Resort Condominiums International [RCI] review: scam 11

Jeff,
I can tell you that this is a very unlikely trade- the demand for destin in the summer is way higher than mexico, even though you resort is likely nicer than anything in destin.

as far as selling weeks, I believe you are correct as I have bought weeks from rci without being a member, but, I also believe they get excess inventory from resorts- as I have seen space available in resorts that didn't have member ownerships.

goodluck!

Go to PlayaGrande Club.net or to RedWeek.com.
You can trade or sell there fairly easily.

Incident
I recieved an email with last mintute promotions, upon trying to book A a room at the discounted rate, I was told none were availiable, but I could cash in one of my certificates for a discounted rate of $599.00 for the week. I feel into the trap and later felt a bit unsettled. I called to the resort and asked a few questions and was suprised to find it was much further away then I was led to believe and that I could book the exact same room for $50. per night off expedia. A savings of $400.00 to me which is considerable during a recession. I contacted RCI to cancel my reservation and was told absolutley no refund would be given. I feel like I have been baited and switched and scammed. I am a careful consumer and spend a great deal of time researching my travels but this has never ever happened.

www.vogroup.net

Does anybody think RCI sweepstakes is a scam I do. This is the most recent sweepstakes. It said I was an instant winner. I have heard nothing from them. When I have written them I never get a reply. This is just another scam by RCI to get people to their website. I also agree about them renting weeks out right. We are NEVER able to go where we want to because their is nothing available. We own 2 very nice timeshares in Arizona. That is a prime place to go and we can't get what we want!

I think RCI is out to get extra money. They sold us a deal for a 2 person cruise and additional condo rental. But they didn't tell us that they didn't include the fees, so we have an additional few hundred dollars per person. What a crock. The same cruise we are now having to eat the cost on is $400 cheaper going directly through Carnival. I hate to know what we will encounter when we book the condo...

Due to busy schedules, we find it difficult to find time to travel outside of our kids' school vacations, and rarely are we able to plan more than six months in advance. We have been RCI weeks (as opposed to points) members for about 15 years and have NEVER received an equal quality exchange for our timeshare in Maui, and most times we are told nothing is available in the location or date range we request. This is completely the opposite of what the salesman told us in the sales presentation. We were told our Hawaii timeshare on the beach was the most desirable in the inventory, we would have no troubles at all trading for whatever we wanted, and even that our one week would equal two weeks at other resorts. None of this was true, unfortunately.

In addition, availability of units to you is extremely poor once they have your money. I was told recently, when trying to exchange my week in Maui, that there was nothing available on the beach or on a lake in California. Yet I live near the beach in California and went to a local RCI affiliated resort to find out if they had units available, and they quite enthusiastically said they did and that we could even stay at a reduced rate if we were willing to attend a timeshare sales presentation. What?!?!? Needless to say, I am one of the many involved in a class action lawsuit against RCI and am allowing my membership to lapse.

I do not understate the case when I say they provide the worst customer service of ANY organization I have ever been associated with. EVERY time you call to make an exchange, they will aggressively try to take more of your money in fees by trying to extend your membership. Even after I explain how unhappy I am with them, they STILL try to get me to extend my membership for additional fees. It's almost comical, really, as if they have no ability to listen to their customers at all.

You may want to believe I am just a disgruntled RCI member trying to slander
RCI, or that RCI may work for you in your individual circumstance. But this is the first time I have ever been unhappy enough with a company to complain about them on the internet. If you are able to plan your vacations a year in advance outside of holiday and school breaks, and you are able to look at a unit in advance to ensure the quality, you may have an "OK" experience with RCI. But there are so many better companies and options out there, why even bother with this bureaucratic, dieing dinosaur?

