Ocean Walk Dirty Tricks

[Cheryl20772]

We're at Ocean Walk for a week and the internet stinks. Just let me try to report about check in.

We got Ashley-a new employee at the parking permit desk. I told her we would not attend any update or meeting or breakfast. I left the phone plugged and expected a call the next day. I don't remember her name, but another lady called this morning right on cue. She seemed confused... did we check in late? No, we checked in early - 2:00 PM. Oh, well our registration is incomplete. So, she asked more fishing questions like who is staying with me. Then, of course the question about attending the update and I said no again. So, it boiled down to me agreeing that someone can bring up a welcome pack Saturday morning. No, we don't need a full color floor plan of the resort. No, we do not need a member directory. OK, someone will bring up just a welcome gift and a short survey on Saturday morning. Today is Thursday. Wups, she calls me again right after we hang up. Would we be able to use a free late check-out on our last day here? Well, yes, that would be useful because from here we go to another Wyndham in Orlando and late checkout helps that transition.

Finally I get the internet connected today long enough to check my emails. I find that Wyndham has tried to call us at our house number. What's with that? Did they think I had given them my cell number? Then I found that they sent me an email telling me to confirm registration for our 'Tour'. When I followed the link to complete the registration, it says:

Tour Validation Survey

Thank you for doing validation survey. Please verify the data.
D.O.B.
Zip Code

I am not going to complete that validation. We have not agreed to attend a tour of any kind. I think I will be going down to that desk tomorrow and demanding explanation or otherwise expressing my dissatisfaction over this. They can keep their 2 extra hours for checkout time and welcome pack. These people just get more and more slimey.

Here's the email that woman sent me. I do wish that I had written down her name. Maybe that's something we all need to start doing every time we talk with anyone at Wyndham. They cannot be trusted. Not one bit ... any of them.

 

[pedro47]

Does this happens at all Wyndham resorts? What a turn off.

 

[massvacationer]

that is annoying......i would say.....just blow off any tours, delete that email. and enjoy your vacation.

the wyndham resorts that we stay at are mostly the new england ones....most have no sales staff, so no-one bothers us.

we were at bonnet creek last spring and were barely bothered, other than an attempt , at the parking pass desk, to get us to go to an update

 

[Kozman]

This has never happened to me. I'd follow the advise to blow it off as well unless you agree to any of their come on's.

 

[ronparise]

that explains the emails Ive been getting

I dont usually put my guests email address or their phone number on their guest confirmations so the only email they have is mine, so I get the emails

At least they call it want it is...a "tour" not an "owner update"

 

[csxjohn]

.... I left the phone plugged and expected a call the next day. I don't remember her name, but another lady called this morning right on cue. .... Wups, she calls me again right after we hang up. ....check my emails. I find that Wyndham has tried to call us at our house number. What's with that? Did they think I had given them my cell number? ...]

I'm confused, if you unplugged the phone and you did not give them your cell #, how did they call you.

I unplug the unit phones at resorts other than my Tropic Shores and I never get any calls.

 

[Cheryl20772]

I just got back from having a discussion with the parking pass desk ladies. Of course they wanted to know the name of the lady I spoke with on the phone. I think it was Brandy, but my brain would not work to produce a name before now. Anyway, they assured me that there are no meetings or tours scheduled at that time on Saturday morning and that we were only scheduled for an "in room". Supposedly this email I got is generated automatically for anyone whose email address is in the system...they forgot to take it out.

All of this excitement can be avoided by simply unplugging the phone. I chose to leave it on as I wanted to see if the welcome pack is the same now as it was in November when we were here.

The pool deck looks great. The south pool is finished and open for use, but they are now working to finish the north pool and there are still some loose and missing edge stones on the lazy river. North pool closed. Lazy river apparently open despite ongoing work. Turtle nest closed.

