Conflict of interest: Wyndham/RCI?

For what it's worth and to be very clear, Wyndham has owned RCI outright for years now.

Wyndham sales personnel are certainly famous (maybe I should say infamous) for being very deceitful and very aggressive. Frankly, I wouldn't believe a single word they ever say in those "updates" or "presentations". They are among the worst in the U.S. timeshare industry in my personal opinion, right along with the slimy and deceitful sales force of Westgate.

At the end of the day you are still spending money on the trips you take. It's either you can afford to pay for your vacations or rent a hotel but at the end you are still traveling and probly to a wyndham or an affiliate of wyndham. I bought I love it and I have a lot of options had it for years. And the fact that I really don't come out of pocket. People pay car insurance and never get in a wreck. I'm sure you have a 401k just like that it is an investment on the money you will spend anyway. And at the end of the day no one dragged u to the presentation.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/brinkmann-on-business/os-bz-timeshare-cancellation-fraud-20170618-story.html

What great success story!

We have owned a timeshare on Hawai'i island for 16 years. The problem I have had for some years now is that the properties seem to have mostly gone downhill. They are certainly NOT gold crown properties anymore (except Kings Land here on our island). We now live on the big island but occasionally use our points to go to Maui or Kauai. I just spent an hour looking at the current properties and their reviews. None of them seemed to be great properties and they all had a good number of bad reviews especially insects and noise. Wyndham it seems has let them all slide in spite of the yearly increase in RCI fees. We also went to New Zealand a year ago and while the 2 properties we stayed at were nice, they were again not gold crown properties. So the issue becomes do I just use Hilton properties ( our timeshare is a Hilto Grand Vacation Club property) which at least are of higher qualities or do I continue to pay for RCI inferior properties because they are worldwide.

kevenc4 wrote:

We have owned a timeshare on Hawai'i island for 16 years. The problem I have had for some years now is that the properties seem to have mostly gone downhill. They are certainly NOT gold crown properties anymore (except Kings Land here on our island). We now live on the big island but occasionally use our points to go to Maui or Kauai. I just spent an hour looking at the current properties and their reviews. None of them seemed to be great properties and they all had a good number of bad reviews especially insects and noise. Wyndham it seems has let them all slide in spite of the yearly increase in RCI fees. We also went to New Zealand a year ago and while the 2 properties we stayed at were nice, they were again not gold crown properties. So the issue becomes do I just use Hilton properties ( our timeshare is a Hilto Grand Vacation Club property) which at least are of higher qualities or do I continue to pay for RCI inferior properties because they are worldwide.

I have no use for RCI personally, but you do realize that RCI has NOTHING to do with the management or upkeep of ANY timeshare property, right? Wyndham of course manages many Wyndham timeshare properties, but that fact has nothing at all to do with RCI, even if Wyndham and RCI now both happen to exist under the same corporate umbrella.

RCI is just an exchange company --- no more, no less. They do not own or manage ANY timeshare properties. If a property shows deterioration and / or poor management, that may get reflected in RCI ratings, but RCI has no actual involvement with property maintenance or management (including at Wyndham properties). Resort condition sits squarely (and exclusively) on the shoulders of the managers of each timeshare property.

No offense intended, but yours seems like a decidedly "first world" issue --- living in Hawaii and not being fully satisfied by the quality of timeshare resorts on other Hawaiian islands. I'll be honest --- your particular "dilemma" is not exactly bringing tears to my eyes. (-:

