is Redweek partially a scam ?

[chaparrusa]

i'm posting this because i have found that at least 3 times so far that good deals advertise in that website were not for real .so it lead me to believe they do it on purpose to get you to pay for their membership ,like the dating sites and some more. it goes like this , you are able to check for free the inventory posted but when you want to contact the poster you have to pay the subscription , then at least in my case i have contacted with the interest of acquiring that unit to find out that it was already sold , what they have is different or just no answer . i just paid this website because of you , what i thought the first time . and like i said it has happened already twice more . so far there is plenty of inventory that is in both websites , TUG and REDWEEK and even on EBAY for a while but the units that are very attractive if they are posted only in redweek , most likely are not for real .if anybody also knows other sources ,i will appreciate it . so has someone been in the same situation ?

 

[andysnovel]

Last year I bought my Vistana Orlando TS thru Redweek. The listings are legit, I found some of them were already sold when I contacted seller/agent. You can sort by the latest listings, they are a legit site. My friend found a great TS rental thru them as well. Inventory for sale is real, from my experience with them, the “bargains” or decent stuff goes fast, you need to be persistent and focus in on what you want and be patient, sooner or later you will find what you want, sometimes you may have to pay more, EBay, Tugg, Red Week etc.. keep looking and asking!!!!

 

[ski_sierra]

i'm posting this because i have found that at least 3 times so far that good deals advertise in that website were not for real .so it lead me to believe they do it on purpose to get you to pay for their membership ,like the dating sites and some more. it goes like this , you are able to check for free the inventory posted but when you want to contact the poster you have to pay the subscription , then at least in my case i have contacted with the interest of acquiring that unit to find out that it was already sold , what they have is different or just no answer . i just paid this website because of you , what i thought the first time . and like i said it has happened already twice more . so far there is plenty of inventory that is in both websites , TUG and REDWEEK and even on EBAY for a while but the units that are very attractive if they are posted only in redweek , most likely are not for real .if anybody also knows other sources ,i will appreciate it . so has someone been in the same situation ?

While I don't have a high opinion of Redweek, I don't consider it a scam either. Their agents for full service listings are not responsive and reliable. Some listings are not taken down on time.

 

[vol_90]

i'm posting this because i have found that at least 3 times so far that good deals advertise in that website were not for real .so it lead me to believe they do it on purpose to get you to pay for their membership ,like the dating sites and some more. it goes like this , you are able to check for free the inventory posted but when you want to contact the poster you have to pay the subscription , then at least in my case i have contacted with the interest of acquiring that unit to find out that it was already sold , what they have is different or just no answer . i just paid this website because of you , what i thought the first time . and like i said it has happened already twice more . so far there is plenty of inventory that is in both websites , TUG and REDWEEK and even on EBAY for a while but the units that are very attractive if they are posted only in redweek , most likely are not for real .if anybody also knows other sources ,i will appreciate it . so has someone been in the same situation ?

Not a scam and believe the issue is that the individuals posting timeshares for sale or rent are not contacting Redweek to remove the listing when it has been sold, rented or no longer available. Many people post their weeks on multiple sites. I have purchased and rented timeshares on Redweek. It is also the only site I use to rent my excess inventory.

 

[R1964]

Try timesharenation dot com they have listing that are free to the buyer.

 

[tschwa2]

In the past, they have said if you pay the membership and then contact one or more listings and find out that it wasn't available and ultimately you find nothing that works for you (in a relatively short time), they will refund and cancel the membership. If you recently joined and then once contacting about the listings and don't book, I would approach Redweek for a refund. If on the other hand you find something (even if it wasn't you first choice) and or had the membership for 3+ months I don't think you would have much chance to get your money back.

 

[tschwa2]

In the past, they have said if you pay the membership and then contact one or more listings and find out that it wasn't available and ultimately you find nothing that works for you (in a relatively short time), they will refund and cancel the membership. If you recently joined and then once contacting about the listings and don't book, I would approach Redweek for a refund. If on the other hand you find something (even if it wasn't you first choice) and or had the membership for 3+ months I don't think you would have much chance to get your money back.

 

[Mroze]

i'm posting this because i have found that at least 3 times so far that good deals advertise in that website were not for real .so it lead me to believe they do it on purpose to get you to pay for their membership ,like the dating sites and some more. it goes like this , you are able to check for free the inventory posted but when you want to contact the poster you have to pay the subscription , then at least in my case i have contacted with the interest of acquiring that unit to find out that it was already sold , what they have is different or just no answer . i just paid this website because of you , what i thought the first time . and like i said it has happened already twice more . so far there is plenty of inventory that is in both websites , TUG and REDWEEK and even on EBAY for a while but the units that are very attractive if they are posted only in redweek , most likely are not for real .if anybody also knows other sources ,i will appreciate it . so has someone been in the same situation ?

Over the last 3 years we purchased 5 x 2BR-EY WKV PLAT+ weeks and never once had any problem.
Negotiated the price with the Listing-Agent [usually a broker] and all closed without incident.

