UPDATE: RCI CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT - must read for all RCI members [Includes Results]

[grest]

Just wanted to add my thanks, Jennie.
Connie

 

[Nancy]

Jennie,

Thanks for your hard work.

Nancy

 

[Goofyhobbie]

Jennie,

Thank you and the other objectors for what you are doing to make sure that the Court knows that there are thousands of RCI members who are clueless.

Also, thank you for being the spearhead of a movement that I hope will turn out to be such a ruckus that RCI will be forced to do what is right by it's Exchange Members. By what is right, I mean brokering exchanges between members for a fee consistent with the original RCI business model.

We the people who deposit our weeks for exchange do so with the explicit understanding that our property is banked for the use of other members and only by other members. Our property is not being banked for the use of a non-member who pays RCI a rental fee. It has been that way or should have been that way for the past 35 years.

I have been a successful user of RCI for almost 25 years and have never NOT received a "like exchange" or considerably better than a "like exchange," due to the exercise of patience and knowledgable use of my membership.

However, it is not acceptable for RCI to take Inventory specificily deposited for exchange and rent that inventory to "joe public" who has no vested interest except the rental fee paid to RCI.

While RCI may see their rental activity as a good business practice that adds significant revenue to their bottom line, the activity is not consistent with the long advertised practice of RCI which is openly marketed as an EXCHANGE COMPANY that makes EXCHANGES for dues paying members.

If RCI keeps it up, even I will be affected some day, and I will be forced to leave them for one of several companies who are more than willing to do what is right by it's Exchange Members.

Meanwhile, we who know what is going on should remain vigiliant and make sure that we opt out when the "postcards" are received if the settlement being offered does NOT eliminate the current RCI practice of renting Exchange Inventory.

 

[Simoncc]

Within a week we expect to receive communication from RCI as to what changes, if any, they are willing to make to the terms of the settlement. At that point we will have to decide if the changes are sufficient enough to warrant our acceptance, or if we need to "fight on". Our decision will be made with extensive feed-back from TUG members, subscribers of Timesharing Today Magazine, Redweek.com members, members OY, and any other RCI Weeks members who wish to weigh in on the subject. We will try to present a comprehensive summary of the pros and cons to both courses of action.

We will share with you the 12 page position paper we submitted to RCI about a week prior to the meeting. It served as the basis for most of the discussions that took place on September 9th. And hopefully it was reviewed closely after the meeting by whomever else along the chain is involved in RCI's decision making.

Hello Jennie,

Thanks again for your hard work. Are you able to share the position paper now or are you required to wait until you receive RCI's response?

 

[Jennie]

Hello Jennie,

Thanks again for your hard work. Are you able to share the position paper now or are you required to wait until you receive RCI's response?

We are required to wait awhile before sharing it in public. But soon---

 

[TUGBrian]

looking forward to the latest updates =)

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

One question. I saw a discovery schedule some time ago. Is it correct that no discovery on the merits of the case had even been started at the time this ''settlement'' was agreed to, and that only discovery on the issue of class certification had been done? It is absolutely incredible if that is so that any attorney would agree to a settlement without doing that discovery.

That would seem to indicate that the primary goal of the litigation was to extract legal fees, which is pretty typical for this type of litigation. Looks as if the attorneys decided that now was the best time to cash in.

 

[BillWilliam]

RCI

Hi All,
My wife and I have been timeshare owners and members of RCI since 1980.
I had not heard of rentals by RCI of space banked weeks before today. I knew they rented timeshares but I thought these weeks came from properties that were unsold or unspace banked weeks and that the owner of the week got part of the rental fee.
What is going on is a crime.
They are taking space banked weeks and renting those weeks instead of exchanging them as was agreed in the contract. I hope that is how this was presented to the judge. This is a clear case of breach of contract. I have noticed that over the years it has been more difficult to find a place where we want. In the 80's and early 90's we always got what we wanted when we wanted. We have never used our home unit except once for relatives. We were careful when we bought our unit that it was in a good location for exchange and it has been. We made the mistake of buying into the points program. The point sales company making the presentation lied from start to finish. They said they represented RCI and soon everything would be points. Both lies. Under the weeks program because we had our unit exchanged every year we could get any unit any where. We have been to some very nice places. Far better than out home unit. When we switched to points the compnay had what was susposed to be a RCI catalogue. We were given 38,000 points for our unit. Looking in the book they had that was near the top of the point values so we agreed to the deal. The next year our new book came out and 38,000 points is not worth much. What a bunch of crooks. The whole idea of points is just another way to make you pay twice for your exchange. Pnce with your RCI fee and again for extra points. By buying a premium site you pay extra just for that ability to get your exchange every year. Now that counts for nothing.

