Take Screenshots on Deposit

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

Sigh. RCI IT strikes again.

Two days ago, a resort at which I own a couple of weeks saw deposit trade power values increase slightly for my 2012 intervals. Like a good Pavlovian mutt, I pre-paid my fees and deposited them.

Yesterday, the deposit calculator listed the same (slightly higher) values that I saw on Monday. Today, the calculator listed the slightly lower values that I saw on Sunday and prior. Today was also the day that the resort confirmed the deposits with RCI.

Sure enough, when the units confirmed, I was given the lower TPU values, not the higher values; they had been at the higher levels when they were Pending Confirmation, but adjusted downward when they confirmed.

A supervisor claimed that she was unable to see what the trade power valuations were two days ago, only what they are today. She was unwilling to make any adjustments, but was able to pull back my weeks from deposit. She also tried to tell me that the value should be set on the day the resort verifies, rather than the day it was deposited, at which point I quoted the new disclosure guide to her. (The relevant bit is Section 8, Paragraph A: "“Deposit Trading Power” is the value derived by RCI and assigned to a unit of Vacation Time upon Deposit of such Vacation Time)

I was transferred to Web Support, where the person I spoke with confirmed that the intent was to award the trade power as it stands on the day you deposit, not the day it is verified by the resort. Unfortunately, he was unable to see the history of Trading Power assignments, only what was there today, so he was unwilling (or perhaps unable) to put in the deposits at the values I saw on Monday.

The moral of the story: *take screen shots* every single time you make a deposit. Had I had one, the supervisor told me she would have been willing to look into this further.

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

The moral of the story: *take screen shots* every single time you make a deposit. Had I had one, the supervisor told me she would have been willing to look into this further.

FYI - the new "Snipping Tool" in Windows 7 is a marvelously easy way to do screen shots. To find it, enter "snipping tool" in the search programs box on the start menu.

I now have it pinned to my Start Menu since I use it so frequently.

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

I was afraid of this - was waiting for someone to report it. More "bait and switch" built into the system, though probably not on purpose. It could work the other way in some cases, but if we are depositing based on the deposit calculator, we should absolutely be given what is calculated when he hit the "deposit" button.

I have a feeling it's a programming issue - the system probably doesn't do any calculation or assigning of tp until it's verified. That's why some weeks used to take a little while to "percolate..." RCI needs to fix this on the programming side - I can only imagine how long that will take.

Every member experiencing anything like this should report it both on the phone and in writing.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

So, withdraw them.

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

More "bait and switch" built into the system, though probably not on purpose.

No, I don't think it was either. I suspect they just screwed up. The tech support guy sounded genuinely surprised, and did confirm that date-of-deposit was supposed to be the value assigned, not date-of-verification. As usual, the tech guys were much more savvy than either the guides or the supervisors.

the system probably doesn't do any calculation or assigning of tp until it's verified.

It did, actually---it had the larger values assigned to it while it was Pending Verification, but was reassigned when it verified. The "percolating" seems to be with new intervals (or intervals that haven't been deposited in a few years) but if the interval is deposited regularly, it usually was associated with "normal" trade power even while pending.

It's okay; these are summer '12 weeks, so I have time to be patient. I'll just wait to see if they go back up, and redeposit---with a screen shot next time. Good point about "in writing", though. I will follow up with a note.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

On the other hocus-pocus TPU thread, I just posted that five of six of the weeks we own changed in the last two days.

http://www.timeshareforums.com/forum...hanging-3.html

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

I'm surprise no one from RCI had access to the historical data from any date. When I worked at an airline, regular reservation agents could look at historical fares but supervisors could look at seat availability for each historical fare and see how many seats were sold on that date at each fare. So if a customer claimed he was ticketed for the wrong date or the wrong flight and called within 24 hours of receiving the confirmation and claimed the agent booked it wrong, they could determine if the fare was even available on the other flights on that date. It's kind of unbelievable that no one at RCI thought agents or at least supervisors would need to access the trading power data.

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

I'm sure *someone* there does. Just not the three people I spoke with.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

It's kind of unbelievable that no one at RCI thought agents or at least supervisors would need to access the trading power data.

Never.

During the top-secret days, very few were trusted, or entrusted, with any of that.

I once submitted more than 100 pages of trading power info and the two people in customer service working with me to try to resolve an issue never could get a techie to respond to them.

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

In continuing bunglement, I had another "amusing" call with Web support. Apparently, once deposits are withdrawn, they cannot be deposited again online, but must be deposited by phone. So much for taking a screen shot "next time."

Sigh. I like the web support people I speak with. They all seem like reasonably competent people. But, collectively they just can't seem to produce a web site that actually does what you'd think it should do.

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

Several days ago, in my email inbox, I got deposit confirmation notices---at the correct (higher) TPU values. This was several days after withdrawing them. I sent these to feedback@rci as attachments, asking for the deposits to be reinstated at those valuations. Today I received a reply stating that RCI would honor the TPU values as listed in the deposit notices.

So, it worked out in the end. It took more work than necessary, but RCI did honor the original valuations once they had evidence of them.

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

Several days ago, in my email inbox, I got deposit confirmation notices---at the correct (higher) TPU values. This was several days after withdrawing them. I sent these to feedback@rci as attachments, asking for the deposits to be reinstated at those valuations. Today I received a reply stating that RCI would honor the TPU values as listed in the deposit notices.

So, it worked out in the end. It took more work than necessary, but RCI did honor the original valuations once they had evidence of them.

You just should not have to jump thru all these hoops - it truly is a house of cards....swaying in the breeze.

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

FYI - the new "Snipping Tool" in Windows 7 is a marvelously easy way to do screen shots. To find it, enter "snipping tool" in the search programs box on the start menu.

I now have it pinned to my Start Menu since I use it so frequently.

Steve, thanks for the tip. This was news to me. I've had a s/w program called 'Snagit' for some time which has been great, but this is a neat shortcut built right in.

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

You can still take a screenie of pending deposits. My CMV UDI units have to be deposited by phone (the RCI deposit page has the wrong # of BR on them, and won't allow me to enter the requisite information; it would be much more flexible if they didn't hard-code in allowable deposits based on past deposits),
but I can see them in the list as pending a few minutes after being on the phone, and verify that they're showing the TP I was quoted.