# New to TUG & Timeshares



## SergeantChuck (Jun 2, 2012)

I say new to timeshares which is half true.  My father is a platnium Worldmark owner.  I stay in his timeshares all the time.  I have never once went to an update with him until we went to Hawaii in February.  My father has been with Worldmark many years.  He put the salesman in his place quickly.  I should have paid better attention to that.

I recently stayed at a Wydham resort in Pigeon Forge, TN.  Guest services knocked on my door with a basket of goodies and began to talk to us.  I just happend to mention we were staying in my fathers TS and that he was really with Worldmark.  I also mentioned that he would be signing the deed over to me within the next few years since he is in bad health and mother has already passed.

She asked me if my father had recieved his information packet on a merger that was happening on October 31st?  I obviously had no idea.  She made a statemnt that he really needed to own Wyndham points before the merger took place.  The primary reason was something to the affect of missing out on some of the perks.  His points will cross over no problem but he was supposed to miss out on something.  

I could not get a hold of my father so like an idiot I believed them hook line and sinker.  I only bought 84,000 points in Pigeon Forge.  

They made it seem like one of us really needed to have Wyndham points before this merge took place. 

I found this site a couple weeks after my purchase.  Wish I would have run across it sooner.

I am curious if anyone has heard of this supposed merger on 31 October?

Thanks


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## JimMIA (Jun 3, 2012)

Don't know anything about a merger, but it's not the least bit unusual for Wyndham sales people to tell blatant lies.  They are among the most unethical sales forces in a sleazy industry and a poor reflection on an otherwise fine company.

You're past your recision period, but if you were sold that contract under false pretenses, I would contact Wyndham Quality Assurance, explain the situation to them and ask that the contract be cancelled.  If that fails, I'd go to whatever state agency regulates timeshares in TN and ask for their help.

Which Wyndham were you visiting -- Great Smoky Mountains or the Lodge with the waterpark?


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## MFT (Jun 3, 2012)

*Sorry to hear...*

that they snagged another one with their lies.  Just want you to understand, that nothing they tell you is relevant, as the only thing that counts after the ink dries, is what you signed...  And who takes the time to read all the fine print.  

I've been tempted to just for fun, go through the whole sales presentation, the whole process each and every time I stay at a Wyndham... Take up at least 3 - 4 hours of their time, go right up through the process that the documents are drawn up, go through the presentation... and than change my mind and not sign one form.  Maybe my sacrifice may save someone else going to the presentation and signing? Also, I'm sure if I do this once or twice, they won't me asking me to another sales meeting EVER.


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## presley (Jun 3, 2012)

What a rotten thing for them to do.  No, I haven't heard of any merger.  Please visit/join wmowners.com.  You will learn all things worldmark there.


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## MelBay (Jun 3, 2012)

Welcome to TUG!

I agree you should contact Wyndham corporate and get nasty.  Or have a lawyer friend send them a letter.  I'd fight this tooth & nail.

And if you really want Wyndham points, buy them on eBay for pennies on the dollar.


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## rrlongwell (Jun 3, 2012)

SergeantChuck said:


> ... She asked me if my father had recieved his information packet on a merger that was happening on October 31st?  I obviously had no idea.  She made a statemnt that he really needed to own Wyndham points before the merger took place.  The primary reason was something to the affect of missing out on some of the perks.  His points will cross over no problem but he was supposed to miss out on something ... anyone has heard of this supposed merger on 31 October? ...



No specific date, however, during a sales pitch at Wyndham Shawnee Village, they were making a big deal on how Wyndham Vacation Resorts was taking over the western Worldmark facilities.  Do not know if this is true or not or if it is going to be a complete takeover or just some availability in some Worldmark resorts.  Since Worldmark appears to be a club like points based system (deeds owned by a trust) and the Wyndham Vacation Resorts has the Access program under the same type of arrangement, if it happens, I would guess it would be with Wyndham Club Access.


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## pacodemountainside (Jun 3, 2012)

Was not owner relations who knocked on   OP door. Was sales in disguise! If one wants to  chat with owner ralations you have to  contact them.


This is a variation of "Branson Take Away"! 

Salesperson: Did you get that limited  special offer that was  sent certified mail only to  esteemed , honored, savvy, etc. owners like you? Flattery will get you everywhere!

Me: have no idea in Hell what you are talking about! What did it say? Show me a copy.

SP : Looks through dossier  and almost in tears says  you never responded. I don't have a copy since sent to you and not in here.

Me: To what.  How do you know what it said?

SP: Let me investigate, this  matter this is  serious. No way  am I going to let Post Office  take this away from you!  Comes back with boss who sternly asks if I got.

Me: No way. Show me a copy.  

Boss: OK sign this document. I will ask Mecca for  dispensation. Comes back 10 minutes later wiping forehead and says had to pledge next born but got approval  but have to do by noon today. No way am I going to let Post Office take away  this deal.

SP:  Does  standard pitch

Me :This is a essentially same deal  I was offered at XYZ resport last month.  You are a scammer.

SP: Wyndham  sales has to work hard to keep "F" BBB rating and maintain its  infamous  reputation! . (OK, I said!)

Me: Off to gifting


If you really want to frost,  when they  bring in Discovery/sampler  guy who offers to lock deal for a year or two, simply ask why salesperson  said only good for   now and he is saying a year or two. Who is lying?  Off to gifting! :rofl:


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## MLUliase (Jun 3, 2012)

*Wyndham Changes*

Hi,
I also heard that the bar is being raised for the Gold member status at Wyndham.  In October it will be 500,000 points to acieve gold member status.  The pitch seems to be if you buy enough points to be gold member you will have CWA (club wyndham access) status and have an ability to 25+ resorts 13 months out.  Supposidly you will also be "grandfathered in" at that gold status FOREVER.  Is anything really forever?


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## Cheryl20772 (Jun 3, 2012)

MLUliase said:


> Hi,
> I also heard that the bar is being raised for the Gold member status at Wyndham.  In October it will be 500,000 points to acieve gold member status.  The pitch seems to be if you buy enough points to be gold member you will have CWA (club wyndham access) status and have an ability to 25+ resorts 13 months out.  Supposidly you will also be "grandfathered in" at that gold status FOREVER.  Is anything really forever?



I think Gold VIP status is 500K now and it may go up from there in October (or whenever - if ever).  They want you to buy in at today's VIP as it's going to be grand fathered in when it changes, and if you wait, and buy after the change, the same level of benefits will cost more.

The problem is, VIP benefits are not in the contract one signs when purchasing from Wyndham.  This means these benefits are subject to change and may not last forever.


