RCI Timeshare Complaints, Positive and Negative Experiences
There are a number of sites on the web that RCI members use to voice their complaints about past experiences they have had with RCI. A majority of these issues have to do with the inability to trade weeks once they are deposited. The inability to exchange weeks for vacations at other resorts is exactly the same problem that the class action lawsuit, Murillo vs. RCI (which is currently in the discovery process) is focused upon – the idea that RCI is withholding weeks for sales to non-members or for use by executives as perks.
Another point of distress amongst RCI members is that the resorts they are staying in are not as they are advertised. For example, a couple returning to the same resort in Mexico yearly has noticed their accommodations have been falling by the wayside – the first few years they made trips consisted of stays in oceanfront rooms with balconies, whereas over the past few years they have been pushed to the back rooms of the hotel into spaces with antiquated furniture and electronics such as kitchen appliances, televisions and bathroom fixtures. It seems, again, that RCI is giving preferential treatment to non-members willing to pay top dollar for gold crown resorts and suites.
Personally, my major complaint with RCI is the way that they conduct business using their deceitfully underhanded, high-pressure sales tactics. Their main goal is to prey on the weakness of people and convince them, no matter what their financial situation, that a timeshare is a valuable investment. They are no better than corporate bullies, hustling and ready to say whatever you want to hear in order to get your signature on the dotted line. I do not care how many people comment that “it’s your own fault to give in and buy something you did not really want”, there is certainly some truth to that, but the real truth is that people are trusting by nature, and do not want to believe that there is someone out there trying to reel them in for a scam.
People need to be aware about the truth about timeshares, and I encourage you to post your experiences with RCI below, positive and negative, to help inform consumers as to whether or not RCI timeshare is a good investment.
I have owned my timeshare since about 2003 and have points with RCI. I have to say that overall I have had a very good experience. I have been able to exchange my point each time that I have needed going to the bahamas, mexico, and florida. Just last night I used 25,000 point to get a discount on airfare for my mother which saved her about 200 dollars. My only concern now is when I tried to purchase the ticket my credit card company wouldnt approve it and they actually called me this morning needing to check if I was authorizing the charge due to the fact that they had fraud complaints against the company who handles the reservations. So now I’m in a panic if the plane ticket will be OK. Has anyone had any problems with exchanging their points for plane tickets? Please let me know thanks.
I have just returned from using a timeshare in Europe. When I booked the unit, I was told that there were no units available for exchange.
I was told that I could rent a unit close to where I want to exchange for over 800 US. When I arrived at the RCI unit, I was told that my unit was an exchange. Furthermore I could have booked it direct for less than one half of the price that RCI was charging.
When I arrived back in America, I had received a notification from a law firm that there is a class action suit against RCI for taking what should be exchanges and charging rental fees. I have never been so ripped off by an organization such as this unethical crowd. I did receive a partial refund, but feel I should only be charged for an exchange. This organization is a money factory and will continue to deceive its members until they are held accountable. NEVER rent from them under any circumstances!
Rci grandview at las vegas is the biggest scam in the world when i asked the salesman if we could sell back our timeshare she told us oh yeah we can buy back your timeshare no problem. LIARS!!!
I love RCI. Sorry everyone but I love RCI. I bought 2 seperate resale timeshares for a resort we go to every year for a total of $4000+maintenence. Actual value $25000. It previously cost us $4000 to rent for a week. Good score!! The weeks are not the actual times we want to go and have a higher point value through RCI therefore we are able to go for 10 days to that resort and we’re going to The Crane (reg.$1300 per night) for a week for our second time. This is livin! Through our RCI points membership we are always able to find something even in March. You just need to check very often for new trades.
I had purchased a timeshare through RCI at the vacation village at weston about five years ago with a friend. To this day neither one of us has been able to use our week for anything, evrytime we try to get information on trading of using our timeshare we are always given the run around by all their representatives and they continually try to get us to spend more money to convert to points. We tried to market our timeshare and get rid of it for we can no longer afford to keep paying for something that we have never used. I fell victim to a marketing company called world wide marketing out of florida. They told me they would market our timeshare on several websites for a fee of $999.00 which would be added to our asking price so we would get our money back when the timeshare sold. They contacted me saying they had found a preapproved buyer and where waiting for the title work from the resort. When I contacted them and asked when to expect the paperwork for final sale they gave me the same excuse for two weeks about the resort and title company where holding everything up. I contacted the title company to verify and see what the problem was with the paperwork, my resort informed me that they had never received any request for a sale of our timeshare. I tried to contact the marketing company to see why they were giving me the run around and all of the phone numbers that I had previously used were disconnected and since have not been able to find or contact the marketing company meaning they left with my $999.00 and no services were rendered. I am recently found The Owners Advocate Grp which said they could help me cancel my timeshare and get our money back for an up front fee of $500.00, but after being scammed once I am not sure about giving them money up front or that they are even a legitimate company. Has anyone else heard of or worked with the owners advocate grp. I am to the point that I am willing to do almost anything to get out of my timeshare but at the same time cannot afford to spend money with no positive end results.
It comes down to simple economics. A dollar is worth a dollar, and an ounce of gold is worth an ounce of gold, but if someone can get you to trade your dollars or gold for some other “unofficial” currency, like points … then they set the rules. Once they have your money, they no longer care what quality service you can buy for your points. Pre-paying for any service is a risk, even if you pay an hour before you get the service. But paying 25 years in advance is a huge risk. It is easy to see how a resort would rather rent out the best rooms to a current cash paying renter, than to take “worthless” points.
Even a floating timeshare week (not points) is risky. Who is to say that the resort will make available to you a week that is even half-desireable? What is to stop them from offering the floaters only the bad weeks, hoping you’ll “bank your week till next year, and lose it”, so they can rent the best weeks out for cash?
Even the safest timeshare (fixed week) seems risky. Who is auditing the books to see where the maintenance fees go. And when other owners become deadbeats and don’t pay, who foots the bill?
