Do you have a rapport with your guide?

[dgaston]

Minimal contact with our guide. I initiated our AKV add-on, and haven't heard from her since. I once got a welcome home call from someone else's guide a day before they checked into VWL -- we were moving to AKV, and the call came in before 11 am.

 

[TisBit]

My guide leaves a message every time we stay, which I thought was standard practice that all members receive. He will also call when a new resort is being built to offer us an add-on. Other than that, nothing more than the standard e-mails.

I have never thought, nor would I consider, calling my guide when things are not to my liking.... just like I don't call the real estate agent who sold me my house when we have house problems. Our guide is a salesman, nothing more. His job is to get me to buy his product, not to deal with day to day ownership- that's what member services is for.

We also hear from our guide every trip, he leaves a message. I also thought it was standard practice, until reading on these boards that most people don't get a message.

We don't visit him or call him all the time. We did add on once, but he already was leaving the messages before that happened. Other than messages, we just get the standard emails, etc.

 

[MarkyMouse]

we bought in 1994, I don't even know if our guide is still living.

 

[londonderrydisneyfan]

Our original guide left a message for us when we checked in for our first stay, but she left the company and I don't even know our new guide's name. He hasn't made an effort to contact us which is fine because the last contract we bought was a resale and I don't think we'll buy from DVC directly again.

 

[mom3sonstt]

I think my guide is wonderful.....and I never hear from him. I get the standard mailings and emails, I do no get a welcome call when we go on vacation. But when I call him he is prompt about returning calls, he will answer any questions that I have, on the couple times that we decided to stop in and see him (after having a non-meeting relationship for nearly 12 years) he has been pleasant and friendly. I think we got the perfect match. I don't need my guide to be my best friend, but I do want him to be available when I need something DVC-related; I don't want a phone call every month, or even every year to see if I need to add on more points. If I want to add on - I know his number. When I do want to add on, it's good to know the person I will be dealing with seems like a genuinely nice guy.

 

[quirty30]

You may have the same guide as my hot tub friends. I asked the name of their guide but they said he had gone part time and to one of the out of state locations.

I guess the reason I feel cheated is because we've added on twice after buying our original contract and I had to call our guide and leave several messages for him before getting a return call to do one of our add-ons. I shouldn't have to chase them down and beg them to take my money. My hot tub buddies also went as far to say their guide had gotten them single day tickets when things have gone awry - another time a gift card to eat at olivias. And you guessed it, I got ice cream.

Nah, I think their guide gives them a little more attention than I get - lol. But after reading thru this thread, I'm still pleased. I really appreciate that he takes the time to welcome us home each stay - it's thoughtful and I now see that this is not as common as I might have thought.

 

[adminjedi]

Never, notta, nuttin'. And, we have even added on a couple contracts direct, not just resale. We were assigned a new guide right before our Aulani purchase. But - no call when we checked into VGC, even though he knew we were planning to purchase.

 

[dianeschlicht]

I had good rapport with my first guide back in 1992, but I've had several since then, and my current guide knows that we aren't buying anymore, so no need for him to communicate with us or have any kind of rapport! Guides are nothing more than sales people.

 

[bobbiwoz]

She's a sales person, and I like her, and I don't hear from her much. Maybe it was the long ago thread that someone mentioned, but after I mentioned that I didn't hear from her on that thread, on our very next trip there was a message welcoming us "home" from her. There was another time when we were in the process of adding on that I had made a comment here about my guide's recorded message (regarding not being able to call back if you lived in certain states without having a release) and in another conversation with her she mentioned my comment. My screen name is pretty close to my name and someone made the connection to her.

We have done around 13 mostly 25 to 50 point add ons through her. I do like hearing about her family, she asks about mine. I think she's a good representative of DVC. I've also added on via resale as well.

Bobbi

 

[SSRFred]

Our guide is great, a really lovely person. We get messages from her on many trips and occasionally, time permitting, we stop by and say hi and catch up.

