Painless exit from Club Wyndham

[ChrisCox]

If you are like us who have children that do not want to inherit a timeshare with the attached maintenance fees there is a Club Wyndham solution.
There are lots of other companies that promise to get you out of your contracts - always with a sizable fee attached.
However Club Wyndham has their own Certified Exit Program for which there is no fee. In addition to the no fee exit you also get 3 years of points usage plus some credit for house keeping fees.
We have just gone through this process and the Club Wyndham Certified Exit Program staff has been most helpful and responsive. It takes about 2 months.
Details are found under "Resources" on their website.

 

[chapjim]

Nothing says your next of kin have to accept an inheritance.

 

[dioxide45]

Nothing says your next of kin have to accept an inheritance.

But something still has to happen to the real estate. Why leave it up to the executor to figure out when you can give it away now, be done with it and also get three years of usage free.

 

[TUGBrian]

yep, has been in existence since 2016 or so, and a sticky here on TUG:

Sticky - Give back your unwanted wyndham Timeshare - Wyndham Ovations / Wyndham Cares / Certified Exit

Updated this 2/2024 - here is the current link to the wyndham giveback program: https://clubwyndham.wyndhamdestinations.com/us/en/help/certified-exit Just wanted to put this in as a sticky after my experience today with deeding back 3 points intervals using the Ovation program, it was very...

tugbbs.com

 

[chapjim]

But something still has to happen to the real estate. Why leave it up to the executor to figure out when you can give it away now, be done with it and also get three years of usage free.

No argument from me but concern about saddling next of kin with a burdensome, unwanted timeshare shouldn't be part of the decision process.

 

[Jan M.]

Some additional info. Resale contracts aren't eligible for the Certfied Exit Limited program that gives you three years use of the points. You can only use those Limited points for the owners on the contracts; no guests. Also CE won't even take back some developer purchased contracts.

 

[rickandcindy23]

No argument from me but concern about saddling next of kin with a burdensome, unwanted timeshare shouldn't be part of the decision process.

I agree. This is a falsehood told by timeshare exit companies. Apparently a lot of people fall for this. After all, the commercials for these exit companies talk about kids having to take on the burden of the timeshares.

We were not allowed to use CE on anything and had to give away our resale contracts. We are still trying to decide what to do with the rest.

 

[kaljor]

There is one caveat with leaving your contracts to kids who don’t want them. At least in some states to refuse an inheritance the person has to file a legal form to do so. And if there are multiple beneficiaries named in a will, the refused item would then go to another beneficiary who would also have to formally refuse it and so on down the line.

i’m not a lawyer myself but I have come across this in looking online about how this process works.

 

[PeterS]

Some additional info. Resale contracts aren't eligible for the Certfied Exit Limited program that gives you three years use of the points. You can only use those Limited points for the owners on the contracts; no guests. Also CE won't even take back some developer purchased contracts.

With full respect.....I know this is the common view but Wyndham took my two resales weeks as Certified Exit with 3 years of usage for free. This was a long time ago... around 2017...
Just saying if you are looking to exit Wyndham and have a resale contract... it doesn't hurt to ask..... You may be pleasantly surprised as I was.....

 

[Jan M.]

With full respect.....I know this is the common view but Wyndham took my two resales weeks as Certified Exit with 3 years of usage for free. This was a long time ago... around 2017...
Just saying if you are looking to exit Wyndham and have a resale contract... it doesn't hurt to ask..... You may be pleasantly surprised as I was.....

I agree that it does't hurt to ask but I have no expectation anyone would get your outcome now. So, so much has changed since 2017!

I'm sure I'm not the only one who's curious. What was it Wyndham took back from you in 2017 and gave you three years usage?

Some owners have contracts that are coded developer but around that time Wyndham wised up about allowing them to be transferred as developer points. A contract number doesn't change when transferred. IIRC those contracts might have started with 008 or 009. If that was the case CE might not have caught it or the person handling yours might not have known to look for that back then. Especially back before developer and resale points were split. Since the split a person would have to be astoundingly lucky to get CE Limited on a resale contract.

 

[paxsarah]

With full respect.....I know this is the common view but Wyndham took my two resales weeks as Certified Exit with 3 years of usage for free. This was a long time ago... around 2017...
Just saying if you are looking to exit Wyndham and have a resale contract... it doesn't hurt to ask..... You may be pleasantly surprised as I was.....

