# Has  this happened to you [Exchange Cancelled]



## tedk (Jan 14, 2013)

Last week we had a phone call from RCI concerning an exchange we had in summer 2014 to a UK resort. They said that due to the owner selling the week and the new owner not a RCI member, we had therefore lost our exchange. She was very apologetic, and said we would be put on a priority search for another week. So we now await results, at least time is on our side.

Ted


----------



## dougp26364 (Jan 14, 2013)

With RCI and summer weeks this seems to be a regular occurance. This is about as early as I've seen a thread started for RCI summer cancellations. It seems to me there's usually a couple of threads about last minute cancellations the crop up every year. Typically it seems to involve Florida weeks. So this being January and this being a Uk week is a little unique. The story line is similar. RCI also uses the overbooking line when it comes to exchange cancellations. 

I'm always amazed that a confirmed deposit can be cancelled. I don't trade with RCI so I can't say how they handle deposits. It's my understanding that with I.I, once a deposit has been made there are no take backs, even when the week is sold. I'd half expect RCI to have a similar policy but apparently I'm wrong.


----------



## csxjohn (Jan 14, 2013)

So conceivably a RCI member could bank a week, use the exchange, sell their week and get paid from the buyer for the MF already paid out and end up with a free week usage.

I wouldn't put it past RCI to rent this week to someone who requested it and then lied to you.

The resort had to know that the week was deposited by the previous owner and therefore the new owner's usage would not start until the next year.

RCI does contact resorts to make sure a potential deposit is truly available, don't they?


----------



## Sandy VDH (Jan 14, 2013)

Better to find out now than on short notice.  At least you have time to a) find another resort, or b) find an alternative arrangement. 

I had a resort pull a week, three weeks prior to our trip to Nevis in the Caribbean.  We had airfare booked, diving booked, transfers and transportation.  Talk about a scramble. 

This was an II exchange, and the owner just refused any more inbound to the small boutique timeshare.  Apparently he did not understand that inbound trades didn't always equate to a sale of one of his timeshare units. 

So consider yourself lucky you have time to work alternates.


----------



## vckempson (Jan 14, 2013)

So how (or why) exactly is a confirmed deposit pulled back out of the system once someone's taken it as an exchange?  Once a resort confirms the deposit, shouldn't it final?  

Or is it that these are deposits that aren't confirmed, but just deposited online by the owner.  Then maybe at a later date RCI becomes aware that it was never confirmed by the resort?


----------



## tedk (Jan 14, 2013)

All i can gather is the week was deposited, i took it when it showed up on line. Couple of months later the owner at the time i booked the week, decided to sell the week. The resort i presume then tells RCI what has happened, then yours truly gets told your your week has gone. RCI will try and get us another week, not specifically the same resort. I have told them the area and what dates we will take,so hopefully they will come up with something.
ted


----------



## nursie (Jan 14, 2013)

I had 3 consecutive weeks booked in Texas at 3 different resorts. The first resort confirmed pulled it's week, told RCI they had a bunch of weeks that were deposited 'in error' and RCI was therefore trying to get people substitute weeks to fill in. 
I had a specialist at RCI working on it and although we did have to change check in date by 1 day we cancelled and rebooked the 3 weeks we needed to match up for checking in and checking out. My RCI rep worked her magic and we ended up staying at a better resort and it all worked out. It was a summer week in San Antonio and I had a small panic when she told me what happened but it sounds like it was out of RCI's hands and was based on management at the Resort who deposited the exchanges.
I'm sure that RCI in working with thousands of resorts has unforeseen things happen with resorts that are out of their hands.
Hopefully they will have a vacation specialist working the details out and booking you another UK resort ASAP!


----------



## vckempson (Jan 14, 2013)

tedk said:


> All i can gather is the week was deposited, i took it when it showed up on line. Couple of months later the owner at the time i booked the week, decided to sell the week. The resort i presume then tells RCI what has happened, then yours truly gets told your your week has gone. RCI will try and get us another week, not specifically the same resort. I have told them the area and what dates we will take,so hopefully they will come up with something.
> ted



What's confusing to me is that when selling a timeshare, deposited weeks don't go to the new owner, they stay deposited at RCI.  The ownership transfer shouldn't have anything to do with the loss of the week.  I understand that weeks get pulled back for a variety of reasons, but that's not one of them.


