Marriott / I.I. stole my 2020 week?

[mkahanek]

I am fuming as I write this so please forgive spelling and grammatical errors.

First I booked my home resort which is Ko Olina beach club for a November 28th check in I booked this week on March 3rd. I then placed a REQUEST first trade for Marriott's Lahaina (MM1) resort for June-August. On April 30th around 2:00 A.M. II confirmed a trade into MM1 with a July 3rd check in. Due to Covid-19 and not knowing what we could and could not do I elected to cancel the trade. I called I.I. that same morning (well within the 24 hours) and cancelled. I received an email confirming the cancellation and at the very bottom the verbiage "If your request is not confirmed, you will still retain your home resort week." So that was that. On Tuesday May 5th ( yesterday) I get an email from I.I. with "Your resort accommodation certificate". I opened it and it said I got it due to my deposit. So I logged in to my I.I. account and it shows my Ko Olina week as now deposited. I DID NOT DEPOSIT THIS WEEK. I call I.I. and they say that my wife deposited on Friday May 1 at 4:45 EDT. My wife has zero clue how this works and at that time was in the car with me driving to our relatives house to celebrate my birthday. I have talked with a Marriott supervisor who has confirmed that there is no record of a phone call from the numbers associated with my account on May 1st

This "Supervisor" told me that since the deposited week has already been booked by II to someone else that I will have to use this week as a deposited asset. WHAT!! Are you f'ing kidding me. A deposited week is one step above an AC on the sh*t chain in my opinion. I have lost the ability to do a request first and the ability to simply go to my resort and no one can tell me how and why it happened.

What part of this is not FRAUD?!!

I am asking for advice. If anyone has ever dealt with this or knows a contact method at Marriott that gets me to someone with some clout I would very much appreciate it. I have owned this week since 2004 and have been happy with it until this incident and I don't see this as a small incident. This smells of someone at Marriott making a mistake and essentially stealing my week to make up for it. Additionally what is to prevent this from happening again?

Thanks for any advice or help in advance,

MK

 

[Theiggy]

It is my understanding (I’m new to this but it was explained to me by an II rep), that when your ongoing search matches, even if you cancel the match- your week is deposited. Do you have documentation of where it says you retain your home week reservation? I think what happens is if you cancel the trade, you still obtain the deposited week to trade with, not the original reservation.

I can see how disappointed you must be if you didn’t know this (or it’s not true).



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[jmhpsu93]

It is my understanding (I’m new to this but it was explained to me by an II rep), that when your ongoing search matches, even if you cancel the match- your week is deposited. Do you have documentation of where it says you retain your home week reservation? I think what happens is if you cancel the trade, you still obtain the deposited week to trade with, not the original reservation.

I can see how disappointed you must be if you didn’t know this (or it’s not true).



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This was also my understanding of how it works, but I'm also a newbie and have only done confirmed trades.

 

[tschwa2]

Technically you did confirm an exchange. II auto confirms. They do give you a 24 hr window to cancel the confirmed exchange. So the "if your request is not confirmed" refers to one that never matches anything.

Usually if you cancel within the 24 hr grace period they will be able to get your original week back but periodically it has been reported that the member ended up with a deposit or replacement week.

 

[1st Class]

Reach out to the Interval Int'l liaison for TUG members, Mark DelCampo at tugmembers@intervalintl.com. He is exceptionally helpful and will sort out the situation. Let us know how it turns out. Sounds very odd ...

 

[mkahanek]

Reach out to the Interval Int'l liaison for TUG members, Mark DelCampo at tugmembers@intervalintl.com. He is exceptionally helpful and will sort out the situation. Let us know how it turns out. Sounds very odd ...

Thank you very much for the contact information.

As for the other responses. If II keeps the deposit after cancellation I am curious why NONE of the three representatives (One I.I., one standard Marriott, one Marriott Supervisor) did no know of this policy. If it is a policy I am fair. I will simply accept this as a learning experience and move on.

 

[tschwa2]

From the membership/disclosure guide:
REQUEST FIRST EXCHANGE METHOD 1. With the Request First exchange method, Members who exchange with II based on weeks do not give up the right to occupy the Home Resort accommodations until an exchange has been confirmed. Similarly, Members who exchange with II based on points do not give up the right to their points until an exchange has been confirmed. Upon Confirmation, however, all rights to the use of the Home Resort accommodations or points are immediately assigned to II.