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## rrlongwell (Jun 3, 2012)

pacodemountainside said:


> ...
> 
> SP:  Does  standard pitch
> 
> ...



You are right, I think you mixed up some of the sources.  You caught one.  You missed the last one.  The Sales Rep says "Off to gifting".

Do not feel bad, your hypothetical person is probably not the first or last to get a variation of the sales pitch or get the big "B".


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## SergeantChuck (Jun 3, 2012)

JimMIA said:


> Which Wyndham were you visiting -- Great Smoky Mountains or the Lodge with the waterpark?



Somky Mountains.  Very Nice Resort.

Well my father called his rep at Worldmark and they had no idea about any merger.  I'm going to be making a call in the next few days to the woman that introduced herself as guest relations.  I will be letting her know that they lied to me about the supposed merger on October 31 or I want them to produce something on paper which can substantiate their claims.  If the cannot do that I will be contacting quality assurance and we will see how that goes.  

What bothers me the most is I did not need these points.  My father has so many he begs me to use them and I only bought the Wyndam because of their claims.  

Had I known they would take it to this extreme.  Never again.  Sure wish I had seen this site a few months ago.


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## presley (Jun 3, 2012)

SergeantChuck said:


> Somky Mountains.  Very Nice Resort.
> 
> Well my father called his rep at Worldmark and they had no idea about any merger.  I'm going to be making a call in the next few days to the woman that introduced herself as guest relations.  I will be letting her know that they lied to me about the supposed merger on October 31 or I want them to produce something on paper which can substantiate their claims.  If the cannot do that I will be contacting quality assurance and we will see how that goes.
> 
> ...



Just don't give up.  Keep after them and never leave them alone until you are refunded.  Get something in writing, too.  There was a recent post here where someone was billed for past due MFs for a contract that they got out of 10 years ago, or something.


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## JimMIA (Jun 4, 2012)

SergeantChuck said:


> I'm going to be making a call in the next few days to the woman that introduced herself as guest relations.  I will be letting her know that they lied to me about the supposed merger on October 31 or I want them to produce something on paper which can substantiate their claims.


Really?  After all the lies they've fed you, you're going to give them another chance?  

Don't waste your time; cut straight to the chase and call Wyndham Quality Assurance at their Orlando HQ.  They MAY be able to help you.


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## SergeantChuck (Jun 12, 2012)

Well I contacted Wyndham Quality Assurance in Orlando.  Since I was past the 10 days grace period(12 Days) I was transfered to Customer Care.

I spoke with a woman that acted very alarmed that I was told the whole merger story.  She told me she would be opening a claim and wanted me to type out a letter explaining everything I had just said and she wanted me to fax that letter to her.  I faxed the letter yesterday and called today to make sure they had recieved it.  She was out of the office but the gentleman I spoke with told me he saw she had opened a case.  He went in her office and found my three page fax which she had placed in a folder.  

I don't really trust anyone at this point but it looks like she is at least going to look into my claims.  She made the statement that someone needs a serious talking too.  I told her they need more than talked to and that I plan to get in touch with the Tennessee Real Estate Commission about the sales person.  

We will see what happens.


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## learnalot (Jun 12, 2012)

SergeantChuck said:


> Well I contacted Wyndham Quality Assurance in Orlando.  Since I was past the 10 days grace period(12 Days) I was transfered to Customer Care.
> 
> I spoke with a woman that acted very alarmed that I was told the whole merger story.  She told me she would be opening a claim and wanted me to type out a letter explaining everything I had just said and she wanted me to fax that letter to her.  I faxed the letter yesterday and called today to make sure they had recieved it.  She was out of the office but the gentleman I spoke with told me he saw she had opened a case.  He went in her office and found my three page fax which she had placed in a folder.
> 
> ...



Good for you.


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## SergeantChuck (Aug 10, 2012)

Looking for any other advice.  My last post on here was where I stated I had contacted the Quailty Assurance in Orlando.  They transfered me to Customer Care.  A claim was opened and I was giving what I will call a case worker.  I have her direct number and have talked to her several times.  

It has been two months since I found out I was lied to about a merger with WorldMark and Wyndham.  I found out 12 days after my purchase of 84,000 Wyndham points.  Two days after the grace period.  

I was initially told I should hear an answer to my request within 3-4 weeks.  At the 3-4 week point my case worker told me she was going on vacation and did not have an answer yet.  I told her I was trying to be patient and asked what was taking so long.  She basically said they were still investigating my claims.  

She did call me after her return but still had no information.  I was told I would hve an answer by today.  She didnot call.

My question is what would be my next step if she comes back with a denial to my request?  I reguested two things. Cancellation of the policy and some type of punishment to the salesperson although I know that won't happen.

Is there anyone else I can talk to?


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## ausman (Aug 10, 2012)

How did you pay for this.?

Put on a credit card, cheque, Wyndham loan etc.

Depending on how you paid you may be able to dispute charges or simply stop paying.

I'm guessing you were taken for about $10,000 or more. Phone calls do not seem to be accomplishing much except to string you along.


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## SergeantChuck (Aug 11, 2012)

basham said:


> How did you pay for this.?
> 
> Put on a credit card, cheque, Wyndham loan etc.
> 
> ...



I paid $3,000 up front and Wyndham credit for the rest.  I planned on paying that off within two months until I found out I had been lied to. 

You are correct about the 10,000 total.  It was closer to 11,000.


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## rrlongwell (Aug 11, 2012)

SergeantChuck said:


> I paid $3,000 up front and Wyndham credit for the rest.  I planned on paying that off within two months until I found out I had been lied to.
> 
> You are correct about the 10,000 total.  It was closer to 11,000.



My guess is you bought the timeshare.  I think the best course of action if Wyndham does not recend the contract is to enjoy what you purchased.


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## pedro47 (Aug 11, 2012)

rrlongwell said:


> My guess is you bought the timeshare.  I think the best course of action if Wyndham does not recend the contract is to enjoy what you purchased.



Welcome to  TUG !!! I believe it is also to late to cancel the contract.

You did not follow the Wyndham cancellation policy in a timely manner.

Welcome to the world of ownership in the timeshare travel industry.  I hope you can enjoy your purchase.

Beware of any person giving gifts at a timeshare vacation resort.  They are sale people.


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## SergeantChuck (Aug 11, 2012)

I wish I would have found this site sooner. 

I understand I was beyond the cancellation policy.  You have ten days.  I contacted them in 12.  I never would have contacted them if it wasn't for the fact my Worldmark agent told me they were lying about a merger between the two.  

