DRI-Kauai-Did we get a good deal? [merged]

[HoneybeeMom]

We just bought 3500 points at The Point at Poipu in Kauai, and it cost about $9500. Association fees are $953 annually. Liked the resort a lot. This will get us a few days there, or if we save a year of points, maybe a week. But if we use the points at other resorts, in the continental US, we can get more time. We are realizing that the timing is not perfect for us, as we have several other pots in the fire. Did we get a good deal? Does anyone have an idea if we would get just as good a deal at a later date when we have a few of these other projects finished.

 

[csalter2]

We just bought 3500 points at The Point at Poipu in Kauai, and it cost about $9500. Association fees are $953 annually. Liked the resort a lot. This will get us a few days there, or if we save a year of points, maybe a week. But if we use the points at other resorts, in the continental US, we can get more time. We are realizing that the timing is not perfect for us, as we have several other pots in the fire. Did we get a good deal? Does anyone have an idea if we would get just as good a deal at a later date when we have a few of these other projects finished.

I don't usually say this as I am a happy DRI owner, but rescind your ownership immediately. You did not get a good deal. 3500 points for $9500 is not a good deal. You have way too few points to really do anything with in the DRI system. You could go to a very nice European vacation for almost ten grand. Also, you will have to pay annual maintenance fees on top of that every year and the fees go up.

I suggest that you go onto EBay and Craigslist and you will be able to get the same points for pennies on the dollar. Just check it and you will see. Also there are a lot of owner at the Point who are very, very unhappy because the received a major water intrusion special assessment of nearly $6000 to fix the property. As a points owner you may have to contribute some of that but not $6000 worth.

I think that you should take your time and do some more research. You may want to buy a week at The Point for dirt cheap and the using it or trading it with Interval International. I would even wait on doing that right now as you can rent time in DRI properties more easily and pay less than us owners.

Bottom line. rescind and wait. You will find I am very positive about DRI, but you did not get a good deal.

Feel free to PM me and we can communicate more if you would like. You will thank me later for sure.

 

[jlp879]

I don't think you have a good deal.

Here http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Point-a...Timeshares&hash=item416427f72f#ht_4864wt_1253 is an auction for more points for less money. Look around on TUG and you'll see lots of complaints of Point at Poipu owners because of the recent special assessments due to water damage. Will you be stuck with this? Important to know.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

We just bought 3500 points at The Point at Poipu in Kauai, and it cost about $9500. Association fees are $953 annually. Liked the resort a lot. This will get us a few days there, or if we save a year of points, maybe a week. But if we use the points at other resorts, in the continental US, we can get more time. We are realizing that the timing is not perfect for us, as we have several other pots in the fire. Did we get a good deal? Does anyone have an idea if we would get just as good a deal at a later date when we have a few of these other projects finished.

I'm an owner at the Point at Poipu, with DRI points bought from the sales force at the resort - twice in two 2500 increments, as well as owning a deeded week. So I know the situation and the deal.

Take my advice as someone who knows your situation. Get out of that deal immediately!!! Don't give it a second thought - cancel while you still have time.

There are some circumstances in which buying a contract that small makes sense. Yours is very clearly not one of those situations. Rescind/cancel the deal and spend some more time getting up to speed on your options and plans.

 

[HoneybeeMom]

DRI-Kauai-private sale question

We bought our limited points a few days ago from DRI for too much money, it seems, and will probably back out today (since tomorrow is our 7 day limit). We have been advised to look for time shares on ebay. If we buy a timeshare in Kauai from a private owner, instead of from the company, the company told us we would have to pay for our own membership to Interval International, which is $2995. This amount was included when we bought it from the company. Any comments?

 

[DeniseM]

We bought our limited points a few days ago from DRI for too much money, it seems, and will probably back out today (since tomorrow is our 7 day limit). We have been advised to look for time shares on ebay. If we buy a timeshare in Kauai from a private owner, instead of from the company, the company told us we would have to pay for our own membership to Interval International, which is $2995. This amount was included when we bought it from the company. Any comments?

It's a big fib - II membership is less than $100 - you cannot believe what sales people tell you - they will say anything to keep you from rescinding. At this point, it is not in your best interest to communicate with them.

Here is more info. about rescinding - I wrote it for another resort, but everything else applies to you:
http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=74493

YOU NEED TO RESCIND TODAY!

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

We bought our limited points a few days ago from DRI for too much money, it seems, and will probably back out today (since tomorrow is our 7 day limit). We have been advised to look for time shares on ebay. If we buy a timeshare in Kauai from a private owner, instead of from the company, the company told us we would have to pay for our own membership to Interval International, which is $2995. This amount was included when we bought it from the company. Any comments?

Take your time and get plenty of information before you make any decision. To start, let pose a few to you.

Why do you want to buy in Hawaii specifically? Why Point at Poipu? Have you investigated other resorts on Kauai?

How often do plan to use your ownership to say someplace other than Poipu? If you plan to travel to other resorts, how important is it to you to be able to visit other resorts in DRI's Club or do you plan to travel around via exchanging? Where do you want to exchange to?

Those are all important questions to wrap your arms around before you do anything. You need not be in any need to hurry. Cheap weeks are always available from owners who want to get out.

Also, before you buy anything at Point at Poipu make sure you know what your status is regarding the water intrusion special assessment.

 

[fluke]

Probably too late but...

I also recommend to immediately rescind. I agree with the above and most importantly 3500 points does not get you much. The salesman love to pull out a sheet of last minute discounts and show you everything your points can do. In my experience this is a common sales practice. But in reality to get reservations at a reasonable time interval beforehand and at competitive times and places you need more points.

If you are set on DRI I would follow the pathway of figuring how many total points you need and buy the majority resale. THere have beeen recent reports of DRI continuing the pracrice of letting resale points eneter the club with a small point purchase (2500). Also DRI has a tendency to start the price high and reduce it with negotiation.

Word of advice is make sure you buy in the same collection (US, Hawaii, etc) as there is a fixed collection fee of approximately $200( a little over) that is per collection you own. So you reduce fees buy owning in a single collection. Realize also that on 3500 points approx. $450 is your collection fee and the club fee, so getting 2 or 3 times the points will not double or triple the maintenance fee. I think that the MF is around 11 cents per point. II Gold membership is included in the(relatively steep) approx. $250 club fee.

If you don't have a points directory (the nonreduced rates) I suggest you look at it before buying DRI. It is difficult to find if you are not familiar with the web page. Go to any individual resort (you don't have to be a member) and go to points calendar. Then click on the link for the 2012/2013 points directory.

 

[fluke]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/9-500-ANNUAL-DIAMOND-US-COLLECTIONS-POINTS-GOLD-CROWN-TIMESHARE-/260995383343?pt=Timeshares&hash=item3cc489802f


Here is a link to a current Ebay auction for DRI points. It is not unusual for these to complete without a single bid. I suspect you could get these put in the club as part of the purchase for the same deal you originally received, but before doing anything talk to DRI (I believe owner enhancements?).

Of course you would have to be able to afford 1100-1200 additional MFs(again assuming you keep everything in the same collection - otherwise you get hit with 2 collection fees).

Don't rush into anything DRI points com up on Ebay on a regular basis.