Exchange to Italy cancelled by RCI, property no longer TS

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

Sorry for the long tag on this post. Not really looking for answers, just kinda blowing off steam.
Just got off the phone with RCI. We had an exchange booked for the Golf Hotel, Punta Ala, Italy for 4/21/07. Booked it in October 2005, actually got tip from Exchange Opportunities here.
Anyway, to make a long story short, when I got my new RCI Directory a couple of weeks ago, this property was no longer in it. I have called RCI 3 or 4 times and up until today was told that it was probably a mistake because the resort was still in on-line directory. Got a very competent VC today and she spent quite a bit of time researching as to why the resort was no longer in the book and finally came back and told me that the resort was under new ownership and was no longer going to be a TS and was being remodeled as a Hotel only. The bottom line was that she said unfortunately she had to cancel this exchange, but, that they would return my week and also credit my exchange fee to my account.
I understand that this is not RCI's fault, but, I do fault the other VC's that I talked to for not doing the research to find out what was going on, and also I would think that RCI should have been on top of this and notified me of what had happened without me having to call several times to find out.
I do credit the last VC that I talked to today as she was willing to put in a little time and get me an answer, even tho it was not one I was real happy with.
Just glad that I checked the new book or I would have not known. Glad also that it was out a ways and I hadn't started booking flights or anything.
Again, just got this news so am just blowing off a little steam about it. Sorry for the long post.

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

They are probably too busy diverting weeks from the spacebank to rental sites to be concerned with issues like resorts leaving the system. Makes you wonder when they were planning to let you know about it though. Maybe they were waiting for you to book your non-cancellable flights through RCI travel so they could offer you a rental after cancelling your exchange.

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

"Exchange to Italy cancelled by RCI, property no longer TS"

WOW, that's too bad, I feel terrible for you.

I don't have any timeshares listed with RCI. However, I would be very upset, and unsatisfied with RCI if that happened to me. I would just think that they should have given you notice immediately upon being informed that that particular timeshare was no longer an option....IMHO....

[Sydney Contributor - Bronze Find all posts View Profile Close Sydney]

Ken, what a shame. Good thing you hadn't booked your flights yet.

Sigh, if only we stopped expecting RCI VCs to be competent, we wouldn't be so dismayed and disappointed when they turn out to be so incompetent.

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

RCI does seem to have a 'couldn't care less' attitude to the content of the online directory. I raised the issue of Walton Hall in the UK which was still in the directory despite having cancelled exchanges and publicly announcing it was no longer a timeshare resort.
The response was "While we are not able to actively exchange to this resort and are canceling previously confirmed exchanges, this resort's status is not completely clear for the future. For example, if the resort were to be sold, the new owner might wish to resume the resort's affiliation with RCI"
On the basis that any resort 'may be sold', why don't they simply list every t/s resort in the world in the directory?

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

Thanks for the kind words folks.
It wasn't so much that the resort's status had changed and that my exchange was being cancelled that bothered me, but, that RCI did not take the time to notify me of this event. Yes the resort was still in the on-line directory but it had been taken out of the new directory book so someone at RCI knew about it.
I guess the owner who deposited this TS probably got their week exchange, unless the resort itself had done the deposit.
Oh, well like I said, I'm glad I found out before making all my trip arrangements.

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

I was the person that got Walton Hall Cancelled

RCI does seem to have a 'couldn't care less' attitude to the content of the online directory. I raised the issue of Walton Hall in the UK which was still in the directory despite having cancelled exchanges and publicly announcing it was no longer a timeshare resort.
The response was "While we are not able to actively exchange to this resort and are canceling previously confirmed exchanges, this resort's status is not completely clear for the future. For example, if the resort were to be sold, the new owner might wish to resume the resort's affiliation with RCI"
On the basis that any resort 'may be sold', why don't they simply list every t/s resort in the world in the directory?

Hi

I had my 2 Bedroom Walton Hall for June 2006 cancelled in August 2005. I found out about it on line when my exchange week and my exchange fee were credited to my account. I called RCI, I was told I cancelled. Then I was told my wife cancelled. Then I was told the Resort closed. Then I was told the Resort was sold and it was no longer a TS Resort. But I was also told that a VC Specialist would be calling to help me with my problem. She called about 2 weeks later. After four months of waiting, RCI got me a replacement for Walton Hall. I got a 3 Bedroom at Barnsdale as a replacement.

The Specialist told me because of the cancellation, RCI gave me the Maximum Trade Value for my Exchange Resort and I would jump over other request.

So I would call RCI and ask to speak to a supervisor and tell them your cancellation story. The Supervisor should be able to get you in contact with a Specialist and you may still have a happy ending to your story.

However, I think that RCI really does a poor Job of PR. They could be turning a negative into a positive if they had someone call you first about the problem. And then tell you they will do everything possible to fix it.

