They are not all opinions. Some are fact. See, for example, Charles' comments in post #10. I would trust him with my life, so I'm sure what he is stating is fact. There have been a number of such transactions posted here over the past few years by respected TUGgers. I saw the paperwork on one of those transactions. So it might be the current policy, but it definitely hasn't "always been this way", despite what they told you.
Marriott's policies change from time to time and they have changed within the past few months perhaps more than ever. Examples: Marriott has for the most part stopped exercising ROFR. They no longer offers incentive points for borrowing from taking a loan from Marriott when making a purchase. They will apparently stop doing equity upgrades after next week. Now comes your report. Whether these changes are permanent or whether they are temporary economic changes that will be reversed when the economy improves is something Marriott might not even know today.
In the case that you state, it is entirely possible that Marriott made a mistake. They may have entered in their computer that it was an internal week when it was an external week.
When I purchased an EOY week through Marriott at the Horizons in Orlando, Marriott made a mistake and entered it in their system as every year usage. When they sent me my first maintenance bill, and it was double the amount it was supposed to be, I called in and told them I purchase EOY. They told me the information in their computer showed I owned an annual week. I had the sales agreement that said EOY, but on the deed it was registered as annual. So, I just accepted the annual week, which I paid the EOY price on. A few years later I resold it as annual week.
So, it may be that this policy has always been the case, but mistakes were made when the information for the week was entered into their computers.
In addition, I had another incident happen with a Marriott deal. I had made a purchase in Hilton Head over the phone and gave them my credit card for a $1000 deposit. After a few days, I changed my mind and canceled. Marriott never put through the charge on my credit card. However, a few weeks later they sent me a check for $1000.