Questions about rescinding HGVC contract

[dboeger1]

We just bought the "HGVMax" product from HGVC today. The purchase was made in AZ where there is a 10-day rescission period. For us, cost was not too much of a barrier, and we did value the flexibility of the full membership. However, what I was not expecting was for my mother-in-law to literally weep upon hearing of our purchase. It's nothing to do with timeshares specifically as far as I can tell, she's just from another country where an individual consumer purchase of that magnitude is exceedingly rare, and I think she was having a hard time accepting that we spent the money on that instead of on other things. Anyway, between the high cost and the unexpected family drama, I think it's best we rescind and reconsider.

I think I have a decent understanding of what I need to do based on the contract and these pages:

https://tug2.net/timeshare_advice/cancel_timeshare_purchase.html
https://www.timeshareexitadvice.com/timeshare-rescission-letter/

However, the thing that's confusing me is that we were previously on a Diamond "sampler package", and part of this contract was converting the remaining sampler points we still hadn't used to full HGVC points. I don't see anything in the contract specifically stating what will happen to those sampler points upon rescinding, other than the generic language about rescission effectively ending the contract. Can I assume those points will remain as (or revert to, depending on timing) sampler points, or are they potentially lost at our expense? We also received other freebie stays, and I'm wondering if those will be voided if we rescind? As far as I can tell, those freebies are not part of the contract itself, so I think we get to keep them, but maybe someone with more experience or knowledge could chime in.

Thanks for any help!

 

[escanoe]

Who would have thunk it?

Sampler Package woes

We purchased a sampler package for $4,000. Thurs. Can't believe we fell for it. Suffice to say we were very misled on what it entails and went home and read the fine print. This package is extremely limited and does very little for us. Is there a procedure to get out of it? I know samplers are...

tugbbs.com

After you were "very clearly straight up lied to" in purchasing a sampler and were "honestly shocked that [you] fell for it" .... you actually made a developer purchase when utilizing the sampler?

I hope you are able to salvage your sampler points in the recission process .... but you might be ahead not setting yourself up for future presentations.

 

[dboeger1]

Who would have thunk it?

Sampler Package woes

We purchased a sampler package for $4,000. Thurs. Can't believe we fell for it. Suffice to say we were very misled on what it entails and went home and read the fine print. This package is extremely limited and does very little for us. Is there a procedure to get out of it? I know samplers are...

tugbbs.com

After you were "very clearly straight up lied to" in purchasing a sampler and were "honestly shocked that [you] fell for it" .... you actually made a developer purchase when utilizing the sampler?

I hope you are able to salvage your sampler points in the recission process .... but you might be ahead not setting yourself up for future presentations.

I appreciate the input, but to be clear, that was a different issue with a different salesperson. We haven't noticed any serious issues with yesterday's purchase yet aside from the family drama. They were good about honoring the terms of our sampler contract despite the acquisition, and they applied our sampler purchase price to the final purchase amount as originally presented. This topic was not about dissatisfaction with the purchase or process itself.

 

[dboeger1]

Our purchase was made July 6th, we sent our rescission letter on July 9th, it was delivered on July 11th, and today on July 12th, we received an email confirming receipt and that they would be processing the rescission in the next 7-10 business days. I'll post more details when the rescission is complete.

 

[elaine]

I’d Tell your MIL good job!

 

[dboeger1]

Our purchase was made July 6th, we sent our rescission letter on July 9th, it was delivered on July 11th, and today on July 12th, we received an email confirming receipt and that they would be processing the rescission in the next 7-10 business days. I'll post more details when the rescission is complete.

Update: I called on I believe the 20th to check up on the status, and the guy I spoke to said the refund request had been submitted on the 18th, and could take 14-21 business days to actually hit my accounts. The original payment was split up between 2 credit cards, an AMEX and a Capital One. The AMEX account shows the refund credit hitting on the 20th, although I swear I checked many times and didn't actually see it until the 23rd. The larger portion of the refund still hasn't shown up in my C1 account. I can't imagine they would mess it up by only refunding 1 of the payment methods (especially since I was very explicit about the refunds I was expecting in my rescission letter). I suspect it'll hit my account in the next few days, although I'll probably call again this week just to bug them and see if they can confirm that the full refund amount was submitted.

Edit: Also forgot to mention, with regards to our Sampler points and other freebies, as far as I can tell, they are all still intact. The points are still in our account and we continue to get emails reminding us to book year-end travel. I was able to register the other freebies online and confirm that I can indeed use them. So yes, rescission seems to have gone about as well as one could hope so far other than just waiting for the rest of the refund. Not that I would recommend buying and rescinding timeshares as a strategy to get freebies, but it's nice knowing we still got compensated for our time and trouble.

 

[Talent312]

Likely, they wouldn't take the points until the deal closed.
Since it's not closing, they _may_ be safe.

The sales-weasels aside, HGVC is a stand-up company.
They will do the right thing.
... Congrats on rescinding. You saved a ton of $$...

BTW, you can buy the same points resale for about 1/3 the price.
Resale buyers get all the same perks as retail, except for...
HGVC Max (can buy a DRI TS instead) or Elite status (not worth it).
.

 

[dboeger1]

Final update: The last refund transaction showed up in my C1 account today (July 26th) as pending. Not sure when it'll actually reflect in my balance, but it seems everything is done from HGV's end. In total, it took 20 calendar days (14 business days) from date of purchase to unwind everything, and we got to keep our freebies.

