Very NEW to timeshare [Tahiti Village - past rescission]

Lborneke · Aug 19, 2014

Hello,

First, I apologize if any of this is redundant. I am sure that it has been discussed multiple times somewhere. We are extreme newbies here. Last Wednesday, my husband and I went to Vegas for our 10th Anniversary. While there, we were 'suckered' into purchasing a timeshare at Tahiti Village. At the time, we thought it was a good deal and were excited about it. For the price of 2 Disney vacations, we could go anywhere in the world. But now, I am thinking I have buyer's remorse because researching after the fact, I think we spent WAY too much. About $12 K for 42,000 points every 2 years for a Moreea unit. I have a family of 5, 2 teenage daughters (ages 17 and 15) and a 10 year old son. So I am also thinking that not only is there a problem with the amount of money, but also not enough points to cover the amount of room needed for my family, especially considering the fact that we are going to want to travel other places with the family, not necessarily back to Vegas.

I am not sure what to even ask here. I am guessing we are stuck because if we don't pay our credit dives. We are due to pay the rest of the down payment on Friday. The reps there were kind enough to give us a week to transfer money for the deposit. And the 5 days for cancellation was up midnight on Monday.

I see on Ebay that they sell deeds with points for much cheaper. If we buy points from another resort, can those points be combined into a pool of points for our use?

Additionally, I am seeing something about if we want to travel somewhere other than our home resort, we have to deposit points which was not explained to us at the time of sale. We bought the cheapest unit. So I am guessing that our buying power is also going to be reduced..., right?

Any help will be appreciated. Right now, my head hurts!

Thanks!
Laura

DeniseM · Aug 19, 2014

In Nevada, the rescission period is 5 days - what day did you SIGN the contract?

TUGBrian · Aug 19, 2014

certainly doesnt hurt to get a rescission letter in the mail tomorrow...worst they can say is no!

You have paid many thousands of dollars for something you could literally get for free on the resale market from an existing owner.

http://tug2.net/timeshare_advice/cancel_timeshare_purchase.html

vacationhopeful · Aug 19, 2014

I would be looking for the OPEN LATE USPS within driving range of where you are NOW...

TRY NOW - but its your money. I know where my late staying post office is --- I don't like driving DOWNTOWN center city, but I do what I have to.

DeniseM · Aug 19, 2014

We are due to pay the rest of the down payment on Friday.

Also, since you haven't paid the full down-payment, there may be a loop-hole there that will work in your favor. I wouldn't be in a rush to give them any more money before I explore all my other options. The contract may not be valid, without the rest of the down payment.

To be blunt - what you have purchased would sell for about $1 on ebay, so you want to make every effort to get out of this.

Lborneke · Aug 19, 2014

We signed last Wednesday. And unfortunately, we don't have an all night USPS around here. We live in rural Minnesota. But from your responses, I am guessing that we made a big mistake.

Matt and I are liking the idea of a timeshare. Matt did say that maybe he would call them tomorrow and state that he would put a stop on the rest of the down payment at the bank unless there was some resolution. What would be a fair expectation at this point?

DeniseM · Aug 19, 2014

I'm not an attorney, but I'd be interested in the exact wording on the money due Friday. (I misunderstood originally - if you've given them a check - you've made the payment.)

Here is more info. about rescinding - I would get everything together tonight and send the letter tomorrow, and get ready to play hard ball.

http://tug2.net/timeshare_advice/cancel_timeshare_purchase.html

Calling them is absolutely pointless - they hear it every single day, and you will only stir the hornets nest. Don't call - write the letter and get it in the mail.

You should be prepared to forfeit the money you have already given them.

It's unfortunate that you already gave them a check - since you already gave them the check, you HAVE already paid the rest of the down payment, and there may be consequences for stopping payment.

Lborneke · Aug 19, 2014

Thank you for the link. I will take a look at that.

We paid $300 so far with a remaining $1503 due on Friday. There is about 2 inches of paperwork that I am trying to sort through here. There are 2 additional forms that we each signed indicating that we have the option to purchase an additional 42,000 points for an additional $7k sometime within the next year and is subject to availability.

