# Renting out an Interval exchange week



## Mahou (Nov 12, 2017)

I have a Marriott week booked that we now cannot use. It is an exchange week with II
If I rent it, do I have to get a guest cert from II ?? Or can I just change the name on the booking??
Thanks


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## VacationForever (Nov 12, 2017)

You are not allowed to rent out an II exchange.  If II finds out, your reservation will be cancelled and your account will be suspended.  You will have an irate renter without a reservation when they show up at the resort, presumably after a flight.


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## bazzap (Nov 12, 2017)

VacationForever said:


> You are not allowed to rent out an II exchange.  If II finds out, your reservation will be cancelled and your account will be suspended.  You will have an irate renter without a reservation when they show up at the resort, presumably after a flight.


II membership has indeed been terminated when this has happened previously.
It is not worth even trying to do it.


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## kds4 (Nov 12, 2017)

Mahou said:


> I have a Marriott week booked that we now cannot use. It is an exchange week with II
> If I rent it, do I have to get a guest cert from II ?? Or can I just change the name on the booking??
> Thanks


As others have posted, renting an II exchange is prohibited. However, you can gift your stay to anyone (with a guest certificate). If they choose to give you a gift in return (such as allowing you to stay in one of their II exchanges next year - if they were time share owners), that would be between the two of you. 

What is definitely now allowed, is a 'cash for (room) keys' situation.


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## Eli Mairs (Nov 12, 2017)

Do the same rules apply to bonus weeks and getaways?
If you book one of these weeks for friends and family with a guest certificate, can you use their own credit card for payment?


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## dioxide45 (Nov 12, 2017)

kds4 said:


> As others have posted, renting an II exchange is prohibited. However, you can gift your stay to anyone (with a guest certificate). If they choose to give you a gift in return (such as allowing you to stay in one of their II exchanges next year - if they were time share owners), that would be between the two of you.
> 
> What is definitely now allowed, is a 'cash for (room) keys' situation.


Still best to keep any kind of transaction on the down low. "Renting" a week to friends perhaps could get through, but advertising an II exchange on Redweek for rent could get you in trouble.


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## tschwa2 (Nov 12, 2017)

Eli Mairs said:


> Do the same rules apply to bonus weeks and getaways?
> If you book one of these weeks for friends and family with a guest certificate, can you use their own credit card for payment?


Yes, they can pay II directly, they just can't pay you (even if it is paying you back) and most importantly you can't advertise on a rental site that you are renting II inventory.


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## Saintsfanfl (Nov 12, 2017)

What tschwa2 said. The number 1 thing is you cannot place a rental ad. You can enter anyone’s credit card on the payment screen. No ads and no profit.


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## Eli Mairs (Nov 12, 2017)

That’s good to know. 
I’ve been doing this for years for friends and family.
Was worried I was doing something wrong.


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## turkel (Nov 12, 2017)

I have done this multiple times with my mother or brother's cc. My mother is an II member, my brother isn't. No money changes hands with me as the recipient. They just have paid for a getaway on my account. I currently have a platinum membership which includes free guest certificates and a $50.00 discount on getaways.
My mother recently called Interval regarding a getaway purchased under my membership, no mention was made by the Interval rep that she should have only purchased under her account. The getaway was in St Martin at Dawn Beach at a fantastic price, thank goodness mom choose the insurance, this resort will not reopen until 2019. She would have lost the whole $800 for the week without the insurance.


Eli Mairs said:


> Do the same rules apply to bonus weeks and getaways?
> If you book one of these weeks for friends and family with a guest certificate, can you use their own credit card for payment?


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## l0410z (Nov 13, 2017)

About A year ago, I posted a thread about exchanging an II week directly with a Marriott Owner.    At that point in my 20 years of II membership I only used my weeks, rented my weeks or used the II exchanged week so I had no clue of the membership rules.  The Tug discussion pointed out the rules , I read the rules to validate it but I called customer service to understand all my options.   Every customer service rep told me I could do the exchange and I got it in writing on more than one occasion.