The real kicker is I have 200,000 Annual WorldMark Points.  I didn't even need the measly 84,000 Wyndham.  I know some of you on here own both so you know how hard it would be to use 200,000 WorldMark points if you still work full time.  

I spent three weeks in Hawaii, a week in Lake of the Ozarks, Weekend at Pigeon Forge, and used the remainder to purchase tickets to fly four people back to Seattle for Xmas this year and still have points left over.  Aug 1st my points were replenished and here I go again.  

I only bought the 84,000 because I was told when the two merged I was going to loose all my Platinum Elite perks I receive with WorldMark if I did not own Wyndham points.  I should have known better but they pulled three different people over to corroborate the lie to include the head sales manager.  

I made the purchase the first day of a holiday weekend and it took me a few days to call WorldMark to confirm hence the 12 days.

I think I am screwed too but just thought I would ask for advice once more. Sometimes you learn the hard way.  It's not even about the money.  It's about the extent of the lie that I am upset about.  
.


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## tschwa2 (Aug 11, 2012)

(((deleted)))


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## pedro47 (Aug 11, 2012)

SergeantChuck said:


> I wish I would have found this site sooner.
> 
> I understand I was beyond the cancellation policy.  You have ten days.  I contacted them in 12.  I never would have contacted them if it wasn't for the fact my Worldmark agent told me they were lying about a merger between the two.
> 
> ...



Question ?  You may be in luck, if there was a holiday involved that day should not be included in the ten (10) days period. A federal hoiliday is not a "work day."

Check your calender and bring this to the attendion of Wyndham Corprate.

Good luck.


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## learnalot (Aug 11, 2012)

SergeantChuck said:


> I wish I would have found this site sooner.
> 
> I understand I was beyond the cancellation policy.  You have ten days.  I contacted them in 12.  I never would have contacted them if it wasn't for the fact my Worldmark agent told me they were lying about a merger between the two.
> 
> ...


Sorry.  We have been told similar lies with a different twist.  My question is did you end up with WM points PLUS 84k Wyndham points? They often want to roll what you already have into a new purchase.  I don't have a direct contact at corporate but I know I saw one in a fairly recent thread.  I will search for it when I am not posting from a phone if someone else doesn't post it for you first.


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## SergeantChuck (Aug 11, 2012)

learnalot said:


> Sorry.  We have been told similar lies with a different twist.  My question is did you end up with WM points PLUS 84k Wyndham points? They often want to roll what you already have into a new purchase.  I don't have a direct contact at corporate but I know I saw one in a fairly recent thread.  I will search for it when I am not posting from a phone if someone else doesn't post it for you first.



The short version to the story.  A years ago my father deeded his WorldMark to me.  So I am relatively new to timeshares although I have used his timeshare for years. I never went to an updates until about a year ago when we made a purchase of another 100,000 points which put us at 200,000.  

To answer your question.  I still have the 200,000 WorldMark.  They did not ask me to roll what I had in WorldMark into Wyndham.  They stated there would be a merge between the two on October 31st.  All my points would cross over but if I did not own at least the bare minimun in Wyndham my perks would not cross.  I would have the points to be Platnium Elite but would get no perks. So I have two seperate accounts.  One with WorldMark (200,000) and one with Wyndham(84,000).  

Although I had used my fathers timeshare for years I never had to deal with the sales end until about a years ago.  I have only been to one update.  I primarily stayed in WorldMark timeshares and had never been harassed by sales people until I stayed at the Smoky Mountains Resort.  I used to live on the west coast but have retired from the army and settled in Illinois(wife's home state). This is why we had not stayed in many Wyndham resorts.  

I guess that really was not a short reply.


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## Rent_Share (Aug 11, 2012)

Cannot Imagine what someone would do with 200,000 WM Points


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## SergeantChuck (Aug 11, 2012)

Rent_Share said:


> Cannot Imagine what someone would do with 200,000 WM Points



Like I said earlier.  It is hard to use them all.  My father was retired so he and my mother travelled all the time.  When mom pasted away he slowed down.  They always stayed three weeks in Hawaii every February. I think they were in a resort every month.  Now that it is just him he begs me to use them on the monthly basis but I work full time so I could only do weekend trips which used a max of 7,500.  But you can use a chunk of them if you use them for plane tickets.  So that is how we burn some of them.  He finally deeded them to me since he does not travel much anymore so now I beg my brother and sisters to use them.  As all of you know.  Still takes money to travel.  May be saving on logging but still have to pay for tickets, food, fuel, and entertainment.  I'm not complaining since I got it for free.  I love it actually.  Just need to retire so I can really use it.


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## sue1947 (Aug 11, 2012)

If you have 200,000 WM credits, you don't need another timeshare.  That is enough to book 20 weeks of a 2 BR in red season.  WM is an excellent trader so you can do anything you want from that one account.  Go to www.wmowners.com to learn how to use it for both WM as well as exchanges.  If your father bought before 1991, it may also be a no housekeeping account which is even better.  

Wyndham lied to you.  There is no merger.  Wyndham does NOT own Worldmark.  WM hires Wyndham to develop new resorts and management/reservations.  They have packed the Board with their flunkies so they let them have the Worldmark trademark but they do NOT own it.  They are a slimy company and let the sales people get away with anything and everything.  Ignore any updates, presentations and the parking pass when you check in  (just a ploy to get you to the sales desk).  Don't answer the phone or door.  

You should be proceeding with a cancellation of the contract for fraud.  You are past the recission date but this is fraud pure and simple.  They are placating you and trying to make you give up and go away.  Spend a little money on a lawyer and go after them.

There is a similar thread on wmowners.com at http://www.wmowners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35351.  It's in a part of the forum that needs registration so get registered and take charge of this situation.  

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

Sue


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## Rent_Share (Aug 11, 2012)

SergeantChuck said:


> But you can use a chunk of them if you use them for plane tickets. So that is how we burn some of them.


 
1. I hope to god he didn't buy the extra 100,000 from the developer

2. When you calculate the maintenance fee cost with the associated points airfare and cruises are the least efficient usage of WM Credit

3.  If there are more than you can use I would just rent them to other owners Use the cash to buy the best value airfare or apply to the maintenance fees


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## SergeantChuck (Aug 11, 2012)

sue1947 said:


> If you have 200,000 WM credits, you don't need another timeshare.  That is enough to book 20 weeks of a 2 BR in red season.  WM is an excellent trader so you can do anything you want from that one account.  Go to www.wmowners.com to learn how to use it for both WM as well as exchanges.  If your father bought before 1991, it may also be a no housekeeping account which is even better.
> 
> Wyndham lied to you.  There is no merger.  Wyndham does NOT own Worldmark.  WM hires Wyndham to develop new resorts and management/reservations.  They have packed the Board with their flunkies so they let them have the Worldmark trademark but they do NOT own it.  They are a slimy company and let the sales people get away with anything and everything.  Ignore any updates, presentations and the parking pass when you check in  (just a ploy to get you to the sales desk).  Don't answer the phone or door.
> 
> ...



