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RCI keeps stealing my home weeks

WazzuCougFan

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I am beyond frustrated, and I don't know what to do. This is an ongoing issue with RCI Points and my home resort.

I own three units at Wapato Point. Each unit comes with three weeks: a red, a blue, and a white; I have nine total weeks. I like to reserve the red weeks and turn the rest of the weeks into Points. I rent out the red weeks to help pay the maintenance fees.

The website, for a long time now, does not work for reserving my home weeks. I thought it was going to work this year, because at least they were showing upon the exchange page, but it was a false alarm. Every time I tried to reserve a week, I would receive an error message. I tried the chat function a couple of times, but it was no help. I called RCI and told them I wanted to reserve these particular weeks. They were unable to do so and told me that the fault was with my resort and that my resort hadn't released the weeks. So I began contacting my resort by phone and email. They could see no problem at their end.

Eventually, I received a call from a supervisor at RCI. He said there was a "glitch" in the system at RCI where my resort was concerned, and the problem was at RCI. By now, I was only able to reserve one of my home weeks (the June week). The other two in July had already been booked by other members. The supervisor was able to reserve a different unit for me, and I was to call back a couple weeks later to reserve the third one. (I am trying to reserve similar units to my own.) I called back and had to leave a message for the supervisor. He never returned my call. Then, five days ago, I received a call from a different supervisor, who left a message on my answering machine. Apologetically, the replacement week is now "no longer in inventory"! That week, that had been confirmed in my account, was gone. So once again, another week was taken from me, albeit someone else's. I called to speak with the second supervisor and had to leave a message, which thus far hasn't been returned.

A similar issue cropped up previously about four years ago, but at least they were able to reserve my home weeks for me. Last year, I lost a week in a similar manner.

I don't know what to do. It feels like I have no control over my own timeshare units. RCI can let other people have them, but I cannot. In the meantime, I'm accumulating a half million RCI Points that I can't even begin to use. I have nothing to rent out to help pay for my maintenance fees. At this point, I feel like getting rid of all of my weeks altogether. I'm not sure if that's even possible while RCI holds them hostage.

Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated!
 

rickandcindy23

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RCI Points people are morons. Three of three is pretty pitiful.

I don't know how many times I had to tell the last person I talked to that I was trying to reserve my HOME resort weeks, instead of depositing for next year, and they kept telling me it wasn't available yet and wouldn't be available until 10 months. I said, "I don't want to pay an exchange fee, I want my weeks." The guy told me I cannot get my weeks ahead of time, I have to wait until exactly ten months out. I called back and got someone who at least understood after a long explanation. Stupid.
 

WazzuCougFan

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RCI Points people are morons. Three of three is pretty pitiful.

I don't know how many times I had to tell the last person I talked to that I was trying to reserve my HOME resort weeks, instead of depositing for next year, and they kept telling me it wasn't available yet and wouldn't be available until 10 months. I said, "I don't want to pay an exchange fee, I want my weeks." The guy told me I cannot get my weeks ahead of time, I have to wait until exactly ten months out. I called back and got someone who at least understood after a long explanation. Stupid.

So it's kind of a roulette type of thing, hoping to get lucky and get a representative who knows what he or she is doing. lol

Here's an update: I was called this morning by the first supervisor. (I had assumed my "case" had been turned over to the second supervisor). Anyway, he wanted me to book a couple of August units that were available before they disappear. While they are not the equivalency of my home weeks because of where they are located at the property, I did reserve them. At least I hope they are reserved and don't suddenly get taken away for some reason (he said he didn't know what happened to the earlier transaction either). He said he will continue to keep an eye out for units similar to mine in the unlikely event that something might become available and I should call back every week. At least I feel he is trying to help. However, I continue to have little to no confidence in RCI Points. These problems shouldn't be happening.
 

vacationhopeful

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Are all 3 of your SUMMER weeks ... fixed weeks or floating weeks? If fixed, I would DROP your summer weeks OUT of RCI Points .. keeping your 'surplus" weeks in RCI points.