----------



## MuranoJo (Jan 14, 2013)

vckempson said:


> What's confusing to me is that when selling a timeshare, deposited weeks don't go to the new owner, they stay deposited at RCI.  The ownership transfer shouldn't have anything to do with the loss of the week.  I understand that weeks get pulled back for a variety of reasons, but that's not one of them.



Same here...somewhat.  There are ways to transfer the *exchange value *of a deposited week to a new owner (if it hasn't been used by the one who deposited it). But the deposited week, when taken by another exchanger, should not be impacted by the sale of the resort week.  Unless, as someone else suggested, the original owner never paid the m/f before it was deposited.  I guess some resorts allow this.


----------



## npey (Jan 15, 2013)

If renouncing the rights to a week, how can you get it back? It is like giving a child up for adoption and then reclaiming him? Is it not binding?


----------



## geekette (Jan 15, 2013)

RCI can do whatever they want and tell the customer whatever they want.

Definitely stay on them, this Should Not happen.  

I had an exchange cancelled for a completely different reason (uninhabitable due to nature) and they got me a great replacement.

I am glad that you have a lot of lead time as yours will not be easy to replace.

I would, however, question how a banked AND CLAIMED FOR EXCHANGE week could be taken back.  But stay NICE, you need the replacement week ; )


----------



## DaveNV (Jan 15, 2013)

The one time this happened to me was because the owner had deposited the week, allowing me to take the exchange, but then defaulted on the maintenance fees, resulting in the resort taking back the week. It was, in effect, transferring the week to a new owner. Since mf's hadn't been paid on the deposited week, the time was no longer available for exchange, and I lost the exchange. To their credit, RCI jumped through hoops, and got me an identical replacement week at the same resort within a week or two.

Hope you can get things sorted out. As has been said, at least you have time to work with.

Good luck!

Dave


----------



## tedk (Jan 15, 2013)

Many thanks for all your reply's, at the end of the day the only people who can put it right are RCI. I believe they will, just a matter of when. We don't have to worry about booking a flight, just enough fuel in the car petrol tank. 
Ted


----------



## dougp26364 (Jan 15, 2013)

csxjohn said:


> So conceivably a RCI member could bank a week, use the exchange, sell their week and get paid from the buyer for the MF already paid out and end up with a free week usage.
> 
> I wouldn't put it past RCI to rent this week to someone who requested it and then lied to you.
> 
> ...



Just to play the devil's advocate, maybe this is an instance of RCI *assuming* inventory from past history of buld banking from a resort, only to be wrong and not actually get that particluar week. Perhaps they're confirming exchanges before they actually have the inventory. Perhaps they're assuming they'll get certain weeks deposited and offering them before they those weeks are actually deposited. Then when they're not deposited, they have to come up with some excuse to cancel the reservation.........Or they could just be renting the week for profit. 

Anyone who reads anything I post about RCI knows it's rarely, if ever, positive. I don't like them or trust them as an exchange company. It really wouldn't matter to me if they confirmed an exchange for a week they don't have or if the cancel the week because they can rent it for profit. Either way, they're canceling a "confirmed" exchange and that can lead to all sorts of problems for a family planning  vacation. They're not a company I wish to use to plan our vacations and I don't feel they're a company that can be trusted or relyed upon.


----------



## dougp26364 (Jan 15, 2013)

BMWguynw said:


> The one time this happened to me was because the owner had deposited the week, allowing me to take the exchange, but then defaulted on the maintenance fees, resulting in the resort taking back the week. It was, in effect, transferring the week to a new owner. Since mf's hadn't been paid on the deposited week, the time was no longer available for exchange, and I lost the exchange. To their credit, RCI jumped through hoops, and got me an identical replacement week at the same resort within a week or two.
> 
> Hope you can get things sorted out. As has been said, at least you have time to work with.
> 
> ...



Then this is a policy failure on RCI's part. Resorts should have the understanding that once they release inventory for exchange, it's gone. There are no give backs. Allowing this policy leads to hardship for RCI members trying to plan vacations. 

Good for RCI to make it right. Bad for RCI to allow this policy in the first place. There's a simple solution.......NO GIVE BACKS. Put it on the resort to make a policy that protects the resort and the HOA. Some of my resorts require advance MF payment before they'll release a week for exchange. A simple policy change by the HOA would end this frustration for RCI customers. RCI would get their weeks, the HOA would be protected from defaults to some degree.


