# Totally confused.. please help.



## Meggzie (Sep 8, 2011)

Hi all,

I'm a little desperate at the moment for someone to tell me the truth about this stuff. I'm gonna explain as much as I can and hopefully someone can shed some light on my situation.  Thank you in advance for taking to time to read this!

This is all started with me getting one of those cheap vacation things in the mail.  It said all you gotta do is tour one of our facilities one day of your vacation, fill out a survey, and in return you get a nice vacation cheap.  I took the trip with my mother (which by the way was NOT that great).  Long story short it was a timeshare tour and at the end of it we were put into that pressure cooker of high stress sales.  My mother is in the middle of dealing with credit card debt and we basically live paycheck to paycheck.  We knew we didn't have the money for this.  We kept saying no, and she kept coming back with "better" deals.  My mom even cried at one point because obviously the whole thing sounded great but we just didn't have to money.  The final one she brought to us (which we ended up buying) was a unit a previous owner had defaulted paying on.  I believe it is a floating week, its at Vacation Villiages at Weston (Florida), and its a lockout.  She told us that they wern't going to be selling "weeks" for much longer so we definitely want to get it now, its deeded so it supposidly was going to get me started with credit to my name (apparently thats not true).  Even the setup of what we bought was confusing.  From what I was told I own a "gold crown", floating week every odd year but since its a lockout if I exchange I get two weeks out of it somehow.  Long story short we get two weeks a year but one of the weeks we have to book within 30 or 60 days of taking the vacation.  We did all our paperwork their with an RCI agent and she told us they "encourage" exchanges.  So we bought this not really intending to ever stay there.

We bought this about a year ago.  We were on a payment plan that we finished paying off the beginning of this year so we did take our first vacation.  We used the week that we had to book within 60 dyas and just went somewhere not too far away.  The place we stayed in was nothing like what we own in florida.  Its was cheap motel style but linking 3 rooms (two bedroom plus the kitchen/living room).  My mom stupidly agreed to tour that facility just to get $10 and when asked if she was an owner she said yes thinking owner of a timeshare.  Of course they ment owner in that specific resort so when our tour guy met us he was confused.  Instead of making us go to where we were supposed to go "another pressure cooker" he decided to give us a tour anyway.  While we were driving around he said he was gonna tel us everything he knew about timeshare to help us out.  He told us about the "colors" and the 3 things that determine your exchange value.  We were never told about this when we bought.  Just that we had gold crown.  Apparently out of hte 3 we have one top, one middle, and one low grade.  I'm not even sure what that means in terms of where I can and cant go.

Now yesterday I get a phone all from a "owners assistance" representative and I basically pawned the phone call off on my mother.  He was originally calling because I guess time is running out for me to deposit my week.  I didn't even know that it had to be deposited by a certain time.  We wern't planning on taking another vacation this year so we didn't do anything with it.  The call ended up being him trying to talk my mother into switching over to the point system.  He was telling her everyone is switching and they would wave the $6,990 fee to switch, and blah blah blah.  There was a $400 fee in there somewhere.  Then he said we have 48hrs to make a decison!  What the hell.  Honestly i'm starting to feel bullied by these people.  No one ever explains anything to you and the people who try to tell you opposing things.  Nothing adds up.  I get the feeling that these people enjoy picking on and taking advantage of the people who don't read the fine print.

I'm not stupid.  I've been trying to read everything I can on this and its verly cleverly written to confuse the hell out of you.  I don't like high pressure sales, and false advertizing.  But i'm stuck with what I bought so I was jsut wondering if anyone could help me with this.  I'm gonna be wipping out all my papers here in a sec.
Please help..

-Meg


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## Passepartout (Sep 8, 2011)

Meg, we are so sorry you didn't find us while you could still rescind. But all that is water under the bridge. Congratulations! You are timeshare owners and you may as well learn to use what you have. Best that you start by  reading all the 'stickies' at the top of the newbies forum. You will find lots of acronyms and there's a glossary to help with those.

