• The TUGBBS forums are completely free and open to the public and exist as the absolute best place for owners to get help and advice about their timeshares for more than 30 years!

    Join Tens of Thousands of other Owners just like you here to get any and all Timeshare questions answered 24 hours a day!
  • TUG started 31 years ago in October 1993 as a group of regular Timeshare owners just like you!

    Read about our 31st anniversary: Happy 31st Birthday TUG!
  • TUG has a YouTube Channel to produce weekly short informative videos on popular Timeshare topics!

    Free memberships for every 50 subscribers!

    Visit TUG on Youtube!
  • TUG has now saved timeshare owners more than $24,000,000 dollars just by finding us in time to rescind a new Timeshare purchase! A truly incredible milestone!

    Read more here: TUG saves owners more than $24 Million dollars
  • Sign up to get the TUG Newsletter for free!

    Tens of thousands of subscribing owners! A weekly recap of the best Timeshare resort reviews and the most popular topics discussed by owners!
  • Our official "end my sales presentation early" T-shirts are available again! Also come with the option for a free membership extension with purchase to offset the cost!

    All T-shirt options here!
  • A few of the most common links here on the forums for newbies and guests!

Renting. step 5 of confirming that it's legit

F

fortehoward

newbie
Joined
Jul 29, 2016
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
I'm a newbie and read the article about "confirming that a rental is legit". Once the confirmation is in my name, what is to stop the owner from call the resort & having them removed my name from the confirmation.

Sent from my SM-G928T using Tapatalk
 
fortehoward said:
I'm a newbie and read the article about "confirming that a rental is legit". Once the confirmation is in my name, what is to stop the owner from call the resort & having them removed my name from the confirmation.

Sent from my SM-G928T using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

First of all - renting your timeshare, collecting the money, and then cancelling the reservation would be a criminal act, and since the renter and the resort have all of the owner's info., it's not something they can get away with.

However, I tell my renters who are nervous about this happening that they can call reservations once a month, a week before check-in, and the day before check-in, just to be sure the reservation is still in their name.

In reality - renters have nothing to worry about with legitimate timeshare owners - they have too much to lose.

The people you have to worry about are the rental scammers, who don't even own timeshares. They are advertising bogus reservations on the internet for rent, that don't even exist. When you ask them for documentation, they will either send you a photoshopped reservation, or disappear.

Using the rental procedure recommended on TUG will protect you against the scammers.
 
Last edited:
We got scammed on a rental. The rental was in our name, we verified with resort, we had paperwork. It turned out the scammer somehow got into the system, and made a reservation with points from an account that was rarely used. She did it a lot, it was investigated and our reservation was cancelled. We lost $800


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
rapmarks said:
We got scammed on a rental. The rental was in our name, we verified with resort, we had paperwork. It turned out the scammer somehow got into the system, and made a reservation with points from an account that was rarely used. She did it a lot, it was investigated and our reservation was cancelled. We lost $800


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Interesting - was this an inside job? What resort was it?
 
how did the resort cancel a confirmed reservation with paperwork?

what was their explanation on that?

did you report the ladys name, physical address, and phone number to the local police? 800 is grand theft and it sounds like she had far more than one victim.
 
Also - did you post all the details on TUG, to alert other possible renters?
 
First, it was not a tigger who rented to me. Second, this was a very clever person. I believe she worked for the company and knew who wasn't using their points. She would respond to requests, book the week. The renter would call and have the reservation number and verify it, and the reservation was changed to the renters name. Somehow it got found out, we were cancelled at last minute. I talked to a person very high up, they did nothing for me. It was a fake name, the address was a Walmart in Atlanta Georgia. Now I only use PayPal, and I ask for address and I goggle it. It was reported to police, but nothing ever happened with it
This person was renting regularly on the yahoo group, and used my name as a reference, so she was getting away with this for a long time


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Thank you for the details.

It's a good idea to pay with a credit card on PayPal because then you can dispute the payment if you need to. But you have no recourse with checks.
 
Thanks for the tip Denise and I see my typo


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
DeniseM said:
Thank you for the details.

It's a good idea to pay with a credit card on PayPal because then you can dispute the payment if you need to. But you have no recourse with checks.
Click to expand...

What is the time limit to despite a charge. Isn't it only 3 months. What I you have paid 5 months out?
 
Rent from someone who you have a knowledge or relationship with, or rent from a long standing TUGger.

They are a good source of many timeshares.
 
allenke said:
What is the time limit to despite a charge. Isn't it only 3 months. What I you have paid 5 months out?
Click to expand...

With PayPal - it's 6 mos.

Here is a tip - for your own peace of mind, you can re-confirm your reservation as often as you want to. For nervous renters, I recommend that they call reservations directly once a month before check-in, then a week before check-in, then the day before check-in, to verify that the reservation is still in your name.

Be aware that fraud by legitimate timeshare owners is very rare - they have too much to lose.

Why? Because a legitimate owner can't get away with scamming people - the resort has all their info., and will certainly not stand idly by if the owner is cancelling their reservations after renting them, and angry renters are demanding to be checked-in at the front desk.

The people you have to worry about are the scammers who aren't owners at all - they are renting bogus reservations that they photo-shopped or copied. If you do your due diligence, it's easy to spot the scammers.
 
DeniseM said:
Be aware that fraud by legitimate timeshare owners is very rare - they have too much to lose.
Click to expand...

Okay, so honest people are honest. The problem is how to determine if the seller is a legitimate owner. A buyer doesn't know the seller is a fraud until the buyer is defrauded.
 
chapjim said:
Okay, so honest people are honest. The problem is how to determine if the seller is a legitimate owner. A buyer doesn't know the seller is a fraud until the buyer is defrauded.
Click to expand...

If you do your due diligence upfront, you can determine that.

See the suggestions at the top of this thread: http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=109479

***I have personally used these steps to check out a number of reported scammers on TUG. Honestly, the schemes fall apart quickly if you just check them out. Most of them won't bother with you - they just move on to the next person who they hope is more gullible.
 
Last edited:
I am planning to rent a unit through red week and the contact person's name is Gordon Gates. He said he is from Hawaii Weeks. Please let me know if he is legitimate.
 
legit or not...one should always go thru the checklist provided above to protect yourself!
 
Gordon is reputable - he has a rental business and I have rented to him a few times.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
DeniseM said:
First of all - renting your timeshare, collecting the money, and then cancelling the reservation would be a criminal act, and since the renter and the resort have all of the owner's info., it's not something they can get away with.

However, I tell my renters who are nervous about this happening that they can call reservations once a month, a week before check-in, and the day before check-in, just to be sure the reservation is still in their name.

In reality - renters have nothing to worry about with legitimate timeshare owners - they have too much to lose.

The people you have to worry about are the rental scammers, who don't even own timeshares. They are advertising bogus reservations on the internet for rent, that don't even exist. When you ask them for documentation, they will either send you a photoshopped reservation, or disappear.

Using the rental procedure recommended on TUG will protect you against the scammers.
Click to expand...
I am looking to rent a Timeshare through a TUG member listing (Becerra). Is it safe & how do I know. First time user & paid member. Thank you.
 
DeniseM said:
Gordon is reputable - he has a rental business and I have rented to him a few times.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Denise
Do you still think Hawaii Weeks - gordon is legit. I cannot get him to answer a phone call. Or do you have any more current info on him. I tried google searching and not much is out there about him just this old info from 2018

thanks
 
Gordon has been on Redweek for years - they would not let him to continue to post there if he wasn't Legit. If you want to talk to him on the phone, just send him a message through his Redweek Ad with your phone number - if he won't call you, then just walk away. Easy - Peasy
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top