Walt

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

Hi

I had my 2 Bedroom Walton Hall for June 2006 cancelled in August 2005. But I was also told that a VC Specialist would be calling to help me with my problem. I got a 3 Bedroom at Barnsdale as a replacement.

The Specialist told me because of the cancellation, RCI gave me the Maximum Trade Value for my Exchange Resort and I would jump over other request.

However, I think that RCI really does a poor Job of PR. They could be turning a negative into a positive if they had someone call you first about the problem. :

Walt

It does seem that RCI's PR leaves an awful lot to be desired. The stupid thing is, that as you explain here, the Specialists really do seem to try very hard to help out once the stuff hits the fan. If RCI simply went that extra step to inform members of problems, rather than wait for the member to spot it, their reputation would improve dramatically.

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

RCi should bend over backwards to make members happy when an exchange is cancelled. Can you imagine buying something from a company and then later find out they couldn't deliver and offered you nothing but a refund. How long would a company like that last. To my mind, a contract is made when you make an exchange. You pay RCI to get you the exchange and they sign over the rights to the week to you. They should be responsible for fulfilling their end of the deal - if you don't and cancel - they charge you a fee.

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

One way contract!

RCi should bend over backwards to make members happy when an exchange is cancelled. Can you imagine buying something from a company and then later find out they couldn't deliver and offered you nothing but a refund. How long would a company like that last. To my mind, a contract is made when you make an exchange. You pay RCI to get you the exchange and they sign over the rights to the week to you. They should be responsible for fulfilling their end of the deal - if you don't and cancel - they charge you a fee.

Hi Tony,

I find it interesting that when we give RCI our timeshare week, it is theirs to do whatever they want to do with it. It appears that when they get a week from the Resort as an Exchange, the Resort still has ownership of the week until it is used. Cancellation can be done at anytime. This just doesn't seem right.

Walt

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

I wonder why they did not offer you something else in the area as an over ride. Did you speak to a consumer specialist?

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

I wonder why they did not offer you something else in the area as an over ride. Did you speak to a consumer specialist?

Well, after a couple of more calls and hooking up with the same rep that was very competant and helpful in finding what had actually happened with this property, she found me another place in Italy by looking with the VEP filter off. She found a place in Assisi, which I don't think is going to work out with our plans for where we want to see. Punta Ala, although it was a bit out of the way was on the coast and close enough to Pisa, Siena and even Florence to tour from. Anyway, I think we are still going but will probably be going the rental route instead of an exchange.
The main reason for this post is to say that this last rep was very good and very helpful, (there are these kind of folks still working for RCI, you just need to get the right person).
I did learn from this experience that the VEP filter in Europe really does hold you back from seeing many aceptable places, the rep found 5 or 6 but the locations were not really good for the stuff we wanted to do (they were mostly in southern Italy, down on the boot).

By the way, welcome back Frank, how was your trip?

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

Ken, for a location I think you'd like, you could try a request to DAE for Il Poderino, their affiliated resort near Florence, if you have something else to deposit. If this can work out for you, you may end up better off anyway. You may or may not recall but I was someone who didn't think that the Punta Ala or any coastal location was that great for Tuscany, after driving over to it to have a look.

You might not want to completely discount the Assisi area either - I loved this area of Italy and you can cover a lot of Tuscany from there - you can travel to Pisa as a possible overnight, or night before or after - can't speak to that resort tho.

I also have had 2 European exchanges cancelled by RCI, plus 3 other hurricane-caused ones (I know, I know) and RCI is the pits about notifying anyone. Sometimes they just mail you a cancellation notice which can take weeks and weeks. I/they haven't resolved one of my European cancellations yet, after 6 months. It's for 2007, and they probably never will. For the time being, since this was in the middle of other back-to-back exchanges, I took something much less difficult to get, and less desirable, and more of a hassle travel-wise, before absolutely nothing appealing will be left, even with specialist overrides.

Also I lost $$ cancelling one exchange to change my schedule to nab the exchange that was cancelled, and when I suggested a refund of the $$ I forfeited to make that exchange, I was told no way. I have pretty much given up, and also decided not to expend any more energy being upset about it. Sounds like you moved beyond the rant point way quicker than I did!

I have a 4-week European exchange coming up in a few months and wouldn't be at all surprised to learn something's cancelled. It just seems to happen an awful lot with RCI.

[reddiablosv Member Find all posts View Profile Close reddiablosv]

In july of 2005 I had my 2 bedroom unit at Thurnham Hall in England cancelled by RCI on the day of check in!! It was a school holiday week in Great Britain and there were no other vacancies within 80 miles. More accurately, RCI points had never forwarded my weeks reservation to Sunterra despite it showing in my account and being confirmed for almost two years. It was quite a surprise to fly half way around the world and drive 5 hours only to find you have no place to stay. Ben

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

Even a lot of people have a timeshare property in UK but i do not like the whole idea as i lost a lot of money throw it.