DO NOT USE GMAC-(long!!!)

[PottersMom]

I just wanted everyone to read about this. GMAC was recomended to me here on the disboards and I just wanted to tell anyone interested in buying a resale that I believe- from my horrifying experience- that it is a mistake to do business with this company.
I will spare the long drawn out details here, (OK no I won't) but the two primary reasons for complaint are:
1) My agent told me she would call me the moment we passed ROFR.
She did not. Not only did she not call me in a timely manner- she did not call me at all.
Meanwhile, I am waiting anxiously by the phone, wondering why my contract is taking so long. Did we offer enough per point? Is the contract so small that Disney will just snatch it up anyway? After the requisite 30 days to pass ROFR came and went I contacted my agent to see what the problem was.
Turns out the contract had passed close to two weeks ago without my knowledge and the closing documents were sent to my e-mail from the title company. Because nobody told me to look for them, and because the closing docs were sent from an unknown source, they went to my junk mail folder which empties every three days.
GMAC: "Well, we sent the closing docs to your e-mail"
Me: "well I dont have them"
GMAC: "but we sent Them"
Me: "yes but I sincerely do not have the documents and I would like the documents, so..."
GMAC: " I will call the Title co. to make sure they sent them"
SO the back and forth continues with the main concern NOT being that I get the documents, but that I know they were sent to me before. I was ticked off about this, but I wanted to get the documents signed and returned because this was starting to take way longer than it should and I was excited about my purchase.
- Then we have a problem with the sellers- The sellers used the banked points in the contract- thus violating the contract. Another two weeks go by while we negotiate an agreement for the sellers to transfer me the points from their other contract after close, because they cant transfer points between two contracts they already own. Then the sellers refuse to sign the addendum (even though it was their idea)- basically refusing to give me what I am paying for, so I cancel the contract. NONE OF THIS WAS GMAC'S FAULT. I understand that. But this is what leads to complaint #2. and it's a biggie!
2)The contract was officially closed on May 3rd. (they dragged their feet on this too- clearly I was not a priority here since they weren't getting any $$ from me- oh and nobody called me to tell me this- I had to call them to find out). I asked what happened next- the agent told me that the Title co. had to return the funds to GMAC and then they would be able to issue me a refund. I asked how it would be refunded. She said to my credit card, (the method of original payment). I asked if there was anyway they could transfer the funds to my checking account or issue a check. She said no. I asked how long it would take. She said, "It shouldn't be too long- a few days maybe."
A week goes by and I still do not have my $$. I call (on a FRIDAY morning) to find out what is happening.
Me: "I am concerned that I have not received my refund yet. You said it would be a few days and now its been over a week"
GMAC: "Well, I'm sure everything is fine. You should see it any day now. It's probably your bank, actually. I bet they are holding the funds for verification. Sometimes it takes a while for these things to show up on your statement. You should see it in a few days. If you don't get it back by next Friday, give me a call".
Me: "I am looking at my bank account online. They are pretty good about updating it in real time"
(excuse me- if I buy so much as a pack of gum at the gas station, its on my account as "pending" by the time I get home! This is bull----!
"Like I said I'm a little concerned because you said it should be there by now, and I see no evidence of even a pending transaction."
GMAC: "Well, give it some more time. Call me back next Friday if you haven't gotten your money."
So I wait and wait, and sure enough "next Friday" (yesterday 5/18) comes and still no $$. Now I am P.O'd I call at 9:01 AM on the nose.
Me: "The money still isn't there. You said it would only be a few days and now its been over 2 weeks! I want my money back. It's bad enough that I didn't get the contract I wanted, (and now it's too late to buy a new one to cover my vacation in Sept.) but now I don't even have my money either!"
GMAC:" Sorry I don't have your file here, because it's been closed- So I cant answer any questions about it- I'll have to call you back"
Me: "You have to call me back TODAY. This is very important to me. I need to know whats going on. Make sure you call me back right away."
* Up unitl now I have been unneccessarily polite considering the situation. I work in reatail and I know there is nothing worse than a person ripping you rhead off for something you can't control. But this is crazy!*
She calls me back and leaves a message saying that she will send me an e-mail (don't want to talk to me, huh?) but If I have any questions to cal, yadda yadda.
I call back and am told that the reason I don't have my money is because: here is the e-mail:
When you paid by credit card, we cut a check to the title company. The title company now has the funds in their escrow account in the form of cash. Florida law prohibits the title company from sending the funds directly to you, so they must cut a check to us and we will then cut a check to you. To the best of my knowledge, it will not be refunded onto your credit card. The title company, Timeshare Title and More, does refunds on Friday. The week that your file cancelled the owner of the title company was on vacation. [employee] at Timeshare Title and More is going to try her best to get a check put in the mail to us today. I will follow up with her next week. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you and have a good day!