Using speeding as an example, some people go the 55 limit, some go over the limit believing if they go 9 miles or less they won't be stopped and some believe a  limit doesn't apply to them.  I fit into the 9 or less category but I understand I could get a ticket.  I decided to call II legal to get better understand of the rules.   I spoke with a senior attorney.  I sent her the emails.   We actually had an interesting conversation.  To be clear, what I was looking to do is against the rules but I was also told that   while the II rules for trading/renting  applies to everyone, they are really looking for people who are turning this into a commercial business.  I was told they could cancel your membership or cancel the week on first offense as opposed to they will.   I didn't get a lot of details on what they monitor but one sign of commercial use  is someone  who frequently takes out eplus, often changes multiple times at the same resort and uses  guest certificates often.     After speaking with legal,  I used the Aruba week with my family.


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## bazzap (Nov 13, 2017)

As you say, the rules are clear.
The application of those rules is less clear.
They could cancel bookings and suspend/cancel your subscription, they probably wouldn’t for non blatant commercial use, but they might.


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## l0410z (Nov 13, 2017)

bazzap said:


> As you say, the rules are clear.
> The application of those rules is less clear.
> They could cancel bookings and suspend/cancel your subscription, they probably wouldn’t for non blatant commercial use, but they might.



Can I make it less clear.... I was actually given permission to do the exchange though I decided not too.

I was never given permission to share the mail but the Senior Corporate Counsel at Interval International has since retired and so maybe I can go 55 plus 9 and cut and paste from a part of the email.   

"As we discussed, Guest Certificates are available for the purpose of allowing family and friends to use your confirmed accommodations.  In an individual case like this where there is a separate transaction involving your use of a week belonging to your friend, we would not consider that to be a prohibited barter.  Yes, there is a “quid pro quo”, but on a friendly, non-commercial basis.  You did not put your confirmation up online to commercially offer it to the highest bidder."

In 22 years of II membership this has come up once for me and I can't think of circumstances it might happen again but I did keep the email just in case.  Also, who ever replaced her may take a different stance but sometimes it is as simple as just asking.

Here is the original thread
https://www.tugbbs.com/forums/index...-week-and-marriott-owner.246376/#post-1931102


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## bazzap (Nov 13, 2017)

I agree, in your case on that occasion it was clear - you asked and got permission in writing, a very good idea.
For others on another occasion, as you say, it may be different.


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## Saintsfanfl (Nov 13, 2017)

They still take the same stance. I know everyone on this forum recites the strict application of the T&C but II does not care if your friends and family reimburses you for a getaway or exchange. To be honest they welcome it because it provides additional revenue. What they do care about and will enforce is the advertising rentals of II confirmations. They scan for these by flagging high activity II accounts. I know from experience because my account is generally watched by II on a regular basis (Hi Mark ). I have a very large number of ownerships and exchange confirmations although very few even have guest certificates attached.

One time my online account was locked until I removed a rental listing. I just so happened to have a rental listing of an ownership week for the same resort, unit type, and date of an II exchange. They kindly unlocked my account without needing proof of my owned reservation (I offered).

II is very easy to deal with on these matters but if they detect business rental activity of II confirmations they will obviously act. They must protect the inventory against mass renters otherwise none of us as personal exchangers would be able to get anything remotely of value. The business model would crumble.


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## Tokapeba (Nov 13, 2017)

Does anyone know anyone who has gotten it trouble with II?


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## bazzap (Nov 13, 2017)

As others have said, Interval are really just concerned with those who clearly advertise and rent their exchanges, getaways... for commercial purposes through public websites.
So one off or even occasional arrangements between family members or even friends are unlikely to be of concern to them, but it is their decision.

You can find examples of them taking action with a simple google search, e.g.
"Interval International Getaways and how they suspended my account ....."
"I own several properties with interval international. As an extension of my membership, I am allowed to purchase 12 Getaways per year per property. The Getaways are last minute leftover inventory that Interval purchases from the hotels. Interval claims that you are not allowed to use these properties for commercial use, even though it never defines commercial use. Moreover, Interval claims that I engaged in commercial use, suspended my account for one year, and cancelled my properties and REFUSES to offer me a refund”

The specific wording in their Ts & Cs though states
“Membership in II may be used only for personal and noncommercial purposes. Any other use of membership benefits may result in the suspension or termination of a Member’s membership and/or exchange privileges, as well as cancellation of any existing Confirmations and loss of fees associated with all II memberships and Confirmations held by such Member.”


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## Saintsfanfl (Nov 13, 2017)

Tokapeba said:


> Does anyone know anyone who has gotten it trouble with II?



As you can see from my post my account was frozen, and I was not even a commercial renter. You can be assured that they look for people that aspire to be mass renters using cheap getaways and high value traders.

