RANT!: Commercial RCI Exchange Renters

PinkTink63 · Aug 25, 2016

There are 3 of the same dates at a DVC resort that I have been watching and could use! Why are they allowed to rent these!??

So what I want to know is...when are they going to be put back in the system as the check in date is the end of next week!!!?

FLDVCFamily · Aug 25, 2016

That's happened to me before too, and it's frustrating. Calling RCI did nothing. I have to say that Interval did a way better job of preventing rentals when DVC was with them.

PinkTink63 · Aug 30, 2016

FLDVCFamily said:
That's happened to me before too, and it's frustrating. Calling RCI did nothing. I have to say that Interval did a way better job of preventing rentals when DVC was with them.

You are right!!! The RCI rep said she was going to talk to her supervisor as soon as she got off with me!

I didn't hold my breath!!! I even told her where she could find the exchanges for rent on Redweek! She told me that they do police these things...yeah, right!!!? Well, those same exchanges are still on Redweek!!

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tschwa2 · Aug 30, 2016

You could email for more info and see if you can get them to disclose the $190 RCI fee and then turn them into redweek. It want necessarily get them to stop but it may cut off redweek as an advertising site and maybe redweek could also try reporting it to RCI.

PinkTink63 · Aug 30, 2016

tschwa2 said:
You could email for more info and see if you can get them to disclose the $190 RCI fee and then turn them into redweek. It want necessarily get them to stop but it may cut off redweek as an advertising site and maybe redweek could also try reporting it to RCI.

Some of them even list the $95-190 resort fee!!

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tschwa2 · Aug 30, 2016

So it looks like Mike Hung has at least half a dozen Old Key West and Saratoga Springs exchanges listed on Redweek. He has updated with the higher $190 fee. Mike is definitely making a business out of it.

Scott Swinson and Wesley Johnson each have at least one. The list the $95 fee so maybe it was a one time thing many months ago that they reserved and couldn't use.

I reported Mike to Redweek and asked that they report his activity to RCI. If others are bothered they may want to do the same as well as report him directly to RCI and DVC.

PinkTink63 · Aug 30, 2016

tschwa2 said:
So it looks like Mike Hung has at least half a dozen Old Key West and Saratoga Springs exchanges listed on Redweek. He has updated with the higher $190 fee. Mike is definitely making a business out of it.

Scott Swinson and Wesley Johnson each have at least one. The list the $95 fee so maybe it was a one time thing many months ago that they reserved and couldn't use.

I reported Mike to Redweek and asked that they report his activity to RCI. If others are bothered they may want to do the same as well as report him directly to RCI and DVC.

Thanks!! Do you email them or call? I can't' find an email for them on my RCI page. The rentals I have been waiting on are the AKV and between 2 people they had over 6 rentals between them!!!

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tschwa2 · Aug 30, 2016

You can try feedback@RCI.com
That is who responds when I click on the contact us page.
It often takes them several days to respond and the responses are often canned useless pratter but you never know maybe you will get connected to someone who cares and can do something.

famy27 · Aug 30, 2016

I can't see Redweek posters, but I can see eBay, and there is a TUGer who has had all of the following in the past few months.

BWV--May 15-22
AKV--June 11-18; July 9-16; July 16-23; Aug 26-Sept 2; Sept 2-9
WLV--Aug 27-Sept 3

And I am probably missing some.

Irritates the daylights out of me.

Interestingly, I don't see any indication that most of these have sold. There is no feedback for any of the recent transactions. Maybe he/she will give up at some point and stop wasting this prime inventory. The one for Aug 26-Sept 2 shows that the auction was ended on Aug 30th. That leads me to believe it didn't rent. Good. I'm getting ornery in my old age.

taterhed · Aug 30, 2016

I know it won't go over well with Brian et al, but I think there might be some merit in a TUG section that actively discourages illegal renting of RCI/II exchanges on Ebay, Redweek etc...

By 'active' I mean members reporting obvious and repetitive prohibited rental activity. Having some email/phone contacts to RCI/II would also be helpful.

It's a shame, but a few very aggressive THEIVES can steal the real plums out of the exchanges and lower the quality of all our vacations.

Sigh. Not very happy thoughts, but it burns me up too!

klpca · Aug 30, 2016

taterhed said:
I know it won't go over well with Brian et al, but I think there might be some merit in a TUG section that actively discourages illegal renting of RCI/II exchanges on Ebay, Redweek etc...

By 'active' I mean members reporting obvious and repetitive prohibited rental activity. Having some email/phone contacts to RCI/II would also be helpful.

