# 2011 "Program Fee" Assessment Increase on Biennial Contracts



## massvacationer (Dec 18, 2010)

[*Moderator Note:* The issue about doubling of the "Program Fee" against Wyndham Owners who owned Biennial Contracts first came up on December 18th in a Thread started December 17th by Regatta333 entitled: *"Just got my Wyndham 2011 Assessment--13% Increase."  *That particular thread got the attention of many Tuggers who own Wyndham Points.  As the thread progressed it turned out that there were many reasons that may have accounted for a significant increase in the 2011 Annual CLUB WYNDHAM PLUS Assessment Summary. In order to put together threads that address the different reasons for the increase, posts were removed from the original thread and new threads were created that separetly focused on a different issue. This thread is one that focuses on what we now recognize as the *"2011 "Program Fee" Assessment Increase on Biennial Contracts."* 



Arnie

I have the same issue with my EOY contract at Ocean Ridge and I think it is an error in the way they are calculating the Program fees on EOY contracts....I think I am going to call the Financial Services department on Monday


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## Arnie (Dec 18, 2010)

*Financial Services*

I did call on friday and fear i got someone that was giving a canned response. They said that i was paying too little for the last 5 years. And now they are catching up with it. I do plan on calling myself again either today or Monday. Please keep in touch on it and I will do the same.
Thanks


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## hjtug (Dec 18, 2010)

I am interested in the doubling of EOY fees since our ownership consists of one odd-year contract and one even-year contract.  It seems to me that if we pay double the current program charge we would be paying double, for no additional services, what someone else would be paying who owned the same number of points in a single every-year contract.


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## vacationhopeful (Dec 18, 2010)

The benefit is Wyndham collects double the fees and will have the sales staff offer a $15,000 purchase as a way to reduce your CWA fees. :ignore:

And I too own even/odd year of 2 deeds. One of which is a fixed converted week.


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## markel (Dec 18, 2010)

My program fees exactly doubled for my EOY (even) contract. HOA fees increased $23.13. This takes my monthly fee up $5.59, an overall increase of 18.5% !!!

Is this doubling of programs fees correct??????

Mark


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## Arnie (Dec 18, 2010)

*Double Fees!*

I would think if you own odd and then buy even for the same amount of points, the fee should remain the same. I guess we have to make a few calls Monday. If anyone has any luck let us know.
I found this statement in the details section of my contract.

"The Home Owners Association (HOA) portion of your Assessment is divided in half and billed every year on either an annual or monthly basis so the payment amount is conveniently spread over 2 years."


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## vacationhopeful (Dec 18, 2010)

Yes, that is your HOA fees. The CWA or old FSP fees pay for the computer system, call center, book of resorts, billing system for the HOA collection.


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## Arnie (Dec 18, 2010)

hjtug said:


> I am interested in the doubling of EOY fees since our ownership consists of one odd-year contract and one even-year contract.  It seems to me that if we pay double the current program charge we would be paying double, for no additional services, what someone else would be paying who owned the same number of points in a single every-year contract.


 Did you get your MF summary statement yet? Does it have a double fee on it? I own at Grand Desert and spoke with a person that told me that you would have a double fee if you owned 2 EOY packages unless you have a yearly contract in excess of 300k points. I got this quote from the Wyndham web site.
"The Home Owners Association (HOA) portion of your Assessment is divided in half and billed every year on either an annual or monthly basis so the payment amount is conveniently spread over 2 years." Not really sure this means Program fee or not.


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## hjtug (Dec 18, 2010)

Arnie said:


> Did you get your MF summary statement yet? Does it have a double fee on it?



It came in the mail today.  The program fee didn't double.  It went up only 79%!



Arnie said:


> "The Home Owners Association (HOA) portion of your Assessment is divided in half and billed every year on either an annual or monthly basis so the payment amount is conveniently spread over 2 years." Not really sure this means Program fee or not.



It does not mean Program fee.  Your total fee consists if the HOA portion plus the program fee.


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## janej (Dec 18, 2010)

Same here, I also have two contracts, one for even year and one for odd year.  My HOA increase was not too bad.  But my program fee doubled too from last year.  On the bottom of the statement, it did say " the program fee listed for each contract is for informational purpose only and is subject to change based on the total number of points assigned to the member."  Has anyone contacted Wyndham about the program fee doubling for EOY contracts?


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## janej (Dec 18, 2010)

I read my statement more carefully now and found the program fee must be a mistake.   The third column on my statement says Contract Points Value, and the 4th column is the Points Determining HOA Billing.  These two should be the same, but my contract values were listed as full points value, while Points Determining HOA Billing was half.  I am pretty sure my contract value is half of the full points value for EOY contract.  That is why I only get one free transaction per year for my 154k EOY contract.


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## hjtug (Dec 18, 2010)

janej said:


> I am pretty sure my contract value is half of the full points value for EOY contract.



I don't think so.  I have my statement for this year and the previous two.  They are consistent in that the contract value seems to refer to the value on the contract, e.g. 105,000 point every odd year, while the annual point value is 1/2 of that to reflect the fact that the fees are paid over a two-year period.  The only inconsistency on my statement for this year is the large increase in the program fee.


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## janej (Dec 18, 2010)

Here is what my Deed states.  The contract size is half of my even year allocated points.  My program fee doubled from last year.

Contract Number 13-0502628. representing an undivided 84,000/ 490,299,000 tenant-in-common fee simple interest in the real property commonly known as Phase III of Fairfield Orlando Star Island, together with all appurtenances thereto, according and subject to the Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions for Fairfield Orlando at Star Island as recorded in Official Records Book 1709, Page 1701 et seq., Public Records of Osceola County, Florida, together with any and all amendments and supplements thereto (the "Declaration"). 

TOGETHER with all the tenements, hereditaments and appurtenances thereto belonging or in anywise appertaining. The Property described above is an BIENNIAL ownership Interest as described in the Declaration and such ownership interest has been allocated 168,000 Points (as defined in the Declaration) for use by the Grantee in Even year.


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## markel (Dec 18, 2010)

I only have ONE contract, even year pts. only and my program fee doubled. 

I will be calling on Monday, but am thinking things will not change. If this stands (in relation to the RCI changes that don't look to benefit me) I will most likely give away my ownership. It looks like a complete screwball and I'd rather rent at my leisure than play this stupid A** game.

Mark


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## hjtug (Dec 18, 2010)

janej said:


> Contract Number 13-0502628. representing an undivided 84,000/ 490,299,000



That is interesting but I still think that those two columns is not where the problem lies since mine have been done the same way for the last three years.


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## janej (Dec 18, 2010)

I too has no faith at all that Wyndham would be fair to us owners.  After all, they took away points transfer last year, just announced that now a blue studio is 74k instead of 28k.  They could very well decide to double the program fee for EOY contracts too.  I'd like to get out too.  But I am not sure how.  

It's not even funny how much they changed the program since I read the Wyndham Points Primer before I purchased two years ago.


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## hjtug (Dec 19, 2010)

janej said:


> I too has no faith at all that Wyndham would be fair to us owners.  After all, they took away points transfer last year, just announced that now a blue studio is 74k instead of 28k.  They could very well decide to double the program fee for EOY contracts too.  I'd like to get out too.  But I am not sure how.
> 
> It's not even funny how much they changed the program since I read the Wyndham Points Primer before I purchased two years ago.



There have been many threads on whether they could raise the points in the point charts for existing, older Wyndham resorts.  The consensus seems to be that that would be next to impossible for them to do.  But I wouldn't be surprised if they could figure out a way to make those point requirements more "fair and equitable".


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## ststewart (Dec 19, 2010)

*Double Program Fees*

I am contacting Wyndham about the program Fees.  I own 2 Even year contracts, and the calculation should be .53 per 1000 owned based on the "Points Determining HOA Billing" for each billing year.  The new assessment charges exactly double (1.06) per thousand points based on your biennial points each year. It must be an accounting error.


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## Debbyd57 (Dec 19, 2010)

We own one contract that is every other year (168K even years).  This is not our year to get the points yet we have to pay a full program fee for 168k.  We own a total of 798K yearly points.  That means we are paying a full program fee every year even though we can only use them eoy.


