HELP! RCI BILKED 78yo MOM!

[Leigh Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Leigh]

RCI has scammed my elderly (78) mother, and I need your smartest advice, please!!! She lives in NYC.

Two years ago, she bought a discounted Florida cruise vacation sold over the phone, which she just used this past weekend. That’s where she plunked down $10,000 for a property on Singer Island. She promised before she went she was only going for the vacation and would not buy a timeshare, because she already supports two homes inherited from her parents plus her current apartment.

The crux of the matter is that my mother is afflicted with Delusional Personality Disorder. She imagines she is being pursued romantically by a man she worked for more than 35 years ago, who she may not have spoken to since. The difference between Delusional Personality and Delusional Schizophrenia is that with the former, the person is functional and quite ordinary in all respects, except with regard to their fantasy.

I bring this up because she got it into her head that this man, her employer from 35 years ago, told RCI to make that original telephone call two years ago. Just before she left last week, she told me that she had written her former boss a note (should I add that he is in his mid-80's? Meaning no disrespect to sexy seniors, IMHO the ages do add a funny twist!), inviting him to Florida, because the vacation was for 2. No, he didn't answer. But she decided he might just show up in Florida to surprise her.

She arrived back in NY early, on Monday, because she said she forgot her birth certificate and couldn't join the Caribbean cruise. But she did endure RCI's hard-sell tactics all Saturday, and gave them $10,000. She says she visited the property, but I don't know.

I think what happened is that when her crush didn't show up, she couldn't tolerate the dose of reality, and lashed out with an impulsive purchase to comfort herself.

I have told her there are many other options, that she can still get her money back, that you never make that big an investment without cooling off and thinking about it, that you can join a timeshare service without an upfront investment, there are lots of ways to take wonderful, cost-conscious vacations, that so many people have had trouble with RCI they were able to bring a class action (et cetera and so on)---nothing is getting through to her. Somehow she has created a new delusional scenario in her head connected to this purchase, I surmise, because she is not responding with any of her usual financial common sense. She is very defensive & hostile.

Minutes are ticking away on the recission period. Is there anything I can do to protect her from herself and RCI? Can the Attorney General of the State of NY halt this transaction, or force RCI to extend the recission period?

I've read so many savvy discussions on this board, and I would be SO, SO grateful if any (or all!) of you could speak your piece here & now!!!

Leigh

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

First off RCI did not sell her the TS , RCI is an exchange company. She bought it from a development Company like a Marriott, Disney, Starwoods... Most will give you 5 days to rescind follow the letter to a T and get it sent out next day air with return receipt.

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

Welcome, Leigh. Sorry about your family's woes...she is certainly not the first person to buy under these circumstances, unfortunately.
Other than what Frank correctly said, you can probably guess that a personality disorder, though it definitely affects how you behave, would likely not be a reason for anyone to give the money back....millions of people walk around with one and function quite well, as it is a lifelong pattern of behavior rather than anything organic or psychotic. The best course, it would seem, is to look at her contract pretty closely to see who you're dealing with and follow the directions about rescinding immediately and to the letter. Good luck!

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

If she is still within the recision period, she can rescind---but, she has to want to. If she's not still in that period, or she for whatever reason isn't willing to sign the paperwork to rescind, then she's stuck with it.

It is possible that she doesn't need to personally sign the recision paperwork, in which case you can do it for her. Check the contract very very carefully.

If the deadline has expired, the only other way out I can think of would be to have her declared incompetent, dating back to before she signed the contract. But, that's a pretty heavyweight operation, with a lot of potential consequences.

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

If you are beyond the recision date, you might want to talk to a lawyer- though they might not be able to get the money back- they are certainly a better shot that some of the online scam outfits that claim they can get you out of a contract.

[Beaglemom3 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Beaglemom3]

Good advice from all the above. If you want to go after this (and I would), you have some up hill and heavy lifting to do.

1. Identify the company that the contract was made with. I cannot see how this is RCI unless they have a new and unknown (to us here - unlikely) product.

!a. Where was the deal made ? Where is the company based ? This will be another AG's office to contact. Start with NY first and they can guide you based on the contractual agreement. I hope that it is not Caribbean or Mexican based.

2. How was it paid for ? Hopefully, credit card. Call them.

3. Recision period. It should be in the documents. Rescind, rescind, rescind ! Or demand that it be put into suspense while you notify the NY AG. That may put the fear into them.

4. Later: From your post I gather that she is legally competent, however, you may want to start the process of having her declared incompetent ( mental illness) by going to a lawyer to start the guardianship process. It is a messy, time consuming and expensive process at times. I'm not sure if there are siblings involved either. This can add to the mix.

5. Call the NY AG. They are very good. http://www.ag.ny.gov/bureaus/real_es...0Timeshare.pdf Have all the above information ready. Fill out any forms they want filled out and mail, fax, walk them in, too.Timeshare Tips <---------- NY AG's website for TS & RE matters. Scroll to section 7 for the phone number.




