Anyone else not feeling the magic with their guide?

[dumbo71]

Since I've seen a lot of unhappy campers here I'd like to point out that DVC guides are some of the best out there when compared strictly to Timeshare salespeople. I know that isn't saying much but I'd hate to see the attitudes if they met with a Bluegreen salesman or really most other companies.

 

[rinkwide]

....I'm not looking for anything more than the business relationship that exists.

Suit yourself, I'm looking for a guide who likes puppies, margaritas and long walks on the beach.

 

[tfc3rid]

rinkwide...

Awesome!

 

[dumbo71]

Suit yourself, I'm looking for a guide who likes puppies, margaritas and long walks on the beach.

Welcome back rinkwide, where you been.

Thanks for the laughs.

 

[KingOMiami]

When DW and I were first looking into joining DVC, we were assigned Ron Brumbaugh. He is very knowledgeable, honest, professional, and courteous. He was also the farthest from a "salesy" persona that I was apprehensive about before calling.

If not, for the large initial commitment we would have bought directly from Disney through him. So if someone is unhappy with their assigned guide, I would whole heartedly recommend him.

Have to throw in a plug that we are super happy so far with doing business with Tom and Jason and the rest of the staff at TSS!

 

[d-r]

our guide is great.

 

[ginkyoo]

I am glad to see that others are pleased with their guides and that also I am not the only one feeling slighted.

I am not looking for a friendship, either - but maybe a little enthusiasm for the decision to purchase and gratitude for what must be a decent commission (not necessarily outright) would be appreciated.

Maybe, after a few happy hours at the turf club, my guide and I will be great friends. LOL

 

[Disbug]

Wow! I wonder if we all were assigned the same guy? I also had never spoken to my guide even though he sent me some nice emails. When I was interested in getting more info about the AKV, he was "working" a DCL cruise for the week. He left me a voice mail after he was back that he was in for the day, but would be gone skiing the next week. So I played phone tag with him, a few times before asking for someone else.

Bad timing? Probably... but I too, just want someone to be available when I'm ready for business. You shouldn't have to beg for someone to take your money! It also would have been nice to have gotten an email with a head's up about AKV. I found out about it from a friend who read it online!

 

[Coach Rick]

WAAAAYYYY back in 92 we visited WDW, and have been long time owners of timeshare, in fact it was the first thing my soon to be wife and I purchased together (1980). Timeshare has always been great for us, so I thought "wow, Disney does timeshare! It's gotta be good". We met with a guide, Rafael Massa. Turned out on our return home the place I was working at declared bankruptcy, and I had to pass on purchasing at the time. 2 years later, now back to work, we visited again, son of a gun Rafael comes out greets us just like it was yesterday when we first spoke. showed us what was going on with the program, but because of some "things" in our credit from being out of work for a year, we couldn't do it again. Three years later, met with him again, always so cordial and understanding of what we had been through, talked about what the latest and greatest offering was, but we thought we best just keep the wagons circled, and get things in order before we try anything else. Fast forward, after 5 years of NO vacations we surprised our three kids with a trip to the only place I honestly feel I am on vacation at, and another trip to visit Rafael, and still as nice to us as he had been a full 10 years prior! Well, we finally did it. All that work for 175 points. He advised us of VB pitfalls (high maintenance) and benefits (great incentive at that time). Since then I brought my parents with us who ended up buying points, and my sister who also bought points, an add on for us, and now another add on at AKV. So our relationship goes back 15 years, and I couldn't imagine dealing with anyone else. He returns our calls, but doesn't bug us. Always takes the time to see us and invite us for ice cream when we go home, and always does the same for the 5 or 6 friends I have sent to him since.

I have met the "dregs" of the sales world at the many other timeshare tours I have taken. Had one recently at Wyndham that I also own at, that constantly tells me how Wyndham (formerly Fairfield) taught Disney how to do points. So I have much to compare our wonderful guide to. They are out there, trust me.

 

[dvcnewgirl]

I can understand that people want a friendly guide. I would want that as well. My guide is friendly helpful and not pushy. He has left a couple of messages welcoming me home when I have been at DVC and it is a nice touch. I would be disappointed too if I had a non-responsive guide. You are paying a lot of money and making them money. When I did my add on my guide was on the ball and got it done quickly. I would request a new guide if mine was not responding in a timely manner.

 

[Lady V]

I know it would really stink to have a bad guide. I guess I am one of the lucky ones because my guide is wonderful!! When we went back in Jan my mom and fiance took the tour and requested for my guide to do it. he must have been off that day so they ended up with another guide. I felt so bad when my mom bought from this new person because I just loved my guide so much I wanted him to get the credit. Anyways!-do you know that even though my mom bought from this other guide that my original guide has sent me an email and a thank you note for referring and then for my mom joining? wow-he is awesome!!

 

[explorer1977]

Our guide is amzing. Last week we did an add on at AKV and I had some questions one day and he called back in an hour or so and then on the Wednesday I called and he was off for the day and he even called me back on his day off. We actually cruised with our guide on the DCL western January 27 cruise and he was a blast and we had not talked to him in about 6 months. It was the cruise were they first annouced the sale of AKV and we meet with hime twice to start or add on and actually played a little golf chipping competition with him and did lunch one day. When ever we saw him he always stopped to talk. We always get things from him (emails or mailings) andhave never had a problem.

