VRI is incompetent and I'm really upset

[skimble]

I own 6 units at the San Clemente Inn. An employee from VRI misallocated my maintenance fee payments for 6 units into ONE unit. And now, they've subsequently cancelled all my prime reservations.
After they found their error, they told us they could not reinstate our reservations. They told us to email "reservations" to see if they could fix this.
I've made private exchanges with some of these reservations already.
I'm pissed!

Do I have recourse?

 

[Shankilicious]

Yeah you do! Complain until they fix it, document EVERYTHING, and tell them you'll report them to the BBB if they don't fix it in a timely fashion.
We had an issue with Vayator where they lost our reservation because they changed their computer system. They refused to reimburse us, we reported them to the BBB and got a full refund plus a gift certificate for 50% of the original value on top.

 

[klpca]

Sorry about what happened to you because it just shouldn't happen. What is with all of these mistakes that keep happening? Does anyone even do their job anymore?

I went to pick up a prescription yesterday only to be told that my health insurance "has been terminated". What?? It turns out that someone at my husband's employer failed to add some dependents to the insurance policy as of January 1st. We had no notice, so this was quite a shock! It may take another week to fix. I expect that it will get fixed but how is it even possible that not only are errors made, but there is nothing in place to catch them?

In OP's case, how does someone not have enough common sense to realize "gee, that is a shockingly high maintenance fee for one unit?", and then the system allows that amount to post for one unit even though the amount is six times more than expected? Next someone, or the automatic system, cancels the reservations without notifying the owner. Mind boggling. And yet the response is to throw their hands in the air and essentially say, well what can I do? For starters, fix the problem, whatever it takes, and quickly! I would escalate this to management immediately.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Do you own those units as fixed weeks? If so, you could inform that you intend to occupy the units that you own, and if someone else is occupying your property you will contact the sheriff to ask that the occupant be evicted.

 

[Roger830]

We own three VRI fixed weeks at Hollywood Sands Resort.

After I send the check, I check my account online to see if my units have been properly credited.

 

[bogey21]

It is a sad state of affairs but in today's world I double check everything. Simple examples: (1) I check all my bank accounts and (only) credit card the first thing every morning to make sure automatic stuff has been posted and there has been no fraudulent activity; (2) after making a deposit at the Bank I check it immediately upon returning home on the Bank's website to make sure it has been posted; (3) if I have canceled a service, I call about a week later to make sure I am no longer on the hook for it; and (4) if I notified one of my TSs that I would be arriving days after scheduled check in, I would call every day between the day I was scheduled to check in up to and including the day I arrived. Is this overkill? Absolutely, but I don't trust anyone to do anything right...

George

 

[skimble]

When I pay with VRI online, they don't post the payment immediately... even though it's done digitally. So, I cannot double check. I logged in to my account the day of payment to verify and could not verify.
Of course (further incompetence) I logged in to my account to verify because I had another person's account information linked to me. In other words, I saw their address, phone, past payment information... all that. And, one of my units was missing from my account (so i have to wonder if it was linked to someone else.)

 

[skimble]

In OP's case, how does someone not have enough common sense to realize "gee, that is a shockingly high maintenance fee for one unit?", and then the system allows that amount to post for one unit even though the amount is six times more than expected? Next someone, or the automatic system, cancels the reservations without notifying the owner. Mind boggling. And yet the response is to throw their hands in the air and essentially say, well what can I do? For starters, fix the problem, whatever it takes, and quickly! I would escalate this to management immediately.

Prior to about 2015, if you wanted to book a prime week at the San Clemente Inn, you had the option of showing up at the VRI office at 5:30 am on the Friday 1 year before checkin to book that reservation. I did this in order to secure the units I wanted. I got to see how they input data into their computer systems.
They used antiquated software and a DOS platform. I don't know the age of the computers, but I wouldn't be surprised to see IBM 486 or a Pentium 1. Everything they entered had a DOS style command prompt and 1980's style formatting.
Yes, modern software would likely catch an over-payment on one unit, but I seriously think they're still using 80's technology.
I don't think they've upgraded their platform since then.

 

[Roger830]

I don't pay online anymore.

They claimed that you can make one payment for multiple units, but it wasn't clear to me how that was done.
I made individual payments for each unit which was cumbersome because I manually had to input the same data multiple times.

Yes they are slow posting. My check cleared the bank before it was posted.

