Complain about a product or service

RCI

RCI's Web site says the company has over 3,700 affiliated resorts located in 100 countries, with over three million subscribing members living in more than 200 countries. Its "RCI Community" is an exchange network of three million timeshare owners worldwide who participate in RCI's traditional week-for-week and points-based timeshare exchange networks.

Roy of Arden NC (08/10/08)
In June 2007 we bought into the RCI Points scam . We told them that at this time we couldn't afford to vacation more than once a year and they told us of thier points partner program where we could purchase airfare w/our points and the fee of $49 per ticket was all it was going to cost us. Fly to Cancun for $100 per couple when it cost us nearly $900 to get there last June. They said and showed us in the contract that we could use as many as 240,000 points per year. This meant that we could possibly go two times a year. We new that we couldn't afford enough point to last us more than 5or6 yrs. We also new that in 5or6 yrs. that we could afford to buy more points.

We booked a short trip back in May of 2008 with my brother and his wife. They told me then that we could only buy down the cost of the tickets with our points. I told them that wasn't in our contract, they said they could change at anytime. I asked Temptations for help they said it was out of thier hands. It cost us 140,000 pts.plus some cash to fly to Cancun in May. We planned on going back in June for a week, since we new now that it was going to cost us points plus cash we postponed our trip till Sept.

I called Temptations in early July to transfer our remaining 100,000 points into our RCI account which went through w/out a glitch. I then called RCI to book our flights and they tell me that I can only use 60,000 pts. I tell them that my contract says I can use 240,000 pts.per year they said they changed that, I said that's a breach of contract, they said they can change the contract when they want, I hung up. I called Temptations and they said they were negotiating and there was nothing I could do, I said put my points back they said they couldn't.

If I don't use my points that have been transferred then we lose them. I wited weeks and still nothing we couldn't even get on the RCI website, we had been refused access because we were Blue Bay members. I called RCI they said because we were Original Resorts members we had been denied they said they didn't know if we would ever. I e-mailed Temptations and asked if we could possibly work something out where we didn't have to deal with RCI. Chris Oldroyd (p.r.for Temptations) e-mailed me back saying that he had forwarded my request to the V.P. and would hear from them shortly.

It's the middle of August now and we haven't heard a thing meanwhile we did book our flights through RCI. It did cost us 45,000 pts. for one ticket plus $82 (45,000 pts. buys $400 off ticket price) for that ticket oh plus $49 RCI fee.Our contract says that it is going to cost us $49 per ticket and nothing else. Our other ticket cost us $482 so now tickets that our contract says are going to cost us $98 now cost us $613.

When I called RCI I was told I would have to speak with a Blue Bay specialist. While I was on the phone with the RCI Blue Bay specialist I asked what was going on and he said that Blue Bay members were put on a restriction because they use to many points and said that we could join another club and not have the restriction. I told him the points were the only reason that we joined.

In June 2007 it cost us $2200 for everything for one week. This trip we're taking in Sept.2008 is costing us $1702 for everyting for one week. I checked on this through my travel agency and for the 1st week in Sept. $2000 so for using RCI we saved $298, but,we paid $499 maintenance fee $123 membership fee plus $204 per month for the past year so basically we've paid $3022 this past year to get a $298 discount

Sonia of Middletown NY (08/08/08)
I am also a timeshare member of Blue Bay Club in Cancun. Points werealso purchased and were a major consideration in my final decision to purchase into this program. Blue Bay and RCI offered (at that time) unlimited points usage with their points partner program. Effective in June 2008 RCI has limited this usage to 60,000 pts per year!

Many, manyphone calls later Blue Bay's response is still We are still in negotiations with RCI to lift this limitation. No solution seems to be forthcoming in nearly two months of negotiations. Does anyone have any idea where we can go from here?

Susan of Holmes NY (08/08/08)
I purchased a timeshare from Blue Bay Getaway in Oct 2007 which included 5.6 million RCI points. The points allowed us to purchased airline tickets, car rentals hotels etc. in the RCI Points Partner Program. This was our primary incentive for the purchase. In June of this year and we were informed by RCI that a points restriction had been enforced and we could only use 60,000 points per year. This points use restriction ONLY applies to Blue Bay (actually called Premier Vacation Club) members. RCI members from other timeshares do not have this restriction.

As per RCI this was put in place because Blue Bay members use to many points! Of course this is because we purchased them to use! The 60,000 points limitation purchases almost nothing and with the amount of points sold to me by Premier it would take me 100 years to use my points! . So Basically we paid $20,000 for points that we will reap no benefit from. I don't understand how RCI can legally select one group of members to restrict and not others. We all pay same membership fees.

I have contacted Blue Bay and RCI. Blue Bay contends that this is not a breach of my contract and I beg to differ since they failed to disclose that RCI had the right to restrict the points usage. Especially considering it made the sale of the contract something useless. Blue Bay sold us a bag of nothing and they just blaim it on RCI and walk away! RCI contends that they can restrict the points at their leisure basically. I have filed a complaint with the Indiana Attorney General Dept. of Consumer Affairs and Profeco (Mexican Department of Conciliation Services for Foreign Residents). Where do I go from here?

I have paid Blue Bay almost $20,000 as of June when I stopped payments. I still owe them $5000 but now since I refuse to pay anymore I can not use my bonus weeks to visit the resort or any of my points (not even the 60,000 a year) as if that would help. I was planning to return in Oct. this year but now we can't. I also paid their rental agency $299 for a lifetime rental service of my bonus weeks. I understand that agency is defunct and was offered a refund but never received it either! I am out a lot of money and now can no longer afford the vacations I thought I would enjoy in my retirement.

Takesha of Lawrenceville GA (07/31/08)
I purchased a timeshare from Blue Bay Getaway in July 2007 which allowed us to use our points purchased in the RCI Points Partner Program. This was our primary incentive for the purchase. We attempted to book a flight to Mexioo in June of this year and we were informed that a points restriction had been enforced and we could only use 60,000 points per year. A flight to Mexioo was at that time 75,000 points. So Basically we paid $8,000 for points that we will reap no benefit from.

I have contacted Blue Bay and RCI. Blue Bay contends that this is not a breach of my contract and I beg to differ since they failed to disclose that RCI had the right to restrict the points usage. RCI contends that the contract that they have with Blue Bay states that they can restrict the points at their leisure basically. I have also filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. Where do I go from here? I am contemplating hiring an attorney to handle this issue.

I have lost $8,000 because I can not use the points for the purpose intended.

Pamela of Suffolk VA (07/23/08)
I purchased a timeshare solely for the Points Partners Program to exchange points for airfare. I used it once to Mexico. Then I started checking on flights to Africa and Israel. For 2 years I was told they did not allow points usage to the middle east. Now they have changed their services to prevent you from using any more than 60,000 points - which makes a trip outside the U.S. impossible. I've tried writing to my elected officials, RCI, my timeshare resort, the SEC and have not received even a response from them. What is there left for anyone to do to find some justice. Isn't it law that they must perform their part of the contract?

One year ago I managed some how to echange points for 2 airfares to Israel for my husband and I for October 2008. My intentions were to go back in June and get the 3rd fare for my daughter and then explore hotels etc. When I went back to RCI.com in June I found that I was locked out of my account. The account I pay a membership fee for. I called and talked to several people over several days and kept being told that my home resort and RCI were having problems. Today there is still no resolve and I can't get a answer from either party. So now I have to airfares to Israel and can't use my points to get my daughter a flight or any hotel rooms. Yes, a ruined dream to see Israel.

