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Ratings On Exchange Co.'s by Timesharing Today

ljane

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I just received my Sept/Oct issue of "TimeSharing Today". On the front page of this issue they have listed results from a survey from 537 readers who took their survey. They were asked to rate exchange companies based on exchange success, customer service and fees, using a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the best.

The exchange companies and results were:
Hawaii Timeshare Exchange - 4.2
Trading Places - 4.0
Donita's Dial an Exchange - 3.9
Platinum Exchange - 3.9
Interval International - 3.6
RCI - 2.9
SFX - 2.7

Based on reviews on Tug, I was surprised at the lowest rating going to SFX.
This review has made me reconsider my thoughts on depositing with SFX.
Are there any thoughts on this review, pro or con?

Ljane :confused:
 

Fern Modena

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This is a comment on Timesharing Today and their past practices. I know that in the past they have had an annual listing of alternate exchange companies. At one time they would not list an exchange company if it did not advertise with them; therefore their list wasn't truly "independent." Because of their past practices, I view their surveys and lists as not necessarily independent or honest.

This is JMHO, of course. And I haven't seen the article yet, although I'm a subscriber, I'll probably not get my issue till sometime next month (and can't view it online earlier, since the password you need is, guess where? in the issue I don't have).

Fern

[edited on 12/2/05 to add the following--fm]

I have recently been in contact with Ray Jacobs of Timesharing Today, and he assures me that what I'd previously been told is not true, that they formulate their listing solely on the basis of volume of business. Advertising or not advertising has nothing to do with being on the list.

Fern
 
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short

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Sfx

I think at one time SFX seemed to like to do things entirely by email and voice mail. Getting someone on the phone was reportedly difficult. This don't call me Ill call you type of arrangement can be hard on customer service ratings even if it is more efficient.

Has anyone had any recent experience. Do they have people who answer the phone if you call during business hours?

Short
 

Dave M

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Fern Modena said:
I'll probably not get my issue till sometime next month (and can't view it online earlier, since the password you need is, guess where? in the issue I don't have).

You can view the Sept/Oct issue online now, Fern. There is always an overlap of a month or so during which the passwords for both the previous and current issues are valid. Thus, you can use the July/August passwords now and should be able to for a few more weeks.
 

BocaBum99

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SFX is a decent company. But, their customer service approach is the worst in the industry. Their customer service is actually good, but the fact that it is difficult to reach a person when YOU want to speak to someone is a turn off to many people....like me.

6 months ago, I got a person when I called maybe 10% of the time. This past month it was better, about 50% of the time. So, maybe they are staffing up customer service with their price increases.

SFX is very good with email. If you're comfortable with email, they always follow through.
 

krisj

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Even if this was a legitimate survey, with a such a small sample size I'm betting they had VERY few SFX customers, so that sample size would be FAR too small to have any statistical meaning. Without knowing the SFX sample size, sample selection criteria or seeing how questions were worded I'd place exactly zero credence in those results.

Kris

p.s. IMHO, even if the entire sample of "readers of Timesharing Today" were surveyed, that would be a totally non-representative sample of the poulation of timeshare owners.

p.p.s. Also remember that since SFX only accepts select resorts, people who own at resorts that they won't accept might tend to hold a grudge?
 
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Dani

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I don't know about statistical meaning, but I have never received as poor customer service from an exchange company as I did with SFX. This is one of the reasons I will not do business with them. To say that the rep I had was unprofessional is an understatement.

To be fair to SFX though, that was years ago. I have no idea what their customer service is like today except for what I have read or heard about. I would hope that they have changed their ways.
 

Carolinian

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There is nothing wrong with the sample size. Many polls for political campaigns have sample sizes in the same range.

I think some posters have hit upon the reason for SFX's score, although there are many goods things, apparently, about this company.

IMHO, the more significant aspects of the results are 1) that II significantly outscored RCI among the majors, and 2) that except for SFX, the independents substantially outscored the majors.
 

Carolinian

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I have seen their charts on exchange companies, and they DID list exchange companies that did not advertise with them in every one I have seen. What exchange company do you contend they failed to list?

TST compiles a lot of useful statistical information and everything I have seen is completely straightforward.



Fern Modena said:
This is a comment on Timesharing Today and their past practices. I know that in the past they have had an annual listing of alternate exchange companies. At one time they would not list an exchange company if it did not advertise with them; therefore their list wasn't truly "independent." Because of their past practices, I view their surveys and lists as not necessarily independent or honest.

