# Punished for Peak ownership



## DanM (Feb 24, 2006)

Just a heads up on some imperfections in the new RCI system. My peak week 1 at Mt. Amanzi which, according to the resort, is always taken in exchange is now trading like the worst white week imaginable. When I complained to RCI, I was told the following:
"Your Mt. Amanzi deposits may indeed have been used; however, this would not have been apparent to our staff in the U.S.  Some South Africa units are set aside in South Africa's system for a time to fill exchange requests for South African members.  We are unable to see if these units were used in that system if and until they are released."
In other words, SA saves some peak units to meet local demand, and RCI U.S. punished me for having a high demand unit by not assuming that SA was setting aside the units people wanted.
I will not be depositing with RCI for at least a year or two until they figure out my unit's worth...which apparently won't happen until well after RCI SA gives RCI U.S. a final report.


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## Nancy (Feb 25, 2006)

*Don't want to hear this*

I don't want to hear this as I also have a peak week 1. It should be deposited in a few days.

Nancy


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## glenn1000 (Feb 25, 2006)

That's an interesting explanation. We have a 2-bedroom peak Castleburn (Gold Crown) that lost all trading power after BS. The resort did not understand this and said it was a very high demand week (RCI VC's had said the big drop in trade power probably meant that it was a very low demand week). The resort checked with RCI SA and confirmed that it was a very high demand week. So I suspect that the problem must lie within an RCI SA/RCI US interface. Since I have an RCI Points account I used the points for deposit program this year but I hope that they fix it by next year since I prefer the weeks system!


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## SteveH (Feb 26, 2006)

I also have a week 2 SA week and was excited about the potential to have a dynamite trader!  What a dog!  I was able to pull the week out after being in the bank for one week and will deposit it with DAE a little later this year.  
AS far as I'm concerned this is just one more reason why I will soon no longer be a member of RCI  .
Steve


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## glenn1000 (Feb 26, 2006)

SteveH said:
			
		

> I also have a week 2 SA week



My Castleburn peak weeks are also week 2. It's interesting that we are talking about weeks 1 and 2. I wonder if other peak weeks are affected as well?


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## Diane (Feb 26, 2006)

*Don't get it*

If RCI is saying that the SA resorts hold some peak weeks back, doesn't that mean fewer weeks are deposited and therefor the supply is would appear to be more limited than it is?  I would think that that would increase trading power, not diminish it.  What am I missing?

Diane


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## glenn1000 (Feb 26, 2006)

*It's still a mystery*

Diane,

I don't understand this either but there is something amiss when the "best" SA weeks (2 bedroom, Gold Crown peak weeks in my case) have the absolute lowest trade power possible. I think that it must be some kind of glitch as others with strong demand SA weeks have had upgraded trading power since BS. It's  interesting that, at least on this thread, the "bad" weeks are peak weeks 1-2. I hope that someone at RCI figures it out and fixes the problem. BTW, when I posted on the Ask RCI board, Madge said that there was no problem with RCI and that it's just supply and demand, which appears to be an incorrect assessment based on what I have heard from my resort.


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## itchyfeet (Feb 26, 2006)

Would someone who has a week 1 or 2 Sudwala week deposited with RCI please pm me--I have a question.  Also have any of you exchanged your Sudwala weeks thru DAE?  Is so, what did you get in exchange?  TIA


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## michelle (Feb 27, 2006)

I would suggest asking Madge about this on the Ask RCI board, and pointing her to this thread, so that she can see that multiple people might be affected. It can easily be that RCI just needs to tweak a rule in order for this to be a more fair deal. 

Peak weeks should trade well. The reason they exist in SA is because of the demand for them, regardless of the standard/location of the resort.


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## glenn1000 (Mar 1, 2006)

michelle said:
			
		

> I would suggest asking Madge about this on the Ask RCI board, and pointing her to this thread.



Done. You can look for Madge's answer on the Ask RCI board. Please don't respond on that thread as it delays Madge's response.


