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Charging for contact informationon Redweek.com
garym262 wrote:I don't see how they could let non-members contact owners about rentals and then guarantee that the membership fee would be paid. On the other hand, my experience was that I paid the fee, contacted the owner of two weeks I wanted and got no response. Both weeks continued to be listed after the time I wanted them, so I have no idea what went on. Who knows, maybe there will be another opportunity to use the service before my membership expires. And the amount of money is not going to break me. But since I had a specific trip I wanted to take and paid the membership fee to contact a current ad and got no response, I have to say my money spent on Redweek was wasted.
Hi Gary,
When interested renters or buyers don't hear back from the owners after a week we ask that you contact us so that we can investigate. If we have a phone number for them we'll call them. Many times when this situation happens it's that emails from one of the parties are ending up in their spam filter. Owners want to hear from you and rent out their week. I can't imagine why they would go through the expense and trouble of putting their timeshare on RedWeek and not reply to you unless the replies were being filtered by their emails. This may be why the posting is still for rent. Sometimes it pays for the owner to include their phone number in their posting so that there is another option in reaching them.
I hope you have another chance to use your membership, Gary.
Thanks, Marty
Marty F
If the message is sent to his Redweek message folder, how does it get caught in a spam filter? I believe this person has been active in renting out weeks, which makes it more of a puzzle. I sent copies of all three messages to the Customer Service address after hitting the "suggestions/feedback" button. You're right, a phone number would be helpful. When you send a message in response to an ad, as I recall, there is no indication if an e-mail is going to an e-mail address supplied by the advertiser or if it is just going to his Redweek message folder, or both. Maybe paying the fee and getting no response wouldn't be so irritating if we weren't left in the dark about it.
Gary M.
garym262 wrote:If the message is sent to his Redweek message folder, how does it get caught in a spam filter? I believe this person has been active in renting out weeks, which makes it more of a puzzle. I sent copies of all three messages to the Customer Service address after hitting the "suggestions/feedback" button. You're right, a phone number would be helpful. When you send a message in response to an ad, as I recall, there is no indication if an e-mail is going to an e-mail address supplied by the advertiser or if it is just going to his Redweek message folder, or both. Maybe paying the fee and getting no response wouldn't be so irritating if we weren't left in the dark about it.
When members like you send an inquiry through the owner's posting page, one copy of that message goes to the owner's regular email box and another is stored in their messages on the RedWeek website. If the email that is going to their regular email address is filtered out and they aren't checking their messages on the website they don't know they have someone interested. Owners need to be vigilant about checking both places.
The name and username of the owner on their posting is linked to their email address that they sign up with. They are welcome to add their email address directly in the "Details" area of their posting but if someone emails them directly to that email address we won't have any record of it since it didn't go through the posting page.
We try to answer many of these commonly asked questions on the Resources page http://www.redweek.com/resources/
Thanks, Gary.
Marty
Marty F
Marty, I appreciate your feedback. It truly is helpful. However, is Redweek willing to re-work their home page with a bigger,bolder notice that people need to pay to make contact with owners? I'm not talking about the little line as you mentioned before. Besides the first lines in that section state FREE then below those it mentions become a member... Again, it's just the right thing to do is to inform you costumers of charges before they spend their time on the site. obviously, this topic hasn't gone away. Maybe you should bring it up in a meeting and let people know just how many people are questioning this? Thanks
Ka D.
kad2 wrote:Marty, I appreciate your feedback. It truly is helpful. However, is Redweek willing to re-work their home page with a bigger,bolder notice that people need to pay to make contact with owners? I'm not talking about the little line as you mentioned before. Besides the first lines in that section state FREE then below those it mentions become a member... Again, it's just the right thing to do is to inform you costumers of charges before they spend their time on the site. obviously, this topic hasn't gone away. Maybe you should bring it up in a meeting and let people know just how many people are questioning this? Thanks
I have brought your suggestions to the attention of the design team for consideration in future updates to the site. I also wanted to add that on the left side of every page it says "New to RedWeek?" When you click on the link below that says "Learn how RedWeek.com can work for you » " a separate window opens up with all the information anyone will need to know about our pricing.
Thanks, Marty
Marty F
Again, nothing in those "sidebar" comments of "New to Redweek? or "Learn how Redweek can work for you" tells me up front that there is a fee to make contact. It's plain and simple, either the team will make the change or not -- how many people will not join just because of the frustration of not knowing about the fee until they are 1-2 hours into their search?
Ka D.
kad2 wrote:Again, nothing in those "sidebar" comments of "New to Redweek? or "Learn how Redweek can work for you" tells me up front that there is a fee to make contact. It's plain and simple, either the team will make the change or not -- how many people will not join just because of the frustration of not knowing about the fee until they are 1-2 hours into their search?
Hmm, the pop up window says "A RedWeek Membership, just $4.99, allows you to contact owners about available units, access thousands of resort reviews, and want ads." That seems pretty clear to me.
Marty F
Marty, It is obvious that you must defend Redweek. However, Why are you so resistent to changing the notice? If this many people seem to question it, wouldn't it be sound to follow a concern that has frustrated many potential customers? Your comment about Hmm,...sounds not just insulting but cocky!!!! Once again, if a redweek staff member does not see the importance of this issue, then what will they do if a member has an issue or complaint? I have now shared this site with many people to NOT become members and use other free sites just becuase of the information issue. If you're going to charge people that's your right - but why be shy about it - plaster it on the front page.
Ka D.
I'm shocked to read about this right after becoming a member. I feel cheated! Why isn't this posted on the page where regular membership fee and additional $24.99 fee to post an ad is posted?
This has clearly been an ongoing problem for a few years. Why would you want to scam honest people? I'd never try to rent from anybody trying to charge me for seeing an ad for a rental that I have to pay for to begin with.
I do not like to write anything wrong about anybody but this is down right wrong; especially knowing how bad today's economy is. Shame on you!
Melba P.
melbap3 wrote:I'm shocked to read about this right after becoming a member. I feel cheated! Why isn't this posted on the page where regular membership fee and additional $24.99 fee to post an ad is posted?This has clearly been an ongoing problem for a few years. Why would you want to scam honest people? I'd never try to rent from anybody trying to charge me for seeing an ad for a rental that I have to pay for to begin with.
I do not like to write anything wrong about anybody but this is down right wrong; especially knowing how bad today's economy is. Shame on you!
Redweek is a business, not a charity. They charge a fee in order to defend their ad clients from being harrassed by tire kickers, scammers and people that are not really interested in buying or renting a timeshare. Sites like Craig's List (free) are rampant with such abuse.
I would not want my contact info posted on a site that was free (I could just imagine all the spam and scammers).
R P.
marty8084 wrote:Hmm, the pop up window says "A RedWeek Membership, just $4.99, allows you to contact owners about available units, access thousands of resort reviews, and want ads." That seems pretty clear to me.
Marty, did you mean $14.99 ????? I didn't see a pop-up window that stated $4.99.
R P.
jayjay wrote:marty8084 wrote:Hmm, the pop up window says "A RedWeek Membership, just $4.99, allows you to contact owners about available units, access thousands of resort reviews, and want ads." That seems pretty clear to me.Marty, did you mean $14.99 ????? I didn't see a pop-up window that stated $4.99.
Jayjay, back when I posted that in March of 2009 we were running a membership for $4.99 which was for a month, I believe. We now only offer a 12 month membership for $14.99. Thank you for catching that.
Marty
Marty F