The problem is your SUMMER weeks are in RCI points and the RCI points call center is used to handling RCI Points when people MAKE reservations . As your weeks are a FLOATING SEASONAL week ... they are quoting you, the 10 month OPEN reservation window... not your HOME WEEK window.... which should start at month 13 out from checkin.

Also ... if there are only 3 seasons at your resort ... the weeks you want .. you are completing against ALL PRIME float season owners.

And the MOST PRIME summer weeks are wanted by ALL ... last week of June and all of July and first week of August ... 6 weeks over a 17 week season (if only 3 seasons spread equally over the calendar) or 13 weeks (a 4 season calendar).
 

WazzuCougFan

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Are all 3 of your SUMMER weeks ... fixed weeks or floating weeks? If fixed, I would DROP your summer weeks OUT of RCI Points .. keeping your 'surplus" weeks in RCI points.

The problem is your SUMMER weeks are in RCI points and the RCI points call center is used to handling RCI Points when people MAKE reservations . As your weeks are a FLOATING SEASONAL week ... they are quoting you, the 10 month OPEN reservation window... not your HOME WEEK window.... which should start at month 13 out from checkin.

Also ... if there are only 3 seasons at your resort ... the weeks you want .. you are completing against ALL PRIME float season owners.

And the MOST PRIME summer weeks are wanted by ALL ... last week of June and all of July and first week of August ... 6 weeks over a 17 week season (if only 3 seasons spread equally over the calendar) or 13 weeks (a 4 season calendar).

Each unit comes with three weeks that float within their category (red, white and blue). I wish I could permanently remove the red weeks from RCI's inventory!

I think am *supposed* to have a 13-month window in which to reserve my home weeks. In the past, it has worked o.k., even on the website. Then for a long time, my weeks weren't showing on the website at all, so I had to call. Then they started showing up on the site again, but reserving them wouldn't work without calling. Now, even when I call I can't seem to reserve my own weeks because of a "glitch".

One of the reps in the office at my resort said other owners have trouble with RCI Points as well.
 

silentg

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I don't have much experience with Point weeks, but if you want to use your own home Week, why are they in RCI account? If I want to use my weeks myself, when I pay Maintenence fee,,I inform my Resort what I'm going to do with my weeks. I keep getting notes from RCI advising me to deposit my weeks, but if I'm using it I don't deposit it. Hope I'm understanding the issue you have with RCI?
Silentg
 

vacationhopeful

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RCI Points is different.

Your ownership defaults to giving you the points . You have various windows to book before other points owners can book:
YOUR HOME WEEK AND UNIT. ... 13 months out ... no costs/fee to book.
Your HOME resort ... any available unit in the points inventory at your HOME RESORT ... 12 months out. Low fee was $40.
Your HOME GROUP resort ... any available unit in your HOME GROUP ... in my case, VRI Resorts ... 11 months out.full exchange fees.
ANY other available RCI points resorts... 10 months out and closer to checkin day.. full exchange fees.
 

WazzuCougFan

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Time for an update!

I wanted to let everyone know that the problems I was experiencing last year through RCI seem to have been solved. All of my available home weeks are appearing online now. I have successfully made two reservations of home weeks recently--completely online--and the system has worked as it should. They are also displaying as confirmed in my account.

I will update again if necessary, but I believe RCI has worked out all of the bugs. :)
 

skimble

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Remove your red weeks from the RCIpoints system. I removed one of my weeks about 5 years ago. Now, I deposit that week in RCIWeeks and im in control of it again i use it or i deposit with RCIWeeks. According to an RCI rep, I still have the option to deposit that week back to points for $25 once it's with Weeks
 

rickandcindy23

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I am probably going to take all of my weeks at Presidential Villas at Plantation Resort out of RCI Points. I know they are more sellable as RCI Points, but there is no guarantee the resort will allow the RCI Points to go to the new buyer. They say they aren't transferrable, and then they do transfer the points. It's very frustrating, dealing with RCI Points.

