Buyers Beware!

[winger]

... The salesperson's manager checked with Diamond's travel service and came back with 44400 points covering the whole thing. ....

Sounds like you have an awesome trip in mind.

If I were in your shoes, I would want to confirm ASAP what the salesroom person was telling me. I suggest start diving into the it and see what specifically makes up the 44,400 points (e.g. airflights x pts, hotel#1 y pts, hotel#2 z points, car rental#1 n pts, etc.).

Please do report back your findings if you would not mind - some of us here may like to plan for a similar nice family trip !

 

[TEA CIE]

Points are for the total package

Sounds like you have an awesome trip in mind.

If I were in your shoes, I would want to confirm ASAP what the salesroom person was telling me. I suggest start diving into the it and see what specifically makes up the 44,400 points (e.g. airflights x pts, hotel#1 y pts, hotel#2 z points, car rental#1 n pts, etc.).

Please do report back your findings if you would not mind - some of us here may like to plan for a similar nice family trip !

I've asked that question. But they (my salesperson and her manager) said the points are calculated based on the total package including how many travelers, time of traveling, specific areas etc so can't be broken down into parts. Two or more persons traveling together will be cheaper per person than a single traveler for example.

Definitely be glad to keep you and other interested tuggers posted. I have told my salesperson and her manager that if what they told me is not true then no deal. I guess I will find out soon!

Just a thought: if it turns out not to be true what is my best legal option (s)?

Fingers crossed it will all work out in the end.

 

[tschwa2]

Unless you have the trip and the points requirement written up as part of the contract, I don't think you will have any legal rights. My felling is you might find out that the points my be correct or close but that there will be a couple of extra $1000's in taxes and fees in addition to the points requirement.

 

[winger]

I've asked that question. But they (my salesperson and her manager) said the points are calculated based on the total package including how many travelers, time of traveling, specific areas etc so can't be broken down into parts. Two or more persons traveling together will be cheaper per person than a single traveler for example.

Definitely be glad to keep you and other interested tuggers posted...

Thanks alot - I look forward to your followup !

We ended up using some points for three hotels over a four-night span at the beginning of a cross country trip for the family this summer. We compared prices against the normal suspects (e.g. Expedia, hotels.com, etc.) and was pleasantly surprised DRI's prices was very competitive. We did have to pay a processing fee to DRI (approx $25, I forget exact amt) and had to wait for a check to arrive by USPS, but overall a smooth process. Nice to have a decent alternative way to use our points for those times when we non-timeshare accomodations.

 

[winger]

Unless you have the trip and the points requirement written up as part of the contract, I don't think you will have any legal rights. My felling is you might find out that the points my be correct or close but that there will be a couple of extra $1000's in taxes and fees in addition to the points requirement.

Unfortunately, until OP comes back with actual figures, I tend to agree with you.

 

[TEA CIE]

The Ordeal

Since the last time I posted in this thread, I have called the Diamond platinum concierge, Diamond Dream Vacation, and Diamond travel services, and talked to quite a number of people. At first no one seems to know who or which department should or can handle a request like mine.

My pleas for help to my salesperson and her manager were mostly unanswered. Actually the salesperson has responded a few times and tried to but didn't or couldn't really give helpful information. It was her manager who got those points estimates and so it was to her that I kept asking to find out who she worked with to get the estimates. But she has not answered my text messages or emails.

I have all the back and forth emails on those points discussions for my Australia itinerary saved from January before I purchased the DRI points. Saturday I finally talked to a person in their travel services who gave me her email address so I could forward her my email chain with the salesperson and her manager. She was able to determine and tell me yesterday that it should be the Dream Vacation department to handle my request.

Yesterday I spoke with another person at the Diamond Dream Vacation and she said she would look into the matter and get back to me in 48 hours. That's tomorrow. I am keeping all my fingers crossed that they will come through on this.

If not, with all my emails as documentation, think I can contact what's his name and ask for refund?

 

[gjw007]

Wyndham's PIC (personal interval choice- I believe) does what the OP was told Club combinations would do. It is used as an incentive to make the sale. You pay an extra fee to use the points in the system but if you don't you still have status based on those points.

Wyndham pic does but you have to deposit it yearly as well. I was told about this by wyndham sales as they tried to get me to make a purchase. Wyndham has its own share of issues with things such as transaction points, house keeping points, moving units to rental at the 60 day mark (coincidentally, the same time the tier levels can start to upgrade unit)s. One thing diamond does that i like is allow you to upgrade at the time of the reservation (although at a price) rather than force you to wait until 60 days prior to the start of your vacation and hope you can get an upgrade as is done by wyndham

 

[TEA CIE]

Update

Time for the weekly update. It's been a week since my last post.

Unfortunately there isn't anything new to update. I still have not heard from Diamond what they plan to do to make my trip happen as was promised by their salespeople. But there's a small progress since last week. After many calls and getting bounced from one department to a different department then another, someone finally called and said she is the hospitality person and the only person I need to deal with for my trip from now on. That was last Thursday. Just got an email today saying she is still working on it.

 

[ccwu]

I was also told that being Platinum, I would get 24/7 service. Well the office is closed and that's probably because, well you already know, I am not really Platinum.

Yes. I am platinum. I got 24/7 service. Whenever I call from home phone or cell phone, there is always answer I. The other end and no security check. They know my name (tied with phone number). I can call at 2 am on Christmas or new year eve and got a sleepy voice respond. Always polite and professional. I do like the service!