 

[Jennie]

Unfortunately, the games and scams in the timeshare business go on and on.

WELCOME to TUG. There are a lot of knowledgeable people here who just want to share honest, helpful information. Visit often, read a lot, and post questions.

I'm sorry you paid extra $$$$ to convert your fixed weeks to RCI Points. If it's any consolation, you can always revert back to owning your week as a fixed week by just canceling your RCI Points account. I know it would be a total waste of the money you paid to get it into RCI Points, but I wanted to make sure you are aware of that option.

It may not be a good option, though.

RCI Points can work very well when you learn more about them, and how to use them. You may even find that they work better than the fixed weeks exchange system did. Or maybe not. A lot depends upon the trading power of the fixed week you own, what type of vacations you like, how far in advance you can plan, if you are able to take last minute vacations, etc...

I own both fixed-deeded weeks and RCI Points and I have received excellent exchanges through both systems.

If RCI chooses to eliminate, or seriously curtail the rental "games" (or is forced to do so because of the class action lawsuit), we should all receive better exchange opportunities. Here's hoping! We'll know soon.

 

[Golfnut7]

Bill,
My life with RCI parallels yours - member since 1978, and switched to points in the 90s. However, if you are a Points member, you still have access to the Weeks program. I agree that units are much harder to find than in the past, and taking our deposited weeks and renting them is criminal; but we do have access to both the Points units and the Weeks units. I have found calling RCI Points and asking them to look in the Weeks database is much more efficient than searching on the web.

 

[Jennie]

Bill,
However, if you are a Points member, you still have access to the Weeks program. I agree that units are much harder to find than in the past, and taking our deposited weeks and renting them is criminal; but we do have access to both the Points units and the Weeks units.

If Bill owns only one week, and it has been converted to RCI points, he will no longer have access to the Weeks deposited in the Weeks space-bank because he will have no week there to search against.

It's true that through his POINTS account he will be able to see and reserve weeks that have been pfd'd, but he will not have access to the rest of any of the regular (unconverted) weeks deposited into the traditional weeks spacebank.

 

[castleo]

Jennie and RCI Case

I will have to admit that I have not kept up with this case and truly appreciate your efforts and report.

To me receiving some sort of settlement is not a big issue. Is there anything that requires RCI to post and make available a large percentage of the units that are exchanged by owners or unused in their inventory for the benefit of us owners who want to exchange. I am often amazed at how little is available at times???

Does the settlement do anything to improve our lot for exchanging?

Rich Castello

 

[Goofyhobbie]

Welcome To TUG

Rich,

Back in 1985 and maybe for a few years afterward, I remember that The Fairfield Exchange (FAX) and/or RCI would periodically share exchange statistics with its membership.

But back in the day they were trying to let the membership know what a great job they were doing and they were providing the information to Developers who in turn were touting the relatively high Exchange rates to prospective timeshare owners. For whatever reason, it has been my experience that such information has not been forth coming for a long time.

Today, I doubt that it would be in RCI's best interest to report what they probably now consider proprietary information. So unless they voluntarily provide the information, a Court demands it, or it comes out in discovery, we the membership are not likely to get access to the information.

 

[jodivk]

RCI Weeks lawsuit / us too...

I would like to express our sincere appreciation for Jennie's time and follow through as well.

We read the magazine, but never saw any information about the lawsuit and frankly never heard about it prior to this thread. Been a Tug member for 3+ years (thank goodness!). We receive mail offers, phone calls, and emails from RCI asking us to bank our weeks. But no information about a lawsuit.

