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

[Goofyhobbie]

muranojo said: 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.

muranojo you are correct that RCI was not the enterprise that promised people "all those goodies." But, it is a fact that RCI from the get go provided the Developers with an "exchange model" to sell and the means and materials to grow both RCI's business and the business of the Developers.

Timeshare owners for the past 35 years have considered RCI to be an “Exchange Company” and they joined RCI to EXCHANGE their Week or Weeks with other timeshare owners?

The concept has been marketed by both RCI and Developers as exclusive and only available to dues paying members. RCI's tweeking of the model has not been widely known until recently. Once the ignorant among us learn that the inventory they have deposited is being siphoned off for rentals and the profit put into RCI's pocket the stuff will hit the fan - or it should!

The Exchange business has been RCI's bread and butter and the PRIMARY reason why all members pay their membership dues. There is NO dues paying member of RCI that I am aware of who gets any benefit what-so-ever from RCI RENTING inventory to anyone who is willing to pay the rental fee.

The fact that RCI deliberately has kept the Exchange Membership in the dark about their decision to change their business model is what is infuriating the Membership and what has prompted the Judge in the case to demand that RCI provide more comprehensive notice.

In the end RCI will probably be able to continue Renting deposits that it's membership gives them. However, because of Jeannie and the few other folks who OBJECTED strongly at the court hearing those previously ignorant members will gain information that RCI would have rather they not know.

Jeannie, the Judge, and the other "objectors" have given RCI something to chew on and as a result we the membership may or may not be better off; but, hopefully RCI will see the error they have made and will begin to mitigate the public relations nightmare that is about to overwhelm them.

The Court battle will not resolve the issue of who said what and when they said it; but as a result of the Court battle RCI and the timeshare industry as we know it will change, hopefully for the better.

 

[zgreg9]

"... worst rip off artist and abuser of timeshare owners today is RCI..."

These are the words from a retired British 25 year timeshare industry insider.
To read his entire post please go to this link on HolidayWatchdog.com
http://forum.holidaywatchdog.com/the-home-truths-t106800.html

Maybe someone involved in the class action negotiations could contact this gentleman to get the inside scoop.

Greg

 

[MuranoJo]

OK, I totally believe RCI front-loaded developers with info & sales materials to fill pockets on both sides. So people who come here complaining about resorts' sales tactics need a better response which implicates both parties, not just the resort.

 

[teepeeca]

The "old" gold crown status

RCI in bed with the developers??? At one timeshare I own, while in "developer's sales", RCI had given the resort a "gold crown" designation, which (in MY opinion) would definitely help sales.

After the developer left, the resort was "downgraded" to either "silver crown" or "standard" ---sorry, I can't remember the accurate designations.

When I questioned the resort, old developer, AND RCI, I was told, (by RCI, and the resort) that the "gold crown" designation was just a temporary designation to help sales, and the resort, under "normal" circumstances, would never be "awarded" the gold crown designation.

Therefore, I firmly believe that RCI WAS/IS a party to the deception.

Tony

 

[Thanksgiving1997]

Robbed in 1997 Cabo San Lucas

I am only now hearing about this RCI case. Of course the "settlement" is laughable and I can take no action to "claim" any benefit because it is pitiful and much of it requires doing continued business with these people.

One thing about this forum is that there seems to be an assumption that even 5% of the people who get coerced into a "timeshare" really end up wanting one or respecting the idea afterwards. Certainly few of us really cared about ever returning to stay at the nominal place that we "bought" in the Mexican town we were in. Most of us were totally bamboozled with the talk of being able to get a free week anywhere in the world at a 5 star resort and that the $5000 deposit is nothing compared to the future benefits when inflation makes rooms worth $200 or more in value per night. I stupidly "did the math" and stupidly figured that, even with a $400 per year "maintenance cost", there was actually an advantage to paying the $5000 deposit upfront. I was an idiot. This was completely wrong. That money was simply stolen. Even an upfront $400 per year, if paid many months in advance, would be pushing the limits of whether that was "worth it" for the ability to stay at a nice hotel for a week (money in the pocket until the last second has extraordinary value over money paid in advance).

