My wife received this high pressure call and paid 695.00 down, $2500 total i think, on the assumption we would receive some kind of contract, TOS and payment schedule. This was on the Saturday before Thanksgiving and the sales rep, michelle, was supposed to call us back the next tuesday to explain some more stuff.. Well tuesday came and went along with November, by the time we were able to contact Michelle it was the 2nd week of December, she was sick and busy so she couldnt call us like she promised?!?!? We were concerned because in the sales phone call Michelle promised us to bank our 2010 unused emerald bay week. After my wife finally got ahold of her she gave her some BS info on what we had to do to bank the week. After a few more days of annoying emails and phone calls we decided to cancel and get a refund because the service wasnt what they promised. We emailed her and told her we wanted to cancel and she finally replied saying we needed to call her to cancel. After calling her, and talking to her supervisor Melora, we were told we could cancel but no refund because we only had 10 days for refund. We were then pointed to the TOS on their webpage and it stated 30 days for initial membership and 10 days for renewal, upgrade or promotional. But we had to send a letter to their office, so on the 29th day I overnight a letter along with the 2 free trip vultures, we were promised 4 but only received 2 20+ days after the initial payment. I also canceled my Debit Card and notified my bank i was going to dispute the charge. As per bank policy i have to give them 30 days to refund and then i can start the dispute. we finally received a call today, after numerous call on our end to be told again we canceled to late and they will not refund the 695.00. That's a pretty big penalty for no services rendered at all. And yesterday i received another call from their payment processing saying my monthly payment couldnt be processed, please call them back to update my card info.. Wow 2+ weeks after i follow their outdated TOS cancellation process they are still trying to process another payment. So i'm waiting until the 20th to see if hopefully my bank will refund me the $$.
So in my opinion this is another BS way to steal $$ from people. one of the promotions i was sent was a buy on get one free plane ticket, one coach ticket that i can normally get for 300.00 or less was over $650.00 if thats what the rest of their "good deals' then i hate to see what the banked weeks would buy. Also after doing some research this company PB black diamond is run by Our Vacation Center (OVC), which isn't owned by Pueblo Bonito like they lead us to believe they are owned by International Cruise and Excursion(ICE) which also owns RCI and a bunch of other vacation companies.
So we never received any type of guarantee/documentation on price or services, much less any services, they didnt even bank the week for us, but they think they are entitled to 695.00??? This really puts a sour taste in my mouth for PB also. I've never used RCI or anything like it before, we have 1 week at sunset and emerald, but it seemed like a good option until i got a taste of how the customer service was. Anyone know of any other steps i can take to ensure i get my $$ back?
Thanks
Mike
I have the Black Diamond Membership and just came on here to look up the phone number to call my account manager to have my yearly fees reimbursed. I have been doing it every year for the last 2 years and I love the fact that I can use the money I pay each year in fees now for airfare. I fly my Mom here for Christmas every year. Why not, I know Im not going to go to Mexico right now so I may as well get something out of what I pay every year anyway. My advice to you is to get an account manager you can talk to, ask some questions and have the exchange process explained. The membership works. I got 2 free vacations with my membership and used them right away -went on the Epic for a free cruise with my husband and ALSO went to Hawaii with 4 people for the other free vacation- had a ball on both.
