Wyndham Discovery Vacations / Overbooking of Resort
I have owned a Timeshare in New Orleans for over 10 years and love the experience. My timeshare was recently purchased by Wyndham Resorts. April last year I was staying at my resort when I was contacted by a representative at the timeshare asking to speak with me about my stay. The representative told me they had interested in buying back my timeshare from me and just needed some information to process to see if I qualified to have them purchase it. After 3 hours they came back and stated that I did qualify and needed to sign some forms before the transaction could take place. One of the forms was a credit application and was told it was standard procedure to check my credit. After I refused to sign the application the "salesman" now called in his boss and I was doubled teamed to sell my timeshare back to them. What was actually happening was they were buying mine back for $15, 000 but transferring me to a point system at another resort in New Orleans for an additional $28, 000. After refusing this offer they brought in a third gentleman to sell me their Discovery Vacation plan worth 308, 000 points for $2500. I could use these points to stay in hotels, fly and best of all, try the new resort in New Orleans to see if I liked it. It was a trial period and if I really liked it (as they assured me I would) I could transfer the $2500 towards the purchase price of the new resort. I purchased the plan. Now the problems started.
After purchasing the plan, I called in November 2008 to book a room at the La Belle Maison in New Orleans. I was told by the rep that the La Belle Maison was booked through August of 2009. My points expire in October of 2009. She told me I could stay at the Avenue Plaza (which is my timeshare) anytime in 2009. I explained the reason I bought this was to stay at this new resort as a "trial" before purchasing. Considering it a loss I told her I would just like to use the points then to buy plane tickets and reserve a hotel room in New Orleans. To my surprise the points are not good for airline tickets and hotels..only if I purchase the plan the originally proposed which was my timeshare plus $28, 000. Fed up with this whole thing I told her just to book me at the La Belle Maison in September 2009. The only availability they had then was over Labor Day weekend. Great I'll take it. Grand Total 121, 000 points for 4 nights which equals about $245 a night to stay there. If anyone travels to New Orleans often, which I do, you know you can get a 4 star hotel in the French Quarter for $120-$150. This program is way oversold and a complete ripoff. I guarantee that as a timeshare owner at Avenue Plaza, these people better not even have the nerve to contact me when I am vacationing down there. I'm still getting vacation time with my $2500, but I feel sorry for the poor saps that get sucked into a lifelong debt of $28, 000. My advice...stay away from these snake oil salesmen.
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I completely disagree with the above complaint! Wyndham is the best way to travel! I think the person wasn't really paying attention to what the discovery sales person said. And it's clear in the paper work that the discovery points are only for wyndham stays. It's to discover wyndham. It's a trial for people to test drive what it's like to be an owner. it freezes prices and then you get 100% of the principal back! So i got free vacations for a 1 1/2 years! saved me thousands of dollars when I upgraded to full ownership! now I can use points for airfare and whatever else. love love love my ownership!
the discovery program worked for me! got it in Hawaii! now i don't even have to go back there to upgrade to Hawaii ownership!
I purchased the Discovery vacation after five hours of sales talk. big mistake!Now after deciding to take this vacation I am being forced to take 17 days in a six week period because of availability problems.Being forced to vacations at resorts which are too far from home but being told to call every morning at 8:00a.m.(put on hold for 25 minutes) to check for cancellations when I do they have nothing available but then one appears but they have to cancel the first one and then they come back on line another agent has that one so we end up making another unwanted reservation. we are loosing points each time we have to change dates at the present time we are loosing 100, 000 points. This is such a rip-off.Why on earth would anyone want to purchase with Wyndham?
I agree with the avaialbility issue. I purchased a discover vacation package at a similar $2500 price (slightly more financed at monthly payments over 26 month- which incidentally must be used and it expires way before the payments end for a total of just under $3, 000!!). One of the reasons I purchased the Discovery trial was that the salesman explained at the Daytona Beach facility that they have to keep a number of units open and available for thier members who are busy business professionals and travel "on a monments notice" or with little advance reservations for thier vacations. I said that is us!
My first attempt at palnning a vacation- I tried to book thier vegas location for October 2008, at least 4-6 months in advance- NOTHING WAS AVAILABLE! SO I had to pay for my room at the Planet Hollywood on my own since the Wyndham Discovery location was not available.
Second Attempt- Tried to plan a vacatin 1 month in advance for WIsconsin Dells Wyndham for June 4-16 2009. Again NOTHING AVAILABLE. I even tried to upgrade to larger units even though we did not need 2-4 bedrooms, AGAIN NOTHING AVAILABLE! THey have extended my contract period till August 2009, but now I have little vacation time left and to use the 308, 000 points with only 60 days to go!
Mike C.
