Grrrrrr.....Bluegreen and Exchanges

[iceeu2 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close iceeu2]

It's Friday night and owner services is out of the office until Monday morning or I would be screaming at them instead of posting this.

I have tried to make a deposit with SFX and I came home this afternoon with a message from SFX saying that Bluegreen had denied the exchange because there was no such reservation. I called Bluegreen and they said the exchange was denied because it did not meet the exchange companies criteria. The reservation is from Sa-Sa, and Bluegreen is saying that the unit is actually a Su-Su unit, and that NO exchange company will take it! The rep also kept spouting off stuff about RCI..........I'm not trying to bank the week with RCI. This kid also told me that most people tell them when they make a reservation that they want it for an exchange. Geez...I made this reservation a looooooooong time ago with no intent of exchanging it, but now I need to.

So, I called SFX and got a very nice young lady by the name of Carla on the phone. She verified that Bluegreen did indeed deny it saying there was no such reservation. Grrrrrrrrrrr, again, the rep at BG said it didn't meet the exchange companies criteria.

I want to bank this SA-SA week with SFX and SFX Wants the week.

If I am sooooooo wrong by not telling BG almost a year ago that I wanted to bank a week, then I will apologize to them......if it turns out I am correct, this is one time that owner services can call me with an apology.

On, a good note.........I'm going to Atlanta tomorrow to see the Braves beat the A's

[vintner Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close vintner]

In the last 5 days, I have been on the phone with BG and off shoots of BG for an hour and a half, have called 5 phone numbers, been transferred and had a call back to me and STILL don't have missing points returned to me. Someone did a typo, and am paying for it.

Sorry. I know that is off topic, but I am getting very about it.

Did you receive a confirmation letter for your reservation? If so, that should give you the full dates, week, reservation number, etc. That should help you when you talk to someone next.

I believe there is a section of BG open Saturday, but if you need owner services, I believe you will need to wait until Monday.

Good luck with your exchange. I hope you do better with your BG contact than I have done.

[iceeu2 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close iceeu2]

It's ok with me if you vent on this thread, Vintner. I have been reading of your problems this week.

Every year when my annual points come due with BG, I have had to call and tell them that they had not deposited all the points in my account. I would go round and round with someone telling me I shouldn't lose points, I should have made a reservation....blah, blah, blah......they were just reading from scripts. Didn't have a danged thing to do with making reservations.....they just weren't putting all the points into my account.

Well, when BG made it where we could look at our accounts online, I went to take a look and it showed that this particular contract didn't have points due until 2010!!!!!!!!!!! Well, duh, that wasn't hard to figure out.........except for the person at BG that I tried to get to fix it..........It took me about 4 phone calls and some mighty high blood pressure to get it fixed. It drives me nuts when the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing, but they still want to act like they are far superior to the owner.

I also had a problem with Travelers Plus and points, and I contacted so many people in Bluegreen that I think the person that finally fixed it decided it was just so messed up, she took my word of what was correct.

I have had more good experiences than bad, but it is so frustrating when a bad one occurs to you. Just let it happen to someone else

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

There are 2 issues here.

1) Depositing a week with an exchange company and

2) Getting all of the points due to you.

Regarding problem 1, it could be that the customer service rep thinks you are depositing your week with RCI or II and NOT SFX. When you deposit a week with RCI or II, there are rules for weeks that they will accept (unit size, unit numbers and check in dates). If a particular unit is deposited into RCI or II, it needs to have a checkin day exactly equal to what is deeded. In other words, if the unit is a Sat, check in unit, the reservation must start on Sat or they will reject it. These policies are indeed the policies of the exchange companies. If SFX decides they will take a unit that is different than the deeded week, they can do it. I would post a message on ASK SFX to see if they will take a unit that is different than it is deeded. If SFX will take a unit other than what is deeded, then don't even call Bluegreen. Just sign the SFX relinquish document for that reservation.