Again a match is a confirmation. You aren't calling within 24 hrs to confirm. You need to call within 24 hrs to request a cancellation of the confirmed exchange within the grace period.


My experience has been if cancelled within the 24 hr grace period and you request it to go back to a request first search, they will if no one already took your deposit as a courtesy but it is never guaranteed and doesn't automatically happen.

 

[mkahanek]

From the membership/disclosure guide:
REQUEST FIRST EXCHANGE METHOD 1. With the Request First exchange method, Members who exchange with II based on weeks do not give up the right to occupy the Home Resort accommodations until an exchange has been confirmed. Similarly, Members who exchange with II based on points do not give up the right to their points until an exchange has been confirmed. Upon Confirmation, however, all rights to the use of the Home Resort accommodations or points are immediately assigned to II.


Again a match is a confirmation. You aren't calling within 24 hrs to confirm. You need to call within 24 hrs to request a cancellation of the confirmed exchange within the grace period.


My experience has been if cancelled within the 24 hr grace period and you request it to go back to a request first search, they will if no one already took your deposit as a courtesy but it is never guaranteed and doesn't automatically happen.

Would you mind letting me know where that documentation is.

What is odd is after I called and cancelled I got the email below. This would indicate that they modified the request (which I didn't do I simply cancelled due to unknown conditions at my destination. The "deposit" did not happen for another 48 hours. Are you saying they audited their system and saw that at some point there was a confirmation and that they are entitled to go take that week and give it to someone else even though I have a supposedly modified request? How can no less than 3 of their reps including a supervisor not know of this policy and whip it out to tell me? If this is the policy so be it. Live and learn, but it is a sh*t policy. That means you get ONE crack at a request first trade. If you are confirmed with a THURSDAY check in which will not work they will snatch your week leaving you with a deposit that lost its trading power. Very disappointing.

Transaction Date: Wednesday, April 29, 2020

We have received your recent change to your vacation exchange request. When a match is found, your Confirmation Certificate will follow separately via email or regular mail, depending on the method you chose.

For the utmost in flexibility you may purchase E-Plus which, once your vacation is confirmed, will provide you the ability to change your destination, resort, unit or travel dates up to 3 times.* E-Plus can be purchased anytime between now and 5 days after your request has been confirmed. In the unlikely event that we are not able to confirm your vacation exchange request, both your exchange and E-Plus fees will be refunded.

A summary of your request follows. Please print and save this email for your records, and please be sure to review all the following details. If you have any questions, please email us at customerservice@intervalintl.com or contact a Vacation Advisor at your local servicing office.

If you are interested in purchasing E-Plus, or adding to or updating your resorts, destinations or travel date selections, just log on to IntervalWorld.com or contact a Vacation Advisor.

HOME RESORT WEEK

Your vacation exchange request was made against the following unit:

Home Resort: Marriott's Ko Olina Beach Club
Check-In Date: Saturday, November 28, 2020
Check-Out Date: Saturday, December 05, 2020
Unit Number: ZZAB
Unit Size: 2 Bedrooms
Reservation Number: XXXXXXXX

If your request is not confirmed, you will still retain your home resort week.

 

[Theiggy]

I think that last line is the issue. I think it is considered confirmed when it matches. When you called to cancel the exchange did you put in another request? Or did you say you wanted to use the home resort week and not deposit?


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[dioxide45]

From the membership/disclosure guide:
REQUEST FIRST EXCHANGE METHOD 1. With the Request First exchange method, Members who exchange with II based on weeks do not give up the right to occupy the Home Resort accommodations until an exchange has been confirmed. Similarly, Members who exchange with II based on points do not give up the right to their points until an exchange has been confirmed. Upon Confirmation, however, all rights to the use of the Home Resort accommodations or points are immediately assigned to II.


Again a match is a confirmation. You aren't calling within 24 hrs to confirm. You need to call within 24 hrs to request a cancellation of the confirmed exchange within the grace period.