Rebecca of Porterville CA (07/23/08)
I traded a week of my time share that I deposited. The room I deposited was supposed to accomadate a famly of 4. I was given a room in the ghetto in Hawaii at a dump hotel and my two children and I were woken by prostitutes yelling at men coming from m the bar downstairs. I begged RCI to move me several times into a better location but they kept telling me they could not move me. I finally rented a room at the Sheraton that cost 300.00 because they refused to give me a hotel that was not in the slum.

They offered me a hotel directly behind the hotel I was in and one that was one block away and told me these were my only options. I repeatedly told them I could not stayb somewhere I did not feel safe with my children. They put me up in the red light district in a hotel with a security guard.

The lady at the reception told me she did not blame me for not wanting to stay in the Kuhio Banyan because teenagers had beaten a male turist to death in front of that hotel. The Kuhio Banyan club did not have a separate bed for my 16 year old son and he had to sleep on the couch. The only bed in the room was a bed that pulls out from the wall. The room smelled disgusting, it was dirty, there was no way to open a window to let in fresh air and there was a seedy bar and a tatoo parlor down stairs from me.

The hotel did not have a parking garage but offered to allow me to park my rental car in a garage nearby for 18.00 per night. I was forced to run from my car in the parking garage with my two children to try to get my kids to saftey that evening. RCI was no help, one of the customer service representatives I called for help tried to get me to bank more weeks for more money instead of helping me deal with my emergency. I was not given anything close to amenities of my timeshare week I gave up. The hotel was nasty, the area was bad.

After the second night, I stayed at the Sheraton in Wikiki. I was not prepared to stay at other hotels and could not afford to rent another one. It cost me 199.00 to deposit my week with my hotel, 164.00 to book with RCI, 300.00 to stay at the Sheraton and I was ultamitly left scared, in a seedy hotel in a bad part of town. I feel that the money I spent on airline tickets to stay at a resort shoul be refunded. The hotel I was given looked like some place a fugitive running from the law would stay at. My airline tickets were over 1500.00 for me and my children. We expected at minimum a nice hotel if RCI could not find a resort.

Jeff of West Haven CT (07/09/08)
My girlfriend and I went down to a resort where we had to sit through a time share presentation for RCI. At first the representative, Lydia appeared friendly and easy going. She told us that there would be no pressure to purchase. All of that changed when she suddenly found a plan that fits our budget and pressured my girlfriend to buy the timeshare. She offered us a $225 annual maintenance fee, which she claimed was the lowest they have seen in years! She even offered to waive it the first two years, and gave us a bonus 10,000 points.

At first, the sales representative asked us to fill out a questionnaire about our travel and based on the information we added, Lydia admitted that we do not travel that much and possibly do not need timeshares. So why did she even proceed on to feed us the presentation garbage?

Like most of the other consumers, we were told that we could travel anywhere in the world and stay at 5 star hotels and all we had to pay was the exchange fee. We were also informed that if we book our reservations in 45 days or less, we could use significantly less points.

So how did we know this was a scam...1)they wanted you to make a decision on the spot, without even allowing you to do research before you make your decision, 2)When we asked for a business card, we were told they aren't provided with any, and do no business after the offer is declined, 3) At first the saleswoman knew timeshares weren't for us, even went as far as admitting it, and she still proceeded to find a package to fit our lifestyle. Thank God we didn't fall for the scam, and after reading this website reassures our decision. Good luck to all you RCI customers!

Roland of Emerado ND (06/28/08)
I am a recent new member with RCI and live in North Dakota. Finally getting my membership card I started looking for a resort within driving range for this year. No resorts at all in my home state. Second choice in Minnesota are all booked until this winter (like, I like swiming at 30 below). So, as planning a trip to Texas in August, looked there.

I was shocked to discover about the only thing available are run down delapitated resorts in the middle of no where. I also found that while it cost me points plus a $164 reservation fee, that the same resorts and rooms are offered for just a few dollars more and without points by RCI. The resorts themselves are dirt cheap because no one wants them. Nor do I see the need for a $164 reservation fee. I know of no hotel chain in the world that would make such an outlandish fee. It appears RCI is just into a big scam. Although I have noticed a few resorts available that I could travel to so I can actually make use of my RCI points now and then.

Mary of Prestonsburg KY (06/26/08)
I own points with RCI which is a timeshare scam. I had two bonus weeks because of the points I have with RCI. I gave these bonus weeks to my niece for her use.These bonus points or gift certificates usually have an exchange fee attached which should never be more than $199.00.

My niece booked two studio apartments at Ormond beach since they were going with another couple. When I made the arrangements I was told they would have beachfront views. RCI charged my niece and the other couple $529.00 each, no ocean front view and to make matters worse the couples were on different floors and one was without a balcony at all.

My niece called very upset after driving 10 hours, she talked to a supervisor named Jason who told her because they were using bonus weeks they were considered low on the totem pole!!!! He told her there was nothing he could do except offer her to move to Orland which of course is inland!!! What would the point be?? He then told her there was nothing else available and she would have to chalk it up, there would be no refund or a discount on their over priced exchange fee.

My niece then talked to a manager of the resort and she apologized explaining RCI had caused these problems in the past but she would see what she could do. The next day, Jason called my niece on her cell phone and again said there was nothing else available. While my niece was talking to him, the front desk of the resort had her paged at poolside, she walked to the front desk and the young lady behind the desk offered her a two bedroom unit with a balcony so the couples could at least enjoy their vacation.Jason from RCI had no explanation as to how she could arrange this since he was of no use at all. RCI owes my niece and her friends at least $300.00 each since the exchange fee was exagerated.

Almost ruined their vacation, the impact of being told they were considered low on the totem pole because they were using bonus weeks/gift certificates, and out of pocket expenses of $300.00 per couple for the breach of contract concerning the exchange fee that should have been $199.00 per couple.

Theresa of Antioch CA (06/25/08)
RCI had advertised on their points version of their website that you were able to redeem your points for discounted Disneyworld Tickets. So we booked our vacation, using our weeks, my mom went to her home club Royal Holiday and asked to have her points deposited into RCI. RCI now claims that they never received the deposit, even though she has a confirmation number from Royal Holiday stating this was done. Later when we called to arrange to purchase discount DisneyWorld tickets, they claim that they are no longer letting members use their points to purchase tickets.

We budgeted our trip based on information from RCI and the ability to use the points to purchase Disneyworld tickets. We were looking at saving 50% of the cost of the tickets for a family of 5. We are at the point that we will not be able to afford this trip, we will be out of the $169 booking fee RCI charges, and $2800 in airline fees, because of this scam.......... Not to mention dissappointing our children. They claim they stopped doing this as of June 17, 2008, but there was never a notice sent to members. I thought there is supposed to be a 30 day notification when a service is discontinued?

Susan of Burke VA (06/19/08)
I booked my vacation, and I deposited my week with them. They booked me in a St Thomas DUMP. Rats, mice, extra fees rated one star, I didn't know it until after it was booked. I did a research on trip advisor and found out it was rated 1 star. The when I filed a complaint the guy made it seem that I was at fault because I had canceled in the past! What does that have to do with NOW and my recent booking??? They have an extra week talked me into renewing for two years.