OK- THE TIME TO TELL THIS CRAP- IS WHEN I CALLED YOU THE FIRST TIME SAYING I WAS CONCERNED I DID NOT HAVE MY MONEY BACK.
IF THE TITLE COMPANY *ONLY* DOES REFUNDS ON FRIDAYS- THE TIME TO REQUEST MY REFUND IS THURSDAY MAY 3RD WHEN MY CONTRACT WAS CANCELLED.
IF THE TITLE COMPANY IS SO SMALL TIME- THAT THEIR ENTIRE OPERATION COMES TO A STANDSTILL BECAUSE THE OWNER GOES ON VACATION THEN
A) ITS TIME TO USE A NEW TITLE COMPANY
and
B) I KNOW FOR A FACT THAT YOU CAN GET ON THE PHONE AND RIP (employee stated above) A NEW ONE ABOUT GETTING A CHECK- LIKE? - NOW!!!
At this point Im transfered to a "supervisor" who is too busy to take my call.
He returns my call about 30 minutes later and leaves a message stating that if I have any questions about my contract to give him a call at ###. He should be in the office for about "10 more minutes" (hello- Friday at 3PM??)
But wil lbe back on Monday If I would like to discuss it then.
Which to me basically says F you, I dont care about you or your problem. Its 3pm on friday in Orlando and I would rather do something fun than work out your problem.
So I call again at 9am on Saturday and I am told that I "called on a bad day" because there are no supervisors to speak to.
Me: "So nobody is in charge?"
Finally transfered to some guys voice mail. Left a calm but extremely dissatisfied message on his voice mail over 2 hours ago. Still have not heard back.
So save yourselves the trouble and use a company that will return your calls when buying your next DVC resale.

 

[Dean]

Let me make sure I understand. You had a contract and paid the deposit by CC. You passed ROFR and they forwarded all to the closing company but didn't let you know when closing was or that you'd passed. They sent you the closing papers by email which went into your junk mail folder apparently but you didn't get it because you don't check your junk mail before it empties and since they didn't call or f/u, you didn't have a way or knowing. Since you didn't respond they cancelled the contract? That part I'm unclear on. As for the CC refund, you can usually expect 1-2 billing cycles even if they do it right on their end.

One thing you should do is change the dump schedule on your email to a much longer time frame and check it periodically to avoid similar issues in the future. For several years I never got much of anything in my junk folder that was important but lately I've gotten a lot of things there that previously went to my regular email.

 

[rinkwide]

...save yourselves the trouble...

...and only use GMAC when buying an Impala.

 

[PottersMom]