We were granted a bonus of 30,000 points that needs to be used within 12 months after activation. We will receive those points after making 6 monthly payments.

Matt signed an all purpose sales slip indicating the remaining down payment amount.

The single form states our names and the contract #. It shows Total downpayment, closing costs, RCI fees, Total Amount Due, Amount paid that day and the remaining balance due. There are 2 paragraphs:

I/We authorize the ASNY Company, LLC and/or their servicing Agent, to charge the credit/debit card provided for the payment amount on the payment date shown above. My signature below is authorization and promise to pay such total amounts subject to and in accordance with the agreement governing the use of such care.

I/We acknowledge that every effort will be made for the transactions listed above to be processed in the amounts and on the dates listed above. However, it is possible that the transaction amounts and/or dates may differ from those listed above due to circumstances such as, but not limited to, daily or transaction limits. At no time will the combined transaction amounts exceed the total amounts agreed to above.

Then Matt signed as the purchaser. I did not sign this form.

** After further looking at the contract, we did have 5 days which was done yesterday.

Lborneke · Aug 19, 2014

DeniseM said:
I'm not an attorney, but I'd be interested in the exact wording on the money due Friday. (I misunderstood originally - if you've given them a check - you've made the payment.)

We gave them a check for the partial downpayment of $300. They are doing a debit from Matt's bank account on Friday for the remaining portion of the downpayment.

DeniseM · Aug 19, 2014

Lborneke said:
DeniseM said:

I'm not an attorney, but I'd be interested in the exact wording on the money due Friday. (I misunderstood originally - if you've given them a check - you've made the payment.)

We gave them a check for the partial downpayment of $300. They are doing a debit from Matt's bank account on Friday for the remaining portion of the downpayment.

Click to expand...

But you have already committed to the payment by giving them your debit card or something. That's different than a payment that you have not initiated yet.

It's a tough position: It really depends if you (or Matt) are up to playing hard ball. These folks are used to people who want out, so they won't make it easy, since you are past the rescission period. They will intimidate you, try to sweeten the deal, play on your sympathy, and every other trick in the book.

The thing is, that you have paid a lot of money for something that you can buy on ebay for $1, so get the letter in the mail tomorrow, and you and Matt have to decide what you want to do about Friday's payment.

Passepartout · Aug 19, 2014

I think that unfortunately, you are a new timeshare owner. Not to worry, though. You are in good company. The reasons you bought are still valid. About half of TUGgers came here after doing the same thing you did. You bought the least expensive package offered. Tahiti Village is a nice resort and you'll enjoy the vacations you can have there and elsewhere. So now, to find out exactly what you own, and how to maximize usage. You mention 'Points'. Is this RCI Points? Or some proprietary internal system? I'm guessing it's RCI Points. These are actually pretty flexible and can be spent like currency on lots of vacations- not just in Vegas at your home resort. I have a Points Home resort, too in Sedona, Arizona, that I've never seen.

You might as well send a rescission letter tomorrow. It won't hurt, and might cause them to let you out of the contract. But if not, it isn't the end of the world. You'll bee able to take some great vacations using the bonus points you got, then possibly add to the original stash by buying resale. Additional points just add to your account. You can also carry over unused points to the next 'use year', and yopu can borrow from the upcoming year as long as maintenance fees (MF) have been paid, so if you just want nice vacations every 2-3 years, you can combine to do that. Usually not needed unless you want to exchange into places like Disney, or NYC, or Hiltons.

If you plan to do some exchanging (and after it's sure that you can't rescind), you might consider joining TUG ($15/yr) to give you access to reviews of thousands of resorts worldwide.

]Good Luck, and Welcome to TUG!

Jim

falmouth3 · Aug 19, 2014

It sounds like you're too late to rescind and you are now a TS owner. Many people here have bought the same way. Now what you'll need to do is stick around and read so you'll learn how to be a competent TS owner.

Good luck and welcome to the group.