There is a TUG member that had a load of units that became to be known as high value during flex. This was before the studio tweaks and long before the charge for trading up in size. All of a sudden they were selling the units in mass on ebay touting exchanges they had performed. I might be stepping over the line but these exchanges to me seemed like rentals. With that assumption I am betting they were forced to discontinue by II.


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## dioxide45 (Nov 13, 2017)

l0410z said:


> Can I make it less clear.... I was actually given permission to do the exchange though I decided not too.


I wouldn't necessarily take or rely on the word of a low level telephone rep, or perhaps even their supervisor. Those monitoring for rentals are a different department than those answering the phones.


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## sb2313 (Nov 13, 2017)

Saintsfanfl said:


> There is a TUG member that had a load of units that became to be known as high value during flex. This was before the studio tweaks and long before the charge for trading up in size. All of a sudden they were selling the units in mass on ebay touting exchanges they had performed. I might be stepping over the line but these exchanges to me seemed like rentals. With that assumption I am betting they were forced to discontinue by II.


Don’t forget the large number of distressed exchange posts from the same member. They’re now rarely, if ever, heard from so i don’t think your assumption is off base in the least.


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## l0410z (Nov 13, 2017)

dioxide45 said:


> I wouldn't necessarily take or rely on the word of a low level telephone rep, or perhaps even their supervisor. Those monitoring for rentals are a different department than those answering the phones.



If you read the full post, the  permission given and the cut and paste I included was from the senior corporate counsel for II.  I spoke with her and the conversation was followed by the email from her.


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## dioxide45 (Nov 13, 2017)

l0410z said:


> If you read the full post, the  permission given and the cut and paste I included was from the senior corporate counsel for II.  I spoke with her and the conversation was followed by the email from her.


Got it, really should have read that in more detail


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## l0410z (Nov 14, 2017)

deleted


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## Dean (Nov 14, 2017)

l0410z said:


> I wasn't being condescending so if it came across that way, sorry.  I agree with you 100% about what one is told from customer service and the reason I reached out to legal to begin with.  I am not a lawyer but if customer services tells me something it may be considered an individual  practice but if legal tells me something it is a policy.   In any case, here is the full text of the email.  The person has since retired so I guess she won't care.  I believe it is a valid guideline of what can one can do but everyone should decide for themselves.
> 
> *As we discussed earlier today, you may proceed to purchase a Guest Certificate for your friend to use the Confirmation you have obtained for the vacation week in Aruba, which you and your family are no longer interested in using.  I understand that you wanted to be certain that your friend’s use of the Aruba week and your use of your friend’s use of the week he owns at Newport Beach would be not collectively be deemed a “barter”, which is prohibited by the Interval International Terms and Conditions of Individual Membership and Exchange.  You were advised that it would be OK by an Interval advisor and/or Customer Services representative, but you wanted that confirmation in writing.  To date, you have not received a response to the email you sent to the Customer Service email address.
> 
> ...


I know of several who have gotten in trouble and I know of specific info from II where even repaying the exchange and guest certificate fee was deemed as renting (unlike RCI who semi officially allows this type of reimbursement).  As posted I think this was protective of the individual situation but not a guide map for future actions.  That said, done low key with personal friends/relatives, the risk should be very low.


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## Saintsfanfl (Nov 14, 2017)

Dean said:


> I know of several who have gotten in trouble and I know of specific info from II where even repaying the exchange and guest certificate fee was deemed as renting (unlike RCI who semi officially allows this type of reimbursement).



The huge difference that is not being disputed is RCI allows non-commercial but public listings but II does not. No, you cannot advertise to get reimbursed for anything. What II does “unofficially” allow is friends and family, whatever that means to whoever cares. 

RCI and II are still primarily after the same thing. The protection of valuable inventory against a commercial renter.


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## frank808 (Nov 14, 2017)

Tokapeba said:


> Does anyone know anyone who has gotten it trouble with II?


Know of one person that was "warned" to stop commercial renting of II exchanges.
To the best of my knowledge he no longer rents exchanges or does not do it so openly.  He did brag to me once that he had over 250 exchanges that year and it was not even December yet.  

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk


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## frank808 (Nov 14, 2017)

Saintsfanfl said:


> As you can see from my post my account was frozen, and I was not even a commercial renter. You can be assured that they look for people that aspire to be mass renters using cheap getaways and high value traders.
> 
> There is a TUG member that had a load of units that became to be known as high value during flex. This was before the studio tweaks and long before the charge for trading up in size. All of a sudden they were selling the units in mass on ebay touting exchanges they had performed. I might be stepping over the line but these exchanges to me seemed like rentals. With that assumption I am betting they were forced to discontinue by II.