Dean- the contract was cancelled because the sellers used the banked points that were written into the contract as part of the sale. We found this out just before closing. We tried to reach an agreement with the sellers for them to transfer the same # of points they used from another contract they own after the sale. (because you cant transfer points between contracts under the same member #). This was the sellers idea to transfer the points. Once we got into the fine print of how the transfer would take place, the sellers decided not to sign th eadendum to the contract, (basically no tgive me the points I was paying for) so I chose to cancel the contract. None of this was GMAC's fault. I don't blame the sellers actions on GMAC.
But excuse me-
are you trying to suggest that it's my fault I wasn't notified that we passed ROFR because I dont check my junk mail folder???
I don't check my junk mail folder- because what goes in there? Is junk. IF someone tells me to expect an e-mail from an unknown source- then I will check it religiously until I receive that specific e-mail. Because my agent told me she WOULD CALL ME WHEN WE PASSED ROFR- I expected her to do that. It is, after all, the most important step in buying a resale, as the sale can't go through until Disney says so.
She didn't even tell me the name of the title company for cryin' out loud! Ithought the closing docs would come from GMAC.
I do not buy timesshares everyday. I am somewhat unfamilliar with the process, though I do ask a lot of questions and try to stay informed. I rely on the agent handling the sale to make sure I am infromed every step of the way.
That means:
Calling me to tell me we passed ROFR- when we pass ROFR. (especially when you say you will CALL not e-mail)
Telling me when the closing docs will be sent to me and who they will be sent from.
Following up to make sure I received the clsoing docs.
C'mon people- am I being unreasonable here?
And I certainly expect that they make my refund a high priority after all of the problems we had with the contract negotiations to begin with.
And no, Dean, in the electronic age, nothing takes 2-3 billing cycles to post to your credit card. Not to mention she told me they would have to refund it on my credit card- which isn't true at all, they have to send me a check. As in- through the mail. So there was no point in me checking my stupid online bank account anyway, because the money is still at the title company. Where apparently it will stay until next Friday. All this time, all she had to do was pick up the phone and asked them about the status of my refund. (Which should have been easy for her to remember, since I called her twice before asking about it!)

 

[Chuck S]

I have to agree with Dean. I worked retail for years, and it can take a long time for refunds to show on credit card statements. For some reason the CC processing companies take longer to send the refunds through than they do a purchase, and not all purchases post immediately, either. Yes, it CAN take two or three billing cycles to post. And by the credit card rules, if a refund is given it is SUPPOSED to be refunded to the same CC used for the purchase, not refunded by check. Those are the rules, if a retailer refunds by cash or chaeck when a credit card is given in payment, there can be serious consequenses for that retailer from the CC company.

I have also noticed that my junk/spam folder has been redirecting legitimate emails there more often. I don't dump mine until I browse through it...just in case.

While I understand your not being happy with GMAC, there were some contributing factors. And as you state neither GMAC nor the closing company could prevent the other owner from using the points for a vacation...nor could they force them to sign a restitution agreement. So either way, the contract should have been canceled at your option.

 

[chainkid]

Thanks for the heads up . I will not use this company as I feel this was very poor customer service. There is no excuse for not calling you to inform you that you cleared ROFR and then to give you the run around after that is inexcusable. It's funny how quick they will take your money but how slow they are to return it. I'm in sales and also owned my own company for over
35 years and if a problem like this arose then it was my responsibility to keep the customer informed and comfortable about doing business with me. I'm appalled at the way people do business today. We are dumming down our country by continually blaming the customer for what in essence is poor service. I see it all over and people accept it as normal. You shouldn't have to and I won't ever do business with this company because I feel you were not served to my standards. Send emails and receiving them today is a risky business with all the virus's . I always inform my clients when they should expect to get a document from me and at the very least I should hold a copy in case of a problem. I think you were given the shaft in plain english.

 

[PottersMom]

Im not disputing cancelling the contract- That was my choice. (since I wasn't going to get what I was paying for)
I also work in retail management.
You must understand the issues at heart here:
There was a sincere lack of communication from GMAC.
They told me they would do things- and did not do them
(and FYI my junk mail empties automatically- as I have said before- junk mail is junk unless you tell me to look for it)
When I stated I was concerned about the status of my refund- nobody took my concerns seriously and they did not follow up in any manner to take care of the situation.
Both Times I phoned about the refund- they had the opportunity to contact the title comany and take care of the situation on a Friday- because that is the magic day apparently. But instead they thought it would be better customer service for me to wait.
Bcasue I am in retail management- my appropriate resonse would be: " I understand you are concerned that your refund is taking a while. While I still don't believe there is any cause for concern yet, I will follow up on this and call you back by______ <specific date and time>. You should also know that the Title company only processes refunds on Fridays, so this could be one reason for the delay, but I will look into it for you."
and not the response that I got which was, well... see above.
Not to mention- when I ask to speak to a supervisor- I expect him to take care of the problem in a timely manner, or get me in touch with someone who will address my problem.
Not (paraphrase)
"I'll be in the office for 10 more minutes, so YOU can call me back- or YOU can call me on Monday if your still P.O'd. It's almost 3:00 and I have a tee time"
When I finally did here back from someone today- He told me what I already know:
1)Two + weeks is too long to receive my refund. We appologize.
2) It was totally unfair for no one to tell me that the title company only processes refunds on Fridays (giving me an unreasonable expection of turn around time) and it was totally unfair for MY refund not to be processed because the owner of the title company was on vacation. And that they can request a refund on Monday considering the circumstances- and they WILL request that the check from the title company be overnighted to them so that they may, in turn overnight me a check for the balance.
3) It was unprofessional for the manager notified of my situation yesterday not to follow through with it. We appologize.
Finally some customer service! I still probably won't get my money until the end of next week, but at least someone says they will take care of it. I guess only time will tell.

