TS Today "RCI Fairness Hearing Update"

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

But, RCI may agree to keep deposits in the exchange pool until 90 days out and continue to do so well into the future. That would be a significant improvement over sending deposits of their choosing straight to Rental as the see fit.

OK. Have them send that to me in writing, and I will accept it, as long as it is permanent and a way to monitor it is in place, and there are penalties for violations.

[GoofyHobbie Member Find all posts View Profile Close GoofyHobbie]

Update

I have retained Susan B. Collins as my legal counsel. She will represent me and hundreds of other objectors before the Court at NO COST to any member of the class who chooses to object and sign on with her as your legal counsel.

I apologize for the delay in getting back to the board with how you can proceed from here. Both Jeannie and I are working very closely with Susan.

The goal is to come to a consensus among the objectors and then move forward with as much clout as possible.

Like Susan and Jeannie, I have been extremely tied up drafting instructions and a Form Letter which Susan will review before I post it here.

It is our goal to get as many of you on board as possible. As Jeannie has stated ahead of me, the information you are waiting for should be available within the next couple of days if not sooner.

If you decide to sign on with Susan as your counsel, she will represent you well because she is one of you a member of the class. Once on board you can expect a personal E-Mail to each of you to first bring you up to date and then to tell you how we will stay in touch.

Having your own legal counsel will provide you with excellent insight into what is going on and you will no longer feel like you are sitting under a mushroom as birds fly by and tell you all sorts of scuttlebutt or pelt you with their droppings.

Stand by.

We are trying our best to make the process as simple as possible for each of you.

__________________
Dave

All my posts are based on my personal experience or should be considered my personal opinion about the subject being discussed.

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

I'm with you, Goofy! Lets nail these suckers!

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

Is there any way to sign on without our identity being revealed to RCI?

I can see how retaliation, simply by putting a notation on our account(s), would be a very easy thing for them to do.

[GoofyHobbie Member Find all posts View Profile Close GoofyHobbie]

There is strength in numbers.

JLB,

We anticipate well over a thousand objectors and need as many as we can get. The most significant benefit that I have discovered by becoming a client is knowledge.

Knowledge is power and with knowledge we can form a consenus that individuals acting as individuals will unlikely obtain. The process is extremely interesting and you will be well informed as things proceed.

If at some point you decide to bow out that is always an option available to you as an individual.

Recommend that you seriously consider signing on for the ride.

Dave

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

The process is extremely interesting and you will be well informed as things proceed.

Yeah, the wheels of justice are really something.

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

This post may have more words than some like to see in one post . . . OK, more words than I like to see in one post.

My postcard notification came in the mail today. It is an exact duplicate of the recent email notification. For whatever reason, probably this thread, I actually read it.

Here's some points of clarification:

1. There is a settlement. The first words are, "A settlement has been reached . . . " My point is that that is all that is being considered at this time, whether the settlement is to be accepted. All of the posturing going on about a better settlement, or whatever, is not on the table.

2. If you exclude yourself from the class, you cannot participate in the settlement. You "keep your right to sue RCI on your own."

"If you do not exclude yourself, you will be bound by the Court's ruling in the case."

3. However, you do not have to exclude yourself in order to object to the settlement: "If you do not exclude yourself, you can enter an appearance . . . (blah, blah, blah) . . . You may also object to or comment on the settlement . . . (how to do that)."

So you can tell the court you don't agree without getting cut out completly if the objections fall on deaf ears.
- - - - -

Here's where I think I'm at . . . I have never heard of this in a class-action, but if the objecting class is significant enough that the Court recognizes it as a separate, new class, and sanctions it to initiate a new suit, I sense I may be with them, depending on what it is they feel would be a meaningful settlement, and what their gameplan is.

But, my position is not that I want to exclude myself and sue RCI on my own.

I am going to email my position to Class Counsel, the email address at the bottom of the notice.

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

Here is my reply to counsel. I have saved it to Send Later, waiting for y'alls thoughts on it.

Dear Sir or Madam:

Here is my position regarding the settlement with RCI:

My wife have been RCI members for 20 years, owning six weeks, and we are deeply dismayed and disturbed that RCI is raiding inventory from the Weeks pool and offering it as rentals. We consider it to be a breach of faith, a breech of what we were sold and told our timesharing experience would be. We deposit weeks into the exchange pool with the intention that only other timeshare owners, RCI members, will be able to get them, either through exchange or through RCI programs like Extra Vacations or Last Call, used to move excess inventory.

We have been RCI members for 20 years, owning six weeks. I have searched online daily since 1997, and I can document the dwindling availability of exchange inventory, corresponding with the increase in RCI's rental activity.

That situation has become compounded since RCI's recent enhancement of their website not long ago, when approximately 60% of the exchange inventory, all of the better resorts, in SW FL for the next 24 months disappeared. In total, 25000-30000 possible exchanges disappeared at that time. That has been confirmed with many other RCI members I communicate with via Internet forums. My inquiries with RCI have fallen on deaf ears and their replies have been belittling.

