My ongoing searches are not working in RCI

[rickandcindy23]

I have five total ongoing searches that are pulling nothing. Sometimes I check inventory and there is the very thing I need, just sitting online.

I entered a search for anything on Maui in May, and it didn't pull anything, then it's there online (that was a few months ago). Then I entered a search for Shearwater for August of 2011, and I had to confirm it myself. DVC is another annoying thing that isn't working. Also, I had a search for Dolphin's Cove for summer 2012, and it showed up online without matching to the ongoing search for anything in a 2 bed for Anaheim.

I have only matched a few of my ongoing searches since last November, when this new system started. I really need Maui in March, yet I have had no matches, and I don't expect to get any matches through RCI, although they will have some.

 

[Catira]

Same thing here

I had two ongoing searches since Feb. 2012 for a 2 bedroom DVC unit during June. This week when they made new summer deposits there was a Saratoga Springs and an OKW 2 bedroom that I should have been matched with. I had to manually confirm the unit and when I called RCI they could not explain why neither deposit had matched

 

[travelguy]

The RCI ongoing search was NOT working prior to the last "enhancement" as evidenced by the RCI web techs own admissions. Their frank assessment was that the searches would be fixed and working after the last "enhancement".

I sometimes test my RCI ongoing searches by putting a request in for off-season Orlando and see if it gets any matches after several days (usually not).

I used to rely RCI ongoing searches for about 15 weeks a year but now I assume they do not work and have found other alternatives to get the weeks.

So ... the REAL question is if RCI knows the searches don't work and don't fix them ... does that mean RCI really doesn't want to exchange these weeks but would rather keep them for their own, more profitable, ways to utilize them???

 

[rickandcindy23]

I put a week on hold yesterday and went to confirm it today. It's not on hold anymore; it disappeared.

I checked my email, and there is nothing in my email that shows I held the week. I have no RCI hold confirmations, so of course I have no proof that I held that week. I saw it held later in the day yesterday. I guess RCI doesn't send emails anymore, nor do they hold weeks for a full 24 hours.

RCI is really screwing up lately. I hate RCI Points now, because you cannot see a list of weeks available, only a calendar. I have so many issues with RCI currently, and telling them about the problems is like talking to a wall.

 

[bellesgirl]

I have been saying that for months. I have spent a long time on the phone with tech support. They acknowledge there is a problem, but so far they have not fixed it. They keep restarting my searches but if I happen to cancel something that hits, it never seems to match again. This seemed to start with the free search promotion back in the spring, although there were always glitches.

I just look every day - pretty annoying but I have found a few things that I did not even know I wanted.

 

[Judy]

I have five total ongoing searches that are pulling nothing. Sometimes I check inventory and there is the very thing I need, just sitting online.

It happened to me too, a couple of weeks ago. I had an ongoing search running for several months. One day I checked online and there was the exact resort/date/unit my ongoing search had been looking for. I booked it.

A few days later I had another reason to speak with an RCI Guide. She asked if there was anything else she could do for me, so I told her about my experience with my ongoing search not matching an available unit. She became hostile and insisted that RCI ongoing searches "work". I asked her to inform tech support of the problem. I expect to see improvement soon :hysterical:

 

[ran-ran]

I put a week on hold yesterday and went to confirm it today. It's not on hold anymore; it disappeared.

I checked my email, and there is nothing in my email that shows I held the week. I have no RCI hold confirmations, so of course I have no proof that I held that week. I saw it held later in the day yesterday. I guess RCI doesn't send emails anymore, nor do they hold weeks for a full 24 hours.

It may be fixed now because it worked for me just recently. I placed a week on hold Jan. 30, 2011 and an email was delivered to me almost immediately. The email did have an error, it clearly stated that I had until the end of business on Jan. 30, 2011 to confirm the hold or it would be released, the same day that I placed it on hold. The correct date should have been Jan. 31.

I went online the next day to confirm the exchange on Jan. 31 to ensure I got the week and also to pay the old rate of $179. for the exchange. RCI did sent another email as confirmation of the reservation.

 

[elaine]

my hold got an email the same day.

 

[Wofat1]

I know what you all mean. I had a match for Orlando for last spring (The email said that it would be held for 48hrs). I called within that period and was told it had been released. I put in another search and nothing ever came available. My complaint resulted in a $50 credit to my account. Woo Hoo!!

 

[jlwquilter]

Although I hesitate to say as I will jinx myself, my ongoing searches have matched - and for harder to get stuff. I did not set any up during the promo though, so maybe my account never got hit with that glitch.

 

[Catira]

Although I hesitate to say as I will jinx myself, my ongoing searches have matched - and for harder to get stuff. I did not set any up during the promo though, so maybe my account never got hit with that glitch.

