# RCI will be completely unavailable online & by phone this Friday-Sun



## rfc0001 (Aug 5, 2013)

"RCI Online Availability:

Please be advised that effective Thursday, August 8th at 8pm EST through Monday, August 12th at 12:01am EST, all RCI systems will be down as part of their systems/technology enhancement project, resulting in an outage of all RCI Call Center systems and web functionality. You will be unable to confirm RCI Exchange Reservations during this time. Please try again on Monday, August 12th."


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## BevL (Aug 5, 2013)

Uh oh, that's rarely good news.


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## MichaelColey (Aug 5, 2013)

The last several have been pretty uneventful.  No significant upgrades.  No significant "upgrades".


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## BevL (Aug 5, 2013)

I'm not a sky is falling type but things seem to be very glitchy for several days after.  I have a very low annoyance threshold for that type of thing.  

THanks to the OP for posting this though.  Good to know not to leave anything too long that you have to confirm or what not.


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## rfc0001 (Aug 6, 2013)

BevL said:


> I'm not a sky is falling type but things seem to be very glitchy for several days after.  I have a very low annoyance threshold for that type of thing.
> 
> THanks to the OP for posting this though.  Good to know not to leave anything too long that you have to confirm or what not.


Glad to share.  Wouldn't want anyone with holds to lose them


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## riverdees05 (Aug 6, 2013)

Better copy all important screens, etc. before the outage!


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## Bourne (Aug 6, 2013)

Most of the previous updates have been around performance improvement, building out "my favorite" and better photos/information.

My gut feeling is they are focusing more on usage of the site now to provide a better experience than a major overhaul of underlying algorithms.


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## Harmina (Aug 6, 2013)

We were told yesterday as we were attending a Shell Vacation Club update,  eventually RCI will be charging us to deposit with them, on top of  the exchange fee. Has anyone else heard of  this? I believe it could have been a sales tactic to scare us & getting us to join the SVC which is also affiliated with
Interval International.


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## rapmarks (Aug 6, 2013)

Harmina said:


> We were told yesterday as we were attending a Shell Vacation Club update,  eventually RCI will be charging us to deposit with them, on top of  the exchange fee. Has anyone else heard of  this? I believe it could have been a sales tactic to scare us & getting us to join the SVC which is also affiliated with
> Interval International.



I hope that is a sales tactic.  Not much reason to keep RCI if they do that.

I have a hold, tried to confirm on line and kept getting an error message.  Lost my hold, but was able to gt the hold again at 3 this morning, and plan to call shortly to make sure it goes through.


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## Free2Roam (Aug 6, 2013)

Did they change the system maintenance start date or does Wyndham have it wrong? 

Wyndham's website shows maintenance starting at 8pm on *Friday, August 9th*.  

I don't see anything about the downtime on RCI's home page.


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## rfc0001 (Aug 7, 2013)

FreeIn2010 said:


> Did they change the system maintenance start date or does Wyndham have it wrong?
> 
> Wyndham's website shows maintenance starting at 8pm on *Friday, August 9th*.
> 
> I don't see anything about the downtime on RCI's home page.


The above date is from https://www.hgvclub.com/.  I didn't see any announcement on DVC to compare dates, nor on you RCI.com. If you need to know for sure, you can always contact RCI by phone or chat to confirm: http://www.rci.com/RCI/prelogin/contactUs.do.  You can also contact RCI web support at 866-539-1924.


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## cmh (Aug 7, 2013)

*Launching exciting new benefits?*

I received an email with the following info.  The note says they will be launching exciting new benefits.  Wonder what that could be?

_RCI will be temporarily closed for business over this coming weekend, as we launch exciting new benefits for our RCI® subscribing members.

In order for us to upgrade our systems, RCI.com and our call centers will be temporarily unavailable.