Listed and successfully rented 10+ units last year [some direct agreements] via RedWeek and had no problems with payments.
Due to COVID had 3 cancellations; and despite the late cancellations I was satisfied with the outcome.

 

[jabberwocky]

I’ve purchased three TS on RedWeek (two with real estate agents and one RW Full service). All have gone extremely smoothly and I was able to get good deals. I did have to make a snap decision - but I knew what I wanted and was able to grab them quite quickly when they became available.

Not all sellers will remove their listings immediately after a contract has been signed - so you’re probably running into stale listings. You can also sign up for their daily update for new listings at resorts you are interested in.

 

[Tank]

Biggest problem is the poster not taking it off the market
RedWeek has no control of that. Pretty much sums it up for all of the sights.
The fee and info is important , scammers tend to shy away when they have to provide this info.
I think Redweek is safer than Tug because of this little fee necessary before attempting to book.

 

[GoodTimes]

I have run into issues on Redweek trying to Rent but the Owner says the property has already been rented. They leave the posting up even after I ask them to take it down. I suspect that they are trying to gauge interest in a location/week and seeing how many people contact them.

 

[theo]

I have run into issues on Redweek trying to Rent but the Owner says the property has already been rented. They leave the posting up even after I ask them to take it down. I suspect that they are trying to gauge interest in a location/week and seeing how many people contact them.

With all due respect, no owner is obligated to take down an ad they have paid to post, even if / when the unit is (potentially) rented.
Your interpretation is certainly one possibility. Another likely (and completely valid) possibility is that the owner wants the (paid) rental ad to remain posted in case the current potential tenant flakes out / bails out as the occupancy date approaches. Alternatively, a rental could very well be "in progress", but not yet actually finalized. Can't fault an owner for leaving his / her ad "up" until all the i's are dotted, t's crossed ---and payment in full received (and cleared).

On the other hand, there are the RedWeek "agents"; non-owners representing someone else. All bets are off with those people. Personally, I would never consider letting RedWeek personnel handle (or be involved in any way with) any aspect of my (infrequent) need to rent out an owned week.

All that said, I think the RedWeek site is great as an effective advertising platform and certainly not any form of "scam", as the marginally coherent OP has overtly suggested.

 

[GoodTimes]

Deleted

 

[GoodTimes]

With all due respect, no owner is obligated to take down an ad they have paid to post, even if / when the unit is (potentially) rented.
Your interpretation is certainly one possibility. Another likely (and completely valid) possibility is that the owner wants the (paid) rental ad to remain posted in case the current potential tenant flakes out / bails out as the occupancy date approaches.

I would never consider letting RedWeek personnel handle any aspect of my (infrequent) need to rent out an owned week, but I think the site is great as an effective advertising platform and certainly not any form of "scam", as the marginally coherent OP suggested.

The owner could simply state in the comments that the unit has been rented and they are looking for backup offers.

From the Redweek ToS

"Follow the guidelines for posting your unit
You must be legally able to sell the unit(s), points, or designated time period for the unit you post for sale or rent on RedWeek. You must describe your unit or offering accurately and disclose all terms of sale in your posting."

If the unit is under contract the owner is not legally able to rent it during that time period.

 

[csodjd]

Biggest problem is the poster not taking it off the market
RedWeek has no control of that. Pretty much sums it up for all of the sights.
The fee and info is important , scammers tend to shy away when they have to provide this info.
I think Redweek is safer than Tug because of this little fee necessary before attempting to book.

This is where I think the scam exists... brokers/agents don’t remove ads so you will contact them to inquire. Now they have a “lead” and will work to find you something. I have on half a dozen occasions contacted listing agents from Redweek ads and been told “that unit” is no longer available, but tell me what you are looking for and want to spend and I’ll try and find you something.

So now I use Redweek differently. I look at AGENTS, I email 3-5 of them letting them know I’m looking for X and I’m willing to pay Y, and ask them if they have anything. Last time I was told by one well-known agent that lists units in Hawaii all the time that there’s no way I could get what I wanted for that price but he could get it for me at a higher price. A few days later I was in contract at my price from a different agent.

 

[RLS50]

No, Redweek is definitely not a scam. It is still one of the best websites out there and one of the most cost effective ways for Owners and Renters and Buyers and Sellers to connect.

Yes, some owners / brokers may leave ads up to gauge interest or an attempt to turn into sales leads.

But at least a part of the issue is that Timeshare rentals and sales aren't usually completed in a day, or sometimes not even a week or longer. From the time an owner is contacted by somebody looking to purchase, it could take a few days to a couple of weeks to get a sales agreement signed and escrow funded. Same is true to a lesser degree or get a rental contract signed and payment submitted. And many owners have experienced people who say they want to rent their unit, only to send that person a rental agreement and then either not hear anything back for a few days, or sometimes not ever. This delays the process for everybody and isn't the case of an Owner trying to mislead anybody. Or owners run into Buyers that take longer than expected to fund escrow, because most of them have 7-10 days to back out of an agreement.