For me it has been hit or miss. Though I did set up the searches during the promo. For example.. last month I had an ongoing search for a June 2 bedroom DVC Orlando unit and it did not match. I had to manually confirm the unit myself. But then 2 weeks later I did get a match to another ongoing search for a June DVC Vero Beach unit also set up with the promo. I check daily inventory for the searches I have set up.

 

[Margariet]

I have had this experience already for 1,5 years. It may work, or it may not work. It's totally unpredictable. At one hand I've had ongoing search for hard to get exchanges who suddenly showed up online and I had to book them manually. RCI was always denying it: it could not have happened, it was a cancellation and just on that moment I saw it online, or they even once denied that I had an ongoing search because it was gone of course since I used the week for my confirmation. At the other hand I've had ongoing searches running for a long time which I never expected to match anymore and suddenly they were confirmed by RCI! I also had weeks on hold that disappeared. They were called phantom weeks by RCI. One was confirmed after all after an urgent search by RCI itself. I never understand the reason for all this. It can't be the software anymore. So there has to be another reason which RCI is not telling us!

 

[scobrn]

RCI Platinum Upgrades not working either

Same goes for upgrades that you're supposed to "automatically" get if you're a Platinum RCI member. I requested and hoped to get an automatic upgrade. I checked searched RCI and found bigger units available where I was staying. I had to call them to get an upgrade, but it's supposed to be automatic. I'd suggest you start looking 2 weeks before on your own to see if there are bigger units available. I uprgraded from a 1BR to a 2BR by doing it myself.

 

[mcorser]

Ongoing Search problems with RCI

We have both Weeks and Points memberships with RCI. We have had an ongoing search for one year under the weeks program since I have an expiring 3BR/3B unit in Cabo San Lucas expiring. Because we have not received any results with the search, I added another exactly the same search under our Points membership. Within a month a unit was available for Points, but I was not able to use my Week as an exchange only points. I have not exchanged under the new Weeks program.

 

[MIDisfan]

We have both Weeks and Points memberships with RCI. We have had an ongoing search for one year under the weeks program since I have an expiring 3BR/3B unit in Cabo San Lucas expiring. Because we have not received any results with the search, I added another exactly the same search under our Points membership. Within a month a unit was available for Points, but I was not able to use my Week as an exchange only points. I have not exchanged under the new Weeks program.

I didn't know we could do an ongoing search on the points side. Were you able to do this online or through the call center?

 

[hixsonvol]

You can do an ongoing search with points? Holy cow, didn't know that.

 

[MichaelColey]

I would like to hear more, too. I've never heard of ongoing searches on the points side.

 

[jlwquilter]

I had another ongoing search match today. For Ireland this summer. Not a highly rated resort but there you can't be too pciky as there are so few.

 

[bnoble]

I put in two Wyndham resorts for August in my two ongoing searches to see if they matched. August went in today, both searches have matching weeks sitting in the space bank, and neither hit....

I'll leave it for a day to see what happens, but otherwise I'll have to call web support.

 

[Margariet]

I put in two Wyndham resorts for August in my two ongoing searches to see if they matched. August went in today, both searches have matching weeks sitting in the space bank, and neither hit....

I'll leave it for a day to see what happens, but otherwise I'll have to call web support.

If these are bulk deposits: I noticed several times that ongoing searches never hit these immediately. I've had that with HGVC bulk deposits. They only hit after a couple of days or even never!

 

[bnoble]

Wyndham deposits one month at a time. We'll see if they ever hit or not.

 

[MichaelColey]

Anything yet, Brian? I'm curious to hear how it turns out, and whether you're able to get someone in web support to acknowledge that there's a problem. I mentioned this issue to web support last time I called, and the guy I was talking to (the first web support guy that didn't seem to have a clue) said there were problems for a while but they've all been fixed.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I am very annoyed by this fact of ongoing searches not pulling what's loading. I have searches for Maui in March, which is coming up very soon, and I hope to get something, but it looks as if I won't get anything through RCI's ongoing searches. I didn't just set one ongoing search, I set THREE, two accounts, hoping to get a 2 bedroom on Maui for the weeks we need.

Ongoing searches work extremely well with II. Just two days ago, I set an ongoing search for the Big Island as an alternative to the Maui search, which has been ongoing for over a year now. I matched yesterday, less than 24 hours later, to a 2 bedroom at Kona Coast II. We will be better off island hopping than staying in hotels on Maui. Besides, my mother-in-law is now 85 years old and has never seen the Big Island, so it's time for her to see the vast difference between that island and the others.

I am so disappointed in RCI for not fixing their apparent problem with ongoing searches. How am I suppose to find Maui? Must I look every hour of every day?

II will come through, eventually.

 

[bnoble]

I have not gotten much traction, but also did not try very hard. I am thinking about re-starting them, but will continue to check daily. I'm also thinking about hedging with a portal search as well.