That is exactly why I am so upset.  I told the sales people and even the lawyer that I did not need these points.  The only reason I even considered doing this was because of the lies about loosing all perks.  My fathers did make his original purchase well before 1991.  The last purchase we made together was a year ago.  When he made his first purchase I believe it was something else prior to WorldMark. 

I won't give up and I won't go away.  I said it in an earlier post.  It is not about the money.  I can pay the 11,000 but would rather not.  It is about how far they took this lie.  I really never expected them to go that far.


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## SergeantChuck (Aug 11, 2012)

Rent_Share said:


> 1. I hope to god he didn't buy the extra 100,000 from the developer
> 
> 2. When you calculate the maintenance fee cost with the associated points airfare and cruises are the least efficient usage of WM Credit
> 
> 3.  If there are more than you can use I would just rent them to other owners Use the cash to buy the best value airfare or apply to the maintenance fees



This is why I am glad I found this site.  I am reading all the time. Trying to learn.  My father would never have rented them out.  Soley because he never researched how to do it and just went out of his way to use them all or beg family to use them.  I will learn how to rent them out and use that to help with maintenance fees. I do appreciate everyones input.


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## learnalot (Aug 11, 2012)

I found the email posting I was referring to earlier.  Try this for Corporate contact:  shelly.griessel@wyn.com  I have not used this address - it was posted by another owner.


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## sue1947 (Aug 11, 2012)

I'll second the recommendation to rent your excess points.  You will get a much better return by doing that.   WMowners.com has a thread to rent credits which includes a thread (http://www.wmowners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16837)  of reviews by people of those they have rented to and from which helps with the uncertainty.  Renting will give you some time to sort out what to do with the account.  

With that many credits, you may want to think about splitting off the account and selling some.  If you won't be able to use them, it doesn't make any sense to continue paying the maintenance fees.  The link above includes some recommended worldmark resellers who can be trusted to give you good information if you don't want to do it yourself.  

Sue


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## ronparise (Aug 11, 2012)

Rent_Share said:


> Cannot Imagine what someone would do with 200,000 WM Points



20 weeks at most worldmark properties

If you were looking for a second home, this would be something to consider instead.  MF is under $10000 a year. probably the best ratio of value to mf in timesharing todayand a lot cheper than buying and maintaining a second home


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## ausman (Aug 11, 2012)

SergeantChuck said:


> I paid $3,000 up front and Wyndham credit for the rest.



You have gotten great advice from prior posters regarding the Worldmark points. Renting them to other owners clearly seems the best option.

On the Wyndham points, just to be clear, what do you mean by "Wyndham credit".

The two main options would be use of a credit card or a loan.


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## pacodemountainside (Aug 11, 2012)

sue1947 said:


> If you have 200,000 WM credits, you don't need another timeshare.
> 
> Wyndham lied to you.  There is no merger.  Wyndham does NOT own Worldmark.  WM hires Wyndham to develop new resorts and management/reservations.  They have packed the Board with their flunkies so they let them have the Worldmark trademark but they do NOT own it. "
> 
> ...


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## rrlongwell (Aug 11, 2012)

SergeantChuck said:


> ... She asked me if my father had recieved his information packet on a merger that was happening on October 31st?  ... She made a statemnt that he really needed to own Wyndham points before the merger took place.  The primary reason was something to the affect of missing out on some of the perks.  His points will cross over no problem but he was supposed to miss out on something ...



The significance of the Oct 31st date is probably the "raising the bar" of  Club Wyndham Plus/Access VIP Benfits for points needed for the various VIP Status.

It appears, that according to the lengthy post above, a number of the functions relating to the two trusts (Club Wyndham Plus and Worldmark by Wyndham) have already been merged.

As has been discussed in other threads, there apparently is some "cross over" of points between the two systems if what is being referred to is the ability to use Worldmark points in a Wyndham Vaction Resorts affilated resort for a unit or the ability to use Club Wyndham Plus points for a unit at Worldmark affilated resorts.

I am not at all clear as to what either of these two points would have to do with buying anything under Club Wyndham Plus unless it was 300,000 points prior to October to get VIP Silver status with Club Wyndham Plus.

Did they offer you what they refer to as trade credit if you gave up your Worldmark by Wyndham interests for an equilvant level of use rights in Club Wyndham Plus?  I have assumed you bought into Club Wyndham Plus program (i.e. the Select program as identified in the post above, or was it in the Club Wyndham Access program?).


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## pacodemountainside (Aug 11, 2012)

*Continuation  of Post #36  More than 15K*

Wyndham Worldwide Gestation


WYNDHAM HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT


Wyndham Worldwide's corporate history can be traced back to the 1990 formation of Hospitality Franchise Systems (which changed its name to HFS Incorporated or HFS). HFS initially began as a hotel franchisor that later expanded its hospitality business and became a major real estate and car rental franchisor. In December 1997, HFS merged with CUC International, Inc., or CUC, to form Cendant Corporation (which changed its name to Avis Budget Group, Inc. in September 2006).

In October 2005, Cendant determined to separate Cendant through spin-offs into four separate companies, including a spin-off of its Hospitality Services businesses to be re-named Wyndham Worldwide Corporation. During July 2006, Cendant transferred to its subsidiary, Wyndham Worldwide Corporation, all of the assets and liabilities of Cendant's Hospitality Services businesses and on July 31, 2006, Cendant distributed all of the shares of Wyndham Worldwide common stock to the holders of Cendant common stock issued and outstanding on July 21, 2006, the record date for the distribution. The separation was effective on July 31, 2006. On August 1, 2006, we commenced "regular way" trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "WYN."

Each of our lodging, vacation exchange and rentals and vacation ownership businesses has a long operating history. Our lodging business began with the Howard Johnson and Ramada brands which opened their first hotels in 1954. RCI, our vacation exchange business, was established 37 years ago, and we have acquired and grown some of the world's most renowned vacation rentals brands with histories starting as early as Hoseasons in 1940, Landal GreenParks in 1954 and Novasol in 1968. Our vacation ownership brands, Wyndham Vacation Resorts and WorldMark by Wyndham, began vacation ownership operations in 1980 and 1989, respectively.