I am not a timeshare expert, so I may have raised some irrational fears here. I hope others can clarify with their experiences.
Point 1: Timeshare is not an ‘investment’ in the conventional sense. You will never, ever get back what you paid for it. Over 50% of what you pay goes in marketing costs, and you will be very luck to get back 20% should you try to sell on the secondary market. The sales people talk about ‘equity’ like you were buying a house, but it is not remotely comparable.
Point 2: Timeshare can still be a good deal, if, and only if, you want to return to the resort where you own, and where you are of course guaranteed to be able to use your weeks or points every year – and you don’t need to be in RCI to do that. It then works out much cheaper than renting at the same resort, once you’ve been more than 3 or 4 times, and you are protected against inflation, apart from the maintenance fees (and check the contract carefully to see what options the resort has to increment these).
Point 3. You have almost no chance of exchanging into anything comparable to what you own. This is for two reasons: people who own good weeks at good resorts simply use them, rather than banking them for exchange; and there is plenty of anecdotal evidence that RCI manipulates the exchange process, which of course they control completely, so that good weeks never become visible to ordinary exchange-seekers. Let’s hope that the current court case exposes the shady practices by RCI that many of us suspect, such as selling banked weeks for cash, rather than putting them in the exchange pool.
Point 4: The whole Points Partners system is a scam. The exchange value of points is pitiful. You will waste thousands of points getting $100 off a car rental. Like airmiles, you can use them except when you really want to.
So in summary, stay away from timeshare altogether unless you know you want to keep coming back to the resort where you are buying; and stay away from RCI unless you have total flexibility on time, don’t really care where you may end up, and are prepared to jump on the phone or website the very day that any inventory does become available.
I used to work at the RCI centre in Ireland. I quit after 6 months because I could see members being ripped off all the time! The staff always complained to management that it is so hard to get an exchange the customer wants and have to sell sell sell or get fired. The database is rigged somehow to favour members who spend more. Quite easy to do and also very few people would need to be in on it. The floor staff definitely aren't in on a scam and in general are frustrated they cant give people the holidays they want. The sales tricks are used to full effect on the staff also. Its regarded as being a very good place to work but I just couldnt leave my soul at the door every day I went in.
My advice; cancel your membership in writing by registered post, forward a copy of this to your lawyer then sell the timeshare as soon as you can. The whole timeshare industry is a pyramid scheme and is designed to rip people off. AVOID!
Same scam here…so stupid. Anyway, I have a consultation with Gonzalez&Gonzalez tomorrow. Is everybody pretty happy with their services, anybody received any money back? What kind of fee are they charging? I can not afford to lose any more money on this scam. Thank you.
This firm contacted us on February 24th of this year. They claimed to “have a buyer for our timeshare”. The buyer was willing to pay top dollar (almost $15,000), and all we needed to do was pay $1250.00 for a “title search, document preparation, and closing fees”. We paid the $1,250.00 and were told to expect the completed closing documents once the title search was done. We were told the buyer had already committed to the sale.
After waiting the 2 weeks and hearing nothing, we called Premier (several times until we were finally able to get someone on the phone) only to be told the buyer had backed out last minute. We were also told that our “title search” funds were non-refundable and they abruptly brushed us off. We realized at this point we had been taken. We have since been given the run around by Premier Representatives, and no sale or follow up whatsoever.
So we began to do some research on this firm and found many others on line who have had same or similar experiences with this same firm. It turns out this company was just incorporated 2 weeks before the call we received from them. We have also searched all the addresses on the corporations of C&G Marketing Associates and the many other corporations under similar names with the same officers, and they are either private residences or mail boxes. After looking further we believe this firm was not even a licensed marketing firm in the state of Florida.
It appears (at least to us) that this is nothing more than a scam which takes advantage of people like us who wish they had never even bought a timeshare to begin with. To add insult to injury we are now scammed for another $1,250.00 which we truly cannot afford in this economy. It is heartbreaking!
I bought a time share unit in patriot resorts in berkshire, MA. I was given one bonus week every year for RCI membership. And like every one else found it is just gimic, you can never get a week using this. I have done my wors financial decision by buyin time share with RCI. I will advice stay way from such organization. Now i am trying to sell the unit, i am not sure how much i will loose.
hi stephanie, well so far everything is working for me, Gonzalez already cancel my contract, now they are fighting to get my downpayment back, the advice i can give you its to act now!!
We just spoke to Gonzalez tongiht. Even though it has been 2 years since our Velas Vallarta Scam, Gonzalez seems to think he can recover some of our money. Of course he wants money up front to handle the case. While it seems legit and the retainer resonable we are very gun-shy of putting out even one more cent after we lsot so much to Velas. Has anywone worked long enough with Gonzalez tyo get some favorable results? please…we realy don't want to spend any more money unless we have evidence that Gonzalez is on the level.
How did it all turn out?
Thanks for any advice.
Barbara
Thanks for the update. We’re really on the fence but I think we’re going to go with G&G also. I’m happy that you’re seeing some response so quickly. Please keep posting with updates and if we finally decide to go with G&G, we’ll do the same.
Hi, well I hired the services of gonzalez and gonzalez.
So far, when i called the resort nobody answered either responded my e-mails, now they called me ,and somehow they want to negotiate. I guess gonzalez is doing his job, but will see.
I will keep you inform of the situation.
Basically we fell for the same scam as others on all these different blogs. Ours was perpetrated at Club Velas Vallarta in PV which is like a rash on the internet when you Google their name with timeshare scam. We thought we were pretty savvy to the TS deal so we went in very lackadaisical. Huge mistake! The depth of their psychosis can’t be measured. I read the following quote in an article about Bernard Madoff that made us better understand:
“What is important to understand is that criminals come from every walk of life,” said Stanton E. Samenow, the author of Inside the Criminal Mind. “They may be highly educated, they may have family and friends and to all outward appearance not only seem normal, but superlative. They commit a crime not because they need the money or they hate humanity or they had a terrible childhood or a smothering mother, or because they are Jewish or Catholic or Christian. What connects them is basic: Their self-esteem rises or falls at the expense of another. Bernard Madoff shares personality traits with embezzlers and serial killers.”
