RCI incentive certificates

[The Red Head]

I have seen a few people comment they had a hard time using their RCI certificates they received as incentives. I finally received mine from the event we went to in March. Well, I went on the website and couldn't get anything to come up as available. So I called. Besides the girl being snippy with me, she told me I wouldn't get the location I was interested in. She said the certificates were for off season inventory and San Fransisco is never off season. I mentioned a few other places, and she said they should have explained to me how the certificates worked that it is for RCI's off season inventory. I said so basically the places I would want to go to will not be available and she said correct.

Question for the people that got the certificates. Did Disney explain this to you. They made it seem like I could stay anywhere that was in my RCI book. My husband and I bought more points than we were planning because of the incentives they were offering. We received 2 RCI certificates. Two week vacations that aren't worth anything to us are turning out to be not such a great incentive.

 

[littlestar]

Sorry to hear you've had no luck with RCI and sorry to hear you had to deal with rude, too.

Hopefully somebody will chime in and maybe be able to offer some suggestions for you.

 

[tjkraz]

I would contact DVC and see what they have to say. There have been a number of complaints about these RCI exchange certificates. I believe some have mentioned that DVC had fielded a number of complaints and was discussing the matter with RCI. I don't know if they were mislead about the nature of the certificates or simply didn't investigate thoroughly enough before offering such an incentive. But I'd say it's worth a phone call...particularly if it took them 6 months to get the certificate into your hands in the first place.

 

[kimberh]

I have been a member of RCI since 1990. In the past they have gave these certificates for "one special or another" they were never any good for when or where I wanted to travel. A few years ago, RCI called me numerous times offering a Cruise special with a extra week's vacation via certificate for a few thousand dollars... Inside cabin. I asked if the extra week would take me to Hawaii, Grand Cayman, Caribbean... No. Well, I can get specials on cruises all day long, so I turned this " Great Deal" Down. They kept calling. I finally had to tell them, that their Certificates were not any good for travel.

I would call DVC for sure and complain. RCI has business practices that are not as pure as I would think Disney would associate itself with. When my membership with RCI expires, I will not renew it. This is with a Timeshare that I own in Tennessee. I banked my week this year, the day after, it was for rent on RCI's website. They are currently in a Class Action Law Suit for this very practice. I checked the day I banked it, it was not listed, then the next day, there it was. A very RED Week for the peak of leaves in Gatlinburg.

I really was shocked when DVC switched over to RCI.

 

[jaurban]

We have not been able to use our either - and I will run out of time soon, as I have already overbooked my 2010 vacation days, and could not use it this summer. ...

 

[alady89]

I agree with lack of availability. The whole state of CA is not open any time. Crazy. . .also most of the good stuff. I did find a week in MI in December in a 2BR at no charge. Hmmm. . . freezing cold and a two hour drive from home. . not what we had imagined.

However, for an "upgrade" fee I found a week in Greece in May. But w/ an $800 fee I am not so sure about it.

So I agree, I wish this had been more open about blackout dates and months.

 

[dr&momto2boys]

I felt very misled as well. They made it seem like it was good for a 2bedroom villa pretty much anywhere. I was excited about it, until we got it and tried to use it. The website was ridiculous to use. There was no availability for anything good. Even if willing to pay upgrade fees there wasn't anything good. Mostly all-inclusives in Mexico where you'd have to pay a big AI fee. We considered not using it at all. Finally we decided on Branson, MO in December! Woohoo!

Fortunately the incentive had nothing to do with our desire to buy BLT points. We wanted the points and got the "free" 7 night cruise incentive and a couple hundred dollars in gift cards insead of Mary Poppins tickets. I was happy enough about those incentives. But I was really disappointed that Disney has misled me!

 

[rentayenta]

I am sorry, this sucks. I hate not getting the whole truth!

 

[The Red Head]

Thanks for the replies. I wanted to know if others felt they were misled, like my husband and I did. I was super busy at work this week and didn't have time to call, so I am going to try to call my guide today to talk to her about this.

 

[Dean]

Thanks for the replies. I wanted to know if others felt they were misled, like my husband and I did. I was super busy at work this week and didn't have time to call, so I am going to try to call my guide today to talk to her about this.

