phone. Then I check my reservation on my OTHER membership (the one I could reserve online with the 2017 use year) and notice it suddenly ALSO has been switched to the 2018 year. I call the guy back and ask him if he switched that while we were on the phone and he admitted yes! I asked him to leave it as 2017 because that's how I was allowed to book online and because he didn't tell me, but he said no. He agreed to completely cancel it though (because I don't want to be doomed to the 9 month booking window in 2019).
And now, I can't see/book ANYTHING online with one membership (that still has the 2017 use year available). And I can't see/book any 2017 inventory with the other (even though the reservation was cancelled and both 2017-18 years are available).
I sent an email asking them to fix it, since the reservation is completely cancelled and all I get back is "we already told you, you'll have to call to book the 2017 year," obviously mixing it up with the other membership.
I can live with rules, but they can't even properly enforce them. What really drives me bonkers is the loss of viewing/booking online, and the 6 hour unfair advantage that's created because the inventory is released at midnight online. This seems so simple to me to fix, but they haven't, and now I think they've got an ax to grind because I found the holes in their system and used them to my advantage (the rep told me the VP of VRI and president of MROP were involved?!).
If you've read this far, bless your heart and thank you for listening. I already feel better.
