Punished for Peak ownership

[DanM]

Just a heads up on some imperfections in the new RCI system. My peak week 1 at Mt. Amanzi which, according to the resort, is always taken in exchange is now trading like the worst white week imaginable. When I complained to RCI, I was told the following:
"Your Mt. Amanzi deposits may indeed have been used; however, this would not have been apparent to our staff in the U.S. Some South Africa units are set aside in South Africa's system for a time to fill exchange requests for South African members. We are unable to see if these units were used in that system if and until they are released."
In other words, SA saves some peak units to meet local demand, and RCI U.S. punished me for having a high demand unit by not assuming that SA was setting aside the units people wanted.
I will not be depositing with RCI for at least a year or two until they figure out my unit's worth...which apparently won't happen until well after RCI SA gives RCI U.S. a final report.

 

[Nancy]

Don't want to hear this

I don't want to hear this as I also have a peak week 1. It should be deposited in a few days.

Nancy

 

[glenn1000]

That's an interesting explanation. We have a 2-bedroom peak Castleburn (Gold Crown) that lost all trading power after BS. The resort did not understand this and said it was a very high demand week (RCI VC's had said the big drop in trade power probably meant that it was a very low demand week). The resort checked with RCI SA and confirmed that it was a very high demand week. So I suspect that the problem must lie within an RCI SA/RCI US interface. Since I have an RCI Points account I used the points for deposit program this year but I hope that they fix it by next year since I prefer the weeks system!

 

[SteveH]

I also have a week 2 SA week and was excited about the potential to have a dynamite trader! What a dog! I was able to pull the week out after being in the bank for one week and will deposit it with DAE a little later this year.
AS far as I'm concerned this is just one more reason why I will soon no longer be a member of RCI .
Steve

 

[glenn1000]

I also have a week 2 SA week

My Castleburn peak weeks are also week 2. It's interesting that we are talking about weeks 1 and 2. I wonder if other peak weeks are affected as well?

 

[Diane]

Don't get it

If RCI is saying that the SA resorts hold some peak weeks back, doesn't that mean fewer weeks are deposited and therefor the supply is would appear to be more limited than it is? I would think that that would increase trading power, not diminish it. What am I missing?

Diane

 

[glenn1000]

It's still a mystery

Diane,

I don't understand this either but there is something amiss when the "best" SA weeks (2 bedroom, Gold Crown peak weeks in my case) have the absolute lowest trade power possible. I think that it must be some kind of glitch as others with strong demand SA weeks have had upgraded trading power since BS. It's interesting that, at least on this thread, the "bad" weeks are peak weeks 1-2. I hope that someone at RCI figures it out and fixes the problem. BTW, when I posted on the Ask RCI board, Madge said that there was no problem with RCI and that it's just supply and demand, which appears to be an incorrect assessment based on what I have heard from my resort.

 

[itchyfeet]

Would someone who has a week 1 or 2 Sudwala week deposited with RCI please pm me--I have a question. Also have any of you exchanged your Sudwala weeks thru DAE? Is so, what did you get in exchange? TIA

 

[michelle]

I would suggest asking Madge about this on the Ask RCI board, and pointing her to this thread, so that she can see that multiple people might be affected. It can easily be that RCI just needs to tweak a rule in order for this to be a more fair deal.

Peak weeks should trade well. The reason they exist in SA is because of the demand for them, regardless of the standard/location of the resort.

 

[glenn1000]

I would suggest asking Madge about this on the Ask RCI board, and pointing her to this thread.

Done. You can look for Madge's answer on the Ask RCI board. Please don't respond on that thread as it delays Madge's response.

 

[TLKTCK]

My 2 bedroom Mt. Amanzi peak week is also a dog trader for 2007. However my peak week is not week 1 or 2. I was curious if anyone, other than week 1 or 2 owners are having similiar issues.

 

[Carol C]

Would someone who has a week 1 or 2 Sudwala week deposited with RCI please pm me--I have a question. Also have any of you exchanged your Sudwala weeks thru DAE? Is so, what did you get in exchange? TIA

I can't PM you since I apparently have already used both my PM and email quotas forthe day. I owned or maybe still own a peak red Sudwala. I never traded SA via DAE, sorry I can't help ya there. Good luck to you!

 

[DanM]

Latest doublespeak

I withdrew my Mt. Amanzi deposit from RCI after they acknowledged that they didn't have accurate information because of the RCI SA set aside (see first post). The latest communication granting my withdrawal had the gall to comment that "The values applied to your Mt. Amanzi weeks are more specific than ever before." Apparently the RCI communications person who emailed me can't read and didn't notice the admission someone else made further down in my feedback email thread.

Anyway, I am not depositing any more weeks with RCI until or unless they get this straightened out. On to exploring other exchange companies...

 

[DanM]

Just a footnote. After I took back my Mt. Amanzi peak week 1 from RCI because they decided there was no demand (and hence no trade value), I deposited it with Dial an Exchange. It took DAE about a week to verify with the resort and post the availability of my unit on their web site. It took about another week for someone to snatch it up.
Despite the "verification" of RCI's demand formula by RCI and Madge's follow up, RCI is clearly just wrong.

 

[ladycody]

Out of curiousity...have any of you done trading with other owners here in TUG and skipping the whole exchange company thing? I'm fascinated by the fact that, in theory, this is a very viable option. It's something I plan to try down the road (I'm having too much fun exploring my own resorts right now.)

