MVCI Maintainence Fee refund and delays - BBB Complaint Filed

[StevenTing]

I made a double payment on my Maintenance fees. I've been trying to resolve this since beginning December 2019. I was told that it was supposed to take about 7-10 business days. Right now I'm sitting around 4 weeks out. I tried to call Owner Services this afternoon and I am unable to get ahold of anyone. No option for the callback feature either. Chat also not available.

So, BBB complaint filed. Balls in MVCI's court. I could always do a chargeback but that's a last resort.

 

[VacationForever]

Whenever I give up on a merchant to process a refund, I usually don't file with BBB since I deem them to be useless but use credit card dispute option instead. Credit card dispute is easy although not trivial. I do hate what MVC and Marriott (hotel) have become, bring in the customer and the buck stops there. Poor customer service and support.

 

[StevenTing]

Last time I had to use BBB with MVCI was about 9 years ago when I made my first Destination Points reservation. They were able to get things resolved. I'm hoping this works out more quickly as well. I hate being strung along.

 

[dgf15215]

No one can blame you for not wanting to be strung along, that's for sure. I'm curious what their excuse ends up being . . .

 

[StevenTing]

I got a response from Twitter

Hi Steven, maintenance fees were also due the beginning of the month. Everyone is calling in to either pay their fees, or ask for assistance on points expiring at the end of the month, or trading their week for Bonvoy points. We've been experiencing high call volumes for several months now. Is there something that I can help you with? I do not have all access, but I can certainly try to assist in any way that I can.

If you’ve been experiencing high call volume for the past several months, why not properly staff for it?

 

[VacationForever]

I got a response from Twitter



If you’ve been experiencing high call volume for the past several months, why not properly staff for it?

It is called cost cutting to increase profitability in the books to report to shareholders. It is a bunch of baloney. I feel so disenfranchised with MVC and Bonvoy.

 

[dioxide45]

I got a response from Twitter



If you’ve been experiencing high call volume for the past several months, why not properly staff for it?

They don't want to pay overtime. Cutting service while our "Customer Service" line item in the MFs continues to go up!

 

[amycurl]

This seems to be classic Bonvoying. To be understaffed for high call volumes for a few days is one thing; to have it be the reality for many months is poor business planning and clearly communicates to your customers that you care about their time not one whit.

 

[Fasttr]

Understaffed as well as undertrained staff on the phones at same time you decide to add confusion with a new online sign-on shortly before MF payment season.... throw in some IT disfunction with MF payment and ressie bookings and surprise, surprise, you have issues. Classic MVC execution.

 

[StevenTing]

Just received a call from Customer Advocacy after reaching out on Twitter. Told them they could call as late as 1pm Eastern since I’m in Mountain. She said that she is with the VP’s office of Customer Advocacy
She tells me that it looks like my double payment was applied to 2021 and that she doesn’t see a refund request but that she also has limited access compared to Owner Services. She indicates she will work directly with the Finance team to resolve.

I was also told that I could call Customer Care next time since they are open from 8am-3am Eastern. 800-860-9384. I’ll have to remember that in the future.

 

[pedro47]

Question. Can your Credit Card company settle this dispute as mentioned in an above post and credit your account or refund you directly?

or

I would be calling 1 800 860 9384 @ 7:58am Eastern Standard Time.

Wishing you good luck

 

[StevenTing]

Question. Can your Credit Card company settle this dispute as mentioned in an above post and credit your account or refund you directly?

They probably can but I want to reduce the chance they screw it up. Likely the 2020 charge gets cancelled and the 2021 remains and then they charge me a late fee for 2020.

 

[n777lt]

At least with Chase and Citi, you can be so explicit in your online dispute of the transaction that the misapplication and resulting late fee is unlikely to happen. Disputing a fee with your credit card company should be trivially easy, and reasonably fast. The charge is immediately pended (so you don't have to pay it), and as MVCI is unlikely to contest it rather than take the time to respond "Yup we goofed", it will be permanently reversed at 30 days after you contest. Note - the overburdened Customer Service staff are NOT the people who deal with credit card disputes, so you'll have a bean counter rather than a CSR looking at this. Just file with the credit card company and forget trying to reach MVCI.

