Wyndham Ocean Ridge - Day 2

I had to attend the Wyndham "seminar" at 9:00 am. so I was up early. We had no groceries in our unit because the grocery had closed by the time we were moved in and settled the previous night. I asked Mary, who called to give me directions, if there would be coffee. She told me there would be an entire breakfast. I went out into the light, misty, cold rain.

The "seminar" was held at the other resort, Wyndham King Cotton. I followed the directions up the elevator, filled out my form, and met with my salesman, Shane. He directed me to help myself to coffee, eggs, biscuits and gravy, sausage, and various juices. I made myself a plate and went into the room. Shane and I sat down and he began asking me questions while I tried to eat. This is very difficult to do, and by the time I was finished telling him my issues with check-in my food was cold and inedible. Note to Wyndham: Let people get breakfast upon first arriving. You leave us sitting in the welcome area for the amount of time it would have taken me to at least drink some coffee.

The seminar began and Shane left me. The seminar was okay. I had just been to one in Orlando, and while Edisto Beach was the originator of this new method, the speaker was not as charismatic and informative as my guy at Wyndham Reunion. This guy, a nice man, took too long and was too windy. I got restless and wished the door leading to the coffee and breakfast wasn't closed. Note to Wyndham: Put the food and drinks in the same room so we can eat and drink more. I guarantee people would be more focused.

I was paid to attend this seminar. They always offer money to get people there. While I am usually paid $100 to attend these things I was only given $50 to this one. I took it because they paid me upfront. Never again. We are told it will be a 45 minute seminar and we can leave. This is never true. I am usually there at least an hour and usually more. This time I was there until almost 1:00 pm. Shane came back and took me to his office where he and Caroline had been on the phone together trying to make things right. They offered to move us all to other locations within the resort, but none of us would be together. While he described the places all I could think about was packing up all of our stuff that we had unpacked the previous night and moving again. I declined. I told him that receiving the points Caroline offered would suffice. He did offer me some advice on questions I had, but he too rambled and by now everyone was texting me asking if I had been kidnapped. I left a little before 1:00 pm. It was still raining and it was still cold. I just felt relieved to be able to finally start my vacation. I had wasted almost an entire day on all of this. If anything, Wyndham owes me that.

Things Wyndham could do to improve registration:

• Train registration to look for things like Presidential owners, booking of more than one unit, guests of owners, etc. - Do this so that these people are not put into units that are crap. I had four other couples with me, potential buyers, who said no way, not ever after having this experience. 
• Train registration to welcome owners and guests - The girl at the front desk was just plain rude to us. I was told, upon complaining, that these people drove an hour to work and only made minimum wage. Seriously? I have friends that have been out of work for three years that would have done a hell of a job at that front desk despite their paycheck. No excuse.
• Offer crap units for less points - I understand that units need improving. I'm an owner. I know all about it. I read my board of directors minutes for the unit I own. If a unit is going to be remodeled and/or torn down and rebuilt within six months then offer those at a discount with an explanation. Give people an option. Wyndham is huge. I could have gone elsewhere had I known or I might have been satisfied had I not paid full price.
• Have inspections on units - The unit we ended up in was missing housekeeping items and furniture. I understand missing dishes and such (we had no oven mitts), but furniture? Really? 
• Put all pictures on your website - The pictures I viewed on the website did not match my unit. And while I understand that beds vary in units then include that in the floor plan picture. My floor plan picture said it "varies slightly" yet the picture showed a completely different plan with only one staircase. I had four staircases and nothing else matched. That was not "slightly".

We spent the rest of the day grocery shopping and eating. I got in a nap later in the day. We played games and drank wine and caught up with one another. I finally felt myself starting to relax and to well, vacate. We designated Maya's unit as the eating unit; our unit as the game unit; and Joyce's unit as the cocktail  unit. We visited all of them and called it an early night, hoping that the rain would let up some tomorrow.

Update: I never received the points I was told I would receive for the mix-up. Highly unhappy with Wyndham Ocean Ridge. I'm told the units I occupied were recently remodeled. I doubt I'll visit again.