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This may get long, but here goes.
My husband and I recently bought 15,000 biannual points for the cost of the transfer fee, knowing that we wouldn't get full bluegreen benefits because we did not buy retail. That was fine, we figured we'd upgrade later if we wanted them.
Our transfer started in Sept of last year, and took until Feb of this year. We ended up paying the mf for this year while it was still in the previous owners name because things were taking so long. So we know how much they paid for mf, ~$360/year, plus the $129/yr membership.
We booked our first nights for this past week, and went in for an update while we were there because we actually had some questions seeing as this was such a new purchase and our first use.
First thing we discussed were maintenance fees. We told them it was $360 a year, they said no, it was $320 base plus a cost/point. and roughly $690 or whatever. There was a lot of confusion and back and forth here before they realized we paid the mf before the transfer was complete. Then they told us that the previous owners were grandfathered in because they bought in 1998, but their benefits wouldn't transfer, and neither would the mf cost. We would be paying the $690/year mf. Surprising, but still not bad for a free timeshare.
Next we started talking about benefits, and the difference between used and retail points. We thought we would upgrade eventually, but we had a pretty decent casino hit the night before and decided we may go for it that day. We did not tell them we were interested, and they put forth their best pitch. They said an additional 6000 points biannually wouldn't raise our mf much, because the $320 base would remain and the cost/point wasn't much. Plus the traveler's plus $49/year (not sure if we want to keep that yet, if it is worth it?). We decided that would be okay, and we did eventually buy the additional points... but I am curious, if we had not purchased more points, would we really have had to pay the new mf, or would it have stayed the same as the previous owners?
Here is where things got creative. They said if we "buy now" they would honor the previous owner's prices/point, what they paid in 1998. Was that complete crap? We suspect yes.
They also said they would gift back any "unused weeks" the previous owners missed out on. Not sure exactly what they were referring to, as the previous owners didn't let many points expire, but they said that they could give us 8 weeks of 7 night vacations for use at any RCI resort, and that they would never expire because they were different than poins. He even wrote in our Owner's Review book (as if that is legally binding) "10 RCI weeks applied to account. RCI will reload until used. (Will not expire until used." Signed, dated, added ref codes and comp codes.
I really grilled him on the vacation weeks, because that had gotten our attention. We asked if there were any times of the year we were restricted to, any resorts restrictions, and he said no. We could use for any time, at any of the however-many RCI resorts. We asked if we could gift them to people, and he said yes. Was all that true? Specifically, we would like to send my parents to Hawaii with one of these. Could we ever do that? If not, how do these things work, what ARE the restrictions really? Because we ended up getting actual certificates when we signed, and after looking over them more they seem like they may have restrictions. We were told to not worry about the "book and confirm within 12 months" because they would just keep giving us new codes until we used them up, that they do that all the time. Will they really do that? I obviously can't realistically take 10 weeks of vacation, but technically the certificates say they expire.
The last incentive they threw at us was reissuing "the previous owners sign-up bonus" which was a 4-night cruise. So we've got a voucher for that, though I doubt we will use it. When the whole talk was said and done and they wanted to start talking financing ("you've both got excellent credit!"), we told them we'd like to pay cash. He got up and said we would need to go speak to someone about all that he had offered us and mumbled something else, and took off. Okay...? When he came back he said that was fine, and offered us another two weeks of vacations (hence the 10 RCI certificates). Why would they counter with more bonuses if there weren't crazy catches to them? It was all very odd. He said "they" told them to give them to us because of all the confusion over the maintenance fees, etc. Whatever.
So once it was all said and done, we paid $6500 for 6000 bianual points, he said we'd have all the Charter benefits now, we have travelers plus for at least a year, 10 RCI vacations, and a cruise. I guess we just want to understand better what all we've got there. Specifically if we can use the RCI vacations as had hoped.
I don't think we'd regret our purchase seeing that we used casino money to pay for it, and we will use our points and make it worth the mf and membership each year... but it would be disappointing if the sign on bonuses were misrepresented to us.
Any thoughts or help would be greatly appreciated!