I bought into the Discovery plan in July of 2008. Since that time I have tried numerous times to pook a vacation in Pigeoun Forge, Charleston, and Myrtle Beach. Onl each of the six different attempts, I was told that there wasn't any availability for the time requested. We are working people and do not have the luxury to go anytime we wish. Also, the way it was put to us when purchased, all we had to do is call and we could go to any of Wyndham Resors of our choice. In reality all they wanted was the money.As of today, I requested 3 nights in Pigeon Forge Tennessee. Not available on the date request but he could give me the following week. Unfortunately, our vacations are nailed in concrete with out employer and have already been scheduled.
Rip off. I've had the same problems with availability in Nashville, Alexandria, VA, and the Poconos. Now that I'm deploying to Afghanistan, our points will expire. Horrible company!
I so agree with the comments for booking. You get these extra points for signing up and you can never book anything because they're never avialable. Almost $3, 000 for 2years. You can call though every morning to see if they have any cancellations. Like people have time t o do this, really!!! I had to get an extension just so that i could use the points and will still have over 100, 000 left when they expire. Definatley not worth it!!! They suck you in and rip you off. I would never do it again. I learned my lesson. If it sounds to good to be true it probably is. I should of listened.
Well, I can honestly say that I am not surprised by all of your comments...I have never had such a nightmare experience as I have had with Wyndham. First of all they "persuade" us to go to a "ninety" minute presentation by dangling the carrot of free activities while on vacation while in Maui. The presentation ended up taking literally 4 and 1/2 hours, meanwhile our four kids are trying to entertain themselves in Lahaina. The initial presenter was very good. Then when we told her that we may have been interested in the Bali High resort in Princeville Kauai if it was by a beach and not up on the cliff, we were told by a second presenter poising as a resorts "specialist" that it is on a beach!!! Ridiculous!!! We have been going to Kauaii for the last 14 years and have stayed in princeville twice at the Bali High resort...gaurantee it's on a cliff and most units don't even have a view of the ocean. Well this "specialist" wouldn't back down and maintained her stance on beach front property...so they bring in another expert. Needless to say we were trying to get out of there because of the completely rude manner in which this second lady treated us...in fact other people in the presenter room were staring at the whole thing. So we are leaving and trying to get our "free" gifts when yet a fourth individual takes us into her office to "get us " our gifts. She does an amazing sales job of the discovery program and we think to ourselves...OK we have never done this, maybe because it is just the $2500 and a one time trial we will do it. As stated above... "BIG MISTAKE". We told this fourth individual that unless they had a property big enough for our family of six during either thankgiving or spring break we would not be interested. She showed us the bonnet creek resort in Florida and even wrote down on our paper work that that is what they were gauranteeing to us. Then she signed us up for the "installment" plan of payments, which we resisted as we wanted to pay for this all at once so that we could have the points and utilize them sooner...she stated the only way to do this program was through installments...which we found out later through Enoch in their resolutions department was an outright lie...and we could have paid for it all at once. Well, after everything was said and done, we went to get our "free" activity vouchers...and what do you know...the lady at their voucher desk says she doesn't have the right authority to give them to us. She makes a few calls...and twenty minutes later she has set a time for us to pick them up with somebody else "tomorrow" on the other side of the island where we are staying...we go there the next day and what do you know...no one is even at that office. We call and they direct us to another office...also closed...about an hour and twenty angry nervous breakdowns later we get ahold of our discovery package sells person who schedules for us an activity at barely under normal cost...probably could have got it cheaper another way...the next day drive 1 1/2 hour to the activity and the place says they won't work with Wyndham and we have to pay full price...Let's see...we have spent about a total of 8 vacation hours with this jerky, lying, sack of crap company during our limited vacation time...what a total waste. Then to top it off, it has been almost a year since then and though I have called many times and tried to get Bonnet Creek in Orlando for about four different dates...you guessed it...no availability until after our points expire. Can't even believe a company could be so decietful and poor at resolutions to problems...never have I had such poor customer service from any company..large or small. I don't think I could have even made up in my wildest dreams such a poor customer service nightmare if you challenged me to. ALL I CAN SAY IS I WISH THE ENTIRE WORLD COULD KNOW WHAT AN OUTRAGOES SCAM WYNDHAM RESORTS COMPANY IS. If I had alot of moneey I would do all I could to warn people to stay FAR AWAY FROM WYNDHAM RESORTS. By the way..I have told this entire episode to at least four of their company representatives and have gotten nowhere...WHAT A SEVERE WASTE OF ALOT OF TIME AND MONEY!!!
I do believe there are booking issues with the Discovery Vacation plan but only for those people who either have scheduled vacation time written in stone or for those who like to vacation in all of the prime time locations and dates. However, for us the plan works extremely well. I've been purchasing Discovery Vacations now for the last 5 years and for our family there is no better way to vacation. I must admit my first year with Discovery was exactly what is mentioned earlier but I learned my lesson after that first year and every since it has worked. My wife is a school teacher and my vacation dates are very flexible. I typically plan my vacations for the year which are all around the kids school schedule. Since I've been planning all of our vacations 10 months in advance we have never not gotten a location we requested. I do know this may not work for everyone but for us its perfect. We average somewhere between 3 and 4 vacations a year with the 308, 000 point plan. Our vacations are typically scheduled for the following months: February- - Winter Break, April - - Spring Break July -- Summer Vacation December - - Christmas Vacation. Perfect.