I paid the phony maintenance fee for 2 years and then simply stopped paying. Nobody came after me. It did not effect my credit. They knew they were criminals and that the 2 years of fees + the deposit were all robberies with no benefit to me. Of course I never went back to Cabo San Lucas. By depositing the week with RCI, I basically lost the right to go to "my unit" anyway (I never say "my unit").

And it was with RCI that the robbery was really apparent.

You see, considering I had made a $5000 deposit and paid $400 in maintenance fees for Cabo San Lucas at Christmas (highly valuable exchange I believed it to be), I should have been able to make a phone call to RCI and negotiate a one week stay somewhere in Europe during any given week. This is what the Canadian salesman at the resort had said. No such luck! They wouldn't offer me anything anywhere. This is why I stopped paying the $400 annual maintenance fee for the resort. RCI had no intention of giving me any week "for free" anywhere.

That was their crime. They knew our timeshares had zero value (or at least those from certain resorts). They would just stonewall.

I remember being at a totally empty resort and asking that RCI at least give me that for a week. They said "nothing available". The receptionist next to me was laughing. RCI were total criminals.

Any class action suit would demand that we get back at least 20% of what we were taken in by the resorts that RCI colluded with.

The crime was collusion with the resorts.

I wouldn't take less than $1000 settlement.

The above challenge appears to be like a lot I know in business that are really a setup, a controlled-burn, where proper complaints are not filed, proper arguments are never made and presto, you get a "judgement or settlement" where everyone gets a $100 gift certificate if they jump through more hoops.

 

[TUGBrian]

Recieved this today from the publishers at Timesharing Today and am posting it here at their request.

RCI faces another Class Action Suit - Points

TimeSharing Today recently learned that a Points member filed a class action Complaint in the same United States District Court in New Jersey as the Class Action lawsuit by Weeks Members. There are similar allegations in the Points Complaint in that it states RCI engages in a "fraudulent, deceptive and unconscionable marketing scheme" by representing "that only members of the program can access the timeshares," whereas RCI actually engages in the "practice of skimming a large percentage of the timeshares from the system, including many prime timeshares, and renting them to the general public at a profit to RCI, or selling them to vendors who then rent them to the general public."



It is interesting to note that Count II of the 38-page Points Complaint includes: A Breach of Implied Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing.



RCI has filed a motion to dismiss certain aspects of the Complaint. The court has not yet ruled on that motion. A case management conference, setting deadlines for pretrial discovery and other pretrial procedures, is scheduled for October 26, 2009.



If you have not yet read a complaint in a class action lawsuit, take a few minutes to view the Points Complaint at http://tstoday.com/rciclassaction/glenz.pdf.



TimeSharing Today will continue to follow events in this lawsuit as it has done in the in Weeks Members Lawsuit. Another Fairness Hearing in the Weeks Member suit is scheduled for November 30th.

To send your comments, email: staff@tstoday.com Subject: Points Class Action

interesting info

 

[rocketraj]

RCI weeks exchange program settlement

Here is the website with the update on settlement and a link to the online claim form:

http://www.weeksprogramsettlement.com/claimoptions.htm

however, my browser seems to have trouble opening the link to the online claim form.

Raju.

 

[RustyS]

Online Claim Site not working correctly

Here is the website with the update on settlement and a link to the online claim form:

http://www.weeksprogramsettlement.com/claimoptions.htm

however, my browser seems to have trouble opening the link to the online claim form.

Raju.

Everyone will have trouble opening the site. There are at least three issues with the online claim form:

1) It won't open without a secure connection (https). While this is common enough (let's face it all of our banking and even the RCI site uses it), it is the responsibility of the programmers of the site to make sure the link to a page that requires it includes the transition from HTTP to HTTPS. Otherwise you have to reach up into the URL and add the "S". Which I did, leading to...

2) Their Certificate that ensures the secure connection isn't fraudulent is wrong. The error they made is common enough, they moved the page to a server address that isn't covered by the fairly specific certificate. It looks OK, so I said "I'll accept the risk, open the darned page", which led to...

3) The form isn't there. Bottom line it couldn't find the page.

