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[2013] TERP-Timeshare Enhancement & Relief Project

ToughAL

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I just came from a presentation by TERP-Timeshare Enhancement & Relief Project. It is a new project that came about after the class action suit bec resorts were renting out units to public and not members. This system works by allocating you a certain # of points based on your total TS units owned. Then they have a set # of points for rental of 1BR (6000), 2 BR (7500) and 3/4 BR (9000). In my case I would be allocated 93,000 points/yr. Ex: if I use a 2BR unit 3x dur the yr, I use 22,500 points. That leaves me 70,500 points left. As a result of the law suit, owners must receive 7.5 cents per point deposited w/TERP. So I would receive a guaranteed 7.5 cents x 70,500 points = $5,287.50 that I can then use to pay my maintenance fees.

TERP then can rent to corporate customers they have contracts with, i.e., CSPAN. ESPAN covers 100 sporting events a day around the world and they these units for their staff. (Before the class action law suit, the resorts would rent units in this manner but the TS owners did not benefit from it and instead we couldn't get a reservation when we wanted one.

The companies managing this TERP are Vacation Services Inc, Portsmouth, OH, Excess Property Solutions of Morris, IL and RR Closings is the escrow company that oversees the project is running correctly. Apparently TERP is only 2.5 yr old, although the companies running it have been in business for many yrs (VSI 25 yr o company). The buyin is $10,122 and they offer you extra points in the first yr so that TS owners don't have to come up w/cash to join the program.

I own 2 TS units and this type of program would help a lot to pay the maintenance fees but I am very leery bec I had never heard of this before. I did know of the class action lawsuit ag. the resorts. Has anyone heard of this before or know someone who is in the project. This TERP also eliminates all exchange fees or guest fees except for a $199/yr for all exchanges/etc.

If anyone knows anything about this. Please respond. Thank you.
ToughAL
Ct.:ponder:
 
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If it sounds like it's too good to be true, it isn't...

I have never heard of a Class Action Lawsuit, and most often when they say they have corporate renters, it's a SCAM. And they guarantee $5287 for a resort that's probably worth less than $500? It smells pretty scammy to me.

If you want to get rid of your timeshare, you can give it away here for free on TUG. eBay auctions for timeshares (except Disney Vacation Club) go for less than $1000 (some as low as $10).

TS
 

tschwa2

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Everything they said was BS. The points rental numbers they mention are for weeks reservations less than 30 days from check in and since 2010 when they started giving credit back to weeks owners the inventory for points owners is very thin. There would still be $199 fee per reservation. The RCI points lawsuit and settlement has been postponed indefinitely last I heard and the weeks settlement allowed RCI to rent weeks with a few restrictions but does not allow RCI members to rent RCI inventory to anyone. Next CNN, ESPN etc does not rent timeshares from owners. They stay in hotels with corporate accounts. Numerous scam groups try to convince owners that they can rent getaway weeks to these organizations but its not allowed and not true. RCI rents out points to owners at 2 cents per point and most people count the value of RCI points at around a penny a point so 7 cents a point is ridiculous. Generally anything that you can use points for you will be worth less than a penny a point. I am sure they are less than 12 months old and once they have taken a few people for $10,000+ each they will disappear and change their name and change their spin ever so slightly. But first they will sell your name to one of their affiliates to get you to sign up for $2000 or so to try to recover the $10,000 from TERP. Because if you fell for the BS once you will probably fall of the next one too.
 

theo

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TERP and TARP "magic acts"...

Pure, unadulterated bull$%!t --- and an obvious scam, of course, but one does have to at least somewhat admire the innovation of the name and its' acronym "TERP"; an apparent current-times "take off" on the more widely known "TARP" (Troubled Asset Recovery Program) funds of the federal government. In both instances, it still involves your money "underwriting" the operation or, should I instead say --- "just disappearing". ;)
 
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timeos2

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From the Urban Dictionary:

The amount of bull s*** you can handle over the internet before you say we are lying; the result of this is usually, but not always, mass flaming. The bs meter is usually filled up pretty quickly in chat rooms and social networking sites.

