Mgv Owners: Do Not Transfer To Diamond!!!
Let me first share the experience my wife and I had at our recent "Owner's Update" at the Palm Canyon Resort in Palm Springs this past week, then I’ll share my thoughts on that experience.
When we checked in, we signed up for an Owner’s Update as we were curious to learn how Diamond’s new ownership of MGV would affect our Monarch points etc. When we sat down with a sales rep, he didn’t even bother to butter us up at all, he just went right in with how the program we’d bought into would no longer be available. When we last purchased points, Monarch had sold us on a program that would give us numerous extras and benefits once we got to 600 total points. We are currently at 399 and had planned to reach the 600 points in the next 4-5 years. Now, that was no longer available.
Next, he explained what our options would be if we wanted to transfer our points to the Diamond system. This is where things got really weird. He first informed us that our points would transfer at an exchange rate BETWEEN 15 & 30x as Diamond operates on thousands while Monarch operates on hundreds. When we asked why there wasn’t a fixed rate of transfer for the points, he said "I don't know." We then immediately asked, what is the variable in the exchange rate based on, credit, length of time as owners or something else. His answer again was, “I don’t know.”
He then showed us a couple of examples of their points system and what would be required to stay at certain resorts. Right now, our 399 points are good for 3 weeks total in a one bedroom at Cabo Azul where the time was originally purchased over two years. At the low end 15x exchange rate, we’d have 5,985 points in the Diamond program for one year, but a number of the resorts we were shown required close to 7,000 points for a week in a one bedroom. We were less than thrilled.
So, our next question was how many points in the Diamond system would it take to stay in a one bedroom at Cabo Azul for a week. He couldn’t answer this question either. His response was, “we won’t know until January 1st, 2013 when Diamond takes control of their portions of the MGV properties." At this point, we were pretty unimpressed and somewhat perturbed by this whole situation and so the saleman asked his supervisor over to help clarify some of the points. She basically went through the same exact pitch, unable to answer the same questions, but instead of approaching the exchange from the low end, she used examples of the 30x exchange ratio. When we asked her what the exchange ratio was based on, she said, “I don’t know.”
WHAT THE HELL?!?!?!? This is like a crap shoot or a lottery. I’m not gambling with the value of our existing timeshare, hoping it will work out in our favor! Who would take this offer, it’s INSANE!
So, then they said, “we’ll be willing to waive the new member fee of $2,995 if you sign up with us today, but you’ll need to purchase a minimum of 2,500 points with us as well.” We told them there was no way we’d gamble with our Monarch points when they couldn’t tell us what the exchange rate was based on and because there is no example of how many Diamond points will be needed to stay at any of the Monarch resorts, there is no way for us to quantify the value of Diamond’s points system. To this, the woman supervisor said, “I just showed you a number of examples of how many points would be required to stay at different Diamond resorts.” I retorted, “I haven’t stayed at any of these places, I haven’t seen the stats on these rooms, a list of the amenities, or more than one picture of the front of the resort. I cannot possible assess the value of a one bedroom at these resorts we’ve never been to or had the chance to research.
With that, we said we would not be switching to Diamond at this time and they asked us to sign a form that said we acknowledged we were offered the deal where they’d waive the $2,995 entrance fee and it would not be available to us again. We refused to sign it. I told them it was not fair to be given an ultimatum when we only wanted an update on the goings on of the company. Especially when there were so many unanswered questions and we had not been given substantial time to review the Diamond program or their many properties.
They did not make us sign it and neither should anyone else. This sales pitch was the worst I’ve ever heard, we were literally floored by the unprecedented approach they took in trying to convince us to switch with minimal information being provided. Why would anyone make a decision of that magnitude based on hearsay and speculation?!?!? Until Diamond can offer rock solid information about how they are converting Monarch owners and are able to give comparison points rates for the existing Monarch properties using their points system, it is absurd that anyone would even consider switching over.
Don’t be fooled by their pitch, don’t buy into something where a company is asking you to gamble with the value of your existing timeshare and they have no way to give you a quantified value to compare your existing points to.