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## TLKTCK (Mar 1, 2006)

My 2 bedroom Mt. Amanzi peak week is also a dog trader for 2007. However my peak week is not week 1 or 2.  I was curious if anyone, other than week 1 or 2 owners are having similiar issues.


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## Carol C (Mar 1, 2006)

itchyfeet said:
			
		

> Would someone who has a week 1 or 2 Sudwala week deposited with RCI please pm me--I have a question.  Also have any of you exchanged your Sudwala weeks thru DAE?  Is so, what did you get in exchange?  TIA



I  can't PM you since I apparently  have already used  both my PM and email quotas forthe day. I owned or maybe still own a peak red Sudwala. I never traded SA via DAE, sorry I can't help ya there. Good luck to you!


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## DanM (Mar 1, 2006)

*Latest doublespeak*

I withdrew my Mt. Amanzi deposit from RCI after they acknowledged that they didn't have accurate information because of the RCI SA set aside (see first post). The latest communication granting my withdrawal had the gall to comment that "The values applied to your Mt. Amanzi weeks are more specific than ever before." Apparently the RCI communications person who emailed me can't read and didn't notice the admission someone else made further down in my feedback email thread.

Anyway, I am not depositing any more weeks with RCI until or unless they get this straightened out. On to exploring other exchange companies...


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## DanM (May 16, 2006)

Just a footnote. After I took back my Mt. Amanzi peak week 1 from RCI because they decided there was no demand (and hence no trade value), I deposited it with Dial an Exchange. It took DAE about a week to verify with the resort and post the availability of my unit on their web site. It took about another week for someone to snatch it up.
Despite the "verification" of RCI's demand formula by RCI and Madge's follow up, RCI is clearly just wrong.


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## ladycody (May 16, 2006)

Out of curiousity...have any of you done trading with other owners here in TUG and skipping the whole exchange company thing?  I'm fascinated by the fact that, in theory, this is a _very_ viable option.  It's something I plan to try down the road (I'm having too much fun exploring my own resorts right now.)


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## cerralee (May 16, 2006)

Oh my Gosh! I thought it was just me! A little over a week ago I deposited my two Peak 6 weeks with marlene at Mt. Amanzi.  They showed up a few days later and pulled roughly half of what my before BS weeks in 2005 and 2006 were pulling.  I was so looking forward to the increased trading power.  Earlier today I sent a message to RCI asking for some type of explanation for the dramatic decrease in trading power and as of yet have not received an answer.  My weeks are 21 - 28 September 2007.  I'm hoping to end up with a better sceenario than this, all these years I have been paying a higher levi than flex weeks owners and not receiving any additional trading power, now I'm paying a higher levi for the privelege of really crappy trading power.
I was just reading another thread on Dik and it listed the following points site :  http://www.flexiclub.co.za/place.php?id=8150
which shows that my September week should have a higher trading power associated to it in comparison to other Mount Amanzi weeks, maybe not the very highest but still quite respectable.  What can we do to get them to give us the power we are paying for?


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## Aldo (May 16, 2006)

Do you think there is any connection between the massive degradation in the trading power of SA timeshares and the massive proliferation of RCI rentals all over the internet?  They seemed to have occured at about the same time.

As RCI loots the exchange pool for rentals, something had to give.  Rather than degrading all TS trade power equally, perhaps there was a management decision to degrade SA units in greater proportion, as SA units tend to be small companies, rather than the massive conglomerates in the USA, which conceivably could exert more pressure on RCI?  We do have evidence that certain large resorts, which are points based and in sales, are assigned HIGHER values than they ought to have, presumably due to arrangements with RCI.  Perhaps we are experiencing the opposite with our SA units?


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## DanM (May 16, 2006)

I don't think there is any connection with rentals. As you can see from the beginning of this thread, RCI appears to be assigning the peak weeks to RCI SA and the peak week trading power is somehow distorted in RCI's regular computer. Perversely, the slightly less red weeks that are going into the regular system are trading better. I can only hope that in a year or two somebody at RCI will figure out the obvious. In the meantime, we can help them along by refusing to deposit peak weeks with RCI.