 

[Eyore4Ever149]

When I was trying to decide about buying I called and made the mistake of telling them I knew someone at my church who was an owner (which had NOTHING to do with my purchasing interest) so I gave them their name, and I got stuck with their guide. He's clearly from New York- pushy, strong accent, pushy, obnoxious. I mentioned I had heard about resellers and he totally trashed the idea. He was rude as far as I was concerned. I even called back (Lord knows why) and asked about OKW- he trashed that idea too- put it down, and yet again pushed SSR. I explained I live 10 min from NY, I get all the pine trees and dirt a person can handle- I really would like to have a "vacation-y, palm tree type DVC" he told me he could put me on a list- for OKW!! I wish I had recorded the call, I was really blown away- you just don't insult people's ideas if they don't fit what you need to sell.

We bought resale (and saved a lot of money) and learned from here I woud still be stuck with that guide. So, I called to request a switch.

I was transferred to a Manager's voice mail. I got a Voice message on my machine basically wanting to know why i wanted to switch and a request to call them again (HELLO, Im the buyer- YOU should be calling me!) But I did, I called again and left- yet another message.
I never got a call back- from anyone, manager, new guide, nada.

I did get the promo about AKV in the mail- but it was a generic mailing.

I would LOVE to have some sort of relationship with my guide, but that first guy was a major reason for me to go Resale.

And when I say "relationship" I dont mean tons of freebies, champagne and boardwalk strolls. I mean, you should care about your customer, cause I may want to buy again someday- but not from someone I have to proactively call. I can proactively call a reseller again. LOL.
An add on at AKV in about 4 years might be nice!

 

[DMKEDM]

We love our guide (Tim Grabman)...we get all the "auto-generated" stuff...notices about AKV going on sale, referral mailings, welcome home's just before our trips to WDW--they all have his name on them but it's clear it's "auto-generated" so I don't take them too seriously...

Tim has responded to our interest in being friendly...he has made it quite clear that when we're at Disney if we have time and feel like it we should stop by to say hi, but that we certainly are not "expected" to do so and he won't "bother" us...we did stop in to see him in January--we were staying at SSR for just one night before moving to BWV and had an hour before we were scheduled to meet friends over there. We popped into the sales center, w/out any kind of advance notice; asked if he was available and told the people at the desk that he didn't "have to" come out to see us if he was busy as we were just popping in to say "hi." I told Tim as he came out to see us (clearly delighted to see us, by the way) that he wasn't "allowed" to sell me anything...that I was in a "vulnerable" mood, but just didn't want to spend money for an add-on right now, and so I'd appreciate it if he didn't even try. He was "perfect"...answered all our questions but kept saying "don't buy now; this isn't intended to talk you into buying now." We chatted about "life"--our families, his DVC m'ship, my S's college--for 15 minutes--told us about the 3/4 price per point increase, the AKV selling center opening at the SSR movie theatre site...just a fun, friendly conversation...it was a very pleasant "encounter"...

Then, I got home and started "obsessing" about how financially sensible it would be to add on "now" if I planned to add on at all...$86/point, plus a year's extra points (we added on on 1/20 and got a full complement of 115 points then--w/authority to bank them all by 1/31, with another 115 points on 2/1, the start of our UY)...I emailed and called Tim at least 5 times "dithering" about whether I should do it or not--he gave me all the time I wanted during my "dithering" phase...finally, around noon on 1/20 (last day of the F&F Promo), I said "No, I'm going to wait...it's not a good time to come up with $10,000; I'm going to wait." He was totally cool about it...told me I shouldn't purchase til I felt good about it.

Then, at 2, I had a change of heart and called/emailed him to ask if it was too late to change my mind...he called back w/in the hour and asked if I was quite sure and reminded me I could back out within a few days (I think it's 10 days?) in case I changed my mind again.

I didn't change my mind; I'm happy as a clam w/my "extra" 115 points and Tim was about as perfect as a guide could be.

If anyone else wants to change guides and wants the perfect one--ask for Tim. He's just terrific!

 

[waltfan1957]

Since I've seen a lot of unhappy campers here I'd like to point out that DVC guides are some of the best out there when compared strictly to Timeshare salespeople. I know that isn't saying much but I'd hate to see the attitudes if they met with a Bluegreen salesman or really most other companies.

have to agree ours is great couldn't do enough for us phones us each time we go back

 

[sean-1966]

We really like ours, but I've always thought they should give you a call when you're "home". Just to say hi. It would probably be a good sales tool as well. "While you're down here give me a call if you're interested in our latest promotion". That sort of thing.

 

[JodyTG]

We really like ours, but I've always thought they should give you a call when you're "home". Just to say hi. It would probably be a good sales tool as well. "While you're down here give me a call if you're interested in our latest promotion". That sort of thing.

My guide does this. We're not in the room of course but she always leaves a message.

 

[JodyTG]

When I called our guide last year and told her that we wanted to do an add-on because my husband saw a one-bedroom and now we need more points she said, "No! What were you thinking? You don't let the men see the bigger rooms. My husband hasn't seen bigger rooms and as far as he knows there's ONLY studios."

But she sold me my add-on anyway. This year when I called for another add-on she didn't say anything except "once the fever hits there's no escaping it" and she understands that there's no cure. Judy is very nice, very perky, and very professional. Plus, if she doesn't call me right back I KNOW that she must be busy because she always returns calls quickly...sometimes while I'm recording the message for her to call me back.

 

[snyderla]

Nothing but love for our guide, Nick Tamberrino! We first met him in 2002 on a tour. It was over 2 yrs later that we finally bought from him. He has always been so helpful and wonderful. We added on last year.

Lori

BTW, Nick has told us on several ocassions to stop in or call and say "hi" when we are in WDW.

 

[claireloveseeyore]

I have not spoken to or heard from our Guide since he told me the papers were sent out by Fedex - they never materialised - they hadn't been sent out! That was back in October. Spoke to someone different and they got the papers sent out to us and we are now members. Although on any correspondence we receive it has his name as the Guide - unfortunately.