Regarding problem 2, it appears that you are not getting all of the points you are supposed to get because your earn date is different than you thought it was. The Bluegreen system automatically deposits points into your account. If you were missing points and you asked to get points that you thought should be there, then they probably just borrowed points from the next earn date. Whenever Bluegreen gives you extra points, you need to make sure that those points do not impact your future points.

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

In the last 5 days, I have been on the phone with BG and off shoots of BG for an hour and a half, have called 5 phone numbers, been transferred and had a call back to me and STILL don't have missing points returned to me. Someone did a typo, and am paying for it.

Sorry. I know that is off topic, but I am getting very about it.

Did you receive a confirmation letter for your reservation? If so, that should give you the full dates, week, reservation number, etc. That should help you when you talk to someone next.

I believe there is a section of BG open Saturday, but if you need owner services, I believe you will need to wait until Monday.

Good luck with your exchange. I hope you do better with your BG contact than I have done.

Bluegreen reservations is indeed opened on Saturday.

For you, Don, you should track down the account where the points are missing. That is if you keep track of that. When you do, there is a log of where the points went. I would call owner services and have them review with you where all the points in each of your accounts were assigined this year. That will help you get to the bottom of where your points went.

If you go through that audit, Bluegreen will most likely credit your points right away. It's not that hard for them to do.

[iceeu2 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close iceeu2]

Regarding problem 1, it could be that the customer service rep thinks you are depositing your week with RCI or II and NOT SFX. When you deposit a week with RCI or II, there are rules for weeks that they will accept (unit size, unit numbers and check in dates). If a particular unit is deposited into RCI or II, it needs to have a checkin day exactly equal to what is deeded. In other words, if the unit is a Sat, check in unit, the reservation must start on Sat or they will reject it. These policies are indeed the policies of the exchange companies. If SFX decides they will take a unit that is different than the deeded week, they can do it. I would post a message on ASK SFX to see if they will take a unit that is different than it is deeded. If SFX will take a unit other than what is deeded, then don't even call Bluegreen. Just sign the SFX relinquish document for that reservation.


Boca, I have already checked with SFX who will accept the week. I have already signed. The rep at BG told me the request was denied to SFX (and , he did say SFX, but kept quoting RCI criteria to me) because it did not meet SFX criteria..........the rep at SFX told me BG said the reservation did not exist.

Regarding problem 2, it appears that you are not getting all of the points you are supposed to get because your earn date is different than you thought it was. The Bluegreen system automatically deposits points into your account. If you were missing points and you asked to get points that you thought should be there, then they probably just borrowed points from the next earn date. Whenever Bluegreen gives you extra points, you need to make sure that those points do not impact your future points.[/QUOTE]


And, Boca, regarding # 2, I did NoT think my earn date was different .......BG had the month correct, they had the earn year was 2010!!!!!!!! Not 2007!


So, try as you may, BG does makes mistakes and is sometimes lacking in their customer service.

[iceeu2 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close iceeu2]

Regarding problem 1, it could be that the customer service rep thinks you are depositing your week with RCI or II and NOT SFX. When you deposit a week with RCI or II, there are rules for weeks that they will accept (unit size, unit numbers and check in dates). If a particular unit is deposited into RCI or II, it needs to have a checkin day exactly equal to what is deeded. In other words, if the unit is a Sat, check in unit, the reservation must start on Sat or they will reject it. These policies are indeed the policies of the exchange companies. If SFX decides they will take a unit that is different than the deeded week, they can do it. I would post a message on ASK SFX to see if they will take a unit that is different than it is deeded. If SFX will take a unit other than what is deeded, then don't even call Bluegreen. Just sign the SFX relinquish document for that reservation.


Boca, I have already checked with SFX who will accept the week. I have already signed. The rep at BG told me the request was denied to SFX (and , he did say SFX, but kept quoting RCI criteria to me) because it did not meet SFX criteria..........the rep at SFX told me BG said the reservation did not exist.