RCI.com will be unavailable between the following times:

From: 11:30pm EDT Thursday, August 8th, 2013
To: 12:01am EDT Monday, August 12th, 2013

Our call center will be closed during the following days:

Friday, August 9th, 2013
Saturday, August 10th, 2013

We will resume our normal business hours on Monday August 12th, 2013 at 8am EDT. If you have any urgent travel issues, please feel free to contact us prior to the closure. When we re-open on Monday, August 12th, we expect higher than normal call volumes so if the matter is not urgent, we suggest that you call later in the week. We apologize in advance for any inconvenience this may cause you.

We appreciate your patience during this time, and we hope you know that we are always working to improve your membership experience. We look forward to sharing exciting news in the near future about new benefits and online enhancements which will help improve your RCI vacation experience-Because your vacation means the world to us®._


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## lalahe (Aug 7, 2013)

I called RCI and asked them about this and what changes they are making.  The guy that I spoke with said that the primary changes were:

- The search is going to be enhanced so that you can filter on multiple areas.  For example - now if you want a beach and family vacation in Mexico you have to choose the filter for beach or family vacation.  The enhancement will let you pick more than one.
- The mobile site is being enhanced so you can do much more through the mobile website like confirm, renew, etc...

He said those were the big changes.


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## janej (Aug 7, 2013)

I received the same email and thought they picked a bad time to do that.   In summer, there are many more people open to travel last minute.  To make the whole company unavailable for 3 days could have a bigger impact than 3 days during school year.


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## geekette (Aug 7, 2013)

in many areas of the country, it already is "the school year."  We already have kids in school here.


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## rfc0001 (Aug 7, 2013)

janej said:


> I received the same email and thought they picked a bad time to do that. In summer, there are many more people open to travel last minute. To make the whole company unavailable for 3 days could have a bigger impact than 3 days during school year.


Since we are throwing stones, I live down the street from RCI, so let me know if you want me to drop some off in person  My wishlist is fixing the ongoing search overlapping date range bug and turning off automatic confirmation for DVC ongoing searches. Is that too much to wish for?


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## rfc0001 (Aug 8, 2013)

RCI *finally* updated their website:


> Due to new product and service enhancements being introduced, RCI.com will be unavailable during the following times: North America - Thursday, Aug 8th, 2013 at 11:30 PM EDT through Monday 12th Aug, 2013 at 12:01 PM EDT. Europe - Friday 9th Aug, 2013 at 4:30 BST through Monday 12th Aug, 2013 at 5:01 BST. South Africa - Friday Aug 9th, 2013 at 5:30 AM SAST through Monday Aug 12th, 2013 at 6:01 AM SAST. India - Friday Aug 9th, 2013 at 09:00 AM IST through Monday Aug 12th, 2013 at 9:31 AM IST. Asia - 11:30 AM SGT on Friday 9th, Aug through to 9:00 AM SGT Tuesday 13th Aug. Australia - 1:30 PM EST Friday 9th Aug through to 8:00 AM EST Tuesday 13th Aug.


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## ScubaKat (Aug 8, 2013)

I just talked to RCI.. while we were finishing up the rep mentioned that I had a vacation still on hold that expires tonight.  I hadn't decided on that week yet trying to figure out schedules etc.. she said she can extend it to tomorrow and since they are doing the update all holds will be held until Monday so I have until Monday to decide..   I won't be too stressed if they lost that week on hold but thought I would pass this along.


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## Egret1986 (Aug 8, 2013)

*Good to know.*



ScubaKat said:


> I just talked to RCI.. while we were finishing up the rep mentioned that I had a vacation still on hold that expires tonight.  I hadn't decided on that week yet trying to figure out schedules etc.. she said she can extend it to tomorrow and since they are doing the update all holds will be held until Monday so I have until Monday to decide..   I won't be too stressed if they lost that week on hold but thought I would pass this along.



I put a couple of holds on today.  Like you, I won't be stressed if they are lost during the shutdown and upgrade.  But I may get more time to make a decision.


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## skimble (Aug 9, 2013)

These upgrades are happening at the 10 months window for June (Prime vacation time for many locations)... I have to wonder if there is a correlation-- and what might be brewing.


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## skimble (Aug 9, 2013)

My cable company gave us a refund for days we had without the service of CBS affiliates.
My internet provider gave us a refund for a day when service was down last year.  
... Think RCI will pro-rate our membership and tack on 3 days?