 

[mearshon]

We have never met our guide. I called and purchased DVC without going through the whole tour (we didn't even get the ice cream). The only time that I see our guides name is when there is a mass mailing, his card is glued to the inside of the mailer.

 

[GrazingGoat1966]

Unfortunately our excellent guide who we signed up with on our last trip in 08 is no longer with Disney. I say unfortunate because I was at AKL last week with a family relative who was interested in DVC and I went with him to do the tour. Let's just say that if the guide who did the "hard sell" last week, had been our guide 2 years ago, there is absolutely NO WAY that we would have signed. When my family member informed the guide that he wanted time to think about the commitment (he will be returning to Orlando for business in the next couple of months...as was explained to the guide!!) he morphed into a pretentious, rude, arrogant disgrace to the good name of DVC who, for the first time in my life, I felt sufficiently aggrieved enough to complain about.
He has trashed my faith in the guides at DVC that much, that I will in the future no longer encourage any family and friends who come with us, to take the tour, and instead encourage them towards resales.
As for me, I will add on in the forseeable future but will only do so through a non-Disney resale.

 

[DFD]

Yes... love our 1st and then he got promoted and the one who took over is really helpful when I need answers etc... but I am more in touch with my home resort manager since I get to see her often and a few times have answered my call when I book for a vacation. I really wish her well for promotions and stuff but also hope that she stays a lil bit longer in her current position! It is nice to really have someone to welcome you home!

 

[kikiq]

Our guide is great, a really lovely person. We get messages from her on many trips and occasionally, time permitting, we stop by and say hi and catch up.

Sounds like our guide. And we do the same, stop by, say hi and if she's not busy catch up.

 

[KiminChicago]

I just heard from our guide yesterday. She usually calls in the autumn, every year since 2007 when we bought in. It's usually a quick call to ask us if we're still happy with our purchase, if we've been on a trip recently and if we have our next trip planned.

 

[NewDCLGuy]

My guide is a timeshare salesman. And a very good one.

But even if he is the nicest guy in the world, I have absolutely no interest in having a "rapport" with him. Ideally, I won't even speak to him again... until it's time for another add-on of course.

 

[Robo-Daddy 3000]

My guide is a timeshare salesman. And a very good one.

But even if he is the nicest guy in the world, I have absolutely no interest in having a "rapport" with him. Ideally, I won't even speak to him again... until it's time for another add-on of course.

Same here!

 

[Mickeypal1]

We love our guide. He is at the Doorway to Dreams store. We stop by and talk when we are there. He always calls us when we are at Disney. We even get a Christmas card from him every year.

 

[trampslady]

I LOVE our guide. Although we have never met personally, we have had many a personal conversation, and she always calls us when we arrive "home" at WDW. She is very attentive when we are interested in add ons, and she will call us when a resort is close to being sold out. She's great!

 

[mom3sonstt]

We love our guide. He is at the Doorway to Dreams store. We stop by and talk when we are there. He always calls us when we are at Disney. We even get a Christmas card from him every year.

We purchased add on points from a guy there. He was friendly that day, but lied to us. We had brought some friends in with us who were interested. He looked and said someone else had them listed as a referral. He told them the name of the person referring them - neither of them knew anybody by that name. He assured us that he would change it to us as the referring members since we brought them in, and since our friends said the only reason they were considering it was because how much we have bragged it up. After all their paper work was completed, signed returned,etc I called to check on our referral "bonus". We were told we were not the referring party. I called him directly and asked him about his "assurance" that it would be changed and he said that once it's entered it can't be changed. (So why did he assure us he would change it??? Was it so we would buy an add-on too???) I wrote a letter somewhere - explained the whole situation and did wind up receiving $200 in gift card. Nowhere in the package that it came in did it say that was as a referral and we weren't given the option of selecting our referral gift, so I am assuming that had we had a 2nd referral that year that it would look like a first. But that soured me on that guide. And what's sad was that we had a great time with him. We went in to the presentation with our friends and "helped" him "sell" our friends on DVC. The guide even joked that he would have to share his commission with us.