My experience has been if cancelled within the 24 hr grace period and you request it to go back to a request first search, they will if no one already took your deposit as a courtesy but it is never guaranteed and doesn't automatically happen.

But there is this on page 7 of the same guide;

8 (b) Under II’s Exchange Cancellation Policy, a Member may be entitled to cancel a Confirmation where the Confirmation is issued seven days or more prior to the first date of occupancy. In order to cancel a qualified Confirmation, the Member must notify II of his or her desire to cancel such Confirmation within the first 24 hours after the exchange request has been confirmed. In the event that the Member has used the Deposit First method of exchange, the Member’s exchange fee will be refunded and the deposit will revert to a status such that the Member may redeem such deposit at a future time to place another exchange request. If the Member has used the Request First method of exchange, the Member’s exchange fee will be refunded and the right to occupy the Home Resort accommodations shall revert to the Member.

Bolding is mine.

 

[Theiggy]

That’s interesting. I’m thinking it’s not followed bc I specifically remember an II rep telling me if a request first matches my week would be automatically deposited. Based on that info I have opted for manual searches. The TUG rep Mark can definitely help clear it up.


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[davidvel]

II/Marriott stole your week.

 

[pafort]

Interval intentó robarme 3 semanas en 2018: 2 semanas logré recuperarlas, una que perdí: no es como su caso, simplemente cancelé dentro de los 14 días posteriores al check-in y descubrí que en este caso la semana debe estar ocupada o se pierde.
Su caso parece una estafa, creo que Marriott resuelve, y usted se reasigna a sí mismo la semana. No puedo perder la credibilidad y la confianza de sus dueños, sería un gran golpe

 

[dioxide45]

Interval intentó robarme 3 semanas en 2018: 2 semanas logré recuperarlas, una que perdí: no es como su caso, simplemente cancelé dentro de los 14 días posteriores al check-in y descubrí que en este caso la semana debe estar ocupada o se pierde.
Su caso parece una estafa, creo que Marriott resuelve, y usted se reasigna a sí mismo la semana. No puedo perder la credibilidad y la confianza de sus dueños, sería un gran golpe

Translated from Spanish using Google Translate;
Interval tried to steal 3 weeks from me in 2018: 2 weeks I managed to recover them, one that I lost: it is not like their case, I simply canceled within 14 days after check-in and discovered that in this case the week must be busy or lost.
Your case sounds like a scam, I think Marriott solves it, and you reassign yourself the week. I can not lose the credibility and trust of its owners, it would be a great blow

 

[Theiggy]

@mkahanek let us know if you email the TUG rep Mark and what he says.


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[mkahanek]

I talked with Mark DelCampo today. He spoke with his counterpart at Marriott and confirmed that what happened should not have happened and that I should have retained my week for use. However, that week has been assigned to someone already. So they can not take that week back since the recipient of my week did nothing wrong. However Marriott and I.I. are going to work and find another 2BR villa with the 11/28 check in date and give it to this recipient and get my week back for use. While this may take some time it is pretty much the only compromise that will be viable. I am not interested in penalizing someone out there that was able to book that 2BR villa that was erroneously deposited by Marriott. That said, hopefully this will be resolved in the shortest amount of time possible.

 

[mkahanek]

I think that last line is the issue. I think it is considered confirmed when it matches. When you called to cancel the exchange did you put in another request? Or did you say you wanted to use the home resort week and not deposit?


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I told them not to put another request in due to the unusual circumstance surrounding Covid-19. They agreed and said my week would be retained by me which matches the email I received. It was two days later that the week was manually deposited by Marriott using my wife's name in the authorization field.

 

[Sandy VDH]

It is worth mentioning that just because there is a written policy in place, it does NOT mean the system was implemented to support that policy. You would think that it should, but subtle policy items that are alternate flows often end up NOT being implemented correctly. Just saying..... as a business analyst, this happens all the time. Requirements are not well understood and communicated, and what is implemented may not be the actual policy.

 

[Theiggy]

Wow! I knew Mark would be able to help. I also learn something new everyday on TUG. I am 99% sure an II rep told me my week would be deposited if it matched. I hope they do some training on this issue and correct where the screw up was that incorrectly deposited your week.


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[Theiggy]

Did you get your week back? Well replacement at least.


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