As I recall from a previous discussion of this, didn't you previously explain that Wyndham had incorrectly coded those resale weeks as retail when you purchased them, or they were converted from Pahio, or something of that nature? That is, weren't you already aware that Wyndham had them coded as retail even though you had purchased via resale? I think very few owners out there are in the same situation.

 

[steve_solo]

I own enough developer points for gold, plus two hundred thousand of resale.
The last couple sales presentations gave me an offer of 105,000 points (access) and offered to take back my resale points and put in the contract that they would take back my developer points via CE if I ever wanted to do that. All for the paltry sum of $20,000.
Typical Wyndham.

 

[TUGBrian]

the comment was a bit misleading...as resale contracts ARE given back using certified exit all the time.

you just dont qualify for some of the reported "bonus use" that allows you to continue to retain a bit of ownership for a certain time.

 

[dioxide45]

I understand the Certified Exit Limited program was born out of the issues regarding stripped contracts?

 

[paxsarah]

I understand the Certified Exit Limited program was born out of the issues regarding stripped contracts?

I don't think so. Ovation with Limited Edition (almost exactly the same as today's Certified Exit with Limited Edition) has been around since before 2015, per this thread: https://tugbbs.com/forums/threads/ovation.223660/
The account stripping issue came to a head in August of 2016 with this thread: https://tugbbs.com/forums/threads/ovation.223660/

I don't think Wyndham fully understood the account stripping issue until Ron made them aware of it in the 2016 timeframe. They knew there were accounts like Ron's with points totals that didn't make sense based on the contracts they owned, but they didn't understand how they got that way.

 

[bnoble]

…and that wasn’t the only “too many points for the contract” happened. The system also infrequently duplicated points on a cancellation and a few owners exploited that. There was also the more commonly-used “endless roll forward” that owners with overlapping use years could take advantage of.

 

[Sandi Bo]

…and that wasn’t the only “too many points for the contract” happened. The system also infrequently duplicated points on a cancellation and a few owners exploited that. There was also the more commonly-used “endless roll forward” that owners with overlapping use years could take advantage of.

The latter to which sales also used as a marketing tool -- to sell existing owners overlapping use years. We don't need to beat a dead horse, but if we are... there is a differentiation to me as to what Wyndham was aware of and exploited to their benefit, as well. It was marketed to me - only I was told they had to be developer point contracts (that part of it was lie, but worked better for marketing purposes). Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to decieve.

As far as Certified Exit, to me it makes sense to have a waiting period after the resale purchase (otherwise people could "pay someone to take it off their hands" and the buyer could turn around and give it back to Wyndham). As far as not getting 3 years use of it if it's resale, I think that makes sense, too. Otherwise, I could buy a resale contract, turn it back into Wyndham, and get 3 years free use.

All in all, though, a great deal for Wyndham to get contracts back that they can sell for full price.

And most important take-away - for sure call Certified Exit and find out what they will do for you. For me they will take back all developer and resale contracts that we own. With some extended use and some not. At least that is what I was told when I called maybe a year ago. Also, I always keep in mind that what you are told will happen, and what actually does, may not be the same. The best you can do is do your homework and make the most informed decision possible - and hopefully the information you were given is correct.

I do chuckle every time I see this thread, the words painless and Wyndham in the same sentence!

 

[rickandcindy23]

@Sandi Bo, ironically, a used car goes down in value, but you can sell the oldest car, as long as it's running, for $500 or more, but Wyndham gets contracts back and sells for full retail as brand new with all of the lies and deception, much worse than a used-car salesperson.

If it wasn't so hysterical, I would be a lot angrier about them not taking our contracts back because they could have had them, but they chose to be petty and made us give them away, which we did give them away. We had to pay transfer fees and I had to type the deeds myself on the last 14 or so. The better MF's contracts, the new owners did pay transfer/ closing. All of the $399 checks have been cashed. They have the deeds. We will see if they take their sweet time on transferring them. Wyndham should hold the check until the deed transfers, but they do not.

 

[bnoble]

Cindy, I still believe that if you had offered to give them back everything, they would have done it. They might have even offered you a little something for them, if you in turn agreed to never become a Wyndham owner again.

 

[PeterS]

I agree that it does't hurt to ask but I have no expectation anyone would get your outcome now. So, so much has changed since 2017!

I'm sure I'm not the only one who's curious. What was it Wyndham took back from you in 2017 and gave you three years usage?

