Rci serious crimes effects all members

[slim Member Find all posts View Profile Close slim]

rci crimes

I feel that if i gave you guys 100 percent proof of rci corruption,you would still be insulting me. I started forum to try and get people to object to class action settlement. It was a chance to get more money back to members. Rci illegally took hawaii weeks vacation from me over a month ago and has failed to respond. Story from few years ago. Had confirmed week for sailboat trip. After i pay for airfare,i got cancellation of trip. Called and wrote rci to get week back with no response. Finally david albright tells me it was the one in four rule. I said this was not written anywhere and dave agreed but he said i was supposed to know the rule. I was supposed to know the rule and the rci people giving me confirmation didnt know rule and it wasnt printed anywhere. This is rci doing what it wants regardless of law. Anyone else have problems like this? Any good guys out there?

[slim Member Find all posts View Profile Close slim]

Rci crimes

I HAD GIVEN YOU RECENT COMPLAINTS FROM MEMBERS ABOUT RCI. THERE WAS COMPLAINT AFTER COMPLAINT OF BLUE BAY OWNERS BLAMING RCI. YOU DONT APPEAR TO WANT TO HEAR THIS. READ BELOW AND TELL ME IF RCI IS A NICE GROUP. GO DOWN TO BOTTOM AND IN 2002 PEOPLE KNEW RCI WAS ILLEGALLY RENTING OUT UNITS, AND THEN RCI PAYS PENNIES FOR ROBBING MILLIONS IN A JOKE OF A CLASS ACTION. heryl of Sacramento CA (11/5/05):
Following is the letter I have mailed and emailed to RCI:

RCI North America Office
9998 North Michigan Road
Carmel, IN 46032

I have just experienced the second nightmare with RCI and am shocked and amazed that your company is allowed to practice Bait and Switch in this day and age. I will be putting in a complaint with your state law enforcement. We started out with an Epackage for a room and rental car at $300.00, when we received the "package" via email we noticed the vehicle was at a muni airport 40 miles away.

Thinking this was surely an error we called, after being transferred no less than six times and given 3 different numbers to call we gave up for the night. My husband started calling at 6 am the next morning, Saturday, he spent over an hour on the phone and finally wound up with a vehicle he was told would be about $181.32 plus tax and fees.

When we received confirmation the charge was $224.36. We asked for an economy vehicle but had to take a Chrysler at $60.00 per day as we were told there were no other vehicles available. The original "error" was created by your agent yet we were held to the "rules" of the epackage that we could not change the arrangements after purchase. I believe this will probably be found against the law also, as we clearly requested the vehicle at the Ft. Meyers airport. I am requesting you refund the $100.00 extra we paid for your special "EPackage", cancel my subscription to RCI and pro rate the remaining time and refund this amount.

You cannot pay me for the stress and aggravation this has caused. Your company has made a short three day trip into a classic nightmare. I just hope the hotel your agent booked us into is still standing and doesn't have too much damage. The last trip we took with RCI we were booked into a hotel so damaged by a prior hurricane that it should have been condemned. Then we were hounded for a week to buy another time share.

Your company reminds me of the commercial where in everything is NO. By the way, we called Hertz the original rental contract; they do not even service the Ft. Meyers area. They have no shuttle they do not meet incoming planes, the agent had no idea why RCI would make rental arrangements with them as there is no way to pick up the vehicle.

Gaylan of Redondo Beach CA (8/25/05):
Through RCI, I exchanged a 2-bedroom, 2-bath timeshare for a 2-bedroom timeshare at Megan's Bay Villas Club in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. For four of the seven days there was no electricity, running water or telephone service for three to six hours daily. There was no generator, the unit was dirty, the tile floors were swept but not scrubbed and the corners were dity. There were cockroaches in the unit.

One of my guests is ill and the lack of basic necessities and phone service put him at risk. There were stairs within the unit that presented a dangerous fall risk in the total darkness.

RCI did not disclose the fact that only one bath and a partial kitchen was part of the transaction. Even though the staff was gracious, Megan's Bay Villas Club was a substandard accommodation.

I am selling most of my six timeshares because the trades that are touted by RCI are not available or are substandard. I have filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.