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## timeos2 (Dec 19, 2010)

*Now collections is taking on sales attributes (not good)*



Debbyd57 said:


> We own one contract that is every other year (168K even years).  This is not our year to get the points yet we have to pay a full program fee for 168k.  We own a total of 798K yearly points.  That means we are paying a full program fee every year even though we can only use them eoy.



But you have access to the system all years. Since they have chosen to bill the system as an identifiable charge there is a case to be made (and it appears they are implementing it) that it is fair to bill for the services annually even if your points are only assigned EOY.  It is very apparent that Wyndham is going after every dollar they can. They have suddenly gone from virtually ignoring collections to a new, high intensity push along with some seriously hefty late fees and penalties. 

Better stay up to date with this group as they aren't prone to fix any errors in their favor and they are nearly impossible to reach if you want answers. The contact is virtually all auto-call based to beat you into submission while actual contact with a rep is near impossible if you initiate the call.


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## carl2591 (Dec 19, 2010)

janej said:


> I too has no faith at all that Wyndham would be fair to us owners.  After all, they took away points transfer last year, just announced that now a blue studio is 74k instead of 28k.  They could very well decide to double the program fee for EOY contracts too.  I'd like to get out too.  But I am not sure how.
> 
> It's not even funny how much they changed the program since I read the Wyndham Points Primer before I purchased two years ago.



just another good reason to stay away from Wyndham and RCI (cendent.) 
when will this fee increase game end .. when everyone bails on their units. ??

I predict in 4-6 yrs they are going to file for bankruptcy due to the mass mitigation away from them.. you can only screw over people so many times till they learn and move on.  when does timeshare ownership get too expensive to have??.. with these recent rate increased SOON.. hell at this rate with what Wyndham and RCI are doing I suspect the whole timeshare scene will be different..


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## markel (Dec 20, 2010)

I just got off the phone with financial services and was told that Wyndham is now billing EOY contracts in advance for the Program Fee.

She said in the past that I was paying 1/2 of the fee each year and that they just started billing the entire fee upfront. 

She verified that on next years assessment notice that I would NOT see a program fee (since I'm paying it all throughout 2011). For 2012 it's just the HOA fee divided out monthly.

I will believe this when I see it !!!  Anyone else heard this from financial services??

Mark


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## Arnie (Dec 20, 2010)

markel said:


> I just got off the phone with financial services and was told that Wyndham is now billing EOY contracts in advance for the Program Fee.
> 
> She said in the past that I was paying 1/2 of the fee each year and that they just started billing the entire fee upfront.
> 
> ...



WOW!!! Mark that is the best one yet. I guess we can all believe that and that will make us happy for all of 2011. I hope you got her name and office number. Thats surely much better than the answer I got from Alex(FS person) that we skated all these years and didn't pay enough. Now we are paying the right amount.


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## janej (Dec 20, 2010)

I called Wyndham Financial services and I was told starting 2011, bi-annual owners will no long receive "discount" program fee.  I asked if we will at least receive twice as many transaction credits and the answer is no.  When I look online, my contract size is clearly stated as half of points I own.  I don't know how they can get away with charging us double and give us half of the credit.  The rep I spoke to said she listened to the same complain all day today.


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## rickandcindy23 (Dec 20, 2010)

janej said:


> The rep I spoke to said she listened to the same complain all day today.



And we should all harass the heck out of Wyndham over this, in a concerted effort to get a change of policy.  

Doesn't a lot of complaints from customers, causing Wyndham employees to have to deal with "the same compaints all day" make them think about how horrible this policy is?  

We own a few EOY contracts, so I will be complaining.  Merry Christmas from Wyndham Scrooge Corporate.:annoyed:


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## markel (Dec 20, 2010)

On the phone with Wyndham financial services now and am getting a completely different answer than I did earlier today. Currently on hold as rep. is checking into what I was told earlier. She just got back and honestly must have confused herself in her explanation to me. I told her that the math simply doesn't work. 

I was told that although my program fee DOUBLED, I was still paying the same amount !!!  

Next question,  when (not if, but when) I decide to dump my contract for free, that is if anyone will take it, I assume I'll have to forfeit my deposited weeks that I have in RCI?? And what if I have a week already exchanged and paid for, will I lose that if I don't travel before transferring deed?

Wyndham is starting to P*** me off.

Mark


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## Arnie (Dec 20, 2010)

*Easy Guy!!*

Hey Mark, get your use out of what you have. The difference may only be a few dollars a month. While it is aggravating, don't want to throw more bucks away. it seems like there are many responses from the Wyndham reps. That means they don't have the answers either. You may want to check out some of the info on the Wyndham Board.
http://forums.atozed.com/viewtopic.php?f=164&t=9441
Quite a few responses there also.


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## markel (Dec 20, 2010)

Arnie said:


> Hey Mark, get your use out of what you have. The difference may only be a few dollars a month. While it is aggravating, don't want to throw more bucks away. it seems like there are many responses from the Wyndham reps. That means they don't have the answers either. You may want to check out some of the info on the Wyndham Board.
> http://forums.atozed.com/viewtopic.php?f=164&t=9441
> Quite a few responses there also.



Yeah, it is only about $5/month and although it won't break me I see this as a turn for the worse, especially with the recent RCI changes. And, I don't like being lied too either. But you are correct Arnie, I will at the very least use my spacebanked weeks and who know, maybe something good will come out of this.

How close to Scranton are you? I'm in southcentral PA and have a buddy heading there tomorrow. 

Mark


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## rickandcindy23 (Dec 20, 2010)

Many Wyndham employees are challenged by anything to do with common sense.  

It reminds me of using a coupon at Arby's the other day.  We had one of the 5 regulars for $5.95, and the gal said, "That will be $11.22." I said that cannot be right.  

I said, "Please look at the coupon in your hand."  

She said very snottily, "Yes, I took the coupon off, or it would have been a lot more. The sandwiches are regularly $2.95 each."   

I asked what the additional $5.27 was for, and she said, "Taxes." 

"May I speak with your manager?"   

"That would be me tonight," was her answer.  

She finally charged us $5.95 + 9.0% tax, and had to use her calculator to do it, but she still thought I was wrong.  Rick was in the bathroom the entire time.  Where are men when you need them. :rofl:


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## janej (Dec 20, 2010)

Arnie said:


> Hey Mark, get your use out of what you have. The difference may only be a few dollars a month. While it is aggravating, don't want to throw more bucks away. it seems like there are many responses from the Wyndham reps. That means they don't have the answers either. You may want to check out some of the info on the Wyndham Board.
> http://forums.atozed.com/viewtopic.php?f=164&t=9441
> Quite a few responses there also.



It's over $80 a year for me.  But money is not the only issue.  It is the feeling that you don't know what is coming next with Wyndham and there is nothing you can do.  I asked the rep I spoke to where is the official communication on this policy change.  She said "the statement you get".  There is nothing other than the statement you get.  You are no longer getting a discount.    If they decide to charge the full amount of the program fee, at least give us enough transaction credit for what we paid for.  They don't even care to be fair.

I'd like to know who we should write to inside and outside of Wyndham that would have any impact in current or future policy changes.  The rep suggested go to the web site and click "Contact Us".


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## rickandcindy23 (Dec 20, 2010)

janej said:


> It's over $80 a year for me.  But money is not the only issue.  It is the feeling that you don't know what is coming next with Wyndham and there is nothing you can do.  I asked the rep I spoke to where is the official communication on this policy change.  She said "the statement you get".  There is nothing other than the statement you get.  You are no longer getting a discount.    If they decide to charge the full amount of the program fee, at least give us enough transaction credit for what we paid for.  They don't even care to be fair.
> 
> I'd like to know who we should write to inside and outside of Wyndham that would have any impact in current or future policy changes.  The rep suggested go to the web site and click "Contact Us".



I agree with you completely.  Where is the common sense here?  How were EOY owners not paying their fair share?


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## Goofyhobbie (Jan 6, 2011)

All of you who own Biennial Contracts should have noticed a 100% increase in your "program fee" as that fee applies to your particular Biennial Contracts.

*DO NOT IGNORE * the increase in 2011 no matter how little the change may affect your overall monthly or annual bill. A focused effort is needed by each of you if we are to have any hope of changing the recent INCREASE!