----------



## DaveNV (Jan 18, 2013)

dougp26364 said:


> Then this is a policy failure on RCI's part. Resorts should have the understanding that once they release inventory for exchange, it's gone. There are no give backs. Allowing this policy leads to hardship for RCI members trying to plan vacations.
> 
> Good for RCI to make it right. Bad for RCI to allow this policy in the first place. There's a simple solution.......NO GIVE BACKS. Put it on the resort to make a policy that protects the resort and the HOA. Some of my resorts require advance MF payment before they'll release a week for exchange. A simple policy change by the HOA would end this frustration for RCI customers. RCI would get their weeks, the HOA would be protected from defaults to some degree.




I agree it should never have happened.  It was before RCI converted Weeks to TPUs, so I don't know if the policy is different now.  I remember being pretty upset at the time, because I had nonrefundable plane tickets and such.  But as I say, within a week or two RCI replaced the week, and everything went off without a hitch.

But then, this was RCI, after all. The story they fed me may have all been a bunch of imaginary garbage.  At the time, and by the way they handled it, I'm inclined to believe their story.  Consider the source.  

Dave


----------



## dioxide45 (Jan 18, 2013)

I think what is happening is that RCI is confirming exchanges based on anticipated deposits. There is no actual deposit there when the exchange is happening so early, but RCI anticipates deposits so they offer up the week. When the anticipated deposit doesn't happen, they have to do something. Does HGVC really deposit 18-20 months in advance? Or does it just look that way because RCI is offering up the exchanges?


----------



## dougp26364 (Jan 19, 2013)

dioxide45 said:


> I think what is happening is that RCI is confirming exchanges based on anticipated deposits. There is no actual deposit there when the exchange is happening so early, but RCI anticipates deposits so they offer up the week. When the anticipated deposit doesn't happen, they have to do something. Does HGVC really deposit 18-20 months in advance? Or does it just look that way because RCI is offering up the exchanges?



I have no proof but, my belief is that HGVC isn't making deposits that far in advance. Being a HGVC owner, I have good access to most of their inventory up to 6 months in advance (excpetion would be Oahu). Keep in mind that even HGVC owners can't book non-home resort week until 9 months from their check out date. It's hard to fathom HGVC releasing inventory to RCI when they don't even release the same inventory to their owners. 

I suspect RCI may be confirming based on the assumption of available inventory. From the number of posts about RCI cancelling exchanges that crop up on TUG, I'd say their not as good at it as they would like to be.


----------



## dioxide45 (Jan 19, 2013)

dougp26364 said:


> I have no proof but, my belief is that HGVC isn't making deposits that far in advance. Being a HGVC owner, I have good access to most of their inventory up to 6 months in advance (excpetion would be Oahu). Keep in mind that even HGVC owners can't book non-home resort week until 9 months from their check out date. It's hard to fathom HGVC releasing inventory to RCI when they don't even release the same inventory to their owners.
> 
> I suspect RCI may be confirming based on the assumption of available inventory. From the number of posts about RCI cancelling exchanges that crop up on TUG, I'd say their not as good at it as they would like to be.



So could the same be true for Starwood in II? There are very often bulk bankings of Starwood weeks in to II very early. I think even earlier than Starwood owners can reserve at their home resort. If II is doing this for Starwood, they don't seem to be doing the same with Marriott weeks. Though we don't seem to see the same issues with cancelled exchanges with II. It only seems to be an RCI phenomenon.


----------



## djyamyam (Jan 19, 2013)

BMWguynw said:


> I agree it should never have happened.  It was before RCI converted Weeks to TPUs, so I don't know if the policy is different now.  I remember being pretty upset at the time, because I had nonrefundable plane tickets and such.  But as I say, within a week or two RCI replaced the week, and everything went off without a hitch.
> 
> But then, this was RCI, after all. The story they fed me may have all been a bunch of imaginary garbage.  At the time, and by the way they handled it, I'm inclined to believe their story.  Consider the source.
> 
> Dave





dioxide45 said:


> I think what is happening is that RCI is confirming exchanges based on anticipated deposits. There is no actual deposit there when the exchange is happening so early, but RCI anticipates deposits so they offer up the week. When the anticipated deposit doesn't happen, they have to do something. Does HGVC really deposit 18-20 months in advance? Or does it just look that way because RCI is offering up the exchanges?



