Original Message:
Wyndham's new "Ovation" program offers exit solutions for their owners... interested? (by Laura Beck-Ard):
I Have been an owner with Worldmark for 20 years and had accumulated 22,000 points which were fully paid for. Last July I decided to add an additional 13,000 points to get to diamond level. The payment was a little bit of a stretch, but was something I thought I could handle. I was very excited to add the points necessary to get me to diamond. Then, in October, I was staying at WorldMark Las Vegas strip and attended an owner update. I explained that I had just upgraded and wasn’t interested in upgrading anymore. The manager there named Mana looked at my paperwork and said that she could get me a better interest-rate. She then told me that she had to redo all of the paperwork so they had an updated file. She had me re-sign all of the original paperwork that I had filled out in July, including a credit application through Wyndham rewards. I questioned every single piece of paper and told her I had already done these and she continued to say we have to have a complete file so you’ll just have to do this again. I believed her; that was my first mistake. It turned out I was a victim of bait and switch. While Mana led me to believe that she was just updating the paperwork To get me a better interest-rate on the 13,000 points I had added in July, she had actually added an additional 12,000 points and a $6000 vacation club membership, neither of which I knowingly authorized. My second mistake was taking the paperwork back to my room and setting it on the counter and continuing my vacation without looking at it. By the time I pulled it out and realized what it was, I was a one day past the five day recidivism period. I immediately filed a complaint with the customer care team at Wyndham and they spoke with Mana who, not surprisingly, told them that I knew exactly what I was signing and had authorized everything. It’s completely ludicrous to believe that I knowingly upgraded my account twice in just a few months. Considering I had just upgraded my account by 13,000, what reason would I have to add an additional 12,000 so quickly? It’s not like the 12,000 got me to a different level, it would still be diamond. Regardless, Wyndham rather rudely told me there was nothing they could do. In fact the woman that I spoke with in customer care said “I guess you’ll pay closer attention to what you sign from now on, won’t you.“ Since then I have been in a financial nightmare and I am on the brink of having to declare bankruptcy and lose all of the timeshare including the 22,000 points that I have owned for two decades. I am very interested in any program that might help me to get out of this mess without having to declare bankruptcy.