We cannot afford to let WYNDHAM get by with this arbitrary and unfair increase which applies only to Biennial owners.   

As an owner of a Biennial Contract, you were probably notified by Deanne Gabel, the Club Wyndham Plus Plan Manager that the Board of Directors of the FairShare Vacation Owners Association has simply modified your Program Fee to address services provided to you EVERY YEAR.  But they have literally doubled the Program Fee and they will no doubt apply the increased fee every year going forward. *You are now obligated to pay twice the amount that you were required to pay in the past.*

You may have been told by the Wyndham Finance Department that you have been paying a "discounted fee" over the years or that you have not been paying your fair share for the services that the "program fee" is meant to cover for all Members. That reasoning, in my humble opinion, is flawed.  We who own BIENNIAL Contracts should be billed no more or less than MEMBERS who own ANNUAL CONTRACTS.

Within the Club Wyndham Plus Member’s Directory 2009-2010 at page 391, it is clear that Members with Biennial Ownership (even though they “…receive an allotment of points every other year…”) have their assessment divided in half “…and billed every year…so that the payment amount is conveniently spread over two years.” 

Whatever you own, be it a Biennial Contract or an Annual Contract, you should be charged your pro-rata "program fee" based on the *actual percentage of your UDI.*  That means that for a contract that says 105,000 points annually or for a contract that says 105,000 points distributed as 205,000 points every other year you should be paying the same "program fee" EVERY YEAR.             

An owner of a 105,000 point UDI (Annual) contract which provides a "Contract Point Value" of 105,000 every year should be charged a program fee determined by the "contract point value" which is 105,000 points.

Meanwhile, an owner of a 105,000 point EOY contract that provides a "Contract Value" of 210,000 points every other year should be charged exactly one half of the "Contract Point Value" every year because the Member is getting the benefit of the same services as the Member who owns the 105,000 Annual UDI contract.

When contacting the Finance Department about this unfair increase it has been reported that the reason for the change is as follows:

The owner of the Biennial Contract has been getting a "discounted rate" and has been benefitting from the services provided every day of every year and should be paying the "program fee" for the 210,000 points (Contract Value) EVERY YEAR.

I submit to you that if you own a Biennial Contract you are NOW being charged an unfair, inequitable and improperly pro-rated share of the "program fee."

*No Member of the FairShare Vacation Owners Association should be paying more than their pro-rata share of the "program fee."*

Article X, Section 10.02(a) of the Wyndham Vacation Resorts Club Wyndham Plus Trust Agreement states:

10.02  *Program Fee.*

(a) Amount.   The amount of the Program Fee shall be determined by the Trustee as needed to cover the cost of the operation and administration of the Plan ….. The Trustee may establish varying fees among Members provided there is a reasonable basis for such a fee structure. The Program Fee shall be determined prior to January 1 of each year in connection with the budget process for the plan.

Article X, Section 10.06 (a) of the Wyndham Vacation Resorts Club Wyndham Plus Trust Agreement states:

10.06   *Special Assessments.*

(a) *Program Fees. * The determination of the amount of the Program Fee will be based upon the best available information at the time of preparation of the budget for the Plan. Members will be required to pay or reimburse the Trustee in the event that for any year the total amount of Program Fees due from all Members is not sufficient to pay all expenses of administration and operation of the Plan….for that year. Adjustments, if any, to cover such shortfalls will be allocated among Members in an equitable fashion as determined by the Board of Directors of the Trustee in its sole discretion.

If you are a Member who has a Biennial Ownership consider contacting Wyndham’s Financial Services Department and/or Deanne Gabel, Club Wyndham Plus Plan Manager to lobby for equitable treatment.

Individuals that you can contact to protest your Bill in writing include the following:

Board of Directors
Club Wyndham Plus Vacation Owners Association
Attn: President
11001 Executive Center Drive
Little Rock, Arkansas 72211

Deanne Gabel
Senior Vice-President
Club Wyndham Plus Plan Manager
Wyndham Vacation Resorts 
8427 SouthPark Circle
Orlando, FL 32819

Clarice Shadid
Senior Vice-President
Account Control and Administration
10750 West Charleston Blvd.
Las Vegas, NV 89135

Allyssa Neely
Financial Services Manager
10750 West Charleston Blvd.
Las Vegas, NV 89135


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## jjmanthei05 (Jan 7, 2011)

Dave,

I would agree with what you said. I don't own any Bi-annual contracts but when reading the posts about this I thought this was for owners who had small stand alone contracts. For example a 154,000 bi annual contract where their program fee would be calculated out to $83 and then divided in half so it would have been like $41 per year. But if you look at it the way the deed reads 77,000 every year then they should have to pay the minimum program fee that a 77,000 a year point owner would pay which is the flat $83. I thought if someone had total contracts like yourself then this wouldn't affect the fee since you would be over the 300,000 points per year. If this is affecting your fees then that is wrong but I could understand the smaller stand alone contracts with fee increases since there is a flat fee point threshold of 154,000 points. 

Jason


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## massvacationer (Jan 7, 2011)

*It is a double charge*

I own a little more than 300 k annual points - and an additional 105K Biennial contract.  

They want to charge me an annual program fee based on 105K for this biennial contract.  So, for 2011 they want to charge me $0.51 times 105.

I understand that some biennial owners need to be charged a minimum annual program fee to meet the fixed costs of their membership (RCI membership, etc.)  

But I am already paying for that as I am paying fees on 300K+ annual points...and they want to charge me the same amount on my biennial contract as an annual contract!

To add insult to injury, I am not getting an additional reservation transaction for this 105K biennial contract  (so I am getting taxed at 105k points with the benefits of 52.5K points)

By the way, the deed reads that the contract is for 52,500 points....


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## rickandcindy23 (Jan 7, 2011)

It's wrong, no doubt, but it will take 1K letters to these people before they change anything.  

Better to own a smaller contract every year than any EOY contract.  

What other ways can Wyndham devalue their own product?  I think they stay awake nights thinking of new ways to screw the owners. 

And how low are resales now?  You can get them with $1 and free closing costs and transfer.  No wonder!  Wyndham corporate HATES their own company and product.  It's disgusting to hate resale owners the way they do, and then devalue all EOY contracts as well, whether they are purchased via resale or direct.  

Wyndham should have a new motto: "HOW LOW CAN WE GO!"

LOW morale for owners
LOW resale prices
LOWer than a sleazy snake in the gutter
LOW customer service
LOW in empathy/ sympathy
Reaching all new LOWS in all respects


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## janej (Jan 7, 2011)

I don't trust that Wyndham will do anything even if all of us write to all their executives.   They had to know people would not be happy about it when they did it.  It is so unfair that we EOY owners not only pay for the full program fees now, but we still only get half of the transaction credits.  I end up paying for transactions every year so I would not be so upset if they double the transaction credit for us.

We should all report them to the BBB.  They will at least have to deal with the open complains.


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## massvacationer (Jan 7, 2011)

I am surprised that the Wyndham Sales Department did not push back on this - as they sell A LOT of these biennial contracts...and this will make them harder to sell.

As others have said, the logic is flawed on this.  I think they were trying to address the issue of some owners not covering their minimum program fee or perhaps being pushed into lower program-fee brackets by having biennial contracts.  They could have addressed this by simply counting the annual number of points owned by an owner (biennial divided by two) when figuring the program fee for a particular owner.  

I just think that some of the folks in the Finance and Program Administration areas at Wyndham don't fully understand the product.


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## jjmanthei05 (Jan 7, 2011)

massvacationer said:


> I am surprised that the Wyndham Sales Department did not push back on this - as they sell A LOT of these biennial contracts...and this will make them harder to sell.
> 
> As others have said, the logic is flawed on this.  I think they were trying to address the issue of some owners not covering their minimum program fee or perhaps being pushed into lower program-fee brackets by having biennial contracts.  They could have addressed this by simply counting the annual number of points owned by an owner (biennial divided by two) when figuring the program fee for a particular owner.
> 
> I just think that some of the folks in the Finance and Program Administration areas at Wyndham don't fully understand the product.



This will not affect sales 1 iota. Do you think they are going to go over the "extra program fee"? Nope. They will just say what the program fee is and move on if they say it at all. Most first time buyer and probably many repeat developer buys wont notice the difference either at all or at least not until it's to late to rescind. 