I agree with most of what is posted. I bought a timeshare at Playa Grande and was told that if I exchanged my week to another resort I would get two weeks . . . not true. Also, I allegedly signed up for a lifetime membership - also not true. When I needed to purchase a cruise, which I normally do on my own, I went through RCI and they were willing to give me $250.00 credit for my week in Cabo San Lucas - a five star resort. The cruise was the most expensive I have ever paid for and the mandatory cruise insurance is ridiculous. Not to mention the people working their are not very helpful or pleasant. I am so dissappointed in RCI and the Playa Grande - I have told everyone "Caveat Emptor" buyer beware and don't purchase a timeshare in Mexico - so that you have recourse when things aren't as indicated in your contract. There Mexican contracts are subject to change whenever they want and your venue and jurisdiction is in MEXICO . . . it sucks. I guess I caved to their high pressure tactics and was just so tired of being stuck there for hours. I will never purchase a timeshare ever again...

I've had a timeshare with RCI for 18 years now. Truthfully I use them sparingly because they do not have many places I want to go to. I use other travel services more. The biggest problem I've had with RCI is trying to work with their travel department. I've needed to contact them several times over the last few years after I have made a reservation at one of the resorts. This time I wanted to see if they could help me with flights to and from my resort and to set up a rental car while I was there. I also wanted to book some excursions at the resort. All things they say they offer. I called their travel department and talked to a person who said they could not help me but would give me somebody that could. The person I got could not understand why I had been transfered because the people I needed to talk to were the ones who transfered me to them. She transfered me back but the call was cut off. Making a long story short, this happened twice more including being disconnected again. The run around I got was very frustrating. NOBODY seems to know their job unless giving members the run around is their job. I finally gave up after over a half hour of this. I contacted their customer service department via email. ( the only way you can) I got an email back after several days informing me they can't help me with my complaint.
I swear I have had trouble in the past and the only thing that changes is they get consistantly worse year after year.

Plenty of families buy timeshares with the expectation that swapping properties with others will allow them to vacation all over the world. This is not often the case, and may be more trouble than it’s worth. Even if you do have a timeshare worth swapping into, it requires a lot of research into each possible swap location before finalizing your plans. You don’t want to end up swapping to a location that has poor maintenance records, few amenities, and a bad surrounding area. Unless you join a very active network that has dozens of interested swappers every day, you might find this swapping process difficult and a hassle. This is a good article on how to do a timeshare trade without RCI:

http://www.timesharescam.com/blog/161-timeshare-trade/

I received a call today (3 Dec 2021) from an RCI representative; phone number [protected]. The lady advised me I was an RCI member automatically because of my trial with Wyndham Hotels that ends Jan 2022. Said I have 6 weeks of unused time. I've never heard of RCI before today, nor the extra weeks she referenced belonging to me. She transferred me to Robert Donaldson, Timeshare License number TC55701, who proceeded to tell me that I could make $1400 per week if I allowed RCI to sell my weeks to other corporate organizations for their conferences, etc. That would be a total of $8400.00. Robert said some folks use the money to put towards paying for a timeshare. He stated that although my trial with Wyndham expires in Dec, RCI has this mutually beneficial exchange for RCI members. Now, I'm not a member. Robert asked if I'd gotten any emails from RCI. Nope. No emails or snail mail. He said the offer to rent out unused weeks profits RCI and the owner. This is done as a courtesy --- it's extended to help folks use weeks that they can't otherwise use (which doesn't make sense since my trial ends in Dec.) He asked me for my credit card information. That's when you learn you are to pay $399 per week. Let's see, 399 x 6 = $2, 394. So your actual profit would be $6, 006, 00 minus taxes. Anyway, I asked for a copy of the contract and also asked him to verify my email address. Next thing I know I'm on the phone with a lady named Kimberly. She wanted to verify that I had understood Robert and that he was doing his job correctly. WHAT? I informed Kimberly that Robert was clear and that I was waiting on confirmation that my email was correct in their system and also for a copy of the contract before I signed anything. She said it was illegal for me to receive a copy of a blank contract. (REALLY?) She said someone would go over the contact while we were over the phone and clarify anything...also that they use DocuSign. She then told me that I was automatically a MEMBER and that I owe annual taxes and maintenance fees. I asked her to send me a copy of the document I signed agreeing to this. She said she'd contact corporate to send me information on my alledged RCI membership and promptly hung up on me. Time theft instead of TimeShare. Crooks. Blood sucking, miserable salespeople. Sad.