This is JMHO, of course. And I haven't seen the article yet, although I'm a subscriber, I'll probably not get my issue till sometime next month (and can't view it online earlier, since the password you need is, guess where? in the issue I don't have).

Fern
 

krisj

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Carolinian said:
There is nothing wrong with the sample size. Many polls for political campaigns have sample sizes in the same range.


I disagree. They may have had as few as 5-10 people rating SFX, which is not a valid sample size. The total sample size of 500 is probably large enough if all they were doing was finding out how many people have used the various companies, but to rate each company you'd need a meaningful sample size for EACH company.

The sample selection is also flawed, as there is no guarantee that the people doing the rating have actually ever personally used the companies they're rating.

Kris

p.s. I do think the results for RCI vs. II are probably statistically meaningful as there's likely to be a higher % of the sample population who have firsthand experience.
 
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Fern Modena

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Ah, but I'd need the last issue, wouldn't I? I've stopped keeping them since I moved (used to have issues from 1990's), and didn't realize I needed to keep a past issue so the pasword worked. Oh, well.

Fern

Dave M said:
You can view the Sept/Oct issue online now, Fern. There is always an overlap of a month or so during which the passwords for both the previous and current issues are valid. Thus, you can use the July/August passwords now and should be able to for a few more weeks.
 

Carolinian

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krisj said:
I disagree. They may have had as few as 5-10 people rating SFX, which is not a valid sample size. The total sample size of 500 is probably large enough if all they were doing was finding out how many people have used the various companies, but to rate each company you'd need a meaningful sample size for EACH company.

The sample selection is also flawed, as there is no guarantee that the people doing the rating have actually ever personally used the companies they're rating.

Kris

p.s. I do think the results for RCI vs. II are probably statistically meaningful as there's likely to be a higher % of the sample population who have firsthand experience.

And would you also concede that. taken as a group, the results of the independents vs. the big exchange companies is also a meaningful result?
 

krisj

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Carolinian said:
And would you also concede that. taken as a group, the results of the independents vs. the big exchange companies is also a meaningful result?


Obviously I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing the sample size for the other individual Independents was also too low to give a statistically valid picture of those companies' customer's feelings (forgive my punctuation, but this is possesive 's stuff seems too confusing for my feeble brain today). You could bundle all of the Independents responses and conclude that overall the people surveyed were more favorable toward the Independents.

I should note that I'd certainly be among those who would rate my satisfaction with the Independents higher than with RCI :)

Kris
 
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Carolinian

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krisj said:
Obviously I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing the sample size for the other Independents was also too low to give a statistically valid picture of those companies' customer's feelings (forgive my punctuation, but this is possesive 's stuff seems too confusing for my feeble brain today).

I should note that I'd certainly be among those who would rate my satisfaction with the Independents higher than with RCI :)

Kris

What I am looking at is that the average rating for the independents, including SFX, is 3.6

Looking at it that way, what we have is:
Independents - 3.7
II - 3.6
RCI - 2.9
 
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krisj

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Carolinian said:
What I am looking at is that the average rating for the independents, including SFX, is 3.6

Looking at it that way, what we have is:
Independents - 3.6
II - 3.6
RCI - 2.9


The numbers probably would be different for an aggregated "Independents" category, since you'd aggregate all of the individual responses for Independents rather than the company-wide scores. For example, if 1 respondent drove the score for Hawaii Timeshare Exchange but 100 respondents drove the score for Donitas, the aggregated score wouldn't be the average of the scores for the two companies.

Kris
 

myip

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Sfx

I really don't like SFX. I will never deposit another week with them. I can't talk with anyone -> only voice mail. I didn't want to put in a request because I only have one specific time that I want to go. It can be anywhere. I try to call them to see what is available but they told me to put a request. The worst part of putting a request is that once it matches. You have to pay the exchange fees whether you want it or not. RCI or II have 24 hours cancellation policy.
 
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Dani

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myip said:
I really don't like SFX. I will never deposit another week with them. I can't talk with anyone -> only voice mail. I didn't want to put in a request because I only have one specific time that I want to go. It can be anywhere. I try to call them to see what is available but they told me to put a request. The worst part of putting a request is that once it matches. You have to pay the exchange fees whether you want it or not. Unlike RCI or II , it have 24 hours cancellation policy.

FYI, both RCI and II have 24 hour cancellation policies from the time a match is confirmed.
 

