Hilton Grand Vacations

We accepted a Hilton offer to visit the Hilton Grand Vacation Club in Orlando in October 2011. As part of the experience we were given a "Spend The Night On Us" certificate which would rebate $100 to me for a stay at "Any Hilton Hotel"! We went out of our way while driving to Rhode Island to stay at a Hilton Hampton Inn. I sent the required paperwork in a timely manner to obtain my rebate but received a postcard saying I was not eligible because I did not stay at a Hilton Hotel or Hilton Club. The offer states any Hilton Hotel! This is truly a bait and switch offer. At no time did anyone say or offer in writing anything that said you could not stay at any Hilton Hotel property and be eligible! This would have been simple enough to state in the certificate if they were trying to be honest, but that wasn't the case. I would like my rebate that was promised. I do have a choice where I stay both on business or for leisure travel and I do not think this was handled in an honest way!

Stayed at a Hilton Resort in Scottsdale, AZ for two nights and submitted the certificate and the bill. Only expected them to refund me for one nights stay but they refused to pay any because the bill was for a two-night stay. This is not right. Guess we should have spent only one night at their hotel and then went somewhere else. I will never do this type of thing again. We also had a very bad experience in California when we went to their program there.

I accepted a Hilton Grand Vacations special to Las Vegas in November 2011. We did not purchase the timeshare. I received a "Spend a Night on us" certificate for a $100 rebate at any Hilton hotel, as was promised. I stayed at the Hilton Homewood Suites in Bel Air, MD, on 12/29/11, and turned in the correct paperwork and certificate to receive my rebate. It was denied because, "This offer is valid for one night stay at the Hilton Hotel or Hilton Club only."

The "How to redeem" information clearly states, "We are pleased to present to you a rebate for one night's stay at any Hilton Hotel in the U.S." A Google search of Hilton Hotels lists the entire brand of Hilton hotels, which a reasonable person would expect to mean that "any Hilton Hotel" meant any Hilton Hotel brand. I would like my $100 rebate, as was promised at every stage of the Hilton Grand Vacations trip, from the first call to the day of check-out.

While in Hawaii, we were "convinced" to go to a Timeshare presentation for Hilton Grand Vacations. Five hours later, we were proud owners of a timeshare package with the Hilton. Because we are both teachers, we told the sales associate that our biggest fear was the inability to use the property in the summer. "There won't be a problem," they told us. Well, the honeymoon was over as soon as we signed on the dotted line.

There were no rooms in Hawaii this year, or last year. We paid $81.00 to "rescue" points from 2011. But we lost the points because Hilton insists that they see that we tried to "rescue" the points in June, but it never went through. Really? It has been one problem after another. Now we have double payments taken out, two days apart. I, too, thought that Hilton was a reputable company. I am sad to say, this has been a disaster.

I received an unsolicited call offering me a 2 Nights / 3 Days vacation in Orlando, Las Vegas and Hawaii for $329. The sales pitch was never ending and they kept adding on incentives. I have dealt with Hilton for decades and considered them a reputable company so I finally agreed. After giving credit card information, I got an email confirmation and the deal had changed. I found out that I had to sit through a timeshare presentation.

I called back to cancel and they told me I couldn't do it. I asked to speak to a supervisor and he tried to sweeten the pot by upgrading Orlando to seven days. I told them I still wanted to cancel and they continued the high pressure sales. When I threatened to report them to FCC and get an attorney, they backed off but it took forever to get my credit card credited for the deposit.

I told them to take me off their lists and never call me again. That was six months ago. Yesterday, I started getting the calls again (I recently made a reservation at a Hampton Inn) so I called again and they said that I was not on their "do not call" database but they would put me on it. I doubt that will happen. These people are aggressive, lying sales people who prey on Hilton customers.

I can not get a response from HGVC on phone or on the net. I have been trying for more than two days. Today, my password will no longer work. I spent 35 minutes waiting for an operator before I hung up. I can't burn anymore minutes. I'm doing this late because I set up an automatic conversion last summer-- I checked a few days ago to find out that my points haven't been converted. I am so frustrated with the systems I have to quit trying. Customer service? I guess I have to accept that I am going to lose all of my points. What's really a joke is that I can't even pay my fees!

