BocaBum99 Questions about your post on Ask RCI?

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

Hi BocaBum99,

A while back you posted on this Thread of Ask RCI. Your title was "RCI in violation of Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant act?"


http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthr...334#post110334

Did you ever contact Cendant's Legal Department?

Do you think RCI is in violation of the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant act if they do not return the rental fee?"


Walt

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

I forgot about that post. I probably got their IRE with it. I believe they are in violation of it with their policy. They are clearly renting weeks and NOT exchanging them when they collect rent.

They should have to pay applicable sales taxes and if they fail to deliver, they should refund the rent.

If they get challenged in court on these points, I believe they will lose. First, someone has to sue or audit them.

I actually have no desire to bring RCI down. I was really just asking the question of whether or not they considered it and if so what the explanation was of why the policy was in relation to that act. A simple answer would have been something like "our attorneys have reviewed those acts and for x and y reasons we believe they do not apply to our rental activities."

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

I know in Florida, if you rent your home for less than 6 months, it's treated like a hotel in terms of requirements to charge sales tax. So, logic would dictate that condos, timeshares and single family homes would all be treated the same in terms of this act. But, I could be wrong. I am not an attorney.

I am simply perplexed at RCI's policy on rentals that get cancelled due to hurricanes. They should refund the rent. I believe there are laws that actually require them to refund the rent.

In this case, it could be the business side of Cendant that created a policy that the attorney's simply didn't know about. They argued that it was just like an exchange probably even though technically it is a rental. If they did know and it was a violation, I am quite sure that the legal department would seek to change the policy and it would be changed. Maybe this is why RCI extra vacations and last calls have increased in price. They may have included cancellation insurance and sales tax. Who knows?

Also, I would be surprised if Madge didn't raise this issue to someone internally. Because if it were illegal and she fielded a question without notifying someone, then that would look really bad on a VP that didn't make officers aware of a potentially illegal act on their part that could land them in jail. It certainly wouldn't bode well for promotion.

Really, if they did something wrong here, it was most likely accidental. Nobody would risk going to jail for that small amount of upside. If you risk going to jail, it's usually for something really big. Even then, it's usually due to incompetence rather than pure greed.

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

Hi BocaBum99,

I don't think it is in anyone's best interest to bring down RCI. I just think they need to play by the same laws as everyone else. It appears that RCI is playing games with their Rentals/Exchanges. I believe that the States are going to get more involved with timesharing because of many of the RCI's Exchange/Rental policies.

It appears that Wisconsin may be doing just that.

See this:

http://streettalkblog.com/?p=522#more-522


WISCONSIN: URGENT, March 3
Filed under: EAST COAST — street @ 12:15 am
Week of March 3- 9

Wisconsin State Bill 638 & AB1088 was introduced, which may limit or restrict future timeshare development in WI. This bill would also add room, sales and premier resort area tax of 1/2% to exchanges to timeshares in WI. It appears to mostly be targeted to tourist dense areas that have or may have in the future the premier resort tax. If passed, these bills could set a precedent for other states to follow.

Just what we need, another tax in Wisconsin.

Walt

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

Thanks Boca..

You probably caused the increase in Last Call rental rates. It should just about cover the taxes and then some

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

Thanks Boca..

You probably caused the increase in Last Call rental rates. It should just about cover the taxes and then some

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

Thanks Boca..

You probably caused the increase in Last Call rental rates. It should just about cover the taxes and then some

You know what? You're probably right. Even if that's the case, it's for the right reason. They should be collecting sales tax and offering free vacation insurance on rentals.

Well, at least when they added the PFD fee, they only made it $26. I predicted it would be $49.

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

Well, at least when they added the PFD fee, they only made it $26. I predicted it would be $49.

Give them time; they like to ease into these increases.
I think once they hit a slowdown in new points memberships … They will go full force with the additional fees. Thinking they are no longer enticing people with low fees.

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

Give them time; they like to ease into these increases.
I think once they hit a slowdown in new points memberships … They will go full force with the additional fees. Thinking they are no longer enticing people with low fees.

Sounds like RCI has learned a thing or two from timeshare developers!

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

I thought they trained them.

[Bootleg Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Bootleg]

RCI now calculates sales tax on bonus vacations.

The bonus weeks that are given out by the Massanutten and Vacation Village resorts are priced at $149, but if you book with them, the tax, depending on state, can push the price up to $169; No tax is charged on foreign bookings.

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

Wasn't there a post on TUG in which
1) A person had their Extra Vacation cancelled by RCI
then 2) RCI refused to refund the cost of the EV
then 3) the person contested the charge with their credit card company, and got a refund
then 4) RCI billed the charge of the Extra Vacation back to the person's RCI account, effectively holding their other RCI resevations hostage
then 5) the person sent RCI a copy of the Florida law (the EV was in Florida) saying that landlords must refund the rent if the unit is unavailable
then 6) RCI backed down and dropped the charge on their account?

It's outrageous that RCI will rent someone a unit and then refuse to refund the money if the unit is unavailable. Outrageous and, it appears, outright illegal in many states.

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

My advise is to buy where you want to go often and rent where you like to visit once and a while. That way, you do not need an exchange company. All these fees they charge, add up.

It may be different for a family of four people or more but for a couple, that would be my choice. We found some great B&B places over the years.

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

My advise is to buy where you want to go often and rent where you like to visit once and a while. ...

This thread is about rentals -- it's about RCI's rentals, which legally should be treated like any other rental. If RCI starts to get away with not refunding rental money when the resort is unavailable, what's to stop others from doing the same?

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

This thread is about rentals -- it's about RCI's rentals, which legally should be treated like any other rental. If RCI starts to get away with not refunding rental money when the resort is unavailable, what's to stop others from doing the same?

It's called fines and jail time. That's a pretty good deterrent for publicly traded companies in the US.