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Re: point rental liquidators (by Susan C.):

donp196 wrote:

I can't understand how anyone would give this pond scum a chance after seeing everything posted in here and on the web. He has an " F " rating with the BBB and more victim statements than one can count. He advises people to scam the system by defrauding RCI and you still want to give him a chance ? Can you imagine the poor family that pays thousands of dollars to rent a timeshare and travel to the location only to be turned away because somebody used his scam and RCI cancelled the reservation when they found out they were not " guests ". How on earth could you possibly give this low life a chance ? Maybe you can understand why I question your position. I spent a career putting scammers and crooks in prison. That's where I believe BJ and his band of thieves belongs. Jayjay and I both remember when the timeshare business had a good reputation. We were able to get exchanges before RCI and other exchange companies started selling them on the open market depriving owners of those choices. I belong to the National Timeshare Owners Association and I am very active helping them fight fraud in the indsutry. I work closely with Ed Hastry the president to encourage people to join the organization and clean up this industry. I'm very passionate about making timeshare ownership a pleasant experience like it used to be and should be again. Don't let these scammers ruin what should be a good thing. .......So if I'm suspicious of your posts maybe you can understand my position. I'm trying to stop the next victim from falling prey to them.

Don, I think I am starting to understand your position. When you use terms like "pond scum," "low life," and "Nigerian Lottery" without specifics, you lose me. But with this post, you've given me a little better sense of where you are coming from. The BBB thing is not a positive but also not a negative for me as the reasons cited for the F rating include the company not being in business long enough and the unsatisfactory handling of one complaint? But two of three were resolved? Can't remember.

It is the "defrauding" of RCI that interests me and the image of a family being turned away because their reservation was faulty. Please explain how RCI is being defrauded with this plan and how this could happen to a family. I have explained that I am very naive about how timeshares work - the only thing I have done is a) go to my home resort or b) deposited it and gone somewhere else. So I do not understand the RCI fraud comment and how a family could have a confirmed reservation and get turned away. Please use "baby words" with me. (grin)

Your reference to the exchange companies selling exchanges on the open market is the one reason I thought this was a new and creative approach - instead of me "banking" my week with RCI or II and them turning around and selling it on the open market and NOT making it available to other timeshare owners, I thought that THIS program allowed me to "bank" my week with PRL (in the currency of points) who also put it on the open market but gave me more of the profit from those rentals. That is how I understood it. I also understand about the "free" offer and the subsequent sales pressure. Truth be told, that is how we got into our first timeshare. We really have not regretted that decision so much as we feel like we got some good value for it. The second timeshare was less satisfactory as one of the "promises" was an appealing policy that was discontinued the January following our purchase. While we were not actually "lied" to, we were mislead in the sense that it was an existing policy subject to change. Perhaps after we get all this PRL stuff ironed out, you and/or Jay Jay could advise as to how we could manage our two timeshares to get the flexibility that was so attractive to us with the PRL program (doesn't look like I am going to be hearing from BJ). If I know about other options and learn to be more savvy about timeshares, I am not subject to be so "misled" as you seem to think I am. I just thought that PRL had discovered a "loophole" in how things work that benefit the timeshare owner rather than the exchange companies. So, yes, given your history and experience, I can understand how you might be suspicious of my posts. The "mistrust" was "misplaced" in this instance but I do understand. For both you and Jay Jay, it would really help someone who is NOT so knowledgeable like me to hear specifics rather than just name calling. I know these specifics are probably very obvious to you so you just jump to yelling "pond scum" but that is not so helpful for someone who does not know. Thanks.