Reply request from RCI management

I moved the questions/comments in my original EDITED post to my last REPLY below.

I hope to have time to edit as I find out more details regarding how RCI Points contracts and contracts with the resorts that sold them can be changed or cancelled.

I seriously doubt that RCI mgmt will respond to this on TUG. There is no RCI rep presence here any longer, and I would expect that they will not engage in a discussion of your accounts with them in a public forum.

Have you contacted them directly to discuss?

geekette said:

I seriously doubt that RCI mgmt will respond to this on TUG. There is no RCI rep presence here any longer, and I would expect that they will not engage in a discussion of your accounts with them in a public forum.

Have you contacted them directly to discuss?

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They NEVER replied to me publicly on TUG.
However, I did receive a unsolicited telephone call from an RCI Supervisor the same morning I posted on TUG regarding a different issue.

I have asked discussed the SAME comments/questions in my original post with several RCI Supervisors since 2008 but have NEVER received a straight answer.

Since the MF for Resort X is due 31 January 2013 and the resort's employees sometimes says "we have no idea how the RCI Points contract we sold you works" I thought I would compose the above post. Then use the URL to this TUG post in my email communications with RCI.

I'll let you know if/when they reply.

ah, cool, so you can get them to contact you!! Good to know.

yes, please keep us posted. good luck!

flexible said:

....
Timeshare contracts with possibly as many as 40 different resorts were signed beginning in the late 1970s. RCI Weeks were paid BY THE RESORT for most contracts for various periods of time including 40 years, life of the contract etc.....

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I found this confusing. The contracts "were signed" by whom? Are you saying that your family bought around 40 timeshares in the late 1970s, and you aren't sure of the exact number?

I am not sure what you are trying to do here. Are you trying to convert one or more RCI Points contracts back to RCI Weeks? Or maybe combine all your RCI accounts into one account?

flexible said:

....
- We wish to CANCEL the above contract with Resort X. We are on excellent terms with the resort's administration. Reason we wish to cancel include:
-maintenance fees for 30,000 points is approaching $600 per year
-Another one of our contracts administered by RCI Latin America has 3.8M points which can be easily used for RCI Points exchanges...

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I am confused about this, too. Do you want to move "Resort X" out of RCI Points and back to RCI Weeks, or do you want to get rid of your ownership at "Resort X" entirely? RCI really can't do anything to help you get rid of the entire ownership. They are just the exchange company and don't have anything to do with the underlying ownership.

see post #12 below

Hopefully you can work something out with RCI and the resort. There are several people here who have multiple RCI weeks contract because one comes with the paid RCI points and one comes with the paid wyndham program fee, and/or those that had a paid RCI weeks account with several years worth or paid membership (sometimes through SA account) and the pro-rated refund would only be worth a few dollars for 10-20 years worth of membership. My feeling is that by accepting the refund and using it for the RCI points membership fees and not insisting on keeping the other paid memberships you lost your opportunity. I am sorry that you did not understand how the points membership worked. At this point I don't think that there is anything to unbundle because once they refunded the fees for the paid account those accounts were gone and I don't see RCI setting up new accounts today paid at 1970 or 1980 rates.

As for your membership at X resort, that is up to the resort. If the resort does not let you out of the membership agreement or accept the deed back, like any timeshare you don't stop your obligation by not paying your MF's.

If you discontinue to pay your RCI points membership your resort should revert back to a studio week. But if you don't have a paid RCI weeks membership you would lose your tpu's. If your tpu's are combined into one deposit you could transfer it to someone else for $99 or $109 (not sure what the current fees are) and then transfer it back into your account (for another fee) if your get an RCI account set up for yourself. If they are not combined the transfer fee is per deposit.

The fact that all of this happened 4-5 years ago makes it less likely that you will be able to get it straightened out. Again hopefully as a long term RCI member they will find a solution to make it right but I see the fault more with you and your husband not understanding the process (which it would probably take a law degree and a full time job study all the intricacies to understand completely.

see post #12 below

I think as long as your points membership is paid up through March 31st your weeks account should be fine. As long as the resort doesn't immediately go to RCI and report that you didn't renew your contract with them. Even if they do I doubt RCI would catch up to you before March if your account is paid up.

see post #12 below

flexible said:

.....When resorts sold EXISTING timeshare members a RCI Points contract, was/is RCI's role solely as a service provider for RESERVATIONS?

