WM Acquisition Question

[DarthGrogu]

My mother in law offered to gift us her Worldmark membership. It currently has 6,000 points and will provide another 6,000 points in October. The maintenance fee is just over $900 per year. I have other timeshares so this wouldn't be my first. I think they would get used by either my wife and I or our 20-something kids. Is there anything I'm missing in considering this before I say yes?

 

[HudsHut]

Suggestion:

Pay the maintenance fees for the next year, and try it out. Make a reservation. See how easy/difficult it is for you to use. She has access to all 12K credits right now. That will get you a 2 br unit for 7 nights at most of the resorts.

Do you live where there are WM resorts convenient to you ?

---
We own WM and think it is a great timeshare system.
However, there have been IT/computer issues over the past two years where many owners have not been able to log in, view reservations, have found the online booking calendars are not accurate, etc.

 

[zentraveler]

---
We own WM and think it is a great timeshare system.
However, there have been IT/computer issues over the past two years where many owners have not been able to log in, view reservations, have found the online booking calendars are not accurate, etc.

FWIW, we don't even fully own yet but our contract to buy resale got caught up on the dumpster fire that was Wyndham/WM computer system. But I can tell you that they did a complete overhaul of that system about 3 weeks ago that took their entire system off-line from Thursday-Tuesday and it seems to be working well now - at least for what we needed. Others can also weigh in on this.

 

[sue1947]

and it seems to be working well now

Not so much.
And what complete overhaul?
Sounds like they fixed your issue, but there are still a lot out there. Different issues impact different owners. How big of an impact varies from not being able to log in at all to a minor inconvenience.

OP:
I second the suggestion above to test it out by paying your MIL's maintenance fees for a year without actually transferring. You will have to deal with guest certificates if you aren't on the account, but it's a good way to see if it works for you. If not, your MIL can sell it and you aren't out the transfer fees or the long transfer time.

 

[HudsHut]

@zentraveler
Nearly every time I log in, it fails to work the first time. I log in a second time and that usually works.

Just a few days ago, I could not view or modify an existing reservation on my account (but it worked earlier today.) This problem happens way too often.

In late July, there was ghost inventory at West Yellowstone.

Sometimes, looking at the 2-month calendar, there are vacancies on the left and no vacancies on the right month (or vice versa).
Scroll the calendar one month forward, and suddenly the month that previously showed no vacancies, instantly has some vacant units. The display rendered is incorrect, but the system has the inventory "somewhere".

 

[DarthGrogu]

This is helpful. I will see my MIL is up for this. If not at the very least I can bless my kids with an opportunity to vacation in a way that I never could at their age. Grandma probably wouldn’t object to that either.

 

[Sandy VDH]

depends on where you live. I picked up a free 5000 point account a few years back. I use it mainly for Bonus time programs. It has worked well for me, but I live driving distance from 4 resorts, that have good availability even during bonus time.

 

[zentraveler]

@sue1947 and @HudsHut, sorry for my optimism and thanks for correction. After 6 months it did seem to fix our issue and it seemed that taking the system offline for 5 days should have fixed everything. We still have the next stage of this transfer to go through so clearly I spoke too soon (ever hopeful ).

 

[sue1947]

it seemed that taking the system offline for 5 days should have fixed everything.

They didn't take the system offline for 5 days. Welcome to the world of Wyndham IT where they are happy and eager to met your extremely low expectations....

This has been going of since they 'upgraded' the system from the old one. They fix one thing and break another. Ex. The original didn't have a way to switch resorts when checking availability without going all the way back and starting over. The old one had a drop down box to easily switch and there were lots of demands to bring that functionality back. They did and it even worked for awhile. Then they broke it when they fixed something else. The new screen whited out. It has now been fixed for some, but it still doesn't work for me.

 

[OneOldGuy75]

FWIW, we don't even fully own yet but our contract to buy resale got caught up on the dumpster fire that was Wyndham/WM computer system. But I can tell you that they did a complete overhaul of that system about 3 weeks ago that took their entire system off-line from Thursday-Tuesday and it seems to be working well now - at least for what we needed. Others can also weigh in on this.

I am also waiting for my resale purchase to process…transfer just paid 8/16

Are you able to log in to website without fully owning?

 

[zentraveler]

I am also waiting for my resale purchase to process…transfer just paid 8/16

Are you able to log in to website without fully owning?

I was just was just trying to get the contract to us so we could just get to where you seem to be and no, I was just calling them every other day- after 6 months . We don't have access to the website until the transfer is complete as I understand it. Truly hope this stage does not require that amount of time/effort.

 

[zentraveler]

They didn't take the system offline for 5 days. Welcome to the world of Wyndham IT where they are happy and eager to met your extremely low expectations....

This has been going of since they 'upgraded' the system from the old one. They fix one thing and break another. Ex. The original didn't have a way to switch resorts when checking availability without going all the way back and starting over. The old one had a drop down box to easily switch and there were lots of demands to bring that functionality back. They did and it even worked for awhile. Then they broke it when they fixed something else. The new screen whited out. It has now been fixed for some, but it still doesn't work for me.

- We may regret this purchase after all despite the good price/terms. Good to know although not happy to hear.

 

[OneOldGuy75]

I was just was just trying to get the contract to us so we could just get to where you seem to be and no, I was just calling them every other day- after 6 months . We don't have access to the website until the transfer is complete as I understand it. Truly hope this stage does not require that amount of time/effort.

