Guest Certificate Dance of Idiocy

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

I'm completely frustrated with RCI's broken system with regards to Guest Certificates.

I've used them 3 times in the last year. Once for my sister-in-law this past summer, once for a wedding present for a grad student who will be traveling in January, and another for a friend next May. None of the three were delivered correctly.

For my S-I-L, I called 2 days before their vacation, and the VC immediately mailed me a certifiate (to my gmail account).

For the other two, I've requested the GC a total of 7 times now, and not yet received any. I've asked for paper copies; they don't come. The VCs insist that they can't send an e-mail one to me directly, but that they have to fill out a form that requests someone else within RCI to send out the certificate. This is totally brain-dead.

I know that they can send me e-mail, because I get almost daily spam from them about extra vacations that I'll never take. So clearly there's some breakdown in their internal system, but getting them to acknowledge there might be a problem there is impossible.

I laughed out loud, and not in a good way, when the phone message at RCI began, "Visit the new RCI.com, better than it's ever been!" Oh, yeah, it's *sooooo* good...

So, is anyone else having trouble getting guest certificates out of RCI?

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

I just printed the one from the website and mailed it to my "guest". Took about 15 seconds. Good thing because I never got anything in the mail.

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

I think I need to get a GC for my son. I am not really sure. His address is the same as ours and so is his last name. But this is the Mayan Palace in PV and I don't want any problems. I have not done it yet but I looked at the form online and it shows an email address. I guess I figured they would just email it to him. Is this not the case? He doesn't need it until mid December - but I did not realize there might be a problem if I get it last minute.

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

I had a problem about a year ago. No email, no letter, no nothing. Phone assurances that it would come. never did.

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

All you need to do is go into your online account with RCI. Find your exchange and click on the "Print confirmation" button. It will print out the confirmation AND the Guest Certificate. Easy peasy.

[regatta333 Member Find all posts View Profile Close regatta333]

All you need to do is go into your online account with RCI. Find your exchange and click on the "Print confirmation" button. It will print out the confirmation AND the Guest Certificate. Easy peasy.

This only works if you booked with a searchable week. For any generic deposits, you have to book and do a guest certificate through a VC and you are at their mercy.

I have not only had problems with guest certificates in the past, but with my own confirmations. For the last trip I confirmed, I got no email confirmations. Had to call numerous times. Finally, I told them to send me a hardcopy and three separate confirmations arrived for the same stay. What an operation!

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

I have never received a paper copy in the mail or an emailed copy of any reservation or guest certificate in my 10-year career with RCI. I print them off the website under "My Account"

[Joe L Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Joe L]

This seems to be a non issue. I've had numerous situations where i needed a Guest Certificate. I just printed them online. Never a problem and immediate.

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

I have never received a paper copy in the mail or an emailed copy of any reservation or guest certificate in my 10-year career with RCI. I print them off the website under "My Account"

Unfortunately, for points reservations, they're not there.

I can see the confirmation, but not the guest certificate. The confirmation does say "guest name" with the guest's name on it, but years ago, I used to get an actual separate piece of paper labeled as a Guest Certificate. Also, the confirmation says that it is only transferable in the presence of a Guest Certificate, which would seem to imply they're still separate documents.

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

I was also told they could not e-mail them but they did fax them to me twice.

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

And the dance continues!

Waiting for me in my inbox this morning were two more copies of the confirmations for the two reservations, but no Guest Certificates. The VC I spoke with yesterday said that the confirmation included the GC, but nowhere in what they sent me is the name of my guest even listed; and the section on transferring use of the vacation says we must have a guest certificate.

"Why must I be surrounded by frickin' idiots?"

-- Dr. Evil

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

Unfortunately, for points reservations, they're not there.

I can see the confirmation, but not the guest certificate. The confirmation does say "guest name" with the guest's name on it, but years ago, I used to get an actual separate piece of paper labeled as a Guest Certificate. Also, the confirmation says that it is only transferable in the presence of a Guest Certificate, which would seem to imply they're still separate documents.

That's what my dd had, the confirmation with the guest certificate attached, and it worked just fine for her. And this was for a recent stay (like last week).

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

It took me several months of trying to get a printed copy of a confirmation sent for my FINAL RCI exchange, as they just kept sending e-mail versions. I figure for what I had to pay, they could at least send me a paper copy in the mail.

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

That's what my dd had, the confirmation with the guest certificate attached, and it worked just fine for her. And this was for a recent stay (like last week).

I guess I'm not being clear: there is no guest certificate attached to the confirmation I have. The ones RCI keeps sending me don't even mention the guest's name anywhere. The one I can download off of the web site doesn't indicate it's a guest certificate (it looks exactly like the confirmations I can print for my own reservations, except that where mine say "Steve Chapin" under "Guest," the ones for other people say "John Smith." There is no guest certificate there).

I've thought about sending my guests with that confirmation and hoping it's enough, but that's different than what RCI has sent in the past for Guest Certificates, so I'm not sanguine that it would work.

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

Sorry, I wasn't understanding your problem. I thought you were looking for a separate button, or link online, to the Guest Certificate.

I went back to look at what I had gotten for my daughter. When I went to the confirmed unit, there was a button to the right that said "print confirmation". When I clicked on that, the confirmation opened up. It showed my name at the top, then below it showed my dd's name as the Guest. It was all one document. That is what I printed and mailed to her for her to use.