We feel the bottom line is not only do the TS salespersons make a lot of money doing what they do but part of them actually gets off on screwing people. Our sales rep actually took us out to dinner at an excellent restaurant in PV with his family. He has his family involved! We’d passed emails for many months, talked on the phone and exchanged Christmas cards. This is the length they’re willing to go and the best thing to do is to not even go to the presentation. The presentation is not mandatory! The problem is how do we get the message to the unwitting traveler going to PV? We’re all here because we realize we’ve been scammed but most likely they have no idea what they’re about to get themselves into. Maybe somebody on this blog has some ideas.
I to have been in contact with Gonzalez and Gonzlez and would like to know more from anybody who has worked with them.
i contacted profeco and they said they will help me, also i contacted a lawfirm in mexico called gonzalez & gonzalez, does anyone know anything about this firm?
We have just returned from our vacation in Mexico and we are canceling our contract with Mayan Palace Regency immediately. We were deceived and lied to in order to illegally and unlawfully obtain $25,000.00 U.S. dollars from us during our vacation. We attempted to cancel our contract at the resort within the 5 day cancellation period but our request to cancel was not accepted. we are triying. canceling our contract with the Mayan Palace and we are demanding a full refund of $25,000 to our accounts immediately.
We were told that the Mayan Palace would purchase our two timeshare weeks from us. They promised to pay us a total of $27,800 for the two weeks. They had a contract with the prices they would pay for our weeks but we were not given a copy. We were also not given copies of our credit application and we were not told that we were applying for Bank of America credit cards.
Upon review of our paperwork, we realized that copies of important papers had mysteriously been left out of the notebook that we were given. We also researched the Mayan Palace, their rental rates and sales practices on the internet at the resort. We spoke with our sales representative and asked him for the missing paperwork. He told us that he did not have the papers as they were already sent to Texas but in the same statement he said that we would be dealing with a company in Florida who would be buying our timeshares from us. This same company, Luxury Resort Management insisted on charging our credit card account for $399 in order to process the listing of our two timeshares.
We told them that we wanted to cancel our contract since we could not afford to pay for the Mayan timeshare without the money from the sale of our timeshares
The Mayan Palace refused to allow us to rescind our agreement. We were told that we could not cancel and we would lose all of our money that we paid to the Mayan Palace and that the cancellation period had passed, which was not true.
My parents have just asked for my assessment of a problem they’ve had with Wyndham (Branson) for over 2 years. They received a form letter from Wyndham in March 2007, which did contain their contract number, indicating they had completed their payments and that Wyndham would be filing paperwork to have the deed issued to them. My father has talked with Wyndham employees at the Branson property (I’m not sure which Branson property, as I just discovered there are more than one) on several of their visits over the past 2 years, and has repeatedly been told someone would look into it, but they have never received the deed or any follow-up contact, other than to suggest that any problem must be at the Register of Deeds’ office. My father wrote to the Register of Deeds for the County in which Branson is located, and the Register’s office wrote to say they have no record of any deed being issued for/to my parents. My parents have generally enjoyed their Fairfield/Wyndham visits, but are aging and want to attempt selling their timeshare but cannot until they have a deed (as far as they/I understand, at this point). I’ve been scanning Internet complaints related to Wyndham for similar situations. Has anyone else been dealing with this?
Seems to me that none of you had any idea what you purchased. RCI does not sell timeshare weeks nor points at a resort. They are an exchange company that you use only if you wish to go outside your resort. RCI does not have sales people at the resorts. They are a third party. I have several RCI affiliated timeshare weeks and only call RCI if I wish to go someplace aside from my home resort. Actually, I have had very good luck with exchange I suppose because I bought good resorts.
Please help me!!!
We are in a desperate situation!!!
I went to PV with my wife on March. We end up purchasing a Mayan Palace week there and when we got back and were reading the papers we found out that none of the verbal promises about renting our weeks and selling our other timeshares were in the contract.
We got scared and call them to cancel right away. They told us to relax because they would send the cancellation letter to us but we never received it. Now that I called, they told us that we should have sent a letter of cancellation within our five days cancellation period. We were taken advantage from Mayan Palace twice.
We felt frustrated and taken advantage of. While checking with other victims of Mayan Palace on the web, I found a law firm in Mexico. We were so desperate that we end up hiring their services.
Does anyone have any experience with this company? The name Gonzalez & Gonzalez law firm. Please if you have any past experience with this company or with Mayan Palace, let me know about your case. We are crossing our fingers because we can not afford another timeshare.
RCI website is VERY user unfriendly. I felt like a fool when I have tried and tried the dates that I want to travel, and it just came back said that nothing is available and try again. Please… Just show me what's available within a 3 or 6 months period. I am flexible as far as the travel dates. Just show me the dates that you have available, and I will choose one that fits me the best. Wouldn't that be easier for everybody?
I am having problems using my RCI points because only a hand full of resorts accepts pets that's within 6 hours driving distance. Many upscale hotel chains are started accepting pets, and I don't mind to pay a reasonable pet fee. Why not RCI resorts? Many of resorts are not that upscale anyway.
I also don't like the way that RCI have changed it's rule since last year. RCI are now limited only 1/3 of annual allocated points towards the "partners" program. And, if you are so lucky that you can use your points towards some of the partner's programs before the expiration date, you will have to pay some $ in addition to the exchange fee and the points that RCI are taken from your account.
Does anyone think a $69 guest certificate fee is ridiculus? That's in addition to the booking fee of at least $29, annual RCI membership fee of $109?, and the home resort annual maintenance fee of more than $600 a year.
RCI is no longer a timeshare exchange club. It's more like a travel agency that are trying sell everything to its members. What a shame.