From what i have been able to gather - after $399 transfer fee paid it’s another 6-8 weeks for them to send out “packet” for signature and then once returned it’s another 6-8 weeks to complete transfer

 

[zentraveler]

From what i have been able to gather - after $399 transfer fee paid it’s another 6-8 weeks for them to send out “packet” for signature and then once returned it’s another 6-8 weeks to complete transfer

We were told 6-8 weeks from now, since we have gotten the contract signed, but either way (or maybe, likely, we have already paid the transfer fee through the agent) but no estimates have been useful in any way so far and not the agent's fault. Seems to be their computer system as described in sue1947's post #9. *sigh*

 

[OneOldGuy75]

We were told 6-8 weeks from now, since we have gotten the contract signed, but either way (or maybe, likely, we have already paid the transfer fee through the agent) but no estimates have been useful in any way so far and not the agent's fault. Seems to be their computer system as described in sue1947's post #9. *sigh*

Yea - you are step ahead of me... Paid fee but no contract to sign yet - i might be in for a few more month wait.… agree... SIGH!!

 

[CO skier]

I was just calling them every other day- after 6 months .

Who have you been calling?

I purchased a WorldMark ownership mid-May. I received the DocuSign email from WorldMark 14 weeks later, which is about 2 weeks later than usual. I expect to receive an email from WorldMark within 6-8 weeks informing me that the transfer has completed.

I have never had a transfer take more than 5 months. One purchase did go bad. I had the WorldMark contract number from the sales agreement, so after excuses from the broker and no DocuSign email from Wyndham 5 months after the purchase contract, I called WorldMark title services and they were able to at least tell me that the transfer request had expired.

 

[zentraveler]

Who have you been calling?

I purchased a WorldMark ownership mid-May. I received the DocuSign email from WorldMark 14 weeks later, which is about 2 weeks later than usual. I expect to receive an email from WorldMark within 6-8 weeks informing me that the transfer has completed.

I have never had a transfer take more than 5 months. One purchase did go bad. I had the WorldMark contract number from the sales agreement, so after excuses from the broker and no DocuSign email from Wyndham 5 months after the purchase contract, I called WorldMark title services and they were able to at least tell me that the transfer request had expired.

No one at WM (called their 800 number) seemed to have any idea what went wrong but clearly a ball(s) got dropped somewhere. We are hoping we are back on some usual trajectory now with the DocuSign completed 2 weeks ago.

 

[easyrider]

When we transferred a 6000 credit membership to our account I had called WM and paid the transfer fee. While I was expecting about a 6 month wait it was more like 6 weeks. Maybe just luck, idk.

My mother in law offered to gift us her Worldmark membership. It currently has 6,000 points and will provide another 6,000 points in October. The maintenance fee is just over $900 per year. I have other timeshares so this wouldn't be my first. I think they would get used by either my wife and I or our 20-something kids. Is there anything I'm missing in considering this before I say yes?

Since you know how timeshares work, I think you would enjoy and should acquire the 6000 credit membership. You could always sell it very easily if you didn't want it but my hunch is you will grow to love the WM resorts despite Wyndham.

We live in Washington and have the ability to use bonus time with our multiple memberships. Our kids were in their teens when we acquired our first WM. Now we have grandkids in their teens who love our Worldmark trips. The kids love it too. Our next WM trip is a week near Disney with three large units. My wife says the Worldmark is one of our best acquisition because everyone in our family likes these trips.

Bill

 

[DarthGrogu]

When we transferred a 6000 credit membership to our account I had called WM and paid the transfer fee. While I was expecting about a 6 month wait it was more like 6 weeks. Maybe just luck, idk.



Since you know how timeshares work, I think you would enjoy and should acquire the 6000 credit membership. You could always sell it very easily if you didn't want it but my hunch is you will grow to love the WM resorts despite Wyndham.

We live in Washington and have the ability to use bonus time with our multiple memberships. Our kids were in their teens when we acquired our first WM. Now we have grandkids in their teens who love our Worldmark trips. The kids love it too. Our next WM trip is a week near Disney with three large units. My wife says the Worldmark is one of our best acquisition because everyone in our family likes these trips.

Bill

Thanks. We also live in Washington. I’m looking forward to figuring out what the bonus weeks do for us. For the first transaction we booked a weekend in Bend for our youngest to use with his college roommates in March. It seems that if you use it you can get more than enough to justify the maintenance fees. The question will become do I acquire more points if getting them on the secondary market is low cost.

The membership we are acquiring was purchased in the 1990s. I’m not sure if there is any added value to that.

 

[easyrider]

Thanks. We also live in Washington. I’m looking forward to figuring out what the bonus weeks do for us. For the first transaction we booked a weekend in Bend for our youngest to use with his college roommates in March. It seems that if you use it you can get more than enough to justify the maintenance fees. The question will become do I acquire more points if getting them on the secondary market is low cost.

The membership we are acquiring was purchased in the 1990s. I’m not sure if there is any added value to that.

There is bonus time, fax time and Monday Madness that helps a member get by with 6,000 credits. We added credits to all but one of our memberships. Many of the resorts are within driving range which makes it easy to grab bonus time. Another trick might be using the credits in an exchange. Yes, the resale market for WM has dropped.

I'm not sure if the Trend West associate resorts transfer intact between immediate family members. I'm thinking they don't but if they do, you would have access to the associate resorts and some WM South Pacific resorts. Others might know.

Bill

 

[zentraveler]

@sue1947 and @HudsHut, sorry for my optimism and thanks for correction. After 6 months it did seem to fix our issue and it seemed that taking the system offline for 5 days should have fixed everything. We still have the next stage of this transfer to go through so clearly I spoke too soon (ever hopeful ).

As a follow up to this, after the 6 month fiasco to get the contract for this, the transfer came through yesterday in three weeks. We are supposed to get membership info in a few days.