Michele~
My husband and I recently bought 15,000 biannual points for the cost of the transfer fee, knowing that we wouldn't get full bluegreen benefits because we did not buy retail. That was fine, we figured we'd upgrade later if we wanted them.
Our transfer started in Sept of last year, and took until Feb of this year. We ended up paying the mf for this year while it was still in the previous owners name because things were taking so long. So we know how much they paid for mf, ~$360/year, plus the $129/yr membership.
We booked our first nights for this past week, and went in for an update while we were there because we actually had some questions seeing as this was such a new purchase and our first use.
First thing we discussed were maintenance fees. We told them it was $360 a year, they said no, it was $320 base plus a cost/point. and roughly $690 or whatever. There was a lot of confusion and back and forth here before they realized we paid the mf before the transfer was complete. Then they told us that the previous owners were grandfathered in because they bought in 1998, but their benefits wouldn't transfer, and neither would the mf cost. We would be paying the $690/year mf. Surprising, but still not bad for a free timeshare.
Next we started talking about benefits, and the difference between used and retail points. We thought we would upgrade eventually, but we had a pretty decent casino hit the night before and decided we may go for it that day. We did not tell them we were interested, and they put forth their best pitch. They said an additional 6000 points biannually wouldn't raise our mf much, because the $320 base would remain and the cost/point wasn't much. Plus the traveler's plus $49/year (not sure if we want to keep that yet, if it is worth it?). We decided that would be okay, and we did eventually buy the additional points... but I am curious, if we had not purchased more points, would we really have had to pay the new mf, or would it have stayed the same as the previous owners?
Here is where things got creative. They said if we "buy now" they would honor the previous owner's prices/point, what they paid in 1998. Was that complete crap? We suspect yes.
They also said they would gift back any "unused weeks" the previous owners missed out on. Not sure exactly what they were referring to, as the previous owners didn't let many points expire, but they said that they could give us 8 weeks of 7 night vacations for use at any RCI resort, and that they would never expire because they were different than poins. He even wrote in our Owner's Review book (as if that is legally binding) "10 RCI weeks applied to account. RCI will reload until used. (Will not expire until used." Signed, dated, added ref codes and comp codes.
I really grilled him on the vacation weeks, because that had gotten our attention. We asked if there were any times of the year we were restricted to, any resorts restrictions, and he said no. We could use for any time, at any of the however-many RCI resorts. We asked if we could gift them to people, and he said yes. Was all that true? Specifically, we would like to send my parents to Hawaii with one of these. Could we ever do that? If not, how do these things work, what ARE the restrictions really? Because we ended up getting actual certificates when we signed, and after looking over them more they seem like they may have restrictions. We were told to not worry about the "book and confirm within 12 months" because they would just keep giving us new codes until we used them up, that they do that all the time. Will they really do that? I obviously can't realistically take 10 weeks of vacation, but technically the certificates say they expire.
The last incentive they threw at us was reissuing "the previous owners sign-up bonus" which was a 4-night cruise. So we've got a voucher for that, though I doubt we will use it. When the whole talk was said and done and they wanted to start talking financing ("you've both got excellent credit!"), we told them we'd like to pay cash. He got up and said we would need to go speak to someone about all that he had offered us and mumbled something else, and took off. Okay...? When he came back he said that was fine, and offered us another two weeks of vacations (hence the 10 RCI certificates). Why would they counter with more bonuses if there weren't crazy catches to them? It was all very odd. He said "they" told them to give them to us because of all the confusion over the maintenance fees, etc. Whatever.
So once it was all said and done, we paid $6500 for 6000 bianual points, he said we'd have all the Charter benefits now, we have travelers plus for at least a year, 10 RCI vacations, and a cruise. I guess we just want to understand better what all we've got there. Specifically if we can use the RCI vacations as had hoped.
I don't think we'd regret our purchase seeing that we used casino money to pay for it, and we will use our points and make it worth the mf and membership each year... but it would be disappointing if the sign on bonuses were misrepresented to us.
Any thoughts or help would be greatly appreciated!
Michele~
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