Raintree Vacation Club [RVC] review: special assessment 29

We received our special assessment notice today, interesting timing since we just exchanged to an RCI resort last Thursday and the language on the exchange agreement states that I warrant all my dues and assessments are current. So, if I refuse to pay this outragous assessment, will I get to the resort and be turned away?

We have paided thousands of dollars to get into a unit in the original Club Regina that only had 3 resorts and an additional $3600 to "upgrade" to Raintree. The annual fees have increased significantly every year, we have been forced to pay our RCI dues as part of our annual fees therefore preventing us from deciding whether or not we want to be a part of RCI. As owners, don't we have a right to see the financial statements for this company. No one at Raintree is making any accounting of where our annual fees actually are spent. There is no information available about the structure of the company, we just keep paying into a black hole.

We have no intention of paying the special assessment without a full accounting of all funds spent by this company that has been independantly audited by a reputable accounting firm. I would not believe one word coming that the company offices.

We are very frustrated with this "Special Assessment".
This is totally out of line. They have not fulfilled the promises of the past few years. We have been club members since 1997 and have not seen any changes since we bought. We have had a lot of promises, but nothing but new bedspreads and curtains and a flat screen TV, in 12 years. Our maintenence has goone up and we are now paying $1681.
Our 'Special Assessment was also $1681...to be paid by the 15th of July.
They may be hurting from a bad economy, and the fact that absolutely no one was there during the "flu" scare, but to my knowledge the CLUB faired quite well during that time. They were functioning at around 50% and the last week in May at 70%.
We were there from May 16th thru May 30th and I had talks with many there, even the General Manager, and there was never a mention of a special assessment. I know for a fact that they are proposing to put in a new tennis court and fitness center above all the units for Club members only and also that the old El Set will be a Grill.
They have broken off with the Westin (or vise versa) and eventually would like to buy the hotel and have everything be Raintree. Maybe that is why they want to acess us to make their purchasing power a bit stronger.
they have plans to put bathrooms down by the pool bar and refurbish the pool and put in a "catch all " for the pool above.
Nonetheless, I feel that the monies we pay for the maintenence is to cover all of this. I am not in favor of paying for any additional properties, and feel there is mismanagement of our monies and ask for an accounting of all monies.
I also know that they are sold out at Los Cabos and the new buyers home resort is being diverted to other properties, right now it is Puerto Vallarta. You will know that your home resort is Los Cabos by the 5 in front of your membership number.
I FEEL A CLASS ACTION SUIT OR SOMETHING IS IN ORDER.
I have a list of other members names and I'm sur all of you have people that you have met there and are in contact with, we can all put our resources together and get the word out and follow through with this.
Bob and Moe you seem to have some other address that we can all use and we should ALL make these contacts and let them know wer are "FED UP AND NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE"
We need to stick together and fight this.
Any comments, rshuerta@aol.com

K Ryan,
There is another thread running for this topic. You might want to join that one also:
Raintree — Trying to charge a &Special Assessment&

We received the Special Assessment Fee Statement dated 5/29/09 in the amount of $820.00 from Raintree Vacstion Club -- due July 15, 2009!

We pay maintenance on even years and received a special assessment fee statement for $111 in January 2009.
We had just paid our maintenance fee for 2008. Then another statement arrives for $820.00 due in July 2009!

We have been on waiting lists for properties for as long as 2 years --- we have always been given the run-around when trying to book a reservation. The standard reply is their is nothing available in the entire region... nothing ever, really?

We are frustrated and want to know how to cancel this membership. This membership is a hardship --- we pay and get nothing in return.

I have spoken to an attorney based in Ft. Worth, Texas and he is in the process of reviewing our RVC/Club Regina contract as well as the RVC Special Assessment letter. He is also reviewing this thread on the Complaints Board.

In the meantime, he recommends members file complaints. There is power in numbers and if the FTC or Attorney General’s offices receive enough complaints, they will most likely take action. As for complaining with the BBB, they really have no authority, but at least it will show up on their website that a number of complaints have been filed.