The "conflict of interest" and "breach of contract" To me come from--- I signed a contract WITH Shell Vacation Club that included R.C.I. "Before" Wyndham Bought SVC. When Wynd. bought S.V.C. although they "own R.C.I. they switched us over to Interval Int. 1.my exchange fees are higher 2.places are harder to get it. 3. I can't buy an I.I. platinum membership UNLESS I buy more OR UPGRADE S.V.C. membership. To me the "Breach of Contract" comes in Not because they (S.V.C.) added I.I. but because they "DROPPED/CANCELED my membership with R.C.I.--- i UNDERSTAND companies can add anything the want to a contract- without making a NEW contract. However by subtracting/ canceling my membership to R.C.I. they in effect CHANGED/RE WROTE my contract without my approval or signature. Example- you buy a membership for 1 year at a golf course-that allows you to play every Saturday no green fees ,cart fees or caddy fees and 1 free guest. Then in the middle of your contract they say--- we changed who we have manage the golf course.- Now you can ONLY get free cart carts,green fees and caddy fees on Wednesday,- but KEEP in Mind-----you signed the contract and they signed it. That's the whole reason behind a " signed contract". So you nor they can just willy-nilly changed thing. Another example--- Your cable T.V.--- you sign a contract for 1 year for 158 channels- 3 months into the contract- they can't drop you to 58 channels then charge for the additional 100 channels--- that IS a breach of contract because it has been broken. They can add additional change free of charge or for a fee--- but they can NOT break the original contract until the year is up. I am a believer of timeshares- and there are some that are good- However I find it amusing their own industry won't clean themselves up. I also think people look at them wrong- they are thinking long term financial investment-That's like going to goodwill and buying already worn shoes then thinking there worth something or more later. Timeshare are nothing more than an investment in yourself and are only valuable to the individual. One way they industry could improve is offer the actually buy back at a pro-rated rate up to a certain time and then a flat % of cost after that. Here's what I really don't understand- Why they would rather have unhappy clients and owners. I have yet to see one solitary thing anywhere on any website-- saying something good. As an industry or an association member I'm be embarrassed to even tell people where I worked. By the way I bought a 2nd membership that was a member of I.I.--- and figured I cover my bases" R.C.I. and I.I.... 2nd I.I. I can move up to a Platinum ( I am). and have bought several R.C.I. CRUISER packages--- which by the way I.I. doesn't offer

ken1193 wrote:

For what it's worth and to be very clear, Wyndham has owned RCI outright for years now.

Wyndham sales personnel are certainly famous (maybe I should say infamous) for being very deceitful and very aggressive. Frankly, I wouldn't believe a single word they ever say in those "updates" or "presentations". They are among the worst in the U.S. timeshare industry in my personal opinion, right along with the slimy and deceitful sales force of Westgate.

jeffs946 wrote:

Timeshare are nothing more than an investment in yourself and are only valuable to the individual. One way they industry could improve is offer the actually buy back at a pro-rated rate up to a certain time and then a flat % of cost after that. Here's what I really don't understand- Why they would rather have unhappy clients and owners. I have yet to see one solitary thing anywhere on any website-- saying something good. As an industry or an association member I'm be embarrassed to even tell people where I worked.

I sympathize with your being "stiffed" by Wyndham when Wyndham acquired Shell Vacation Club. That stinks, although it's certainly typical of the "us first, you last" practices consistently exhibited by Wyndham.

The timeshare industry has no motivation to "improve". On the contrary, business is thriving. Clueless people keep parading into those sales weasel presentations and paying large sums of money for empty promises. Many are later willing to give back FOR FREE something for which they originally (and very foolishly) paid tens of thousands of dollars. Why would Wyndham (just to cite one example; this applies to other corporate chains as well) PAY for "buybacks" when so many people are willing to just hand their "product" back to them FOR FREE, delivered on a silver platter? The developer can then sell it all over again (at full freight pricing) to someone else. Why would the developers ever voluntarily change what is plainly working so well for them?

Timeshare developers are in the business of PROFIT --- nothing else. They couldn't possibly care any less about the "consumers".

What *I* would like to see is Federal legislation requiring timeshare developers to notify buyers IN WRITING at the time of purchase, that the ONLY real value in the product they are purchasing is in its' use and enjoyment. The developers should be REQUIRED to make it very clearly known that outside of that use and enjoyment, the "product" may very well have NO monetary value whatsoever by the time the ink on the purchase contract is dry. Too often, people are talked into believing that a timeshare purchase is somehow a "good investment". Nothing could be further from the truth. As a "financial investment", there is probably nothing WORSE than buying a timeshare directly from a developer. Flushing money down the toilet would be equally good as a "financial investment" --- maybe better, since flushing the money down the toilet would not also involve mandatory, ever-increasing annual fees.

