Has anyone ever been scammed using redweek?

No one can logically or reasonably blame (or credit) RedWeek (or any other timeshare site, for that matter) site for a good or bad experience.

Ads are placed by INDIVIDUALS. Transactions (whether rentals or resales) are made with other INDIVIDUALS, not with the web sites that merely host ads for others. No site has any control whatsoever over the knowledge level, honesty, competence (or anything else, for that matter) of INDIVIDUALS who choose to use their particular site to advertise or to be a renter or a buyer. The web site (whatever web site it is) is merely the platform or venue for a placed ad --- and nothing more.

So far things are going mostly well with me (as a owner). I think we owners should have a sense of responsibility for Redweek's reputation. Redweek's credibility and reliability would help us rent our weeks out. We ought to do everything to earn renters' trust and satisfaction, and in doing so we help with Redweek's reputation.

Robinh130 - I hate that this happened to you. We actually just listed 2 of our 3 weeks at OceanWatch Villas (July 4th - platinum plus!) to rent and have never done this. I am wondering if you have a copy of any of the leases that your signed because we have to find one to provide (or have an attorney write one - ugh) for our rental on these 2 units. I listed them at a very good discount hoping we could just get our fees out of them. We will probably begin to either list them a LOT sooner to get more for them (they are all 3 oceanFRONT - but we never have been on this week, we only bought July 4th for the exchange value to other locations) or just turn them into points to trade to other locations that way or the trips that Marriott offers.

I hope NOT to have an eye opening experience like you did (but from an owner perspective) and also wondered how you did your exchange of funds? I was asked if we 'took Paypal' and I have an account for selling a few things here and then on eBay but not feeling super comfortable about that either. Ugh. Wish we had been able to just sell all 3 through Marriott but they NEVER want to buy them all back and I don't want to turn them over to Interval International (which we did with some weeks before but then could never use them because the accommodations there are just hard to get something TRULY comparable to a Marriott and you are not allowed to go to Marriott location when you submit a Marriott Timeshare. That just doesn't seem fair but it's evidently the rule.

We owned a few rent homes for almost 20 years and if you want to learn about people just be a landlord for a few years. Ugh!!! I learned the best tenants drove average to less than average cars (usually) and the ones in the really fancy cars . . . . avoid like the plague. But, that's not the rule because when we moved to the Charleston area we had to rent for a year before our new home was ready and I drive a nice car but left the townhome completely painted, professionally cleaned and better than I got it. My husband told the landlord that he should ALWAYS rent to 'former landlords'! We got our full deposit back!! My husband should be thrilled that I love to paint. lol

Thanks for ANY help you can give me. If you can send me a copy of the lease, let me know and I'll send you my email address. Much thanks!!

I just was scammed !

Redweeks member Adonna Santuccio 916-505-8836, asantuccio@gmail.com Contacted me asking for accommodations I promised to reseve 1Br Unit at Lake Tahie Vacation Resort for her and gave her 100% guaranty, she will have unit for her trip. I was able to find and book accommodation for Adonna, like I promised and after all my efforts, my time and financial resources (I had to pay upfront for this reservation, which is not refundable) Adonna refused to pay for the accommodations. I have a loss of 260.00. Please do not allow Adonna Santuccio to use your company service to scam other owners!!! I can provid all email communication as an avidence I delivered on my promises booking reservation for her and she refused to pay me for booked accommodations.

Irene -

If you feel you have been scammed by any RedWeek member, please provide us with all the details (emails) and we will follow up on the matter. You can email support@redweek.com or click on this link: Contact Us

Thanks, Phyllis

I have been renting through Red Week for over 10 years. I have never been scammed. Let me define a scam. This is where you pay all the money up front and you get nothing in return. This has never happened to me. Frankly, I am very surprised because in the early days of Red week there were no protections in place. Now we have 2 way agreements and escrow service.

I paid for a posting and I'm just worried that no one will even look at it. It's been a week and I haven't heard anything!

If you want an opinion on your ad, list your posting number. Popular resorts with reasonable MF at popular locations during prime time that are priced correctly should move. If your timeshare doesn't fit all those criteria it may be harder to sell/rent.

I do not know about scammed, but I listed to sell a timeshare and it never sold. I feel they only want the couple hundred dollars for the listing and never really did anything and it did not sell. If you list either a sale or a rental be prepared to loose you fees, they will not refund, nor do they really care if it sells or rents. I will not use them again, way too many other reputable companies out there. Of course Redweek will tell you they are the best and no one else will do better, but they are no different in my opinion. Use their services at your own risk.