I urge everyone to file multiple complaints with the following agencies:

Federal Trade Commission
https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/

Texas Attorney General
Office of the Attorney General
PO Box 12548
Austin, TX [protected]
http://www.oag.state.tx.us/consumer/complain.shtml

California Attorney General*
Attorney General’s Office California Department of Justice
Attn: Comlaints Unit
P.O. Box 944255 Sacramento, CA [protected]
http://ag.ca.gov/consumers/general.php

Online complaint form
http://ag.ca.gov/contact/complaint_form.php?cmplt=CL

*This option is good if you have signed the Club Regina Cimarron “Statement of the terms and conditions for the verification of the sale/purchase of a membershipfrom Raintree North America Resorts, Inc.” Agreement

Better Business Bureau
https://odr.bbb.org/odrweb/public/cibrbusiness.aspx?e=3155944&id=46a6a9cd-5402-454e-9476-e4df22e6f371&site=113

Company Information
Raintree Vacation Club aka Raintree Resorts International
10000 Memorial, Suite 480
Houston, TX 77024

I have read all of the comments and complaints. I could not agree more.

RVC management should be fired. This special assessment is a disguise to cover high corporate overheads and high financial leverage of their properties. I would like to see some accounting for the statement: "Our members overwhelmingly desire these improvements to our resorts now, so this Special Assessment is necessary for implementation." That sounds like utter complete BS. If a special assessment is really necessary there should be a lot more detail provided. All this letter does is make me wonder what all the prior maintenance fees have been used for, and why it has escalated each year well above inflation. I would bet the percentage actually going to maintain the properties is very small.

By all means members should fight this assessment and the public visibility of this scam needs to get much higher.

B

I totally AGREE with you! If I knew THEN what I know NOW, I would NEVER purchase a timeshare ever again! The maintenance fees are outrageous to begin with, and continue to increase. As owners, we are already paying for THEIR expenses and upgrades. There has to be something illegal about this and I hope someone gets to the bottom of this.
Members/owners need to stand pat on this issue. And you're right; we deserve an accounting of all this! I don't recall ever seeing their expense statements or any such documentation.

Hi there,

Several of us are attempting to collect a list of names of those interested in joining forces, outside of blogging, in addressing this special assessment. If you are interested please email me your name, address and phone number. We are working on a formal letter that would include our contact list of members who oppose the SA.

Please pass this on to any other Raintree members, we are going to need significant numbers to make a difference.

Thanks!

Chris Ogden
ogden1995@aol.com
phone: 520.572.2581

I'm in.

I just did some research and found this article on line: They need our money for what?

Raintree Vacation Club performs well amidst recession
Written by TSD Staff

Raintree Vacation Club—a Houston-based timeshare company—released their latest financial report. The company says that they are not only looking to acquire new properties, but they are also setting sales records.

Raintree is the largest independent US-based vacation ownership company in Mexico. The company has sales offices in Cancun, Los Cabos, Puerta Vallarta, and Mexico.

The Raintree Vacation Club has 21 timeshare resorts, 10 of which are in Mexico. The Club also has resorts in western US and western Canada.

Recently, the Club bought the Phoenix resort, which marked their 21st property. The company’s president and CEO Doug Bech says that the Phoenix property represents, “… over $100 million in future timeshare sales. It was acquired from Resort Funding, which is also providing an excellent working capital/receivables hypothecation line of credit for the consumer notes for both the Phoenix and Villa Vera Puerto Vallarta resorts. We will be rebranding this property quickly and begin operating it as a Raintree Resort.”

While most timeshare clubs are downsizing, Raintree continues to maintain pursue high-market perspectives. The company is clearly doing something right.

Special assessment at Raintree...this is NOT the deal I signed up for. Beach cushions and Internet in rooms at $820...roughly $42, 000/unit over a year's time? X # of units...Someone please recommend a good lawyer to get us out of this maintenance fee, special asessment fee unfairness. And RCI- well they are joke, can NEVER actually book a vacation from them because there are NEVER any rooms avalable.

