RCI search "transaction fee?"

[elaine]

I was going to put in an ongoing search and it said to pay the RCI search "transaction fee" of $219. I assume that is a prepaid exchange fee? But then there is a blurb saying, "I agree to pay the applicable exchange fee if a search is found." So wondering?

 

[tschwa2]

You are pre paying the exchange fee. If you do nothing else and you get a match and confirm you are all set.

What is possible is that you could start another ongoing search and it will not require an additional fee. When one matches and you confirm, it will use up the $219 and then when the second matches you will need to pay the $219.

Another scenario, you pay for the ongoing search. You search yourself with another deposit and you confirm an exchange it will use the $219 instead of asking you to pay. The original OGS continues and when it makes a match there is no money in the credit column so you will have to pay the $219.

 

[51ssvinton]

Can you not use a redweek.com search cheaper? I know that the 2 types may have different weeks banked but redweek.com cheaper w small membership fees??
Options, what am I NOT understanding about memberships in rci, ii types other than different banked weeks.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

 

[tschwa2]

Redweek no longer offers an exchange program.

If the OP is starting an ongoing search, she likely already has a deposit with RCI or has a points program that uses a portal search through RCI.

While the independents have lower fees, they have a much smaller inventory. They do work well for some locations.

 

[elaine]

I have no issues prepaying the exchange fee--just wanted to make sure it's not another fee. RCI has its critics, me included. But, we have been happy with RCI for 10+ years. It takes A LOT of planning and commiting early, but we have made it work. I am too leary of using an independent and losing a prime beach week and then not being able to book what I want. With RCI, I know what is there and my likelihood of getting an exchange.

 

[barto]

I have no issues prepaying the exchange fee--just wanted to make sure it's not another fee. RCI has its critics, me included. But, we have been happy with RCI for 10+ years. It takes A LOT of planning and commiting early, but we have made it work. I am too leary of using an independent and losing a prime beach week and then not being able to book what I want. With RCI, I know what is there and my likelihood of getting an exchange.

Some of the independents let you request a search without having banked a week in advance. Of course, if you're offered something you like, then you'd need to bank. Might be worth a look - if there's no cost to try, might be worth it. However, as others have stated, not as much inventory so the odds might be slimmer. Don't hold your breath, but maybe give it a shot!

I gave up on RCI after my 10-year membership (Dikhololo deal way back) - have had excellent luck with DAE over the years, but I'm also not looking too far afield.

That being said, I'm thinking of dipping a toe into the RCI Points program to get at some resorts that don't come up in DAE very often, have the option to take less than a week somewhere, etc.

Wish there was a separate forum for RCI Points questions!

 

[silentg]

I have no issues prepaying the exchange fee--just wanted to make sure it's not another fee. RCI has its critics, me included. But, we have been happy with RCI for 10+ years. It takes A LOT of planning and commiting early, but we have made it work. I am too leary of using an independent and losing a prime beach week and then not being able to book what I want. With RCI, I know what is there and my likelihood of getting an exchange.

It is not a separate fee, they just want the money ahead of time so they get paid to do the search, when you find something yourself and cancel the search the money is credited to the exchange. I know this because I did this last week.
Silentg

 

[seagila]

What is possible is that you could start another ongoing search and it will not require an additional fee. When one matches and you confirm, it will use up the $219 and then when the second matches you will need to pay the $219.

Wanting to confirm with folks who have multiple OGS with RCI whether the emphasized text in the quoted section above is still true.

I initiated 5 OGS with RCI in 2016, but only paid the OGS/exchange fee for one. System didn't ask me to pay for an OGS/exhange fee for the other four. This is consistent with tschwa2's quoted statement.

However, 1 of my 5 OGS hit and I confirmed it which used the prepaid OGS/exchange fee. I get a call from RCI wanting me to pay the OGS/exchange fee for each of the remaining OGS I have. At $230/OGS, they want me to pay $920 now to keep my remaining 4 OGS.

I understand they're providing me a service, but $920 upfront with no guarantee of a match seems pretty steep to me. It would seem more reasonable to pay a percentage of the exchange fee (25% - 50%, $58 - $115 ) now as the OGS Fee and the balance when I confirm a match.

Anyone else in the same boat?

 

[tschwa2]

I believe this changed about 2 months ago. Now it seems you need to pre-pay each ongoing search. If you are platinum, you do not need to pre-pay the exchange fee.

 

[seagila]

Thank you for the update. I guess that's one way to push the Platinum upgrade.

 

[DeniseM]

This fee prevents people from entering a lot of frivolous searches that they don't really intend to proceed with.

If you don't get your exchange, you can get the exchange fee back, or leave it on account for future exchanges.

 

[dsmrp]

What annoyed me about my OGS and match, is I pre-paid the fee when it was at a lower amount, maybe $209 ( I don't quite remember).
When my OGS matched and I confirmed, I had to pay the difference of the current higher fee to what I originally paid.
Is that the way it's intended to work??
I have to go thru the HGVC portal; would that make a difference?

TIA

 

[seagila]

What annoyed me about my OGS and match, is I pre-paid the fee when it was at a lower amount, maybe $209 ( I don't quite remember).
When my OGS matched and I confirmed, I had to pay the difference of the current higher fee to what I originally paid.
Is that the way it's intended to work??

It's what happened when my OGS matched. I had to pay the $11 difference when RCI increased their exchange fee from the $219 I prepaid in 2016 to their current rate of $230.

 

[DeniseM]

Yes - when you get your exchange, if the fee is higher, they charge the higher fee.

 

[tschwa2]

In the past with RCI for each reservation that had the prepaid credit you did not have to pay the difference. I guess that changed with the last update.

 

[paxsarah]

That's a bummer. I still have two searches running with no current credit and they haven't called me, so I wonder what their process is on trying to collect those exchange fees on currently running searches. Of course, I'm pretty sure platinum isn't an option in the Wyndham RCI portal, so I wonder if that's relevant.

 

[jehb2]

Once I had to pay a higher fee, but the last 2 times they waived it. I got the sense it was up to the phone rep.

 

[carl2591]

WOW so exchange fee is now $219.00 ??? slowly but surely RCI is making owning timeshare a less and less attractive. heck with MF getting close to $800 or more per week and add in this $200 plus is starting to make it a "tough row to hoe" at times. Will all the ways RCI/Wyndham has to make money this should be the least expensive of it. Looks like i will be doing owner to owner renting more now.

 

[tschwa2]

WOW so exchange fee is now $219.00 ??? slowly but surely RCI is making owning timeshare a less and less attractive. heck with MF getting close to $800 or more per week and add in this $200 plus is starting to make it a "tough row to hoe" at times. Will all the ways RCI/Wyndham has to make money this should be the least expensive of it. Looks like i will be doing owner to owner renting more now.

It's now $230. Even if you get an off season exchange at 5 tpus or 7500 rci points the exchange fee often makes it higher than the rental prices when RCI is having a sale. I appreciate that Vacation Villages has an internal exchange fee through RCI of $149 for last minute and lower valued exchange weeks. At that rate it is worth it even if I don't stay the whole week at Massanutten, Vegas or Orlando.