Possible RCI scam

[benthayer]

I went to do an exchange with RCI today and when I went to pay the transaction fee my account showed I had a $26.00 balance. I had not received any bill or invoice so I called to see what this was for. They said it was a fee for not using my points. I explained to them I had been using my points every year and that the same thing happened a year ago and they dropped the charge. I was on the phone for over an hour and they did not drop the fee, said I had to call back on Monday. I asked how they could fraudulently bill me two years in a row and when presented with the evidence make me endure another phone call instead of getting rid of the charge then and now--that's when she got huffy and said I had to call back Monday.
I don't know if I am the only one with this problem, but my advice is to check your account because their reluctance to drop the charge with my account history in front of them makes me
very suspicious. I wonder how many people would go ahead and pay this fee, not knowing what it was since it was never disclosed--sorta like the phone companies are renowned for doing.

 

[moonstone]

I don't know if it's actually a scam or just RCI being inept at book-keeping (as well as their website). We also had that $26. fee for not using any portion of our points the first year we owned them. We weren't aware of such a fee. We already had all our vacation time booked up when we made the purchase and were saving the points for the next year's vacation. When I called RCI to ask about the charge I said we have a EOY points contract and will be using all the points within the 2 years so why the charge? They said that we had to use some points within the first year or incur the charge. I think that's crazy with EOY or longer points packages.

Several years ago I booked 3 units on Extra Vacations in FL for an extended family vacation. Each unit was over $600. A few weeks later the same units were listed at a greatly reduced price on a RCI sale. Even with the cancellation fees I was going to be many hundreds of dollars ahead. I booked the 3 new units before cancelling the 3 previously booked units (to make sure I could actually get all 3). I paid for the 3 new units and waited for a refund from the others. When the refund didn't appear on my next CC statement I called RCI. The VC I got said they don't usually refund cancellations but rather credit the RCI account. What!! I asked for a supervisor & got the same story. I explained that the refund for the original 3 units was nearly $2000 & that would take me years to use that credit up. I demanded a refund & eventually got it but it was like pulling teeth!


~Diane

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

I don't know if it's actually a scam or just RCI being inept at book-keeping (as well as their website). We also had .........I demanded a refund & eventually got it but it was like pulling teeth!


~Diane

The wonders of free enterprise . Isn’t it great - how they (RCI) always looks out for you - the customer who pays their bills .

 

[Jan M.]

I don't know if it's actually a scam or just RCI being inept at book-keeping (as well as their website). We also had that $26. fee for not using any portion of our points the first year we owned them. We weren't aware of such a fee. We already had all our vacation time booked up when we made the purchase and were saving the points for the next year's vacation. When I called RCI to ask about the charge I said we have a EOY points contract and will be using all the points within the 2 years so why the charge? They said that we had to use some points within the first year or incur the charge. I think that's crazy with EOY or longer points packages.

Several years ago I booked 3 units on Extra Vacations in FL for an extended family vacation. Each unit was over $600. A few weeks later the same units were listed at a greatly reduced price on a RCI sale. Even with the cancellation fees I was going to be many hundreds of dollars ahead. I booked the 3 new units before cancelling the 3 previously booked units (to make sure I could actually get all 3). I paid for the 3 new units and waited for a refund from the others. When the refund didn't appear on my next CC statement I called RCI. The VC I got said they don't usually refund cancellations but rather credit the RCI account. What!! I asked for a supervisor & got the same story. I explained that the refund for the original 3 units was nearly $2000 & that would take me years to use that credit up. I demanded a refund & eventually got it but it was like pulling teeth!


~Diane

I don't remember if it was always an option years back but I know it is an option now and has been for a while to select how you want your refund done. You can have the original payment source credited or have it saved in your RCI account for future use. I remember seeing a note that if the original payment source is no longer available that they will send you a check. I've messed up a time or two and forgot to check the refund the original payment source box and got a credit instead.