Please go to the following forum for lots of discussion on this Raintree Special Assessment Extortion attempt:

Raintree — Trying to charge a &Special Assessment&

We have compiled a list in excess of 100 members that are communicating and strategizing with a goal of contacting the attorney general in multiple states, especially Texas and AG Andrew Cuomo in New York. If you want to be a part of the combined effort, please send your email address to Ogden1995@aol.com.

The longest and most thorough thread of complaints and comments is at Raintree — Trying to charge a &Special Assessment&. The title of this complaint is “Trying to charge a ‘Special Assessment.’"

For the convenience of the authorities who might want to read members postings and for future reference, it seems it would be best to accumulate all comments under the above thread. There are already 13 pages on the thread.

Thank you.

It cannot be legal to require double the annual fee with no promise that they will not do the same next year! My documents (joined in 2004) say nothing about Raintree's right to levy a Special Assessment fee!

I have been noticing the "hypothication" lines ~ that means they have mortgaged the properties to pay for operating expenses and now they are at risk of losing the properties that "we" paid for!

Their risky behavior and neglect of their maintenance duties should not be my emergency!

We have been members of RVC/Club Regina Los Cabos since 2002. Our membership is silver, studio, every-other-year even. My experiences have been pretty good until now. Like others posting on this site, our maintenance fees have almost doubled since we started and I too am distressed about lack of forthcoming information from the leadership of this company. No accounting of where our money has gone and now assessing a special fee for items that we were told would be covered by our maintenance fees. I have not yet reread our contract, but I am sure it is like most everyone else's - no reference in any way to special assessments. Since we are not due to use our timeshare again until 2010, we will likely hold on to the assessment to see if anything happens from a legal perspective.

If Los Cabos is sold out (as I have seen on other posts), maybe now is the time to sell...

Is there anyone who is coordinating or organizing RVC timeshare owners on this issue? Please advise.

Kim O: I am helping Raintree improve Member communications and want to make sure you are aware that Raintree Vacation Club withdrew the special assessment. You can learn more about it at www.raintreelistens.com. Thanks for your feedback!

There are 15 pages of "Special Assessment" complaints over on Raintree — Trying to charge a &Special Assessment&. Also included are instructions on how to file complaints with the Houston BBB, FTC, Texas Attorney General and your state AG. Examples and details are available at http://groups.google.com/group/raintree-vacation-club-members. You have to file the paperwork if you want to get rid of the corrupt practices and corrupt RVC board members.

In addition to mismanaging the annual maintenance fees, the attempt to levy the SA (now momentarily withdrawn) was really blackmail in the beginning revealing not only their desperation, but a spirit of complete disregard for contracts and obligations. If the AG can find that RVC was diverting named funds to other uses, they will require them to be repaid by Raintree Resorts International. Daniel Keeney was hired by RVC as damage control when many members expressed interest in a class-action lawsuit. Unfortunately PR cannot cover up fraud.

Ireceived a special assessement for $666.00 in June to be paid starting in July. I have owned at Club Regina, Puert Vallarta, Mexico for about 16 years and own outright. In that time my maintenance fees have gone up almost 40%. I was told at time of purchase by Mr. Jose Noe that the maintenace fees covered all maintenance and upgrades. I owned timeshares elsewhere and this has always been the case except for one in Florida that was hit by a hurricane and a small special assessment was made of everyone to repair some hurricane damage. That was reasonable. The have sent me 2 notices. I e-mailed them and faxed them agreeing to have the money come from my checking account on a monthly basis for 6 months. I have not heard back from them, but to remind me I have to pay this assessment beginning July 15th (today). There is no phone number to call nor is there a person to talk to. What have they done with the information I have already sent twice to them? The assessment makes me seriously wonder if they are meeting their fiduciary responsibilities to their members. WHERE ARE ALL THE MAINTENANCE MONIES GOING OVER THE YEARS AND HOW ARE THEY BEING SPENT AND ON WHAT. WHO OVERSEES ALL THIS? I am very suspicious and disgusted with Raintree. When I purchased my condo Raintree was not involved, only RCI and the Westin Corp. Since Raintree came in I have been treated like an unwanted stepchild since I did not buy from them and do not have full Raintree priveledges. This is disgusting! They say I do not have enough points! My original contract was not based on points, but weeks. They changed the rules and left me like a dog begging for scraps and now they want more money. I'm disgusted with them. Only thing is...I like my condo.