RCI and Fairfield should be ashamed. We bought our timeshare in New Orleans at Avenue Plaza on St. Charles Ave. several years ago. Fairfield assisted us in making one of the biggest financial mistakes my husband and I have ever made. Our Fairfield timeshare is out of Grand Desert in Las Vegas. We did not at any time understand that the unit?? in Las Vegas had to be taken as a trade for whatever destination we wanted. We only understood this to be our ownership or "physical property" for the deed to be issued from. We were told that we could call anytime, set up reservations to use our (points with Fairfield)—(weeks with RCI)anywhere. Tried several times to book destinations, being told that "we don't have anything there because that's a very popular destination; wouldn't you like to take a trip to Williamsburg, VA? It's a very historical place to visit!!!! ———— I've tried on multiple ocassions to get NYC. Little did I know that there is only one (1) NYC destination. I was told only a couple of weeks ago by the RCI lady: "No there's nothing available in NYC. You will probably never be able to get in that one. I have worked here 8 years and have only been able to book the NYC Manhattan destination for someone 2 or 3 times." I booked a week in New Orleans because we were about to lose our points. We had a week, but will lose Fri.,Sat., Sun., b/c we could not make it before then (Our fault for booking late.) In addition, the booking fee was $164 for a week's stay in New Orleans which will cost 154,000 of our points. When arranging this trip,the RCI lady told me they only had the week of April 10th open, OR, if I paid a fee I could extend the date options past April 30. When I asked what was open past April 30, she stated she could not tell me until I PAID the FEE!!! I am constantly amazed by this company. Wish I had never heard of RCI or Fairfield. I never miss an opportunity to express to them how very disappointed I am in my timeshare–$19,000 plus financing— and $60 per month for maintenance. The same day I booked the New Orleans destination, a Wyndham rep called offering a vacation to several places I was not interested in. I told him I had just booked a trip to New Orleans so I had no more time off from work for a while to take a trip. As if he had not even heard what I said, He asked when and where would I be interested in traveling????????????????????????????????? I am totally fed up. If anyone knows of a good way out of this "albatross around my neck", please let me know.
BELOW IS 100 PERCENT PROOF OF RCI CORRUPTION. LIKE EVERY BIG MONEY CRIMINAL,THEY ROB YOU AND DONT RESPOND BECAUSE WHAT CAN WE DO.APPRECIATE IT IF YOU FOLKS COULD GET THIS EVIDENCE OF OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE TO BLUE BAY MEMBERS WHO WERE SCAMMED.
04/09/09 I HAVE BEEN GIVING COMPLAINTS OF FRAUD AND OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE TO RCI FOR OVER 9 MONTHS WITH NO RESPONSE .RCI MADE THE PERSON BELOW,JACK, THEIR REPRESENTATIVE. HE CANNOT RESPOND BECAUSE RCI HAS COMMITTED SERIOUS CRIMES. IF RCI HAS HURT YOU,GIVE THIS PLUS YOUR COMPLAINT TO YOUR AG. RCI HAS A CLASS ACTION AGAINST THEM AND IF WE CAN SHOW HOW BAD RCI IS,WE SHOULD GET MUCH MORE MONEY. I OFFICIALLY OBJECTED TO THE CLASS ACTION,SHOWING THE CRIMES OF RCI. GOOD LUCK. From: “Shaughnessy, Jack”
Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2009 09:35:09 -0400
To:
Subject: RE: Your RCI account
In which court (county and state) will you be filing your charges? I will advise the attorneys.
Jack Shaughnessy
Vice President
Corporate Security & Business
Continuity Planning
Wyndham Worldwide Corporation
22 Sylvan Way
Parsippany, NJ 07054
Tele: 973-753-6597
Cell: 862-812-4055
Fax: 973-753-6543
jack.shaughnessy@wyndhamworldwide.com
04/05/09 DEAR JACK, OVER ONE WEEK AGO YOU BECAME THE SPOKESMAN FOR RCI. THIS HAS BEEN AFTER 9 MONTHS OF FRAUD AND NO RESPONSES TO THE FRAUD BY RCI. YOU ARE ALSO AWARE THAT I HAD THE COURTESY OF GIVING YOU ALL THE EVIDENCE THAT I GAVE TO COURT TO OBJECT TO CLASS ACTION AGAINST RCI. SO THAT THE COURT CAN GET A CLEAR UNDERSTANDING OF THE TYPE OF COMPANY RCI IS, I WOULD LIKE YOU TO ANSWER SOME VERY SIMPLE QUESTIONS.I WILL SUBMIT YOUR ANSWERS OR NO ANSWERS TO THE COURT. WHEN YOU FIRST WROTE YOU SAID THAT IT WAS VERY IMPORTANT FOR US TO TALK. AFTER OVER ONE WEEK AND YOUR 4 LETTERS, HAVE YOU SAID ONE WORD ABOUT THE RCI CRIMES? Date: Tue, 31 Mar 2009 11:27:36
To:
Subject: RE: Your RCI account
I’d really like to have a conversation with you – don’t you trust me? I
am VP of corporate security for Wyndham Worldwide and you have made
allegations of criminal activity by our employees. That is obviously why
I have become engaged. I think we need to talk.
