Shell Owners-be aware of fees!

Be careful of the fees you pay for reservations. I have been charged 2 or 3 times for a single reservation. I was told that any overcharges would "fall off" but they have not. I have had to call to get a refund-which was done w/o argument. Also, I have not been able to make online reservations-some glitch in their website, so have asked to pay $17 (on-line fee). and not $25 (telephone fee) when I had to call an agent to book something. I'm still not sure why one must pay all these fees to use something they already bought and paid for.

I am dealing with the same issues. Shell's website is horrible. You can see availability, but booking is another thing altogether.

Don't talk to Rod. He is not a nice guy. First, every owner should get two free transactions per year. I didn't get any starting 3/1, when my use year began, and he said it doesn't have to do with use year but when I used the free transactions. I haven't gotten any free transactions in very long time. He couldn't tell me when I supposedly got the free transactions.

I am also dealing with the $17.50 X 8 or 9 from last month. I cannot believe I have to call to get a refund. I do not like calling Shell.

Does anyone have an extention for Hector ????? (Name beginning with H, maybe wrong about the name.)

Fees, Fees and a lot more Fees...

loosefeet said:

Be careful of the fees you pay for reservations. I have been charged 2 or 3 times for a single reservation. I was told that any overcharges would "fall off" but they have not. I have had to call to get a refund-which was done w/o argument. Also, I have not been able to make online reservations-some glitch in their website, so have asked to pay $17 (on-line fee). and not $25 (telephone fee) when I had to call an agent to book something. I'm still not sure why one must pay all these fees to use something they already bought and paid for.

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Welcome to the Wyndham where your money is their money. Wyndham is all about fees, fees and more fees. Anything to get into you pockets and take your money. This is just the beginning...

Last time that happened to me, I emailed in (per Beefnot's instructions). It took about a week, but they were removed from my credit cards and I got email confirmations about the refunds.

I haven't had the issue with not getting my 2 free transactions per use year. This isn't something new. It's always been that you get 2 free transactions per year and you pay $17.50 for an additional online or $25. by phone. You can do multiple transactions at the same time and it counts as one.

The big drag about it to me is that if you think you want to book something and do, you used one transaction. If you change your mind and cancel, you've used both your annual transactions. With Worldmark, I can book and cancel reservations every day of the year without paying any fees. Hilton charges a lot more for making reservations and only booking home week is free. I guess Shell is in the middle of those other 2 systems.

Well, I haven't had a free transaction since early March of last year. And who can tell, if the transactions aren't free at the beginning of your use year. You look at every transaction and it says you weren't charged. Just look at your history, and you will see your transaction charges do not show on your end, even when viewing the confirmation.

I am just annoyed with the entire Shell reservation process, but things will improve eventually, I hope! They have to get a lot of complaints, so lots of calls. I hope they lay Rod off before anyone else, when the calls slow because the system works better.

morrisjim said:

Welcome to the Wyndham where your money is their money. Wyndham is all about fees, fees and more fees. Anything to get into you pockets and take your money. This is just the beginning...

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Except with Wyndham, when there has been online glitches and people are forced to call in they've generally waived the call center fee for me. This was mostly with Wyndham RCI reservations/ongoing searches, but they can be accommodating if there are unusual circumstances (and perhaps a little charm and pleasantry on the part of the caller ). YMMV.

rickandcindy23 said:

You look at every transaction and it says you weren't charged. Just look at your history, and you will see your transaction charges do not show on your end, even when viewing the confirmation.

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I had that experience, too. When I called in to ask for something I could print out (I was going to be reimbursed from a third party), they said I wasn't charged and that it was one of my free ones, but I know I paid. I got frustrated and gave up.

At any rate, today is a really bad day to use the website. I was trying to look at Vino Bello and got in internal error. I tried again later and am stuck in a loop that says I need to log in whenever I click the resort. It worked yesterday, so maybe tomorrow will be better.

presley said:

I had that experience, too. When I called in to ask for something I could print out (I was going to be reimbursed from a third party), they said I wasn't charged and that it was one of my free ones, but I know I paid. I got frustrated and gave up....

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Ever tried going down the credit card dispute route? It seems then that the vendor (Shell in this case) would have to show the cc company how the charge was legitimate.

Or would that open up another can of worms?

rickandcindy23 said:

I am dealing with the same issues. Shell's website is horrible. You can see availability, but booking is another thing altogether.

Don't talk to Rod. He is not a nice guy. First, every owner should get two free transactions per year. I didn't get any starting 3/1, when my use year began, and he said it doesn't have to do with use year but when I used the free transactions. I haven't gotten any free transactions in very long time. He couldn't tell me when I supposedly got the free transactions.

I am also dealing with the $17.50 X 8 or 9 from last month. I cannot believe I have to call to get a refund. I do not like calling Shell.

Does anyone have an extention for Hector ????? (Name beginning with H, maybe wrong about the name.)

Click to expand...

Funny thing is I have no problem with Rod. I have talked to him many times and all good. Maybe personality conflict? I like Hector, I will PM his extension. I have several extensions if anyone has a favorite they can Pm me.

I abhor the Shell site. Since late January I have been unable to complete a reservation online without getting a bogus cc charge and no reservation to boot. I have to call 100% of the time to make any reservations. And then Vino Bello's server was down yet again recently for a full week, and there was ZERO way to make a reservation there unless one found the right person in customer care (different number) to work out a side transaction.

This is highly frustrating. What other company would any customer put up with being able to perform an online transaction for MONTHS or not be able to reserve in any manner for an entire week? Without so much as an email notifying us of the issues and another notifying us when issues have been resolved. Shell is downright disgraceful in this regard.

uscav8r said:

Ever tried going down the credit card dispute route? It seems then that the vendor (Shell in this case) would have to show the cc company how the charge was legitimate.

Or would that open up another can of worms?

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Either way works. I have done both with Shell, though most of the time I contact them directly to handle.

I must be the lucky one. Just checked and I'm having no problem (at the moment) attempting to book Vino Bello. I' use Chrome as my browser. I've never had to pay a transaction or housekeeping fee.
We do stay within our housekeeping limits, not sure of transaction limits.

Rumpled said:

I must be the lucky one. Just checked and I'm having no problem (at the moment) attempting to book Vino Bello. I' use Chrome as my browser. I've never had to pay a transaction or housekeeping fee.
We do stay within our housekeeping limits, not sure of transaction limits.

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Vino Bello was down from approximately Apr 2nd thru 8th, and could not be booked at all if you tried online or calling via the regular reservations line. Supposedly Shell's IT people were able to work with the Vino Bello IT guy (who I am convinced is one of their bell hops moonlighting as a tech guy on the side) to fix Vino Bello's server.

As long as your reservations do not require a credit card, you will be fine. If a transaction fee comes into play, pray for patience and a gentle spirit.