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That is my understanding, yes.

flexible said:

Is the underlying contract still with the RESORT?

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For every resort that I'm familiar with, yes. The underlying contract (for the week or whatever is owned) is still with the resort. In fact, one needs to pay an RCI Points Renewal fee every three years (or every six years with an every-other-year contract) or else the underlying week is no longer part of RCI Points.

flexible said:

Resort X still collects MF on 31 January.
Perhaps Resort X pays RCI __?% of MF for the wholesale cost our 30,000 RCI Points each year.

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No, I don't think RCI pays the resorts anything in exchange for the Points/Weeks deposited into RCI. If the resorts paid something to RCI, it would show up on the resorts' statement of expenses every year. I have read the statement of expenses from many resorts, and have never seen even a penny being paid to RCI.

Owners are already giving RCI their timeshare weeks (whether for TPUs or RCI Points) plus a steep RCI membership fee each year, with nothing promised in exchange except a *possibility* of a desirable exchange (for another steep fee.) Why should owners/resorts pay RCI on top of that?

I don't know the answers to the Wyndham questions, sorry.

We visited the resort with our RCI Points contract today.. The resort provided us with a complete copy of the paperwork for our contract 2821.


Resort: X
Contract Number 3348
Original Purchase Date: March 1989
Original Unit size: studio
Original Purchase Cost: Y

Contract Number 2821 superseded contract number 3348
Upgraded 29 December 2006
Ken's signature alone on contract - I was not there or married to him at the time.
First use year: 1 April 2007
Contract expiration: 31 March 2022
RCI Points: 30,000 Annual = 1 bedroom
RCI Use Year: 1 April - 31 March
Upgrade fees = $5,000
Contract 2821 included: FIRST DAY INCENTIVE
As a Preferred Member, I understand that the Club has paid to RCI for two years dues & initiation fee.

Very early 2008: We were told we had NO MEMBERSHIP in RCI Points on the RCI Points account number provided by the resort. However, we were told we had $1,200 credit with RCI! We requested an explanation during that phone call and subsequent calls. I choose the 5 year membership 1 April 2008- 31 March 2013.

It was perhaps 2010 when we were advised that the RCI Weeks contracts that had been prepaid by the resort created the refund. RCI never sent us a check.

We requested repeatedly but have NEVER received an accounting of financial transactions on Ken's various RCI accounts.

The RCI POINTS Participation Agreement had both my husband and my names as applicants. It was completed in my handwriting after a resort employee stopped by a table at their restaurant mentioning RCI Point. It ONLY had my husband's signature. My guess is he might have signed a blank agreement earlier? Or they just overlooked my missing signature? The RCI Points account has always been in BOTH of our names.

THERE IS NOTHING on the Paperwork I signed indicating that I agreed to RCI's Terms & Conditions. The paperwork I signed didn't even mention "Terms & Conditions." There is no mention that signing the RCI Participation Agreement would mean that ALL the RCI WEEKS contracts paid for decades in the future by resorts would be refunded at the WHOLESALE RESORT cost (which we can not verify). And that we would need to purchase a RCI membership.

We can cancel the associated RCI Points contract and keep the resort contract IF we wish.
However, the maintenance fee & unit size would be the upgraded 1 bedroom not the original studio.

Fee to TRANSFER Resort contract to anyone else= $50

Maintenance Fee Due Date: 31 January
2013 Maintanance Fee = $520.17 for 30,000 points or 1 bedroom unit size

RCI Points
We currently have 2 memberships:
1 is included the ECVC membership managed by RCI Latin America
1 is the upgraded contract when a fixed week studio became a fixed week 13 RCI Points 1 bedroom

272 RCI TPUs are currently in the associated RCI WEEKS account as 131, 68, 18, 11,11,11,11, and 11.


I hope to edit this again after I speak with RCI Points. I moved my original questions further down this thread so hopefully I will have more time to edit. I don't want to add to the confusion when people use TUG's Search function and find misinformation