$199 exchange fee---my Miami time share, plus the renewal fee 229. I am out $430 dollars plus my $1400 2 week time share! I'm hiring an attorney.

Terry of Pleasanton CA (05/04/08)
My wife and I went to meet with Matt from RCI. We were invited to purchase a time share and we declined. They then sent over another representitive and when that didin't work they then sent over another reresentitive. It would have been funny if so many people weren't being ripped-off! We chose to leave without purchasing a thing, Thank Goodness! Thank you for saving us.

If it weren't for your comments we might have considered doing business with them in the near future. I also wanted to mention that as they handed us our parting gift and then they practically shoved us out the back door This must be what they are like just as soon as they have your money! Good Luck to all of you that have had the bad experience of doing business with them.

Nothing, other than our time so far!

Zara of Wokingham OTHER (04/23/08)
For numerous years we have owned timeshare and trade through RCI. We are most of the time able to get a swap in an out of season period. We are NEVER able to get a swap in season. But when speaking to an RCI representative and looking on their website, they are able to give us a week at a charge. They are taking our weeks and charging for them and not depositing them for someone else to use. This is illegal and an absolute rip off. We are also contacting Watchdog UK as it is about time something is done about the RCI scam.

RCI are costing us a fortune and are providing no service. They are trying to sell off our timeshare weeks when they should be trading them. PLEASE PLEASE help, there are so many consumer complaint.

Roger of Florence SC (03/31/08)
I have 48,000 points with RCI points and cannot use them. I am told that to use them, I must renew my membership. I am told that in the membership agreement I must have an active membership to utilize points but nothing was ever received to that effect. I have lost all patience with RCI and even if I do not receive any compensation for these points, I have no intention of ever doing business with RCI again and have no problem informing people that I have never received similar compensation from RCI for any exchanged stay. Doubt that I have any grounds here, but I intend to file a complaint with attorney general of Indiana anyway. Thank you.

Lost value equal to $480.00. RCI bases its points at .01 per point.

Jennifer of Bethesda MD (02/23/08)
My husband and I bought a time share around 1994 at Morritts Tortuga Beach Club in Grand Cayman. It was very expensive at the time, and we were told that we were guaranteed a comparable or better 2BR penthouse wherever we traded. We have gone on several trips and usually the accommodations are not as nice. This last one was the worst ever. The room was a 2 bedroom without a balcony, no view except a dirt lot with trash on it, hardly any sunlight, all concrete, smelled musty, the furniture was from the '70s. We were appalled to say the least. We had to spend the first two days of our only 7-day vacation getting other accommodations.

This is an outrage; they misrepresent the program, making false promises, making everything seem so wonderful. But, the reality is nasty operators, required time share meetings that take up almost a whole day, and then they get mad if you don't buy, even though they were told up front that you aren't interested. They asked an old woman for her credit card number and wanted to sell her a short term time share since she was older. They are CROOKS and WE DEFINITELY NEED A CLASS ACTION LAW SUIT! PLEASE, CONSUMER AFFAIRS, DO SOMETHING. THERE ARE SO MANY UNHAPPY RCI CUSTOMERS.

We paid $15,000.00 for a time share that has not lived up to its promises. We were told that if we change our mind, it would be easy to sell, and that's not the case. The fact is that this company is nothing more than an organized scam. They misrepresent their company, their promises, and, the rooms that they show on line are NOT the rooms that you will get.

Viktoria of Newport News VA (02/23/08)
RCI is a SCAM and are thieves! I was in Las Vegas, and I had an offer to get free tickets in exchange to spend 2 hours and listen about a timeshare of RCI! They talked me into buying a timeshare and told me I have 5 working days to cancel the contract buy the law - state if Nevada. I canceled the contract in 3 days! AND in a month I got a statement from Bank of America. It says I OWE to the bank $2300! ALL this money went to RCI! Now I'm trying to fix this problem! But officially, I owe $2300 which I have never seen in my life - RCI has it ! THIEVES! I hate RCI! I DO NOT recommend to anyone this BAD company! If I were rich I would sue them for big money because of the money they stole from me and took from my account at Bank of America! RCI: BAD! THIEVES!

So far I owe $2300 to Bank of America. RCI got this money using my NAME! I wish I can have an attorney to help, but I cannot afford it now. I feel so bad!

Roger of Liskeard OTHER (02/21/08)
My wife and I attended the presentation as required whilst on a promotion vacation in Tenerife, and after 2 1/2 hours of listening to the salesman we refused his offer to trade our week with Seasons for a week at the Palm Beach Club Tenerife. We told Mark we had spent 2 1/2 hours listening to him and had heard enough and wanted to return to our three daughters. He told me to sit down three times, very abruptly, because he could make the presentation last 9 hours if he wanted to, and if I didn't sit down I would regret it. My wife and I walked out on a very rude and aggressive salesman.

We were told that transfers to and from the airport were included in the package, but when we went for our taxi vouchers for the return flight home we were told the vouchers were issued only if we had done a deal. We only paid 46 euros for the taxis to the airport, but the threat of "you will regret it" from the salesman has left its mark.We also paid 755.00 for flights, 99.00 for the apartment, 69.00 parking fee at airport and 120.00 euros for car hire.

Carla of Belmont WI (02/08/08)
We have to deposit our timeshare weeks with RCI in order to exchange them. For this we pay an $85 annual fee. However, when you put in a vacation request there are rarely any available resorts. But then they offer you the cash vacations. Lo and behold, the week we were requesting was available at a resort in the desired area. However this would cost us between $800 and $900. When I asked how there could be an available week through this cash program when it wasn't available for an exchange even though the resort was in the RCI exchange book they stated they were late cancellations. When I pointed out that they weren't late cancellations since the week in question was still almost 7 months away they stated that RCI had rented out many accomodations and then wanted to sell them back to people at these exorbitant rates. I feel this is unfair since we have already purchased timeshare weeks for a considerable amount, we pay $700 in maintenance fees per year, we pay $85 per year to RCI to exchange what we own and if we do manage to make an exchange we pay $150 exchange fee on top of the $50 housekeeping fee at our home resort and then RCI buys up everything so it is not available for us to use and try to sell it back to us for an exorbitant fee. I'm really disgusted.

We are unable to use all our weeks because of the difficulty in exchanging due to RCI renting up available exchange accomodations. So in addition to the $10,000 purchase price and the annual $700 maintenance fee and the $85 annual fee to RCI for the privilege of exchanging we are paying way too much money for a vacation we are not having!

John of Federal Way WA (02/06/08)
I've been an RCI member since 1998. I was initially very impressed with the ease of use of the system and how I could almost always find an acceptable exchange. In the past few years I'm finding RCI outsourcing calls to other countries, particularly to Manila where there are language barriers and other barriers created by the lack of knowledge of U.S. geography. For example, about three years ago I requested an exchange for Sedona, AZ and I was contacted by an RCI rep from Manila several weeks into my search. He offered a beautiful property located in Orlando, FL over three weeks off the time I was seeking in Sedona! When I told him this was out of the ballpark he then offered something in the D.C. area! I complained to an RCI supervisor in Indianapolis and when I mentioned the problems I was having with the language barriers and lack of geographical knowledge in the U.S. I was told that my racist comments would not be tolerated! What in the world is racist over expressing problems with lack of communication and a lack of geographical knowledge?