You think the RCI programmers did this page too?

By the way, I looked at the send-it-via-the-mail version of the form, and our options are paltry. Free renewal for a month or two in a program I've already decided to leave because it has been devalued. The offer to get a prorated refund on my membership (I can (and have) gotten that already without the lawsuit). Twenty or thirty bucks towards a future exchange (again in a program I'm quitting, and if I wasn't that is about a days worth of exchange), a day in a daily rental unit so long as I rent another (what inventory do they rent by the day? Branson and Brownsville?).

These options are pitiful. They screw us out of our precious property, our kids future vacations, and get a slap on the wrist.

I'm out of the whole thing. They've already returned my 2010 week to me and as soon as I use up the older deposits I'll be getting that prorated refund.

Which brings up another question: Is the RedWeek exchange program worth it? They're offering me a number of points that seems to exceed most of the stuff I can see in their inventory, though their inventory is mostly run of the mill stuff (no Hyatts or Christmas weeks). That's OK with me, that's what I have to deposit and expected anyway. I've posted this question as a separate thread:

Exchanging through RedWeek: http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=107555

 

[Carolinian]

Don't cave in to this rape of timesharing by accepting their silly and worthless trinkets. The thing to do is to object to the ''settlement''.

Here is the website with the update on settlement and a link to the online claim form:

http://www.weeksprogramsettlement.com/claimoptions.htm

however, my browser seems to have trouble opening the link to the online claim form.

Raju.

 

[BigElm]

Thank you Jennie...

I don't post much here but when I got the email yesterday, the first thing I said to myself is "check tug". And here I am....

I agree with everyone that your efforts are appreciated and we can't thank you enough for what you're doing and continue to do for TS owners, as yourself. I received no notification about this lawsuit from RCI and I can't find any information on their website. I can't get the form to fill out and don't know if I'm already too late. I've tried the settlement link but there's only pdf info I see.

I own both weeks and points and to be honest, points hasn't done much for me. I definitely have noticed very limited availabilty through both though my trading power is strong..... well, that's what RCI says

Looking forward to the outcome and hopefully your efforts Jennie are not in vain! *fingers crossed*

/subscribed

EDIT: I guess it's been that long that my post count got reset :rofl:

 

[DaveHenry]

Yesterday's Email Designed to Discourage Objections

The linked documents for yesterday's email seem to be designed to discourage written objections. They state that all written objections have to be postmarked by last April! They are obviously the old documents that they didn't send us last winter. However, many people will think that they have missed the deadline and not do anything. I hope someone tells the judge about this!

 

[Carolinian]

The linked documents for yesterday's email seem to be designed to discourage written objections. They state that all written objections have to be postmarked by last April! They are obviously the old documents that they didn't send us last winter. However, many people will think that they have missed the deadline and not do anything. I hope someone tells the judge about this!

Does anyone beleive that this was a ''mistake'' by RCI????????

 

[Stricky]

Just an FYI that I received the lawsuit email yesturday (as I am sure all of you did)

You May be a Member of a Class Action Settlement Regarding RCI Weeks® Timeshare Program and Entitled to Benefits
A Settlement has been reached in a class action lawsuit that claims that RCI, LLC unlawfully rented or otherwise disposed of timeshare inventory deposited by members of the RCI Weeks® Exchange Program. RCI denies any wrongdoing.

The Settlement affects anyone who was a member of the RCI Weeks® Exchange Program at any time from January 1, 2000 through August 31, 2009. If the Settlement is approved, Settlement Class Members who submit Claim Forms may receive monetary, travel-related or program benefits. Claim Forms must be submitted to the Settlement Administrator by November 20, 2009. If you previously submitted a Claim Form, you do not need to submit a new Claim Form.
• If you wish to exclude yourself from the lawsuit and keep your right to sue RCI on your own, you must send a written request for exclusion to David Berman, P.C., P.O. Box 111, Morristown, NJ 07963-0111 by November 20, 2009. If you do not exclude yourself, you will be bound by the Court's ruling in the case.
• If you do not exclude yourself, you can enter an appearance in Court through your own attorney at your own cost. You may also object to or comment on the Settlement. Objections and/or notices of appearance must be filed with the Clerk of the Court by November 20, 2009 and mailed to Class Counsel and counsel for Defendant.
The Court will determine whether to approve the Settlement at a Fairness Hearing on November 30, 2009 at 2:30 p.m. at the United States District Court, 402 East State Street, Trenton, New Jersey 08608.

