Abound contest

[dioxide45]

Well I have spent the last week going back and forth with owner services about my missing vacation club points. According to them, you can only win one instant prize of 500 points. I have read their rules and I believe that they are incorrect (as I know people who have received multiple 500 point wins). I believe that owner services is confusing instant wins with Weekly prize wins (which are different and which cannot be won more than once). The person that I have been dealing with is very nice but I think that I might need to escalate. Does anyone have a good contact that helped them with their missing prize wins?

Thanks in advance.

Yeah, I am not buying that. Per the rules;
5. Sweepstakes/Instant Win Game: Administrator is an independent judging organization whose decisions as to the administration and operation of the Promotion and the selection of potential winners are final and binding in all matters related to the Promotion. Sweepstakes: Administrator will select the potential Sweepstakes winners using a random, computer-generated process, from all eligible entries on or around 12:00 p.m. ET on the dates outlined in Section 3 above for the applicable Entry Period in Southfield, MI U.S.A. Limit one (1) Weekly Sweepstakes win per person. Weekly Sweepstakes and Grand Prize Sweepstakes winners will be notified upon the prize draw being made (see Section 3 above). Notification may be by mail, email or phone. Instant Win Game: Two thousand eight hundred thirty-two (2,832) random, computer-generated winning times, one for each prize listed below, will be generated during the Promotion Period for Vistana Signature Experiences timeshare Owners. Two thousand eight hundred thirty-two (2,832) random, computer- generated winning times, one for each prize listed below, will be generated during the Promotion Period for the Marriott Vacation Club timeshare Owners. Those winning times will not be published and there may be certain days during the Promotion that do not have any winning times. If you are the first player to play the Instant Win Game at or after one of the randomly generated times, you will be a potential winner of the prize indicated. Anyone who plays the Instant Win Game before that time, and anyone who plays after the potential winner but before the next Instant Win Game randomly generated time, will be a loser of that Instant Win Game. Instant Win Game players will be notified immediately if they won or lost. Limit one (1) Instant Win Game win per person per Weekly Entry Period (Eligible Entrants who play additional Instant Win Games in the same Weekly Entry Period after they win will lose those subsequent games but will receive the number of entries into the Grand Prize Sweepstakes drawing identified in Section 4 above).

According to the rules you could win an instant win prize once per Entry Period (they were weekly). The system was also setup to automatically prevent you from winning subsequent times in the same Entry Period. You could check the winner's list to see if your name shows up multiple times. Though I could only find two of our three wins after searching by both mine and my wife's name. It does just show first name and initial of last name.

 

[sail27bill]

Thanks Dioxide for the link. I checked and we are indeed listed twice as MVC 500 point winners. I emailed owner services back with the page numbers so hopefully it will be resolved soon.

 

[sponger76]

Thanks Dioxide for the link. I checked and we are indeed listed twice as MVC 500 point winners. I emailed owner services back with the page numbers so hopefully it will be resolved soon.

I am listed three times for 500 Abound points,, which matches what I had won, but only received the first batch. BTW, did you initially email them directly or just used the generic email form on the Contact Us page on the Vistana website?

 

[sail27bill]

I just emailed owner services. After multiple emails, I finally received a response. I am still emailing the person who responded and hoping for the best.

 

[grgs]

Thanks Dioxide for the link. I checked and we are indeed listed twice as MVC 500 point winners. I emailed owner services back with the page numbers so hopefully it will be resolved soon.

Same situation for us, so I also emailed Owner Services back with the applicable page numbers.

Thanks for sharing the list!

 

[DavidnRobin]

Hmm, don't think it's letting me book online using my 500 points -- i keep getting the following no matter what i chose for location/duration when it comes out to 500 points or less:

There is availability at the resort for the day you selected. However, you may not have the number of Points in your account to complete the reservation for this usage year. Please try these additional options: Revisit your points balance to view available points. Check eligibility to bank your points into your desired use year. If you are an owner of weeks enrolled with Abound by Marriott Vacations, you may be eligible to elect to receive Club Points for your current year or future year usage week(s). If the issue remains unresolved, contact Owner Services.