 

[MALC9990]

I got a response from Twitter



If you’ve been experiencing high call volume for the past several months, why not properly staff for it?

Would you run a business that way and have call centre staff sitting idle when demand is low. You also want experienced staff on the calls so what would you do.

they could always outsource the call centre but that would result in lower quality staff with less direct experience of MVCI business.

 

[Superchief]

It is ironic that the MF costs for Owner Services have been increasing more than most other expenses, while the owner services provided have steadily declined.

 

[bazzap]

It is ironic that the MF costs for Owner Services have been increasing more than most other expenses, while the owner services provided have steadily declined.

I have never really looked in detail at that line item in the budget before.
it is interesting looking now to see that the year on year variance differs significantly between our home resorts, so I wonder what it actually covers?
I notice for Grand Chateau, it has a note to say
”The Marriott Resorts Hospitality Corporation ("MRHC") has been delegated the authority to provide all services incidental to the management of the Condominium, including Owner Services and all property operations. In connection with the performance of those services, all operating expenses will be charged to and paid by the Association to MRHC, including some that may be incurred through affiliates of MRHC. Certain of the operating expenses charged to and paid by the Association to MRHC may reflect economies of scale associated with the number of projects managed by MRHC and the affiliated relationship between MRHC and the developer. The amounts charged for such operating expenses may reflect pricing that is lower than what equivalent services would cost if charged on an independent case-by-case basis.”

 

[turkel]

Steven I seem to remember a post about you using the wrong CC for maintenance fees to collect the max Bonvoy points, is this why you had a double payment?

excuse me if my memory is incorrect

 

[StevenTing]

Steven I seem to remember a post about you using the wrong CC for maintenance fees to collect the max Bonvoy points, is this why you had a double payment?

excuse me if my memory is incorrect

Correct. Looks like they did do the refund but they refunded the incorrect card. The refund posted on 12/20 on the wrong card and because it was on the wrong card, I didn’t notice it.
Customer Advocacy is working to reverse it. To charge the correct card and to refund to the other.

 

[Old Hickory]

Steven, what do you expect the BBB to do for you?

 

[StevenTing]

Steven, what do you expect the BBB to do for you?

Mostly to get their attention. Last time I had to do it I got someone from Customer Advocacy to resolve the issue. In this case, using Twitter got me someone from the CA team, but much more quickly than BBB. But in this case, at least with the BBB it will be documented publicly and not just in MVC’s internal system.

 

[RX8]

Steven, what do you expect the BBB to do for you?

The BBB will simply forward a customer complaint to the company. A company will respond to complaints if they value their BBB rating or if they are accredited (which I believe they have standards to adhere to). If a company doesn’t care about their BBB rating then they likely won’t respond at all. Beyond that, the BBB has no power to force a company to do anything on behalf of customers.

 

[BJRSanDiego]

Mostly to get their attention. Last time I had to do it I got someone from Customer Advocacy to resolve the issue. In this case, using Twitter got me someone from the CA team, but much more quickly than BBB. But in this case, at least with the BBB it will be documented publicly and not just in MVC’s internal system.

Over the years I have had various issues and - - like you - - found that social media is well monitored by the parent companies and seems to work well. I've had good luck using Facebook. Some FB pages don't allow you to make a post that everyone can see, but nearly all allow you to send a PM.

It is good that a resolution is in-process.

 

[GaryDouglas]

I tried to make a membership payment back in November and it didn't seem to work and I also didn't get an email indicating a payment was made... so I tried again. The next day a found out that my card was charged twice. I call MVCI and they backed out one of them. Of course they shouldn't have online payment problems like this in the first place, but I lucked out compared to you. Sorry...

 

[StevenTing]

So they refunded my second payment. When I checked my account the assessed a late fee and interest charges. And I was told I needed to make my payment online again.

Payment made again and requested they remove the late fee and interest. The lady I’m working with seems competent and is nice enough.

 

[pedro47]

To the OP, sounds like everything now is on the right track.