For Detailed Information and a Claim Form
Visit: www.weeksprogramsettlement.com, Call: 1-866-783-5876,
or Write: Settlement Administrator, P.O. Box 1966, Faribault, MN 55021-6162.
Questions may also be directed to Class Counsel by email at rcisettlement@njlawyer.com.

 

[TUGBrian]

hopefully one of the people in our camp can let us know who mr Berman is, and which side of the fence he is on.

im guessing he is one of rcis attys

 

[Goofyhobbie]

Please Do NOT do anything hastily!

I personally have not received a Post Card or E-mail from RCI and may never receive one; but, no one should act before we have input from Jeannie.

Then we should get together and make our feelings known to the Judge through a written objection, if that is what Jeannie recommends.

Here is some information on Berman:

RCI Settlement

David C. Berman, a Professional Corporation was designated Plaintiffs’ Liaison Counsel in a nationwide class action that was filed in New Jersey during 2006 on behalf of RCI Weeks Program members. Through its Weeks Program, RCI offers its members the option of depositing their vacation week in a spacebank to exchange it for a comparable week from the spacebank. Plaintiffs allege that RCI actually rents out the most desirable and highly demanded vacation weeks from the spacebank, thus depleting the most desirable options available to Weeks Program members who seek exchanges. Preliminary approval of the settlement reached in this lawsuit was entered on December 17, 2008. If you meet the definition of a class member, your rights may be affected.

http://www.njlawyer.com/RCISettlement.asp

Let's wait and see who this Berman fellow is. Jeannie should be bringing us up to date soon.

 

[stevedmatt]

I also did not receive an email. This may be due to the fact that I opted out of the class during the first go round. I'm surprised that I would not have that option once again, but I would still opt out again anyhow.

 

[Drivr]

Keep an eye on your junk mail folders. A lot of mail program are marking that mailing from RCI as junk mail and it wont go into your inbox. Thought it was kind of funny to see this email was correctly filed in the junk folder by OUtlook.:hysterical:

 

[MuranoJo]

I didn't receive mail or email regarding this and it is not in my junk bin which I've learned to check every day.

 

[Goofyhobbie]

An Update on The Weeks Class Action

Yesterday afternoon at 4:26 PM (Post # 356) TUGBrian shared with us a snippet from an E-Mail that TSTODAY gave permission to publish here on TUG.

Recently I learned that a more detailed E-Mail had been published elsewhere on the Internet. The entire E-Mail should be of interest to those following this particular thread. But, it would be inappropriate for yours truly to identify where the entire E-Mail was posted or to even mention again the specific publication that TUGBrian has previously mentioned because of the ban against advertising.

Maybe with encouragement TUGBrian will post the entire E-Mail.

Meanwhile, here is a quote from the original E-Mail that provides:

Weeks Class Action update

Objectors to the proposed RCI Weeks Class Action Settlement are waiting for news regarding a Court determination on whether it will appoint a Lead Counsel for the Objectors.

Two attorneys have submitted applications to be named "Lead Counsel for the Objectors" in order to coordinate Objections and to enjoy more formal status in the case: Susan Collins, a matrimonial attorney from Western New York who owns 9 timeshare weeks, and who has extensive experience with timesharing and exchanges, and Stephan Willett, a former patent attorney whose parents own a timeshare week, and who is has some experience as a class-action attorney. TST's publisher, Shep Altshuler, who has attended the court appearances and has seen both attorneys in action, has supported the appointment of Ms.Collins as Lead Counsel for the Objectors.

A link to the 38-page proposed settlement can be found at the bottom of RCI's log-in page. (Readers should be careful when printing the document, or they will print all 291 pages including the attachments!)

 

[TUGBrian]

that info you posted was made public many weeks ago with susan collins actually posting here in this thread.

the info I posted the other day was something TSTODAY had asked me to post here, it relates to the POINTS side of the house, vs the WEEKS side as mostly discussed here.