I feel that has significantly changed the situation regarding a settlement. It is a new set of facts, an alarming development with a settlement pending.

So, I object to the settlement.

At the same time, I do not wish to exclude myself from the settlement; I do not wish to sue RCI on my own.

There is a sizable and growing number of those who object to the settlement. It is being organized on the Internet and through independent timeshare owners' groups and publications. If that group grows into something that is recognized by the Court as a new Class, say with the right to initiate a new class-action suit, I may be interested in that.

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

Not to beat a dead horse, but I still do not understand if we are automatically members of the class action just by being members of RCI weeks or did/do we have to do something to be members of the class action.
Also, it seems that some have received letters and/or emails from attorneys etc. regarding this but I have not.
This whole thing, by design, has been very hard to garner a good understanding of. While I am fairly sure that most RCI members would be quite happy if RCI was told they could not continue to plunder our deposits for their own benefit and had to make deposits made for exchange purposes available for exchanges, but, this does not seem to be an outcome that anyone truely believes will happen.
If you say that you have an attorney that is very willing to represent any of us that want her to and that you are working on a form to allow that to happen, when will that be available and what else do we need to do to join this effort?? It seems that there is not much time left with the upcoming deadline of Nov 20th.
Is you recommendation that people fill out the claim form and opt for one of the settlements while still trying to fight this or let the claim deadline go by and just opt in to this fight? In this case do people stand the chance of just being left out in the cold anyway??
And one last thing, what do you truely feel that an actual possible settlement outcome could be?? You obviously don't believe that RCI will be stopped from these practices completely, although for the life of me, I can't understand why they should have the right to do this?
I know that my note here sounds like a bit of ranting, like many others but that just goes to show the confusion that many of us feel in this process, so please don't take this as a rant against you.. it is just that I like many others have been just sitting on the sidelines kind of watching this thing go by as we really don't know what to do about it.

The cruxt of the case has not been heard by a jury or a judge. Lawyers are trying to shove a few "trinkets" at the class members and get a judge to sign off on the injustice!.

Although there is probably a connection with "all the stuff" that disappeared during the (dis)enhancement" the reason for the suit preceeded that issue by serveral years. RCI HAS BEEN RENTING DEPOSITED INVENTORY and thereby diminishing the opportunity for Weeks owners and for that matter Points owners to get an exchange. (THAT IS JUST WRONG!!!)

If you want to make a difference consider objecting to the current proposed settlement to the "Weeks" class action law suit. Without your help and the help of hundreds of other "objectors" RCI will just be getting a minor slap on the wrist and the lawyers involved will get up to $4 Million for sticking it to you if you are a member of the class.

Get involved by reading the thread at the link below and pay extra close attention to posts in that thread made by Susan Collins ("aka" Susan ) and Jeannie. (They and a few others have been at the hearings since June.)

UPDATE: RCI CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT - must read for all RCI members - Timeshare Users Group Online Community Forums

Susan an Attorney (and a timeshare owner) is leading the "objector group." Jeannie is one of us, a long-time timeshare user who decided to object in person at the fairness hearings. They and a few other "objectors" stood up for us all! As a result they have successfully persuaded the judge in the case to make RCI provide better notice to the class.

WE HAVE A SECOND OPPORTUNITY TO OBJECT to the settlement!

IT IS NOT TO LATE! You have until November to make your concerns known.

Dave

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

All of my notices, now and previously, have said you need to opt in, notify them that you intend to be part of the Class.

In the latest notices, the wording is, ". . . Settlement Class Members who submit Claims Forms may receive money, travel-related or program benefits."

That seems pretty clear, as does the word may.

Oh yeah, I would to add that there are likely somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 million RCI members who don't give a rip about any of this, making our concerns overall insignificant . . . maybe.

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

Here is my reply to counsel. I have saved it to Send Later, waiting for y'alls thoughts on it.

Dear Sir or Madam:

Here is my position regarding the settlement with RCI:

My wife have been RCI members for 20 years, owning six weeks, and we are deeply dismayed and disturbed that RCI is raiding inventory from the Weeks pool and offering it as rentals. We consider it to be a breach of faith, a breech of what we were sold and told our timesharing experience would be. We deposit weeks into the exchange pool with the intention that only other timeshare owners, RCI members, will be able to get them, either through exchange or through RCI programs like Extra Vacations or Last Call, used to move excess inventory.

We have been RCI members for 20 years, owning six weeks. I have searched online daily since 1997, and I can document the dwindling availability of exchange inventory, corresponding with the increase in RCI's rental activity.

That situation has become compounded since RCI's recent enhancement of their website not long ago, when approximately 60% of the exchange inventory, all of the better resorts, in SW FL for the next 24 months disappeared. In total, 25000-30000 possible exchanges disappeared at that time. That has been confirmed with many other RCI members I communicate with via Internet forums. My inquiries with RCI have fallen on deaf ears and their replies have been belittling.

