In July my wife, Bertha, and I received an MVI Air & Land Vacation offer via MVI Marketing, a division of Mini Vacations, Inc. (Certificate 43251 1 A) and my son, Matt, received the same offer (Certificate 43249 1 A), for attending a time-share promotion.
Validation/registration of the certificate was easy as 1,2, 3 as the company advertised; all we had to do was fill out the Registration Validation Form, and mail it in along with a $50.00 per person deposit that is supposedly refundable.
The second part—scheduling a vacation—was virtually impossible. First, we had to request a date at least 90 days out...
As we all work for different companies, it wasn't until late January that we were able to get coordinated vacations scheduled for April and July in order to request the vacations. At that time, we requested vacations with a departure date of April 24 and return of April 27 to Las Vegas, NV. Knowing this was under the 90-day requirement, we didn't hold much hope that we would be able to schedule a vacation at this time.
On February 13-within about two weeks-we received letters stating that accommodations were not available for the travel dates requested and offering us options including a "drive-to" MVI Suite Dream Vacation (which did not include Las Vegas), to receive a refund of our deposit, or submit alternative travel dates, making sure we selected a date at least 21 days from our original.
On March 15, we submitted new travel requests, for travel to Las Vegas on July 24 and returning on July 27. Over a month later, having received no reply at all, on April 18, we resubmitted the travel vacation requests, via overnight express delivery through the United States Postal Service.
On April 26, we again received letters informing us that accommodations were not available for the travel dates requested, and offering us again options to change to the MVI Suite Dream Vacation at locations which didn't include Las Vegas, to receive a refund of our deposit, or to submit alternative travel dates.
Upon contacting Customer Service, I was told that all available slots had been filled through September, but that I could resubmit, and they might be able to schedule our travel for a date between October and December. I pointed out that our certificate expires September 2, and the customer service agent acknowledged that it could not be extended.
Neither time that we submitted, did MVI Marketing offer an alternative travel date, as was suggested in their brochure.instead, we were required to submit for alternative travel dates, not knowing whether there were openings or not.in fact, customer service agents contacted could not provide specific dates of travel available, but indicated they could submit our names for possible openings in the upcoming quarter-and option that they could not even follow through with upon being reminded of the certificate expiration date.
In June we booked a real vacation to Las Vegas through a valid travel agency.
We found the entire process with MVI Marketing to be frustrating, and that talking one-on-one with customer service representatives did not help.in fact, to reach a customer service representative, I had to call long-distance, and, when I was not satisfied with the representative's answers, and asked to speak with a supervisor, was unceremoniously placed on hold.
We will never give consideration to any vacation offer through this company again!
Marvin
Hurst, Texas
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