Lborneke · Aug 19, 2014

I have already paid to join TUG, so I am looking forward to learning about what I have!! My husband seems to be of the opinion that before I started researching, we were happy and so therefore I should just let it go. I agree that It is a nice resort. But a dollar on Ebay for the same thing!! OUCH! At this point, Matt is planning on talking to them tomorrow and seeing if they will significantly sweeten the deal. He does not want me writing a letter because in his words, the time is up. My husband is so calm about this. And I am feeling very stupid that we jumped into something without my normal researching.

The points are RCI points. We will be getting about 40,000 every other year. And we do want to do something each year if we can - Disney, Universal, and even a bucket list to visit each state, island resorts, castles in Europe. Basically, I want to see it all. Do I understand this correctly that if I were to buy additional RCI points on Ebay, that these points will combine into 1 pool of points through RCI? But I will still have to pay the separate maintenance fees for each resort?

Thank you for all of your help and your advice, Denise and Jim and everyone else who has made comments. I really appreciate the trouble that you are all going through in an effort to explain this to me.

Laura

DeniseM · Aug 19, 2014

Lborneke said:
Do I understand this correctly that if I were to buy additional RCI points on Ebay, that these points will combine into 1 pool of points through RCI? But I will still have to pay the separate maintenance fees for each resort?

Yes, and yes. I'm really glad you've joined TUG - we can get you up to speed here, whether or not you can rescind this first purchase. Don't be in a big hurry to buy more points - take your time, do your home work, and get advice here, so you can buy exactly what you want.

Now I'm going to make you feel better - Many moons ago (before TUG) we bought our first timeshare from the developer, and we spend $45K.

In fact, about half the people on TUG bought their first timeshare from the developer, so you are in good company - don't beat yourself up. :hi:

wakelawyer · Aug 20, 2014

Is the 5-day rescission period calendar days or business days? It is common for time periods that short to use business days.

I'm not offering legal advice but it is something to look at because it might give you two extra days.

scootr5 · Aug 20, 2014

wakelawyer said:
Is the 5-day rescission period calendar days or business days? It is common for time periods that short to use business days.

I'm not offering legal advice but it is something to look at because it might give you two extra days.

Nevada is calendar days

jfalkingham · Aug 20, 2014

If you are past the rescission then go back to the positives.

If you are doing the travel year over year you have many years of great vacations. I think most of us got 'suckered' in at one point. It happens. The reason you bought when you bought are still valid. Get the most of your purchase, get to know the trading powers and have a great time! Welcome to the club - this is an amazing community of owners!

Fwiw - we bought marriott cypress harbour and marriott ocean club at developer pricing lost on cypress harbour, broke even on Maui. We also just bought dvc animal kingdom at $135 a point before this last increase. I see the resale is about $77 a point, but I'm not losing sleep over it. We have our 2 bedroom kidani village savannah view guaranteed and to me that is priceless for this family.

Rent_Share · Aug 20, 2014

Thread hijack alert

jfalkingham said:
We also just bought dvc animal kingdom at $135 a point before this last increase. I see the resale is about $77 a point, but I'm not losing sleep over it. We have our 2 bedroom kidani village savannah view guaranteed and to me that is priceless for this family.

So the guaranteed view was worth 58/77 a 75 % Premium over Resale

Is that written into your contract

jfalkingham · Aug 20, 2014

Rent_Share said:
So the guaranteed view was worth 58/77 a 75 % Premium over Resale

Is that written into your contract

With an 11 month reservation window absolutely. The ability to flip for a cruise is another reason we buy direct.

Passepartout · Aug 20, 2014

jfalkingham said:
With an 11 month reservation window absolutely. The ability to flip for a cruise is another reason we buy direct.

Using a TS for a cruise exchange is yet another poor use of your MF dollars. Use TSs for TS vacations and buy cruises through cruise consolidators. You seem to still be under the influence of developer Kool-Aid.

