Is timeshare owner's contact information public?

[VacationForever]

I received a phone call about 6 months ago from a man indicating that he was a real estate agent and wanted to know if I wanted to get rid of my Scottsdale timeshare. I told him that I had no interest in talking to him. He then asked if I wanted to buy more. I told him not to call again and hanged up the phone. How did he get hold of my phone number or even knew about my owning a Scottsdale timeshare?

 

[Saintsfanfl]

Definitely. Property deeds, which includes timeshares, are public information. Your name has to be on it but many times your address and even your phone number are on it as well.

 

[theo]

Some thoughts...

I received a phone call about 6 months ago from a man indicating that he was a real estate agent and wanted to know if I wanted to get rid of my Scottsdale timeshare. I told him that I had no interest in talking to him. He then asked if I wanted to buy more. I told him not to call again and hanged up the phone. How did he get hold of my phone number or even knew about my owning a Scottsdale timeshare?

As already noted above, deeds are public records and, as such, any and all deed content is readily available to anyone who wants to bother to wade or search through such public records.

Another possibility is that your owner info was "leaked" from other less public (but poorly protected) records. Such possibilities include rogue employee(s) right at your resort and / or the resorts' management company. My own primary suspect for owner info leaks after experiencing similar unsolicited and unwelcome calls to my unlisted and unpublished home phone (...a number which certainly does not exist in any of my deeds) was rogue employee(s) at RCI selling this owner info "on the side" --- but it's impossible to prove that theory.

 

[VacationForever]

Thanks for the replies. I suspect it was tracked back to one particular deed information then. I own several weeks at different places and the person said "pertaining to your Scottsdale timeshare".

 

[LannyPC]

My own primary suspect for owner info leaks after experiencing similar unsolicited and unwelcome calls to my unlisted and unpublished home phone (...a number which certainly does not exist in any of my deeds) was rogue employee(s) at RCI selling this owner info "on the side" --- but it's impossible to prove that theory.

I agree with your suspicions and, yes, I realize it's impossible to prove without subpoenaing evidence.

What drives my suspicions toward rogue RCI employees (or ex-employees) is the fact that I also get countless phone calls from these two-bit travel companies that claim they are someway, somehow affiliated with RCI and are offering a "deal of a lifetime" for RCI members. RCI brass adamantly confirms that it does not share members' information with third parties.

Also, the fact that these scammers contact TS owners of units all over the USA and Mexico furthers my suspicions. If it's rogue employees at resorts, are these scammers going through the rigours of finding contacts at all of these resorts? Likely not. It would be easier to get owners' info from RCI who has members' info for resorts all over.

 

[SueDonJ]

I agree with your suspicions and, yes, I realize it's impossible to prove without subpoenaing evidence.

What drives my suspicions toward rogue RCI employees (or ex-employees) is the fact that I also get countless phone calls from these two-bit travel companies that claim they are someway, somehow affiliated with RCI and are offering a "deal of a lifetime" for RCI members. RCI brass adamantly confirms that it does not share members' information with third parties.

Also, the fact that these scammers contact TS owners of units all over the USA and Mexico furthers my suspicions. If it's rogue employees at resorts, are these scammers going through the rigours of finding contacts at all of these resorts? Likely not. It would be easier to get owners' info from RCI who has members' info for resorts all over.

There's a company whose number showed up on my phone as "RCI" but they really are completely separate from the RCI we think of. And, they're a spam company that appears to mine public records for marks. Here's the thread in which I questioned the call, and I know there have been similar questions/threads from other TUGgers who also received calls.

 

[dougp26364]

Almost anyone in sales that makes cold calls will tell you there are companies that compile lists for sale. You can get any sort of list you want for very specific,detailed information to general lists. If I wanted to sell college savings investment plans, I'd order a list of families with children under the age of 10 with a household median income of over $50,000 an specify what zip codes I wanted them in. If I wanted to sell Medicare supplement plans I'd get a list of people at retirement age. Lists of timeshare property owners would be easy to compile and sell from public records.

The easiest way I've found to end the conversation and reduce the number of calls is to tell them we sold all our timeshares 2 years ago. It ends the call and gets me off that particular list for that particular company. It doesn't end the calls because well just end up on the next list when it's generated.

Sometimes when I'm feeling particularly mean and I have plenty of time, I'll waste their time by keeping them on the phone as long as I can. We're on the DNC so anyone soliciting me is breaking the law from the get go. I does no good to file a compliant because the government is always short on the enforcement end.

 

[theo]

I'm certainly not defending the government, but...

<snip> We're on the DNC so anyone soliciting me is breaking the law from the get go. I does no good to file a compliant because the government is always short on the enforcement end.

Filing a formal complaint to the Federal Trade Commission for a "Do Not Call list" violation requires that the complainant accurately identify both the violating entity by name and by the phone number from which the unwelcome call actually originated.

Since these weasels have learned to "spoof" their phone numbers, it's somewhere between difficult and flat out impossible to adequately report anything to "the enforcement end".

Just sayin'...