In the past two years I've noticed RCI calling to push me to deposit my resort weeks so far out that my resort won't even make them available for deposit even if I was ready to deposit. I've also noticed RCI guides telling me right up front that my exchange is not going to work and that I need to look into an instant escape or something similar before all inventory is gone. Most recently I called in mid-October and requested a trade for either Kauai or Kona nine months in advance. This was for my honeymoon and I really wanted everything to be special. Right up front I was told that the trade would likely not happen and that I needed to look into an instant escape to ensure I'd have somewhere to stay on my honeymoon. Over the next month or so nothing happened, but at the end of December I got a call from RCI indicating there would we quite a few weeks getting deposited at the end of the year and that something would likely materialize for a trade.

Instead of getting calls for trades, I got calls trying to push instant escapes. One was in Kona and after I turned that one away, something suddenly came up for Kauai. I was just about to accept until I learned it was also an instant escape and the time it was to be booked for was four weeks prior to my honeymoon! Obviously that was canceled and today I had a message on my answering machine indicating RCI had found a match. I got excited and called only to find it was also a week for an instant escape. I then asked how my exchange was looking and the guide told me they had no record of my ever having placed an exchange request, despite the fact my credit card was charged with an exchange fee nearly five months earlier! I began to complain and the conversation rapidly became heated and she hung up. I called back and got a supervisor and after threatening legal action, I was suddenly accommodated with my desired exchange in Kauai during my requested time frame.

Bottom Line: RCI appears to be withholding our deposited weeks and instead is selling us Instant Escapes rather than accommodate our requests for trades.  I think this is nothing more than fraud so RCI can line their pockets at their members' expense.  I'm interested in getting a class action suit going. 

We will have to spend over $3,000 for a hotel when we could have had an exchange.

Lucia of Boonton NJ (02/06/08)
I own a timeshare in Cancun and have enjoyed depositing my week with RCI and going elsewhere every year. In the last few years I've banked my weeks. Yet, when I went to try to book something, there doesn't seem to be anything left anywhere I would like to visit! I put a search in about 7-8 months in advance for a Caribbean beach vacation for my 40th and got only two RCI location options that seem to be in surplus, Mexico or Dominican Republic! That's it! Now, I've been to Mexico 5 times already! Aside form the fact that most of these places demand you participate in their outrageously priced all-inclusive program! I am now in my 8-9 month of searching, have pushed my vacation time even later, and still nothing! When I call RCI I've been told oh, all the retirees book the good places years in advance, people who own there (caribbean) hold on to their place and visit every year, if you want to go to Hawaii you have to reserve it about 2 years in advance. Well, I can get you a nice place in caribbean if you want to reserve now for next year! With the unpredictability of daily life with small children, how can I take advantage of this? I now have two paid weeks that are about to expire and two more weeks that I am hesitant to even pay for since it's a gamble as to whether I'll even be able to find anything!

This has been a waste of our money and time. We hardly have enough money to take a nice vacation and banked on using our timeshare. We now do not have the money we spent on our banked weeks, the vacation we had anticipated nor the option to use our paid weeks at the Cancun location we purchased at!

Garry of Cedar Rapids IA (02/03/08)
My wife and I are time share owners at the Canada House in Pompano Beach, Florida. We were RCI members. We have the 17th week at our time share which is in April. Every time we go to out time share, RCI sales people try to sell more time shares or their new point system. In 2005 we bought in to the point system because of all the promise that RCI stated. In 2006, we traded our timeshare for a timeshare week in Orlando with our daughter and granddaughter. Under the old contract before the Point System, you just had to pay $400 or $500 fee to exchange time shares. We found out that we do not own enough Points to do anything with them. We had to pay out several thousand dollars to exchange time shares even with our points.

In 2007 we banked our time with our timeshare to double our points. In January 2008, we contacted Canida House that we will be coming down on our week there. We later receied a call from Canada House that since we were now on the Point System that we had to book our time with RCI. The supervisor at Canada House told me that a family who owns a time share there had traveled down there on their regular time to find out that RCI had already rented their time share out. They were turned away. I bet they had to spend a large amount of money to stay somewhere ealse. We contacted RCI and was told our regular time share time was rented already by them, RCI. I was a very upset and so was my wife. We were never notified that RCI rented out our time share and that they could do that without our permission. We also found out that if we were going to stay at our time share, we would have to notify them in advance by 13 months! I don't know about other people, but we never know if we could take off work 13 months in advance. My wife's place of work requires you to sumit the vaction week you want off. You do not know for sure if you will get it untill February 1st. 13 months advance notice?..Get Real!

After calling RCI several times about wanting to be at our time share, they said that they didn't have anything in April open and that we would have go to Canada House in June but for additional cost plus our point of a few hundred dollars. I was on the phone with the supervisior and was able to get them to waive the fee, but we may still have to pay a house keeping fee which we had already did for April. This fee would be a new fee. I did contact the Florida Attourney General about the RCI practice and the misrepution of the Point System. We will be getting off the Point System, It's just another Florida rip off. I am a retired person over 60 with a wife who still works. This is a total rup off. Don't be fooled about the Point System. It is switch an bait and you are not told up front your rights with the point system. I did not recieve the paper work for our records when we sign up for the point system.

Anna of Covina CA (01/22/08)
January 22, 2008 RCI 9998 North Michigan Road Carmel, IN 46032 I am very dissatisfied with the point system. I believe the point system was mis-represented. Had I known at the time that I would have to pay a transfer fee for my own resort, I never would have purchased this point system. I thought I was purchasing the ability to travel around the world for a transfer fee. At the time of purchase I informed the sales rep that I already had lifetime RCI through Sunterra. The rep instructed me to wait on the free trial period, then call RCI to get the resorts combined. Well, to my surprise when I called to confirm that my rooms would be in the same vicinity, I was told that I had to pay RCI $124 or my reservations would be canceled. At that point I had no choice but to pay via credit card. What a scam! When I called RCI I was told that I could not combine Resorts because they are separate (more lies). Then I find out that my family cannot check in unless I check them in or purchase a gift coupon that cost $49 per room. They had to wait several hours before I arrived. Another scam!

Secondly, I have a hard time getting reservations when I want them. We rarely get to Summer Bay, and that's because I cant seem to get reservations. I was lucky to get the December-January time. But what a rip off and disappointment it was. We weren't even able to enjoy ourselves because of these problems with having to pay extra money to stay at my home resort. How do I get out of this point system and get my $6,000 back? This has been a continuous loss of money.

Grace of Mohegan Lake NY (12/14/07)
I am a timeshare owner in a prime resort in Orlando, Fla. My maintenance has been $800 plus/yr over the past 4 yrs, but this year it is $941. Over the past 4 yrs I have banked two weeks with RCI on the premise that I could use these weeks at any affiliated resort in the world when it was convenient for me. I have called RCI at least 5 times over the past year to try to use one of my weeks for a vacation. Different times, different locations and they did not have anything for me. They did ask me to give them money to be in a continuous search, but number one, that should be a service they provide without a fee and two, I am not in a position to hope that they will find me something in a week or two. I have a high pressure job and need to make decisions about vacations in a timely fashion. I have just lost one of my banked weeks, money down the drain, not too mention the aggravation and the calls looking for more money to extend my time to use the week. I am so dissappointed with the service. I cannot pour more money into the hopes of them being able to get me a vacation that works. I will also lose my 2nd week if I don't subscribe to the service. It looks like I am out of pocket for $2000 plus at the present point in time, and RCI have benefitted by having a very usable commodity which I provided them with. Can anyone help me?