I know everyone always is suspicious of big bad RCI, (and with reason to).  However, having been on the board of an HOA, I can confirm that what happened to BMWguys is real as our HOA almost did that to RCI about pulling back a block of deposited inventory because of non-payment of MFs by the owner.  As a smaller resort, the resort needs to be made whole so they are not going to give up a free week because now they are passing on the expense to the other owners.  I will say that RCI stepped up and paid money to the resort in order to not negatively impact their members.  They did this because it was prime demand season in a low supply inventory location.  

Generally, at the end of the day, it is the resort that controls where the inventory actually comes from - RCI controls the distribution of how that inventory gets allocated (whether exchange or rental).  i think there is some wiggle on that with the larger resorts where a developer is still involved and politics some come into play.  However, I would stand by my statement for smaller resorts.


----------



## Tamaradarann (Jan 22, 2013)

*Resort Closed for Emergency Cancels Reservation*



BMWguynw said:


> I agree it should never have happened.  It was before RCI converted Weeks to TPUs, so I don't know if the policy is different now.  I remember being pretty upset at the time, because I had nonrefundable plane tickets and such.  But as I say, within a week or two RCI replaced the week, and everything went off without a hitch.
> 
> But then, this was RCI, after all. The story they fed me may have all been a bunch of imaginary garbage.  At the time, and by the way they handled it, I'm inclined to believe their story.  Consider the source.
> 
> Dave



We didn't have our reservation cancelled due to someone pulling their deposit, but we did have reservation cancelled due to an emergency which closed the resort.  RCI worked with us to resolve the situation very satisfactorily.


----------



## SmithOp (Jan 23, 2013)

dioxide45 said:


> I think what is happening is that RCI is confirming exchanges based on anticipated deposits. There is no actual deposit there when the exchange is happening so early, but RCI anticipates deposits so they offer up the week. When the anticipated deposit doesn't happen, they have to do something. Does HGVC really deposit 18-20 months in advance? Or does it just look that way because RCI is offering up the exchanges?



HGVC does bulk deposits in April/May for the following year.


----------



## tschwa2 (Jan 23, 2013)

The OP is talking about (probably a small) UK resort.  Not one that bulk deposits.  My guess is either the owner deposited in multiple exchanging companies not know what they were doing or was in the process of selling with the 2014 use year going to the new owner and last minute while the sale was still closing, the seller decided to deposit the week and get out a quick exchange hoping that no one would realize what happened or the deposit was made by phone and the wrong week was deposited by the RCI agent.  


The good news is that is was found out early before airline tickets were even possible and not last minute.  It sucks to think you have the exchange you want 18 months early only to find out you don't but there is time and you should be jumped up to the front of the line to get any additional deposits.


----------



## tedk (Jan 24, 2013)

It is a smallish resort that does not bulk bank. The problem with the UK summer weeks there are lots of people with requests in.  We live in hope, with time on our side.


----------



## BigRedOne (Jan 24, 2013)

I haven’t trusted RCI ever since Fairfield purchased them.  I never had problems finding what I wanted back then but when RCI sold everything seemed to change. I guess RCI hasn’t learned anything from the lawsuit they lost a couple of years ago. My RCI membership expires in mid-2014 and I probably will not renew.  My resort will not allow a deposit into RCI unless the maintenance fees are already paid; I am surprised there are resorts that allow deposits before all fees are paid.


----------



## 2chuck (Jan 27, 2013)

*RCI sure checked out my deposit with the resort*

I'm not buying that idea that RCI doesn't check with the resort for paid up M.F.  I deposited my studio side of a lockoff 12 mos in advance right after I paid my M.F. by check.  RCI bounced it saying that my M.F. was not recorded by the resort as paid.  I found that the Mgt Co handling the resort was so busy that they sat on my check for almost 3 wks.  I had to make several calls to get it verified before RCI would give me credit for it.  In my case they absolutely verified my deposit.  It didn't affect my trading power, but it was a hassle.


----------



## dioxide45 (Jan 27, 2013)

2chuck said:


> I'm not buying that idea that RCI doesn't check with the resort for paid up M.F.  I deposited my studio side of a lockoff 12 mos in advance right after I paid my M.F. by check.  RCI bounced it saying that my M.F. was not recorded by the resort as paid.  I found that the Mgt Co handling the resort was so busy that they sat on my check for almost 3 wks.  I had to make several calls to get it verified before RCI would give me credit for it.  In my case they absolutely verified my deposit.  It didn't affect my trading power, but it was a hassle.