I purchased promotion package at Myrtle Beach for $115. It was a mistake. I called back immediately to cancel but have no luck. I was told that I had six months to use it. Two months later, I had an extra charge of $50 on my card. The representative indicated that I was called after the purchase to tell me if I didn't reserve within 45 days, there would be a $50 charge. I never spoke to anyone about it, then finally, she agreed to credit me. Unauthorized use of my credit card is a fraud. I am waiting for credit on my card.

I got an unsolicited phone call from the HGV representative. It started with "buy a great vacation and you can use it any time in the next six months." After giving my credit card information, he tells me that my wife and I need to be at the timeshare meeting and it needs to be booked in the next thirty days for travel in the next six months. He needed my credit card information right then or else no deal. He came down from about $300 and no benefits to $120 and about $200 in gift cards. He did say upfront weekends would be another $50. I've since not even bothered because my wife doesn't want to go. I just got a charge for $50, with no description and have been on hold for at least twenty minutes while I'm writing this.

I can't even imagine how much dollar I would have wasted if I tried booking something through them. Who knows if I've only donated the $160; so far, might be more before it's over.

I was called and offered three different locations to visit, Las Vegas, Atlantic City, and Myrtle Beach, and I chose Myrtle Beach for 2 nights for $120. I then was told that I had 5 locations to choose from, three of them being on the beach with over a 6 month time to book the trip.

One month later, when I chose to make my reservation, I was told that my choice on the beach is no longer available.

I then made reservations for another hotel on the beach, and later received a confirmation on a regular Hampton Inn far from the beach and far from the hotel I chose. I once again selected another hotel on the beach and was told that there is an additional charge of $99.00 a night. When I said this was "bait and switch" and displayed my outrage, the attendant said the up-charge of $99.00 will be waived.

When I spoke to the 888 number the next day, I was told that my conversation and contact don't exist in their records. Stay away!

In early May 2011, my husband was called by Hilton Grand Vacations and offered seven-days and six nights stay in Hawaii for $324.50; we had one year to use the vacation, and included also was a rental car and a certificate for $200 future stay at a Hilton hotel. In the middle of September, we settled on the days we wanted to stay, and identified flights that we would take. We were told that we would be charged an additional $300 plus a fee to book the vacation.

We have the letter that was sent to confirm our vacation. Nowhere does it state there will be any additional charges. They claim it was stated on the original sales call and they have it recorded, but they will not play it for us since they claim it is Hilton property. They have said that they will refund our $324.50, and I am still waiting. I warn anyone to stay away from this offer. It was bad enough to agree to pay to listen to a sales presentation, but to be charged double the initial offer is criminal.

A woman, "she called herself Eva", talked me into buying a package getaway on 8/26/11. We could pick several good places after our package arrived at our door. I was charged $111.38 on my credit (which I have paid). I have never received the package or any information concerning this deal I made with her. I called the 1-800-605-0421 number and it will not ring through, so I can't talk to anyone about this mess. I think you need to know about the website on the print out of the transaction. The site's name is esumerli@hgvc.com. When I put it in, this came up on my screen: "Warning; possible phishing site."

I received unsolicited call from someone at Hilton Grand Vacations applauding me for being a valued customer. She asked several questions about my family's vacation activities. Then I was told about a wonderful location they have in Hawaii. She then verified that I was married and met their criteria. Once I told her my income bracket, Hawaii was suddenly sold out, but Myrtle Beach was still available. I told her I did not believe Hawaii was sold out. I also expressed my surprise that what I thought was a reputable company was resorting to such tactics. She said that is the way the calls are scripted. She also stated that the calls are recorded for quality control, and they would be made aware of my concerns.

The hotel charged my card (debit) for 2 rooms when I was only responsible for one. The 2nd charge (which was not authorized) was for a room assigned to another party travelling with us. The party's credit card charge was supposedly denied. As a result, the hotel charged my card to pay for their room.

In early July 2010, I was contacted by Hilton Grand Vacation Club to stay at a new timeshare property in Orlando FL, known as Parc Soleil. After a few calls, we agreed to a 7 night 8 day package for a 1 bedroom suite for a discounted price of $560.00. The reservation was made for 21 February 2011 to 28 February 2011 - 7 months after the reservation was made. The first thing HGVC did was to charge the entire amount to my credit card, 7 months before arrival. When I did not receive any written confirmation of this reservation in September, 2010, I called and asked for a written description of the agreement for the accommodations and an itemized list of the charges that were assessed to my credit card. I finally received a call on 7 September 2010 from a Ms. Wilma *** (Guest Assistance Specialist) in Dallas.