Jack Shaughnessy
Vice President
YOU ARE THERE SPOKESMAN,YET YOU ARE DOING THE SAME THAT RCI HAS BEEN DOING FOR 9 MONTHS AND THAT IS NOT RESPONDING. BELOW IS A LETTER FROM MELINDA KELSEY ON FEB 26. SHE STRESSED THE URGENCY OF THE MATTER BECAUSE AIRFARES AND FISHING CHARTERS ARE PAID FOR. SINCE FEB 26 HAS ANYONE FROM RCI OR YOU RESPONDED TO THE CONTINUED PLEADING FOR A RESPONSE BY ME. HAS ANYBODY IN RCI OR YOU RESPONDED TO THE PROOF THAT MELINDA LIED TO CANCEL THE WEEKS. RECENTLY I HAVE ADDRESSED ABOUT 14 DIFFERENT ENTITIES IN RCI,AND WYNDHAM CONCERNING MY ILLEGALLY CANCELLED HAWAII VACATIONS. HAVE ANY RESPONDED TO CRITICAL ISSUES? IF THEY DID RESPOND LET ME KNOW WHAT THEY SAID. IN THE LAST 9 MONTHS I HAVE 66 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS FROM RCI THAT THEY HAVE RECEIVED MY MESSAGES OF CRIMES. HAS ANYBODY,INCLUDING YOU RESPONDED? I WOULD APPRECIATE IT IF YOU WOULD ANSWER THE QUESTIONS AND SAY ANYTHING THAT YOU HAVE TO SAY. IF NO RESPONSE BY 2300 ON WEDNESDAY MARCH 8, I WILL SEND YOUR NO RESPONSE TO THE COURT. THANK YOU- Your RCI confirmations
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2009 17:23:55 -0500
From: melinda.kelsey@rci.com
To:
Dear Mr.
It has been previously stated to you that RCI did not rent out your unit and your alleged credit issues are not with RCI but with your home resort. If you wish to continue to use your RCI benefits you will need to allow the charges to go through for your future exchanges along with the $547.00 to pay for the past vacations which you have disputed with your credit card company. Until this issue is resolved we will be unable to attempt to reinstate your confirmations. Since these confirmations have been cancelled, there is no guarantee the inventory will still be available. You can understand how urgency in this matter is important since inventory changes every day. We do want you to successfully transact with RCI and encourage you to address this issue as quickly as possible.
Sincerely,
Melinda Kelsey
Customer
EVERYBODY SHOULD WORK TOGETHER AGAINST RCI CORRUPTION.
I have been tempted to accept buying a timeshare from RCI in lebanon as I spend much time working and it would be good to have a break from work. They didn't mention that the maintainence fees can change from year to year, they just said that they are 250$/year. My wife used to work and stopped now so I cannot afford buying this timeshare, they have taken from me 300$ now I am thinking of cancelling it and forget about my 300$ better than regret it more later. I don't advice anyone to buy a timeshare. I told them I need time to think (i.e. 3 to 4 days / ask my parents / relatives / etc.) but they refused saying that this is a 'special' offer which ends in an hour. the atmosphere was not good also, they were putting loud music all the time and i think they put something in the drink / cake.
I am not sure, they were able to convince me that it is a great offer. but it is not. it is a damn offer which makes me loss much for nothing. I will cancel my timeshare this week.
You can be in touch with me: wael.abboud@hotmail.com for more info.
Thanks.
Hi All
Many people are venting here of the issue with Temptation Resorts Cancun / Blue Bay / Desire / Premier.
Now a website with an expose has recently been shut down – desirenakedtruth.com/ this even contained links to the staff training manuals that we were all sucked in by.
The site was useful in bringing people together and now it has gone, we should all get in touch with the lawyer listed above. [Clayton@VoegtleLaw.com]
Now hopefully anyone else going to this resort will not be bullied into making a purchase.
If anyone knows of a Mexican lawyer, who knows Mexican law in Cancun and can pursue this company please do let us know on this site so that we can get justice done!
Many thanks
If your schedule 3 on your purchase agreement was not completed in full, you must simply take it to court. As simple as that, they will have no leg to stand on bottom line.
If your agreement is not completed in full they will have to cancel, no leg to stand on is considered missrep and illegal by law(NCR)
If we get more people to take it to court eventually the NCR will have to request all the documentation from these crooks and evaluate them, hopefully, maybe even be closed down.
This happened to me in boksburg with lukas miller and a friend in 4 ways.
They are crooks they will try and give you a free holiday to keep you quite but what is one holiday worth when for the rest of your life the holidayclub system will not work as it did in the past with rci.
Is there no way we can get help
Why is my refund taking so long, I warned you lukas but instead you try and miss and postpone all my meetings you leave me with no answer you will hear from my lawyer.
As die boer nie n plan kan maak nie dan sal my lawyer
We like many of the above bought a timeshare at Temptations,Premier Original Resorts, for the points to fly with. The first sign that there was a problem was when RCI cut our members off the web site, RCI blamed Premier for this, Premier blamed RCI. Then the bad news RCI would only allow our resort 60,000 points to use on point partners and we have close to 7 million points. RCI is still blaming Premier(said Premier knew this could happen) and Premier is still blaming RCI. And as far as all that money you where going to make of those rental weeks, that is a scam. Go to http://www.premier-originalresorts.com to find out exactly how this scam works and how those free AI are limited to when you can use them. There is even a copy of the sales training manual there. Terry
IM VERY DISIPOINTED IN RCI. WE EXHANGE POINTS TO RESERVE A CRUISE ON ROYAL CARRIBEAN THREW RCI.WE HAD TO PAY IN A HIGH AMOUNT OFF MONEY PLUS 3500 PONTS. TWO MONTHS AFTER PAYING THE AMOUNT WE LEANT THAT RCI CHARGED US TWICE THE AMOUNT IN YOU CAN PURCHASED A TICKED ON THE WEBSITE OFF ROYAL CARRIBEAN. WHEN WE CONFRONTED THEM THEY HAVE LONG STORIES AND CANT EXPLAIN WHY THIS BIG DIFFERENCE.I WILL NEVER USE AND WILL ALWAYS CALL RCI A BIG RIP OFF.
RCI was in such need of my deposited week in Cancun one of their Reps intentionally cancelled my week. I attempted to complain to a Supervisor who said he listened to the audio tape of the conversation. He came back and stated that since I didn't accept his offer of a week of thier choice for a one bedroom instead of the two I had it constituted a cancellation. I argued to no avail and to add insult to injury they kept my eschange fee and my guest fee on top of that. This company RCI treats its customers like crap and only tell you of the openings that they want you to have. The week i was denied by RCI the first time, I was able to get three hours later. They are full of crap.