In the midst of finding this email from Wyndham, I discover there was also a call to our house phone. This morning I checked to see if there were any messages there and there was one from Orlando International Resort Club. They wanted to make sure our reservation was good. Probably wanted to make sure we would show up as next week is high demand there. We are attending an annual meet called Hamcation at the fairgrounds. Wondering if they have overbooked the resort as they don't usually call to verify reservations.

 

[Cheryl20772]

I'm confused, if you unplugged the phone and you did not give them your cell #, how did they call you.

I unplug the unit phones at resorts other than my Tropic Shores and I never get any calls.

I'm confused!

Did you read what you quoted from my post?

 

[csxjohn]

Sorry, I read it that you unplugged the phone. Even when I went to make this response it still said to me, unplugged. Shows how your eyes and brains can play tricks on you.

 

[Cheryl20772]

Tonight at 7 PM Brandy calls me to confirm the room visit tomorrow morning. "How's it going?" She begins and I don't know what to say. I begin by asking why she's calling. I ask her if we still get the later checkout and she assures me she already put in for it and I tell her that's worth more to me this trip than anything else she offered. Then I mention that email. She tells me I never should have received it and to ignore it. She tells me they have a new system here they are getting used to and I ask if it is Voyager or something. She says no, it's called Visual Cue (don't know how that's spelled).

I will be confirming before our last day here that we have the extra time. I don't trust them.

It rained hard yesterday starting after noon and through the night. Today was very windy on the beach and cold! I think it was mid 80's Wednesday and maybe mid 50's today. On the pool deck, they were painting the counter or bar surface on the Turtles Nest.

 

[Cheryl20772]

First there was a call (to make sure we were here? To wake us up?) saying she'd be right up. Then a few minutes later Medea arrived at our door. Her 'survey' is apparently a fishing expedition to see if there's any foothold to get us to make an appointment to get more info i.e. sales opportunity.

When I told her that our next transaction with Wyndham would probably be Ovations, she quickly mentioned Pathways to which I countered that the Pathways contract language states Wyndham 'may' take the contracts back and not 'will'.

So she said I seemed to know my stuff and did I have any questions for her. I asked her why it stinks in the hallway near the elevators on the 6th floor. She only had a customer Satisfaction/Exception report form for me to fill out which she would personally forward to Corporate. I said isn't the resort in charge of conditions in the resort? She just said she gets best results by going through Corporate.

Here's the Welcome pack she left for us. It looks the same as we got last October, but different variety inside. Thanks Wyndham! How many phone calls was that before we got our goodies? At least 4.

When Medea left she said "see you next year". And I replied: "unless we unplug the phone."

 

[pedro47]

Wow! What a gift package and you execute how many phone calls for this snack package?

 

[am1]

Wow! What a gift package and you execute how many phone calls for this snack package?

Probably $20 there if it was coming from a hotel mini bar.

But Wyndham only does these things as it works.

 

[vacationhopeful]

Probably $20 there if it was coming from a hotel mini bar.

But Wyndham only does these things as it works.

More likely, these gift bags aren't stolen by their commissioned sales agents. :ignore:

 

[Cheryl20772]

Wow! What a gift package and you execute how many phone calls for this snack package?

Hey, don't forget we also got a late checkout for next Wednesday. That will be great as we go to Orlando International Resort Club from here and don't have anything to do there before checkin.

Is it usually possible to get a late checkout by asking for it? I don't know.

Remember the days long gone by when we would find a goody bag or box full of interesting free samples sitting on the counter to truly welcome us to our resort unit? I miss that.

We've never had a bad day at the beach...

Except when one of these runs around in the kitchen cupboard. I'm suspecting that off smell I detected in the kitchen might have been roach spray.

The internet is working much better today (Saturday) than during the week.

 

[Karenann]

Unhappy vacationer

It seems like your vacation was a bit of a disappointment. There are always resort employees trying to lure vacationers into touring their properties for the purpose of buying a timeshare. After all, that is a big part of their jobs, to say nothing at all about their earnings. It happens everywhere and I think it is more the norm than the exception. Unplugging the phone is good idea. However, I have found consistently saying a polite "no" works too - though you may have to say it a few times!