It's a shame, but a few very aggressive THEIVES can steal the real plums out of the exchanges and lower the quality of all our vacations.

Sigh. Not very happy thoughts, but it burns me up too!

Since I learned of the illegal rental activity awhile ago, I have really cut back on posting sightings. I don't have any issues with posting a very late sighting for people who are trying to get a larger unit close to check in, but I don't post about 90% of the good stuff that I see. And searching is one of my hobbies and my goodness, are there some great units out there for the taking.

taterhed · Aug 30, 2016

klpca said:
Since I learned of the illegal rental activity awhile ago, I have really cut back on posting sightings. I don't have any issues with posting a very late sighting for people who are trying to get a larger unit close to check in, but I don't post about 90% of the good stuff that I see. And searching is one of my hobbies and my goodness, are there some great units out there for the taking.

Thank you for saying that.

I was debating posting the same thing, but it was giving me heartburn and I decided not to. I have starting posting 'I'll look for these dates on Redweek et al and report anyone who tries to rent...' but that makes me look like the mean old man of the neighborhood.

Again, this place is filled with so many good folks...why do people need to cheat and steal their hard volunteered efforts?

jm2c

PamMo · Aug 30, 2016

klpca said:
Since I learned of the illegal rental activity awhile ago, I have really cut back on posting sightings...

I don't think you're alone. I think a lot of people are holding back on posting. I got tired of seeing units go up for rent on Redweek within hours of great bulk deposit posts on TUG. It's sad, because the Sightings forum is/was a really valuable part of TUG membership.

jackio · Aug 30, 2016

And I was nervous booking 2 DVC Presidents Weeks for my brother and cousin thinking RCI would suspend my account!

PinkTink63 · Aug 30, 2016

famy27 said:
I can't see Redweek posters, but I can see eBay, and there is a TUGer who has had all of the following in the past few months.

BWV--May 15-22
AKV--June 11-18; July 9-16; July 16-23; Aug 26-Sept 2; Sept 2-9
WLV--Aug 27-Sept 3

And I am probably missing some.

Irritates the daylights out of me.

Interestingly, I don't see any indication that most of these have sold. There is no feedback for any of the recent transactions. Maybe he/she will give up at some point and stop wasting this prime inventory. The one for Aug 26-Sept 2 shows that the auction was ended on Aug 30th. That leads me to believe it didn't rent. Good. I'm getting ornery in my old age.

What I want to know is...can they put them back into the system? The one I want is for 9/2
It is just soooo irritating!!!! It makes me want to dump RCI!!!

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famy27 · Aug 30, 2016

PinkTink63 said:
What I want to know is...can they put them back into the system? The one I want is for 9/2
It is just soooo irritating!!!! It makes me want to dump RCI!!!

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I know. I would have taken that 9/2 one as well. I'm guessing they had an OGS, as I didn't see it sitting in open inventory. I used my DVC points for our first Poly stay instead. We check in on 9/1. Luckily, I got AKV for January as a match to my OGS. But I feel bad that you can't get the week you want. Just keep watching in case it drops back into inventory. It's too close for it to match an OGS. That's how I got SSR for Thanksgiving last year. Lots of stalking last-minute and an awesome TUG sighting. Good luck!

klpca · Aug 30, 2016

PamMo said:
I don't think you're alone. I think a lot of people are holding back on posting. I got tired of seeing units go up for rent on Redweek within hours of great bulk deposit posts on TUG. It's sad, because the Sightings forum is/was a really valuable part of TUG membership.

I wish that there was a minimum post count for the sightings board, like Omni on the Flyertalk board. And if you are running a commercial rental activity as the result of the TUG bulk sightings, you should be banned from the sightings board. Since that's not going to happen I just don't post much at all, which is too bad because I have benefitted from sightings in the past and I am a firm believer in paying things forward.

rickandcindy23 · Aug 30, 2016

How does it help anyone "commercially renting" that TUG has a sightings thread. The true commercial renters are probably just watching RCI for sightings. I know when I want to try to catch a last-minute, cheap DVC exchange, I am online often enough to catch something. And who posts on these threads? People who are watching RCI a lot.

I have been belly-aching over the commercial rental of DVC for quite a while, but no one at RCI really cares, and of course they just want the exchange fees.

$190 is scaring some people off. There are lots of weeks sitting online right now in RCI Points, and of course it's because the fee is higher. Those used to disappear quickly.