I feel that has significantly changed the situation regarding a settlement. It is a new set of facts, an alarming development with a settlement pending.

So, I object to the settlement.

At the same time, I do not wish to exclude myself from the settlement; I do not wish to sue RCI on my own.

There is a sizable and growing number of those who object to the settlement. It is being organized on the Internet and through independent timeshare owners' groups and publications. If that group grows into something that is recognized by the Court as a new Class, say with the right to initiate a new class-action suit, I may be interested in that.

Here is the reply I got:

so noted

Plaintiffs' Local and Liaison Counsel
DAVID C. BERMAN
A Professional Corporation
71 Maple Avenue
P.O. Box 111
Morristown, N.J. 07963-0111

This might be a way to grow the objector class quickly, and get it communicated to the administrator. Start an email campaign with a message similar to mine. There's not much time before the next (final) hearing.

[GoofyHobbie Member Find all posts View Profile Close GoofyHobbie]

How Should We Go About Making our objection!

JLB,

While I like your enthusiasm for the cause, I would ask that you consider joining us as an objector.

Our goal is to present as united a front as possible (great numbers of objectors) signing on with one attorney who has shown significant moxy and willingness to fight for the cause of her clients.

Her name is Susan B. Collins. It is largely because of her action in court that we now have this chance to force RCI back to the negotiating table.

You yourself noted that the Plaintiffs attorneys simply responded with a "so noted" response.

Think about it. What incentive do the Plaintiffs attorneys have to bring about a change in the Settlement Agreement! NADA!!!

What incentive do the Plaintiffs attorneys and RCI have to get the current proposed settlement approved by the Court - For the Plaintiffs attorneys in excess of $1.7 Million. For RCI probably in the Billions of dollars.

What about us, the smucks that have paid the price but are not getting what we should be getting from Goliath: (RCI.)

I AM NOT SAYING YOUR IDEA IS NOT A GOOD IDEA!

I am simply saying that we need a "champion" who will speak out in Court for us and only for us.

Rather than beat the bushes for a “mixed bag” of diverse objections consider what I will be posting here on the board in the next 48 hours.

Stay Tuned.

Dave

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

I am the "Jennie" being referred to. Big Fank knows me well from the Greater New York Timeshare Owners' Group (member since 1997). Hubby and I own 19 timeshares, maintly fixed-deeded weeks, plus one "floating" week, and 5 weeks that have been converted to RCI and Wyndham-Fairfield Points. We have been RCI members since 1995 and have done close to 100 exchanges, mainly through RCI but also a few through I.I., TPI, Redweek.com and SFX. So I have quite a bit of knowledge of and experience with the issues being litigated in this class action lawsuit.

I attended the last two court hearings at the New Jersey Federal Courts (June and August) where I testified as an Objector, and I also attended a 5 hour conference with RCI attorneys and executives in September.

I just wanted to clarify a few points that are not clear from the wording of the postcard and Email notices.

You may choose one of the so-called specified benefits (a/k/a "useless trinkets" by some TUG and TimeshareForum members).

You may choose one of the above noted benefits AND file an objection to the proposed settlement. A differrent procedure must be followed for each of these choices.

You may "opt out" of the settlement which preserves your right to participate in another class action lawsuit on the same issues IF another one is started (highly unlikely). If you "opt out", you will not be eligible to claim one of the above noted specified benefits.

If you do nothing, you will automatically become a class member if/when the settlement is deemed "fair" and finalized by the Court.

As it stands now, the proposed changes (if approved at the next Fairness Hearing on November 30th) will begin in the latter part of 2010 and will expire 24 months thereafter. Then another lawsuit would have to be filed if members are not satisfied with the way RCI is then operating the exchange program (or any other legal grievances).

As flawed and inadequate as the current proposed settlement is, there are reasons why some members might choose to not object, and thereby contribute to the approval of it.

I expect that Dave and Susan Collins will be discussing this important aspect when they post more information shortly.

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

I would ask that you consider joining us as an objector.

I think my position is one the would be more acceptable to more people, so more people would object in that manner . . . I don't agree with the settlement, but I don't to want to sue RCI myself. I may be interested in joining an objector class if the court would recognize them.

Trying to think like a judge, I can see that happening if enough people respond that way . . . more likely happening than the judge throwing out the settlement because a relatively small number opting out entirely.

JMHO

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

To get an idea of just how bad the rental problem really is, a fellow moderator on the European based TimeshareTalk forum reported on his recent attendance at the 2-day ''Timeshare Stripped Bare'' seminar in the UK, and said that one European timeshare developer in attendance reported that 80% of the weeks deposited for exchange by his members were getting diverted to the RCI rental program, and it was seriously undermining the value of timesharing for his owners, and was causing problems for retention of members.