Jason


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## Goofyhobbie (Jan 7, 2011)

Apparently Wyndham has noticed that there are some Club Wyndham Plus Members who own less than 300,000 points distributed annually and Wyndham has noticed that SOME of those Members own a single or odd number of Biennial contracts. 

If an owner owned a single or odd Binennial contract last year, that owner may have been underpaying their fair share of the "program fee" collected to support the program membership that the member used each and every year regardless of whether or not the contract owned was an odd year or even year contract.

BUT, in the attempt to fix the perceived under payment of a fair share of the Program Fee, Wyndham has included all owners of any Biennial contract including those who own the same contract for every odd and every even year.

Whether or not Wyndham realizes it or not they have over shot their target.

In my humble opinion they are now over charging anyone who has both an even and an odd year Biennial Contract for the same amount of points at their Home Resort.  

A Member who owns a 210,000 UDI Annual contract is paying the appropriate "program fee" for the 210,000 points every year.

A Member who owns a 105,000 U-OD (Undivided odd year contract)  and a 105,000 U-EV (Undivided even year contract) gets the same 210,000 points at their Home Resort and should be paying the appropriate program fee on the points (105,000 + 105,000 =s 210,000 points.)

Both Members receive exactly the same services for the involved points owned and distributed each year and both should pay the appropriate "program fee" each and every year.

I can see where the Board of Directors may have felt that it was reasonable to step in and say that they have been charging an inequitable program fee when a Member owns a single EOY contract; but receives the benefit of the Program every year. 

But, doubling the charge that an owner pays when that owner owns both an Even Year and an Odd Year contract for the same amount of points at the same Home Resort results in a significant over-charge.


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## siesta (Jan 7, 2011)

> But, doubling the charge that an owner pays when that owner owns both an Even Year and an Odd Year contract for the same amount of points at the same Home Resort results in a significant over-charge.


 true, but why wouldn't they just own an annual then...


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## massvacationer (Jan 7, 2011)

*write and call to argue against this*

As Goofy says, in his original post, owners should write or call the folks who run the VOA Program trust and protest this......the logic is faulty and it is fundamentally unfair


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## Goofyhobbie (Jan 7, 2011)

Siesta,

Over the years Wyndham and the company that started the program (Fairfield) realized that not every consumer would be able to afford the asking price of an annual contract no matter how small the contract. 

Meanwhile, many consumers who recognized a value in Wyndham Points may have been willing to vacation every other year rather than every year because of the cost involved or for their personal convenience. 

Whatever the reason, Wyndham was successful introducing consumers to their product by effectively appearing to lower the cost of the point package.

Some of the consumers who bought an EOY contract (as anticipated by Wyndham) realized that they wanted more points to vacation Every Year and they bought an additional EOY that covered the period not covered by the single EOY contract. In other words they upgraded by purchasing a matching Biennial Contract to fill the gap. 

Meanwhile, some consumers who had bought an EOY contract decided that they, for what ever reason, no longer wanted the EOY contract and they put that contract in the re-sale market.

Eventually re-sale buyers, like you and me, went into the secondary market and picked up matching EOY contracts inexpensively.  The end result was a package that provided what the re-sale buyer desired which was the right amount of points at the right Home Resort every year. 

When those purchases were made neither Wyndham, the Buyer from the Developer, or the re-sale Buyer anticipated that Wyndham would end up charging all Biennial Contract owners based on the "Total Contract Point Value" instead of the point value actually distributed each year.


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## siesta (Jan 7, 2011)

ya goofy, biennial owners are getting a raw deal.


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## Goofyhobbie (Jan 7, 2011)

When you get out your *2011 Annual Club Wyndham Plus Assessment **Summary* (which apparently arrived at your home in mid December) and you look at the back of the cover page you should note that it was signed by *Deanne Gabel *Club Wyndham Plus Plan Manager. 

If you are the owner of at least one Biennial contract the second paragraph at the top of the back page will be of interest. 



> As is customary, your FairShare Vacation Owners Association's Board meets annually to review your Program Fee. This fee, as you may be aware, is essential to providing you and your family and friends with enjoyable products and services as you travel. In reviewing the costs of providing services available to you each year. which include your exchange company membership, and account and reservation services to name a few, we have modified your Program Fee to address these costs. Please know that your Board of Directors will continue to aggressively monitor expenditures, so that we can provide the products and services that you enjoy balanced with minimizing costs to you.


 [*Note:* The verbage in red is provided by the OP to emphaize the wording that is the first indication of the increase.]

I would be interested to hear from any of you who see different wording in your cover letter that may be different because you are the owner of Annual UDI contracts and do NOT own any Biennial contracts.

Regardless of what type of UDI contract that you own you should see the following at the bottom of the Summary:

*PROGRAM FEE * RATE IS ___ PER 1,000 points* 

The blank should be filled in with the appropriate cost to you per thousand points in your respective portifolio.  If you own 300,000 or more points that rate should be $0.51 per thousand.

If you own a Biennial contract please note that Wyndham is now charging you what they refer to as *"The Total Contract Point Value"* instead of 1/2 of the Total Contract Point Value. 

Now look at the Annual Summary Notice Definitions and Explanation which is the last page of the documents you received. 

On the back of that Definitions and Explanation page you should see and Explanation and Definition of Contract Point Value:



> *Contract Point Value*
> This is the total number of points associated with each respective contract.  This is the number of points that are deposited into your account at the beginning of your Use Year. If you have a Biennial contract/ownership, these points will be deposited into your account at the beginning of your Use Year in either odd or even years depending on your contract.



I submit that when Wyndham says that the ** Program Fee is determined by the "Total Contract Points* and they show the Contract Point Value of your Biennial Contract as the value that you receive once every two years they are double billing you *IF* they charge the full PROGRAM FEE every year on those points. 

Wyndham should actually be billing against the...



> ...number of points that are deposited into your account at the beginning of your Use Year and If you have a Biennial contract/ownership, these points (should) be deposited into your account at the beginning of your Use Year in either odd or even years depending on your contract.



Wyndham apparently rotates the job of President of the Board of Directors of the Fairshare Owners Association. 

Brian Keller was the President in 2008
Brian Keller was still the President as of February 2009

As of June 17, 2009 Terri Dost became the President

As of today, I do not know exactly who the President of the Board of Directors happens to be. However, it is likely that the following individuals are still officers and Directors of the Fairshare Vacation Owners Association:

Below the name of each Director you will see what I believe to be the e-mail address of the Director.

Gary Byrd  Vice President 

E-mail Address: gary.byrd@wyndhamvo.com

Peter Hernandez  Secretary/Treasurer  

E-mail Address: peter.hernandez@wyndhamworldwide.com 

The Club Wyndham Plus Plan Manager is of course:  Deanne Gabel

E-mail Address:  deanne.gabel@wyndhamvo.com (*NOTE: * I have been advised that Deanne Gabel's current e-Mail address is as follows:  Deanne.Gabel@wyn.com) Recommend that you use both when attempting to communicate with her.


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## learnalot (Jan 7, 2011)

Goofyhobbie said:


> When you get out your *2011 Annual Club Wyndham Plus Assessment **Summary* (which apparently arrived at your home in mid December) and you look at the back of the cover page you should note that it was signed by *Deanne Gabel *Club Wyndham Plus Plan Manager.
> 
> If you are the owner of at least one Biennial contract the second paragraph at the top of the back page will be of interest.
> 
> ...




Dave,

Ours reads as follows (apparent differences I placed in red):

As is customary, your FairShare Vacation Owners Association's Board meets annually to review you Program Fee.  This fee, as you may be aware, is essential to providing you and your family and friends with enjoyable products and services as you travel.  The service teams have worked diligently to manage costs related to the program and, as a result, we are pleased to advise you that there is no CLUB WYNDHAM Plus Program Fee increase for 2011!  Please know that your Board of Directors will continue to aggressively monitor expenditures, so that we can improve the products and services that you enjoy balanced with minimizing costs to you.


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## Goofyhobbie (Jan 8, 2011)

> The service teams have worked diligently to manage costs related to the program and, as a result, we are pleased to advise you that there is no CLUB WYNDHAM Plus Program Fee increase for 2011!



Learnalot,

Thank you! 