Does anyone know when the information postcard or what have you is supposed to be sent out by RCI?

I do have to input that it isn't just Wyndham or RCI that does the false sales promises. Currently own in Kauai after attending both a Quintas / Hanalei Bay Resort presentation (5 hours) and another at Pahio Bali Hai. Bought from neither salesman. Wyndham / Pahio salesman lied like his pants were on fire (small example: he said that we could reserve / exchange within any of the Pahio resorts, for our week, without having to go through RCI). It took almost 2 years for us to figure out 95% of what he said was bs.

Been exchanging thru RCI for about 15 years. We've really noticed in the past 5 that's really hard work to find an equitable exchange through weeks. With our last banked week (Kauai) it took several calls and complaints over a 3 yr. period of searching, in 5 state options and multiple unit sizes, before RCI could "find" us an exchange into a smaller sized unit. And it was about a month before our banked week was due to expire. Ridiculous and frustrating.

I haven't seen a note, I'll check other threads too, is II as hard to deal with as RCI?

Between HOA fees and RCI fees, and the inability to find a place to exchange, it's beginning to seem like we would be better off renting from someone else. The only reason we haven't reverted to hotels is that we are a family of 6 that need kitchens during our trips.

Trying to find the right fit for us. Really appreciate everyone's input all over the site. Have exchanged with Tuggers - all good.

Jodi

 

[Goofyhobbie]

Rich - Sorry About That - Misread your post.

Rich said: Is there anything that requires RCI to post and make available a large percentage of the units that are exchanged by owners or unused in their inventory for the benefit of us owners who want to exchange.

Rich, upon review, I realized that I had misunderstood what you were asking.

Jeannie or someone else, may be aware of something that is currently in place that requires RCI to post (on their website) and/or make available a large percentage of the units that are exchanged by owners. But, I am not aware of such a requirement in their Terms of Service or agreement with RCI Weeks members.

As far as I know there also is no requirement that RCI post (on their website) unused Inventory (such as Inventory that routinely shows up under Extra Vacations) for the benefit of Weeks owners who want to exchange.

Hopefully, the recent action by the Court forcing better notice of a settlement will encourage RCI to re-think what it is doing with deposited Weeks Inventory and make amends.

Although RCI may have the "legal" right to rent Weeks that are deposited by both Weeks members and Points members, RCI as a matter of fairness to its dues paying members should keep those deposits in Inventory for a specific period of time (the longer the better) for the benefit of the membership.

 

[Golfnut7]

Ok, now I understand...

If Bill owns only one week, and it has been converted to RCI points, he will no longer have access to the Weeks deposited in the Weeks space-bank because he will have no week there to search against.

I own two weeks and I have kept one in the "Weeks" program. As such, I can search either program. I also can deposit my Week into the points system.

 

[carl2591]

any know if redweek.com and the other site are posting info about the RCI lawsuit on there sites.. I am sure redweek gets a good amount of traffic from RCI members and others in relation to timeshare stuff..

I personally don't mind rci or others (II) renting out weeks as long as I get a shot at them as well. heck most average folks (non tuggers) wait till 30 or so day out to even start looking for places to rent.

what get me is,, are there really people paying the rates i see on some of the rental sites.. especially in hearing the ones here that are trying to rent stuff and having a hard time just getting MF most times..

sounds to like someone is not telling the truth in the matter.. not sure who to beleive.. rci or tuggers...


had you ..... I would to beleive a tugger any day of the week..

 

[Jennie]

RCI lawsuit update--sort of

Following the last court hearing on August 12, 2009 in Trenton, New Jersey this time (vs. Newark on June 16), the Plaintiffs' and Defendant's attorneys asked the four "Objectors" if they would be interested in getting together with RCI to discuss our differences. We enthusiastically agreed and a meeting was scheduled for September 9th. Per their request about a week before the meeting, we submitted a list of the topics we wished to discuss, plus some questions we would like answered.

There were 17 people in attendance. Shep Altshuler, publisher of Timesharing Today Magazine, was out-of-town due to a family emergency but joined us via a conference call for part of the session.