Gaylan  of Redondo Beach CA (11/25/07)
I traded a large 1 bedroom unit in a lovely resort in Idaho for a glorified motel in Indian Wells, CA.  The unit was supposed to be a 1 bedroom, but the 150 square foot unit was actually a part of a converted 60 year old motel which was touted as a timeshare.  RCI is a rip-off to exchange such trashy units as timeshares.  The exchange cost $195 and the unit was substandard to what I was exchanging.  We left early, staying only 2 out of 7 days.

Ani of Feltham UK (10/20/07)
My husband and I have bought from RCI in Florida a timeshare weeks in Weston Vacantion Village. As we have not been able to use them we have banked them with RCI Europe with the attention to exchange them latter. Before two months I have requested from RCI Europe to use my exchanged weeks and as it would have been our first time to do so I have asked the RCI staff to choose a romantic and exotic two weeks holiday for us. The person I have spoken to on the phone was very kind and have offered Lifestyle Penthouse &Spa in Puerto Plata Dominican Republic. He asked me about the time We want to be there and I considering our time off booked two weeks in August 2008. I also paid about 300 sterling lira for the exchange.

Two weeks later I have received the confirmation letter with all the details and start looking to find more information about the Dominican Republic and the place we were going to.I found one for me scary fact that July,Augudt and September are the seasons that hurricanes may occur and due to the fact that the last we wanted is to get there in that time I have again contacted RCI Europe to request different time for our holliday. First I have been told that in the Dominican Republic never have ocurre horricanes.

I have sent the website specialy prepared to guide turists and the climat info there and when they have seen it told me it was my foulth I haven't checked about the weather before agree on the exchange. They also have told me that if I want to rebook for different time I have to pay again 300 fee. I do agree that yes it was a bad idea to not choose and check in advance most of the details but also refusing to change our holliday and rebook it in different time even I have asked ( 8 months in advance) If you are looking for safety do not deal with RCI. I will never do it again.

We will obviously loose 300 liras and will end up with no holliday arrangements.Safety for customers is not looked properly + no flexibility in exchanging weeks is not a rule with RCI Europe

Alice of Englewood TN (10/02/07)
My husband and I own week 47 at Orange Lake. We have a child in school so we cannot always take week 47. We sometimes need to go a week earlier. So this year was one of those years. We pay for a 2bedroom, 2 bathroom condo. This year they want to give us a studio, 430 square feet. Part of the vacation excitement for our child is her own bedroom, bathroom and tv. Now we have 1 bed and a sleeper sofa. I called RCI to see if I could upgrade, they have nothing available. We pay our maintenance fees and are still paying for our week we bought 5 years ago. I think we should get what we pay for every year.

Karen of Salem VA (09/23/07)
We purchased a timeshare in Las Vegas two years ago. We have tried numerous times to book vacations only to be told nothing is available when we wanted to go. We then asked them to tell us what was available anywhere on the east coast and we were told again that they had nothing to acommodate us. I find it very hard to believe that absolutely nothing was open for the entire summer anywhere on the east coast, we did pay for this service and were expecting to get to take our family on a vacation.

We had promised our children that we would take a family vacation and we did but we had to pay at the regular rates for a hotel room on the beach. We never did get to use our promised week and it is not looking promising for next year. What a waste of money every month. Also the customer service representatives are so rude and unwilling to help. Are they trained to just say nothing is available

Every month that we have to make our payment it feels like the biggest waste of money and we certainly could be putting that money to better use than a timeshare we will obviously never be able to use. I have looked into how to sell a timeshare and that is depressing also, it is apparently not an easy thing to unload. My husband and I feel as if we have been taken advantage of and lied to. Maybe we should have been smarter than to do this but it all seems so legitimate and easy to use. We thought it would be so easy and convenient, they do make it sound that way in the office under all that pressure. We are much smarter now and we would not recommend this to ANYONE!!!!!

Dennis of Holtsville NY (09/19/07)
My week is held hostage / stolen. We areowners at Orange Lake in Fl. We simply wanted an exchange of a week in Orange lake. After clear request of a three bedroom exchange they went ahead an exchaged it for a two bedroom. When this was cancelled they said our week was already given away to someone else. Bait and switch then held hostage.After tellin a supervisor to disolve my relationship with RCI I was hung up on by a Sandy 3 times. She is a suposed customer representative.

I am now stuck in limbo. I have no vacation week and they will not release my week from this so called bank. This is really a holding cell for a hostage, your vcation week. Stay away from these people. You can call any time share to work out an exchange. You dont need them and you dont have to pay a fee. Signed vacationless in 08'.

There is much frustration and now heart ache for the children. As of now we have no vacation in 08' and they not only took our fee for exchange we are out the initiation fee to join. It is a lose-lose situation. Signed taken for a ride.

Gary of Albany OR (09/06/07)
We also had a bad experience with RCI. We deposited our week at a Whistler Vacation Club at Twin Peaks two years ago and requested an exchange for Southern California for this year. As others have experienced, nothing came through so we had to book a hotel. We then asked for a week on the Oregon or Washington coast (someplace we could drive to) and again, nothing was available. To avoid losing our week we expanded our search to include Reno/Tahoe and were finally able to get a space at Olympic Village Inn - A great place but much smaller than what we traded.

Rumor has it that RCI makes more money renting property that people deposit than the $169 they get for an exchange fee so they rent their prime properties. We were considering selling our time share at Whistler and then realized it's RCI that we had problems with.

From now on we will trade through someone like Platnum Interchange, Interval International, Trading Places International, Maui Time Share Exchange, or San Fransisco Exchange.

It cost us $1300 for 2 rooms near Disneyland for a week stay.

Kim of Washington NJ (05/30/07)
WE have had a timeshare which has been giving us problems for many years now. They promised when we bought it that we could go on vacations anywhere we wanted and could sell it anytime. They said it was investment property. So we did. We bought some. Well, now we come to find out that this is nothing more than a vacation hotel room and it is not property as they said, it is really a scheme for them to get rich and us to lose everything. Now we may.

In April of this year, we received notice through a telephone inquiry we made, (no one ever sent we owners anything in writing that anything was wrong), that the company and hotel we knew as Brigatine Beach Resort Club has gone bankrupt, another company bought it, and they are renovating the place. We only found out about all of this because we recently recieved a bill for over 1000.00 and it said that if we didn't pay this outragous assessment fee by July 1, they were just taking our property back without any compensation to us! We will lose everything we have paid for, all of our deeded and rightfully ours timeshares will just be gone and taken from us!

We feel this is outright extortion and since we are not the only ones involved in this, there are hundreds of people involved, see partial article below, this may be criminal activity that needs to be investigated! Meanwhile, there should be a cease and decist all requests for funding from owners in the form of bills sent with threatening notices so this can be sorted out by you kind and knowledgable people. WE are on fixed income and cannot afford to pay what they ask of us! We don't want to lose all of the over 40.000 dollars we have invested over the years in these timeshares. Please help us! Time is running out and if we don't get resolution of this or at least an extension of deadline somehow, we will lose all of it! This company has told us they will just take it from us!