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## rfc0001 (Aug 9, 2013)

skimble said:


> My cable company gave us a refund for days we had without the service of CBS affiliates.
> My internet provider gave us a refund for a day when service was down last year.
> ... Think RCI will pro-rate our membership and tack on 3 days?


:rofl: How is RCI going to pay for giving their employees a 2-day vacation then?  FWIW, drove by their office this AM and parking lot was still full, so my guess is the new system is already up and they are all banging on it internally for a couple days before opening up the flood gates.


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## dreamin (Aug 9, 2013)

Someone from the IT department at RCI told me their whole department was receiving training on the new system this weekend.  I'm sure that the vacation guides are also included in the 2-day training sessions.  She wouldn't divulge any details.  I got the impression that major changes are coming.  She did say that usually some current features need to be removed to make room for the new features.


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## schiff1997 (Aug 10, 2013)

LOL not so down I was able to book a vacation online a few minutes ago .  Anyone else ?


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## Free2Roam (Aug 10, 2013)

I've been in and out all day but not all features were available at all times. I like that they moved the date ranges to the left with the other searches,   rather than having that at the bottom. And it seems that when I change to view 25 resorts per page, it doesn't reset back to 10 when I change search criteria.  Anybody notice other changes?


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## rfc0001 (Aug 10, 2013)

I was able to get in and see My Account, but couldn't browse availability. The only difference I noted was that it now complains I don't have the latest version of my browser (I'm using IE *11*) which is a rookie mistake in browser detection (they are just looking at the first character of the version which is "1" in 10 or 11; modern web development standards dictate not to use browser detection *at all* in favor of feature detection). Suffice it to say RCI is hopelessly behind the times when it comes to modern software development (no surprise).


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## schiff1997 (Aug 10, 2013)

I still continue to have full access even posted a DVC unit on sightings board


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## rickandcindy23 (Aug 10, 2013)

Harmina said:


> We were told yesterday as we were attending a Shell Vacation Club update,  eventually RCI will be charging us to deposit with them, on top of  the exchange fee. Has anyone else heard of  this? I believe it could have been a sales tactic to scare us & getting us to join the SVC which is also affiliated with
> Interval International.



No one is ever charged for deposits, so that is a baffling claim.  Maybe Shell wants housekeeping fees for RCI deposits in the future.  They haven't ever charged us HK for depositing to any exchange company.  That could be coming, and maybe transaction fees, too.  Shell would be very likely to blame it on the exchange companies.  I see that as more credible. 

As far as I know, II is the official exchange company of Shell.  If Shell also goes to RCI again, then we will see what options we get as Shell owners.  Shell may indeed have some ongoing issues with RCI from the last time Shell was with RCI.  Seems they were a major headache for RCI, which is what I understood from talking to someone who works for RCI.  He said Shell would have to pay them to go back.  I laughed, but maybe....

Could just be salesman's lies.  I am so used to it, I don't even listen to the sales department at any resort.  Probably the best presentation we attended was at Sheraton Vistana in October.  Really enjoyed talking to the lady, and she was kind and didn't lie once.


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## rfc0001 (Aug 10, 2013)

rickandcindy23 said:


> No one is ever charged for deposits, so that is a baffling claim. Maybe Shell wants housekeeping fees for RCI deposits in the future. They haven't ever charged us HK for depositing to any exchange company. That could be coming, and maybe transaction fees, too. Shell would be very likely to blame it on the exchange companies. I see that as more credible.
> 
> As far as I know, II is the official exchange company of Shell. If Shell also goes to RCI again, then we will see what options we get as Shell owners. Shell may indeed have some ongoing issues with RCI from the last time Shell was with RCI. Seems they were a major headache for RCI, which is what I understood from talking to someone who works for RCI. He said Shell would have to pay them to go back. I laughed, but maybe....
> 
> Could just be salesman's lies. I am so used to it, I don't even listen to the sales department at any resort. Probably the best presentation we attended was at Sheraton Vistana in October. Really enjoyed talking to the lady, and she was kind and didn't lie once.