She was very concerned that that I called the Hilton Honors customer service number (where Hilton Grand Vacations Club HGCV obtained my information and phone number to make the offer) to express my concern that I had been scammed by HGVC. She assured me that this was no scam and that I would shortly receive a written confirmation of the reservation with an itemized billing. Well I finally received a letter dated January 7, 2011 (almost 6 months after HGVC charged my credit card) providing a reservation number and the dates of the stay with emphasis of the agreement to attend the "preview" on the second day of our stay.

They also provided an address for the hotel which is the private street that the facility is built on. However this street is not available on any GPS systems ( at least not on 2 that I tried in the car) When I called the 800 number given to us in the letter, the operator stated that people always have trouble finding this street and she gave me an address of the adjoining street so we could find the hotel. Not included in this letter was any mention of the accommodations to be provided nor the itemized charges that totaled to $560.00 charged to my credit card back in July 2010! !

We arrived at the hotel late (10:00 PM) Monday evening and checked in and went to the room. Only to discover that the room was s studio unit and not a 1 bedroom suite. When we went to the front desk the next morning, I was told that we had a reservation for a studio unit and that nothing could be done to change that to a 1 bedroom suite.

On Wednesday we attended the "preview" for the time share vacation packages that were being offered to us on a "special deal". When I informed the salesman that we would not make any decisions until our attorney reviewed the contract and we reviewed the various time share purchase plans they were offering, he became very belligerent and stated that this discounted offer was only available if we signed up for it that day.

When I informed him that we were staying at this hotel for a week and I could fax the contract to my attorney and evaluate which spending package was best for us, he stated that he could not provide any copy of the contract for legal review and would not document the different "special deals until we signed the agreement. When I refused he left the table in a huff and had an assistant process the paperwork for us to leave the presentation. It is our (my wife and I) opinion that there is a lot of high pressure sale here and that any person going to any HGVC time share presentation should not sign any agreement until they have taken it home and reviewed it with an attorney.

After making a Hilton reservation, I was given the option to hear about a new resort. We like to travel and have had good experiences with Hilton in the past. I never dreamed that Hilton would be involved in timeshares, so I naively listened to talks about the new resorts. We've sat in on one time share presentation in the past and said never again. Had I known, I would have hung up. They said they were trying to attract new customers to some newly built locations and listed off various sites we could choose from. They said for $99 + tax ($111.38 total) we could get 3 days, 2 nights; however transportation costs were our responsibility and were non-refundable. I do not remember being told it was a time share, or that we had to listen to a presentation, or that if we didn't book within 45 days they would charge another $50, or that weekends were extra, or that we could not change locations.

I should have realized that when they said the offer was only good during that phone call conversation, that it was a red flag! I stupidly signed up for the deal. They never sent any material in the mail. They only emailed it; however it didn't come from Hilton Grand Vacations, but rather from some unknown name that always got caught in my spam box. I eventually got frustrated with the whole deal and forfeited the package and the $111.38. I wouldn't stoop so low as to stay in a time share or give them the satisfaction of me listening for two hours. I paid my "stupid tax" and will let others know not to get involved with Hilton Grand Vacations! On the negative side: I lost/forfeited the initial cost of $111. 38. I had to argue to get the $50 "extension fee" refunded. I experienced total frustration from feeling duped and having to deal with them. On the plus side, it will cost Hilton my future business and I'll use the Internet to tell others not to get involved with Hilton Grand Vacations (or Hilton Hotels if they're following-up hotel reservations with that kind of sales pitch!

I got a call from Hilton Rewards about getting a package, a 3-night stay for $199 with a $100 reward back for a future stay. I bought it but did not book a room within 45 days and was charged another $50! I feel like I am being scammed. I will update after actual stay. They charged more money than originally thought.