 

[vacationhopeful]

It seems like your vacation was a bit of a disappointment. There are always resort employees trying to lure vacationers into touring their properties for the purpose of buying a timeshare. After all, that is a big part of their jobs, to say nothing at all about their earnings. It happens everywhere and I think it is more the norm than the exception. Unplugging the phone is good idea. However, I have found consistently saying a polite "no" works too - though you may have to say it a few times!

You don't own Wyndham ... do you?

I got rid of one pesty salesperson by saying I did NOT have my driver's license or photo id with me. I didn't .. I had taken the public bus to the Wyndham resort...so she volunteered to DRIVE me back to my non-Wyndham resort. Invited her up to see my unit .. knew she would come so as to keep track of me ... except she was NOT EXPECTING the killer 18th Floor Direct OCEANFRONT views from all my rooms. She had bragged how she lived in an ocean front condo up by the resort ... but her standing there GAPPING MOUTH for 10+ minutes told me she most likely did not (oh, surprised). Finally, I said, I get "this unit" because I own "this unit" ... no lottery or not my turn; I don't think you with a points system can promise the same. She left quietly and without ANY comebacks.

And I got a FREE ride back to my base camp on the 18th floor .. no BCT public bus ride.

But Wyndham timeshare sales consultants are beyond aggressive ... they lock onto you and will do everything possible to KEEP you there. Gifting a guest who does not sign to buy ... is not in their play book for being employed the next day.

 

[Cheryl20772]

It seems like your vacation was a bit of a disappointment. There are always resort employees trying to lure vacationers into touring their properties for the purpose of buying a timeshare. After all, that is a big part of their jobs, to say nothing at all about their earnings. It happens everywhere and I think it is more the norm than the exception. Unplugging the phone is good idea. However, I have found consistently saying a polite "no" works too - though you may have to say it a few times!

To the contrary. We've stayed here many times and I was pretty sure what the game is that I was playing. One TUGger recommendation is to unplug the phone, but twice now I've left it plugged just to report what happened. This time I got promised a late checkout reward and that's pretty nifty ...and I am never going to buy Wyndham anything ever again. Will let you all know if it happens as promised. I haven't decided yet if I'll play this game in Orlando or go unplugged there. Just wouldn't it be so nice if they gave us a sweet welcome gift in the unit when we arrived with no rigmarole? Years ago they did.

 

[Keep Traveling]

Vacationhopeful, What resort is that, sounds awesome

 

[vacationhopeful]

Vacationhopeful, What resort is that, sounds awesome

There is ONLY 1 sales office for 3 resorts in Pompano Beach ... not counting Palm Aire. The sales group is on the TOP floor with a very nice OCEAN VIEW .. as you are higher on the 9th floor than the 6 story beach building... but looking north, you have the roof lines of the part of the building on your left. It is one of the best views at the resort .. and if NOT staying there, you most likely wanted Royal Vista to have been YOUR FIRST choice.

But the 18th floor OPEN view --- left, right and center .. plus higher .. you get the expansive feel of HOW BIG and open the ocean is.

Now on a lower floor like 7 or 8 .. .you will enjoy a partial view of the ocean. On the 3 or 4 floor .. a sliver of water. But there are a LOT of people who fear heights and elevators .. those unit fill up also.

PS Read my ownerships listed to the left...

 

[Cheryl20772]

Yay! We did get our late checkout at noon today. No more dirty tricks or phone calls.

Now we are at Wyndham Orlando International Resort Club and what a difference. I don't know if they have sales staff here. The resort manager checked us in - early! Somebody must have read about my yearning for the good old days when they had no strings welcome packs.

This is what greeted us here.

I'm leaving the phone plugged in and we did get a call already to ask if everything is ok in our unit. We did have a problem connecting to the Resort-net here and had to Call customer service for help. They were great and the internet works so much better than it did at the beach.