Regarding problem 2, it appears that you are not getting all of the points you are supposed to get because your earn date is different than you thought it was. The Bluegreen system automatically deposits points into your account. If you were missing points and you asked to get points that you thought should be there, then they probably just borrowed points from the next earn date. Whenever Bluegreen gives you extra points, you need to make sure that those points do not impact your future points.

And, Boca, regarding # 2, I did NoT think my earn date was different .......BG had the month correct, they had the earn year was 2010!!!!!!!! Not 2007!


So, try as you may, BG does makes mistakes and is sometimes lacking in their customer service.[/QUOTE]

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

And, Boca, regarding # 2, I did NoT think my earn date was different .......BG had the month correct, they had the earn year was 2010!!!!!!!! Not 2007!


So, try as you may, BG does makes mistakes and is sometimes lacking in their customer service.

[/QUOTE]

I think you missed my point. The Bluegreen system clearly has it encoded that you have an EVEN year earn date. So, when you called about not getting points in 2007, they probably borrowed your 2008 points instead of giving you 2007 points. That was what I was trying to say.

I would check your ownership papers to see if you indeed have an EVEN or on ODD year earn date. It will be on the estoppel if you were provided with one.

It is possible that your underlying deed is an ODD year deed, but your earn date is on EVEN years. That could be the source of that issue.

Also, if you did an owner upgrade, it's possible that they switched ODD to EVEN depending on what your earn date was before and after the change.

I'm not trying to defend Bluegreen on this issue. I am trying to help you determine what is going on and whether or not it is likely to persist.

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

Regarding problem 1, it could be that the customer service rep thinks you are depositing your week with RCI or II and NOT SFX. When you deposit a week with RCI or II, there are rules for weeks that they will accept (unit size, unit numbers and check in dates). If a particular unit is deposited into RCI or II, it needs to have a checkin day exactly equal to what is deeded. In other words, if the unit is a Sat, check in unit, the reservation must start on Sat or they will reject it. These policies are indeed the policies of the exchange companies. If SFX decides they will take a unit that is different than the deeded week, they can do it. I would post a message on ASK SFX to see if they will take a unit that is different than it is deeded. If SFX will take a unit other than what is deeded, then don't even call Bluegreen. Just sign the SFX relinquish document for that reservation.


Boca, I have already checked with SFX who will accept the week. I have already signed. The rep at BG told me the request was denied to SFX (and , he did say SFX, but kept quoting RCI criteria to me) because it did not meet SFX criteria..........the rep at SFX told me BG said the reservation did not exist.

Okay, you should know that there are two different organizations working on this issue. SFX would be calling the exchange department. You probably called reservations or owner services.

If SFX called the exchange manager and they could not verify your reservation, that's an issue in and of itself. If you have a 5 digit confirmation number, it exists and all Bluegreen employees see the same information. So, if when you call, you can find the reservation, then it's there, there is just an issue with how SFX is requesting the confirmation number. It could be that there was a 0 or an O in the reservation and they couldn't find it.

When you call the reservation or the owner services number, they are more familiar with RCI and II rules. That is definitely confusing, but it is not indicative necessarily of why SFX couldn't find your reservation when they called.

I hope this helps.

[iceeu2 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close iceeu2]

Boca,

1.Thanks for offering your help. When I called the reservation line, they were able to look at my reservation and the rep told me when he looked in the notes that the exchange to SFX had been declined by Bluegreen because it did not meet the criteria for an exchange.

When I talked to SFX, they told me that Bluegreen said the reservation did not exist.

Two totally different stories.


2. The points issue has been resolved........it was just frustrating having to make so many phone calls AND having to talk to a zillion different people to get it resolved. My point here is to keep track of your points and know when and where they should be credited to you.

Again, thank you.......I'm just saying BG does indeed make mistakes.

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

Boca,

1.Thanks for offering your help. When I called the reservation line, they were able to look at my reservation and the rep told me when he looked in the notes that the exchange to SFX had been declined by Bluegreen because it did not meet the criteria for an exchange.