When you add a guest name to YOUR OWNED WEEK, you have to pay RCI for a guest certificate. It's time for me to go to a WorldMark presentation as a Pres Villas owner. I love WorldMark points. I know I would be happy as a WorldMark owner.
 

Egret1986

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I am probably going to take all of my weeks at Presidential Villas at Plantation Resort out of RCI Points. I know they are more sellable as RCI Points, but there is no guarantee the resort will allow the RCI Points to go to the new buyer. They say they aren't transferrable, and then they do transfer the points. It's very frustrating, dealing with RCI Points.

When you add a guest name to YOUR OWNED WEEK, you have to pay RCI for a guest certificate. It's time for me to go to a WorldMark presentation as a Pres Villas owner. I love WorldMark points. I know I would be happy as a WorldMark owner.


I had nine summer weeks at an independent resort on the Outer Banks, NC that went through two recent acquisitions in quick succession. Eight of those weeks were in RCI Points. When Diamond Resorts came in and absorbed this resort as part of the Gold Key Resorts acquisition, having these contracts in RCI Points became a nightmare.

As Cindy states, you have to pay RCI a fee for a Guest Certificate when using your Home Week if adding a guest.

Diamond's system wasn't set up to handle RCI Points owners since they are affiliated with Interval. It's still not completely integrated after over two years. Initially, Diamond wanted to charge the daily amenity fee ($25+) since they considered it an RCI exchange (even though it was my deeded (Home) week being used). They eventually got that straightened out, but not before I cancelled seven of the eight RCI Points contracts. It was a no-win situation for RCI Points with Diamond in the mix. I still have one week of ownership left in RCI Points and it is this Diamond acquired resort. I have a short window to make a decision on cancelling this RCI Points contract. Since I'm planning on letting my membership expire next year, I think it's a good idea for me to go ahead and pull out of RCI Points soon.


I have always enjoyed using RCI Points. Unfortunately, Diamond created havoc and chaos, and gave me a general bad taste for continuing to own anything affiliated with them. While I have enjoyed using RCI for 30 plus years, I'm ready to let that go also.


I am beyond frustrated, and I don't know what to do. This is an ongoing issue with RCI Points and my home resort.

I own three units at Wapato Point. Each unit comes with three weeks: a red, a blue, and a white; I have nine total weeks. I like to reserve the red weeks and turn the rest of the weeks into Points. I rent out the red weeks to help pay the maintenance fees.

The website, for a long time now, does not work for reserving my home weeks. I thought it was going to work this year, because at least they were showing upon the exchange page, but it was a false alarm. Every time I tried to reserve a week, I would receive an error message. I tried the chat function a couple of times, but it was no help. I called RCI and told them I wanted to reserve these particular weeks. They were unable to do so and told me that the fault was with my resort and that my resort hadn't released the weeks. So I began contacting my resort by phone and email. They could see no problem at their end.

Eventually, I received a call from a supervisor at RCI. He said there was a "glitch" in the system at RCI where my resort was concerned, and the problem was at RCI. By now, I was only able to reserve one of my home weeks (the June week). The other two in July had already been booked by other members. The supervisor was able to reserve a different unit for me, and I was to call back a couple weeks later to reserve the third one. (I am trying to reserve similar units to my own.) I called back and had to leave a message for the supervisor. He never returned my call. Then, five days ago, I received a call from a different supervisor, who left a message on my answering machine. Apologetically, the replacement week is now "no longer in inventory"! That week, that had been confirmed in my account, was gone. So once again, another week was taken from me, albeit someone else's. I called to speak with the second supervisor and had to leave a message, which thus far hasn't been returned.

A similar issue cropped up previously about four years ago, but at least they were able to reserve my home weeks for me. Last year, I lost a week in a similar manner.