Jane of Huddersfield UK (04/06/07)
RCI are an exchange timeshare company. We have been registered with them for 15 years. We can never get the holidays of our choice, no one ever contacts us only when they wish us to renew our membership. The staff are utterly appaling. rude and arrogant. They never reply to any e mail you send them complaining about the standard of service. I have never in a million years had to deal with such utter crap service in all my life.

We have been searching for a summer holiday (July 2007) since last year and as usual nothing appears. You end up having to pay for package holidays, which is not the reason why we bought timeshares.

I seriously think something should be done about this Company, they need to be brought to task by a consumer expert as their service is appaling. This is a serious problem for many thousands of people. They take your money but do not come up with the goods.

The bottom line is you can never never never get the holiday of your choice as there are never available. I think they must rent out the weeks are make more money.

Alan of Elburn IL (04/01/07)
Bought vacation club/timeshare at Lake Geneva Wisconsin resort which included RCI membership a few years ago.

Except for a few weekends at home resort have never been able to use points which we purchase for over $12K. An absolute rip-off and scam.

Steven of Corona CA (03/31/07)
This is a general comment: The reason why exchanges through RCI are impossible to obtain is that RCI's primary interest is not in assisting customers exchang their timeshare properties but rather in renting them internally for large sums of money. They do not care about individual owners' ability to exchange. They charge owners for exchange fees, and then use those very properties to rent out internally at high prices, never passing on the revenue to the owners. This is CRIMINAL and needs to be addressed by the class action attorneys!

The consequences are simple: You pay RCI for an exchange fee, and THEY derive the income and benefit from YOUR timeshare, not YOU !!!!

Robin of Milwaukie OR (03/28/07)
My daughter has post-anoxia Encephalonathy from a heart arrest several weeks ago. this is a brain injury that makes her really tired and also affects how she processes information. She had possession of her debit card because she has been paying the copays for her therapy as part of the therapy to get her back to her baseline. She called Summer Bay Resorts to get some information from them and she thought from their ad that she was registering for a free vacation package.

She was asked for her debit card information because they needed it to verify that she was over 18. She asked them if they were going to charge it and was told no. but at the end of the call, she kind of realized that something else was going on, and asked again if they were charging her card, and was told she would be making payments. She didn't quite understand how all this happened, so asked to talk to a supervisor. She was told if she didn't want the package, she could have a refund, so she said this was what she wanted.

Two days later I noticed the charges against her account - pretty much wiping out all the money she has in her account. Money for paying her medical bills. I called the number listed on her bank account and talked to three different people. the last one, Mark, a supervisor, said he would credit back the $298 payment and keep further payments from posting against her account. But that they were keeping the $50. I asked what the $50 was for, and he said for the package that we could sell it on ebay, etc. But he couldn't explain to me what anyone would be buying. He told me that the only way he would stop payment of the $298 was to accept this deal.

This is so bogus. I can't believe this company is still around. There must be a lot of complaints against them. I will add mine to the rest. And I will take further action. First, I took my daughters debit card away from her so this can't happen again.

I have not worked for three months while taking care of my daughter. My daughter has not worked. We are surviving on a little disability that she gets and the kindness of friends at church. This is financially devestating to us. They don't care what our family is going through, that there is no chance my daughter will even be able to travel that far for some time to even use the package - the small amount of money this is means nothing to them yet they want it. It is 5 copays for us for therapy. It means we have to go short on food or something else.

Teresa of Greenacres WA (02/28/07)
Weeks exchange availability is very limited. We deposited a prime week at Hacienda del Mar, and were finally able to exchange for a week in 2008 on the Washington coast the end of August, after our son has already gone back to school. We have a bonus week' also to exchange, but about the only availabilty is very off season. Which I understand was the deal with bonus weeks, but didn't think it would be this difficult. My advice to consumers is this: only buy a timeshare if you want to go there every year, and you love the resort. With RCI, you must first deposit your week in order to acertain exchange availability. So, you end up risking a trade for a much lesser unit at a less desirable location and dates, and still get to pay RCI dues and an exchange fee!

I think that timeshares can be a reasonably good deal if you try to get the very best price - look for resales on the Internet - but only again if you want to always stay where you own.

Consequences to me have been mainly a huge waste of time. We had factored in our other two bonus weeks as defraying the cost, but may not be able to use one of them, and certainly won't use the second one as I'm afraid to deposit my owner week again.

Heather of Springfield VA (02/26/07)
As a Meadowlakes Timeshare owner, I an also a member of RCI. Points are allocated based upon the size unit you purchased. RCI advertises various exchanges for accomodations, flights, rental cars etc. The reality is the what ever serive I have tried to book, and no matter how far in advance, those services are never available.

Today I tried to book flights to visit my timeshare over Christmas next year. Already, there are no RCI Seats available to my home resort. I remind you that I am trying to book 11 months in advance. When I attempted to book the flights and rental car on line, it appeared as though the flights were available, and the rental car was not. I then called customer service for assistance as the screen options did not allow me to remove the rental car option and just book the flights.

When I finally got passed through to the person to book the flights, I was informed that there were none available. The supervisor I spoke with explained that there are many places smaller places where they don't service with airfare. And, I am trying to fly to my home resort.

The following text is cut directly from the RCI website.

RCI Points Partners Program With RCI Points Partners Program, you can use your RCI Points for many other great travel-related products and services from airline tickets to car rentals and so much more. With so many choices, you can never have enough RCI Points!

Nowhere is there a discussion of limited availability. In my experience, nearly every attempt that I have made to use my points has resulted in lack of availibity, high surcharges when I readjust my plans to fit availability, and ultimately great frustration. RCI- the juice is not worth the squeeze. I believe that they falsely advertise the scope of their services.

I have spent over $3,000 a year on my time share, not including the $600 a year maintenance fees. What sold me in deciding to buy the timeshare was the flexibility that the RCI points offered. I am a military officer, and therefor move frequently. The very flexibility that was a sales point turns out to be false, and I an stuck with a timeshare in Montana that I cannot afford to visit now that I am assigned to Washington, DC.

While I have the points necessary to exchange for flight tickets, I cannot use them. The sales pitch and advertising provided regarding RCI is flatly false. I can only guess the financial loss that I will have when I attempt to sell this package. I'm guessing that I will see at about a $15,000 loss. And there is no compensation for the hours and hours of lost time on line and waiting on the phone trying to work through the process to use my points.

Sherrill of St Charles, MO (12/28/05):
In August 2005, my husband and I bought a timeshare at French Quarter Vacation Resort in Branson, Missouri. It took me about 20 phone calls to get our membership number, but we have never received a membership card and I understand you cannot travel with RCI without the card. I am told it will take six to eight more weeks to get the card.

I have called for three days to try to reserve extra vacations days but every date I have picked is booked for 2006. I also found out that our week, that was supposed to be $199.00 per week, will now cost $795.00!!

We have made a down payment and monthly payments. I have asked what our yearly ownership payment will be in two years, but no one can tell me.

Damages: Now we cannot go on a vacation because we are spending all of our money on this timeshare extra vacation package.

