You *HAVE* to....

[AnqeiicDemise]

This little gem, unfortunately, I didn't have the pleasure of handling. I could've gotten even more passive aggressive than Em, just to make the woman's head explode out of spite.

A little bit of history: I work for a timeshare company and it is my job to book reservations for our owners. As an owner of resort X, you have the right to book reservations at that particular resort up to 13 months in advance; if you want to book reservations at resort Y, regardless of your VIP status, you will have to wait to the 10 month (prior to check-in) mark to book at Y resort. This is done to ensure fairness to *all* our owners when it comes to making reservations. Thus, the closer you get to the day you want to travel, the harder it is to get a reservation, period. i.e. you can't call to find 7 nights in Orlando for 11/11/07 if you're calling on 11/10/07 and expect to find availability...even if you're calling to book at X resort (which you own at)....


Well, you can expect it, its just not going to happen unless Lady Luck decides to be nice to you.


BUT I WANT IT!

Its an unusually slow break in the call center and its so quiet you can hear a paper cup filled with pens get knocked over from across the floor. We're all busy trying to keep ourselves from going crazy...for example, I was reading the CS boards, minding my own business when all of a sudden we heard this one-side of the conversation.:

Em: Ma'm, I understand your situation and I know how frustrated you may be at being notified that we do not have any availability at X resort, but you're calling in to get two weeks in a four bedroom presidential checking in next Friday... its just not possible.

lady says something, to which Em just makes a face and strangles at the air.

Em: m'am....m'am.... would you please calm down? I can't help you if you're... m'am....

more furious yelling at the other end, obviously.Em starts tugging at her hair.

Em: No. I cannot do tha-- yes, I do understand that you are a platinum owner and that you own at X resort, but that does not give you the right to kick someone else out of the unit they've booked MONTHS ahead of time just so that you can have it!

more whining at the other end of the line, Em stands up and starts pacing at her cubicle.

Em: No offense m'am, I don't care if you own 9 million points through our company, you cannot and will not kick someone else out of a place they have already reserved just so that you can enjoy two weeks at X resort....that is absolutely rude and inconsiderate on your behalf. at this point, em slams her hands on her desk. Again, I don't care if you own 9 millions points, m'am. If we did this for you, we have to do it for everybody else and you would then not like it when you get kicked out when an owner who owns ONE BILLION more points than you decides to kick you out of the unit you've already booked because he can't find anything else. AND if you wish to complain, I would be more than happy to transfer you to the department that handles these issues.

Em then proceeded to force the woman to the department before she can bitch any further.

The call center supervisor then came by twenty minutes later with the other woman who took the call after Em.

The Sup. had Em log off on personal time and took her out for ice cream and had this to say:

"So that woman's selling her timeshare. She asked me what I thought about losing such a valuable customer and I stated that (company) would rather have 9 thousand standard accounts than have to deal with her in the future."


xD

I love that Sup.

[CancelMyService]

Wow, it's a sad day when I fully expected the story to end with the screaming banshee getting rewarded with a free stay at some other resort.

That lady really expected you guys to kick someone out of a paid room on a week's notice? Just because they have an assload of points? As someone who's going to spend a week in Orlando thanks to a timeshare ( hi M-I-L)!, let me take the opportunity to use a word I generally avoid using as I feel it's the nuclear bomb of insults:

What an entitled cunt.

Sorry if that offends anyone, but anyone who honestly expects a company to ruin someone else's vacation just because they think they're Queen Shit deserves the worst possible terminology.

[earl colby pottinger]

I hate time shares

My parents went through all sort of problems with their time shares, before dad died and mom sold it. Also does not help that they are sucky customers in their own rigth.