John Cummings

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short said:
I think at one time SFX seemed to like to do things entirely by email and voice mail. Getting someone on the phone was reportedly difficult. This don't call me Ill call you type of arrangement can be hard on customer service ratings even if it is more efficient.

Has anyone had any recent experience. Do they have people who answer the phone if you call during business hours?

Short

I have used SFX exclusively for 9 years. I have always done everything by phone. I deal with specific reps only and have had no problems. If they weren't available when I called, they always called me back within 24 hours. In fact I just got through talking to one of my SFX reps a few minutes ago. She answered the phone when I called.

I wouldn't expect one to have much luck if they didn't call during business hours.
 

John Cummings

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myip said:
I really don't like SFX. I will never deposit another week with them. I can't talk with anyone -> only voice mail. I didn't want to put in a request because I only have one specific time that I want to go. It can be anywhere. I try to call them to see what is available but they told me to put a request. The worst part of putting a request is that once it matches. You have to pay the exchange fees whether you want it or not. RCI or II have 24 hours cancellation policy.

I have never had to pay an exchange fee to SFX until I agreed to it. I have been using SFX exclusively for 9 years. The procedure they have always followed was to call me when they found a match for my request. They then asked me if I wanted to accept it or not. They also asked me if I wanted to use a bonus week or a regular exchange week for it. I just got 2 confirmations recently and that is how it was done as it always was before.
 

krisj

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Like John, SFX has always notified us when a week meeting our criteria became available, and we have NEVER been asked to pay an exchange fee unless it was a week we decided we wanted.

Kris
 

John Cummings

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I believe that one of the things going against SFX in this type of a survey is they are fairly picky about what they will accept. Not too many folks are going to be very happy to learn that their timeshare week(s) are not good enough. I believe the the satisfaction index is pretty high for actual members of SFX.
 

Dani

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John Cummings said:
I believe that one of the things going against SFX in this type of a survey is they are fairly picky about what they will accept. Not too many folks are going to be very happy to learn that their timeshare week(s) are not good enough. I believe the the satisfaction index is pretty high for actual members of SFX.


I don't see how that would have anything at all to do with the results. The results should be from those who are actual members of SFX. What sense would it make to have non-RCI members giving ratings to DAE and vice-versa? It seems to me that the results must have come from SFX members just like the results for the other exchange companies.

Also, the idea that people are "upset" because SFX wouldn't take their week and are somehow holding a grudge against SFX because of it, is a bit of a reach IMHO.
 

krisj

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I may be wrong, but I seriously doubt that Timesharing Today did any form of real screeing on their survey. I assume anyone who wanted to could offer responses about any exchange company, without any verification of whether or not they had actually used that company.

Did anyone participate in the survey and know otherwise?

Kris

p.s. I'm sure that SFX's business model, which at least in the past relied primarily on e-mail and on them calling you when they had a possible match, has been off-putting to many people. In our experience, it worked really well.
 

geekette

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If they don't publicize how they undertook the survey, then it's all up to speculation.

I seriously doubt that they qualified the respondents. Additionally, my current memberships would not take into account past memberships. How fair is it for someone that hasn't used RCI or II for 9 years to give a satisfaction rating on them? (just a "for example", John, since you provide a good one). We just don't know who they asked and what their affiliation(s) are.

As far as doing stuff by phone, it's great if you live in the same time zone, but if you're East and they're West and you frequently have to work late, you're screwed. give me an "any time" interface.
 

John Cummings

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geekette said:
If they don't publicize how they undertook the survey, then it's all up to speculation.

I seriously doubt that they qualified the respondents. Additionally, my current memberships would not take into account past memberships. How fair is it for someone that hasn't used RCI or II for 9 years to give a satisfaction rating on them? (just a "for example", John, since you provide a good one). We just don't know who they asked and what their affiliation(s) are.

As far as doing stuff by phone, it's great if you live in the same time zone, but if you're East and they're West and you frequently have to work late, you're screwed. give me an "any time" interface.

You are correct. As you notice, I do not comment on either RCI or II as I haven't done business with them for several years. Unlike some others, I really have absolutely no interest in what RCI, II, or any other exchange company is doing. The only exception I will make is when somebody posts the ridiculous cliché that all they are interested in is making money. Then I will defend the company as that is why they are in business.

Surveys, whether legitimate or not, really make no difference to me. Timesharing is just another vacation option and I don't really care what others are doing. SFX works great for me and that is all that matters. Why be concerned about some exchange company unless it affects you directly?
 
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