Great Escapes Vacation Club

So we purchased the membership back in 2006. I will admit we have used it and enjoyed getting rewards from prior trips. The problem we came across is they say its okay for your family members to use the account which is fine for me because that just more rewards for us to use. I mean afterall we did pay the initial membership fee and the yearly dues. So we go to book a cruise which has been 5th time we used GE and our advantage dollars from prior trip is gone. They gave them to a family member booking a trip. over 500 dollars worth. Not once did they ask if we said it was ok. instead they told us the family member said it was ok.....So i call up GE and was transferred a couple of times. I told the customer service rep Kim that I wanted those dollars back and the only solution they gave me was to get the money from my family member. How was this my fault. My family member was under the impression the money getting taken off of her vacation was simply the regular discount for using the club. Well for customer service rep Kim and her Boss Matthew twitty apparently they thought going above and beyond for someone who has invested well over 6k through intial and yearly membership fees would be to offer to use the advanatage dollars from the booked vacation that took our 500 dollars in advantage. so basically they said they can help us out by using our advantage dollars we will earn anyways and they cant do anything about the ones which were given to someone who is not the member.....very poor customer service. I regret ever being part of the membership and wish i had never gone to the meeting where they promised items they never fulfilled. Free gas....never got.......free hotel stay.....never got...great customer service.....we will see how they deal with the situation. I will keep all posted. more

Disclaimer: I write this as a dissatisfied GE customer, who has found that even though you could use the properties/services mentioned, they are largely a bait-and-switch operation. It's always a hassle, which points to yet another shady business practice: lock in a user, then frustrate them to keep them from actually using your product, so you don't have to deliver.\r \r So when looking for information on other consumers who feel ripped off by GE, I discovered several sites, two of which had postings on them of people supposedly ""surprised"" that nobody got value, because they were getting value. It's been alleged that GreatESCAPEs employees have written in to blogs and review sites posing as customers trying to offset the negative image that is being presented by actual customers. What shocked me was finding two responses on this page that were so familiar, familiar because I had read them merely moments before on different web pages. Both postings above (by jetsetlovers and bobandcarol) were posted before on other sites by different names. Chapter and verse verbatim copy of a posting? That's just laaaaazzzy. It's egregiously sloppy cover work, further tainting any positive reviews left by anyone who might be a satisfied customer. Furthermore, one such posting (the jetsetlovers one) is actually found on the StreetTalk timeshare blog, in which street (the writer) called out and busted the poster as to have posted it from the Utah branch office of GreatESCAPES. Because citysearch won't let me post a URL, search for ""streettalk"" and ""sableboi"". You'll find the two links I wanted to post.\r \r ""bobandcarol"" review above was posted back on May 7th, 2004, search on ""05-07-2004 paula great escapes"". the link should be on aboutmytalk.\r \r \r \r If you had any shred of credibility, you've just destroyed that. As I said above, anyone who posts in the positive for your company and product will now be jeered at for being a company shill, all because of you. Way to go. Cons: Everything. Don't waste your time or worse, money. more

This Club is draws you in with promises of free trips and does not deliver. They say they have the best prices, you can find better on your own. You rarely can get a person to talk to. The pitch is packed with promises. ""There's not a way to travel for less than through GreatESCAPES."" ""It's literally hundreds, thousands of dollars you can save on your vacations through GreatESCAPES."" \r The presenter says members can save $1,500 on a Caribbean cruise or tour Paris and London for eight days for $887. There's also Maui in a two-bedroom condo on the beach at just $229 for the entire week. \r Another salesman says the only way to get the best deal is to buy today. \r I would like my $5,000 membership fee back. The company didn't live up to its promises. It's not that trips aren't ever available; they just find many ""great deals"" sold out, and destinations aren't always desirable. \r Those prices no one could beat? We did our own leg work and found better ones. You feel like you are walking through a room in the dark, full of mousetraps.\r They couldn't get the trips to Miami the company promised. \r \r Don't waste your time!\r Cons: To many to mention more

My husband and I joined 5 years ago. We thought it was an excellent deal. We have been on at least 4 vacations thru them and have never been disappointed. At first, there were some things we didn't understand, as the presentation went very fast and it was explained to us in great detail when we questioned and then made sense. They helped us get a great deal to Disney 2 years ago, and we had a blast. Sorry for your troubles with them. You have to realize that you sign up for their service and if you don't think you will use them for your travel needs--- then it is probably a big expense. We use them and they save us money!\r more

We own a GreatESCAPES program and LOVE IT. We have travled carefree and at cost for several years now and always find them delightful to work with. I know when we purchased they sent us home with a copy of our contract and their policies booklet, everything presented was spelled out there. Anyway, we love them and would recommend them to anyone!\r Pros: The service and locations are out of this world!! more