I think we are talking about the same fruit 

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk


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## MOXJO7282 (Nov 14, 2017)

If you look at ebay it still seems to happen where there are brokers renting what appear to be II exchanges. Not sure how that happens but I'm assuming if you have someone not associated with an II account rent it for you I'm not sure how II would know.


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## Dean (Nov 15, 2017)

Saintsfanfl said:


> The huge difference that is not being disputed is RCI allows non-commercial but public listings but II does not. No, you cannot advertise to get reimbursed for anything. What II does “unofficially” allow is friends and family, whatever that means to whoever cares.
> 
> RCI and II are still primarily after the same thing. The protection of valuable inventory against a commercial renter.


Agreed, I was pointing out that II is less flexible than RCI.  However, if you're saying that the above mentioned barter is the same as friend/family usage and thus a template for legal "renting", then we'll have to disagree.  My take on the post is it covered that individual transaction only and should not be taken as a principle going forward.


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## Saintsfanfl (Nov 15, 2017)

Dean said:


> Agreed, I was pointing out that II is less flexible than RCI.  However, if you're saying that the above mentioned barter is the same as friend/family usage and thus a template for legal "renting", then we'll have to disagree.  My take on the post is it covered that individual transaction only and should not be taken as a principle going forward.



I agree with you in principal but my point is that this general opinion of their legal team logically applies to similar transactions but they reserve the right to enforce when they want to enforce. II has never and would never disallow an isolated "transaction" similar to the OP's example.

II sells guest certificates for the sole and specific reason to share among friends and family, even if those guests are paying for it. This is a fact and the reason why you can enter anyone's name and credit card number on the payment screen. II encourages the guest certificates for personal sharing. Do we really think II cares one bit whether it is on the guests CC or the guest reimburses the II member?

The number one thing is not placing an ad or listing,whether profitable or not, and not attempting to profit even if the transaction is private.

I know there are many tuggers that have the very strict opinion of the T&C and they disagree with my opinion, and that is fine. Until II comes forward with this opinion mine won't change.


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## SueDonJ (Nov 15, 2017)

Saintsfanfl said:


> I agree with you in principal but my point is that this general opinion of their legal team logically applies to similar transactions but they reserve the right to enforce when they want to enforce. II has never and would never disallow an isolated "transaction" similar to the OP's example.
> 
> II sells guest certificates for the sole and specific reason to share among friends and family, even if those guests are paying for it. This is a fact and the reason why you can enter anyone's name and credit card number on the payment screen. II encourages the guest certificates for personal sharing. Do we really think II cares one bit whether it is on the guests CC or the guest reimburses the II member?
> 
> ...



I actually don't disagree with your opinion but I prefer to follow the strictest interpretation of II's rules because I don't like to take unnecessary risks.  When it comes to the question being asked on TUG I think it's as important for the rules to be quoted as it is for folks to share their own personal experiences with following them, skirting them, discussing them with II personnel, being penalized for them, etc.

These discussions always make me think, though, that the longer we keep these threads running the more information we're feeding to II that BLATANTLY-COMMERCIAL RENTALS OF II INVENTORY CONTINUE TO HAPPEN IN PLAIN SIGHT AND SOME OF US JUST DON'T LIKE THAT II DOESN'T POLICE THEM. <hint-hint >


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## Saintsfanfl (Nov 15, 2017)

Agreed!


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## Dean (Nov 15, 2017)

Saintsfanfl said:


> I agree with you in principal but my point is that this general opinion of their legal team logically applies to similar transactions but they reserve the right to enforce when they want to enforce. II has never and would never disallow an isolated "transaction" similar to the OP's example.
> 
> II sells guest certificates for the sole and specific reason to share among friends and family, even if those guests are paying for it. This is a fact and the reason why you can enter anyone's name and credit card number on the payment screen. II encourages the guest certificates for personal sharing. Do we really think II cares one bit whether it is on the guests CC or the guest reimburses the II member?
> 
> ...


As posted even the allowed "trade" was in violation of II's written policies as it clearly was a barter.  My thoughts are on the principle, not whether one will be able to put one past II which would clearly be easy in this situation.  I can't imagine this was allowed by the legal department or it it was, it was allowed largely because they actually asked rather than this being a statement of general principle.


