Fees Increasing while Service is Deteriorating

Madge,
I've been reading the threads about increased fees and your explanation for them. Not sure where RCI is soliciting feedback from improvement, but from my perspective, Endless Vacations magazine can be relegated to the trash heap. Fees are increasing, but I've seen a real decline in the level of service in the past year.

1. Call center hours have been reduced;
2. I am waiting on hold much longer on average than I have in the past.
3. Yesterday, a VC "confirmed' a resort that I specifically requested be placed on "hold". This is the third time this has happened in the past year. (Because of the fact that most of deposits given out to points owners by Fairfield are not searchable online, I am sometimes forced to call in rather than being able to do it myself online.) I just spent 32 minutes on the phone (most of it on hold) to get the confirmation cancelled. My understanding is that the "performance" measurement encourages VCs to get as many confirmations as possible, but against the express instructions of the client?
4. There have been questions raised about the costs of administering "Snap Travel" that I don't think have ever fully been answered and I've recently seen dozens of postings about other RCI rental outlets. To what degree is RCI segregating the costs of these rental operations, since it was posted that the "Snap Travel" calls got routed to the same number used by exchangers.

Net is, we are paying higher fees and service is declining. What gives?

regatta333,

Through independent surveys and readership studies we see that EV magazine is hitting a great market of interested, active readers. The overall feedback continues to be very positive and supportive. We've created structures with EV to ensure its usefulness to RCI members. Even within the timeshare membership, 7 out of 24 days of travel is timeshare--and the other three weeks are open to other forms of travel, which are addressed in EV magazine. We continue to be very proud of this publication.

We changed our weekend hours a couple of years ago to 9:30 - 6:00 Saturday and Sunday in response to lower call volumes during the shoulder hours. However, we recently expanded our Exchange Services line to serve members who need help during exchange vacations 24/7. This represented a significant commitment in staffing and operational changes.

Miscommunications and other human errors are always possible during telephone conversations. However, we regularly monitor Guide calls to try to capture trends or identify the need for individual coaching and training. Overall, our Guides perform extremely well with regard to the service they provide.

Partner programs such as snaptravel.com are self-sustaining. I responded to this question here.

RCI recently introduced new technology with myRCI. This represents a very exciting new application for blog technology. We also know that there are areas where we can do better, and we are dedicated to making that happen. RCI will continue its efforts to provide new and better services and products for your subscription dollars.