We were late on the timeshare fees this year. Due to the economy, many families like ourselves have had to make many sacrifices. We paid the bill in April. We were assessed more late fees and a lockout fee after our payment was sent. Hilton will not waive the fees. We have sent several letters disputing the fees. We sent a letter for our contract for them to buy it back, and we have heard absolutely nothing from Hilton. We have spoken to them once and they simply refuse to waive the fees. Our vacation club space is completely paid for and has been since we purchased it. The maintenance fees have more than doubled in the few short years we have had it. There is simply no way out of the revolving nightmare of timeshare ownership and this is wrong! If we do not pay the fees, we will loose our time for this year. Thus losing over $1200. This has been extremely stressful. We work hard for our money and paying that fee was a hardship itself this year. But to lose it is even worse.

From: 2nd Addendum to FAX (Contract #39-xxxxx) (Contract #67xxxxx) sent 8 June 2010 RE: Vegas Up-Grade 04/20/10 and the legal, ethical, estate, and IRS problems resulting that must be addressed as soon as possible. TO: Mark W., CEO/President, Hilton Grand Vacations. I am sitting here at 5am on 14 August 2010 wondering what to do next about the Hilton Grand Vacation issues that my family has been dealing with since April. All we want now is to have our original contract restored and the thousands of dollars that we have had to spend to keep paying on the original Contract #67-xxxxx as well as the thousands spent on the horrid, supposed up-grade applied to pay off the original Contract #67-xxxxx because we are all so very tired of dealing with the Vegas office that does not call back when agreed and after being treated so rudely we are all weary and feel that we have been passed all over the Hilton organization to no avail.

I will not argue with Vegas about what they did or did not do; we are tired, frustrated, and will never recommend Hilton when there is no service to help. Our family has had constant problems that are now affecting the health (two cardiac events) of my 86 year-old-mother, Doris, who has done nothing but worry about the ramifications of this new contract! But no one is hearing what we have to say. If the CEO is the Big Boss then why can't he resolve our issues? We do not want to hear from this Mark I. on Monday.

We want action! We do not want another lecture about what we did--all our mistakes--is there no customer service? What happened to the customer being right? Just yesterday, 13 August, Doris and I, Dr. Mary, were on a Hilton call (one of many--folks in the Vegas office say they will call back on a day/time and then do not leaving us sitting close to the phone when we could be doing other things! ) with Serena G. who railed us on what we did back in Vegas last April (verbal vomit) and when we tried to raise issues to discuss Serena said "Let ME FINISH! " and rolled on over us! Serena was not present at the incident last April so how can she either know what happened or know how we feel about what happened. After being treated like a child (the details a normal, polite adult would not believe), after having her imply that I cannot read. I lost it saying "I do have a Ph.D., do you? " She exclaimed that she did not have to take abuse and I hung-up!

A Cassy D., also in the Vegas office on these issues on 2 June hung-up on me. The only civil person in the Vegas Office that I have worked on these issues is Ryan C. Is it so hard to understand that the three of us had a very negative experience and have been trying to resolve our problems with the up-grade and we need help! Why should we pay $600 to fix a clerical error the Sales staff caused, now the title folks called and they want $900. This up-grade was supposed to save us money and has done nothing but ding us for more and more and more. Doris is continuing to be billed on the original contact while being charged thousands on the up-grade! We cannot even find someone who has the entire billing records.

This company takes previous Hilton Hotel visits, uses your contact telephone number (in this case, cell phone) and you receive endless daily calls from a 702 area code number. They never leave a message. I traced the number by doing an internet search. I found numerous complaints. I never answered the calls since I did not recognize the number. I found the 800 number to Hilton Grand Vacations and complained directly to them. They found my name and number in their database by the cell phone number I gave them and assured me (with a confirmation number) that the calls would stop until 2015. I will keep this confirmation number just in case it continues.

Hilton Grand Vacations makes offers for you to look at their timeshares. I flew- my cost- to Las Vegas just for this purpose. It was not at all what I expected. At the end they gave us a "gift receipt" for Delta Sky miles. It has been 11 months and we still have not received them. I accepted an offer to stay at the Hilton in Las Vegas in December of last year and I will never make that mistake again.

First when we arrived we went to the hotel named on our paperwork and were told we weren't booked there. they sent us out the back door, thru an alley, behind the parking garage to their old run down hotel a couple blocks off the strip. It was disappointing after all the advertising they had sent us then after walking thru the nice hotel, with the casino, etc, and ending up at the end of the spectrum. It could've passed for a Super 8 motel in tinbuk tu.