Vidyut of Westlake OH (7/22/05):
I belong to Blue Green Vacation Club, which has vacation exchange program established with RCI. During May of 2002, I inquired RCI regarding resort availability and I was told that I must deposit time in their bank prior to searching for availability. I exchanged 2 weeks of Blue Green Resort time for 1 week of RCI. To this date (3 years and 2 months!!), I have not been able to reserve a single resort. In addition, I will loose my deposit as it has not been used in a timely manner!!!

I have called both RCI and RCI Blue Green and have complained regarding not able to utilize my time as promised. I agree with Rick NC that investments with RCI is a lost cause, agree with Tammy of FL and Rick from CA that nothing seems to be available for exchange as the available time is sold to others. This is similar to depositing money in Etrade account, and not being able to buy stocks since you failed to make purchase within a specific time limit. Such practices would be illegal in most businesses and I am not sure how Cendent Corporation is getting away with RCI's deceiving practices, especially that so many people are losing significant amount of savings that they have put away for a week worth of vacation time.

Matthew of APO AE (4/7/05):
We, too, were duped by RCI and a RCI affiliated resort. My wife and I are in our 20's and I'm in the military. We signed up for the whole "vacation package" including a 4 day-3 night in Orlando with 2 Universal Studios tickets for 2 days, a 3 day-2 night in florida or las vegas, and a 4 day-3 night in aruba. All for a low price of $200/person. We decided to use the Orlando vacation on our way to Miami before departing on a cruise.

Turns out there was a timeshare briefing involved. Since we vacation a lot, the IDEA of a timeshare is ideal to our situation. We can exchange it for anywhere we want, or so we thought. The sales team worked hard on us to sell, of course. They even gave us a "military discount" from there special "military sales representative." We got a 2 BR every other year, and can 'lock-out' half of the apartment so we get 1 BR for 1 week per year. Confused yet?

I was stationed overseas and when we tried to use our timeshare week, we got a lot of no's. Only after I asked them what was available, did I actually get a place. When we went to the resort, the RCI saleswoman there told us about RCI points. Turns out that RCI has a different system than just the weeks. RCI Points members get priority over RCI weeks members when choosing a location. The points system went into effect 4.5 yrs before we bought our timeshare.

When I called Vacation Village at Parkway (from Germany), I was at first given the run-around about talking to someone for 30 min. Then, after 30 min, I was told they would leave a message because all the rep's were with new and prospective customers. I didn't hear anything from them for the rest of the night. The next day I called back and demanded that I talk to a rep just to get a name. Coincidentally, someone was available even after they told me again that no one was available. The lady explained to me that it would cost $5995 to switch to the points system, but she'd knock the price down 'just for me' to $2995. I asked her why I'd have to pay when my week was already worth points. She explained it was due to the developer (isn't that the people who build the resorts?).

I told her I didn't like that offer, and she said that I could pay $5000 dollars to 'upgrade' our timeshare week to every year (instead of every other year) and the exchange would be free. When I asked why the points system wasn't mentioned, she explained that "it's not right for everyone" and that "there isn't enough time to mention the two different programs."

My theory is that they sell people the weeks and then get them to pay more to convert it into the points system after they have trouble using their week. Oops, almost forgot about the additional costs attached to the timeshare-maintenance fees (and local taxes) that are paid every year, RCI membership fees, closing costs, and exchange fees. We were shown lists of years where the fees didn't go up or they only went up a little. Since buying the timeshare in Aug '04, the maintenance fees went up $30, membership fees up $10/yr, the closing costs are set at a % of the selling price not at actual expenses, and exchange fees went up $10 to exchange your week for another. They also sold us on the idea of an additional bonus week per year. However, the week can only be used within 45 days of the start of travel and not on the travel holidays, so we'd be getting "two weeks for the price of one". Later, on the RCI website, they have the exact same offer except there are no limits to how many you can use, they are available to everyone (not just us), and they are called "Last calls."