That statement confirms what I thought Deanne Gabel, the Club Wyndham Plus Plan Manager, probably was telling Wyndham owners who only owned Annual UDI contracts.

I do not know the number of Biennial contract owners; but I would be surprised if they are not in the minority and less likely to complain. 

The diligent work of the Wyndham's "service teams" has stuck it to the Biennial contract owner.

Wyndham by deciding to double the cost of the "program fee" for Biennial contract owners has no doubt easily covered any on-going program short falls and may actually be making a substantial profit off of their back going forward. The effect is unfair treatment for those Members who own matching Biennial contracts that, together, provide a distribution of the same amount of points annually instead of every other year.

*FAIRSHARE* as used by Wyndham is an oxymoron. 

An owner of a single Biennial contract who used the services funded by the "program fee" every year to make their reservations and ask questions may have been underpaying their "Fairshare" of those ANNUAL costs in the past. 

However, an owner who owns two Biennial contracts (one every even year and one every odd year) that complement each other and distribute a contracted amount of points ANNUALLY is paying twice as much as an owner who gets the same amount of distributed points from an Annual UDI contract.

There is nothing FAIR about that!


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## massvacationer (Jan 8, 2011)

In addition, an owner who owns a biennial contract in combination with annual contracts is also getting a raw deal.  An owner in this situation, is already paying for the annual fixed costs that they incur in the "fairshare" system like RCI membership, publications, billing, etc.  The additional biennial contract in his/her portfolio should not be double taxed.


I agree with what Goofy says in his post immediately above "An owner of a single Biennial contract who used the services funded by the "program fee" every year to make their reservations and ask questions may have been underpaying their "Fairshare" of those ANNUAL costs in the past."

Wyndham could have fixed this by applying the annual minimum fee requirement to biennial contracts.......  In oher words, in the past a person owning an annual 77k contract would have been subject to the annual minimum of $88 (no-pluspartners) or $106 (with-pluspartners), but a person owning a biennial 154k contract would have payed one-half that  $44 (no-pp) or $53 (with pp).  One could argue that the biennial owner was not paying his/her "fairshare".   Wyndham could have fixed this by simply subjecting EVERY owner to the annual fee minimum....so simple!!


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## Goofyhobbie (Jan 8, 2011)

massvacationer,



> Wyndham could have fixed this by applying the annual minimum fee requirement to biennial contracts....... In oher words, in the past a person owning an annual 77k contract would have been subject to the annual minimum of $88 (no-pluspartners) or $106 (with-pluspartners), but a person owning a biennial 154k contract would have payed one-half that $44 (no-pp) or $53 (with pp). One could argue that the biennial owner was not paying his/her "fairshare". Wyndham could have fixed this by simply subjecting EVERY owner to the annual fee minimum....so simple!!



Good argument, however, any Club Wyndham Plus Member is already suppose to be paying at least the minimum each and every year.  

If a Member simply owns one Biennial contract and the contract entitles the owner to less than 308,000 points every other year that owner should be  paying a minimum program fee every year.

The program fee is suppose to be applied equitably. It is the total number of points in a member’s account that is suppose to determine the rate per thousand points charged for the program fee. 

• If the Club Wyndham Plus Member is also a participant in Club Wyndham Plus PlusPartners® the break between point groups is the same but the rate per thousand charged is higher for each group.  

• A Club Wyndham Plus Member who is not a participant in Club Wyndham Plus PlusPartners® will be charged the following Flat "Program Fee" if the point account has less than 154,000 points: $88.12

• A Club Wyndham Plus Member who is not a participant in Club Wyndham Plus PlusPartners® will be charged the following "Program Fee" per thousand points if the point account is between 154,001 points and 299,999 points: 57 cents

• A Club Wyndham Plus Member who is not a participant in Club Wyndham  Plus  PlusPartners® will be charged the following "Program Fee" per thousand points if the point account is 300,000 or higher: 51 cents 

• A Club Wyndham Plus Member who is a participant in Club Wyndham Plus PlusPartners® will be charged the following Flat "Program Fee" if the point account has less than 154,000:  $107.08

• A Club Wyndham Plus Member who is also a participant in PlusPartners® will be charged the following "Program Fee" per thousand points if the point account is between 154,001 and 299,999 points: 69 cents 

• A Club Wyndham Plus Member who is also a participant in PlusPartners® and has 300,000 points or more will pay the "Program Fee" at the rate of 53 cents per thousand.

*Source:* Club WyndhamSM Plus Program Summary dated June 17, 2009


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## shaun401 (Jan 8, 2011)

I own an odd, an even, and an annual contract to balance out my ownership level.

If biennual owners are charged the program fee based off the total contract points every year, then I believe that they should at least received reservation credits for the total contract points every year.  

I called in the other day to Wyndham (financial services and customer relations reps) and they believe this is a justified cost for EOY owners.  Can't believe they think this logically makes sense.


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## jjmanthei05 (Jan 9, 2011)

Time for the dumb question of the day. Is it possible to request your Bi annual contracts become Annual contracts. For example from the information Dave has showed before his contracts list 105,000 pts per year deposited every even year. Could you just request they switch it to 105,000 per year and not have it Bi annual? I highly doubt Wyndham would be that accommodating but thought I might ask the question. 

Jason


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## am1 (Jan 9, 2011)

jjmanthei05 said:


> Time for the dumb question of the day. Is it possible to request your Bi annual contracts become Annual contracts. For example from the information Dave has showed before his contracts list 105,000 pts per year deposited every even year. Could you just request they switch it to 105,000 per year and not have it Bi annual? I highly doubt Wyndham would be that accommodating but thought I might ask the question.
> 
> Jason



Not without purchasing a new contract.  You curretly own two deeds which can be used as equity when purchasing a every year deed.  

As you thought it is not as simple as just calling up and requesting it.


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## Goofyhobbie (Jan 10, 2011)

The discussion has continued at Wyndhm Resort Forums which use to be a Yahoo Group. For anyone who is not a member of Wyndham Resort Forums, I highly recommend the site.  There are a lot of long time Wyndham owners that frequent that site and they are dedicated to all things Wyndham. To get access you will need to become a Member of the site (Membership is FREE.)

Here are two direct links to two separate discussions about the "program fee" and how it is being applied differently depending on whether or not you own Biennial contacts or do not own any Biennial contracts.

Program Fee Looks Like it doubled on EOY 

*and*

2011 "Program Fee" Assessment Increase on Biennial Contracts


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## learnalot (Jan 13, 2011)

*Current Thread about Marriott double charging EOY contracts*

There is a new thread in the Marriott section about being double charged for EOY contracts in case anyone is interested.  I'd say one company may have started it and the other followed suit.  

Here's the thread if anyone is interested.

http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=138296


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## merlinrider (Jan 27, 2011)

*Wyndham contract point issue*

Has anyone with a "bi-annual" contract complained to Wyndham about the doubling of your program fee this year?

I called and was told that I now have to pay for the full contract point value each year even though I can't use those pointes except every other year.


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## Paps (Jan 27, 2011)

Yes - I did by email as the same thing happen to me.  

Here was their response.

It was the decision of the FairShare Vacation Owners Association’s Board to make this change.  As quoted below from the cover letter with your annual billing notice, the club has reviewed the costs associated with the services provided in association with your membership and adjusted the billing for biennial program costs.  

Previously, ½ of the points were used to calculate the program costs for the biennial contacts but this has been changed for 2011. Going forward, Biennial Owners will be billed each year for Program Fees according to the total number of points attributable to the contract.  The maintenance fees are calculated separately from the Program costs and your VIP status is also determined separately. These calculations are separate and one does not impact another.    

While Biennial Owners have points granted every other year, numerous program services are available at all times each year based on these points, below are some examples:

Reservation Services
•          Telephone and WyndhamVacationResorts.com Services
•          Reservation Confirmations that can occur in both the year in which the points are granted, as well as in the alternate year.

RCI or II
•          Annual Renewal Fees paid to RCI or II
•          Exchange reservations may be made every year

All Club Communication
•          Faces and Places
•          Insider
•          Email Communications
•          Member’s Directory


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## learnalot (Jan 27, 2011)

merlinrider said:


> Has anyone with a "bi-annual" contract complained to Wyndham about the doubling of your program fee this year?
> 
> I called and was told that I now have to pay for the full contract point value each year even though I can't use those pointes except every other year.