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## VacationForever (Nov 15, 2017)

Going back the OP's question, the intent was to rent, which is a clear no-no.


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## Mahou (Nov 15, 2017)

Thanks everyone!
To play it safe I will offer the week to my circle of friends for no charge. But I will enjoy a nice bottle of Rioja wine as a “non solicited gratification “


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## l0410z (Nov 15, 2017)

Deleted


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## Dean (Nov 15, 2017)

l0410z said:


> Up until last year and only after my original post did I read the II rules.  I never had to.   While I often look to go outside the box, I do so trying to eliminate risk.  They are not always mutually exclusive.  This is the reason I reached out to legal and when I did, I found the most senior person.  I gave them my name, II membership number and confirmation ID.  I gave them the email tracking ID for when I  submitted  online questions.  I gave them the names of the people I spoke with (with their permission).   Legal knew more about me on II than I did. I wanted a definitive answer to what can and can't be done.  If you look at the full answer, the answer was broader than for an individual person and more about the transaction.   This is an opinion from someone who did not actually exchange even with permission and should not have a need in the future to do so.
> 
> I do believe II's enemy is the commercial abuser and  to a lesser extent individuals who rent.  Their biggest challenges are environments they have zero control of such as closed facebook groups, Craigslst and many others I do not know about.  At some point they are going to need figure out how to make money by embracing this.    I think II's biggest asset to combat this is membership transaction history and artificial intelligence (not saying they use it).  I looked at my history to find that I exchanged my Legacy Vacation Club Orlando 18 times from 1996 to 2015 (when I got rid of it).  15 times it was traded for a Marriott, 3 times it was to non Marriott and  the rest it went unused.  On the 18 trades I had zero retrades or guest certificates.  Over my ownership I traded my Monarch week 3 times.  Over my membership span I show 23 getaways.  Most were for family or friends.  Most have my membership number, my ID and password.  I was involved in very few of them and none of the fees were paid by me.  It would not be very hard to see pattern changes.


IMO none of that really matters going forward.  You clearly had an issue, asked the question and were given permission for the specific trade.  Still, this was clearly a barter with any reasonable definition and IMO, you lucked out.  Since you've since read the rules you know that now as they read.  Pushing the envolope but doing so with some safety is a different matter than the principle.  IMO the specific question here is what are the rules, not why or how they chose to enforce them, that's a different question and one we likely shouldn't actually discuss here for the protection of hose that tend to push the envelope.


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## Saintsfanfl (Nov 15, 2017)

deleted...


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## l0410z (Nov 16, 2017)

In thinking about this, it is was wrong for me to cut and paste any part of the email I got from II on a number of fronts. 

First and maybe most important, I did not do the exchange.  While I did get permission,  I can't say for certainty that it would not have been caught by the "system" and my confirmation cancelled.  I would not have gotten into trouble, but once cancelled I may not have gotten the reservation back.  If this was the case, this post would have been much different.  

Second it was not  sent to me for me to post. It was also part of a much longer conversation.   The person who wrote it has since retired.  She  could have answered it knowing she was going to retire. 

Last, it may change someones behavior and past results are not an indication of future returns.  The rules are clear even if the enforcement is not.  Anyone that  would like to speak to legal and can't find the number can PM me to get it. 

I can't seem to delete some of my posts in this thread so moderator if you do not mind can you do so.


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## Dean (Nov 16, 2017)

l0410z said:


> In thinking about this, it is was wrong for me to cut and paste any part of the email I got from II on a number of fronts.
> 
> First and maybe most important, I did not do the exchange.  While I did get permission,  I can't say for certainty that it would not have been caught by the "system" and my confirmation cancelled.  I would not have gotten into trouble, but once cancelled I may not have gotten the reservation back.  If this was the case, this post would have been much different.
> 
> ...


It's your last point that is the crux of he matter IMO.  It's not like II gives you a chance to defend the issue, they simply lock your account and don't give you a fair hearing.  They may or may not allow one to trade by phone going forward depending.


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## taterhed (Nov 17, 2017)

Here here....

BLATANTLY-COMMERCIAL RENTALS OF II INVENTORY CONTINUE TO HAPPEN IN PLAIN SIGHT AND SOME OF US JUST DON'T LIKE THAT II DOESN'T POLICE THEM. <hint-hint >


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