Poll: Have you ever had an exchange canceled by the exchange company?

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

Have you ever had a confirmed exchange only to be called and told it was canceled? If so tell us what company messed up your vacation and what they offered as compensation.

So far we haven't ever had a problem but, I've read other posts, mostly during the busy summer months, of others who have had issues.

[mav Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close mav]

Had a Royal Mayan Easter week cancelled a few years back. They said the owner wanted the deposit back . They did, however, get me another week at the Royal Mayan for the same week so all was well.

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

My final RCI exchange was canceled about a month before occupancy date. Ended up getting the same time (one day off on check in) at a different (and newer) resort in the same location area after a couple of panic weeks. It was an exchange with family who had all reserved that week's vacation. It was a significant factor in the cancellation of my RCI membership.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

I voted RCI once because of the Grand Mayans 1 and 4 rule. There was also 1 other time long ago that they canceled but I had an even better resort that they replaced it with.
I was going to say II because they canceled a New Orleans trip but that was because of Katrina. Platinum one year did not cancel but the Grand Mayan did not have the room for us. Lucky for me I still had one of my guests take part of the 2 bedroom unit

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

Keep in mind that I set this poll up so that you can select more than one exchange company. If two or three have cancelled then you can name them all.

Maybe I should have worded this as avoidable cancelations. Weather or natural disasters will hit every exchange company doing business in that area.

[10AC-TYM Member Find all posts View Profile Close 10AC-TYM]

RCI canceled a week in Budapest when the resort pulled the week. We went to Switzerland in place of that week.

[bnoble Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bnoble]

I wrote this OT, but this poll doesn't quite tell us what we want to know. The interesting questions are (a) what's the *rate* at which exchanges are cancelled (to account for volume) and (b) how often does the exchange company make good on it vs. how often they do not? That tells you a lot more about whether or not to use a particular exchange company.

For example, I have had RCI cancel an exchange, but they also gave me a larger unit at the same resort for the same dates to make up for it in the same breath. So, it was a perfectly fine outcome, and I presume it would not deserve a "vote" in the poll, right?

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

I wrote this OT, but this poll doesn't quite tell us what we want to know. The interesting questions are (a) what's the *rate* at which exchanges are cancelled (to account for volume) and (b) how often does the exchange company make good on it vs. how often they do not? That tells you a lot more about whether or not to use a particular exchange company.

For example, I have had RCI cancel an exchange, but they also gave me a larger unit at the same resort for the same dates to make up for it in the same breath. So, it was a perfectly fine outcome, and I presume it would not deserve a "vote" in the poll, right?

So far, it looks as if RCI is the only company that's having to make good on cancelled confirmations.

What good is an exchange company you can't count on to deliver the confirmed exchange. Is exchanging suppose to be a guessing game? I have a reservation but, I'm not 100% certain what size the unit is, what resort we'll be staying at or even what day we check in.

[bnoble Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bnoble]

I get that. But, for argument's sake, let's suppose that RCI confirms ten times as many exchanges as any other (probably true for all except II). If they had five cancellations, that's about the same rate as zero for anyone else.

The fact that it happens is not the question---it could happen with any exchange company, because they don't directly control the inventory, though they do make their best efforts to verify that occupancy will be possible. Instead, the question for me is how *likely* is it to happen, and how hard they work to make things right when it does.

Going back to my specific case: technically I have had an exchange cancelled. I booked a 2BR for those dates, and didn't get it. But, instead I had a 4BR for those dates. Should I be unhappy? Probably not.

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

I get that. But, for argument's sake, let's suppose that RCI confirms ten times as many exchanges as any other (probably true for all except II). If they had five cancellations, that's about the same rate as zero for anyone else.

The fact that it happens is not the question---it could happen with any exchange company, because they don't directly control the inventory, though they do make their best efforts to verify that occupancy will be possible. Instead, the question for me is how *likely* is it to happen, and how hard they work to make things right when it does.

Going back to my specific case: technically I have had an exchange cancelled. I booked a 2BR for those dates, and didn't get it. But, instead I had a 4BR for those dates. Should I be unhappy? Probably not.

Assumptions don't matter. I don't care who has the most balls hit their way. I care who commits the most errors.

A 2 bedroom at Marriott's Willow Ridge Resort in Branson certainly isn't equal to a 4 bedroom at Grand Regency at Thousand Hills Resort if you have children. If you don't need the extra space, the resort features at Marriott far outweigh the lack of resort features at Grand Regency. Size of unit is a poor substitute for quality of resort.

I choose my exchanges carefully. I know what resorts I'll accept and what resorts I won't accept. Being forced to take a large unit at a lessor resort is not adaquate compenstation.

[Larry Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Larry]

yes but got it back

I was once canceled by RCI by "mistake" 9 months after a confirmed exchange to Florida for our annual family vacation and just two months before check in.

Fortunately, I just happened to check my account the same day I was canceled and called them up immediately yelling and screaming that I had airline tickets booked and we had booked other units for family and we needed to be together at the same resort for spring break week Easter/Passover.

First they said that my exchanged week could not be confirmed with the resort I owned at which was bull since it had been confirmed for nine months and my maintenance payment was paid up to date. Then they checked again and responded "ooops our mistake" and gave me back the exchange.

I am sure that if a couple of days would have passed the unit would no longer have been available.

[bnoble Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bnoble]

I don't care who has the most balls hit their way. I care who commits the most errors.

You are welcome to that view, but it is simply wrong. If you are choosing between two shortstops, you want the one that has the lower *rate* of committing an error, not the least number of errors total.

(And, really, you might not even want that: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Error_(baseball))

Finally, perhaps it was not clear, but the 4BR was at exactly the same resort. Strictly better in all regards.

[cmb Member Find all posts View Profile Close cmb]

RCI looks like the only one - they canceled an exchange on us - I don't recall the reason - I think they said "it was no longer available" - either the resort took it back or the owner did or some such nonsense. They can give any excuse they want, but the point is... we thought we had a confirmed reservation. What does "confirmation" mean if you can't count on it. It wa a week booked about a year ahead and the week used to book it was going to expire. They did at least extend the expiring week's time, and book us another time (coming up in a few weeks - will it happen?) If we don't get what we reserved I will be very unhappy. Have never had an II reservation cancelled.

[cmb Member Find all posts View Profile Close cmb]

Deleted duplicate post

[schiff1997 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close schiff1997]

By RCI a year ago, Easter week had a 3 bedroom Orange Lake East Village. Ended up with a lovely 2 bedroom at Bonnet Creek, which worked out great as we did not need the 3rd bedroom.