When I talked to SFX, they told me that Bluegreen said the reservation did not exist.

Two totally different stories.


2. The points issue has been resolved........it was just frustrating having to make so many phone calls AND having to talk to a zillion different people to get it resolved. My point here is to keep track of your points and know when and where they should be credited to you.

Again, thank you.......I'm just saying BG does indeed make mistakes.

One of the things I can do to help is offer you some recommendations on what to ask and who to call when you have an issue. Sometimes, just how you ask the question matters.

It is true that Bluegreen makes mistakes. In my view, a lot of the mistakes can be attributed to a) terrible systems requiring manual processes, b) very complex policies due to the structure of the Club, c) lots of new people being added due to growth of the Club. Bluegreen is adding about 100 new customers every single day. As a result, Club owners are experiencing their growing pains. I expect Bluegreen to move to a new system eventually. It will be very painful for us during that transition. The good news is that their hearts are in the right places.

As a result, often times, the answer you get is a generic one based on what the rep has been trained to give you in that circumstance. It happens quite often. And unfortunately, it creates a huge back and forth just like you experienced.

Here is what I can do is help you and others out. Post your question in the Bluegreen HOA forum and I'll do my best to tell you my understanding of the policy and an approach to resolve you issue faster.

For those who aren't yet members, here is where you can sign up. You must be an owner.
Timeshare Forums Bluegreen HOA

[brucecz Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close brucecz]

If you told them a o(oh) instead of a 0(zero) then they may not be able to pull it up as the Bluegreen reservations only have 0's (zeros) and have no o's.

In regards to reserving a week I have found it best to have them code it for a exchange on every Bluegreen reservation when I first make that reservation. Then if I had planned on not banking it and then changed my mind and decide to bank it then I can avoid having to go back and have it recoded so it can becomes bankable.


There is no downside when reserving a unit having any reservation coded to be bankable. When I reserve CMV UDI weeks I do not pay the Housekeeping fees until I bank a week.

Because if I pay the housekeeping fees and then cancel that reservation then I have to take the time to make sure that my account is credited that housekeeping fee and keep notes to check my monthy charge card statement.

But if I do not pay the housekeeping fee while making a reservation I do not have to spend time making sure that my account and charge card statement is credited if I cancel that reservation and book another reservation in its place.

Seeing I can cancel any of our CMV UDI's at the last minute and have no cancelation charges I may cancel 30 to 50 reservations per year and rebook them at the same time for a check in that may be of more benifit for us. IWe do a lot of flip flopping with the CMV UDI 45 dayers.

Bruce

Boca,

1.Thanks for offering your help. When I called the reservation line, they were able to look at my reservation and the rep told me when he looked in the notes that the exchange to SFX had been declined by Bluegreen because it did not meet the criteria for an exchange.

When I talked to SFX, they told me that Bluegreen said the reservation did not exist.

Two totally different stories.


2. The points issue has been resolved........it was just frustrating having to make so many phone calls AND having to talk to a zillion different people to get it resolved. My point here is to keep track of your points and know when and where they should be credited to you.

Again, thank you.......I'm just saying BG does indeed make mistakes.

[iceeu2 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close iceeu2]

Well, I'm the butthole.........I had a very long and informative conversation with Bluegreen Owner Services. Julia from Bluegreen was very helpful and ever so patient with me. It's all worked out now and I am truly sorry I created such a stir, but now I am INFORMED!

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

Well, I'm the butthole.........I had a very long and informative conversation with Bluegreen Owner Services. Julia from Bluegreen was very helpful and ever so patient with me. It's all worked out now and I am truly sorry I created such a stir, but now I am INFORMED!

What you call a stir, I call exciting. I am pleased that you posted your issue and that it came to a successful conclusion.

If you are having an issue, then others are likely have the same issue. The objective here is to get owners educated on how things work. So, you did a good thing by posting.

I hope others do the same.

I have always said that that the happiest owners are those who know how the Club works and what to expect before they purchase. There are lots of them on this message board.