If you look in the Wyndham forum here on TUG, you will see at least one recent and entire thread devoted to this.

*Moderator Note*: The Thread referred to by learnalot is the current thread.  The thread entitled: *Wyndham Contract Point Issue * which was started January 27, 2011 has been merged with this on-going thread.


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## rrlongwell (Jan 27, 2011)

vacationhopeful said:


> The benefit is Wyndham collects double the fees and will have the sales staff offer a $15,000 purchase as a way to reduce your CWA fees. :ignore:
> 
> And I too own even/odd year of 2 deeds. One of which is a fixed converted week.



The above issue does appear to be part of the sales pitch to buy a new contract.  A sales person I was talking to recently specifically brought up the every other year contracts that I own as a reason to consolidate and buy another contract.


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## hjtug (Jan 27, 2011)

merlinrider said:


> Has anyone with a "bi-annual" contract complained to Wyndham about the doubling of your program fee this year?



Here are two emails (in reverse chronological order) that I sent to Wyndham on the subject as well as the response to the first (between my two emails).  I did not receive a response to the second: 

_Dear Ms Gabel,

Thank you for your response to my earlier email.

In your second paragraph you have stated that  "the more contracts a member has the more servicing and thus more costs are required."  This would seem to be an argument in favor of charging extra for multiple accounts of any type, not just EOY accounts.

You also say that  "The goal of the change was to ensure that the costs of servicing are being paid by the members requiring the services."  If you are correct that someone with a only a single EOY contract was paying less than their fair share, then others were paying more than their fair share.  I understand your desire to remedy this.  But under your new scheme you now seem to be charging owners of one even-year and one odd-year contract more than their fair share as shown by my example.  I understand that you feel that overcharging this smaller group is not as bad a situation as undercharging of the larger group, although I feel that any known overcharging by the system should be remedied.  In addition, I would like to point out that I chose my example to be simplest case to demonstrate the inequity, but I would argue that it is not only folks that own one even-year and one odd-year contract who are now being overcharged.  I would argue that you are now overcharging all owners who have one or more EOY contracts and have points every year through any combination of EOY and/or every year contracts.  Therefore, the "great number" of owners to whom you refer that have only one biennial contract surely includes many owners that have other contracts as well and were already paying for club services annually.

It would seem to me that a reasonable approach to this problem would be to apply some sort of surcharge (doubling the FSP fees seems a bit much) to owners having points in only even or only odd years to account for whatever services that they were not paying for previously.  I don't see much logic in charging more for owners with one or more EOY contracts but with points every year.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Gabel, Deanne 

Sent: Monday, January 03, 2011 2:16 PM
Subject: FW: example of inequity

Good Afternoon, and thanks so much for your email.  I am just returning from vacation, and apologize that I was not able to get back with you earlier.

In answer to your example, you are correct that both of these members have the same amount of usage at the resorts; however your example assumes that the cost of the club servicing these two members is the same.  We did an analysis of the costs of servicing and found that the more contracts a member has the more servicing and thus more costs are required.  The goal of the change was to ensure that the costs of servicing are being paid by the members requiring the services.

  Additionally when we analyzed the membership and contracts to consider how to resolve this challenge we found that less than 1% of our members have two biennial contracts as in your example.  A far greater number of members only had 1 biennial contract.  Prior to this change these members were getting club services annually but only paying for the club services biennially.  This meant that the costs of servicing and communicating these members in non-use years were not being offset by program fees, and were being carried by other member contributions to the CLUB WYNDHAM Plus.

  When we make any changes in the Club rules or charges we examine all of the different member groups that are impacted.  Our goal is to ensure that the rules of the club treat all members fairly.  We recognize that some changes may impact certain groups disproportionately depending on the benefits and services they use; however our intention is to ensure that the rules and charges are fair to the membership as a whole.

 Again, thanks for your patience, and I hope this helps to explain the change.  Thanks for being a member, and please have a good new year!

 Deanne Gabel 

Senior Vice President

Owner Club Management

Wyndham Vacation Ownership 

8427 SouthPark Circle 

Orlando, FL 32819 

(407) 626-6417  phone  

(407) 370-6375  fax

mailtoeanne.Gabel@wyn.com (please note new e-mail address)

 Wyndham Vacation Ownership, A Wyndham Worldwide company -

www.WyndhamWorldwide.com 






--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sent: Tue 12/21/2010 3:44 PM
To: Gabel, Deanne
Subject: example of inequity

 Dear Ms Gabel,

 Please look at the following example of inequity in Wyndham's new computation of Program Fees.

 Owner A: 105000 every odd year contract and 105000 every even year contract.

Owner B  105000 every year contract.

 If I am not mistaken, owner A will pay twice as much as owner B in program fees even though they both will have the same usage rights.

 Please let me know what you think of this example.

 Thanks,_


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## Goofyhobbie (Jan 28, 2011)

> *Originally Posted by merlinrider:* Has anyone with a "bi-annual" contract complained to Wyndham about the doubling of your program fee this year?



No doubt there have been many complaints made by Wyndham points owners who own just one Biennial Contract. 

Meanwhile, there have also been numerous complaints by Wyndham points owners who own one or more Biennial Contracts *AND * also own more than enough points to cover the minimum Program Fee each and every year for their particular membership.

The SINGLE contract owner who owns a Biennial contract probably has no reason to complain; but the multiple contract owner who has one or more Biennial contracts and and overall portifolio that produces fees that exceed the Minimum Program Fee each and every year has a legitimate beef with Wyndham and their current policy.

Apparently, based on Ms. Gabel’s cover letter sent out with the Annual Assessment Summary to owners of Biennial contracts and according to her e-mail to TUGGER htug, the "service teams" have determined that a segment of Members (owners of a single Biennial Contract) have not been paying enough in Program Fees to cover the PROGRAM cost that it takes to support those Memberships.

To correct that problem Wyndham chose to double the Program Fee that applies to any and all Biennial contracts to make up the short fall. 

Obviously that decision resulted in an increase in this year’s Program Fee for every Biennial contract holder and therein lies the rub – the change impacts anyone who owns a Biennial contract even if the Member happens to own  enough TOTAL Wyndham Points to exceed the MINIMUM PROGRAM FEE each year.

Over the years, Wyndham has been successful in selling a Biennial Contract when a prospect simply did not want to pay the higher price for an annual contract.  The “Half Off” sales effort worked a great deal of the time and because it worked so well Wyndham found itself with a huge number of owners who were not paying the minimum Program Fee each and every year.

Because there is a large number of Members who own a single Biennial contact and no other contract   there has been a significant short-fall in the funds needed to support the Program. 

It would be hard to argue that an owner of a single Biennial Contract or a single Annual Contract should not pay at least the minimum Program Fee each and every year.  

A Member who does not participate in Plus Partners and who owns a single  Biennial Contract that provides 154,000 points every other year should have to pay at least *$88.12 every year* to enjoy what Ms. Gabel refers to as the "cost of servicing and communicating" that the Program provides every year.  

According to the FAIRSHARE VACATION PLAN USE MANAGEMENT TRUST AGREEMENT and Accompanying Documents  (specifically the Club Wyndham Plus Program Summary) that MINIMUM is what the Member should have been paying anyway if the Member did not participate in Plus Partners.

Prior to this year it is likely that each such Member was underpaying his FAIRSHARE of the PROGRAM FEE by paying only one half of $88.12 every year or he was paying at a rate of $.57 per thousand points ($87.78) and enjoying the benefit of having to pay just half of that amount annually.

Given the number of similar situations, one can see why Wyndham decided to correct the problem. The short-fall in Program Fees must have been extraordinary high because of the number of sales to owners who purchased just one Biennial contract.

In 2010 @ $.57 per thousand points, the Program Fee charge for a 154,000 Biennial contract sans Plus Partners would have been $87.78 which is just short of the $88.12 minimum Program fee that should have been charged every year. 

Wyndham, by billing one half of the charge every year, was dramatically under charging such a Member. All Wyndham owners, when they think about it, should agree that the Board of Directors would have been acting reasonably by increasing the Program Fee for such a Member so that the Member would be paying at least the minimum Program Fee each and every year. But the Board by going after every Biennial Contract that has or will be sold has exceeded what is reasonable.    