From what you say, you probably own one fixed week (it may 'float') and one last minute (under 60 day from move-in) week. It may or may not come with a membership in RCI (usually extra cost- about $100 +- a year) Some of the ownerships at your resort are in RCI Points and some are just the weeks. Since you  bought, RCI has started a 'weeks light' sort of program wherein each week at each resort is assigned a point value (TPU). You use these points as currency to exchange into other resorts. Your own 'home' resort is just that. Pay the Maintenance Fee (MF) and use your week. You don't have to pay anything else to use it. If it is a 'floating' week, you may have to call as much as a year in advance of when you want to reserve your week. If it's a fixed (number from 1-to 52) week, just show up on the day of the week when you are supposed to check in and you're good.

The good news is that you were able to pay off your TS. The bad news is it isn't worth nearly what you paid for it.

I don't have the time or inclination to point you toward the answers to all the questions you will have. So read the Stickies. Check it against your contract or deed to see exactly what you own, and learn to use what you bought. And for heaven's sake, when you go to one of these places, don't buy anything!

And Welcome to TUG! Believe me, many members and guests here did exactly what you did. Some of them did it more than once! You are among friends.

Jim Ricks


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## Rob&Carol Q (Sep 8, 2011)

Yup...welcome aboard!  You did very well for yourself by finding us.

I bought a TS almost two decades ago...bad decision at the time but I'm OK with it now.  We do need some additional info if the various experts that linger here are to help.

First off, in what system do you own your TS?  Sounds like Wyndham but I hear everything as Wyndham since that's where I own.

What Resort do you own?  That's a different question that the one above.

Have you a concept as to the Maintenance Fees for the resort you own?  If you own a TS, you own Maintenance Fees as well.

Are you sure you bought an actual Week and not some sort of Discovery or Explorer package?

By and large, most of us stay out of the presentations or owner updates for just the reasons you describe.  Our vacation time is just far too valuable.  Though there are some that enjoy the verbal combat...difference is, most folks here know what's going on and can hang with a Sales Weasel.


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## aliikai2 (Sep 8, 2011)

*What exactly does your deed say?*

Hi and welcome to Tug,
the 1st thing you need to do is figure out what your own. Then remember that anything a timeshare sales weasel says is a lie,  
so anyone calling you acting like they are your friend is trying to take more of you money, period.

If they are trying to convert you to RCI points, it in my humble opinion would be a waste of money. 

Check your deed, and let us know what you own, then we can give you better info,

Greg



Meggzie said:


> Hi all,
> Now yesterday I get a phone all from a "*owners assistance"* representative and I basically pawned the phone call off on my mother The call ended up being him trying to talk my mother into switching over to the point system.  He was telling her everyone is switching and they would wave the $6,990 fee to switch, and blah blah blah.  There was a $400 fee in there somewhere.  Then he said we have 48hrs to make a decison!  What the hell.  Honestly i'm starting to feel bullied by these people.  No one ever explains anything to you and the people who try to tell you opposing things.  Nothing adds up.  I get the feeling that these people enjoy picking on and taking advantage of the people who don't read the fine print.
> 
> I'm not stupid.  I've been trying to read everything I can on this and its verly cleverly written to confuse the hell out of you.  I don't like high pressure sales, and false advertizing.  But i'm stuck with what I bought so I was jsut wondering if anyone could help me with this.  I'm gonna be wipping out all my papers here in a sec.
> ...


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## Tia (Sep 8, 2011)

Timeshare sales people= if their lips are moving they are lying.

Don't feel pressure just say NO. They are always coming up with a away to get more $ from people and your right if you don't read the small print your out of luck as nothing they say holds water legally.


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## Meggzie (Sep 8, 2011)

You guys are so awesome! Thanks so much for replying so quickly.

I went through all my paperwork and here's what I own:

2bdr unit (lockout) that accomidates 8 people.  I own the 47th week everyother odd year (biennial odd).  I also have a bonus week (or extra vacation week) through RCI each year for 3 years.  So it comes out to 2 weeks a year if we exchange.

Our main purpose for buying was to exchange.  We would like to travel outside of the country some day.  See the world sort of thing.

Whats confusing me now after reading the papers is whether or not I own a floating unit.  The original deed that we signed there states we own week 47/odd and under unit # it was left blank.  Then after we finished paying off the down payment they mailed us a copy of the deed but on this one it has a unit number.  Does that mean they picked a permanent unit for us? Does the affect trading power?

We are also somewhat confused on the exchange process.  Mainly how/when to deposit our week even if we are not planning a vacation.  