Ronald: I am helping Raintree improve communications with Members like you. We apologize for the confusion. The Special Assessment was WITHDRAWN earlier this month to allow Raintree to better explain the organization's financial situation and the need for more funding for repairs and upgrades. If you have already paid, you will be getting a refund. You may want to visit http://www.raintreelistens.com for more information. We welcome you comments as well.

My sentiments mirror those expressed here. RVC has alienated their members and has lost the trust and confidence of many of its customers. The executives in charge of RVC messed up so badly with this special assessment scam, they need to be fired, if not incarcerated. If the company is doing as well as they claim in the above article, then why the "special assessment"? No company can stay in business long by lying, cheating, and stealing. Unfortunately it looks like many of us fell for the sales pitch, believing RVC to be a reputable company, and bought a membership. And we are now experiencing a "special screwing". This is a Texas based company. Who knows maybe they will get to expereince some good ol' Texas justice.

We have been owners of the Club Regina Cancun for 10 years. It was then bought out by Raintree. They asked us for more money to join the club and we said no so we continue to use Club Regina resorts. In July of 2009 the special assessment came out to do many upgrades in multiple resorts and we have been asked to pay for this. This is nowhere in our contract. We do not want to pay this.
We are to pay maintenance fees only, which by the way have gone up tremendously from $500 for a 2 bedroom to $900. or more! The maintenance fees should be covering these upgrades! Mrs. Nolan from NJ

yeah those crooks want spec. ###. fees they can keep their upgrades i purchased a two bedroom living room connected 16 years ago in cancun when i went two years ago upon arrival they said they didnt have that package anymore so my guests had to stay on another floor they ### about everything but when they want something they bother alot an im tired of it like everyone else is do we have to pay the ### fees their asking for or what let me know rrpescador@yahoo.com

I am quite upset that RVC charged the Sp Assessment to my Credit card TWICE. I paid by credit card online. the system does not give you any confirmation. I had left a message with Members Services, who called to say that the charge would appear on my Credit Card account 'in a few days'. Well it did on 2/6/10. Over the weekend another $1, 106 was charged to my account. I immediately called the number listed on the charge for a contact - [protected]. No answer - left a message and asked for a call back Monday. I also sent an email to member services. It is Tuesday evening - no response from RVC. Tonight I had to call and contest the charge with my CC company - a 6-8 week process. I just cant beleive RVC operates this way - It is not the first time that there has been an accounting issue on my account. Is there anyone out there listening? ~ Frustrated Jim in California

The special assessment is ridiculous with the economy they way it is. Members should have been able to vote on this issue, rather than having it shoved down our throats.

A class action suit is a good idea! I believe that there are A LOT of folks just like us that have been "TAKEN" and it's time for us to strike back. This has cost us a lot of money and nothing in return. Just promises.
I'm in.

I agree that a class action suit is in order. A have a great attorney...

To whom it may concern:

Any interested member of RainTree Vacation Club who wish to file a class action law suit, based on the illegal maintenance fees, please contact me at annagasmith@yahoo.com. If you review your original contract, there is nothing stipulated that as a memebr you are required to pay a supplemental maintenance fee. This may be considered an illegal on by RainTree Vacations Club.

Glen

We did not pay the special assessment and it seems to have disappeared from bills. Like many others on this site, we are very displeased with Raintree and would like to end our membership. Has anyone been successful in this? We feel we were misled when we signed the contract. The agent implied that it could be canceled and also that the fees would never increase beyond 5% annually. We'd be happy to join a class action!

Many people are now starting to receive threats from collection agencies employed by this company. Their exorbatent maintenance fees, geometric increases in those fees, random special assessment fees, poor maintenance, upkeep, and condition of the facilities, and horrendous customer service leave no doubt that this company is in business only for itself. It provides no viable product.