Steve of Tualatin OR (12/27/05):
The RCI "exchange" process is ridiculous. We have a week at a very nice timeshare in Kauai, Hawaii and we were just trying to exchange this for a week on the Oregon Coast in FEBRUARY and we were told there was nothing available. Give me a break. They publish this giant "dreambook" of all these places you can go...but forget it -- nothing will be available.

DON'T BANK your week with them! We have two weeks banked with them and have gotten nothing in return for it.

Teresa of Wetumpka AL (11/16/05):
We are Fairfield timeshare owners with an RCI Exchange. We had deposited excess points into our RCI account and were trying to use them during the Christmas holidays since I was able to get off work at that time. Since nothing was available in the areas we desired, it was suggested we ask for them to put us on a waiting list and they would call if they found anything.

This is the second time we've tried this, the first time they never found anything...or so we suppose...but both times, this is what happens. Some RCI worker will call us in the early morning...meaning before 9AM just to tell us that they haven't found a match yet. Hello? Why? Last time, they called around 7:30 in the morning, and this time, at least it wasn't until 8:20, but it just happened to be my day off and hubby and baby were still asleep...but this woke the house up. So much for my quiet morning!! Just to tell me there was NO news. I'm done with using RCI.

Cheryl of Sacramento CA (11/5/05):
Following is the letter I have mailed and emailed to RCI:

RCI North America Office
9998 North Michigan Road
Carmel, IN 46032

I have just experienced the second nightmare with RCI and am shocked and amazed that your company is allowed to practice Bait and Switch in this day and age. I will be putting in a complaint with your state law enforcement. We started out with an Epackage for a room and rental car at $300.00, when we received the "package" via email we noticed the vehicle was at a muni airport 40 miles away.

Thinking this was surely an error we called, after being transferred no less than six times and given 3 different numbers to call we gave up for the night. My husband started calling at 6 am the next morning, Saturday, he spent over an hour on the phone and finally wound up with a vehicle he was told would be about $181.32 plus tax and fees.

When we received confirmation the charge was $224.36. We asked for an economy vehicle but had to take a Chrysler at $60.00 per day as we were told there were no other vehicles available. The original "error" was created by your agent yet we were held to the "rules" of the epackage that we could not change the arrangements after purchase. I believe this will probably be found against the law also, as we clearly requested the vehicle at the Ft. Meyers airport. I am requesting you refund the $100.00 extra we paid for your special "EPackage", cancel my subscription to RCI and pro rate the remaining time and refund this amount.

You cannot pay me for the stress and aggravation this has caused. Your company has made a short three day trip into a classic nightmare. I just hope the hotel your agent booked us into is still standing and doesn't have too much damage. The last trip we took with RCI we were booked into a hotel so damaged by a prior hurricane that it should have been condemned. Then we were hounded for a week to buy another time share.

Your company reminds me of the commercial where in everything is NO. By the way, we called Hertz the original rental contract; they do not even service the Ft. Meyers area. They have no shuttle they do not meet incoming planes, the agent had no idea why RCI would make rental arrangements with them as there is no way to pick up the vehicle.

Gaylan of Redondo Beach CA (8/25/05):
Through RCI, I exchanged a 2-bedroom, 2-bath timeshare for a 2-bedroom timeshare at Megan's Bay Villas Club in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. For four of the seven days there was no electricity, running water or telephone service for three to six hours daily. There was no generator, the unit was dirty, the tile floors were swept but not scrubbed and the corners were dity. There were cockroaches in the unit.

One of my guests is ill and the lack of basic necessities and phone service put him at risk. There were stairs within the unit that presented a dangerous fall risk in the total darkness.

RCI did not disclose the fact that only one bath and a partial kitchen was part of the transaction. Even though the staff was gracious, Megan's Bay Villas Club was a substandard accommodation.

I am selling most of my six timeshares because the trades that are touted by RCI are not available or are substandard. I have filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.

Vidyut of Westlake OH (7/22/05):
I belong to Blue Green Vacation Club, which has vacation exchange program established with RCI. During May of 2002, I inquired RCI regarding resort availability and I was told that I must deposit time in their bank prior to searching for availability. I exchanged 2 weeks of Blue Green Resort time for 1 week of RCI. To this date (3 years and 2 months!!), I have not been able to reserve a single resort. In addition, I will loose my deposit as it has not been used in a timely manner!!!

I have called both RCI and RCI Blue Green and have complained regarding not able to utilize my time as promised. I agree with Rick NC that investments with RCI is a lost cause, agree with Tammy of FL and Rick from CA that nothing seems to be available for exchange as the available time is sold to others. This is similar to depositing money in Etrade account, and not being able to buy stocks since you failed to make purchase within a specific time limit. Such practices would be illegal in most businesses and I am not sure how Cendent Corporation is getting away with RCI's deceiving practices, especially that so many people are losing significant amount of savings that they have put away for a week worth of vacation time.

Matthew of APO AE (4/7/05):
We, too, were duped by RCI and a RCI affiliated resort. My wife and I are in our 20's and I'm in the military. We signed up for the whole "vacation package" including a 4 day-3 night in Orlando with 2 Universal Studios tickets for 2 days, a 3 day-2 night in florida or las vegas, and a 4 day-3 night in aruba. All for a low price of $200/person. We decided to use the Orlando vacation on our way to Miami before departing on a cruise.

Turns out there was a timeshare briefing involved. Since we vacation a lot, the IDEA of a timeshare is ideal to our situation. We can exchange it for anywhere we want, or so we thought. The sales team worked hard on us to sell, of course. They even gave us a "military discount" from there special "military sales representative." We got a 2 BR every other year, and can 'lock-out' half of the apartment so we get 1 BR for 1 week per year. Confused yet?

I was stationed overseas and when we tried to use our timeshare week, we got a lot of no's. Only after I asked them what was available, did I actually get a place. When we went to the resort, the RCI saleswoman there told us about RCI points. Turns out that RCI has a different system than just the weeks. RCI Points members get priority over RCI weeks members when choosing a location. The points system went into effect 4.5 yrs before we bought our timeshare.

When I called Vacation Village at Parkway (from Germany), I was at first given the run-around about talking to someone for 30 min. Then, after 30 min, I was told they would leave a message because all the rep's were with new and prospective customers. I didn't hear anything from them for the rest of the night. The next day I called back and demanded that I talk to a rep just to get a name. Coincidentally, someone was available even after they told me again that no one was available. The lady explained to me that it would cost $5995 to switch to the points system, but she'd knock the price down 'just for me' to $2995. I asked her why I'd have to pay when my week was already worth points. She explained it was due to the developer (isn't that the people who build the resorts?).

I told her I didn't like that offer, and she said that I could pay $5000 dollars to 'upgrade' our timeshare week to every year (instead of every other year) and the exchange would be free. When I asked why the points system wasn't mentioned, she explained that "it's not right for everyone" and that "there isn't enough time to mention the two different programs."