Then we went to the hotel listed for our presentation. it also had the wrong hotel listed- Hilton has at least 4 different hotels in Vegas. We took a taxi to the correct hotel, that we of coursed paid out of our pocket for. After viewing the property- it was much nicer than the hotel we were in- we decided we didn't like Vegas enough to buy a timeshare there. The salesman then filled out the paperwork that would entitle us to rewards for taking the time to listen- coupons at the spa and delta sky miles.

It has been 11 months and many phone calls and we still don't have any points to show for our trip. We keep getting the run around. Call back, we are taking care of it. I have been very patient and I am done with the [lies]. I will be contacting and commenting on the Hilton Grand Vacations everywhere I see their name.

Saturday afternoon (I think around 1:50) I received a phone call from Hilton Hotels asking if I would like to take advantage of their vacation deals at a new resort. I was hestitant, but was told I had to make my decision then. I decided to take the vacation deal and the salesman did a lot of talking but I do not remember him saying anything about a non-refundable deposit. After giving all the info he said I would receive an e-mail within 24 hours-which I never recieved.

Sunday I decided I had made a mistake and called their number and was told by Jessica Asprilla that it was non-refundable and that the best she could do was extend my offer till 10/18/2010. I did not agree to this but expressed my disappointment in the program. I was under the assumption that if a company calls me, that I have 72 hours to cancel. Jessica sent me the e-mail and nowhere was I able to find anything about their refund policy.

My main reason for cancelling was that my daughter is in the Army Reserve and could be deployed at anytime and I really don't want to be tied down to anything since I'm not sure if we would be able to vacation. I paid 167.63 on my American Express and would like that money refunded.

They contacted me in an unsolicited phone call on Monday, Sept. 14. I had stayed at a Hilton hotel over a year ago, and I guess they gave my info to this sister company. The woman on the phone offered my wife and I one of several vacation packages. Normally I would have hung up, but it happens that we're trying to plan a vacation, so I listened. She started by offering a 5 day/4 night stay in a Hilton resort on the big island of Hawaii for $649. When I said that we were looking for a longer vacation, she asked me to hold on.

A moment later, a "supervisor" came on and sweetened the deal: the same $649 but for 7 days/6 nights. She also offered to throw in a car rental for free. When I hesitated (I was actually just writing down the information), she sweetened the deal even more, saying that they would throw in 2 luaus and a $200 gift certificate for a future Hilton stay. I agreed at this point. She said that they would need a deposit of $324.50, and that the balance would be due when I made the reservations. I asked how that would work, and she stated that I would receive an email within 15 minutes with the details.

I gave her my credit card info, at which point she finally got around to informing me that this was actually a time-share sales ploy and that we'd have to sit through a 2 hour presentation while we were there. I think it would have been nice to tell me that earlier, but whatever, I agreed.

4 hours later, after having not received the email, I called the 800 number. The person I spoke to finally sent the email. (They claimed to have sent it the first time, but they had my address correct and definitely did not send it. I checked my spam filters directly on the server to be sure, and it wasn't anywhere to be found.)

The email contained a link which I clicked to log into their website. When I logged in, though, the offer had changed: I was now being offered a 5 night, 4 day stay for $749. So I called back to complain. After being put on hold several times for a total of over 10 minutes, the woman with whom I was now speaking "graciously" agreed to honor the $649 for the 7 day/6 night, but stressed it was for the hotel only. I said that no, I had been promised a car, the luaus and the gift certificate. She stated that they could only offer one of these "extra gifts", so I could have *either* the car, the luaus or the certificate, but not all of them.

I explained again what I had been offered, but she steadfastly refused to honor it. So I insisted on a refund of the deposit. She consented, but as of now, 2 days later, the refund has not been processed. I have filed a complain with my credit card company and hope to have it resolved that way.

I think that my credit card company will make this right, so my point here is to merely get this obvious bait-and-switch scam out there so that people can be aware of it and make an informed decision as to whether or not they want to do business with Hilton Grand Vacations.

I want to report this company for harrassing telemarketing telephone calls all hours of the day and never leaving any messages and calling just about everyday on my cell phone. I googled the number and found out there are several other people complaining of the same thing. It seems to be a Hilton Marketing Scam. Not sure if this is the proper venue to complain about this but thought I would start here.