A couple tips to people who may be interested in a timeshare:

1. Don't be pressured into signing right then and there-you can take a little bit to think about making such a huge commitment.
2. Be informed about the different type of seasons (red, white, blue) at timeshare resorts.
3. Make sure your week offered is in a good season so you'll have more bargaining power (whether week or point wise).
4. Ask if they offer the points system because points members have a lot more options than week members.
5. Ask what other costs are involved -- maintenance fees, taxes, closing costs, admin fees, membership fees, exchange fees, and anything else they may put in there until you see the contract.
6. What we think is really important -- if you decide to buy a timeshare, make sure it is in a place you actually want to go back to. We own two timeshare weeks now at two different resorts, and the second one was way easier on us because the salespeople were friendlier and more relaxed. They let us think it over and compare their resort to others in the area. Also, the maintenance fees are twice as low per year and no taxes at our second resort.

Try to get informed on the resort, the timeshare principle, and your financial situation before you go. As stated earlier, the timeshare principle is ideal, however there are always catches that aren't told to you until you actually try to use it.

Rick of Pfafftown NC (12/12/04):
My wife and I bought a time share an RCI timeshare in Myrtle Beach two years ago. We've now been informed that instead of a weekly exchange system, RCI will now use a "points" system. Plantation Resorts, an RCI affiliate, explains to us that it will cost us nearly $8,000 in cash to convert our time share to the new system. However, they will waive our conversion fee on our time share if we buy a second time share for between $8,000-$30,000.

When Plantation resort told us that we'd have even more difficulty exchanging our time share in the future because there will be very few resorts left on the "weekly" schedule and that RCI is always booked to capacity around the the world, we offered to sell our time share back to them. They refused, offering us the names of three charities who would take our time share as a charitable donation.

Our time share cost far less than the $8,000 conversion fee. So, investing more money in it just to convert to a "points" system would be silly. We were told that our time share is not worth much of anything financially because we are not on the "point" system. So, I guess that we've more or less lost our investment.

Tammy of Jacksonville FL (6/2/04):
I've been a member for over 20 years. It has become impossible (the last few years) to make RCI weeks resort exchanges. I've got 4 weeks deposited and hoped to use them before dropping my membership. Web chatter seems to indicate that RCI is using these deposited weeks for rentals, which explains why nothing is available for exchange anymore. I also suspect that "points" owners have access to the database inventory, but not the reverse, which further diminishes exchange opportunity.

I've got 4 weeks deposited that I can't exchange, plus the annual membership fees for a service they can't seem to provide anymore.

Gary of Piedmont SC (6/23/04):
I complained last year about the fact that they had sent us to a Condominium complex that had all kinds of problems. They did give us a week back for this after we complained. The time limit for us to use the week will be up in August and they still have not found a place where we had requested yet. They were supposed to have been searching since around the first of the year for a place.

They were supposed to have an ongoing search but the last 3 or 4 times I have called customer service they have said they do not have an ongoing search. The last time I called,I spoke with a supervisor and informed him that I did not appreciate this. It seems to us that they are trying to get out of giving us the week back. Several times before this I had asked to speak to a supervisor but was told there was no one there for me to speak to.

They are going to tell you they have offered us several places. They have but have not been what we were looking for. I don't think we should have to pay them a fee which we did when we were sent to the lousy place they sent us to in Florida and accept whatever they may throw out at us.

They also sent us to a place up in Pigeon Forge last year that had high steps to get to and from the pool which we were not informed about. I had recently had a back injury at work and my wife had recently had surgery. This made it hard for us to get to the pool. When I called and asked if they had another place they could send us to, they were rude and uncaring. This, like the other place in Florida we were sent to, in no way compared to the Gold Crown Resort where we were exchanging from where we bought our time share.

A follow-up from Gary (8/26/04):
The free week they had supposedly given us has now expired. I called numerous times to check on the status of this and one person would tell me they had an ongoing search and when I would call a week later they would say there was no ongoing search.I do not think they ever meant for us to get this week back.

Bernadette of Hayward CA (1/13/04):
My husband and I were sold a timeshare in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. As part of the agreement, they gave us 3 bonus weeks to sell through Vacation Weeks.com to help offset the cost. This was in June, and we were told that the bonus weeks would sell in 30-120 days, it has now been over 180 days. When I contact RCI directly, they vaguely alluded that they only have surplus weeks, but they would not admit that my bonus weeks only exist if they have surplus weeks, which I believe is the case and is not how this was sold to me.