Personal note: I had an Aunt with the very same affliction. It was very sad.

Legalities aside, I hope you stick here at TS4Ms and keep us advised of the latest. We are here to help.

[Leigh Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Leigh]

Many thanks for your responses!

Everybody,

Thank you so much for responding so quickly and sanely! My apologies for not following up sooner, I am so tired and I've been at sixes & sevens trying to keep my life in order and resolve this crisis of my mother's.

I tried five or so years ago to have an evaluation done by the crisis service covering her borough here in NY to get professional help for her. It was a flop, I wish I had energy to tell the story, it's somewhere between ridiculous and funny (maybe).

So in the past five years I've had to learn to communicate past the madness. I've just about gotten through to Mom, she is just about ready to rescind the deal herself, and has until tomorrow (Tues 4/27). To accomplish this, I've had to do more investigating of Florida vacations than anyone should be made to do! There's more to life than Florida!

Can I please ask for your help & guidance on timeshares and the like?

Whatever she has, it is located at Palm Beach Shores. She says the cost is about $11,000 and she has only paid about $2500 on her credit card so far. She says she has available three weeks every year, and she is already booked to stay in Palm Beach Shores for Jan 16-23 2011 for an additional $194. Then there's an additional maid's fee of $250. I just wring my hands, because she doesn't know anything about annual maintenance fees, taxes, what-have-you; can't give me any real numbers describing annual cost. She says she gets a small tax break for the purchase, and can leave it in her will to her college, since obviously I don't want it.

She said alternately if I could find her a deal at someplace like the Boca Raton Resort (Hilton/Waldorf property), that would be attractive to her. Well, their website says they have rooms starting at $109, but I couldn't find anything for less than $218/night regardless of whether booking is in January or May. Nonetheless, she was impressed with what I was able to describe to her.

I've visited eBay and do see a lot of real estate and timeshare offers, there's all sorts of stuff available here & there, but I honestly don't know how any of this buying & swapping works.

Can somebody please suggest to me a better (simple!) way I could offer to my mother to have a nice, sunny vacation every winter every year without an extraordinary initial financial commitment or other strings?

Many, MANY thanks!!!

Leigh

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Yours is one of the better timeshare sales stories. It is so good you could not have possibly made it up.

What you call bilked is likely just business as usual, and few authorities care.

BF is right, & RCI's legal team is probably preparing their libel suit against you. (smilie)

[rikkis_playpen Diamond Club Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close rikkis_playpen]

Some of the info you've posted just seems really strange to me.. The three weeks a year statement doesn't match up with the developer's sale price.

I am going to indulge in some speculation over what she purchased just for kicks......

Assuming the current reservation in Palm Beach Shores is just some type of purchase incentive or bonus week, it may or may not have anything to do with the resort she actually purchased.. However, it looks like a ten day rescission period exists- which means the property is in Florida.

I'm also going to make a wild guess and say that perhaps she purchased an RCI points program (possibly from the Berkley Group sales office based out of the Palm Beach Shores Resort and Villas on Ocean Ave?) and the three weeks a year is the "potential" getaways she can reserve with her point allotment???? The other possibility is that she purchased a triennial ownership (probably deeded to Vacation Village at Bonaventure or Weston) and is simply confused over the nomenclature. Triennial would mean one week every three years! Again, the price doesn't really match up.. It seems a little high for a triennial, but it could be right if she bought at the beginning of the presentation before they offered any drops.

Again, all just guesses.. Realistically though, it probably doesn't matter what she actually bought..

If she wants to travel and vacation, and has both the financial means and mental competency to do so- then more power to her! That area of Florida is a fantastic region for retirees to vacation, and can provide years of great travel as well as a welcome relief from a NY winter!

Even though you've stated that she suffers from a delusional condition, it also appears by your comments that she is quite independent.. Her resistance to your advice may be more from being told what to do than deciding if it was a good financial decision!

Both my parents and my in-laws have a tendency to make impulse purchase decisions at this point in their life- but those decisions are made based on personal enjoyment rather than money.. My feeling is that they've spent a lifetime working to accumulate some savings- it would be unreasonable to expect them not to enjoy the fruits of that labor!

I very, very rarely type the word- RESCIND.. But in this case- if she does so it will give you both more time to determine why she is buying. I'm sure the resort will be willing to reopen the purchase at a later date if she decides she does want to own.

See if you can recommend that she consider renting a few weeks directly from timeshare owners to be sure that the resort lifestyle works for her before making the final decision to buy.

There are numerous websites where this can be done, or if she prefers a more personal relationship there are a number of respected rental agents who could give her the protection of a third-party transaction as well as help walk her through the rental process.

I'm sure many of the members here will be happy to give you both some recommendations or ideas for rentals.

One last idea- show her how to post on this site and let her learn independently. You may not be able to force her to make the decision you would like, but perhaps you can give her the opportunity to explore and learn for herself. If she has a few personality quirks- that may just make her posts more interesting!