redreeper
Apr 4, 08, 1:16 pm
My apologies if this is in the wrong catagory, but since Trip Rewards is currently offering 10k miles for reviewing their vacation resorts packages, I found it to be the best match. If not, please bump me elsewhere :)
I called TR for a general question, they offered me the "vacation package" - basically 2 nights at a hotel...for 129.99... if I would review their Wyndham Vacation Resorts. Sounded interesting, I have a good friend who loves her Starwood vacation resorts ownership/whatever package and the added 10k TR miles for participation was a *nice* plus, so I agreed. And I paid 129.00. They sent me the paperwork, I made my reservation...in San Diego...I live in NJ... then I was told I would have to pay an extra 100.00 for the Avis coupons they sent me, valued at 100.00. Well, Ok - I figured that had to be a mistake and eventually that was straightened out and no, I did not have to pay for my coupons. I didn't use them either. So we get to the Wyndham Welcome Center, we answer a few questions, schedule a time to review the San Diego property, arrive the next morning. Nice enough set-up, a sales lady sat us down, asked some questions about our household, vacationing style, why the "program" might be good for us. It seems they wanted to sell us points that could be used for vacation properties, airfare, etc; showed us a telephone book full of locations to pick from, a video showing an incredibly diversified group of happy customers teary-eyed with love and enthusiasm about the program, Trip Rewards points surfaced in there somewhere but the concept of owning "property" by participation eluded us. And she explained it a few times...but we didn't quite get it. We're slow that way ;) So we decided to take notes, discuss it, and ask our lawyer what he thinks about it. Our sales lady didn't seem to mind. But the Discovery Program guy sure did...in fact, he took my paper that they gave me with the cost of the program, fee's, financing rates, that had my notes on it (this is over 2 and 1/2 hours, btw) and he angrily crumpled it up...right in our faces. And then he told us we could leave. In fact, he even re-crumpled the paper (not an easy feat!) when I said "hey - thats my paper, I was taking notes...I need that"... and told us how Wyndham doesn't like to waste its money on people and we should leave. He even took the crumpled piece of paper away with him. Totally, completely bizarre. We were interested in the original program, not with their financing %, and we were wondering if we "bought" property at a different location if the monthly fee would be lower..well, we had questions and went into it open minded, uneducated, and cautious. It seems that for a grand total of 40k at their % rate - and keep in mind thats the smallest investment- plus a monthly fee of 70.00 (+ increase...forever) we would "own" a piece of the San Diego Wyndham Resort, and we could use our 154k yearly points, which do roll over, for a minimum of 2 weeks (in season, expensive resort) or a maximum of 10 weeks (off season, cheaper resorts) every year, for the rest of our lives, and could even will it to our children, which we don't have. The crumpling guys "Discovery Program" had us buying 154000 points which could be used within a year for the same 2 week min/10 week max for 3000.00 after fees/finance, his hook was it would be taken off the cost of the original offer (40k) if we wanted to go for it. But since we really didn't go there to pay 3k for a 2 week min/10 week max Wyndham resort vacation, we said a definite "no" to that offer. Thats when the crumpling and re-crumpling began, followed by the insults, paper removal, and verbal ejection from the building. I asked the original sales lady for a copy of the paper with the financials on it (this was a photo-copied, plain piece of paper) and was told "no" - I can't get another one. I told her we were going to complain about what he just did to Wyndham (I know...boo hoo) and she did not want to give us his name as she did not want him to get in trouble...she said he was doing her a favor. She also said she would email me the info. Its been a few days....
Anyway, like I said, we went into this open minded. I've heard some people say vacation clubs are a scam, others, like my best friend, think its the best thing on earth and she really likes the idea of handing the whole thing down to her kids. I will be contacting Wyndham with my crumpling complaint. But, for those of you who have purchased a similar deal from TR, this "review" of our experience is just a bit of what you might have to look forward to :D
I called TR for a general question, they offered me the "vacation package" - basically 2 nights at a hotel...for 129.99... if I would review their Wyndham Vacation Resorts. Sounded interesting, I have a good friend who loves her Starwood vacation resorts ownership/whatever package and the added 10k TR miles for participation was a *nice* plus, so I agreed. And I paid 129.00. They sent me the paperwork, I made my reservation...in San Diego...I live in NJ... then I was told I would have to pay an extra 100.00 for the Avis coupons they sent me, valued at 100.00. Well, Ok - I figured that had to be a mistake and eventually that was straightened out and no, I did not have to pay for my coupons. I didn't use them either. So we get to the Wyndham Welcome Center, we answer a few questions, schedule a time to review the San Diego property, arrive the next morning. Nice enough set-up, a sales lady sat us down, asked some questions about our household, vacationing style, why the "program" might be good for us. It seems they wanted to sell us points that could be used for vacation properties, airfare, etc; showed us a telephone book full of locations to pick from, a video showing an incredibly diversified group of happy customers teary-eyed with love and enthusiasm about the program, Trip Rewards points surfaced in there somewhere but the concept of owning "property" by participation eluded us. And she explained it a few times...but we didn't quite get it. We're slow that way ;) So we decided to take notes, discuss it, and ask our lawyer what he thinks about it. Our sales lady didn't seem to mind. But the Discovery Program guy sure did...in fact, he took my paper that they gave me with the cost of the program, fee's, financing rates, that had my notes on it (this is over 2 and 1/2 hours, btw) and he angrily crumpled it up...right in our faces. And then he told us we could leave. In fact, he even re-crumpled the paper (not an easy feat!) when I said "hey - thats my paper, I was taking notes...I need that"... and told us how Wyndham doesn't like to waste its money on people and we should leave. He even took the crumpled piece of paper away with him. Totally, completely bizarre. We were interested in the original program, not with their financing %, and we were wondering if we "bought" property at a different location if the monthly fee would be lower..well, we had questions and went into it open minded, uneducated, and cautious. It seems that for a grand total of 40k at their % rate - and keep in mind thats the smallest investment- plus a monthly fee of 70.00 (+ increase...forever) we would "own" a piece of the San Diego Wyndham Resort, and we could use our 154k yearly points, which do roll over, for a minimum of 2 weeks (in season, expensive resort) or a maximum of 10 weeks (off season, cheaper resorts) every year, for the rest of our lives, and could even will it to our children, which we don't have. The crumpling guys "Discovery Program" had us buying 154000 points which could be used within a year for the same 2 week min/10 week max for 3000.00 after fees/finance, his hook was it would be taken off the cost of the original offer (40k) if we wanted to go for it. But since we really didn't go there to pay 3k for a 2 week min/10 week max Wyndham resort vacation, we said a definite "no" to that offer. Thats when the crumpling and re-crumpling began, followed by the insults, paper removal, and verbal ejection from the building. I asked the original sales lady for a copy of the paper with the financials on it (this was a photo-copied, plain piece of paper) and was told "no" - I can't get another one. I told her we were going to complain about what he just did to Wyndham (I know...boo hoo) and she did not want to give us his name as she did not want him to get in trouble...she said he was doing her a favor. She also said she would email me the info. Its been a few days....
Anyway, like I said, we went into this open minded. I've heard some people say vacation clubs are a scam, others, like my best friend, think its the best thing on earth and she really likes the idea of handing the whole thing down to her kids. I will be contacting Wyndham with my crumpling complaint. But, for those of you who have purchased a similar deal from TR, this "review" of our experience is just a bit of what you might have to look forward to :D