The email sent to RCI members earlier today was in relation to the WEEKS settlement.

 

[Lazz]

I am a real rookie on the whole court case, but I did receive the e mail yesterday with a link to the website. The additional link in the website to the online claim form does work for me. Should I submit, or wait?

http://www.weeksprogramsettlement.com/claimoptions.htm

In addition. here are some of the important dates they have posted:

Settlement Website

Class Period - January 1, 2000 through August 31, 2009
Exclusion Deadline – November 20, 2009
Objection Deadline - November 20, 2009
Claim Form Deadline – November 20, 2009
Fairness Hearing - November 30, 2009 at 2:30

 

[jdp0906]

All I can say is Oh My Gawd,

Something is actually challenging thsse creeps. I only found out yesterday. I will replay my experience and then ask those so very involved how I can be the most effective with my actions.

My husband and I reserved a 3 bedroom unit at the Fairway Villas in the Poconos. Set - for many months. 2 days before travelling, a call from a supervisor at RCI telling me we have to change our plans. Two lesser units were all that were available, THEY HAD OVER BOOKED. Sleeplessly, I called the resort and found a person that could confirm my reservation and the unit that was assigned, that met what we reserved, a 3 bedroom.

The following day RCi cancelled that reservation. Now, with only one day to travel, we have no reservations at all. More calls with RCI and the resort, we resolved to the 2 lesser units and other concessions.

Many family plans were made based on the original booking that fell apart because, at the last minute RCI was able to rent the 3 BR unit and screw us.

What is the best way we should proceed. Of course I will submit the necessary form to be a part of the class action suit - but what I do that is more.

 

[Goofyhobbie]

Update: Rci Class Action Lawsuit

Posted by TUGBrian: The email sent to RCI members earlier today was in relation to the WEEKS settlement.

Brian, I realize that the E-mail sent to RCI members earlier today was in relation to the WEEKS settlement. I, however, still have not received the same E-Mail and as I said earlier, I may never get the E-Mail or a card from RCI although I have been a member for 24+ years. I would not have seen the link on RCI's website either had I not read about how RCI provided the link last time.

For those interested, if you are an RCI Member and enter your USERNAME and Password to access RCI.com you too will probably NOT see the link.

The link has been posted by RCI as they may have done prior to April, 2009; but unless you do not log-in you will will not see it. To see it you have to go to the site as a Non-Member would and scroll down to the bottom of the initial page without logging-on. Once you log-on the link disappears. (Is that devious or what!) How many of you routinely go to the site and scroll to the bottom of the page before logging-on?

You are correct that the original E-Mail referred to above started out by announcing the "Points" Class Action Suit. But talking about just the "Points" Class Action was not the only purpose of the complete E-Mail that I was referring to. Upon closer inspection, (if you have a copy of the complete E-Mail) you should find that the version that I saw had much more to say about what we have been discussing.

If you did not receive the entire E-Mail and therefore are unaware of the complete text, the fact that it has not been posted is understandable. But, if you did receive the entire E-Mail as seen elsewhere on the Internet, please reconsider posting it.

In its entirety, the original E-Mail shares the insight of someone who was probably present at the most recent RCI WEEKS Law Suit court hearings. The information imparted provides the readers of this thread some interesting input.

I have spent most of the last two hours reviewing this entire thread. You are correct that Susan Collins had specifically advised that she would be applying for permission to be Lead Counsel for the "objectors." But, I was not able to find out much about the other Lawyer who also wanted the appointment.

What I did pick up on was the fact that the other applicant was probably not as well qualified as Susan to represent timeshare owners.

After reading the entire thread and the apparent complete version of the E-Mail, I am satisfied that we are fortunate to have someone like Susan Collins going to bat for us. It is my hope that the Judge does in fact appoint her counsel for the "objectors."

Anyone who takes the time to read every post in this thread is going to become well informed about the current status of the WEEKS Class Action Lawsuit. So when you get the chance dive in!

