Timeshare Insights Issues Consumer Advisory

This story was brought to my attention by one of Timeshare Insights long time supporters.

She received a call (red flag number one) saying that she and her husband could list five (5) of their RCI Last Call Vacations for rental for up to $1,100 each.  The company kept using the RCI name, but after repeated inquiries revealed that they were in fact SMA Timeshare Rental.

This is a very smart timeshare owner, so she asked me if I had heard of them.  I hadn’t and decided to call SMA back on her behalf.

·        I asked where they got her name from and was told that it was public record (This is in fact true.  All recorded timeshare purchases are a matter of public record.  Whether or not this data was gleaned from Public Record cannot be verified.)

·        I asked how it works and was told that any RCI timeshare owner could rent out their Last Call Weeks (I checked with two separate RCI sources and was told that RCI Last Call Weeks were for the personal use of the timeshare owner and could not be used as a commercial venture.)

·        I asked if there was a fee to do so and was told that the owners had signed up for the “no fee” plan (More on this later)

·        I asked how much they could rent these weeks out for and was told that each week would rent for $1,100 and that the owner would receive a Cashier’s Check from SMA upon rental and that the party renting the week would have no contact with the owner.

So in order to get more information, I asked my reader to call SMA Timeshare back and ask them some exact questions.  Which she did.  I’m quoting her answers verbatim.  Here’s how that went:

Question #1

How did you get my contact information?

Answer #1

“He said he / they get the names from the presentations that we take when go to the resorts; that the presentation information goes to SMA.”

Question #2

Can I rent more than just five Last Call Weeks?

Answer #2

“He said legally we get up to 8 weeks that we can sell a year or rent out.... that we can have as many a year as we want to use personally but to rent out only 8 but I've used some so we only have 5 right now.   And when someone rents them they get access to all resorts that are affiliated with RCI.  And we would agree to $1,100 per week or a total of $5,500 for the 5 we have available.”

Question #3

How exactly does this program work?

Answer #3

“He said when we first purchased the timeshare we should have been offered a chance to purchase a ownership registration for lifetime that allows us to do this and it is also able to be passed down when we pass on the timeshare to another family member.

Now his form shows that we weren't offered that registration but that is no problem.  They will get us one for $1,499 that goes thru them and they will walk us thru the whole ordeal because we need to transfer 3rd party legalization and they will check to make sure everything is legit. Once that is all finished they can then sell our weeks for us.   Usually the turnaround is 60-90 days and we would have a check for $5,500 and we'd never have to pay a maintenance fee again and get to take even more vacations.  Also in May we will have 3 more weeks available to us for an additional $3,300.”

Question #4

How are the prices determined?

Answer #4

“Ours are $1,100 a week and are a one bedroom one bath.”

Question #5

How quickly will I be paid?

           Answer #5

“After I have paid for the $1,499 register of ownership then the Cashier’s Check usually is to us within 60-90 days for $5,500.

Wait, it gets even better.”Then he said he is required to give me some information and asks me to write it down.  The registration # for RCI and SMA   TP41460.  His name is Cody Ferrill and his phone number is 855-602-7991 Extension 324 and also if I ever have any trouble booking where we want thru RCI to contact him and he will help us get what we want.”

"He also wanted to know if I wanted to pay for this thru our RCI account or a
 Visa card.  I told him I needed to wait and talk to my husband about it first.
 I asked him to please email it all to me to make sure that I was telling my
 husband everything correctly but I don't think he is going to do that.  He said
 they will do that once we make the decision."

Sounds very legit.  “Registration numbers."  ”Cashier’s Checks.”  “Information sent to them from the resort after the presentation.”  “Offered this at time of presentation.”

There is a Cody Ferrill with the Commercial Telephone License Salesperson License Number of TP41460 which I found on the State of Florida’s Department of Agriculture site.  The employer listed is Summit Marketing Associates, Inc,, at 416 Commerce Way, Suite 140 Longwood, FL  32750-6391.  This number has NOTHING to do with RCI though.

I wonder how many timeshare owners are shelling out $1,499 or more?  I wonder how many RCI Last Call Weeks are actually posted and rented?  I wonder how many unsuspecting RCI members lose their membership privileges because of this?

The advisories are as follows: 

RCI SUBSCRIBING MEMBERS MAY NOT RENT OUT THEIR LAST CALL WEEKS FOR COMMERCIAL PURPOSES

 

NEITHER RCI NOR A REPUTABLE TIMESHARE RESORT WILL SHARE INFORMATION WITH A THIRD PARTY

 

TIMESHARE OWNERS ARE TO AVOID ANY COMPANY OR ENTITY THAT INITIATES CONTACT

 

RCI Subscribing Members who have questions can always check with them at

http://pgs.rci.com/landing/resaleadvisory/index.html.

 

For additional information please follow Timeshare Insights on Facebook at Facebook.com/timeshare.insights, on Twitter at @timeshareauthor or on the blog at http://www.thetimesharecrusader.blogspot.com