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## grest (May 17, 2006)

My peak Mt Amanzi week is still doing fine.  I have a non-peak week as well, and it isn't trading as well...who knows?
Connie


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## cerralee (May 17, 2006)

grest said:
			
		

> My peak Mt Amanzi week is still doing fine.  I have a non-peak week as well, and it isn't trading as well...who knows?
> Connie



Connie, what are the dates for your peak week and what size is it?


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## grest (May 17, 2006)

It's a 1br, usually last week in March/first week in April depending on their school calendar.
Connie


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## glenn1000 (May 17, 2006)

Madge said:
			
		

> glenn1000,
> 
> We have received several inquiries about South Africa Trading Power since it came online, and I have personally sent through a few requests to our Inventory Management staff for research.  In each case, our system was found to be calculating Trading Power correctly according to the demand we are experiencing (and that includes those used within South Africa's system).
> 
> ...



Just to keep it all in one place, the above is Madge's response to my question on this in the "Ask RCI" forum. While I still believe that there is probably some glitch since my resort insists that they are always very heavily booked at that time, I do not believe in an evil RCI conspiracy theory. Nor do I think that rentals have anything to do with this. I'll see how next year's (2008)deposit trades and if it is terrible I'll use Points for Deposit again.


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## JustPlainBill (May 17, 2006)

A company, such as RCI, that has to take its server "down for maintenance" once a week has serious problems. I believe all of the Cendant Vice Presidents are now out of jail (securities fraud) and they should get to work. The company's stock is in the doldrums. Madge is sometimes helpful but mostly she just parrots the party line. If you can figure out a way to avoid RCI you should do so. My U.S. timeshare is now deposited with Hawaii Timeshare Exchange--half the price of RCI. Unfortunately HTE does not accept South African timeshares. I have a 2BR Castleburn and a 1BR Kruger Park Lodge, both of which have been rated as A-number-one by visitors. On RCI, they don't draw flies. RCI is just plain awful.


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## Aldo (May 17, 2006)

JustPlainBill said:
			
		

> A company, such as RCI, that has to take its server "down for maintenance" once a week has serious problems. I believe all of the Cendant Vice Presidents are now out of jail (securities fraud) and they should get to work. The company's stock is in the doldrums. Madge is sometimes helpful but mostly she just parrots the party line. If you can figure out a way to avoid RCI you should do so. My U.S. timeshare is now deposited with Hawaii Timeshare Exchange--half the price of RCI. Unfortunately HTE does not accept South African timeshares. I have a 2BR Castleburn and a 1BR Kruger Park Lodge, both of which have been rated as A-number-one by visitors. On RCI, they don't draw flies. RCI is just plain awful.




Consider this statement with regards to Madge's statement that this issue has been looked into several times and her assurance that their trade power is accurately reflected in their new system (that this is NOT a glitch).

Consider as well that South Africa is one of the fastest growing tourist destinations in the word, and that Kruger Park Lodge is unique, and world renowned.

No...there's a disconnect here.  Something's wrong.  If, as Madge assures us, it is not a glitch, then what is it?


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## JLB (May 18, 2006)

I did an SA Trading Power Test in 2003.  It also included my crappy, inexpensive domestic resort and a couple other domestic resorts others tossed in the mix.

It was interesting in that the SAs stacked up in different tiers, several of them all pulling the same number of resorts, and then different levels.

Let me know if you would like to see the results, perhaps to compared then with now.  If there is not a general groundswell of demand, I will share it by email instead of posting it.


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## JLB (May 18, 2006)

FWIW, long before any _corrections_, my Inside Guy said stuff like:

_"I am not sure that tug influences trading power. my comment was that 
bragging on tug raises awareness of ineffeciences of the rci economic 
system to a group that you don't want to know about this such as sales and 
marketing . . . 

"I really don't think that tug comments and bragging have directly 
influenced trading power. I think there have been instances where trading 
power was miscalculated and perhaps tug expediated the fix...
- - - - - -
"I think the older we get as a company the more real our data becomes.. 