Examples abound:


Conrad Hilton goes to my highschool. lololol
My bs meter just filled up a bit
I made a 2330 on my SAT
My timeshare rents to Corporations for thousands

What a whopper. And a first post to boot! (Where do I sign up....):hysterical:
 

pacodemountainside

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What a conglomeration of old lies with a sprinkle of truth.

When corporation has employees traveling on business and putting in 12 hour days they dine in nice restaurants not hang out in a kitchen fixing meals.

There are no wealthy entities renting or buying TSs from Joe in Podunk.
 

Rent_Share

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Has anyone heard of "bec resorts" ?
 

TUGBrian

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CSPAN covers sporting events?
 

sjsharkie

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The OP has a grand total of 1 post. I smell a shill to generate interest.

-ryan
 

geekette

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The OP has a grand total of 1 post. I smell a shill to generate interest.

-ryan

disagree. shill is unlikely to say they are leery about what they are trying to hawk. no link provided, either.
 

Rent_Share

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Unless it was the soft ball pitch, for the shills to come in and hit it out of the park with recommendations ?
 

ToughAL

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Where exactly was this presentation held? What incentive did they give you to attend?

It was held at a Denny's restaurant. It just so happened that I was meeting that day with the woman I am transferring my Sedona TS to and I thought it would be interesting to hear what this was about. Just got lunch. The other incentives were that they would give you enough extra points to cover the buyin price. But you of course would have to wait 6 mo before you received any payment. Tough Al
 

ToughAL

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disagree. shill is unlikely to say they are leery about what they are trying to hawk. no link provided, either.

Hey, I've been a TS owner for 10+ yrs and have been to many presentations, etc. This is not a shill. I went to this luncheon yesterday and like everyone responding thought it was probably too good to be true but wondered - since I had read abt a class action law suit regarding resorts renting units to the public and not keeping availability for owners - that piece was legitimate to me. I just wanted to see if anyone out there has been approached by them also. I just wanted other people's experience with this. Someone has signed up or they wouldn't be sending people to Ct from OH.
 

ToughAL

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Thanks. It certainly does sound like the organization I met with. When they cold-called they said that RCI had given them my name. ToughAL
 

LannyPC

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When they cold-called they said that RCI had given them my name. ToughAL

It probably was not RCI that gave this questionable outfit your name as this outfit appears to be in direct competition with RCI.

It is possible that a disgruntled employee (or ex-employee) skimmed members' information and sold it on the side.
 

FlaKmunKy

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It is a scam. Do not fall for it. I have heard of too many scams like this popping up saying they will rent out your unit, ect and there is always a cost up front for something. Too many people have fallen for these things. Call whomever you have the points account with (RCI) and if its illegitimate they will tell you.
 

JRM_WatchOut

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TERP is still alive

This is a scam being run by R&R Venture Group out of Las Vegas. It includes a company call Excess Property Solutions (EPS) out of Morris, Illinois, and Vacation Services International (VSI). There are several teams that run around the country, camping out a local restaurants for 3 days and scamming current Timeshare Owners. Two of the main presentors are guys named William Thompson and Randy Canfield.

They cold call people and the Caller ID identifes them as RCI, but they are not.

RCI filed a lawsuit in Federal Court in early June against R&R Venture Group, EPS, and VSI for trademark infringement. If any one is ingterested, there is a 59 page comment string on RedWeek.com covering what these guys do. It is under Points Liquidators; Bj Cooke. Take a peek. You will be amazed at how brazen these guys are.
 

csxjohn

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This is a scam being run by R&R Venture Group out of Las Vegas. It includes a company call Excess Property Solutions (EPS) out of Morris, Illinois, and Vacation Services International (VSI). There are several teams that run around the country, camping out a local restaurants for 3 days and scamming current Timeshare Owners. Two of the main presentors are guys named William Thompson and Randy Canfield.

They cold call people and the Caller ID identifes them as RCI, but they are not.

RCI filed a lawsuit in Federal Court in early June against R&R Venture Group, EPS, and VSI for trademark infringement. If any one is ingterested, there is a 59 page comment string on RedWeek.com covering what these guys do. It is under Points Liquidators; Bj Cooke. Take a peek. You will be amazed at how brazen these guys are.