I don't know what to do. It feels like I have no control over my own timeshare units. RCI can let other people have them, but I cannot. In the meantime, I'm accumulating a half million RCI Points that I can't even begin to use. I have nothing to rent out to help pay for my maintenance fees. At this point, I feel like getting rid of all of my weeks altogether. I'm not sure if that's even possible while RCI holds them hostage.

Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated!

I have experienced the same "glitch" over the years.

It is beyond frustrating and it is an ongoing issue in trying to reserve online.

No matter how frustrated you get, you can be guaranteed that another fee increase and benefit reduction is in the works at RCI.

Over the years, I have done the same as you. I keep my prime weeks out of RCI's hands and rent those weeks to pay for maintenance fees. RCI only gets my leftovers. For the last year, I have deposited nothing and the plan is not to deposit anything. My membership expires next year. I have one exchanged week to use in 2019 and then :hi: RCI.
 

skimble

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I am probably going to take all of my weeks at Presidential Villas at Plantation Resort out of RCI Points. I know they are more sellable as RCI Points, but there is no guarantee the resort will allow the RCI Points to go to the new buyer. They say they aren't transferrable, and then they do transfer the points. It's very frustrating, dealing with RCI Points.

When you add a guest name to YOUR OWNED WEEK, you have to pay RCI for a guest certificate. It's time for me to go to a WorldMark presentation as a Pres Villas owner. I love WorldMark points. I know I would be happy as a WorldMark owner.
i own a 3 bed room unit at Presidential. When I bought mine, they were a little baffled as to how I retained points status. The CCRs don't let points transition i may be wrong, but I don't think you'll be able to do this
 

standrew17

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I had nine summer weeks at an independent resort on the Outer Banks, NC that went through two recent acquisitions in quick succession. Eight of those weeks were in RCI Points. When Diamond Resorts came in and absorbed this resort as part of the Gold Key Resorts acquisition, having these contracts in RCI Points became a nightmare.

As Cindy states, you have to pay RCI a fee for a Guest Certificate when using your Home Week if adding a guest.

Diamond's system wasn't set up to handle RCI Points owners since they are affiliated with Interval. It's still not completely integrated after over two years. Initially, Diamond wanted to charge the daily amenity fee ($25+) since they considered it an RCI exchange (even though it was my deeded (Home) week being used). They eventually got that straightened out, but not before I cancelled seven of the eight RCI Points contracts. It was a no-win situation for RCI Points with Diamond in the mix. I still have one week of ownership left in RCI Points and it is this Diamond acquired resort. I have a short window to make a decision on cancelling this RCI Points contract. Since I'm planning on letting my membership expire next year, I think it's a good idea for me to go ahead and pull out of RCI Points soon.


I have always enjoyed using RCI Points. Unfortunately, Diamond created havoc and chaos, and gave me a general bad taste for continuing to own anything affiliated with them. While I have enjoyed using RCI for 30 plus years, I'm ready to let that go also.




I have experienced the same "glitch" over the years.

It is beyond frustrating and it is an ongoing issue in trying to reserve online.

No matter how frustrated you get, you can be guaranteed that another fee increase and benefit reduction is in the works at RCI.

Over the years, I have done the same as you. I keep my prime weeks out of RCI's hands and rent those weeks to pay for maintenance fees. RCI only gets my leftovers. For the last year, I have deposited nothing and the plan is not to deposit anything. My membership expires next year. I have one exchanged week to use in 2019 and then :hi: RCI.