 

[klpca]

Prior to about 2015, if you wanted to book a prime week at the San Clemente Inn, you had the option of showing up at the VRI office at 5:30 am on the Friday 1 year before checkin to book that reservation. I did this in order to secure the units I wanted. I got to see how they input data into their computer systems.
They used antiquated software and a DOS platform. I don't know the age of the computers, but I wouldn't be surprised to see IBM 486 or a Pentium 1. Everything they entered had a DOS style command prompt and 1980's style formatting.
Yes, modern software would likely catch an over-payment on one unit, but I seriously think they're still using 80's technology.
I don't think they've upgraded their platform since then.

Wow. Then we are back to some human not using their brain. So frustrating!!

Btw, last month my husband had to call payroll (in another state - this is a large company) to fix an issue with a benefits election and the man kept insisting that there wasn't an issue. Then he called my husband "Mr. Smith" (not our last name). Somehow the payroll guy had someone else's information on his screen. Once he pulled up the correct person, the problem was quickly solved. Again, human error and it was brushed off by the payroll guy. They don't even care when they are caught making a mistake! They take no pride in their work and it shows.

 

[Shankilicious]

Unfortunately I think that is going to become more and more common with people my age and younger. Dang millennials who rarely got held accountable for their actions and always blame others.
Luckily I was raised by parents who were already in their 40s and of a different generation

 

[sue1947]

I had something similar happen with Worldmark. In combining 2 accounts, the rep cancelled 3-4 Thanksgiving reservations. I had multiple units booked for a group get-together with airfare bought etc so there was no going back on needing those reservations. The larger units I needed were long booked up so this was not going to be an easy fix.
Their first response was that they couldn't get the reservations back. My response was to tell the people who booked that it was a mistake and get them back. Nope. I insisted that those unit be replaced for that time and place and moved it up the ladder to the head of Owner Services. She told them to fix it anyway they could. They never did take any reservation back and they never made any indication it was a viable option. In the meantime, I booked whatever days I could and picked up some more from the waitlist and they pitched in one of the sales units and we made it work.
In your case, my response would be the same. They need to replace those units for the same time and place at their expense. I would also expect some additional compensation like an extra week or similar.
In the meantime, while we can say the units should and could be returned, it probably isn't going to happen so start working on different options. I would be talking with the people on the other end of the private exchanges and find out what other places or dates would be acceptable to them and include that in your negotiations. Look at other places in the VRI system or even elsewhere that they may have access to and think about what would be a fair trade. Perhaps 3 weeks non-beachfront for each 2 weeks of yours or something. You will get further on this if you can present some possible solutions.

Good luck and let us know how it works out.

 

[DrQ]

When I pay with VRI online, they don't post the payment immediately... even though it's done digitally. So, I cannot double check. I logged in to my account the day of payment to verify and could not verify.
Of course (further incompetence) I logged in to my account to verify because I had another person's account information linked to me. In other words, I saw their address, phone, past payment information... all that. And, one of my units was missing from my account (so i have to wonder if it was linked to someone else.)

I use my bank's online payment system which sends physical checks to the payee. Even though we pay the same resort for two weeks, I have it set up so that two checks are cut with the week/account on each one.

Prior to about 2015, if you wanted to book a prime week at the San Clemente Inn, you had the option of showing up at the VRI office at 5:30 am on the Friday 1 year before checkin to book that reservation. I did this in order to secure the units I wanted. I got to see how they input data into their computer systems.
They used antiquated software and a DOS platform. I don't know the age of the computers, but I wouldn't be surprised to see IBM 486 or a Pentium 1. Everything they entered had a DOS style command prompt and 1980's style formatting.
Yes, modern software would likely catch an over-payment on one unit, but I seriously think they're still using 80's technology.
I don't think they've upgraded their platform since then.

They may be using a mainframe computer to track account information. This was the case with Silverleaf, all accounts payable, accounts receivable, reservations, account activity, ... were all handled by a central mainframe which just had a text interface.

 

[DrQ]

Of course (further incompetence) I logged in to my account to verify because I had another person's account information linked to me. In other words, I saw their address, phone, past payment information... all that. And, one of my units was missing from my account (so i have to wonder if it was linked to someone else.)

This is a violation of PII. If they take credit card information online it could put their PCI DSS certification at risk depending on what was disclosed. Since they are HQ'd in California, they are subject to VERY severe privacy laws which are very much like the EU's.

If you see it happen again, you can cause them a BIG headache, the fines are huge.

 

[skimble]

I contacted the board president, a friend. He intervened.
They were able to get my reservations reinstated-- I think this may have been difficult for them, but they got it done.
Thanks for all the advice.