My theory is that they sell people the weeks and then get them to pay more to convert it into the points system after they have trouble using their week. Oops, almost forgot about the additional costs attached to the timeshare-maintenance fees (and local taxes) that are paid every year, RCI membership fees, closing costs, and exchange fees. We were shown lists of years where the fees didn't go up or they only went up a little. Since buying the timeshare in Aug '04, the maintenance fees went up $30, membership fees up $10/yr, the closing costs are set at a % of the selling price not at actual expenses, and exchange fees went up $10 to exchange your week for another. They also sold us on the idea of an additional bonus week per year. However, the week can only be used within 45 days of the start of travel and not on the travel holidays, so we'd be getting "two weeks for the price of one". Later, on the RCI website, they have the exact same offer except there are no limits to how many you can use, they are available to everyone (not just us), and they are called "Last calls."

A couple tips to people who may be interested in a timeshare:

1. Don't be pressured into signing right then and there-you can take a little bit to think about making such a huge commitment.
2. Be informed about the different type of seasons (red, white, blue) at timeshare resorts.
3. Make sure your week offered is in a good season so you'll have more bargaining power (whether week or point wise).
4. Ask if they offer the points system because points members have a lot more options than week members.
5. Ask what other costs are involved -- maintenance fees, taxes, closing costs, admin fees, membership fees, exchange fees, and anything else they may put in there until you see the contract.
6. What we think is really important -- if you decide to buy a timeshare, make sure it is in a place you actually want to go back to. We own two timeshare weeks now at two different resorts, and the second one was way easier on us because the salespeople were friendlier and more relaxed. They let us think it over and compare their resort to others in the area. Also, the maintenance fees are twice as low per year and no taxes at our second resort.

Try to get informed on the resort, the timeshare principle, and your financial situation before you go. As stated earlier, the timeshare principle is ideal, however there are always catches that aren't told to you until you actually try to use it.

Rick of Pfafftown NC (12/12/04):
My wife and I bought a time share an RCI timeshare in Myrtle Beach two years ago. We've now been informed that instead of a weekly exchange system, RCI will now use a "points" system. Plantation Resorts, an RCI affiliate, explains to us that it will cost us nearly $8,000 in cash to convert our time share to the new system. However, they will waive our conversion fee on our time share if we buy a second time share for between $8,000-$30,000.

When Plantation resort told us that we'd have even more difficulty exchanging our time share in the future because there will be very few resorts left on the "weekly" schedule and that RCI is always booked to capacity around the the world, we offered to sell our time share back to them. They refused, offering us the names of three charities who would take our time share as a charitable donation.

Our time share cost far less than the $8,000 conversion fee. So, investing more money in it just to convert to a "points" system would be silly. We were told that our time share is not worth much of anything financially because we are not on the "point" system. So, I guess that we've more or less lost our investment.

Tammy of Jacksonville FL (6/2/04):
I've been a member for over 20 years. It has become impossible (the last few years) to make RCI weeks resort exchanges. I've got 4 weeks deposited and hoped to use them before dropping my membership. Web chatter seems to indicate that RCI is using these deposited weeks for rentals, which explains why nothing is available for exchange anymore. I also suspect that "points" owners have access to the database inventory, but not the reverse, which further diminishes exchange opportunity.

I've got 4 weeks deposited that I can't exchange, plus the annual membership fees for a service they can't seem to provide anymore.

Gary of Piedmont SC (6/23/04):
I complained last year about the fact that they had sent us to a Condominium complex that had all kinds of problems. They did give us a week back for this after we complained. The time limit for us to use the week will be up in August and they still have not found a place where we had requested yet. They were supposed to have been searching since around the first of the year for a place.

They were supposed to have an ongoing search but the last 3 or 4 times I have called customer service they have said they do not have an ongoing search. The last time I called,I spoke with a supervisor and informed him that I did not appreciate this. It seems to us that they are trying to get out of giving us the week back. Several times before this I had asked to speak to a supervisor but was told there was no one there for me to speak to.

They are going to tell you they have offered us several places. They have but have not been what we were looking for. I don't think we should have to pay them a fee which we did when we were sent to the lousy place they sent us to in Florida and accept whatever they may throw out at us.

They also sent us to a place up in Pigeon Forge last year that had high steps to get to and from the pool which we were not informed about. I had recently had a back injury at work and my wife had recently had surgery. This made it hard for us to get to the pool. When I called and asked if they had another place they could send us to, they were rude and uncaring. This, like the other place in Florida we were sent to, in no way compared to the Gold Crown Resort where we were exchanging from where we bought our time share.

A follow-up from Gary (8/26/04):
The free week they had supposedly given us has now expired. I called numerous times to check on the status of this and one person would tell me they had an ongoing search and when I would call a week later they would say there was no ongoing search.I do not think they ever meant for us to get this week back.

Bernadette of Hayward CA (1/13/04):
My husband and I were sold a timeshare in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. As part of the agreement, they gave us 3 bonus weeks to sell through Vacation Weeks.com to help offset the cost. This was in June, and we were told that the bonus weeks would sell in 30-120 days, it has now been over 180 days. When I contact RCI directly, they vaguely alluded that they only have surplus weeks, but they would not admit that my bonus weeks only exist if they have surplus weeks, which I believe is the case and is not how this was sold to me.

RCI has also continued to tell us that our resort, Cabo Villas Resort, is under another resort/timeshare called Raintree. However, when I contacted them on three different occasions they told me that they do not contract with any resort in Cabo San Lucas. When I paid Vacation Weeks to sell my weeks, again they stated it would take up to 120 days. After the 120 days they continued to tell me they were for sale, but that there have been no solid inquiries. When I spoke to RCI, they told me there are no weeks available at any resort in Cabo San Lucas until September of 2004. When I question vacation weeks about this, they just tell me they are trying to sell my weeks. When I ask them how I can verify that my bonus weeks exist, since RCI says they do not have bonus weeks, they ignore my question. I have been trying to get a straight answer for over 6 months.

When I recently advised them that I was going to complain, they either stopped responding completely or start all over and ask me for my account number. Everytime I give them my account number they tell me they will research it, when they research it, they basically tell me that they do not have bonus weeks, or tell me to contact my resort, who then tells me to contact RCI. My hunch is that there are no bonus weeks, that they really do not exist, which is why they can not and will not tell me how to verify that they exist and are listed for sale.

We are not rich, and looked at the timeshare as a way to give our family of four a vacation maybe every other year. We were given a letter when we signed saying we had thirty days to cancel, but only if a lawyer found fault in the contract. The problem with this is that it takes at least thirty days for them to get your account active and working, so by the time I started having problems the thirty day window expired. I hold a Master's Degree, and am not able to understand how their program works, which is a first for me, as most programs/services are pretty understandable.

We pay a monthly fee for this on top of the $3,000 deposit we had to put on our credit card. They gave us the bonus weeks as we complained that their program was too expensive for us. Although the manager one time said they couldn't guarantee the bonus weeks were sold, he did say several times that they would sell fast, and within about 120 days. Besides the expense, I have spent many sleepless nights upset about this, due to the financial difficulty it is creating and the fact that no one can verify the existence of the bonus weeks they gave me. The resort that sold us the timeshare, Cabo Villas Resort, hooked us up with Vacation Weeks.com and we paid another $599 to sell the weeks, however, they will not tell me how to verify the existence or listing of the weeks they are supposed to be selling me.

Richard of Roseville CA (6/9/02):
RCI is an Timeshare Interval exchange company. If I deposit a week I expect to receive a week back that is simular in trading power. When excess weeks are available they are made available to the depositors as bonus vacations in the past for a small fee.

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