I think I mentioned before, but I had no problem reserving online the 500 Abound points I won, and combining with points from converted (WKV) points. I haven’t had to call Vistana or MVC.

I have managed to use almost all of my 3100 Abound points - 500 from contest and 2600 from WKV 1Bd P+ (2024 usage).

Was it worth converting the WKV ($1150 MF) that can be rented (~$2200) or used for a 1 Bd WKORV/N/NN (~$2800)?

Depends on the Fuzzy Math.
Used the 3100 points for:
(my $ estimate)
4 nites in a 1Bd (~$1600)
4 nites in studio - twice (~$2400)
5 nites in a studio (~$1500)
at the Las Vegas Grand Chateau.
(~$5500 total)

For me it was a deal as I used the LV nights to play in the WSOP events and Billy Strings concert.

Plus - unusual for Vegas - came home a winner.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[grgs]

Same situation for us, so I also emailed Owner Services back with the applicable page numbers.

Thanks for sharing the list!

I heard back from Owner Services and received the same reply that sail27bill did:

In response to your email regarding winning the 500 plus points twice, we are sorry to inform you but owners cannot win the same prize twice. Please note the terms and conditions of the program/sweepstakes listed below.

Rules and regulations of the Sweepstakes indicate that the same prize cannot be won more than once. We have attached the rules and regulations to this email for reference.

There were no rules attachment, though. I replied back saying that I didn't find anything in the rules that disallows winning the same prize twice and included rule 5 that dioxide45 provided above.

I'm putting too much time into this!

 

[Eric B]

I've been corresponding with MVW Customer Advocacy re: the missing PlusPoints I had won (3 x 500 - I did get one set of 500 deposited during the contest). It seems like they haven't had much luck with the team overseeing the Abound Sweepstakes promotion either, but have decided to hold up MVW's good name and deposit 1,500 PlusPoints for me. I used the email address customer.advocacy@mvw.com and included a pdf of the winners list along with noting the page and line numbers showing my wins. Happy with the outcome and got an issue with how my account had been set up corrected promptly as well. Still waiting for the Interval International 2 year platinum membership; maybe I'll try going through the TUG email for II to get that fixed.

Edited to add that it only took them a week to deal with this, which I figure is pretty quick.

 

[Eric B]

Success! The 1,500 PlusPoints posted to my account this afternoon. Glad I found the Customer Advocacy email and used it. Kudos to them!

 

[grgs]

I've been corresponding with MVW Customer Advocacy re: the missing PlusPoints I had won (3 x 500 - I did get one set of 500 deposited during the contest). It seems like they haven't had much luck with the team overseeing the Abound Sweepstakes promotion either, but have decided to hold up MVW's good name and deposit 1,500 PlusPoints for me. I used the email address customer.advocacy@mvw.com and included a pdf of the winners list along with noting the page and line numbers showing my wins. Happy with the outcome and got an issue with how my account had been set up corrected promptly as well. Still waiting for the Interval International 2 year platinum membership; maybe I'll try going through the TUG email for II to get that fixed.

Edited to add that it only took them a week to deal with this, which I figure is pretty quick.

My last go around with Owner Services resulted in the same reply I had earlier: that you cannot win the same prize twice. I'll try following up with customer advocacy and see if I get a different result. Thanks for posting their contact info!

 

[Eric B]

TUG email with II worked for getting the 2-year Platinum membership I won. Didn't seem like customer service was coming through all that quickly, but it only took Mark ~3 days.

 

[grgs]

I got a bounce back for customer.advocacy@mvw.com, but found this email address: customer.advocacy@vacationclub.com

Contact Us - Marriott Vacations Worldwide

CONTACT US

www.marriottvacationsworldwide.com

 

[sponger76]

I got a bounce back for customer.advocacy@mvw.com, but found this email address: customer.advocacy@vacationclub.com

Contact Us - Marriott Vacations Worldwide

CONTACT US

www.marriottvacationsworldwide.com

It also works with customer.advocacy@mvwc.com, the email address listed upthread was just missing a letter.