 

[LIFERBABE]

I understand the issues and I agree that this was plain and simple poor customer service.

I would never email such important documents without following up when an acknowledgement was not received.

It wasnt your fault and you have every right to be upset. I wouldnt use them again either. I hate getting the runaround and it has never taken 2 CC billing cycles for any of my refunds to be posted, even though that is what they always tell me (especially DCL and Disney)
Besides, it was the CC holding up your money

Good luck and I hope you get your piece of the magic.

 

[JimVL]

...and only use GMAC when buying an Impala.

A bus driver CM told me that the Animal Kingdom was going to have a Memorial Day promotion.

 

[Caskbill]

It's my understanding that many of the GMAC agents are franchise owners that actually operate out of their homes. This may be your case and explain why the poor customer service.

From your description, it also appears the closing agent might have been similar, that is, an extremely small operatiion, possibly with no actual public business location which might explain the poor service on their end.

 

[Y-ASK]

Please don't take this the wrong way but e-mail is very prevalent with timeshare closing companies (although a follow-up message should have been sent). The main point I wanted to make is that e-mail filtering is NOT an exact science. In fact it should never be consider fool-proof and you should never just automatically delete what's in your Junk E-Mail folder or anything for that matter, if e-mail is important to you. I am an E-Mail server admin. with years of experince and one thing I can tell you is filtering does not always work. It just doesn't, so my suggestion to you is to turn off that auto delete option you have set and go through that Junk once every couple of days just to make sure nothing important is in there. I'm not saying this was your fault but if I were you I would start to wonder what other important e-mails were deleted without ever knowing about them. Just a thought from someone in the biz of e-mail delivery.

Y-ASK

 

[JimMIA]

I'm sorry you had those difficulties, but your tale of woe demonstrates the advantage of using a professional vs. an amateur.

We had a bit of a situation on our first attempt at purchasing retail through The Timeshare Store, but it was resolved in a most professional manner and we suffered no harm. In fact, we came out ahead.

We had agreed to buy a resale contract from a seller in Argentina. We sent in our offer at the listing price and our deposit. Time went by and we received no response from the seller, despite several calls from Pat Spell at TTS. Finally Pat got the seller's girlfriend (?) on the phone and she wanted to know if we would pay more than the asking price.

Pat's advice to me was something on the order of, "I can't tell you NOT to do that, but I sure wouldn't!" We said no thanks. (Incidentally, TTS refused to re-list that contract because the seller was unscrupulous.)

The next words out of Pat's mouth were, "Where do you want your deposit sent?" I told her to just hold it in escrow, because we'd find another contract in a few days and use it for that.

Within a week, we found another contract we liked...and it was actually $1 less per point than the first contract. I asked Pat if she thought we could get it for less, and she said, "I think this price is a good price. Lower would not pass ROFR." We paid $73, and within a month, several other contracts had been ROFR'd at $72. Our contract passed, we closed without incident, and the rest is history!

My point is not that TTS is the only reputable resale broker around. I have only used TTS, but I've heard good things about a couple of other people.

But it does make a huge difference whether you are dealing with a professional outfit or someone working out of their garage!