Going forward, in my humble opinion, it is reasonable to charge $88.12 each and every year or the fixed rate of $.57 per thousand points each and every year when a non-Plus Partners Member owns just one Biennial or just one Annual contract.  

Charging the minimum each year as per the Trust Agreement is fair to the Wyndham owner who does not own enough points to be paying more than the minimum every year. 

Meanwhile, any Member who has Plus Partners and owns a SINGLE Biennial or a SINGLE Annual contract and no other contract also should have to pay at least the minimum Program Fee for that contract.  If the Contract Point Value is 154,000 points the Member should be paying at least $106.26 every year or the Minimum Program Fee of $107.08 every year. 

Anyone who owns a different size Biennial contract than the one described above and anyone who owns a single Annual contract should also be paying at least the appropriate minimum Program Fee every year.

However, once a Member’s Total Account disburses at least the number of points to cause the MINIMUM PROGRAM FEE to be exceeded each and every year that Member should not pay double the PROGRAM FEE for each and every Biennial Contract that the Member owns.

The appropriate correction and the correction that yours trully would recommend to the Wyndham Board of Directors is a correction that eliminates the short fall in Program Fee income by simply following the rules as stated in the Club Wyndham Plus Trust Agreement and Accompanying Documents. 

The Board of Directors should ask the “service teams” to program the appropriate software so that it does NOT double the Program Fee for each and every Biennial contract but does charge each and every Member at least the appropriate MINIMUM PROGRAM FEE each and every year.


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## rrlongwell (Jan 28, 2011)

It is my understanding that all BBB complaints against Wyndham Vacation Resorts and Wyndham Vacation Ownership go to the Central Flordia BBB.  I checked Wyndham Vacation Ownership's current BBB rating and found the following.  From the stats below, it appears Wyndham does resolve complaint filed against them in this forum.

Based on BBB files, this business has a BBB Rating of F on a scale from A+ to F.
Reasons for this rating include:
•964 complaints filed against business
•36 complaints filed against business that were not resolved.
•25 serious complaints filed against business.
•Failure to respond to one complaint filed against business.
Click here for an explanation of BBB Ratings
The company has requested, before filing a complaint with BBB, please contact them via phone at 866-323-6188 or email bbbinquiries@wyn.com.

Complaints concern selling practices. The company responds to complaints explaining its cancellation policy and offers a refund when applicable.


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## Free2Roam (Jan 28, 2011)

Goofyhobbie... your rationalization is very well-stated and right on point.   I can't believe that there's not at least ONE person at Wyndham who can understand this.


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## Goofyhobbie (Jan 31, 2011)

*What You Should Do If You Feel You Are Being Overcharged!*

To All Wyndham Owners,

If you are affected by the 2011 "Program Fee" increases (doubling) on your Biennial Contract(s) you need to *  complain effectively * so that your complaint is noted on your Member Account.

Once your complaint is noted on your Account, follow-up in writing to make sure your complaint is counted by the appropriate person who is compiling a list of complaints for official handling by Club Wyndham Trust Management.

Based on input presentd by some above, it appears that calling or writing Deanne Gabel, Plan Manager is NOT getting an adequate response. 

There has been no indication so far that she understands the impact on  owners who own over 200,000 points distributed annually and who also have Biennial Contracts in their portifolio.

Based on past experience, Wyndham is not likely to make a change in their policy if just a small fraction of affected Members do not complain effectively so that their complaint is officially noted.

*By NOT complaining effectively, Members affected are telling Wyndham that the overcharge is acceptable and that we as a Group will continue to accept the overcharge year after year!*

A Wheel that Squeaks loudly and effectively will be greased by the Mechanic; but a Wheel that does NOT Squeak, when the Mechanic is willing to note the Squeak, may not get the attention deserved.

The evidence so far shows that complaining directly to Deanne Gabel and only to Deanne Gabel may NOT get the job done. 

To effectively complain about the 2011 "Program Fee" Assessment Increase on Biennial Contracts  do the following:

1.) First call Wyndham at *1-800-251-8736 * and listen carefully to the options. When prompted Press Option 2 because you have an issue with  Financial Services.

2.) After initially Pressing Option 2 you will have to Press Option 2 a second time because your question has to do with Club Wyndham Plus Assessments and Fees.

3.) Finally, after prompting, you need to Press Option 2 a third time because your specific question is about Assessments and Fees.

4.) Be prepared for a little wait time, finally when the Financial Services Representative comes on the line calmly point out to the representative that you have one or more Biennial Contracts where the Program Fee has doubled as to those contracts.

5.) The Representative will probably give you a canned speech as to why your "program fee" has been doubled. 

[*NOTE:* If you have just one Biennial Contract and have been paying just half of the Program Fee each year you probably have not been paying the minimum program fee required by the Trust Agreement and you can reasonably expect that the increase as it pertains to you is valid.] 

*However,* if your total points distributed each and every year exceed 200,000 points and you also have one or more Biennial Contracts you HAVE BEEN PAYING in excess of the MINIMUM PROGRAM FEE in past years and the DOUBLING OF THE FEE against your BIENNIAL CONTRACTS should not have happened for 2011 and should not happen in FUTURE YEARS!* 

6.) Once the Financial Services Representative has finished telling you why the change took place you should calmly and nicely ask for a Financial Services Resolution Specialist.  

7.) Once the Financial Services Resolution Specialist comes on the line, calmly explain that you as a Biennial Contract owner are already paying in excess of the MINIMUM PROGRAM FEE on your TOTAL Member Account and explain that you want a refund of the overpayment and you want your account to be noted so that Wyndham is aware of the fact that you have complained about the on-going overcharge against your Member Account.

8.) DO NOT STOP THERE, ask the Financial Services Resolution Specialist exactly who you can e-mail or write to voice your concerns in writing.

9.) The Financial Services Resolution Specialist should then give you the name of the person who will be compiling the complaints. That person will be  advising the appropriate Wyndham officers of the overall number of complaints. OF COURSE, IF YOU FAIL TO COMPLAIN YOUR COMPLAINT WILL NOT BE AMONG THOSE COUNTED!

10.) Write or send an e-mail to the individual identified by the Financial Services Resolution Specialist and specifically ask that you as a Member be kept advised as that individual compiles the list of complaining Members and follows through to inform Management of the Club Wyndham Plus Program. 

I realize that following the above outlined procedure is going to be a pain in the rear; but you cannot expect redress of your concerns if you do not complain in a way that will get Wyndham's Attention.

Believe it or not, Wyndham is keeping a running total.  IF far too many of the affected Members do NOT complain nothing will be done. 

Of course, if you are willing to pay the double charge every year into the future DO NOTHING!  Wyndham will consider your non-complaint as reasonable evidence that you DO NOT CARE!

If there is enough of you who do not care, Wyndham will, no doubt, continue to take the additional money you contribute to the Club every year going forward.*


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## rrlongwell (Feb 1, 2011)

> Quote of Goofyhobbie: To All Wyndham Owners,
> 
> If you are affected by the 2011 "Program Fee" increases (doubling) on your Biennial Contract(s) you need to *  complain effectively * so that your complaint is noted on your Member Account ...



A more effective method of negotiating with Wyndham might be to form a Wyndham Owners Club that is not affiliated with Wyndham along the lines of the Worldmark one that I saw was attempting to gather proxies.  I do not know anything about how that works because I do not own any Worldmark properties.


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## Goofyhobbie (Feb 2, 2011)

rrlongwell,

As far as I know there is no such thing as a Wyndham Owners Club affiliated or not affiliated with Wyndham.

Wyndham Owners, outside of interaction at Wyndham Resorts, usually do not have any interaction with each other. The exceptions to that involve communication at the Club Wyndham Plus Annual Meetings or through interaction on the Internet at BBS websites like TUG and the Wyndham Owners Forum. (Membership if free.)

It would be difficult to form a non affiliated club without the help of the Board of Directors of the Club Wyndham Plus Fairshare Vacation Plan Use Management Trust. They and Wyndham are the only parties who know or can compile a list of all Club Wyndham Plus members for the purpose of forming an affiliated or unaffiliated Club.  Such help from the Board or from Wyndham is not likely to take place in the foreseeable future.  Discussion of the possibilities can take place in this thread started just for that purpose: Should Wyndham Create An Owner To Owner Website For Communication Among Owners?