Not all properties require you to pay the MFs before depositing the unit in to II or RCI. So if the resort doesn't require MFs to be paid prior to depositing, RCI won't check for this.


----------



## dioxide45 (Jan 27, 2013)

SmithOp said:


> HGVC does bulk deposits in April/May for the following year.



I know that people see these bulks online in April/May for the following year, but is HGVC actually doing physical deposits or is RCI just offering them up based on anticipated bulk or owner banks?


----------



## tschwa2 (Jan 27, 2013)

dioxide45 said:


> I know that people see these bulks online in April/May for the following year, but is HGVC actually doing physical deposits or is RCI just offering them up based on anticipated bulk or owner banks?



I would think they would have to be actual deposits.  How in the world could RCI say there will be a 1 bedroom for x date, another 1 bedroom on y date, a 2 bedroom on y date, and a studio on z date?

RCI might have an idea or even have a contract for so many units for the year or the month or season but no way could they be so specific about what will be offered without a really strongly worded warning that you are exchanging based on anticipated units and not deposited ones.

Starwood has been depositing units with RCI for several years before owners at the resort were entitled to reserve those units (13-15 months in advance of check out days).  Every time I saw it I would write my HOA demanding an explanation on how the developer could take units out of the float pool before owners could.  There is no supporting documentation in the CC&R's giving anyone the right to take these units before the 12 month mark.  The HOA never answered me.  I gave away that unit.  They still do it.  The do it because they allow owners to deposit with RCI 12 months in advance of Jan 1 of the use year and have to give an actual deposit somewhere in the owners float season and have to give enough units to make up the average tpu's awarded.


----------



## Laurie (Jan 28, 2013)

Yes, it has happened to me, more than once. 

First time was Scotland, reason given to me: "owner decided to take back the week." Huh? I thought bankings are final, at least mine are, especially if someone has already taken what I banked. (Someone at RCI implied that rules in RCI Europe are more lax than in the US, don't know whether this was fact.) This cancellation messed up a 4-week sequence of back-to-back exchanges I had strung together. They finally came up with a replacement week into same resort, but a different week, so I ended up cancelling another confirmation (no reimbursement) to make the itinerary work.

Second time in Italy, reason given: "resort changed calendar."  Same situation, I had a few back-to-back weeks. They finally replaced the week for same dates, after much hassle, and only because another TUGger let me know RCI had auto-matched her general ongoing search, and she had it on hold (not confirmed) in her account and didn't want it. RCI wouldn't release it from her account into mine without signatures - emails/phone calls were insufficient.

I've had other cancellations due to resort closures and natural disasters, all understandable, except that a few times, RCI didn't notify me timely - in fact, in 2 cases, I found out about them (one a flood, the other a huricane, units uninhabitable) by calling the resorts, and could barely get RCI to believe me that the exchange couldn't take place - it took several repetitive phone calls to RCI, where customer service follow-up can be lacking, to say the least.

I trade thru RCI because their resort choices are the best for me. But reaching a knowledgeable customer service rep can be difficult and hit-or-miss (there are some, but so many aren't) and I don't like how confirmatin cancellations are handled there.


----------



## SmithOp (Jan 28, 2013)

dioxide45 said:


> I know that people see these bulks online in April/May for the following year, but is HGVC actually doing physical deposits or is RCI just offering them up based on anticipated bulk or owner banks?



It may be a combination of owner banks, unsold weeks, and anticipation based on the contract between HGVC and RCI.


----------



## tedk (Apr 30, 2013)

Well RCI today came up with the goods, got me an exchange in the UK one day out from what they cancelled. Had to laugh after though as they tried to charge me more for the exchange as it was done over the phone. I said that i had already paid the exchange fee and it was not me that cancelled, after a chat with her boss she came back and said it had all been sorted - no extra fee.I had my doubts they would come up with anything but they did. The resort is Woodford Bridge Club id 1916, so i'm happy.

Ted


----------



## eal (Apr 30, 2013)

Great news! Hope you have a wonderful vacation


----------



## rhonda (Apr 30, 2013)

Glad for the happy outcome!  Enjoy your exchange!


----------



## geekette (Apr 30, 2013)

Good ole RCI, trying to charge a fee to correct their own bungle (or allowing resort bungle)!

I am so glad this has worked out for you!!


----------



## Dori (Apr 30, 2013)

I am so glad that RCI finally came through for you. it must have been very nere-wracking to have to wait so long for them to make things right. Enjoy your exchange!

Dori


----------