After reading some replies I think i'm going to stick with weeks instead of being bullied into points.  Someone did tell me that I don't have to use RCI but everything is through them.  How do you keep track of anything without someone like them.  Again we plan to exchange mostly.

Thanks again for reading through my rant and responding so quickly.
-Meg


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## Passepartout (Sep 8, 2011)

Meg, if you are going to exchange, you will need an exchange company.  I don't know if Vacation Villages at Weston is part of a group that allows internal exchanges. Perhaps someone does. Otherwise, when you want to exchange (not use) your week, along about Thanksgiving time in even numbered years, call VV@W and tell them to deposit your week into (the exchange co). You will then have up to 2 years to use (make an exchange) the deposit. As your unit is a lockoff, you can deposit it in halves. You can deposit the 1BR side or the Studio side, or both. There is a different TPU for each part if you use RCI. So say you deposit the whole thing and it is valued at 25 TPU and what you want to exchange into has a value (cost) of 20 TPU, you get to keep the change of 5 TPU in your account. That might be enough for an exchange into an off-season resort somewhere, or for a price, you can extend the life of those points and add them to another deposit for a larger or more luxurious exchange.

You can just deposit the studio side one year and the 1BR the next. It's up to you.

Just don't pay to convert what you own to their points. It's just a way to separate you from your money. If you want more TPU, buy resale for pennies and you can combine them in one account.

Hope this helps and doesn't muddy the waters.

Best!

Jim


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## got4boys (Sep 8, 2011)

The good news is that week 47 is usually Thanksgiving week. So every other year you may or may not get Thanksgiving week depending on where it falls.

I will suggest to pay for an RCI account, prepay your maintenance fees at least 10 months.  Make sure you lock out and bank it with RCI. You can get more TPU (Trade Power Units) this way versus banking as a 2 bedroom unit.


Peggy


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## AwayWeGo (Sep 8, 2011)

*Seeing Through The Razzle-Dazzle & The Balyhoo & The Baloney.*




Meggzie said:


> I also have a bonus week (or extra vacation week) through RCI each year for 3 years.


Any RCI member can get any number of _Extra Vacations_ every year -- cash only, no points, no TPUs.  

Ditto RCI _Last Call_ reservations, which basically are just heavily discounted _Extra Vacations_ offered within 30 days or so of the check-in date for the week. 

Touting _Extra Vacations_ & "bonus weeks" as some kind of big flaming deal is just part of the razzle-dazzle & ballyhoo that the timeshare sellers lay on the unsuspecting customers to try making'm think that it makes sense to buy a timeshare at full freight. 

It doesn't.  Nothing that the timeshare companies sell at full freight is worth the money. 

Buy timeshares resale.  Save thousands of dollars on exactly the same thing, or the equivalent, or something even better. 

_Full Disclosure*:*_  We've been exposed to plenty of full-freight razzle-dazzle & ballyhoo by various timeshare sellers, but we have not (yet) succumbed to the baloney.  We have never made an RCI _Extra Vacation_ reservation, but we have made _Last Call_ reservations lots of times, including earlier today -- Grandview At Las Vegas, October 9-16, 2011, 1BR unit, $269 + tax for the whole week.  (I'm pretty sure Grandview At Las Vegas is owned & operated by the same timeshare company that owns & operates Vacation Village At Weston.)

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​


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## Passepartout (Sep 8, 2011)

AwayWeGo said:


> (I'm pretty sure Grandview At Las Vegas is owned & operated by the same timeshare company that owns & operates Vacation Village At Weston.)
> 
> -- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​



If I remember correctly you are right. Both are readily available as Last Calls.

Jim


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## bilfbr245 (Sep 8, 2011)

I own two units at Vacation Village at Bonaventure, the sister resort to VV at Weston.  I have stayed at Weston also.  They are very nice resorts, and trade well with RCI.  They also offer a discounted trade fee of $139 as opposed to the standard fee of $179 when you trade into the many resorts within their network.  That is the good news. The bad news is that the resorts are so overbuilt relative to demand that they are worthless as resales.  You will not be able to sell the unit, and would have trouble giving it away.  But there is value there if you learn how to use the system.


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## glypnirsgirl (Sep 8, 2011)

Do you know whether or not you have an RCI account yet?