I've sold timeshare in Las Vegas for years. Of course it's a scam. Hasn't the 80's and all of the scams taught you anything? People are greedy for the free gifts and think they can say no on a presentation. Geeesh, it's buyer beware. 1 out of 4 people buy when on mini vacations. Timeshare will always exist regardless of lawsuit. 3 trillion dollars a year in the industry makes sure of it. And never buy in Mexico. Those are leases and there aren't regulations that cover you. YOURE IN MEXICO FOR GOD SAKES. What were you thinking???? Brad
We are in the same situation as everyone else who has a membership with Blue Bay and RCI. Does anyone have any advise? Our membership fees are due and I do not want to invest anymore money into this!
I just purchased timeshare while I was at Temptation Resort last week. I was told that I could rent out my weeks to others and every time somebody stay there on behalf of myself, I would get $500 per week. Also, I was told that everytime my "guest" purchases timeshare from them, I would get free inclusive (free food and free drinks). On my way back from my vacation, I reviewed my contract closely and I was unable to find the sections stating $500 or free "all inclusive". When I emailed them, I received the following response back from them.
"if you don’t have anything on your contract sign for some one of the sales people about receive any free weeks or something else unfortunately there is nothing we can respect because the verbal arrangements don’t have any value if those are not sign or established on the contract."
Did I just get sucked into sales pitch or am I missing something on the contracts?
Do not buy timeshare or points from Blue Bay Club. You will never be able to use them!
We purchased a 25 year, 3 million point timeshare from the Blue Bay club in Feb. of 2005. We purchased this for the ability to use the points partners program to get flights to Cancun. This year when we tried to redeem our points for our trip to Cancun this coming January we are told that we can only use 60,000 points (which does not even get one of us there.) If we cannot use our points for flights to Cancun we will never get to vacation there and we will NEVER be able to use up our points. This is a scam that needs to be ended. We and many others need refunds. Is a lawsuit in order?
We also were stupid enough to pay $299.00 to Premier Blue Bay to rent out our 2 units any year in which we were not going to vacation there. This was a lifetime contract that they never lived up to. Last year we inquired again and they informed us that they no longer employ the company that handled the rentals. Blue Bay refuses to give us a refund of $299.00.
I purchased a timeshare from Ocean Reef Resort in the Bahamas during Xmas vacation 2010. I purchased it because the timeshare manager (Bryan Bannister) conned me. I have an existing timeshare in South Carolina and the maintenance fees keep climbing each year. Bryan called a timeshare reseller (JAY) and had me talk to him. Jay told me that he could sell my timeshare for $7,000. After I signed the papers to purchase Ocean Reef, Bryan Bannister (office manager) disappeared. I kept asking for Jay’s email and phone number each day that I was at the resort but was told that Bryan would give it to me later. By the end of my trip I realized that Jay did not exist. I had been conned/scammed. I put the entire purchase amount of the timeshare on my credit card. SCAMMED!!!!!
Have traded my time share 4 times and was able to go when and where I wanted trading through RCI. And I do not or have ever worked for RCI or any Time share co. I have owned my time share since 2004
We have been contacted by a Law firm that intends on persuing this in court . His name is Clayton Voegtle . His e-mail addy is Clayton@VoegtleLaw.com If anyone is interested in a law suit I would advise contacting him . He is going after RCI but at this time hasn't said anything about Original Resorts or Blue Bay .
I also got sucked into the points scam going on at the blue bays resorts in Cancun. I just found out that I can only use 60,000 pts. per year because they are through Blue Bay. This turns out to be about one $500 airline ticket. At this rate it will take me about 16 years to use the points I paid for. As far as I am concerned pts are pts. Why are we being singled out and restricted from using pts that we paid for. You have the money. I understand that our contract is with Blue Bay but you allowed them to sell RCI points and are the ones changing your agreement. As someone has already said…. This must be against the law. It will only be time before an attorney picks this up and sues. Also said… I will do everything I can to get the word out about how RCi has treated this situation.
It all started on jan 23rd 2008 I purchased 5,601,696 RCI(Real Crappy Investment) points at Temtations Resort in Cancun Mexico along with 6 weeks hotel per year for 25 years. The only reason I bought this was because I would be able to use the points on air fare, as many per year as I would like, it was a great deal. Now as of sept 10, 2008 I get a letter from RCI saying that I can only use 60,000 points per year on air fare.
Well I had sent one of my employees on a vacation for a wedding present and used the points for their air fair, it used 200,000 points was worth aprox $2000. I can use the RCI points on other hotels but why would I do that when I have 6 weeks per year at Temtations that I payed for. A deal is a deal now cough up RCI buck up to your mistakes or every one of the people that this happened to will give you bad ratings on the web. Once I see a bad rating I dont use that company.
The staff presenting the Timeshare will tell you anything you want to hear. They knowingly lie to you then claim they were misinformed from management. That’s all garbage. Once your sale is final getting in touch with anyone who sold you the timeshare is almost impossible. I had to email, call, and contact Desire directly before anyone would contact me back. If it’s not in writing DO NOT BELIEVE IT.
We travel quite often and using the RCI points has saved us about $8,000 in airfare in 18 months. WE used our points only for airfare. This was working great until July 2008. RCI now has a new policy only for Premier by Original Resorts (Formerly Blue Bay Premier) members. You can only use 60,000 points per year for Points Partners (airfare, car,etc.). They also changed the points structure so you’re using more points for airfare. Basically what it comes down to is that we can no longer use our points to purchase airfare with RCI. We own 5.6 million points that we will never use in the 25 years we own the timeshare. Premier acknowledges there is a problem but wont do anything to help change this. We’re being robbed of our points and money that we spent for the points. Because RCI is independent from the membership Premier resorts isn’t obligated to do anything to reimburse its customers. They have washed there hands of the whole situation. At the current rate of 60,000 points use per year it will take us over 75 years to use all our RCI points. We only own the timeshare for 25 years.