*******

A DIFFERENT VIeWPOINT

Greedy? | Self Dealing? | Breach of Duty? | Conflict of Interest?

The True History of Cendant, Fairfield and Wyndham

Ever wonder how your Fairfield or Trendwest(WorldMart) timeshare became a Wyndham timeshare? Ever wonder what happened to Cendant? What happened to Fairfield? And what about the rumors of executives going to jail? Wonder no more, here are the answers.

In 1997, two major companies merged to form Cendant, Hospitality Franchise Services (HFS) and Comp-U-Card (CUC). Henry Silverman was the CEO of HFS, a major hotel and real estate franchiser. Walter Forbes was the CEO of CUC, a direct marketing giant. Silverman saw this merger as an opportunity to expand the HFS brands through CUC’s existing marketing structure. They agreed to share leadership of the new company, Cendant; however, Silverman had made his millions and was stepping into retirement. When Silverman was trying to quietly step down, the merged stock prices were soaring, until April 1998, when former HFS executives discovered CUC had previously overstated their financial condition prior to the merger. Stocks plummeted $14 billion in one day as shareholders jumped ship amidst the largest accounting scandal in Wall History (Enron and Worldcom would not happen until three years later). The SEC immediately opened up an investigation of Cendant. Silverman demanded Forbes to cede management of Cendant to him, Forbes refused and eventually Cendant nearly went belly up.


Silverman cancelled his retirement and jumped back into the fire to try and restore his great reputation. I don’t recall when Forbes was out of the picture, but it was sometime around 1999 or 2000 when he was charged by the SEC with misrepresenting company profits, corporate embezzlement and generally ripping off shareholders. Forbes and his CUC executives spent five plus years on trial. In 2005, Forbes’ second-in-charge, Kirk Shelton, was convicted to 10 years in jail. (A humorous side-note is that Shelton was ordered to make financial restitution to Cendant, to the tune of $3.3 billion, payable at the rate of $2000 per month. That works out to be a payment schedule of 134,000 years! What a joke.) Finally, after eight years of trial, in October 2006, Forbes was convicted and sentenced to up to 25 years in jail. Most of the other CUC executives went down with Forbes and Shelton, but provided testimony for immunity and/or were released on technicalities. Seemingly, all of these crooks were off Cendant’s payroll before Fairfield entered the picture. Incidentally, Silverman was found guilty only of NOT doing his homework prior to choosing business partners.

Silverman was left with Cendant in a shambles. After coming out of retirement, he made great strides to rebuild his personal reputation and save Cendant. One of his first steps was to have his lawyers contact the plaintiffs of every pending lawsuit and immediately settle all of them – to the sum of several billion dollars. They dumped some brands to fund this and Silverman pitched in personally as well. He worked hard to restore his reputation, but kept the name Cendant in place until his departure in 2006. 

The way this history affects us as FairShare Plus or Worldmark owners is Silverman created Cendant Timeshare Resort Group (CTRG), a new Cendant division geared at taking full advantage of their direct-marketing resources already in place and applying them to the vacation ownership market. CTRG was headed up by Silverman’s former CFO at HFS, Stephen Holmes. (Keep in mind that Stephen Holmes worked for The Blackstone Group prior to working at HFS.) In January 2001, Cendant purchased Fairfield Communities, Inc., the developer of Fairfield Resorts and management company for the FairShare Vacation Owners Association (VOI), for $635 million. Then, in April 2002, Cendant purchased Trendwest Resorts, Inc., the developer and management company for WorldMark The Club, for $927 million. 

During this time Cendant also acquired RCI which Fairfield had a close working relationship with and around Y2K had started a points program! 


By 2004, everything was going smoothly for Cendant and its subsidiaries; Fairfield and Trendwest. Just about everyone was happy and enjoying the relationship. Silverman had regained the confidence of shareholders and built Cendant into the single largest hospitality/travel name in the industry, now a conglomerate with $20 billion in annual revenues. So, Silverman was once again content and decided to try to retire again. In October 2005, Silverman announced a decision to split Cendant into four separate companies. We will focus on the hospitality brands, which were coupled with CTRG to be spun-off in mid-2006 as Wyndham Worldwide, Inc. Other three parts were AVIS Car Rental, Century 21 Real Estate and Realogy!


Now, you might be wondering how Cendant decided to spin off a company called Wyndham? Let’s start with some quick history about the name “Wyndham”. Wyndham International, Inc., was an upscale and luxury hotel brand based out of Dallas, TX. They owned 34 hotels, 82 franchise agreements, and had 29 hotel management contracts. In August 2005, Wyndham International sold everything to Blackstone Group (a massive private investment firm that is famous for huge leveraged-buy outs and mergers) for $3.2 billion. (Don’t forget, I already mentioned Stephen Holmes used to work for Blackstone.) Within three months, Blackstone rebranded half of the most luxurious of the Wyndham hotels under their own brand, LXR Luxury Resorts; sold the remaining properties to Columbia Sussex Corp for $1.4 billion; and sold the brand name “Wyndham”, the franchise agreements, and management contracts to Cendant for $100 million. So, the only thing Cendant purchased was the leftover management contracts and the name, “Wyndham”. This was a perfect opportunity to get rid of three names that were blackened in the industry; Cendant, Fairfield and Trendwest, and replace them with a name everyone already associated with luxury travel accommodations. 

Purchasing the coveted Wyndham name for just $100 million and burying the stigmatized names was a great idea by Silverman, but he made a mistake by putting Stephen Holmes in to lead this effort. Holmes rebranded everything. CTRG became Wyndham Vacation Ownership (WVO); Fairfield Communities (which had already been renamed Fairfield Vacation Resorts) became Wyndham Vacation Resorts (WVR), and Trendwest became Wyndham Resort Development (WRD). They even tried to change the names of a few cities (Fairfield Bay and Glade), but the post office and residents didn’t like that, so they compromised by adding “by Wyndham” to the end. Everything became something-Wyndham (even the soap) and they were successful at confusing not only the public and taxi-cab drivers, but even half of the employees. 

Since 2006 the hotel-side of business was not diversified. They had enjoyed a long-time reliance on associations with businesses; hosting conferences, conventions, and discounting for business travel relationships. Holmes clearly failed to do what CEOs are paid to do; predict the impact of the gas crisis and economic downfall and shift their business strategies to remain competitive. He was behind the power curve and sought rescue from the only Wyndham Worldwide subsidiary that was still in the black; WVO, with its two primary brands, WVR (FairShare) and WVD (Worldmark), led by Franz Hanning.