From what I understand, the Vacation Villages get a great value from depositing with RCI - lots of TPUs for the maintenance fees. I think of TPUs as timeshare money - like dollars, but can only be used at RCI. 

I also own a resort (or two or three) where I do not stay. I use it to exchange only. 

The one thing about timesharing is to plan in advance. Figure out where you want to go about 13 to 14 months before you want to get there. Deposit (into RCI) your lock-off as two separate units to get the most TPUs. Once you have deposited your week (as two separate units), you will receive your trading currency or TPUs. 

Now you are ready to set up an on-going search for the place you would most like to go to. Once you have the TPUs assigned to your RCI account, you are not limited to one week per year. Because now that the week has been deposited it has transformed from a week into TPUs (timeshare currency) and you get to decide how to spend it!

How do you know where you want to go? You join TUG (and list me as your referral so I get 6 months more on my membership) so that you can read the reviews of all sorts of different resorts. The reviewers here do not have an agenda (at least most of them don't) except to help other people have a great time. So, the reviews are very reliable. 

When I first joined, all I did was read reviews and read stickies. Reviews and stickies. Reviews and stickies. You are so smart to have posted first! I may have been a member for more than a year before I first posted here. 

One of the great things about TUG is that if you post where you would want to go and what you have to trade with, the people here will help you maximize your trading power and suggest stategies for doing things the best, smartest, cheapest way possible. 

So, where and when do you want to go for your next vacation? 

There are some real timeshare gurus here. Welcome to TUG!

elaine


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## heathpack (Sep 9, 2011)

I am not very knowledgable about RCI, but I can tell you how I would proceed if I were you:
1.  Go online and peruse the RCI directory to ID promising resorts
2.  Join TUG and read reviews to get a sense of what resorts are good
3.  Read everything you can here about trading in RCI, it's ok if you don't understand everything you read at first, eventually it will start to make sense

Keeping in mind that I don't know much about RCI, here's a few ideas to get you started:
1.  Any Hilton Grand Vacation Club resort
2.  Tradewinds Cruise Club (group trips on a sailing catamaran in the Caribbean, requires you pay an all-inclusive fee for food and drink)
3.  Narrowboat exchanges into canal boats in the English countryside
4.  Disney Vacation Club- you are probably blocked out of all Orlando resorts, but maybe you can trade in to Hilton Head, Vero Beach or Villas at Grand Californian

Good luck!

H


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## Meggzie (Sep 10, 2011)

Hello again,

Thanks again for the help guys, it's super helpful and i'm learning a lot!

I do have an account with RCI, as I used my bonus week for this year with them.  Main problem now is, I have not deposited my week for this year.  Totally stupid and our fault I know but my mom and I were thinking that we wern't planning a vacation this year so we never thought to deposit it.  Now that its getting closer something needs to be done with it.  RCI has already told us, since its so close to the actual week we will have a low TPU (if we deposit with them).  Since thats the case i'm actually thinking of depositing with another exchange company.  First I have to call VV at Weston to make sure my week is floating, or not.  Hopefully it is so I can see the latest week available for me.  

That being said... any suggestions on exchange companies to get us to Disney World (Orlando, Florida)?  We can't really afford to go out of the country yet so we settled on Disney lol.

-Meg


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## bilfbr245 (Sep 10, 2011)

VV has an usual relationship with RCI.  They deposit units in bulk to maximize trading power.  This potentially works to your advantage,  and you actually then deal with them instead of RCI in depositing your unit.  So you should call VV and ask them if they can deposit for you now and still get decent trading power.  You will be on hold for thirty minutes waiting for someone to talk to, but it might be worth it.  I once deposited a week at the last minute, and got a good trade for it.


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## Meggzie (Sep 10, 2011)

Just got off the phone with VV @ Weston... I need help making a decision.

The main reason I was looking for another exchange company was because RCI had told my mother that because we waited to long to deposit our week we have significantly lowered our "Trading Power".  My week as it turns out is a FIXED week, my UNIT is floating.  Now I just talked to an Owner's Assistance operator from VV@W and she told me that my Trading power is not lower.  We have up until like 2 weeks before our actual owned week to deposit it.  She said something along the lines of because I own with them I get guaranteed maximum trading power, as long as I call the resort to deposit and not RCI.  Of course then after I deposit the vacation is then booked through RCI.  <--- does this make sense you guys?  I'm always taking what i'm told with a grain of salt because i've been lied to too many times.