"I think in reality our ability to process data mirrors society's ability to transmit data
- - - - - -
 ". . .warn you that as you share information with a core group of timesharers that youa re sharing with others resorts, salespeople, managemetn companies and other timeshare owners who do not pay membership." _

_"I can tell you that sometimes tug is its own worst enemy as the resorts
> > read the board and they hate reading about all the blue week trades into 
>prime (weeks) etc. I have specifically had resorts call me because of tug
> > postings and demand answers, want changes etc."_

Even the beloved Bootleg made his comments:

_" Gold Crown or not, if it was one of the tens of thousands of inexpensive SA weeks that have flooded the exchange system since 2001 . . . it probably wouldn't have been able to trade for Sanibel/Captiva/Marco et al.
- - - - - -
"Many owners purchased in South Africa because the initial cost and ongoing maintenance costs are lower than domestic resorts and they have decent trade power. However, some of them have noticed a trend in the business that indicates their SA weeks don't trade as well as they used to.

"This is largely due to a supply/demand calculation that the determines the relative trade power of timeshares as they become more numerous in the marketplace._

So it's not like this snuck up on us.


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## DianeH (May 19, 2006)

I'm not a peak owner but did ask an RCI guide why there was such a difference in the trading power of my 2 Durban Sands (06 and 07).  I posted the reply on another post but its so priceless I have to post it again.....

_Its probably because there was a convention or something like that which made your first week so valuable.  I guess there's nothing exciting happening at the resort in 2007._

I never know whether to laugh or cry when I think about that reply!

Diane


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## Aldo (May 19, 2006)

DianeH said:
			
		

> I'm not a peak owner but did ask an RCI guide why there was such a difference in the trading power of my 2 Durban Sands (06 and 07).  I posted the reply on another post but its so priceless I have to post it again.....
> 
> _Its probably because there was a convention or something like that which made your first week so valuable.  I guess there's nothing exciting happening at the resort in 2007._
> 
> ...



It's stories like these that make one suspect that RCI is playing crooked with the actual trade power of SA units.

When people are playing straight and fair and square with you, they don't need to make up lies.

And when they make up lies (like this VC did), then you begin to wonder what it is they are trying to cover for.

Remind everyone once again that this massive degradation in SA trade power occured simultaneously with the massive proliferation of looting of the exchange pool by RCI for rentals.  Of course they are connected, if only in the general sense that looting the pool for rentals degrades EVERY weeks exchange power.  The only question is whether SA weeks have been targeted disproportionately compared to other weeks around the world.

This very thread is strong evidence that they have.  Think about it.  It is only common sense that these "peak" weeks, occuring, as they do, during school holidays in SA, are going to be in higher demand than any others, simply because that is when people are going to vacation with their families, just like everywhere else in the world.

But yet we have many reports of these PEAK weeks with little or no trade power whatsoever, or, at any rate, no better than red or even white weeks at the same resorts.  How come?


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## Rmelnyk (May 19, 2006)

I have a 2 bedroom GC red week (7) Castleburn...received San Clemente Inn as the best they could do...I can no longer pull Hawaii at this time...
R


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## ChuckAK (May 21, 2006)

After all the problems you all had with your South Africa weeks I was just a little worried about my two weeks in Sudwala.  My two weeks (one white Sept. and one super red, Xmas) always traded satisfactorily for Jan/Feb in Florida and the Southwest.  The white (a little pink maybe) week trades about the same or maybe less than it did before.  I am one happy camper though with my Xmas week.  It is my best trader.

I don't subscribe to the conspiracy theory for RCI.  I am troubled about some of the direction Cendant has taken.  However, a conspiracy of the imagined magnitude would very difficult to pull off.   As an aside, I wonder why an unknown timeshare individual reached by phone in SA has the credibility of God and our RCI rep is never trusted.  :>)  :ignore: 

One additional aside;  I am just as pleased as anyone can be with Niky Watt from Sudwala in South Africa.  The communication is excellent.  I just wish my US weeks were as efficient.

JOMHO


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