Franz Hanning started with Fairfield in 1982 as a dreaded timeshare salesman. He worked his way up to become the sales manager at Kingsgate within five years. Often credited today as the "founder" or "brain-child" behind the FairShare Plus points program, it is curious to wonder how he could do that when he was still only a sales manager when the FairShare Program was fielded in early 1991. In 1992, Hanning was promoted to vice president of sales for Williamsburg and Myrtle Beach. In 1997, he became the overall vice president of sales for Fairfield. Within two years he became the Chief Operating Officer (COO), second-in-charge to Randolph Warner, the founder and CEO of Fairfield Communities.


When Cendant bought Fairfield Communities in 2001, Warner decided to retire. He made a deal with Cendant to promote Hanning to CEO of Fairfield Communities during the acquisition. So Hanning took over as CEO of Fairfield Communities in 2001, as a subsidiary of Cendant. After the spin off, Hanning took over as CEO of WVO, in charge of development and management of both WVR (FairShare) and WVD (Worldmark).

Back to Holmes and the mounting financial troubles facing Wyndham Worldwide. Following the spin off in 2006, Hanning had done a decent job of keeping WVO in the black. Right from the start, WVO started to make changes to the existing programs of each of their brands (including FairShare Plus and Worldmark), taking away benefits, and funneling inventory over to external Wyndham Worldwide programs, including Wyndham Hotels, Extra Holidays, Endless Vacations and RCI (there are others, but this mentions a few). This was all done without the permission of existing timeshare owners by using clauses built into the ownership contracts to control the Board of Directors and make decisions on “behalf of all owners” without any owner input. 

What a great concept. In fact, they were successful at abusing this relationship for a few years, but Holmes forced Hanning to dig even deeper. With the recent changes in ownership benefits for both brands, owners are finally taking up arms against this corporate breach of duty and conflict of interest.(See Bill Spearman article in Timesharing today at http:://www.wyndsham.com)


P.S. I don’t want to leave anyone hanging on the fate of Cendant’s founder, Henry Silverman. He took his meager $62 million severance package when Cendant did their split in 2006 and took over as CEO in the much slower-paced, and less controversial, spin off company, Realogy, Inc. Of course he’s doing well, but it turns out he’s always secretly been a Kid Rock fan. He took Kid Rock’s song, “She’s Half Your Age and Twice as Hot” a bit too seriously for a guy without a prenuptial. In November 2008, Silverman decided to dump his wife of over 30 years for a 28 year old chick he met in line at Starbucks. Looks like the 68 year-old Silverman won’t be retiring anytime soon if Mrs. Silverman (ex) gets what she’s trying to get from him!

Today Stephen P. Holmes is Chairman and CEO of Wyndham Worldwide!

Fran S. Hanning is President and CEO of Wyndham Vacation Ownership! Since no more Deanne Gabel a good choice for addressing ones complaints!


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## SergeantChuck (Aug 11, 2012)

basham said:


> You have gotten great advice from prior posters regarding the Worldmark points. Renting them to other owners clearly seems the best option.
> 
> On the Wyndham points, just to be clear, what do you mean by "Wyndham credit".
> 
> The two main options would be use of a credit card or a loan.



Just got back around a computer.  

I paid $3000(Bill it Later) up front and Wyndham financed the remainder.  I planned on paying that off immediately but for obvious reasons I have not.


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## SergeantChuck (Aug 11, 2012)

rrlongwell said:


> Did they offer you what they refer to as trade credit if you gave up your Worldmark by Wyndham interests for an equilvant level of use rights in Club Wyndham Plus?  I have assumed you bought into Club Wyndham Plus program (i.e. the Select program as identified in the post above, or was it in the Club Wyndham Access program?).



That was a lot to digest.  So they possibly referred to something that had already taken place on October 31, 2011 but made it seem like it was happening this October 31st?  And they did this to coax me into a sale? 

I just pulled my contract paperwork and it was infact the Club Wyndham Plus Program.  

I am glad I just pulled my contract to verify which pogram I bought.  One of the documents they made me fill out was a page that asked for three reasons why I decded to become an owner.  I only listed two and one of the reasons I listed was that I made the purchase because of a "Merge between WorldMark & Wyndham".  The lawyer made me fill that out and they obviously have the orginal.  I had forgotten I did that.


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## rrlongwell (Aug 11, 2012)

SergeantChuck said:


> ... The lawyer made me fill that out and they obviously have the orginal.  I had forgotten I did that.



Unless they broke with normal practice, there was not a lawyer.  Before you proceed into a default status, you may want to consult with a Attorney.


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## sue1947 (Aug 11, 2012)

pacodemountainside said:


> sue1947 said:
> 
> 
> > If you have 200,000 WM credits, you don't need another timeshare.
> ...


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## SergeantChuck (Aug 11, 2012)

rrlongwell said:


> Unless they broke with normal practice, there was not a lawyer.  Before you proceed into a default status, you may want to consult with a Attorney.



I thought they said she was a lawyer.  I think her title was Quality Assurance Officer.

I doubt I will every get a lawyer.  The money I would spend on that might as well be used to pay off the amount financed.


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## rrlongwell (Aug 11, 2012)

SergeantChuck said:


> I thought they said she was a lawyer.  I think her title was Quality Assurance Officer.
> 
> I doubt I will every get a lawyer.  The money I would spend on that might as well be used to pay off the amount financed.



Yes, I think all the sales offices have that title and they do get involved in the sales process.


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## pacodemountainside (Aug 12, 2012)

sue1947 said:


> pacodemountainside said:
> 
> 
> > Actually you are the one who needs to do some homework.  As a Worldmark owner before Cendant took over, I am well aware of the situation.  Trendwest was the manager and developer for the club which is owned by it's members.  Cendant (now Wyndham) purchased Trendwest and it's agreement to manage and develop for Worldmark.  Again, they did not purchase Worldmark.   Wyndham then used their votes via the developer owned credits to appoint/elect their employees to the Board.  That Board sold (actually gave) the trademark Worldmark to Wydham so they now use Worldmark by Wyndham in an effort to confuse owners into thinking they are customers not owners.  They have evidently been successful with you but not with those of us that actually own Worldmark and know something about it.
> ...


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## sue1947 (Aug 12, 2012)

To the OP:  On your Worldmark account:  do you have any credits that are about to expire?  and any Housekeeping tokens?  If so, go to the rental thread and www.wmowners.com and rent them out for .055-.06 cents/credit and about $60 per housekeeping token.  If you don't have any of the latter, that likely means you have a grandfathered account which is more valuable.   Sounds like your father had a grandfathered account but when you added points to the account, if it's not done correctly, the grandfathered status goes away.  Grandfathered accounts aren't charged housekeeping so are more valuable.  

