quote:

cinjim
Cruiser
Posted April 27, 2007 04:22 PM Hide Post
I am a member that was lied to. Now I am trying to get a refund on a resort certificate and am being ignored by CVC. They do not respond to e-mails, or phone calls. This is my personal experience with the company and so far it has not been pleasant since the moment we got back from the cruise it was sold to us. Now that I have a name of the top person "maybe" we can get something done. I wish the people that were so happy about CVC would let the others know exactly where and when they used their points. We don't really like cruising during hurricane season, nor do we like going places in their off seasons. This seems to be the only times to actually use our points and resort certificates and is extremely frustrating. Again, I am one that was lied to and have been fighting with CVC ever since. Now they are not returning any communications. One of the representatives said that every phone call was taped. I asked him to let me hear the tapes and haven't heard back from him.

quote:

Originally posted by cinjim:
I am a member that was lied to. Now I am trying to get a refund on a resort certificate and am being ignored by CVC. They do not respond to e-mails, or phone calls. This is my personal experience with the company and so far it has not been pleasant since the moment we got back from the cruise it was sold to us. Now that I have a name of the top person "maybe" we can get something done. I wish the people that were so happy about CVC would let the others know exactly where and when they used their points. We don't really like cruising during hurricane season, nor do we like going places in their off seasons. This seems to be the only times to actually use our points and resort certificates and is extremely frustrating. Again, I am one that was lied to and have been fighting with CVC ever since. Now they are not returning any communications. One of the representatives said that every phone call was taped. I asked him to let me hear the tapes and haven't heard back from him.

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Originally posted by Cruiser friendly:
To SAS:
You say you are a current CVC employee. Well, here's our story.

We bought a Bronze Membership aboard the Pride in May 2005, thinking it would be this great deal. Nowhere in the contract does it say that we would be charged or points would be deducted for services or "access" benefits. We took our first cruise on our points just this past March and were over-charged on points (of course!), not leaving us with enough points for a second cruise. In order not to lose the balance of our points we booked a second cruise and we had to pay a little over $100 extra for it. In total, we have lost almost $1,100. You are now saying that we bought a "package" that includes the "benefits" that we can get for free, as well as administrative costs.

Some of these so called "perks" are ludicrous.

-"Priority reservations at reservations-only restaurants", as stated in the contract as one of the benefits; how does this incur a cost to you? And how does a membership in CVC expedite these reservations? This can be done as soon as you board the ship with no problem. We have cruised 9 times and know that these "Supper Clubs" are available on only a handful of ships, so you want us to believe this is something we are being deducted points for?

-"Special member debarkation lounge, where available": The key phrase here is "where available". What a cop out! Furthermore, these lounges are provided by the cruise line, NOT by you, so again, where is the cost to you? But still, you deduct points (read $$$) for this "benefit"?

-"Access to an exclusive member website": Since when are corporations/companies charging their members for the use of their website? I have never seen anything like this!

The list of "benefits" goes on. Most of them are available for free to Carnival Past Guests, and even if they are extended to first time CCL cruisers, they incur no cost to you. I agree, Priority Check-In, and the VIP Lounge is nice, but the passenger still has to go through the whole security process with the rest of the passengers, like everybody else. For that "privilege", which, we have yet to use under your membership, we would be assessed $1,100????? Ridiculous!!!!

You see, none of this is mentioned in the presentation NOR in the contract. In fact, there is a clause in the contract where it is stated "I understand that my Membership represents a right to reserve a stateroom aboard the Vessels and that I am not acquiring a leasehold or ownership interest in any Vessel." This is a direct quote from your contract. Where does it say anything about points (or $$$) being deducted for the use of "access benefits"? Nowhere!

I contacted the Better Business Bureau in Phoenix and they sent me a report where it states that in the last three years (the time span of their reporting), ICE has had 72 complaints brought against them, of which 36 were closed. Of those closed, not all were acceptable to the consumers.

I went through the contract with a fine tooth comb. I then sent a letter to ICE, to Solutions at Sea and to CVC (all to the same address, mind you, I think you all must "live" in the same office), with a copy to Bob Dickinson, expressing our discontent at your business practices and dissecting the contract bit by bit on the points pertaining to usage of points. I used the phrase "Nowhere in the contract does it say that we would be charged or points would be deducted for services or "access" benefits" a lot throughout the letter. As for your claim that we bought a "package", the contract and its accompanying pages, states that we bought a "membership"; there is no mention of having purchased a "package" anywhere. Also, the use of "cruise points" is mentioned, not "package points". You twist everything around to suit you after the fact.