Jim

TUGBrian · Aug 20, 2014

jfalkingham said:
The ability to flip for a cruise is another reason we buy direct.

http://tug2.net/timeshare_advice/trade-or-exchange-timeshare-for-cruise.html

jfalkingham · Aug 20, 2014

Passepartout said:
Using a TS for a cruise exchange is yet another poor use of your MF dollars. Use TSs for TS vacations and buy cruises through cruise consolidators. You seem to still be under the influence of developer Kool-Aid.

Jim

We bought what we wanted for a very specific reason an 11 month reservation window at AKV for the ability to secure a high demand week (that being a savannah view over Christmas). So far we've had no issue booking what we wanted at AKV at the 11 month mark for the last several reservations (Christmas or school vacation week). The ability to use points for the Disney cruise line is flexibility we liked. We could rent out our points and get any cruise, but convenience wins out over pure economics - for us.

To the original poster - my positive well wishes hold true. If you can't rescind because of time make the absolute most of it and enjoy the vacation memories!

Passepartout · Aug 20, 2014

jfalkingham said:
We bought what we wanted for a very specific reason an 11 month reservation window at AKV for the ability to secure a high demand week (that being a savannah view over Christmas). So far we've had no issue booking what we wanted at AKV at the 11 month mark for the last several reservations (Christmas or school vacation week). The ability to use points for the Disney cruise line is flexibility we liked. We could rent out our points and get any cruise, but convince wins out over pure economics.

Enjoy what you bought. You paid a very large price for it. Most of us are a little more price sensitive. You will only be able to use those points for a portion of even a Disney cruise. It isn't a straight dollar of MF for dollar of discount. And the word is 'convenience.'

OP, so you can see that there is a silver lining even for those who pay retail. Convenience trumps economics. :shrug:

Jim

rickandcindy23 · Aug 20, 2014

I would write letters to the Attorney General of Nevada and the Real Estate Board as well. I would tell them in those letters exactly what was said, what was promised at the sales table, and I would tell the state's AG that the rescission period in Nevada should be expanded to ten days because it takes a while to get over the glitz and glamour of the Vegas experience to really look at what a raw deal they really offered.

If they told you you would get 4 or 5 weeks of vacation with 42,000 points, that is not going to happen for you. I am sorry to say it.. But if you are absolutely stuck with what you bought, you can add to your points by purchasing points in another resort, and yes you can combine them. I have Aussie points, Wisconsin points, South Carolina points, all different resort systems, in one RCI Points account.

These are RCI Points, and your cost is so high for those few points. It's a ripoff, and I would include a few ebay sales (or another timeshare website with advertised prices) of higher point properties in my letter to the AG and the Real Estate board. I am a person who believes that you try everything and anything you can to get out of a deal like this one. If you try everything you can, then you just say, "Well, I gave it my best shot," and not, "Gee, I wish I had escalated this to a higher authority, in case something could come of it."

A rescission letter is always your best try too, even after 5 days.

VegasBella · Aug 21, 2014

To answer your questions about what you can or can't trade into we need to know what kind of points you own. Are they RCI points?

It does sound like a mistake if you're a family of 5 since I believe the size unit you bought only sleeps 4. You can break the rules to squeeze in an extra person but it's risky - you could get fined or kicked out plus it's likely against fire code and thus dangerous. People do it all the time but it's not right IMO. Of course if you never use the unit and always trade into larger units it will be fine.

Can you travel during noontime season? If so that will give you the best opportunity to exchange into a 2 bedroom somewhere.

Very NEW to timeshare [Tahiti Village - past rescission]

Lborneke

DeniseM

TUGBrian

vacationhopeful

TUG Review Crew: Rookie

DeniseM

Lborneke

DeniseM

Lborneke

Lborneke

DeniseM

Passepartout

TUG Review Crew: Veteran

falmouth3

TUG Review Crew: Expert

Lborneke

DeniseM

wakelawyer

scootr5

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jfalkingham

Rent_Share

jfalkingham

Passepartout

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TUGBrian

jfalkingham

Passepartout

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rickandcindy23

TUG Review Crew: Elite

VegasBella