RCI has also continued to tell us that our resort, Cabo Villas Resort, is under another resort/timeshare called Raintree. However, when I contacted them on three different occasions they told me that they do not contract with any resort in Cabo San Lucas. When I paid Vacation Weeks to sell my weeks, again they stated it would take up to 120 days. After the 120 days they continued to tell me they were for sale, but that there have been no solid inquiries. When I spoke to RCI, they told me there are no weeks available at any resort in Cabo San Lucas until September of 2004. When I question vacation weeks about this, they just tell me they are trying to sell my weeks. When I ask them how I can verify that my bonus weeks exist, since RCI says they do not have bonus weeks, they ignore my question. I have been trying to get a straight answer for over 6 months.

When I recently advised them that I was going to complain, they either stopped responding completely or start all over and ask me for my account number. Everytime I give them my account number they tell me they will research it, when they research it, they basically tell me that they do not have bonus weeks, or tell me to contact my resort, who then tells me to contact RCI. My hunch is that there are no bonus weeks, that they really do not exist, which is why they can not and will not tell me how to verify that they exist and are listed for sale.

We are not rich, and looked at the timeshare as a way to give our family of four a vacation maybe every other year. We were given a letter when we signed saying we had thirty days to cancel, but only if a lawyer found fault in the contract. The problem with this is that it takes at least thirty days for them to get your account active and working, so by the time I started having problems the thirty day window expired. I hold a Master's Degree, and am not able to understand how their program works, which is a first for me, as most programs/services are pretty understandable.

We pay a monthly fee for this on top of the $3,000 deposit we had to put on our credit card. They gave us the bonus weeks as we complained that their program was too expensive for us. Although the manager one time said they couldn't guarantee the bonus weeks were sold, he did say several times that they would sell fast, and within about 120 days. Besides the expense, I have spent many sleepless nights upset about this, due to the financial difficulty it is creating and the fact that no one can verify the existence of the bonus weeks they gave me. The resort that sold us the timeshare, Cabo Villas Resort, hooked us up with Vacation Weeks.com and we paid another $599 to sell the weeks, however, they will not tell me how to verify the existence or listing of the weeks they are supposed to be selling me.

Richard of Roseville CA (6/9/02):
RCI is an Timeshare Interval exchange company. If I deposit a week I expect to receive a week back that is simular in trading power. When excess weeks are available they are made available to the depositors as bonus vacations in the past for a small fee.

Both regular weeks and bonus weeks availabilty have decresed while bonus week costs have GREATLY increased in some cases by 300 OR 400% over last year. The root of this is that RCI is NOW renting weeks to the general public that were deposited in good faith by timeshare owners. This will potentially increase my yearly maintenance costs from wear and tear on the resort via the public who is likely to not take as good a care of the place as a fellow owner would. But the biggest issue is that availability for RCI's depositors is down due to the renting of weeks to the public.

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

I HAD GIVEN YOU RECENT COMPLAINTS FROM MEMBERS ABOUT RCI. THERE WAS COMPLAINT AFTER COMPLAINT OF BLUE BAY OWNERS BLAMING RCI. YOU DONT APPEAR TO WANT TO HEAR THIS. READ BELOW AND TELL ME IF RCI IS A NICE GROUP.

You don't need to post evidence of RCI customer complaints. The people here have either experienced the problems themselves or read about them on this forum. Read the posts in the RCI section of this forum for further evidence of the complaints the members here have about RCI http://www.timeshareforums.com/forums/rci/ .

The Blue Bay owners blaming RCI is irrelevant (see Joy's post #103). There is no doubt there are problems with RCI. I haven't heard anyone say RCI is a nice group.

The class action and settlement has been discussed thoroughly already (see the RCI section of this forum if you are interested).

[Chap7 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Chap7]

I feel that if i gave you guys 100 percent proof of rci corruption,you would still be insulting me.

Give us a try. So far you haven't provided any proof or given us any specific information regarding your beef with RCI.

[alanmj Banned Find all posts View Profile Close alanmj]

I suggest we all just ignore this thread - it's going nowhere.