This sad situation will continue unless FEDERAL legislation makes it MUCH more difficult for developer sales weasels to lie, exaggerate, deceive, obfuscate and misrepresent. In the current administration, don't hold your breath waiting for better consumer protection. On the contrary, President Tweet actually wants to DO AWAY WITH the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) entirely! Then again, I suppose it should come as no big surprise when a bona fide idiot expresses an interest in doing something truly idiotic.

Went to one of those meetings/presentations in San Diego, for $100 and breakfast. Normally me and the wife aren't up and out till about 1pm, so the lose of vacation time no big deal. They told me, "you've never even stayed at your resort". I said yes we have, we pay cash for the weekend at their sister property and use points to stay in places like this very resort duh! Told the sales lady we're not interested keep us here or move on to your next customer that might buy, took our gift cards and left. But they do imply that with out Wyndham points your a third tier user of RCI and won't be able to book at the best places. Well I booked this place!

michaelc741 wrote:

We just stayed at a Wyndham resort and experienced basically the same treatment as those above. We were told "It's a meeting to explain the relationship of RCI and Wyndham, since W now owns R. We see you already own a timeshare so it will not be a sales pitch." Ha!!

The presentation was basically: 1.) Wyndham now owns RCI 2.) Your timeshare is not a Wyndham property 3.) You're Screwed. You move to the bottom of the list for vacation exchanges. 4.) We can help, but it will cost you.

We will keep using RCI (or whatever) until our current membership expires, then evaluate. We own three units, all red-week in popular areas. We may start renting some and using the $ to stay in hotels. In the meantime, I'll be asking our state attorney general's office to look into the high-pressure techniques Wyndham appears to be using.

A very astute and very accurate summary. Wyndham and Westgate sales weasels are the worst in the USA and have been for years. Nothing has changed in that regard. The only worse timeshare sales weasels on the planet are those in Mexico, at least in my personal opinion. They ALL know that verbal representations have NO legal meaning or consequence whatsoever and that ONLY the written contract content means anything. Accordingly, they feel free to exaggerate, misrepresent, obfuscate and (when necessary or convenient), just outright lie in order to "seal the deal". It's sad and it's pathetic, but it has been exactly so for a very long time now.

Wyndham has of course owned RCI outright for many years now. Why the sales weasels even bother to mention that irrelevant fact at all is a bit puzzling. There are at least a half-dozen other exchange company alternatives to RCI, among them Interval International, Dial an Exchange, Trading Places International, SFX and others. Personally, I have not belonged to RCI in over a decade now and I have no plans or intent to do so again in the future.

Good on 'ya for "separating the wheat from the chaff" after listening to those lying and deceitful sales weasels! I don't know how those parasites even sleep at night.

I have had TS since 1988. My problem now trying to book. Even tho I own red weeks I cannot get into many places even tho I have enough points arid book 10-12 months in advance (at 85 I don't even buy green bananas) . They just aren't available, they say unless I upgrade. But I can go direct to resort and book what I asked RCI for.

I see it this way, Sweet talking young salespersons (mine was even a wounded vet ) sign you up. Sure no one held a gun to your head but you know the drill. Then you try to get rid of TS and someone who sold TS has seen the light is in now "helping us out of the bad deal". so now you pay 10 year maintenance fee, in advance even tho they have 12 months to act on anything. , I think the "wyndoms, etc) get the inventory and resell or rent it. Sounds like the guy who sold cat skins. Fed carcass to rats, who were eaten by more cats who produced more skins. See how the rats work?? write and complain to Attorney General of all States involved. The want to skin the rats too. I got out of mine.

I know this is a very old thread, but maybe someone will find this of use / interest. In all states(pretty sure its all states) allow you to cancel a contract without any repercussions for 3 days (some even allow a week). So if you made that mistake ... hurry up and send in a cancellation letter (certified mail) right away

robertc2047 wrote:

In all states(pretty sure its all states) allow you to cancel a contract without any repercussions for 3 days (some even allow a week). So if you made that mistake ... hurry up and send in a cancellation letter (certified mail) right away

More precisely, the contract rescission (cancellation) period is 3 days in only 3 specific states --- Massachusetts and two others. In Florida and Tennessee, the contract rescission period is actually 10 days --- the longest available. In all other states, it's 5-7 days, varying by individual state.