Yup, just as I figured. They promised to try to sort something out and let me know via e-mail, but obviously no reply. So I called them again and tried to book a rental car. Same story,: "Yes sir, I see that there are cars available, but the system isn't accepting the booking". Yeah, right. My advice to newcomers: stay away from these people. Take your 10,000$ investment, put it down somewhere at say 7%, then add your yearly $1100$ "maintenance fees". With this $1800 per annum you can take your 2 week holiday anywhere you like, whenever you like. Do the math.
I'm also very disappointed. I was lured into a points membership thinking it was easy to use them at other locations. Nothing is ever available and I just keep racking up 80,000 points per year, at the same time paying the monthly membership fees (something like 1000 bucks a year) for nothing. Tried to convert to car rental in Europe and the result: nothing available ("Sorry, the system isn't allowing me to make the reservation"). Worst investment ever! I'd be curious to know: are they still trying to sucker people in? You'd think they'd at least try to keep their existing members satisfied in fear of negative publicity, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Still trying on the car rental thing, will re-post if something good happens.
They are still selling, have a relative that just paid 20,000.00. I think we are all educated enough to know that this is too good to be true. People just keep buying.
es verdad esos mexicanos son unos ladrones de marca mayor,si no fuera por rci,nunca hubiese ido a isla margarita,santa marta,maine,cuernavaca,covenas,pero me tomo algo de empuje,no es facil conseguir esos sitios y comprendo esa frustracion,lo unico que no me gusta ahora de rci,es que no mandan el libro directorio de los hoteles 2008-2009,estoy hasta el cogote de llamar mendigando por el bendito libro y nada de nada,los operadores solo les interesa ofrecer izque "ofertas" de pagar la membresia hasta 6 anos desde hoy en adelante,para poder coger su comision,una vez que se paga via tarjeta,yuca,si te hable ni me acuerdo,y por supuesto,cuando se llama por la edicion impresa le dicen que todo se puede ver por internet,ojo que a lo mejor si ya no imprimen el resort directory y todos bien tranquilitos,con su plata en el bolsillo
We bought into the RCI points scam at Temptations Resort in Cancun . We were told that we could use 240,000 points a year for points partner program (airfare,car rental,whatever)now they tell me that we can only use 60,000 pts.per year because Temptation Members use too many pts. so they have to limit our points. It says nothing in our contract that they can do this.We've paid thousands to get a few hundred dollar discount on a weeks vacation.I also posted on The Squeaky Wheel it will send them an e-mail of my complaint everytime someone views it http://www.thesqueakywheel.com/complaints/2008/AU… please feel free to view as many times as possible . I will let people know of this site as well .
wow! rebecca, I really feel sorry for your experience. You deserve a refund for sure. We just came from a timeshare meeting, and I sure am glad we didn't sign anything! We did however get a nice gift for 90 minutes of our time.
Incident = I traded a week of my time share that I deposited. The room I deposited was supposed to accomadate a famly of 4. I was given a room in the ghetto in Hawaii at a dump hotel and my two children and I were woken by prostitutes yelling at men coming from m the bar downstairs. I begged RCI to move me several times into a better location but they kept telling me they could not move me. I finally rented a room at the Sheraton that cost 300.00 because they refused to give me a hotel that was not in the slum. They offered me a hotel directly behind the hotel I was in and one that was one block away and told me these were my only options. I repeatedly told them I could not stayb somewhere I did not feel safe with my children. They put me up in the red light district in a hotel with a security guard. The lady at the reception told me she did not blame me for not wanting to stay in the Kuhio Banyan because teenagers had beaten a male turist to death in front of that hotel. The
Kuhio Banyan club did not have a separate bed for my 16 year old son and he had to sleep on the couch. The only bed in the room was a bed that pulls out from the wall. The room smelled disgusting, it was dirty, there was no way to open a window to let in fresh air and there was a seedy bar and a tatoo parlor down stairs from me. The hotel did not have a parking garage but offered to allow me to park my rental car in a garage nearby for 18.00 per night. I was forced to run from my car in the parking garage with my two children to try to get my kids to saftey that evening. RCI was no help, one of the customer service representatives I called for help tried to get me to bank more weeks for more money instead of helping me deal with my emergency. I was not given anything close to amenities of my timeshare week I gave up. The hotel was nasty, the area was bad.
Damage Resulting = After the second night, I stayed at the Sheraton in Wikiki. I was not prepared to stay at other hotels and could not afford to rent another one. It cost me 199.00 to deposit my week with my hotel, 164.00 to book with RCI, 300.00 to stay at the Sheraton and I was ultamitly left scared, in a seedy hotel in a bad part of town. I feel that the money I spent on airline tickets to stay at a resort shoul be refunded. The hotel I was given looked like some place a fugitive running from the law would stay at. My airline tickets were over 1500.00 for me and my children. We expected at minimum a nice hotel if RCI could not find a resort.
I forgot to mention about "positive" experience. Many people write to me how happy they are with their timeshare and how much fun it is for their families. I always wanted to comment on this. There is no question that people can be happy with their time spent on vacation. What i do question is at which expense. So there is no question in my mind that the vacation experience may be great. Some people do not even know that they overpaid. Some others know that they lost money, but that does not prevent their families from enjoying the vacation, even if overpriced. Many of those who wrote to me about how happy they are still agreed that they either overpaid or lost money or bought it on the aftermarket for next to nothing from desperate sellers.
Check the facts here:
http://www.TimeshareRevealed.com
I personally wasted money on it and regret I ever joined. I bought my timeshare from Point To Point Destinations (PTP Destinations, West Coast Timeshare) in Vancouver, BC.
I think this article would be more complete if it distinguished between RCI, the broker and member resorts who actually do the presentations and sell you timeshare, like the one i bought it from: To Point Destinations (PTP Destinations, West Coast Timeshare)
In my experience RCI is not worth it either, but i think it is important to make clear that they are different from individual resorts. Anyway, that does not make me their "deal" any better.