I think the Discovery program would have been a wonderful experience... So far the only problem I had was the sells lady Chris lying to us. She gave this big speech that you could cancel anytime after 6 months. It really broke my heart to find out that it was a lie. My husband really wanted the program so we would have got it either way, but the deciet. So I will most likely never do business with them again. Then we call to report her and it seems like no one cares and there is nothing they can do for us. Bad customer service.
I totally agree! I thought the "trial" would be great but all the hotels are always full! I can't book anywhere. Not only that but the gentleman from whom we bought into this mess was rude with me on the phone. My parent's have and LOVE their Wyndham package but I could not be more dissatisfied! Never Never Never again! Not only can I not book, if I do get the rare opportunity to book, the cost is ridiculous and I could pay a lot less if I simply booked the hotel without using my points! Don't get suckered into this terrible program!
I was told by a rep. at Bonnett Creek in April 2010 that I could use my extra points for Disney tickets. Of course when I go to ask about it, it isnt offered for Discovery packages. Lies---I also have every other year points as full time owner but I will try to sell them as I am sick and tired of the sales reps lies.
My husband bought a wyndham vacation pack on a trial basic in 2007.After numerous avaiablilty issues and customer services issues. Just frustated . In the beginning we were told if this didnt work for us we could get our money back minus a fee. We call to get a refund and instead they gave us an extension which we did not want. still the whole thing was not working .Its was just to hard to use, So we agian ask for our money back for something that we have never got to use in any form or fashion.They told us we need to contact Rodney Hill at Rodney_hill@wyndhamvo.com and they will not even give us the time of day!!! WE HATE THEM AND HOPE ALL THERE PROPERTYS DROP IN HOLE!!!
I have the week plan and it's not working for me. My week started in 1999 and can only be used on even years so in the past 11 year I have only used 2 weeks. I was told I have a floating week and have a time set in October, but they tell me I can only use the week when there is availability. Well there is no availability for the rest of the year so there goes my week and another year of wasted maintenance fees and nothing to show for it what a rip off I could have booked a week at a hotel and enjoyed myself with what I pay every other year on these ridiculous fees.
We booked Nashville at the end of October/2010 for a week and got it immediately. Maybe that's because of the flood in May.
Everything they said is the truth, and the most ruthless when it comes to lying are the representatives of Bonnet Creek. I will continue to use my regular wyndham plus plan but will never touch discovery again. They told me i could use them for other things and they are only good for cruise and stay. not only that i have beentrying for three months to book and its impossible, and stays cost more when using the discovery plan. I tried to pay in full an was also told that I could only pay through financing, of course after finding out that lie I paid it all straight out. The whole thing is a joke.
My husband and I already own at the Wyndham in Kona on a "weeks" basis as opposed to points. While visiting our home resort, we attended a presentation to "convert to points" so that we could get cheaper tickets, etc. for the activities. We ended up purchasing a "Discovery Vacation" which is a one time use but not converting our weeks to points which would have cost us 3 times what we paid for our timeshare on the secondary market. We were told that by purchasing this one-time discovery vacation, we could call and make reservations and would be treated as if we were owners; that we would not have a problem getting reservations - yada yada. What a total JOKE and waste of time! So far, even calling 7 months in advance during a "non-peak" time, we can't get a reservation for Old Town Alexandria. Also, as a current "owner" trying to get these bozos to do their job is another story altogether. Since we bought the Kona timeshare on the secondary market, all we are doing is waiting to get a half-way decent price (maybe half of what we paid) to get out of this damn thing altogether. Wyndham is a joke. Buyer beware.
The same thing happened to me. First of all there was no "human" to speak with. I too declined the upgrades and was surprised to see a charge of $157.86 on my debit card rather than the $19.99 for the knives as advertised. When I contacted the website to look at my order I was shocked to see that I was being charged for 2 knives @ $49.97 and $57.92 for shipping & handling. I was told that because I did not agree to pay for expedited shipping I would have to wait 4-6 weeks for delivery.
At no time during the call was I given a listing of all merchandise I ordered and I was unsuccessful trying to get this information thru their "customer non-service" phone number.
I agree with all of these complaints! Wyndam is a nightmare! Just try to get ahold of someone there to make a complaint too!!! This is the most rediculous company I have ever had the displeasure of being scammed by!!!
wyndham sucks, and if any one on here says something positive about them, its probably because they work for the company and are trying to do damage control. as i type this, i've been on hold for a total of 29 minutes and have been transferred to 3 different people-because i want to know what my pay-off is & no one has "access to that information". I will continue to hold, but you should RUN! before its too late.