Some owners have contracts that are coded developer but around that time Wyndham wised up about allowing them to be transferred as developer points. A contract number doesn't change when transferred. IIRC those contracts might have started with 008 or 009. If that was the case CE might not have caught it or the person handling yours might not have known to look for that back then. Especially back before developer and resale points were split. Since the split a person would have to be astoundingly lucky to get CE Limited on a resale contract.

As I recall from a previous discussion of this, didn't you previously explain that Wyndham had incorrectly coded those resale weeks as retail when you purchased them, or they were converted from Pahio, or something of that nature? That is, weren't you already aware that Wyndham had them coded as retail even though you had purchased via resale? I think very few owners out there are in the same situation.

Agreed... things have changed but even then, the word here was that they would never take it and give me the 3 years usage.... but glad I asked .....

Some people thought they may have been incorrectly coded but I don't know.... Nothing from Pahio.... or converted from any another resort.
Never knew and still don't know what they were coded...... and bet many older owners may not know how their weeks are coded....
It was two weeks at Orlando International Resort Club..... bought resale when it was Fairfield.....
So they went through many transitions from Fairfield to Fairfield Points to Wyndham... they could have been grandfathered at any of those transitions....
I am pretty sure any resale contracts bought less than 10 years ago will be rejected so people don't just buy and dump for the 3 yr usage....

I don't know but just glad I asked, and happy I grabbed it when offered....

It may be the new rules..... but until I see it in writing.... I would recommend to anyone to ask.... don't expect it....... but ask... if even a very slight chance you may get lucky.

***Best guess was Fairfield never kept records what was resale..... so Wyndham had to assume/code all Fairfield owners as developer owners... and grandfathered everyone...... but just a guess!

 

[paxsarah]

Agreed... things have changed but even then, the word here was that they would never take it and give me the 3 years usage.... but glad I asked .....

Some people thought they may have been incorrectly coded but I don't know.... Nothing from Pahio.... or converted from any another resort.
Never knew and still don't know what they were coded...... and bet many older owners may not know how their weeks are coded....
It was two weeks at Orlando International Resort Club..... bought resale when it was Fairfield.....
So they went through many transitions from Fairfield to Fairfield Points to Wyndham... they could have been grandfathered at any of those transitions....
I am pretty sure any resale contracts bought less than 10 years ago will be rejected so people don't just buy and dump for the 3 yr usage....

I don't know but just glad I asked, and happy I grabbed it when offered....

It may be the new rules..... but until I see it in writing.... I would recommend to anyone to ask.... don't expect it....... but ask... if even a very slight chance you may get lucky.

***Best guess was Fairfield never kept records what was resale..... so Wyndham had to assume/code all Fairfield owners as developer owners... and grandfathered everyone...... but just a guess!

Didn't you have VIP status? Because if they gave you VIP status when you converted to points and you retained it up until the point that you used Ovation, then it would be clear that they had been coded as developer contracts. What is almost certainly correct is that any contracts that Wyndham has coded as resale will not be eligible for the 3 years under Limited Edition.

 

[PeterS]

Didn't you have VIP status? Because if they gave you VIP status when you converted to points and you retained it up until the point that you used Ovation, then it would be clear that they had been coded as developer contracts. What is almost certainly correct is that any contracts that Wyndham has coded as resale will not be eligible for the 3 years under Limited Edition.

Yes! I did have VIP status grandfathered at the lower point level when VIP was first started.... That would explain it.... I thought it may have happened during one of the transitions....

Maybe we should say if you purchased resale during the Wyndham era.... it won't qualify for the 3 yr usage....
But if you are resale owners since the Fairfield era.... give it a try.... you may get lucky......

Sound fair?

 

[bnoble]

The easy way to tell: if you can see WorldMark inventory with some of your points, those points are not coded as resale. Those might also be eligible for Limited Edition--provided the agent you are working with doesn't look at your account history too closely.

 

[Sandi Bo]

And history has proven, over and over...
Wyndham does not have solid, consistent, practices in place.
Nor are there checks or balances or reliable audits in place.
They pretty much can (and do) do whatever they please. They can give (points out of thin air) and they can take as well. Your experience may very likely be different than the last (or next) person's. And often things are not in writing. It starts with sales (lies and made up stuff), continues through your ownership, and follows you through exit (always left guessing).

Yes, I realize I said "do do".

 

[dioxide45]

The easy way to tell: if you can see WorldMark inventory with some of your points, those points are not coded as resale. Those might also be eligible for Limited Edition--provided the agent you are working with doesn't look at your account history too closely.

I did check ours since we somehow have PlusPartners but I can't see Worldmark inventory.