Use Year Question

[LStormont]

How is a "Use Year" determined? I'm asking because we recently became owners of an Aussie timeshare. Everything on our paperwork indicated it was a 1/1 - 12/31 use year. We pay dues on 1/1. Yes, on RCI, it says we have a 12/1 - 11/30 use year. I have been trying to contact everyone and anyone and can't get anyone to understand what I'm asking. My reasoning is, if I'm paying on 1/1, then that's when the points should be available to me, and not 11 months later.

Any ideas? I've contacted the resort, RCI Australia, RCI USA, and the realty company.

 

[sage]

Use Year Confusion

I hope I can shed a little light on your dilemma.
You haven't said whether it is a fixed or floating week.
My guess is that it is floating.

Firstly, check the dates they have given you. We list our dates in dd/mm/yy format so 12/1 would be from 12th January not 1st Dec.

We pay fees at the beginning of the year near our anniversary of when we purchased our timeshare. Hence, if your anniversary is in March, you do not get your week credited to you until March for 2007 and can use your floating week between then and March 2008.
Gillian

 

[LStormont]

Sage, thanks. It is floating, but I've confirmed the dates. I pay 1 January for a Use Year that doesn't start until 1 December. I just got my 2006 points credited on 1 December and got a bill this week to pay the 2007 annual dues for my points that I will not get until 1 December.

 

[madherb]

I think the confusion stems from the difference between your points year and the resort year. You are awarded your points based on the anniversary with RCI points. The resort doesn't care about that at all only their annual year and collection of fees. So it appears your resort uses the calendar year but you joined RCI points in Nov so they will assign the points to your account in Dec. While this may seem unfair it is not unlike having a fixed Christmas week that you have to pay MFs in Jan.

 

[johnmfaeth]

The problem could be that points spin in a different direction below the equator ?



Sorry, couldn't resist...

 

[LStormont]

I think the confusion stems from the difference between your points year and the resort year. You are awarded your points based on the anniversary with RCI points. The resort doesn't care about that at all only their annual year and collection of fees. So it appears your resort uses the calendar year but you joined RCI points in Nov so they will assign the points to your account in Dec. While this may seem unfair it is not unlike having a fixed Christmas week that you have to pay MFs in Jan.

Thank you! So now why no one at RCI USA or Australia couldn't have just said that.......

 

[madherb]

Probably because RCI folks know nothing about maintenance fees and how management companies work. They only know about their "years". Management companies don't know about RCI they just run the resort. Only those that have to deal with both care about how both operate.

 

[mrbudman24]

I have the same thing going on with my new timeshare. I purchased at South Beach resort in Myrtle Beach in August. I purchased a 2br Beach week EOY, starting with Odd years. My resort paperwork says that my first use year is 2006, RCI says that we are currently in 2006 use year, but I won't get my points until Oct 1st, 2007.

Is this a problem with the fact that my resort has me on Odd years and then put me starting use year in 2006 (even year)?

Thank you

Michael

 

[AwayWeGo]

Use Year, Shmoosse Year.

I pay 1 January for a Use Year that doesn't start until 1 December. I just got my 2006 points credited on 1 December and got a bill this week to pay the 2007 annual dues for my points that I will not get until 1 December.

Ours is somewhat different but equally confusing. We get our annual injection of RCI points November 1 but the timeshare's maintenance fees are not overdue till after December 31.

OK - so our RCI Points Use Year starts November 1st each year. No problem.

But if we do Points For Deposit at some other time of the year, those newly acquired points arrive in our points account pre-aged. That is, come the very next October 31, those PFD points -- no matter how fresh -- are considered 1 year old & have to be rolled over (i.e, saved) for a 2nd year, at the end of which they expire if we don't get round to using them. (And if we don't, shame on us.)

At the most recent timeshare sales presentation we attended (Orlando FL, January 2007), with that situation in mind I asked the timeshare sales guy what happens to my existing RCI Points Use Year if I signed up to buy the points package he was offering. I am already a member of RCI Points & I cannot imagine that the RCI system could allow for 1 account with 2 different Use Years in it, 1 for some of the points & another for the rest. I even cited the pre-aging situation that affects my PFD points to illustrate what I meant.

He said that question had not come up before, so he went to check with the on site RCI authority. He came back & said that when we buy his new RCI Points package, the Use Year of our new points package becomes the official Use Year for our entire RCI Points account, including the other RCI Points property we own in another state.

I responded by asking whether the new Use Year we would get would extend or shorten the life of our existing points-resort points & PFD points. That is, with a single new Use Year for the whole account, the old Use Year would have to be adjusted ahead or back -- 1 way the longevity of the points we already have gets stretched, the other way it gets cut. "So which is it?" I asked.

His facial expression & slight pause before responding told me that he didn't know & was about to make up something, which might have a 50-50 chance of being correct. By then The Chief Of Staff had shown the closer person, who had joined us in the 4th chair at our little round salesroom table, the resale prices we had paid for the points & nonpoints timeshares we already own. The sales presentation started winding down fast as it became obvious we were not buying any new timeshare points regardless of Use Year.

But the Use Year question remains unanswered -- when somebody buys a 2nd RCI Points property with a different points-injection date, is a single Use Year assigned for both? If so, how is the new Use Year determined? And in the Use Year adjustment, is the remaining use-time of the old points shortened or lengthened?

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​