Meanwhile, as far as I know, the only effective way to communicate a complaint such as the one being discussed is for each Owner to compalin as an individual Member using the above mentioned guidelines so that collectively our complaints will be NOTED and acknowledged individually.

WYNDHAM is not likely to refund an overpayment if a Member does not complain as the Member wronged. 

It is unfortunate that most Members affected by the overcharge do not realize they are being overcharged or they are choosing to accept the overcharge by not complaining.


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## rrlongwell (Feb 2, 2011)

Thanks for the info


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## Goofyhobbie (Feb 9, 2011)

*Update*

If anyone reading this thread has specifically asked for and received a refund of 1/2 of the 2011 "program fee" for their Biennial Contract(s) or received an indication that a refund will be forthcoming consider letting us know within this thread.

There are some who have or should have received a refund.  

If you make a request for a refund and support your request with a strong argument against the doubling of the "program fee" you may be rewarded for your effort.

Also, if you have not registered your complaint with the Financial Services Department of Wyndham and followed it up in writing please do so. The Financial Services Department at Wyndham is counting the complaints that are satisfactorily documented. 

Those who have been overcharged should request a refund and strongly argue for a change in the current policy.

However, those of you who own and receive 210,000 points or less each and every Use Year probably do not have a complaint because the Trust Agreement calls for the account of each Member to pay at least the Minimum Program Fee each and every year.


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## paxsarah (Feb 9, 2011)

Goofyhobbie said:


> However, those of you who own and receive 210,000 points or less each and every Use Year probably do not have a complaint because the Trust Agreement calls for the account of each Member to pay at least the Minimum Program Fee each and every year.



I think that I would have a complaint, but not for a full half of the newly inflated Program Fee. I am still waiting for my third of three contracts to show up in the Wyndham system (so I wouldn't complain until all of my ducks are in a row) but my preliminary back-of-the-envelope math seems to indicate that I am being overcharged, but not by double.


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## andy (Feb 18, 2011)

*increase in EOY fees*

I sent the following email to: alyssa.neely@wyn.com

To whom it may concern:

I am writing to get information on the following contracts.
I have called financial services and they connect me to someone else.
They cannot give me any answers.
I gave a copy of the Club Wyndham Assessment Summary to the
resort manager of Royal Vista and he came back with the same answer.
“There is nothing he can do.”
I can’t understand why I have to pay twice the amount to use 77,000 pts.
from 2 different contracts.

I have 3 contracts that I have questions on 
#000379932460 monthly fee $40.49 EOY - even
#000390011427 monthly fee $40.49 EOY - odd
#000390004166 monthly fee $37.09 annual 
They are charging me more than double the amount instead of one half.
In other words it cost me $971.76
instead of $445.08 to use the same amount of points 77,000.

Would you  believe it cost $1943.52 for a one week stay in a one bedroom unit at the Wyndham Royal Vista resort in Pompano Beach. FL. 

The same unit using the annual contract cost $890.16.
People are renting these units for $1000 and as an owner I am paying up to  $1943.52, This is not very fair to owners.

Why do they charge me program fees for 154,000 points when I 
only get to use 77,000 . 

I have many other contracts and think I am paying my fair share.

Response:

Thank you for your correspondence of February 18, 2011 regarding the Program Fees on your Biennial Ownership Contracts.  We appreciate you taking the time to provide thoroughly researched suggestions to improve our procedures.  Your recommendations have been forwarded to the CLUB WYNDHAM Plus Board of Directors for review.


Wyndham Consumer Finance greatly values constructive feedback from owners like you.  Thank you for your continued ownership and we look forward to continuing to provide your vacation needs in the years and decades to come.

Sincerely Yours,
Alyssa


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## hjtug (Feb 18, 2011)

*Re: response from Ms Neely*

For whatever it is worth, I also sent an email to her about the fee increase we have seen on our two biennial contracts, one even and one odd.  The response I received is exactly the same as yours.


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## ronparise (Feb 19, 2011)

I may be the wrong guy to weigh in here, since I dont own any bi-annual contracts. I do own 3 annual contracts and I am shopping for ie doing my due -diligence, before buying an RCI points contract.

I see an analogy here between the Wyndham "Program Fee" and the RCI weeks subscription fee of $89/yr and points membership of $124/yr

All three are fees charged just for the privilege of playing in their sandbox. The difference seems to be that RCI charges one fee no matter what size contract or how many contracts you might have.or put another way. RCI's fee is charged per member, not per contract. Wyndham looks like they wanted to establish a minimum fee and a maximum fee per account, but didnt fully consider the impact on owners of bi-annual contracts

Do I have this right? or do I need to study this issue a little more.


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## hjtug (Feb 19, 2011)

ronparise said:


> Wyndham looks like they wanted to establish a minimum fee and a maximum fee per account, but didnt fully consider the impact on owners of bi-annual contracts
> 
> Do I have this right? or do I need to study this issue a little more.



I think you are are pretty close to being correct.  Apparently Wyndham did have a minimum program fee but they weren't applying it to owners of a single biennial contract.  So those folks were getting a break by paying less than the minimum even though they could use the system every year.  It seems the change they have implemented to correct this overcharges what is likely a much larger group of owners.


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## Goofyhobbie (May 5, 2011)

*Update*

Sometimes when you are right it pays to be persistent and as stated earlier complain effectively!

On April 21 I decided to go ahead and send an e-mail to Ms. Deanne Gabel even though I had success convincing folks in the Wyndham Finance section that things were not as they should be, there was nothing coming from top management except there is no problem or a statement indicating that Biennial Contract owners were underbilled in prior years and Wyndham was just catching up. 

I also wanted to wait until closer to the upcoming Annual Meeting to present my argument; while also giving Ms. Gabel and the folks that advise her time to react before the meeting.

Since she is the "Plan Manager" and the person who signed our Account Summaries which were received in late December or early January. The message sent with a few things left out because of the personal nature is provided below:




> Subject: Information and Comments for Upcoming Fairshare Vacation Owners Association Annual Meeting
> 
> To: Deanne Gabel, Club Wyndham Plus FairShare Vacation Plan Manager
> 
> ...


[Note to my friends here at the TUG Wyndham Forum: A copy was sent to as many of the past and present Board Members as possible; but not all received the e-mail.]


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## Goofyhobbie (May 6, 2011)

*Now For The Result Desired!*

Hopefully Ms. Gable will not mind my sharing her response with the Members of this Forum.  




> From: Gabel, Deanne Deanne.Gabel@wyn.com
> To: _________________________
> 
> Date: Mon, May 2, 2011 at 7:08 AM
> ...



Obviously, her response to my e-mail is considerably different from previous responses received by other members of this Forum. 

We can only be watchful and patient at this point in time. At least Wyndham appears to have recognized that we will not simply go away accepting an obvious unfairness to those Wyndham Owners who like myself own well over 155,000 points distributed annually and also multiple Biennial Contracts. We as a "CLASS" should not bear the cost of any shortfall in annual "program fee" income. 

Please let all know when any Member receives confirmation that their monies either will be refunded or applied to a future bill and please be viligent in the future to make sure you are not over billed in the coming years.


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## Free2Roam (May 6, 2011)

Dave - all this is very much appreciated.  I don't have any EOY contracts, but I've been following this mainly to see how Wyndham would rectify this situation.  Thanks for your persistence.


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## rrlongwell (May 6, 2011)

Goofyhobbie said:


> ... We can only be watchful and patient at this point in time. At least Wyndham appears to have recognized that we will not simply go away accepting an obvious unfairness to those Wyndham Owners who like myself own well over 155,000 points distributed annually and also multiple Biennial Contracts. We as a "CLASS" should not bear the cost of any shortfall in annual "program fee" income. ...



Do not mean to be the bearer of bad news, here it goes:

Called Wyndham, they will not transfer calls to Ms. Gabel.  They said she does not take calls.  Michael Eddings indicated he was aware that every other year owners were being overcharged for Program Fees but there is nothing being done about it to correct the situation at this time.

If a class action lawsuit emerges, please post that information and the name of the Attorney handling it.


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