 

[cerralee]

Oh my Gosh! I thought it was just me! A little over a week ago I deposited my two Peak 6 weeks with marlene at Mt. Amanzi. They showed up a few days later and pulled roughly half of what my before BS weeks in 2005 and 2006 were pulling. I was so looking forward to the increased trading power. Earlier today I sent a message to RCI asking for some type of explanation for the dramatic decrease in trading power and as of yet have not received an answer. My weeks are 21 - 28 September 2007. I'm hoping to end up with a better sceenario than this, all these years I have been paying a higher levi than flex weeks owners and not receiving any additional trading power, now I'm paying a higher levi for the privelege of really crappy trading power.
I was just reading another thread on Dik and it listed the following points site : http://www.flexiclub.co.za/place.php?id=8150
which shows that my September week should have a higher trading power associated to it in comparison to other Mount Amanzi weeks, maybe not the very highest but still quite respectable. What can we do to get them to give us the power we are paying for?

 

[Aldo]

Do you think there is any connection between the massive degradation in the trading power of SA timeshares and the massive proliferation of RCI rentals all over the internet? They seemed to have occured at about the same time.

As RCI loots the exchange pool for rentals, something had to give. Rather than degrading all TS trade power equally, perhaps there was a management decision to degrade SA units in greater proportion, as SA units tend to be small companies, rather than the massive conglomerates in the USA, which conceivably could exert more pressure on RCI? We do have evidence that certain large resorts, which are points based and in sales, are assigned HIGHER values than they ought to have, presumably due to arrangements with RCI. Perhaps we are experiencing the opposite with our SA units?

 

[DanM]

I don't think there is any connection with rentals. As you can see from the beginning of this thread, RCI appears to be assigning the peak weeks to RCI SA and the peak week trading power is somehow distorted in RCI's regular computer. Perversely, the slightly less red weeks that are going into the regular system are trading better. I can only hope that in a year or two somebody at RCI will figure out the obvious. In the meantime, we can help them along by refusing to deposit peak weeks with RCI.

 

[grest]

My peak Mt Amanzi week is still doing fine. I have a non-peak week as well, and it isn't trading as well...who knows?
Connie

 

[cerralee]

My peak Mt Amanzi week is still doing fine. I have a non-peak week as well, and it isn't trading as well...who knows?
Connie

Connie, what are the dates for your peak week and what size is it?

 

[grest]

It's a 1br, usually last week in March/first week in April depending on their school calendar.
Connie

 

[glenn1000]

glenn1000,

We have received several inquiries about South Africa Trading Power since it came online, and I have personally sent through a few requests to our Inventory Management staff for research. In each case, our system was found to be calculating Trading Power correctly according to the demand we are experiencing (and that includes those used within South Africa's system).

While I can understand how dramatic changes in Trading Power would be alarming and frustrating, I also know that these changes are the result of our bringing South Africa Trading Power in line with the rest of our inventory. It is not the result of a glitch in the system.

This is the first time South Africa deposits have been subject to the same guidelines as other deposits. Even if the transition is a bit of a shock to some, the guidelines are being applied correctly.

Just to keep it all in one place, the above is Madge's response to my question on this in the "Ask RCI" forum. While I still believe that there is probably some glitch since my resort insists that they are always very heavily booked at that time, I do not believe in an evil RCI conspiracy theory. Nor do I think that rentals have anything to do with this. I'll see how next year's (2008)deposit trades and if it is terrible I'll use Points for Deposit again.

 

[JustPlainBill]

A company, such as RCI, that has to take its server "down for maintenance" once a week has serious problems. I believe all of the Cendant Vice Presidents are now out of jail (securities fraud) and they should get to work. The company's stock is in the doldrums. Madge is sometimes helpful but mostly she just parrots the party line. If you can figure out a way to avoid RCI you should do so. My U.S. timeshare is now deposited with Hawaii Timeshare Exchange--half the price of RCI. Unfortunately HTE does not accept South African timeshares. I have a 2BR Castleburn and a 1BR Kruger Park Lodge, both of which have been rated as A-number-one by visitors. On RCI, they don't draw flies. RCI is just plain awful.

 

[Aldo]

A company, such as RCI, that has to take its server "down for maintenance" once a week has serious problems. I believe all of the Cendant Vice Presidents are now out of jail (securities fraud) and they should get to work. The company's stock is in the doldrums. Madge is sometimes helpful but mostly she just parrots the party line. If you can figure out a way to avoid RCI you should do so. My U.S. timeshare is now deposited with Hawaii Timeshare Exchange--half the price of RCI. Unfortunately HTE does not accept South African timeshares. I have a 2BR Castleburn and a 1BR Kruger Park Lodge, both of which have been rated as A-number-one by visitors. On RCI, they don't draw flies. RCI is just plain awful.

Consider this statement with regards to Madge's statement that this issue has been looked into several times and her assurance that their trade power is accurately reflected in their new system (that this is NOT a glitch).

Consider as well that South Africa is one of the fastest growing tourist destinations in the word, and that Kruger Park Lodge is unique, and world renowned.

No...there's a disconnect here. Something's wrong. If, as Madge assures us, it is not a glitch, then what is it?

 

[JLB]

I did an SA Trading Power Test in 2003. It also included my crappy, inexpensive domestic resort and a couple other domestic resorts others tossed in the mix.

It was interesting in that the SAs stacked up in different tiers, several of them all pulling the same number of resorts, and then different levels.

Let me know if you would like to see the results, perhaps to compared then with now. If there is not a general groundswell of demand, I will share it by email instead of posting it.