RCI representatives included high level Management personnel from different departments. They were very cordial to us and seemed genuinely interested in hearing and understanding our objections to the proposed terms of the lawsuit settlement.

The meeting lasted for 5 hours. We had ample opportunity to discuss all of the items on our 12 page list. RCI executives listened intently to our recommendations and asked many relevant questions.

At the conclusion of the meeting we were informed that RCI executives and attorneys would have further discussions about the topics raised and would get back to us (through the plaintiffs and defense attorneys) in a week or so. On September 16th, the attorneys were told that feedback would be received late Thursday afternoon or Friday.Toward the end of Friday we were told that one key executive had to "sign off" on it on Monday. Here it is Thursday morning and there is still no communication.

We remain guardedly optimistic that essential changes will be made to the settlement terms. After all, they did not tell us "thanks, but no thanks."

But at the same time, we are proceeding with plans to "get the word out" if we do not consider the changes to be enough. We are scheduled to speak at the annual owners' meeting of several timeshare resorts, and at local timeshare owner group meetings. We have an investigative reporter standing by to write an article for a major newspaper (which will be syndicated all over the country) if RCI's policies do not become more member friendly. We have been preparing handouts with information about the smaller exchange companies, plus information about how to rent out your own timeshare (through ads on TUG, Redweek etc..).

I just wanted to let you all know that we're still working hard to try and bring about much needed improvements in the area of timeshare exchanges.

Let's hope that RCI will decide to do the "right thing". Even they will benefit in the long run if they drastically scale back or eliminate their rental activity and concentrate on their core business of being an Exchange Company.

More soon!

 

[Dori]

Jenny, a huge thanks to you all for your tireless work in trying to right the wrongs created by RCI. Your efforts are greatly appreciated by members worldwide.

Dori

 

[gnipgnop]

How do we even being to thank you for all your diligence in trying to make this right???: You have spent (probably too many to count) hours ~ days ~ weeks ~ months on this project and we want to support you in any way that we can. As for now I want to throw out a SUPER BIG THANK YOU FROM ALL OF US "TUGGERS". Good luck!

 

[Jennie]

You can't imagine how much all the wonderful comments mean to me! It makes the effort worthwhile. It's been a long grinding road. But we cannot let RCI get away with all this "garbage" without a fight.

Thanks!
Jennie

 

[falmouth3]

Jennie, my thanks also. You have put an incredible amount of effort and time into this.

I am no longer an RCI member, but if things turn around there, I may just rejoin. I hope they realize now that they are losing members because of their business practices.

Sue

 

[mopsy]

adding my thanks

Jennie, on behalf of the people who bought from developers because we didn't know better (and those who are now forced to sell those dinosaurs for cents on the dollar) and for those of us who were lied to about 2-for-1's , extra vacations, exotic travel all over the world with just one phone call; who thought we'd have these great vacations for kids and grandkids but have nothing but high fees and heartburn...we THANK YOU for being a good guy in a land of greed and corruption.



Question for Jennie: has anyone taken to YOUTUBE to rant about RCI and timeshare scams? (Or would that be counterproductive to the legal task at hand?) If something did go up on Youtube and we on TUG were notified; TUGGERS could log on and leave messages to each other and more people could leave videos with their own tales of lies and deception. TV stations and networks have often told timeshare horror stories...why can't we do it ourselves?

 

[MuranoJo]

While I fully support Jennie, is it possible some people are confusing RCI with their own t/s organization? RCI was not the enterprise promising people all those goodies when they purchased. The company selling you timeshare may have promised you that, and they may and probably did say RCI would give you all the trades you wanted anywhere in the world, any time you want to go. That is typical of t/s sales. This court battle will not resolve those issues.

 

[Carolinian]

While I fully support Jennie, is it possible some people are confusing RCI with their own t/s organization? RCI was not the enterprise promising people all those goodies when they purchased. The company selling you timeshare may have promised you that, and they may and probably did say RCI would give you all the trades you wanted anywhere in the world, any time you want to go. That is typical of t/s sales. This court battle will not resolve those issues.

Oh, yes, they were. RCI provided films and other materials to developers that were just as deep in the promising as the developers themselves.