I vaguely remember this site keeping tally of confirmed dollars saved or something like that. If anybody cares, the purchase amount was $29,835. To be clear, we are still looking to buy a timeshare at some point as we like the idea of a pre-planned vacation every year, but we'll probably just look at resale in the future.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

@dboeger1 congrats on rescinding and saving yourself $29,835 (cc @TUGBrian)

Stick around TUG to research and ask questions. Take your time. When you are ready, you could buy a terrific HGVC resale for about $7000 or less and put the remaining $12,800 aside to pay future maintenance fees, PLUS buy a US $10k iBond for 7%+ interest to pay for future vacation or education for your kids. Heck you could buy 2 iBonds (1 for you; one for spouse) with that money. Your MIL was right.

And still have many happy pre-planned vacations!

BTW...to pay it forward, consider a $15 TUG membership. Best investment in your future vacations. (I make zero money off of TUG membership but have maximized my timeshares and saved lot of money on travel.)

 

[dboeger1]

@dboeger1 congrats on rescinding and saving yourself $29,835 (cc @TUGBrian)

Stick around TUG to research and ask questions. Take your time. When you are ready, you could buy a terrific HGVC resale for about $7000 or less and put the remaining $12,800 aside to pay future maintenance fees, PLUS buy a US $10k iBond for 7%+ interest to pay for future vacation or education for your kids. Heck you could buy 2 iBonds (1 for you; one for spouse) with that money. Your MIL was right.

And still have many happy pre-planned vacations!

BTW...to pay it forward, consider a $15 TUG membership. Best investment in your future vacations. (I make zero money off of TUG membership but have maximized my timeshares and saved lot of money on travel.)

We're pretty financially secure and have a well-diversified portfolio including plenty of I-bonds, so we weren't exactly spending our life savings for this timeshare or anything like that, which is why I was comfortable making the purchase. The thing I'm struggling with is that we're a bit conflicted between points systems and deeded weeks. On the one hand, I don't really like having to compete for reservations during points system booking windows, so having a fixed week would be nice. On the other hand, we're not really ready to commit to specific destination at this time. I know the general consensus here is that HGV Max isn't worth it, but from my perspective, even if it's cheaper, owning HGV+DRI is not as flexible as HGV Max in terms of being able to use all the points at all the destinations (I realize the booking windows for DRI properties with HGV Max membership are disadvantageous, which is disappointing, but not necessarily a deal breaker). My wife was actually more on the fence about our purchase, but ironically, she was the one who didn't really want to cancel, because she got all excited about using the points.

I guess the nice thing about cancelling and getting to keep the freebies is that we can use the freebies for the next couple years of vacations along with all our credit card points. That lets us still enjoy vacations while researching resale options. We may very well end up with a resale HGV.

 

[dayooper]

We're pretty financially secure and have a well-diversified portfolio including plenty of I-bonds, so we weren't exactly spending our life savings for this timeshare or anything like that, which is why I was comfortable making the purchase. The thing I'm struggling with is that we're a bit conflicted between points systems and deeded weeks. On the one hand, I don't really like having to compete for reservations during points system booking windows, so having a fixed week would be nice. On the other hand, we're not really ready to commit to specific destination at this time. I know the general consensus here is that HGV Max isn't worth it, but from my perspective, even if it's cheaper, owning HGV+DRI is not as flexible as HGV Max in terms of being able to use all the points at all the destinations (I realize the booking windows for DRI properties with HGV Max membership are disadvantageous, which is disappointing, but not necessarily a deal breaker). My wife was actually more on the fence about our purchase, but ironically, she was the one who didn't really want to cancel, because she got all excited about using the points.

I guess the nice thing about cancelling and getting to keep the freebies is that we can use the freebies for the next couple years of vacations along with all our credit card points. That lets us still enjoy vacations while researching resale options. We may very well end up with a resale HGV.

We are full resale owners and it has worked very well for us. I feel that HGVC treats their resale owners very well. Research it (and other systems).

 

[CalGalTraveler]

@dboeger1 It sounds like you purchased DRI/HGV points in your recent rescission. Note that @dayooper is referring to Hilton Grand Vacations (HGVC) resale. The DRI/HGV points system is different and may have resale restrictions (I don't own DRI/HGV so cannot comment on that system).

Suggest that you also explore HGVC resale deeds which offer both home weeks and points since that might satisfy your concerns about wanting points trading flexibility but also desiring fixed home weeks when you want it. Also resale HGV/DRI deeds are great for trading weeks if you want to vacation a week at a time.

 

[arga]

We're pretty financially secure and have a well-diversified portfolio including plenty of I-bonds, so we weren't exactly spending our life savings for this timeshare or anything like that, which is why I was comfortable making the purchase. The thing I'm struggling with is that we're a bit conflicted between points systems and deeded weeks. On the one hand, I don't really like having to compete for reservations during points system booking windows, so having a fixed week would be nice. On the other hand, we're not really ready to commit to specific destination at this time. I know the general consensus here is that HGV Max isn't worth it, but from my perspective, even if it's cheaper, owning HGV+DRI is not as flexible as HGV Max in terms of being able to use all the points at all the destinations (I realize the booking windows for DRI properties with HGV Max membership are disadvantageous, which is disappointing, but not necessarily a deal breaker). My wife was actually more on the fence about our purchase, but ironically, she was the one who didn't really want to cancel, because she got all excited about using the points.

I guess the nice thing about cancelling and getting to keep the freebies is that we can use the freebies for the next couple years of vacations along with all our credit card points. That lets us still enjoy vacations while researching resale options. We may very well end up with a resale HGV.

Seems like you're more fit into the traditional hotel system. Of course it will be more expensive, but that's the price of flexibility. That being said, if you really like HGVC properties, many of them are bookable thru hilton or other 3rd party travel agencies.