 In addition, there is an election coming up for members of the Board.  With that many credits, you have a lot of voting power and could really help in our attempt to get an independent owner on the Board to represent owners and not Wyndham.  Please go to http://www.wmowners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=34359 and fill out the form to assign your voting proxy to WMOwners.com, Inc.   They keep track of the issues and maximize the owners voice in an election by voting as a block.  You can be assured that your votes have the maximum value.  

Sue


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## sue1947 (Aug 12, 2012)

pacodemountainside said:


> sue1947 said:
> 
> 
> > WOW!  A  lot of people are in for a shock!
> ...


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## cotraveller (Aug 12, 2012)

Sue is right.  Read the WorldMark governing documents. Actually you need to study them carefully.  You will find that despite what the sales literature tries to imply, and what the convoluted naming systems tries to imply, Wyndham does not own WorldMark.

Wyndham is the developer and manager for WorldMark. WorldMark is a separate and distinct corporation, not a subsidary or any other such of Wyndham.


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## ronparise (Aug 12, 2012)

Paco

Worldmark members iike to pretend that they are different from other timeshares. and they really get their panties twisted when someone suggests that Wyndham owns their club.  They are right to a degree in that it is a club, that no one owns, But thats really no different than Club Wyndham Plus or Club Wyndham Access.  Wyndham doesnt own our resorts either; we do. And its the same thing with other timeshare systems too

What Wyndham does own (with regard to Worldmark) are the development rights and the management contract and all the unsold credits and "foreclosed" credits, which of course is everything that matters and everything that they need to control the club and profit from it

The worldmark owners remind me of an 18 year old that lives at home with mom and dad and dependent on them for everything; pretending that they are independent adults and that they dont have to obey the house rules...Its just a little sad to watch


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## cotraveller (Aug 12, 2012)

ronparise said:


> The worldmark owners remind me of an 18 year old that lives at home with mom and dad and dependent on them for everything; pretending that they are independent adults and that they dont have to obey the house rules...Its just a little sad to watch



Since you are now a WorldMark owner are you including yourself in that description?


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## ronparise (Aug 12, 2012)

cotraveller said:


> Since you are now a WorldMark owner are you including yourself in that description?



I didnt get that way when I bought into worldmark, but I think im a good fit there because Ive always been a little detached from reality, at least since I discovered LSD in the 1960's. Also sad to watch


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## pacodemountainside (Aug 12, 2012)

I think Fred  and Sue are confounding an errorneous opinion!  I have  gone to WM  web site and can find nothing where it says anything  about anyone other than Wyndham, et. al. owning  100% of WM  stock. I would certainly  be interested in seeing any  creditable document Fred, Sue, the Pope or any one else own.

Have not been to WM sales pitch in about 5 years. Their sugar   laced kool-aid is not good for my diabeties and incentives suck.. Prefer Mexico where  great breakfast buffet with a couple Miamosas, then  after tour  they ply one with Coronas and Margaritas  to sign up. Take the $300 cash  and run.

WVR  sells Wyndham time shares.  You get an UDI  deed which is duly recorded. You have a tiny fractional ownership at some resort and are a member of HOA and have voting rights.  WVR is out of picture other than they have  sweetheart  management contract.  One is also automatically enrolled in VOI Trust. This Trust is supposed to be run by seven BODs but Wyndham has  chosen to ignore and put 3 of its hunchos on Board instead.

Alternatively, WVR  sells you a membership in CWA and deed is  deposited with them. One is a member of Trust and has a vote.

Likewise, WVD  a wholy owned subsidary of Wyndham, et. al. sells memberships  in  WorldMark Trust. Trust members own and have voting right in Trust but no say in WVD   corporate operations.


WYN  stockholders  benefit when sales weasels  scam a lot of people into buying  at outrageous prices  and stock and dividends go up. CWA and WM Trust beneficaires get nothing as they are not stockowners.


Of course, if Trust beneficaries  default on  loans then they revert to Wyndham  who  becomes  Trust member owner and can vote as they see fit.


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## cotraveller (Aug 12, 2012)

pacodemountainside said:


> I think Fred  and Sue are confounding an errorneous opinion!  I have  gone to WM  web site and can find nothing where it says anything  about anyone other than Wyndham, et. al. owning  100% of WM  stock. I would certainly  be interested in seeing any  creditable document Fred, Sue, the Pope or any one else own.



I would certainly be interested in seeing any credible document that you, the Pope or the Queen of England own or have access to that says that anyone owns even one share of WorldMark, the Club stock.  That kool-aid from five years ago must have been really strong.  It is still affecting you.

From the WorldMark web site, in the area which only owners can access and non-owners cannot (which may the reason for your confusion):

"_Originally known as Trendwest Resorts, Inc., Wyndham Resort Development Corporation (*dba WorldMark by Wyndham*) created and developed WorldMark, The Club._" Note that it does not say that Wyndham or any of its parts own WorldMark, the Club.  

I put emphasis on the doing business as (dba) part so maybe the name confusion would become clear to all.  WorldMark, the Club is incorporated in California as a non-profit mutual benefit corporation. It is not owned by Wyndham Worldwide Corporation, Wyndham Resort Development Corporation, Wyndham Vacation Ownership, or any other individual or organization.


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## ronparise (Aug 12, 2012)

Fred and Paco

You are both right



Wyndham owns "WorldMark by Wyndham"  (Trendwest Resorts, Inc)

The membership owns "Worldmark the Club"


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## cotraveller (Aug 12, 2012)

ronparise said:


> Fred and Paco
> 
> You are both right
> 
> ...



I recognize them as two separate and distinct organizations. Paco does not seem to acknowledge or recognize that fact.


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## HudsHut (Aug 13, 2012)

Rent_Share said:


> 1. I hope to God he didn't buy the extra 100,000 from the developer
> 2. When you calculate the maintenance fee cost with the associated points, airfare and cruises are the least efficient usage of WM Credits
> 3.  If there are more than you can use, I would just rent them to other owners. Use the cash to buy the best value airfare or apply to the maintenance fees





SergeantChuck said:


> The short version to the story.  A years ago my father deeded his WorldMark to me.  So I am relatively new to timeshares although I have used his timeshare for years. I never went to an updates until about a year ago when we made a purchase of another 100,000 points which put us at 200,000.



Rent_Share: 
Yes, all 200K are from developer. 