PinkTink63 · Aug 30, 2016

famy27 said:
I know. I would have taken that 9/2 one as well. I'm guessing they had an OGS, as I didn't see it sitting in open inventory. I used my DVC points for our first Poly stay instead. We check in on 9/1. Luckily, I got AKV for January as a match to my OGS. But I feel bad that you can't get the week you want. Just keep watching in case it drops back into inventory. It's too close for it to match an OGS. That's how I got SSR for Thanksgiving last year. Lots of stalking last-minute and an awesome TUG sighting. Good luck!

I did see it in inventory!! And I have an OGS for 9/3 and it will be 2 years old on 9/25/2016. I also used our DVC points for our first Poly stay during the holidays. I would take 9/2 at this point and figure out something for the 9th but they are not releasing it and there are 3 of them on Redweek and 1 on eBay right now!!

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presley · Aug 30, 2016

klpca said:
Since that's not going to happen I just don't post much at all, which is too bad because I have benefitted from sightings in the past and I am a firm believer in paying things forward.

People can still post sightings requests and you can PM them if you happen to run across something that they wanted.

PinkTink63 · Aug 31, 2016

http://www.provacationplanner.com/grab-and-go/

Check this one out on eBay!! Yeah, RCI really polices this!!

This is ridiculous!!!

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tschwa2 · Aug 31, 2016

I think these are Mike's from Redweek. Redweek did remove them but it looks like he just took them to a new site and learned his lesson about mentioning the resort fee.

gmarine · Aug 31, 2016

In my experience RCI will take action against those who rent exchanges but sometimes RCI reps are more willing to get involved if you can give them the name of the person who is renting the exchange.

With EBAY it is relatively easy to annoy the renter. If its obviously an exchange, win the auction or buy it now. You will now have the address and name of the seller to provide payment.

Then before making payment ask the seller to confirm they OWN the unit being rented. Ask them to provide a confirmation from the resort that they are the owner and that it isnt a timeshare exchange. They obviously wont be able to do this and will try to convince you its OK for you to proceed. Tell them you wont pay for the item because they dont own it and it violates EBAY Terms and Conditions. The seller will ask to send you an auction cancellation request. When you accept, the auction is cancelled and there are no negative repercussions for the buyer. However, the buyer is still able to leave negative feedback for the seller. You can put in a comment such as "seller is renting exchanges, subject to cancellation " or whatever comment you like.

Now that you have the sellers name, address and unit being rented, call RCI and provide them with the exact information of the unit being rented. This makes it quick and easy for RCI to take action .

Egret1986 · Aug 31, 2016

Hmmmmm. Very interesting......You sound like a possible professional at this stuff.

gmarine said:
In my experience RCI will take action against those who rent exchanges but sometimes RCI reps are more willing to get involved if you can give them the name of the person who is renting the exchange.

With EBAY it is relatively easy to annoy the renter. If its obviously an exchange, win the auction or buy it now. You will now have the address and name of the seller to provide payment.

Then before making payment ask the seller to confirm they OWN the unit being rented. Ask them to provide a confirmation from the resort that they are the owner and that it isnt a timeshare exchange. They obviously wont be able to do this and will try to convince you its OK for you to proceed. Tell them you wont pay for the item because they dont own it and it violates EBAY Terms and Conditions. The seller will ask to send you an auction cancellation request. When you accept, the auction is cancelled and there are no negative repercussions for the buyer. However, the buyer is still able to leave negative feedback for the seller. You can put in a comment such as "seller is renting exchanges, subject to cancellation " or whatever comment you like.

Now that you have the sellers name, address and unit being rented, call RCI and provide them with the exact information of the unit being rented. This makes it quick and easy for RCI to take action .

Let the games begin!

I don't have the time or inclination at the moment to do that, but I bet there are many that do.

Your road map is a good one.
:hysterical:

sb2313 · Aug 31, 2016

Egret1986 said:
Let the games begin!

I don't have the time or inclination at the moment to do that, but I bet there are many that do.

Your road map is a good one.
:hysterical:

Perhaps use a throwaway eBay account with slightly less than accurate information if you're going to do this and take down someone's lucrative, but completely against the rci rules, business.

RANT!: Commercial RCI Exchange Renters

PinkTink63

FLDVCFamily

PinkTink63

tschwa2

TUG Review Crew: Veteran

PinkTink63

tschwa2

TUG Review Crew: Veteran

PinkTink63

tschwa2

TUG Review Crew: Veteran

famy27

taterhed

klpca

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taterhed

PamMo

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jackio

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PinkTink63

famy27

klpca

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rickandcindy23

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PinkTink63

presley

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PinkTink63

tschwa2

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gmarine

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Egret1986

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sb2313