Sounds unfair, what am I missing?

[barndweller Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close barndweller]

Cathy,
I have got to agree that you need to give SFX a bit more time. I was doing a little trade testing at II today & ran into the problem of exchange limitations. I own at 7 different resorts & have many of my 2008 weeks booked. But only one allows deposits more than 12 months out. That means all those prime summer weeks I have reserved aren't available to deposit yet, even IF my MFs have been paid. So I can't even look to see what's available much less do any trading. I have some requests in at SFX for early 2008 weeks & haven't expected any calls until the last week or so. Those requests have been sitting there for months. Being able to place a request at 18 months just puts you at the head of the line. It's still going to be at least 6 months before most deposits will start to show up for a given destination.

TPI & HTSE don't even take requests for anything over 12 months out. I know some of the seasoned folks here actually book their FF tickets with no confirmed exchanges because of their confidence that they will get what they have requested eventually. I'm not that brave.

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

I think there are a few fundamental questions on this matter doesn't seem to have been raised or answered.
Is there anything on the SFX site, or in the membership pack if such a thing exists, to advise members that searches can only generally be implemented a year ahead of the required occupancy date? If not, was the member advised of the fact when depositing their week?
Did the member advise SFX that they had a deadline for confirmation of exchange due to the requirement to use FF points?
I appreciate that not all the facts are held within this thread, but it does appear that assumptions may have been made on both sides and these may have contributed to the issues now being aired.

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

In my attempts to understand the various interplay of SFX's web functionality, I did see some time limitations regarding requesting intervals:

Gold members who have a deposited interval can request dates of up to 12 months in advance of desired occupancy.

Platinum members under similar circumstances can request dates of up to 18 months in advance. I'm unclear as to whether similar terms apply to request-first, but Mark can clarify.

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I recently read on TUG where a member had resounding success with SFX because she was "persistent" in pursuing her desired Hawaii exchange. By her explanation, this included calling SFX (I assume the rep assigned to her) weekly, although she did not specify how long this went on.

And, perhaps here, "knowing" someone will achieve the same results. What this tells me, as a businessperson, is that things are working completely normally. It's not what you know, it's who you know, and the squeaky wheel gets the grease. That's not an indictment, rather just reality, and occurs in my business every day.

I personally don't believe account issues (as in the specifics of one's personal account) should be posted publicly, but, to the extent that such issues/questions clarify policy or educate the consumer, I think it's good information.

So, in that vein, shall I assume that, in reality, no resorts in Aruba have made intervals available yet for the requested timeframe (Feb 2008) and/or SFX does not have access to those intervals? Would those intervals happen to be high demand, like a holiday? It appears so. This, in my mind, would be a difficult trade, under the best of circumstances. I would still expect SFX to perform, but not this far out, and would plan my travel appropriately. That might mean a backup hotel reservation, using another timeshare, rent-swapping, etc. In nearly all cases, airllines release award seats throughtout the booking period for any given date and I can say from personal experience, booking nearly a million miles worth of FF awards now, that I've never had to book them at 330/331 days to get the seats. Something always opens up, even in premium cabins and to exotic locales. It just takes patience.

We had a similarly date/region restricted request into SFX for a long time that was not filled at the 40 day mark, so I cancelled it and used our backup strategy, a VRBO rental. Did I like that? No. But I learned something. Just as I'm learning here. That's the beauty of this forum.

Hope it works out!

Pat

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

I personally don't believe account issues (as in the specifics of one's personal account) should be posted publicly, but, to the extent that such issues/questions clarify policy or educate the consumer, I think it's good information.

I agree Pat. As BigFrank has already said, the Exchange Company forums aren't intended to be a place to raise personal account issues. There are more generic issues raised here which have potential relevance to users of any exchange company.

[cathyb Member Find all posts View Profile Close cathyb]

yes, lock this up please. Lesson learned by me is don't give up a top week in any other way than Request First.

[Mark @SFX Industry Representative Find all posts View Profile Close Mark @SFX]

May I correct some of your statements:

1. I gave SFX four islands not just Aruba. I did not limit it to one resort but any in Aruba -- this is not considered a strict restriction.
2. I sent both Mel and SFX separate emails on the same day, not just Mel. I can send you a copy of the second if you like.
3. I believe most fixed week resorts one can give their week two years in advance. Example: Carlsbad Inn, fixed week: I can give it to RCI two years out. So that is MORE than a small percentage as you stated. With that information, SFX had more than 4 wks to work on this!
4. As far a special advice from Mel Grant, yes. We have been on first name basis since SFX was brand new and he has even called me at home a few times so naturally I went to him to see if there was anything he could do.

Have a good day, Mark.

Hi Cathy - yes, you did indeed request four islands as your alternative choices. However, the exact same parameters apply .... they all had a restriction for one specific travel week in premium demanded time with no flexibility in areas where demand is drastically higher than supply of space with all exchange companies.

But that aside... you cancelled the search for those requests only after one month of them being in "active search mode", thus not giving fair or reasonable time for results. They were for February 2008, and you cancelled them in early March 2007... with more than 11 months of lead time to do a search, during a window of when space for the most part only starts to become available 12 months in advance.

Hope this helps, as it is almost the same protocol as the other exchange companies.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

yes, lock this up please.

Thread is closed at OP request