 

[grgs]

Update: Customer Advocacy came through for me, too. A rep contacted me on July 4 (a holiday) apologizing and saying the additional 500 points would post in 2-4 days. The points just posted today.

Eric, thanks again for your posting your experience! I was just about to give up.

 

[Eric B]

Update: Customer Advocacy came through for me, too. A rep contacted me on July 4 (a holiday) apologizing and saying the additional 500 points would post in 2-4 days. The points just posted today.

Eric, thanks again for your posting your experience! I was just about to give up.

You're quite welcome! Good to know at least one responsive email address for Abound and for II.

When your points posted, were they good for one year or two? Mine showed up good for just one year, which I'm working on getting resolved still.

 

[grgs]

You're quite welcome! Good to know at least one responsive email address for Abound and for II.

When your points posted, were they good for one year or two? Mine showed up good for just one year, which I'm working on getting resolved still.

Two years.

 

[Eric B]

Two years.

Just got mine corrected to two years as well. It would be nice if they could have done it right earlier but we wound up getting several more months to use these because of the delays.

 

[sponger76]

I heard back from Owner Services and received the same reply that sail27bill did:

In response to your email regarding winning the 500 plus points twice, we are sorry to inform you but owners cannot win the same prize twice. Please note the terms and conditions of the program/sweepstakes listed below.

Rules and regulations of the Sweepstakes indicate that the same prize cannot be won more than once. We have attached the rules and regulations to this email for reference.

There were no rules attachment, though. I replied back saying that I didn't find anything in the rules that disallows winning the same prize twice and included rule 5 that dioxide45 provided above.

I'm putting too much time into this!

I just got an email back from Customer Advocacy also stating that the same prize cannot be won more than once. They offered to give me 15,000 Bonvoy points instead "for the inconvenience."

 

[dioxide45]

I just got an email back from Customer Advocacy also stating that the same prize cannot be won more than once. They offered to give me 15,000 Bonvoy points instead "for the inconvenience."

DId you include the list of winners telling them what pages your name was listed?

 

[sponger76]

DId you include the list of winners telling them what pages your name was listed?

Yep, and in their reply they acknowledged that they saw the three different times I won and that I received only one. But then they went on to say that the same prize can only be won once.

 

[dioxide45]

Yep, and in their reply they acknowledged that they saw the three different times I won and that I received only one. But then they went on to say that the same prize can only be won once.

Unless you are satisfied with the 15,000 Bonvoy in lieu of the 1000 Club Points to avoid further aggravation, I would suggest pushing back and asking them to quote in the rules where it is stated that you can only win a prize once. You could go even further with a BBB or FTC complaint.

 

[sponger76]

Unless you are satisfied with the 15,000 Bonvoy in lieu of the 1000 Club Points to avoid further aggravation, I would suggest pushing back and asking them to quote in the rules where it is stated that you can only win a prize once. You could go even further with a BBB or FTC complaint.

I pushed back and replied saying that the rules only state that you can't win the same instant prize more than once during the same Weekly Entry Period. They just now responded only with:
"Good evening Mr. ****** and thank you for the response. I understand that these rules and terms are not very clear, for which I would like to apologize. If you would like, I can arrange for 20,000 StarOptions to be added to your account in lieu of both these prizes and to compensate for these inconveniences. Would you be open to accepting these points?"

I guess knowing the actual contest rules only moved them enough to offer an additional 5,000 points. I know it's weird since it takes the same amount of time to come to TUG and post, but I'm just not feeling motivated enough right now to go through the motions for a BBB or FTC complaint. I'm going to sleep on it, but I may very well just give in and take the 20,000 Bonvoy points.

 

[dioxide45]

Is it 20,000 Bonvoy or 20,000 StarOptions?

 

[dioxide45]

IMO, the rules are CLEAR.

 

[sponger76]

Is it 20,000 Bonvoy or 20,000 StarOptions?

Good catch. His first denial email specifically said 15,000 Bonvoy points. The second denial that I copied in above says StarOptions. Now I'm curious. I'll have to ask for clarification.