However, even they did not try for *FOUR* bedrooms on a short notice. I assume the timeshares are like the ones my parents had (2 week 1-unit, 1 week 2-units). Getting a single unit for just one week was do-able within just a few (2-3) months notice if it was not the peak time. Getting adjoining units for a week, you better had book early (6-9) months ahead. But come close to any peak demand period you booked next year's trip before you left on this year's.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Hearing these horror stories makes me glad we don't have that problem if we want to go to the beach for a week . . . my dad's FIL owns a house at the beach and doesn't rent it out to anyone - it's for family only.

We don't even have to plan ahead . . . just get that week off from work, send in the vacation pay request, hop in the car on the day we're planning to leave and go.

[South Texan]

We rented a two bedroom condo on the beach this weekend (kids are napping right now after spending all morning in the gulf). It is a condo obviously owned by someone who uses it fairly regularly, but the complex rents it out when the owner is not here.

When I was checking in Friday night, there was a woman at the office who was screaming at the poor office/desk clerk because the desk clerk gave her the keys to a different condo than the one she specifically had reserved back in August. (This complex's website shows each condo individually and lets you reserve the one you want.) The desk clerk kept telling the woman that there was nothing he could do because the owner decided to come in on Thursday and was using the condo all weekend. The clerk tried to make the woman happy with the only condo that was available, but in truth, it was not as nice because it did not open up onto the beach and was a smaller unit. The woman had a family of six in her car, and the unit offered to her was an efficiency rather than a three bedroom.

Frankly, I could not blame the woman too much as it did stink that the owner allowed her to reserve the unit and to plan a vacation for a few months, then showed up and took the unit away from her with no notice.

I am glad to see the time share does not allow that to happen.

[Sliceanddice]

When I was checking in Friday night, there was a woman at the office who was screaming at the poor office/desk clerk because the desk clerk gave her the keys to a different condo than the one she specifically had reserved back in August. (This complex's website shows each condo individually and lets you reserve the one you want.) The desk clerk kept telling the woman that there was nothing he could do because the owner decided to come in on Thursday and was using the condo all weekend. The clerk tried to make the woman happy with the only condo that was available, but in truth, it was not as nice because it did not open up onto the beach and was a smaller unit. The woman had a family of six in her car, and the unit offered to her was an efficiency rather than a three bedroom.

Frankly, I could not blame the woman too much as it did stink that the owner allowed her to reserve the unit and to plan a vacation for a few months, then showed up and took the unit away from her with no notice.

owwww.... i would have just demanded my money back and filed a complaint (yeah he was the owner but come on some one reserved it and you didnt show notice)

[AnqeiicDemise]

My parents went through all sort of problems with their time shares, before dad died and mom sold it. Also does not help that they are sucky customers in their own rigth.

However, even they did not try for *FOUR* bedrooms on a short notice. I assume the timeshares are like the ones my parents had (2 week 1-unit, 1 week 2-units). Getting a single unit for just one week was do-able within just a few (2-3) months notice if it was not the peak time. Getting adjoining units for a week, you better had book early (6-9) months ahead. But come close to any peak demand period you booked next year's trip before you left on this year's.

At my company, you purchase a contract at a resort you want to stay at frequently, but instead of a week, you get a set amount of points depending on the property and time you buy....so if/when you get tired of going to the same damn place, you can go anywhere you want.

BUT YOU HAVE TO DO IT AHEAD OF TIME, PEOPLE!

-pant,pant-

Sometimes you get lucky, like finding a whole weeks' worth stay at x resort for the next week...but that's once in a blue moon.

Most our owners are pretty smart. Some are uneducated and frustrated with the program so its my job to help them out so they can better understand.

Then you got the entitlement whores and 9 times out of 10, they're the ones who own the LEAST amount of points and thus can only go to certain places, period.

[Becks]

The Sup. had Em log off on personal time and took her out for ice cream and had this to say:

"So that woman's selling her timeshare. She asked me what I thought about losing such a valuable customer and I stated that (company) would rather have 9 thousand standard accounts than have to deal with her in the future."

I love how this one ended.

It restores a bit of my faith in humanity.