I was just thinking about how long it would take to use a $2000 credit and then looked in our vacation history. Most people would take years to use up that much credit but for us with the $239 per week exchange fee and the sale weeks at $199-$249 we would have used a credit for that much just in the last year! I've posted that my husband will be retiring soon, at the end of this week actually, and that we hope to do more traveling. By that I mean outside of Florida. Most of the weeks I booked were here in Florida and especially Orlando when our granddaughter was here on her vacations with Grandma and Papa.

I know many people bitterly complain about the $239 exchange fee but this is how we put it in perspective. One of the weeks I booked last year was over 4th of July in an area we really like that is only about 40-45 minutes from us if the traffic isn't really bad. My husband had a 4.5 day weekend because they worked a half day on Friday and he was able to leave directly from the resort to go to work on Wednesday morning. When I told him about the reservation I'd found and what I wanted to do he was hesitant and asked if we really needed to spend $239 to stay somewhere that close to home. I said yes it is only 7500 points for the reservation because the week is only two weeks away and our maintenance fees on that many points are only about $50. I told him that it will be our version of a staycation and it will be fun. And it was! Then I told him if we even wanted to stay just single night somewhere nice and fun that we would pay that much because of the holiday weekend. While we were there he looked at what the hotels around us got for a single night over the holiday weekend; that made him immeasurably happier! Then we thought about how the people staying in those hotels were eating all their meals, having drinks in the restaurants and bars around us and within walking distance. Because of the timeshare we made use of our kitchen for breakfast, lunch and evening drinks so only ate dinners out at our favorite restaurants in the surrounding area not the higher priced tourist restaurants and bars on the beach and pier. Wow, the people staying in those hotels spent a bundle just for a long weekend and I bet some were staying a full week! That $239 exchange fee seemed like a bargain.

 

[Panina]

I don't remember if it was always an option years back but I know it is an option now and has been for a while to select how you want your refund done. You can have the original payment source credited or have it saved in your RCI account for future use. I remember seeing a note that if the original payment source is no longer available that they will send you a check.

I was just thinking about how long it would take to use a $2000 credit and then looked in our vacation history. Most people would take years to use up that much credit but for us with the $239 per week exchange fee and the sale weeks at $199-$249 we would have used a credit for that much just in the last year! I've posted that my husband will be retiring soon, at the end of this week actually, and that we hope to do more traveling. By that I mean outside of Florida. Most of the weeks I booked were here in Florida and especially Orlando when our granddaughter was here on her vacations with Grandma and Papa.

I know many people bitterly complain about the $239 exchange fee but this is how we put it in perspective. One of the weeks I booked last year was over 4th of July in an area we really like that is only about 40-45 minutes from us if the traffic isn't really bad. My husband had a 4.5 day weekend because they worked a half day on Friday and he was able to leave directly from the resort to go to work on Wednesday morning. When I told him about the reservation I'd found and what I wanted to do he was hesitant and asked if we really needed to spend $239 to stay somewhere that close to home. I said yes it is only 7500 points for the reservation because the week is only two weeks away and our maintenance fees on that many points are only about $50. I told him that it will be our version of a staycation and it will be fun. And it was! Then I told him if we even wanted to stay just single night somewhere nice and fun that we would pay that much because of the holiday weekend. While we were there he looked at what the hotels around us got for a single night over the holiday weekend; that made him immeasurably happier! Then we thought about how the people staying in those hotels were eating all their meals, having drinks in the restaurants and bars around us and within walking distance. Because of the timeshare we made use of our kitchen for breakfast, lunch and evening drinks so only ate dinners out at our favorite restaurants in the surrounding area not the higher priced tourist restaurants and bars on the beach and pier. Wow, the people staying in those hotels spent a bundle just for a long weekend and I bet some were staying a full week! That $239 exchange fee seemed like a bargain.

Congratulations on yours husbands upcoming retirement. The timeshare fun will really begin.