RCI Lawsuit Grinds to a halt

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

Let's not paint all points systems with the same brush. Many of us are having a fabulous points-owning experience.

Absolutely. I now have two timeshares that have moved into points (Sunterra and Raintree) and the results have been entirely positive - and that does involve only timeshare usage. We can do everything we were able to do previously, but we have a lot more options as well.

[Carolinian Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Carolinian]

The important relief in any class action lawsuit is not the compensation for past wrongs but the injunctive relief to stop future activities. This is the key to whether the class action is successful. Some class actions lawyers will do a deal for some meaningless future change just to get their hands on a big fee while the wrongdoing company has their wings only slightly clipped. The key to that not happening is the lead plaintiffs. If they put their foot down there is no deal. In this situation, the word I have is that at least one of the lead plaintiffs is in this for real reform at RCI, which increases the chances of getting meaningful changes out of any settlement.

While the lead plaintiffs motives give hope as to getting a decent settlement for members, I would still be happier is we had a consumer protection lawsuit from a state AG challenging RCI rather than a class action lawsuit. At least you can be reasonably certain the AG will not sell out for cash as many class action lawyers do.

This is a good point. I own at a resort that was built by Fairfield. The HOA (Homeowners' Assoc) got fed up with Fairfield as the management, fired them, and hired someone else. So, it can be done. There are some developers who use shady tactics to maintain control of the resort even after it has been sold out (at which point generally the HOA should get control), but I don't think Fairfield is one of them.



Fairfield/Wyndham is part of the same corporation as RCI, but the issues here are different. The RCI lawsuit isn't related to Fairfield/Wyndham's resort management.

As for the class action against RCI, it is richly desired. However, I don't hold out much hope that it will change things. If it succeeds, RCI customers will probably receive something like a $20 coupon -- which they can redeem only by giving RCI yet another one of their weeks, taking whatever crummy week RCI offers in exchange, and paying RCI's exorbitant exchange fee. (This is what happened when Northwest was "successfully" sued for anti-competitive practices about a decade ago, except the coupon was for airfare, not timeshare exchanges. Northwest continued to charge exorbitant fares out of the Detroit market, so even with the coupon, they were still a rip-off. My coupon expired unused.)

Actually, here is what I see as the best thing about the RCI class action: When newbies show up, we can tell them, "RCI Weeks should be your absolute last choice for an exchange company. They are so bad, their customers are suing them."

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

Inside large developer contained systems I can see points working out reasonably well. I enjoy HGVC's point system for instance.

However, points systems inevitably can become abused. Newer resorts requirng more points. New twists on an old trick to get people to purchase more points (Elite status, super elite status, super duper elite status.....). There's always that nasty little conversion fee to go to points or, pay more for something you already own but now there's a new improved way to use it. Of course there's the use points for pay for services or other items that leads to cheap rentals popping up making those that are paying full freight for the MF's look like they've got a bad deal.

Like I said, it's only my opnion but, I see a lot of potential for abuse and, since most corporations answer to stock holders the ever growing need for profit can come back to bite owners in the hind end at some point in time. Heck, even privately owned developers might feel the need to increase profits every now and again and selling services for a profit to points owner and then renting out that week for more money might look like an awfully good deal for the developer.

[Carolinian Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Carolinian]

When it is WEEKS inventory they are renting to the general public they ARE doing something wrong, in looting the Weeks system. Someone posted some info at TUG a while back from some Cendant corporate filing where they admitted they used points from the points partners exchanges to take anything they wanted for rental, including using the fraudulent generic crossover grids for Weeks inventory.

There are also reports from several RCI employees who have seen on RCI computers where Weeks deposits for prime weeks unrelated to any PFD, points partners, cruises, etc. are immediately placed into RCI's rental pool when they are deposited for exchange. Bootleg was one who reported that.
Such activities are indeed WRONG!

Despite the wishful thinking (from his perspective), the lawsuit is NOT stalled, just winding its way through the usual cumbersome process of court.

While I am dissapointed, I am not surprised. Going to points and then allowing points to be spent on items other than timeshare exchange will allow RCI to show that rentals are generated by people giving up their weeks for rental cars, airline miles or merchandise. It may be entirely impossible to prove what weeks where given up (points for service/mechandise) and what weeks were taken for rentals.

In the end this practice will only stop if enough people quit giving up their weeks or points to RCI. Unfortunately, I don't see that happening. With timeshare the uneducated seem to out number the educated by a considerable margin.

It is unfortunate IMO but RCI has probably done nothing wrong. They've just learned how to manipulate their system so that it favors them and make more money for their stockholders. Last time I looked they refered to timeshare owners as subscribers and not members. Essentially, they seem to be looking at timeshare owners as a cash cow to exploit to their fullest advantage to make as much money as they can. Seems as if they're doing a pretty good job of that.

IMO, points based systems serve mostly the company and not the timeshare owner who purchased with the intention of using or exchanging their timeshare for timeshare vacations.