SergeantChuck:
Welcome to TUG. I also heartily recommend that you check your WorldMark expiration dates and be sure to rent out any excess credits that expire within the next year. There are many owners with small accounts who would love to rent your excess credits. 
Your parents bought into Club Esprit. Those accounts were "grandfathered no housekeeping" accounts. WorldMark's housekeeping fees increase every year, but these accounts are exempt from paying housekeeping fees. 

WorldMark is a great timeshare, and you should be getting much more value out of it than you are. To really learn how to use your WM account, please join us at 
http://www.wmowners.com/forum

This post is pertinent to your size account. It compares the net maintenance fee cost of having 
100K account, renting out 70K and using 30K vs having
5K account, renting in 25K to get to 30K.
http://www.wmowners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=296028#296028

Don't give up on your efforts to rescind the Wyndham contract. I wish you the best.


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## melschey (Aug 13, 2012)

pacodemountainside said:


> sue1947 said:
> 
> 
> > WOW!  A  lot of people are in for a shock!
> ...


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## ledaga (Aug 14, 2012)

I was told by an employee of Wyndham and not related to sales staffs that WM and Wyndham were under a court order to merge the systems in 5 years so points could be used in both systems and either could book in either using their points not like the limited method used now.  This is supposed to be year 3  at end of 2011 and we will be seeing some beginnings in 2012.  True or false.  I treat them as all lies normally except the person informed me not to listen to the sales weasels.


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## SergeantChuck (Aug 14, 2012)

hudshut said:


> Rent_Share:
> Yes, all 200K are from developer.
> 
> SergeantChuck:
> ...



Thanks for the information.  I appreciate the links.  I will go over to the WM forum and sign up. 

I appreciate the post on the rent vs. own situation.  I will be looking into this.


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## easyrider (Aug 14, 2012)

Chuck, once you learn how to use these wm points you will see how easy it is to use. I wish I had 200K points and free housekeeping. 

Good Luck
Bill

ps. If you decide you need to shed some points shoot me a pm.


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## rickandcindy23 (Aug 14, 2012)

Exactly what I was thinking the entire thread: Wish I owned that many points with free housekeeping.  That's awesome and valuable!


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## tschwa2 (Aug 14, 2012)

Date wise you are likely to have the No Housekeeping account but they were only sold in certain location.  Also they may have tried to change you over to a new account number when they sold you the additional points.  With 200K credits, that you sometimes use to convert to plane tickets and such, you may not have noticed if you never reached the "free' allowance on regular accounts.  Here is an old article form the Worldmark forum on these accounts.  They are more valuable on the resale market but when you rent points out to others or they rent them out to you I do not believe the NHK part transfers.  Also if you sell only part of your account the NHK will not transfer. It only transfers if the account number goes with the sale.


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## pacodemountainside (Aug 14, 2012)

cotraveller said:


> I would certainly be interested in seeing any credible document that you, the Pope or the Queen of England own or have access to that says that anyone owns even one share of WorldMark, the Club stock.  That kool-aid from five years ago must have been really strong.  It is still affecting you.
> 
> From the WorldMark web site, in the area which only owners can access and non-owners cannot (which may the reason for your confusion):
> 
> ...





Fred: Suggest you read my posts more closely.



Typically  when  posters  refer to Wyndham here they are referring to  WVR  and sales weasels. If  discuusing  benefits then  to VOI Trust and  CWA  Trust  and so state!



Likewise with WorldMark  and WVD. Sue's post  would clearly lead one  to  believe  she was referring to  Wyndham  owned sales subsidary not a Trust. Had she  simple  specified  WM the Club would have breezed past her post  past kool-aid bar on way to Margarita Bar.



As far as I know Trusts are created   to benefit members and beneficiaries  who may or may not have conributed to. Generally if one contributes a la CWA  or  WorldMart  they have a membership and run through elected BOD!. Not sure about Trusts that Rockafellers , Bill Gates and others create for tax and  special purposes.. Of course,  based on governing documents  Trusts  do own stocks.


WVR sells Wyndham time shares. You get an UDI deed which is duly recorded. You have a tiny fractional ownership at some resort and are a member of HOA and have voting rights. WVR is out of picture other than they have sweetheart management contract. One is also automatically enrolled in VOI Trust. This Trust is supposed to be run by seven BODs but Wyndham has chosen to ignore and put 3 of its hunchos on Board instead.

Alternatively, WVR sells you a membership in CWA and deed is deposited with them. One is a member of Trust and has a vote.

Likewise, WVD a wholy owned subsidary of Wyndham, et. al. sells memberships in WorldMark Club Trust. Trust members **** OWN****  and have voting right in Trust but no say in WVD corporate operations.


No where  have I said  Wyndham, the Pope  or any third party owns the Club.


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## SergeantChuck (Aug 14, 2012)

I am going to get sit down with my father and go over things with him.  Specifically the items that have been mentioned here.  He has been at this for a long time and I'm sure is aware of most of what you are telling me.  He just opted not to rent his points.  

I'm headed to Lake of the Ozarks tomorrow.  

I should be hearing something from Wyndham by Friday.


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## SergeantChuck (Aug 24, 2012)

Well since I started this thread I figured I would give everyone an update.  I received a letter from Wyndham today stating they would be cancelling my contract. I never really had to get mean about it.  I called a few times but not more than five.  They investigated my claims and agreed to cancel the contract.  The cancellation has been initiated but will take up to 6-8 weeks.  They will give me a full refund of all monies paid.  

I will say that I am very pleased with the customer service I received from corporate HQ.  The owner care rep was very professional and I will go out on a limb and say she was on my side. 

The sales people at Smoky Mountains are a completely different story.  Be careful while visiting that resort.  They don’t just slightly stretch the truth. 

Thanks for all the advice.  I do appreciate it.  

I have nothing against Wyndham but in the near future will stay solely with WorldMark.


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## Sandi Bo (Aug 25, 2012)

I am glad this worked out well for you.  Thank you for keeping us updated.

The resort management and sales are separate entities, if you can keep away from the sales side of things (a firm NO at check-in and/or unplugged phone) and Wyndham stays can be great experiences.  I don't want to sidetrack your thread, I will start a new one regarding a recent stay. But I will say here that my oldest brother remarked how much better he felt about being an owner following our latest (practically sales-free) stay. 

Enjoy your Worldmark!


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## SergeantChuck (Sep 24, 2012)

I wanted to thank everyone that gave me advice.  

I received my notice from Wyndham cancelling my contract, I receive all my money back, and the maintenance fees did not come out on the 10th as they had done for three consecutive months. 

I am very happy I stumbled on this board. 

Thanks Again!!!


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## alexadeparis (Sep 25, 2012)

That is great news!


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