Basically it takes some time to complete some of these transactions. Yes, the Owner can (and should) make notations to the ad, but the Owner can't really take the ad down until they reach the point in the process where they are sure it's Rented or Sold, and they have some assurance of payment in the form of funded escrow or receive payment personally. Nothing is final on a Rental or Sale until payment is actually made.

Some people who are new to Redweek, or only recently joined, don't understand that timing dynamic. They think just because they respond to an ad, that they are somehow automatically entitled to that specific rental or sale they responded to. But they are may have just been a little too late to get it. Good deals on rentals, or sales of good units at fair asking prices sometimes go very quickly. This has happened to me as well. I have responded to ads I was interested in and responded just a little too late to get the rental or purchase.

The same dynamic is true with literal real estate. Anyone that has ever went house hunting has probably experienced responding to a listing they were interested in only to find it recently went under contract, or the Seller's decided to pull the listing, or they raised the price, or whatever. But enough time had not passed for the listing to be updated yet to reflect that.

Sometimes it's nobody's fault. It's just a function of timing.

 

[csodjd]

No, Redweek is definitely not a scam. It is still one of the best websites out there and one of the most cost effective ways for Owners and Renters and Buyers and Sellers to connect.

Yes, some owners / brokers may leave ads up to gauge interest or an attempt to turn into sales leads.

But at least a part of the issue is that Timeshare rentals and sales aren't usually completed in a day, or sometimes not even a week or longer. From the time an owner is contacted by somebody looking to purchase, it could take a few days to a couple of weeks to get a sales agreement signed and escrow funded. Same is true to a lesser degree or get a rental contract signed and payment submitted. And many owners have experienced people who say they want to rent their unit, only to send that person a rental agreement and then either not hear anything back for a few days, or sometimes not ever. This delays the process for everybody and isn't the case of an Owner trying to mislead anybody. Or owners run into Buyers that take longer than expected to fund escrow, because most of them have 7-10 days to back out of an agreement.

Basically it takes some time to complete some of these transactions. Yes, the Owner can (and should) make notations to the ad, but the Owner can't really take the ad down until they reach the point in the process where they are sure it's Rented or Sold, and they have some assurance of payment in the form of funded escrow or receive payment personally. Nothing is final on a Rental or Sale until payment is actually made.

Some people who are new to Redweek, or only recently joined, don't understand that timing dynamic. They think just because they respond to an ad, that they are somehow automatically entitled to that specific rental or sale they responded to. But they are may have just been a little too late to get it. Good deals on rentals, or sales of good units at fair asking prices sometimes go very quickly. This has happened to me as well. I have responded to ads I was interested in and responded just a little too late to get the rental or purchase.

The same dynamic is true with literal real estate. Anyone that has ever went house hunting has probably experienced responding to a listing they were interested in only to find it recently went under contract, or the Seller's decided to pull the listing, or they raised the price, or whatever. But enough time had not passed for the listing to be updated yet to reflect that.

Sometimes it's nobody's fault. It's just a function of timing.

True, but not always the case. When pushed I've had at least one reputable agent that puts a lot of Hawaii properties on Redweek tell me that the unit had sold months earlier. There was/is no doubt in my mind that many of his listings are designed to be fishing bait.

 

[RLS50]

True, but not always the case. When pushed I've had at least one reputable agent that puts a lot of Hawaii properties on Redweek tell me that the unit had sold months earlier. There was/is no doubt in my mind that many of his listings are designed to be fishing bait.

Yes, I agree with you in general regarding this. I have learned from my own experience that there are definitely a handful of brokers who use ads on Redweek as placeholders, or fishing hooks. While it has never really bothered me personally, I can understand how some may not appreciate that.

However, outside a those few known examples (which I consider exceptions), in my personal experience I have not found Redweek to be full of bogus Rental and Sale ads.

 

[davidvel]

Redweek could easily remedy this by requiring those posting ads to periodically confirm the ad is not stale (ie the advertised interval is still available), or automatically remove said ad.

They could follow up with random checks and either ban scofflaws or charge a penalty fee. Lots of easy ways to stop this. But they they don't, and an incentive not to, so OP may have a point.

 

[csodjd]

Redweek could easily remedy this by requiring those posting ads to periodically confirm the ad is not stale (ie the advertised interval is still available), or automatically remove said ad.

They could follow up with random checks and either ban scofflaws or charge a penalty fee. Lots of easy ways to stop this. But they they don't, and an incentive not to, so OP may have a point.

Or just charge by the week or month of the ad.

 

[LannyPC]

True, but not always the case. When pushed I've had at least one reputable agent that puts a lot of Hawaii properties on Redweek tell me that the unit had sold months earlier. There was/is no doubt in my mind that many of his listings are designed to be fishing bait.

Maybe so, but that does not make Red Week a scam. It's the agent whom you should be criticizing.

 

[RNCollins]

“...All that said, I think the RedWeek site is great as an effective advertising platform and certainly not any form of "scam", as the marginally coherent OP has overtly suggested.”

The OP’s native language may not be English. Or maybe he/she could be riding the commuter train home from work.