I think it could have been anticipated that top resorts during higher demand times would not be available.

 

[jaurban]

It is not even about top resorts at peak times, this is not even the next level. Anyway, the point is that the guides handling the sales pitch said it was a 2BR 1 week vacation at any RCI resort, without mentioning the fine print (which is on the certificate) but you don't get that until after the sale. What I found is that there were no school vacation times available and most of the free options were studios and not 2 BRs, and only in the least desirable locations. (This incentive you can transfer, unlike the cruise, and my single friend who has no time restrictions can't even find anything he finds attractive.) We are already pulling our DD out of school for the cruise incentive, so really can't justify doing that more than once.

We still would have bought, I just would have asked for something else at the sale time instead. Others did receive substitutions for at least the Mary Poppins tickets or the cruise (although we did take those), so it might have been possible to get something for the RCI certificate. And, I am not too thrilled with RCI as the trading company now, even though I realize that the options available for a trade will be very different.

 

[Dean]

It is not even about top resorts at peak times, this is not even the next level. Anyway, the point is that the guides handling the sales pitch said it was a 2BR 1 week vacation at any RCI resort, without mentioning the fine print (which is on the certificate) but you don't get that until after the sale. What I found is that there were no school vacation times available and most of the free options were studios and not 2 BRs, and only in the least desirable locations. (This incentive you can transfer, unlike the cruise, and my single friend who has no time restrictions can't even find anything he finds attractive.) We are already pulling our DD out of school for the cruise incentive, so really can't justify doing that more than once.

We still would have bought, I just would have asked for something else at the sale time instead. Others did receive substitutions for at least the Mary Poppins tickets or the cruise (although we did take those), so it might have been possible to get something for the RCI certificate. And, I am not too thrilled with RCI as the trading company now, even though I realize that the options available for a trade will be very different.

Likely this is the same as a bonus week, basically excess inventory. That combined with the limited resorts on the DVC-RCI list will dramatically restrict inventory. However, if one could go off season, even good resorts are likely to be available. Say HH in the Winter other than Holidays or even HI for early Dec. My guess is DVC didn't understand what they were getting into and therefore weren't able to give appropriate expectations. The value of such a week is somewhere around $200-300 normally.

 

[jaurban]

That is sort of what I thought. I am not angry with the guides, as I am pretty sure they acted on the info they were provided. Just disappointed that this did not turn out to be as wonderful as it sounded. Mary Poppins was great by the way and I am pretty sure the cruise will be wonderful too. As this is a new relationship between Disney and RCI I imagine there are any number of things that will turn out differently than planned or expected over time.

 

[Dean]

That is sort of what I thought. I am not angry with the guides, as I am pretty sure they acted on the info they were provided. Just disappointed that this did not turn out to be as wonderful as it sounded. Mary Poppins was great by the way and I am pretty sure the cruise will be wonderful too. As this is a new relationship between Disney and RCI I imagine there are any number of things that will turn out differently than planned or expected over time.

I doubt it'll be much different than with II. The guides and DVC in general simply don't know that much about the rest of the timeshare world. They are generally somewhat naive about the system in general.

 

[PirateMel]

I have been a member of RCI since 1990. In the past they have gave these certificates for "one special or another" they were never any good for when or where I wanted to travel. A few years ago, RCI called me numerous times offering a Cruise special with a extra week's vacation via certificate for a few thousand dollars... Inside cabin. I asked if the extra week would take me to Hawaii, Grand Cayman, Caribbean... No. Well, I can get specials on cruises all day long, so I turned this " Great Deal" Down. They kept calling. I finally had to tell them, that their Certificates were not any good for travel.

I would call DVC for sure and complain. RCI has business practices that are not as pure as I would think Disney would associate itself with. When my membership with RCI expires, I will not renew it. This is with a Timeshare that I own in Tennessee. I banked my week this year, the day after, it was for rent on RCI's website. They are currently in a Class Action Law Suit for this very practice. I checked the day I banked it, it was not listed, then the next day, there it was. A very RED Week for the peak of leaves in Gatlinburg.

I really was shocked when DVC switched over to RCI.

I agree - I have not been a fan of RCI since I purchased in 2003. Bad service and bad resort stays. Disney what were you thinking?