 

[Jennie]

I have been sitting here on the sidelines reeading all your kind comments for weeks, dying to let you know what's been happening re: the RCI Weeks lawsuit. Since September 9th, while we were in active negotions with RCI, we were required by law not to disclose anything that was being said or done. Proposals and counter proposals were made. The last, and presumably final offer was rejected. I cannot say anything further about the specifics at this time.

Hundreds, if not thousands of hours have bees spent by the four objectors trying to persuade RCI to offer a better settlement. However, in the end they offered very little. I'm not an attorney so I'm not sure if/when I'll be allowed to share the details.

My personal opinion is that RCI has little regard for their members' needs and rights and will engage in any activity they can get away with to increase their revenues no matter how unfair or unconscionable it may be to their members. Am I surprised? Of course not. I've been a member since 1995 and have been a first hand observer of the slow but steady decline in service and positive results members have received.

At this point we "Objectors" are asking for a bit more time before offering a recommendation about how to respond to the options you will soon be offered in the proposed settlement notice. There are serious pros and cons to each course of action which I'll try to explain in detail soon. We are awaiting clarification of a few legal points.

Frustrating? Yes

Waste of time and effort? Absolutely not. Eighteen people attended the September 9th conference, including some high ranking officials of the corporation (translate: decison makers). They clearly know what they are doing is wrong. I'd like to think that we made them aware of some important facts that they have not been properly factoring into the equation.

I showed them a list of almost 100 exchanges we have made, literally to places all over the U.S., Mexico, Caribbean, Canada, Hawaii, and Europe. Hubby and I own 19 weeks, including one junk week we purchased "way back when" before we knew much about timesharing. That's the only week we deposit anymore. And through TUG I learned how to turn even that lemon into lemonade. I've gotten the Manhattan Club twice in the summer with it, and some prime February weeks in southeast Florida. But RCI will never again get their grubby paws on our prime weeks. In fact we haven't even bothered to register with them the weeks we both over the past five years via resale.

Since I saw the impact the rental activity was having upon the quality and quantity of weeks being offered for exchange, I have purchased only prime weeks that we plan to use ourselves every year. They have excellent rental potential if we decide to do something different one year. Then we would rent our week and use the money received to rent a week directly from another timeshare owner. So who needs RCI?

The economy has virtually halted the development and sales of new timeshares. Being able to rent timeshares at prices below what an owner pays in maintenance fees is a powerful disincentive to anyone buying any timeshare. People are traveling less and staying at their drive-to timeshares instead of exchanging. People are unfortunately walking away from their timeshares because of job loss, home forclusures, bankruptcies, etc...

It is quite likely that in a few years the free weeks that the developers have been providing to RCI will dry up, cutting off one of their main sources of rental profits. Exchange revenues could drop so much that RCI will have to do all in their power to "court" their current members and try to win back those they aleinated. Bad behaviour is often times punished in unexpected ways.

There are severe penalties imposed if a corporation is caught violating the terms of a settled class action lawsuit. We have come up with a plan to catch violations if RCI is brazen enough to try it. It is a rather ingenious plan, I think, that is possible only because there are web sites like TUG, with fair-minded members who really care about cleaning up the garbage being spewed into "our world of timeshares" by greedy companies like RCI. More about that later. There are other things being worked on that cannot be mentioned publicly. All I can say is that publicity about this lawsuit may have brought forth some potential "whistle blowers."

As Carolinian has so often suggested, working through state Attorney General's Offices and consumer protection agencies may be the way to accomplish some of what this class action lawsuit may not do.

That said, there is still the possibility that some improvements will be made to the current settlement. It's far from dead. More information will be provided soon.

CLARIFICATION of one thing that is IMHO very poorly written in the official settlement: You may choose one of the rather worthless benefits AND object to the settlent at the same time. But if you choose to "Opt out" then you cannot request any of the trinkets.

 

[hajjah]

I have a question. This latest link to the claim page is working. Where we are asked to list the resort names and ID's, are we to list all of the RCI resorts that we owned during the years identified for the claim, or what we presently own that are with RCI? I would have to go to the RCI website and get a list of at least 10 RCI resort ID numbers. I wanted to ask before I submit the claim form.
Thanks.