Question on money in RCI Account

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

I had some money left in my RCI account from a couple of exchange cancelations or holds taken off. When I decided to leave this money in my account it was my understanding that I could use it when I made my next exchance.
Last night I put an exchange on hold using the on line system. I was supprised that even tho the system listed a money balance in my account it still insisted that I pony up a new exchange fee in order to let me put the property on hold.
Has anyone else had this experience or does any one know if there is a way to actually use the balance available in one's account.
This seems stupid to me in that having a positive balance in my account is not useful for anything. Also, I tried to figure out how to get that money refunded to me since it was not serving the purpose that I thought it would and could not find that option either.
Any light anyone could shed on this for me would be appreciaed.
thanks

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

Glad I'm not the only one who thinks that this is one "glitch" that RCI has no interest <pardon the pun> in fixing.

Imagine how many people have a couple hundred bucks sitting in their accounts.

If you had enough to cover the entire exchange fee you can use the balance. If NOT you must ante up the whole exchange fee.

The only solution is to call and request a refund and/or have the VG use the balance and charge you the difference.

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

I found out about it through experience. Best bet is to demand an immediate refund - why let RCI use your money ?

[zdxlc9p6 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close zdxlc9p6]

I had the same thing happen a couple of years ago. Another example of RCI's lack of customer care. They hold the money, and not even let us use it when we conduct a transaction. Of course, we have to pay the exchange fee as soon as we request a search, which is long before we confirm an exchange. Some probably never recover their money. Just call RCI and ask for the refund, and they will process it immediately.
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[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

Yep they like money and the more they can squeeze out of you the happier they are. I have had the same problem. They force you to call.

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

And sometimes if RCI overcharges you for something, and you find out about it and complain, they don't even put the $$ into your account, they issue a *coupon* which you have to know about (it doesn't show up in your balance), and then you must ask verbally that they use it towards a specific transaction!

See how many phone calls to RCI it takes to get this balance in your account refunded... chances are, more than one. Sometimes I've had to call 5 or 6 times to get that accomplished.

I can't even believe it's legal for RCI to charge our cards for a search... it's like having to pay for merchandise just to step into a store to look around. They operate with quite a float, in many ways!

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

Glad I'm not the only one who thinks that this is one "glitch" that RCI has no interest <pardon the pun> in fixing.Imagine how many people have a couple hundred bucks sitting in their accounts.
If you had enough to cover the entire exchange fee you can use the balance. If NOT you must ante up the whole exchange fee.
The only solution is to call and request a refund and/or have the VG use the balance and charge you the difference.

I had over enough to cover the exchange fee but still had to give another exchange fee because there was no way to use the money in the account towards that in the on line booking process. Maybe if I would have called they would have let me use the money but then that defeats being able to do things on line.

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

I had over enough to cover the exchange fee but still had to give another exchange fee because there was no way to use the money in the account towards that in the on line booking process. Maybe if I would have called they would have let me use the money but then that defeats being able to do things on line.

That's right, you have to call. But you can also hold something online with a cc, then call next day to confirm and use your balance, or request a refund. What I dislike even more is the lack of correspondence regarding payments, so it is very difficult to track whether you're being properly charged/refunded, especially if you do a lot of holds/exchanges/cancellations/etc.

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

RCI never has let you use a balance in your account for an online transaction. You have always had to use new money.

I first bitched about that so many years ago I couldn't even tell you about when it was. 1997 or later.

That is also a problem with the RCI Elite Rewards program. You redeem points for dollars in your account, but you can't use them for online transaction. You do everything else online, but you can't use your own money online.

Another thing is that the balance in your account does not appear online, or least mine hasn't recently.

The only way to use an existing balance is to call a Guide and have them do the transaction. Of course, that is frought with all the dangers associated with letting a Guide mess with your account.

If you are concerned about losing something you see online, you have to use new money to put it on hold and then call a Guide to use a balance in your account, ans ask for a refund of the new charge you made on line.

One thing they have done is sped up how long it takes to get that charge reversed. Guides are still not allowed to do it, but now it takes less than a week, rather than one or two billing cycles on your CC.

No one has ever adequately explained why you can't use an existing balance for an online transaction.

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

They operate with quite a float, in many ways!

This is the explanation, though I'm sure no one from RCI will officially admit it!

Then when they force you to call, they can hopefully get you to bank another week or buy more memberships.

[Bill4728 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Bill4728]

I don't use RCI and am so glad. With II, any time you have extra money due to a canceled request ect, they credit your CC right away. Isn't this the only way to do bussiness?

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

I totally agree with post #8. RCI seems to have an accounting system that is unreliable at best. I have a discrepancy in my points account,and cannot seem to get a statement showing the charges associated with my account. Because of a large number of holds and cancellations, as well as both a points account and weeks account, I cm finding it very difficult to match charges with transactions. That is compounded by the policy of not automatically refunding charges!

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

What I dislike even more is the lack of correspondence regarding payments, so it is very difficult to track whether you're being properly charged/refunded, especially if you do a lot of holds/exchanges/cancellations/etc.

And if you have reason to request a copy of your account in writing so that you can check it out, what you receive is useless because payments and refunds have no reference to specific transactions. This is one of my big pet peeves with RCI and why I dislike doing more than 1 transaction per month. It's a terrible practice for a company this size and seems like it would make audits impossible. Guess they like it that way!

[cmb Member Find all posts View Profile Close cmb]

No they won't..

I had the same thing happen a couple of years ago. Another example of RCI's lack of customer care. They hold the money, and not even let us use it when we conduct a transaction. Of course, we have to pay the exchange fee as soon as we request a search, which is long before we confirm an exchange. Some probably never recover their money. Just call RCI and ask for the refund, and they will process it immediately.
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I called and ask for a refund but the VC (or whatever they're called now) proceeded to argue with me about it - finally saying she would refund it but it never happened and I was just glad to get off the phone at that moment... I guess I'll have to call and go through it all over again - so hard to get my own money back