 

[Dean]

Dean- the contract was cancelled because the sellers used the banked points that were written into the contract as part of the sale. We found this out just before closing. We tried to reach an agreement with the sellers for them to transfer the same # of points they used from another contract they own after the sale. (because you cant transfer points between contracts under the same member #). This was the sellers idea to transfer the points. Once we got into the fine print of how the transfer would take place, the sellers decided not to sign th eadendum to the contract, (basically no tgive me the points I was paying for) so I chose to cancel the contract. None of this was GMAC's fault. I don't blame the sellers actions on GMAC.

I didn't link these two issues together, you should have been cancelled well before it got to the papers it sounds like.

But excuse me-
are you trying to suggest that it's my fault I wasn't notified that we passed ROFR because I dont check my junk mail folder???

I didn't say it was your fault necessarily but do feel you have some responsibility in this area.

I don't check my junk mail folder- because what goes in there? Is junk. IF someone tells me to expect an e-mail from an unknown source- then I will check it religiously until I receive that specific e-mail.

You really should. These filters are not fool proof. Just set it to dump at much longer intervals and scan through it periodically. Anything you see that goes there but shouldn't is an opportunity to fix it.

Because my agent told me she WOULD CALL ME WHEN WE PASSED ROFR- I expected her to do that. It is, after all, the most important step in buying a resale, as the sale can't go through until Disney says so.
She didn't even tell me the name of the title company for cryin' out loud! Ithought the closing docs would come from GMAC.

If they said they would call, they should have. I just sold a contract and the only time I recall talking to the broker was on two occasions. One when I said no to an offer, made a counter offer and said there was no reason to call me back unless they accepted. The second call maybe 1-2 weeks later when they finally came around to my price.

C'mon people- am I being unreasonable here?
And I certainly expect that they make my refund a high priority after all of the problems we had with the contract negotiations to begin with.
And no, Dean, in the electronic age, nothing takes 2-3 billing cycles to post to your credit card. Not to mention she told me they would have to refund it on my credit card- which isn't true at all, they have to send me a check. As in- through the mail.

Yes, IMO you are being unreasonable on expecting the credit within a few days, it just doesn't happen that way. Maybe it should but it doesn't. And my guess is the person you were talking to you that suggested it'd take a few days had no clue. They likely never deal with this issue. And I do feel you have some responsibility on missing your email, that is not their fault.

 

[mickeysgal]

You didn't receive the "item" you bought and you're now not getting your refund. I would put in a dispute with your credit card. Let them do the investigation into this charge. Watch how fast GMAC will process the refund now that the credit card company is involved.

 

[mickeysgal]

A bus driver CM told me that the Animal Kingdom was going to have a Memorial Day promotion.

 

[snappy]

For my recent purchase via TSS, the closing company requested me to reply when I received my closing papers.

I also received multiple calls and emails when we passed ROFR.

When it seem to take forever to get into the system, my broker (Robert at TSS) researched what happened (Disney said they never received the documents from the closing company) and had the closing company resend it.

I was pleased with the service TSS provided.

 

[Mickey Moose]

I just bought with International GMAC in Orlando but used a different title company. Everything went A-OK. I'll admit though I called frequently, I believe in the Squeaky Wheel theory, so they never had a chance to "not call" me

 

[JimVL]

I was trying to be funny; maybe I should stop trying to do that. I was replying to a post about only using GMAC to finance an Impala. Animal Kingdom has, the animal, Impalas.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) I think the email issue was yours.
. . . the email was sent out in a timely manner
. . . the company has no knowledge how you set the spam filter
2) The refund will be slow
. . . the company can't refund without the title company check
. . . this takes procedures
. . . it is not GMAC's fault the title company is slow
3) Communication problems
. . . the GMAC personnel could/should be more knowledgeable
. . . but, all companies can have a few people not-in-the-know

PERSONAL OPINION: You should just chill and take things as they come. You will receive your refund, so there is no reason to be upset about it. In the grand scheme of things, this is nothing more than a-speed-bump-on-the-road-of-life". I think your frustrations may have been heightened by the owner using banked points and trying to cheat you (their act was blatantly fraudulent.)

 

[mickeysgal]

I was trying to be funny; maybe I should stop trying to do that. I was replying to a post about only using GMAC to finance an Impala. Animal Kingdom has, the animal, Impalas.

Got it!