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Renting on TUG

pikndabase

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I am interested in renting at Pono Kai and have contacted one of the renters on TUG. I have rented in the past on Ebay but never on this site before. I have read the post about verifying if rentals are legit. I still feel uneasy about this transaction because of horror stories I have read about renting...... Any suggestions are appreciated.....
Thank You
 

TUGBrian

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cgeidl

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I have rented on TUG about ten times and have always been pleased. Please look to see if the renter has many posts and read several of them. After this I trust them if all seems good. True I may have not done all my homework but even with all of today’s scams I feel most all people posting places to,rent are legit on TUG.
 

DeniseM

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If you follow the TUG guidelines for verifying a rental, it is just about impossible to get scammed - because you verify your reservation with the resort or resort management company.

The big advantage when you rent from an owner is that you can save as much as 50%. However, renting privately is not for everyone. Some people would rather pay more, for the security of renting directly from the resort, and that's your prerogative.

On a few occasions I have had renters who were so suspicious and nervous, that I declined to rent to them, because it just wasn't worth the hassle. Recently I had an attorney who wanted to rent an inexpensive rental from me, but he wanted to re-write my rental agreement using his terms. I said, "Look, no offense but I'm only making $150 on this rental and it's just not worth my time and effort to change my rental process for one renter, so I'm going to respectfully decline your offer."

Once, I had a mom who didn't want to give me her home address for the reservation, because she didn't want to, "put her children at risk." That was a strange one.

Renting privately takes trust on both sides, and if you are not comfortable with it, I don't think you should do it.
 

silentg

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Most of us are friendly. I’ve rented exchanged and bought timeshares from TUG members and never felt scammed. Hope you will rent and have good experience.
Silentg
 

DeniseM

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One more point: Renters have little to fear regarding renting from actual timeshare owners. Why? Because if you are a legitimate timeshare owner, you can't get away with ripping people off. Remember, the resort managment Co. has all of the timeshare owner's contact info, and control of the owner's account. Do you really think the resort is going to stand idly by if people are lining up at the check-in desk screaming that they have been ripped off? No... That owner's account would be shut down in a New York minute - the resort certainly doesn't want the bad press. But you still have to do your due diligence, ALWAYS, because an owner may be unbusiness-like, or make an honest mistake. So you still have to verify everything.

The people that you have to guard against are the scammers who advertise phony reservations for rent. These people do not own timeshares - they are simply con artists who prey upon inexperienced renters. The good news is that the scammers are very easy to identify if you do your due diligence. For the most part, the scammers are just creating phony confirmations (that look phony) and peddling them for below market prices on the internet. The scammers have zero documentation of a legitimate rental, therefore, it just takes a little research to spot them.

The reason that scammers are successful is that they lure people in with super low prices. Not too long ago, a Tugger posted on TUG asking advice about a rental deal that was too good to be true. Other Tuggers warned them that it sounded like a scam, but the renter couldn't resist the super low price, and guess what - it was a scam!
 

DRIless

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I am interested in renting at Pono Kai and have contacted one of the renters on TUG. I have rented in the past on Ebay but never on this site before. I have read the post about verifying if rentals are legit. I still feel uneasy about this transaction because of horror stories I have read about renting...... Any suggestions are appreciated.....
Thank You
If they're here on TUG for any amount of time, member or not, you have the assurance that they would already have been 'outed' if they weren't doing the right thing.
 

pikndabase

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Thank you for the replies,
I emailed the renter and they said they have been renting for 25 years and they sent me a copy of the reservation. They have been TUG members since 2006. I called the resort and they were able to confirm the reservation. The renter said that they would change the reservation in my name once they get half of the asking price. I will call the renter this week to get a feel about the transaction and hopefully this will alleviate any anxiety. I feel better allready.
Please let me know if I am missing anything........
 

silentg

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Sounds like you are good to go!
Have fun!
 

bluehende

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I have rented on TUG about ten times and have always been pleased. Please look to see if the renter has many posts and read several of them. After this I trust them if all seems good. True I may have not done all my homework but even with all of today’s scams I feel most all people posting places to,rent are legit on TUG.

This is my process. Scammers don't usually set up a scam over months or years. If they are active members over any time I am sure it is legit. Nothing is ever 100% safe, but tug is as scam free as you can get.
 

rickandcindy23

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How to tell that an owner is legit:
1. They allow you to pay with a credit card via Paypal or another source. No Western Union transfers or personal checks to PO boxes.
2. They will talk to you over the phone to help allay any fears you may have. They will give you their home address to verify with a Google search. I tell people I have been in the same house for 39 years, and it's verifiable through Google. It's the same address on my contract, too.
3. They will provide a contract. The contract will have the reservation # and phone number/ address to the resort. Everything is verifiable.
4. I tell my renters that i have over 20,000 posts on TUG and can be verified through a simple search here. My Tug name is very similar to my email address.
 

Fishcoley

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How do you search the renter on TUG? i Am corresponding with a listing that says “member since February 2018”, but don’t see where I can find the renters profile or anything else. Thanks!
 

DeniseM

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First of all, you need to know their TUG user name.

Then, click on MEMBERS, in the blue bar at the top of the page.

Then enter their user name in the FIND MEMBER box.
 

Fishcoley

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Thank you. At what point do you usually ask for this from the renter?
I was told that the original reservation will be sent to me after the rental agreement is signed.
Would anyone be concerned if you couldn’t verify a persons name/address through a google search. I was sent the rental agreement today and a google search has a different name linked to the address for 13 years. Is this a major red flag?
 

bluehende

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Thank you. At what point do you usually ask for this from the renter?
I was told that the original reservation will be sent to me after the rental agreement is signed.
Would anyone be concerned if you couldn’t verify a persons name/address through a google search. I was sent the rental agreement today and a google search has a different name linked to the address for 13 years. Is this a major red flag?

There can be explanations for this , but yes it would be a warning to check farther. The biggest red flag as others have mentioned would be the method of payment.
 

rapmarks

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The only time we were scammed, and it was not through tug, was ten years ago. If we had done a google search of the address we would have found Walmart. But the resort did verify the timeshare was in our name, unfortunately it was cancelled by the resort a week before, claiming the owner never booked that week.
 

Fishcoley

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The only time we were scammed, and it was not through tug, was ten years ago. If we had done a google search of the address we would have found Walmart. But the resort did verify the timeshare was in our name, unfortunately it was cancelled by the resort a week before, claiming the owner never booked that week.

Interesting. So an owner can transfer the reservation to your name and then cancel the reservation? Thank you for your responses, I enjoy learning all the ins and outs of things.
 

rapmarks

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Interesting. So an owner can transfer the reservation to your name and then cancel the reservation? Thank you for your responses, I enjoy learning all the ins and outs of things.
They claimed the owner knew nothing about the reservation
 

Fishcoley

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[Duplicate post deleted - please post in one thread for continuity.]
 
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