Ultimately we want to go to Disney World sometime either next year or the following year, and we would like to get the best place/deal possible and something close to the park obviously.  

What do you guys think??


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## bilfbr245 (Sep 10, 2011)

I believe that what you are being told at VV Weston is correct.  The people you are talking to are not part of the sales staff.  Thats where you have to be most careful.  I am not sure whether or not you will be able to get into a Disney oriented timeshare if you deposit through them, but I bet you can.  You can probably find out  from VV what  your TPU's will be if you depost through them , but not totally  sure of this.  You can then search the RCI website to find  out what is available for that amount of TPU's.  In any event, I think that depositing into RCI through VV is your best option, and will maximize whatever trading power you are able to obtain at this point.


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## ronandjoan (Sep 10, 2011)

VV has an Orlando timeshare property'. Should be no problem to exchange internally.

BTW, we really like the Weston resorts! 



Meggzie said:


> Just got off the phone with VV @ Weston... I need help making a decision.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## talkamotta (Sep 11, 2011)

You should join TUG if you havent already.  The review section is worth the money.  

If you are trading, the RCI system can be misleading.  Some gold crowns arent all that great.  Other resorts should be gold crown.  At least you will know what to expect.  

The sooner you deposit your week the better trading power you will have.  If you stay away from high times you can trade into some very nice resorts that have alot to offer in the area.  

For example.  Florida in October and before Thanksgiving.  Great time to visit.  Still warm and hurricane warnings are   lower.  So is humidity.  You dont have to compete with the school calendar or the snowbirds.  

Alot of people on TUGs bought thier first timeshare from a high pressured sales rep so dont feel bad.  The sales rep did say one thing thats true.  IT WILL MAKE YOU TRAVEL.  The people that are the losers are the ones that bought from the developer and then didnt ever use it.   

Learning how to use your timeshare is a work in progress, just when you think you know something the game changes.  Its a fun game to play and has made all the difference in my life.  It will yours too.


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## ronandjoan (Sep 12, 2011)

talkamotta said:


> Its a fun game to play and has made all the difference in my life.  It will yours too.



Everything said absolutely true!  and it has certainly changed our lives....see my BLOG!


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## LannyPC (Sep 12, 2011)

Passepartout said:


> Meg, we are so sorry you didn't find us while you could still rescind.
> And Welcome to TUG! Believe me, many members and guests here did exactly what you did. Some of them did it more than once! You are among friends.
> 
> Jim Ricks



I like to look at TUG as, among other things, a support group for those of us who bought from the developer.


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## ronandjoan (Sep 13, 2011)

LannyPC said:


> I like to look at TUG as, among other things, a support group for those of us who bought from the developer.



Amen to that!


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## Picker57 (Sep 13, 2011)

*Probably going to be fine.*

In browsing this thread, I get the sense that, in spite of your angst and misgivings over having paid retail, you really didn't do too badly.  It sounds like a very nice property and an excellent week.  As others have said, now it's time to utilize TUG and other sites to learn how to maximize your enjoyment.  We (sob) paid retail also (again, before discovering TUG) but have put that behind us and now regularly graze sites like TUG, Timeshare Tidbits, Timeshare Juice, SFX, and a zillion others trying to figure out ways to amplify the fun.  

I wish airfares were as manageable as timeshares.       Enjoy !!

                   -----Zach Kaplan


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## zcrider (Sep 13, 2011)

Someone posted that your timeshare company has a resort in Orlando so you can do an internal trade.  This means you exchange it with your resort and not deposit in RCI.  Usually you get to skip the exchange fee too, so ask about this.  It might be your best bet.  As another poster commented you might not be able to get into Orlando owning another timeshare in Fl within so many miles (? don't know the #) of Orlando because RCI has what is called a regional block in the Orlando area, so if you don't ask RCI about this first and deposit it in RCI to exchange into an Orlando resort with, that might end up being the one place you can't book!  Make sure to clarify first, I don't own anything in RCI or FL, but have read about this on TUG.  Hopefully a VV@Weston owner will come along soon and give you the ins and outs of how to maximize that system to get you to Disney World for the best price.


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