CHECK THE FACTS before you even think of going to any presentation. Never sign anything on the same day. Do not take your wallet with you, give yourself time to check the facts first.
I posted my experience and the facts here:
http://www.TimeshareRevealed.com
bait and switch. promises of ease of use. hidden charges. There is no value to the membership with RCI. It was much more difficult to use a timeshare week than to buy a timeshare week! There are never any resorts or dates available that you want. The resorts they partner with are very nice to work with but there are all kinds of problems with making the reservation because you have to go through RCI.
It seems that on each call the rules change or more like they add new rules to prevent you from easily doing something that you want to do. Especially with a service business such as RCI, if you want success you have to be friendly and serve your clients..i have never felt that they are serving my needs when I call. it is always a matter of quoting charges or rules.
Last time we used a week, we had to pay twice to have the reservation made and then pay to switch to another guest checking in. We beleive that they purposefully told us we had booked what we asked for (a Saturday to Saturday stay) but when the confirmation came it showed a Friday night check in! When we called to correct this we were told that there never was any option for a Saturday night stay so it must have been our mistake!?
We will not be renewing our membership and I would suggest that you do not either. If you are looking for the ability to exchange timeshare weeks – do NOT use RCI.
John Long
I bought into a timeshare package (linked to RCI) in 1989 – at US 2,111 – and for the first 10 years, it seem to go according to their promises. And – like what the rest of you have reported – things got terribly wrong since 2000.
RCI – is only the exchange agent – and I have a lot of unhappiness dealing with them. I can’t get to go where I want (“I want Chiang Mai”. 6 months later RCI said:”Sir, you want Sri Lanka?”. I said: ” I want Chiang Mai because I want to get my massages and sex, claro?” So, I get Bali). Man, this requires a lot of flexibility!
Tried booking for New York City in 2002: “Just get me there – any season and any year in this century? Please?”
And just to get our records straight, the timeshare that I actually own actually practice the “facing the sea not available – you gotta stay in the unit facing the dump”. “But it is not utilized, right?”, I pleaded. “Psss, if you wanna pay, you can have it.”
THE WHOLE THING HAS TURNED INTO A SCAM. (For those of you who just bought in – it is a scam)
So what is the organization like RCI providing in terms of service? “Nada, Nunca, NYET, Ham-Pah-Lang-Moh-Ya”. If we actually go into the internet and make bookings at other resorts, the final cost to us is a lot less than the total cost we have put into the whole thing.
What do you do with the thing you have got? I would very much like to learn about this from some one else.
But what can we do when we ar confronted by scammers today? Take a perverse view and enjoy some time out.
Game 1 – Orlando – time 8.30am, Disney doesn’t come on until 10am. Take one hour and go have a lark. I went and met up and said:”Speakie no english”. Poor woman went and tried to sell me the scam – and , boy she suffered!” At the 58th minute, Mr.”No-speakie-English turned around and said:” Your hour’s nearly up, could I have my free Disney Ticket, the 2 doughnuts and my coffee with cream and 2 sugars please”
She turned to her supervisor who came up and asked if I was a trouble-maker. I said: “Not yet, but if you insist, I will get up on the table and do a song and dance – and while you are mulling over this, could I have an extra doughnut – you know, the one with the strawberry cream. please”. I thought the hour was well spent.
Game 2: Bali – Royal Hotel – bloody hot day and I needed to get out of the sun. Really enjoyed the walk-around – and we took lots of pictures to try to figure olut how to re-decorate our house. Only got boxes of milk chocolate – no coffee and no doughnuts – real let down. But we did get a free taxi ride to another part of town, 3 T-shirts (I wear them as pajamas) and a free week in Phuket (really?) – and some entertainement.
Try this – it is pay back time !
Ow
I just wonder what you do as a profession and if there are ANY complaints or unhappy customers throughout the Industry by which you provide a living for your family. If so, would you feel so vindicated if those customers were to become rude, offensive, abusive, waste your UNPAID time, affect your ability to earn a living in order to pay YOU back for what SOME in your industry have done? So that you know, there are MILLIONS of Timeshare Owners who are NOT experiencing the troubles you have run in to. So now you feel it is a VALID response to LIE, DECEIVE and CHEAT those people who may in fact be just like the ones who SOLD the product to you that you stated “worked according to the promises for 10 years.” In other words, the way the people who sold it to you said it would! If you come to my resort, I would gladly let you get on the table and do a song and dance and then rejoice as they cart your @$$ off to jail where you deserve to be for behavior so UNBECOMING of an adult.
Ray,
Go get a decent job. Try avoiding multi-level marketing too. There must be tons of seriously good jobs that allows you to provide services to society.
Ow
When you talk about high pressure sales, this is like being put in a head lock! I told theses pricks no, so in 15 min of calling me a cheapskate. I told them no again. So are we done? No here comes another rep that got pissed off. Great sales technique! Get mad at the prospective client. But wait here comes the manager who again takes his shot at belittling and berating me! I know what your saying why didn’t I poke them in the nose. Well it would have been a $5000 punch and they would have collected their cash. After reading these other comments I am very relieved that I didn’t play the game.
Game 3: Borrow some of the worse neighborhood toddlers and have them run around making all kinds of noise (crying, kicking, punching, screaming the whole nine yards), alternate bathroom breaks between yourself and your spouse and each time you come back have the salesperson repeat what you missed. Keep getting up for more coffee and donuts. Do your homework up front – get the resales price for the same resort off the Timeshare Resales website and attempt to bargain with the sales person. We lived in Florida and would go to the presentations just to get free Disney Tickets but not without having some fun while sitting thru those horrible sales presenations!
Mary,
I like you already !
Ow
i have tried to email vista promotions about a timeshare i have with them 10 times still no reply they said they would sell it for me they took money off me to sell it which i havent heard off them yet it is ending soon. can you find out they said i was getting 2 weeks free are we getting 2 weeks free i have no conformation on the free i have mr & mrs neild