In our letter, we request that the money we have lost be returned to us in 30 days from the receipt of the letter, as stated in the contract, or we will contact the BBB in Phoenix, the office of the Attorney General in Arizona, and the US Attorney General. We will also contact the Attorney General in TX, where we live, if they do not satisfy our request.

I know their response might be a big flat NO!, so we'll keep pressing on.

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Originally posted by EXCVCEMPLOYEE:
Hi all,

I used to work for CVC, one of the first to when it first came out. One thing I have always prided myself on, is that I refuse to lie to try and sell something, or get ahead. This, in fact, is one of the reasons I eventually handed in my resignation to CVC. Although I preformed admirably for them while I worked there, I could see that it wasn't preforming the way that they would have us explain it to guests, and in fact, that they promised all of the sales people there that it would as well. I could especially see this from the repeat guests coming back, and the amount of complaints we recieved each and every single week. Don't feel bad though, Marcia Rowley didn't just screw all of you reading this who joined the club, she also screwed me, and some of her other employees that chose to leave the company, due to what I would like to call her poor business ethics. Aside from money, she really doesn't care about anything, or anyone else, and will try to hurt anyone who might possibly have helped her in the future.
Myself, as well as several of her other employees who saw what she was doing as wrong, and chose to leave the company for something else, have found that although we all gave notice, cannot get a job on any Carnival ship now, as she sends an email each time that someone had, to Carnival saying "Do not rehire". Although this has confused Carnival, because there is no explanation given when this email came through, regardless of whether Carnival, or myself tried emailing or calling to find out why, she wouldn't even return the phone call. She in fact, even tried to sabotage me when she found out who my next employer was, by sending them an email telling them not to hire me either. Thank goodness they chose to give me the benefit of the doubt, and are happy with the results.

I personally am very glad that CVC fell through. I feel for all of the people that got "suckered" in, and wish I could make it up to you. I apologize, but I really did not know what a ripoff it truly was until too late, but please know, that if it makes you feel any better, they didn't treat their employees any better than their clients.

I truly am happy that Carnival finally saw the error of their ways, and it really does show you, that even the most successful companies can get suckered in by a conman (or woman in the case of Marcia Rowley).

CVC, goodbye, good riddance, and if there truly is justice in the world, some of you will file a class action lawsuit against her, and her company (Solutions at Sea, subsidiary of I.C.E. Gallery), and bankrupt her so that this cannot happen again.

By the way, you all might like to know, that with the money she made of most of you, she now owns a mansion built into the side of a mountain, just outside the main city of Phoenix.

quote:

Originally posted by Jaden:

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Originally posted by LHP:
Not to worry any longer.

LHP - I am not attacking you - don’t worry, but I have been lingering on this site for about 2 weeks now and so I have been reading this tremendous thread- I’m just wondering something. Kortneycruise mentioned it but she seems mad and I am more of just curious... why have you been so adamant about posting in this thread if you arent even a member of CVC? I COMPLETELY understand you wanting to let people know your opinion and definitely respect that, but lets face it, you have been posting in this thread for 10 months, and many of your posts are copy and pastes of previous posts that you have already said (your repetitive tips). And while you have said that you respect people's positive opinions of the program, you always reply to a postive person with a "glad you are excited about the program BUT....."
Now, don't misunderstand me, i do respect your negative opinion, but i don’t think that it is necessary for you to always argue or bring down the people that are excited about the program. After all, think of how many members are pleased with the program and arent on here saying they are. Why? Because most people don’t voice their opinion or take the time to comment on something unless they are pissed off. How often do you write to the Oreo company and tell them their cookies are delicious? Not nearly as often as you would write to complain if you kept getting stale and rotten cookies.

If you sat through a meeting, fine. If you know some people who work(ed)at the company, fine- I just dont see how that means that people who do enjoy the program are in the wrong.

From what I have read on here, I think it is fair to say that this program is a toss up. Some people feel that they got their money's worth, some like the perks and love it, and some people are very unhappy.

But the program is no longer on the ships, so maybe the only people who should have anything to say in this thread should be active members....

there's a thought

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Originally posted by Cruiser friendly:
I did not put that Smiley face in my previous post! Why would I? I don't know how it got there!

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Originally posted by Cruiser friendly:
It amazes me that the CVC employee (:SAS who posted on this forum, has not responded to any of us who have issues with the program, and who are really angry with how we have been lied to. He wrote to extoll the "virtues" of the company, but has yet to explain the discrepancies between what is said on the presentation, what is said on the contract, and what is ACTUALLY done with the points and our money. This is so one sided and unethical! We, the customers, mean nothing to CVC, except for the profit they are making out of the money they are keeping from us. This was their goal from the beginning.