Welcome to TUG and thanks for the additional info.
 

JRM_WatchOut

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If you have been scammed by the TERP group, report it to your state's Attorney General. Also report it to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). They have just filed timeshare scam lawsuits against several companies and 100+ people in Florida. Google it. The FTC will investigate and file lawsuits if there are enough reported instances of this fraud.

You will never see your money from EPS. When you post a billing dispute with your credit card company, R&R Venture Group will pretend that they sent the money back to your credit card company. Then they will cancel your "lifetime" membership with EPS and tell you that the rest of your money is non-refundable.
 
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vnichol

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R&R Venture Group, Excess Property Solutions

Received a call from this 770-439-7989. The caller ID listed it as RCI Pts GLH The agent invited us to an "RCI update" to tell us about new enhancements to their programs. Since we own timeshares but are not RCI members, we thought we would check it out - especially for a free dinner.

When we arrived at the Applebee's, we were greeted and then the rep said he was with R & R Ventures and was contracted by the federal government to tell timeshare owners about the benefits available to them as a prior member of RCI that were a result of a class action suit against RCI. He went on to say that "the federal judge determined that" as an anti-trust measure and as compensation for the shady practices of RCI, prior timeshare owners could convert from fixed & floating weeks to points at no charge. Prior RCI members were entitled to exchanges through VSI for a one-time per year fee of $199 only if they underwent an exchange and were not obligated to an annual membership for the service if they did no exchanages. Furthermore we could "sell" some or all of theese points to Excess Property Solutions for a guaranteed 7.5 cents per point for a one-time enrollment fee of $498.

He said the program was call TERP (Timeshare Enhancement & Relief Project.) He said he was representing the companies to make us aware of these "enhancements", but he was not selling anything. Furthermore, if we had not responded to the RCI class action suit, we could participate with no out of pocket costs. He said his manager could look up whether or not we had responded. While the manager was "looking it up," I asked him why the caller ID said RCI, if they weren't with RCI. He told me they were a contracted marketing firm and were paid based on how many appointments they made, so they would do whatever was needed to get the appointment.

I said they should discontinue their relationship with a firm that would use those tactics. Then he turned us over to the manager who told us we could convert our fixed week and our floating week into 75000 points, and since we had not responded to the class action suit, we would get 100,000 bonus points that we could sell as well. And guess what? It would only cost us a little over $9000! Not to worry, that $9000 would be discounted by $1000 if we paid with a personal check and we would get another bonus of 50,000 points. And when we sold the above mentioned points, we would receive a payment (in SIX MONTHS!) that would be more than we paid, so we would MAKE money on the deal.

Since my husband has just been diagnosed with a serious illness and we don't anticipate traveling soon, this seemed like an answer to prayer. We ate dinner while he produced the paperwork. However, these point values seemed way out of whack, so we Googled the respective entities ( R&R, VSI, EPS). VSI seems legit, but their site specifically mentioned that they had no traveling representatives like these guys. R&R and EPS seemed related and both out of Las Vegas with "F" BBB ratings.

And then they produced the paperwork -all four pages. Yeah, no real estate deal has that little paperwork. Furthermore, what little verbage existed was full of "weasel language. For instance, the guarantee was a "GUARANTEE of your share of the rental pool profit which is projected to be 7.5 cents per point." (BTW, the all caps was theirs, not mine - just a way to call attention to the guarantee part, rather than the weasel languaage. In other words, if the rental pool makes no money (or if you can't PROVE it made money) -your share of $0 is $0.

We refused to sign and left. The next day I got a phone call from R&R Venture Group at 702-431-7770 to confirm our "purchase". I told her (I think her name was April?) that we had refused to sign and DID NOT purchase. She seemed bewildered and confused, but said she "would make a note." Be very careful! If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is! I just hope we didn't give enough info for them to raid our bank account or something!
 
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DeniseM

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Did you give them your credit card number to make the reservation for dinner, or at any time?
 
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