HGVC charges a fee for deposits to RCI -- so it may not be RCI rather Shell.  Then again, HGVC charges a fee for everything


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## rickandcindy23 (Aug 10, 2013)

rfc0001 said:


> HGVC charges a fee for deposits to RCI -- so it may not be RCI rather Shell.  Then again, HGVC charges a fee for everything



As does WorldMark, so as I said, looks more like Shell will be charging owners, rather than RCI.  HK and transaction fees seems normal for the mini systems, and Shell has not charged those before.  They will soon, I fear.  I am not happy about it.


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## rfc0001 (Aug 10, 2013)

schiff1997 said:


> I still continue to have full access even posted a DVC unit on sightings board


I have two "b2b" RCI accounts (HGVC and DVC) and I am able to log in to see my account, which takes me to https://b2b.rci.com/RCI/login/login.do, however all of the links off of this page link to prepb2b.rci.com... (e.g. http://prepb2b.rci.com/RCI/rCIPointsVacation.do), which is a different site, thus I get a "Session Timeout Error" since I am not logged into that site. I can manually change the URLs to change prepb2b to b2b and it works. Prepb2b is probably their staging site for the new site, and at some point they will switch over the DNS to point to the new site and change the URLs back to b2b. This is pretty common for major website deployments. So, right now if you are getting in you may be hitting portions of the old site or portions of the new site and may run into issues like I did were my "session timed out" when you jump to portions of the new site from the old site. If you are an individual RCI member, you can probably log into the new site when you "time out", but since I am reliant on my host site to authenticate me, I'm stuck hitting the old site and manually changing the URLS. I have no real need to do so, other than poke around and see if there is any hidden treasure available  Right now, looks like it did at Thursday at 11:37 PM, which makes sense because they extended everyone's holds until Monday.


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## schiff1997 (Aug 10, 2013)

rfc0001 said:


> I have two "b2b" RCI accounts (HGVC and DVC) and I am able to log in to see my account, which takes me to https://b2b.rci.com/RCI/login/login.do, however all of the links off of this page link to prepb2b.rci.com... (e.g. http://prepb2b.rci.com/RCI/rCIPointsVacation.do), which is a different site, thus I get a "Session Timeout Error" since I am not logged into that site. I can manually change the URLs to change prepb2b to b2b and it works. Prepb2b is probably their staging site for the new site, and at some point they will switch over the DNS to point to the new site and change the URLs back to b2b. This is pretty common for major website deployments. So, right now if you are getting in you may be hitting portions of the old site or portions of the new site and may run into issues like I did were my "session timed out" when you jump to portions of the new site from the old site. If you are an individual RCI member, you can probably log into the new site when you "time out", but since I am reliant on my host site to authenticate me, I'm stuck hitting the old site and manually changing the URLS. I have no real need to do so, other than poke around and see if there is any hidden treasure available  Right now, looks like it did at Thursday at 11:37 PM, which makes sense because they extended everyone's holds until Monday.



Well that didn't last too long, access no longer available for me


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## rfc0001 (Aug 11, 2013)

schiff1997 said:


> Well that didn't last too long, access no longer available for me


The new site is up: https://www.rci.com/RCI/.


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## ampaholic (Aug 11, 2013)

*Back up for me ....*

In points - I see new search features like state by state in map view and a better date search so far so good.


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## cmh (Aug 11, 2013)

ampaholic said:


> In points - I see new search features like state by state in map view and a better date search so far so good.



The site is back up.  I'm in the weeks program. Not noticing any differences yet.  All my vacations, reservations and deposits are correct and intact.


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## BevL (Aug 11, 2013)

LIke the new date range feature - it was a pain clicking through a month at a time.


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## skimble (Aug 11, 2013)

BevL said:


> LIke the new date range feature - it was a pain clicking through a month at a time.



Like it too!


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## ronandjoan (Aug 12, 2013)

BevL said:


> LIke the new date range feature - it was a pain clicking through a month at a time.



I saw no easier search procedures in the weeks side


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