"If you argue with fools, they bring you down to their level and beat you with experience"

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

Sorry... But this one was funny!

If I recall I believe these all came the can't argue with a sick mind album

YouTube - joe Walsh Lifes Been Good

YouTube - Joe Walsh - The Eagles - 1977- Rocky Mountain Way

YouTube - Joe Walsh - The Eagles - 1977- Walk Away

I just wanted to see it on top again!

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

Read the posts in the RCI section of this forum for further evidence of the complaints the members here have about RCI RCI - Timeshare Forums .

That is exactly what I have been thinking . . . that he came here and clicked on the RCI Board without even reading topics or any of the threads. If he had, he would see that the RCI Board is not the RCI Lovers' Board.

He just started spewing.

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

Slim,

Do you have your deed for Ocean Villas?

[mschatz Member Find all posts View Profile Close mschatz]

Hoping this ends

If Slim were honorable he would stick to his word of disappearing if he doesn't get support here.

I don't see any glimmer of support from this group of "RCI Lovers".

Slim, do the right thing and go away.

[slim Member Find all posts View Profile Close slim]

rci crimes

I gave you lists of other people making serious complaints of rci. Some people say go away. I dont want to insult the intelligence of some of you people,but it is very simple,if you dont like what i say,why do you waste your time looking at what i am saying.when i started i was trying to help group by objecting to class action to get more money for group. I have shown continuous proof of other people's comments that rci wants to take money from you,yet i here no comments on this. Are you saying that you know rci is bad and i am wasting my time or are you saying that rci is good.

[joycapecod Silver Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close joycapecod]

I gave you lists of other people making serious complaints of rci. Some people say go away. I dont want to insult the intelligence of some of you people,but it is very simple,if you dont like what i say,why do you waste your time looking at what i am saying.when i started i was trying to help group by objecting to class action to get more money for group. I have shown continuous proof of other people's comments that rci wants to take money from you,yet i here no comments on this. Are you saying that you know rci is bad and i am wasting my time or are you saying that rci is good.

We are saying you are wasting your time. Your ranting and unintelligible posts are not needed. I would venture a guess that the years of experience with RCI represented by those posting on this board is in excess of 10,000 years experience. We know that RCI is "not good" but they are also the biggest game in town. Some of us have voted with our checkbooks and walked away; others are still playing the game with RCI and will until RCI no longer fills our needs.

Your constant copy and paste of complaints by others is not news. Your repetition is irksome and you are not winning any friends among the membership here. You are insulting the intelligence of the membership by you constant ranting and disregard for providing specifics when asked.

As you wrote earlier if you got no support you would stop posting; so why are you still here?

Joy

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

Actually, Slim, you have reached the end of the "help" rope here at TS4ms.

We have given you way much more expert response and legitimate concern than your complaining and copy and paste method of communicating deserved.

You have no beef with us.

And in actuality, it sounds like your real problem is that you don't understand what you own, how to use the ownership, and how to handle in a clear and logical way any dispute with any entity, no less RCI.

If you won't stop posting, don't worry...at long last this thread will die of its own volition.

We are dedicated to helping all people learn about how not to get ripped off, how to deal with problematic timeshare matters, how to best use your ownership, how to get around restricitions that are bogus and so many other things.

But you are not into being educated, as it is clear that you have not read any other part of the BBS here with its thousands of posts which do help people, which are clear and demand little more than a person's time to read and be enlightened.

We wish you well, Slim....speedy departure is your best bet.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

If I recall I believe these all came the can't argue with a sick mind album

YouTube - joe Walsh Lifes Been Good

YouTube - Joe Walsh - The Eagles - 1977- Rocky Mountain Way

YouTube - Joe Walsh - The Eagles - 1977- Walk Away

I just wanted to see it on top again!

Those songs really do come from the Joe Walsh Can't argue with a sick mind album
Music: You Can't Argue With A Sick Mind (CD) by Joe Walsh (Artist)

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

I watched 'Walk Away' video. That was the only one I really didn't know well. He was so young back then, but then again, so was I.

[Chap7 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Chap7]

Slim don't go away mad...just go away.