Interesting problems - systemic reduction of abilities to use your points at Diamond (the world only unto itself) International. Talk to people in II and listen to their horror stories and Diamond Owns them. I had a lady who is a Diamond Resort Owner across the way last year at Fairway Forest and she was from Texas and boy was she chewing them out for the way the property is maintained. I guess she traded in and was caught up in the maintenance constructive eviction ploy of Diamond Resort with their partner SVMA - reduce all maintenance on everything except Diamond owned property within the resort and then keep the information just not available. Choke out the deed owners and take over the property when their deeds expire so they vote to leave. Just my opinion but it sure looks like this is what will happen - we are living it at Sapphire Valley. We still have a picture in our unit on the wall from 1985 - no wonder the resort went from Gold Crown to less than silver...still love it just nothing I can do to fight a big company like this when everyone throws in the towel. I'm out of RCI after using up my deposits and selling all interval ownerships I have going Air B&B - done...it was a great run and RCI was a great company at one time and now they suck.
 

WazzuCougFan

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Hello! It's been awhile, and I'm reviving and updating an old thread.
I have come to believe that the problem may not have been with RCI after all. My resort--Wapato Point--sent correspondence to all of the owners a couple of years ago asking if it was o.k. to leave RCI Points. There weren't a lot of RCI Points members apparently; most used weeks, internal trading, Interval International, or nothing at all. According to them, the staff was having lots of trouble managing the Points system. There was enough feedback by the Points members that they decided to let it continue, but Wapato Point said it had to hire someone to run Points. After that, I can verify that most of the people in the office were confused by Points and would refer you to a specific person in the office. There were still problems, but sometimes you could reserve your home weeks on the RCI site. When they wouldn't show up there, you would have to call the resort and have it done that way.
To make a long story short, they are now planning to permanently change all of the timeshares at Wapato Point from Points to Weeks in the next couple years. I'm disappointed, because I liked using Points and was comfortable with it. I have been using Extra Vacations a little more often lately though. If I find out I miss Points, maybe I will pick up a cheap Points resort. Is there a file or thread about using Weeks resorts for Points? Will this cause problems for Wapato Point staff? What will happen to the Points I have that may not be used before the switch? I know I've read something about Weeks and Points, but I can't find it.
 

montygz

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Hello! It's been awhile, and I'm reviving and updating an old thread.
I have come to believe that the problem may not have been with RCI after all. My resort--Wapato Point--sent correspondence to all of the owners a couple of years ago asking if it was o.k. to leave RCI Points. There weren't a lot of RCI Points members apparently; most used weeks, internal trading, Interval International, or nothing at all. According to them, the staff was having lots of trouble managing the Points system. There was enough feedback by the Points members that they decided to let it continue, but Wapato Point said it had to hire someone to run Points. After that, I can verify that most of the people in the office were confused by Points and would refer you to a specific person in the office. There were still problems, but sometimes you could reserve your home weeks on the RCI site. When they wouldn't show up there, you would have to call the resort and have it done that way.
To make a long story short, they are now planning to permanently change all of the timeshares at Wapato Point from Points to Weeks in the next couple years. I'm disappointed, because I liked using Points and was comfortable with it. I have been using Extra Vacations a little more often lately though. If I find out I miss Points, maybe I will pick up a cheap Points resort. Is there a file or thread about using Weeks resorts for Points? Will this cause problems for Wapato Point staff? What will happen to the Points I have that may not be used before the switch? I know I've read something about Weeks and Points, but I can't find it.
How many RCI points are you getting for your week now?

With a points week, you can book RCI vacations from the points and weeks inventory. You have access to both buckets. Sometimes a resort will only have availability in points.

As a weeks owner, you would not have access to the points inventory. Weeks uses a TPU system as an exchange currency instead of points.

What path you should take really depends on your vacation habits.

If you are using your resort only as a trader, I would likely want a bigger resort with a staff that won't get confused by the ever-changing RCI systems. You would want the most points for the lowest maintenance fees.

If you like staying at Wapato, like its internal trading system, and want access to Interval International, it could certainly be worth keeping. There are some great resorts in Interval and this could be the ticket to staying in DVC properties, for example.

How they would handle the switch if you have existing RCI points is a good question. Hopefully someone can offer feedback. Also, that may be something your resort will have to work out with RCI.
 
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