Mine was listed for months, a two nedroom Westin Maui property. I even paid for the verification. It did not sell and they will not refund anything. Good luck, but just assume your listing fee is gone. They will have a bunch of excuses that they will regurgitate to you, but its just to keep you from pulling your listing. Sorry for the negative respone, but I just went through it with them. My property is a 2 bedroom lock off at the Westin Maui resort. A very nice vacation spot. They did not even get an offer.

Hi, Ken.

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience. Do you have your posting IDs handy? I'll take a look.

I see two rental postings under your ken1208 account, but those were from 2011. Did you have them under a different account, too?

Thanks.

jenniferk570 wrote:

I paid for a posting and I'm just worried that no one will even look at it. It's been a week and I haven't heard anything!

Hi, Jennifer.

This is your posting, correct? https://www.redweek.com/posting/R733628

So it's for Dec. 26-30. Pricing looks pretty good compared to what Disney is asking, I think. I see 1 bd lake view going for ~1k/night before taxes. So your pricing is 25% or more in savings.

The dates might be a little unusual. Check-in right after Christmas and before New Years. I don't know if that will be a barrier or not.

People often rent 30-60 days before the check-in date, BTW. That's the optimum window.

Anyone else have suggestions for Jennifer's posting?

It was under the same account. Maybe you guys deleted them? Resale Posting R714773.

This is what shows under my account.

Ken

I don't think it;s too early for a week 51 or week 52 Orlando ad. I think it it a little high for a 1 BR if you want a speedy rental. But it is the only DVC listed currently for that time of year and you have plenty of time.

Ken, This is a listing site. Probably one of the best but there are a lot of timeshares that have zero resale value or even negative value. There are also a lot of overpriced listings. Personally I think it works best for high season big name timeshares like Marriott, etc and isn't so effective for smaller independent timeshares. Even with membership fees and elected extras a typical listing with membership fee is still under $100. Compare this to various other sites that charge in the $500-$800 upfront for listings where the dedicated sales teams spends there time calling owners trying to use high pressure tactics to get you to list at inflated prices. Many of those sites claim a money back guarantee but guess what, if you try get a refund, they simply stop responding and when they start to get hounded they shut down and open with a new name.

If you want a free site to list Craigslist is also fairly effective but you may have to wade through scammers or you may still get no responses. Last year I rented about 20 reservations including a bunch of short summer rentals from a points based membership. I had about 3 listings on Redweek last year. Two resulted in rentals and the third did not.

Well, the one they could not sell is a 2 bedroom lock off, Westin Maui villas North. Avery high end, reasonable pricing based on their recommendation. So, you answer is completely unrepresentative of what I listed. They should have and should do a better job going forward. I would not have said a word had they sold the unit, or refunded the fees. It was their choice to not make me whole. So if I can cost them a few listing, all the better.

I made this point earlier in this thread, but it may be worth repeating. No one can reasonably hold any site (including RedWeek) responsible for unsuccessful ad listings.

Market forces always prevail when it comes to timeshare resales OR rentals. When it comes to Hawaii, for example, air fare costs alone can be so prohibitively expensive that even "very good deals" (whether resales or rentals) can generate little interest and go begging, since those transportation costs are a very big part of total vacation expenses. In the final analysis, RedWeek is a listing site --- no more, no less. The site certainly has no magical powers to in ANY way affect the market forces of supply and demand.

The current economy might be great for the few percent "sitting on top", but economic times remain difficult for other everyday, normal, working people. There are plenty of reasons why so many timeshares are available on eBay or elsewhere for a dollar, any day and every day --- many are essentially worthless on the open market, regardless of the advertising site utilized. That's the harsh but simple reality of the marketplace.

Redweek isn't selling it. It's a listing site. My experience is more for listing rentals than units for sale. It's a tough market for both sales and rentals but especially tough for sales. What was your view category and what was the price point? Also was it Deluxe. Deluxe Island view are going to be the hardest to sell. The MF is higher but you don't get any additional SO's and it is the lowest view category. You might want to contact a broker who specializes in high end Hawaii. They only take a commission when they sell (no upfront) and they may be able to get a slightly higher price than you can get on your own. Most timeshares are worth less than $5000 so Brokers who typically take a minimum of $2000-$3000 per sale aren't worth it but Hilton, Marriott and Westins in Hawaii are some of the exceptions. This is one that gets positive recommendations from the timeshare users group= http://advantagevacation.com/westin-kaanapali-ocean-resort-villas-north-for-sale-and-resale/

But even so you can see how many are listed and the prices offered.

A week in the time frame of renting your unit is nothing. We have rented and sold on red week, for some it took months. We always posted early, to give anyone a chance to decide if our posting was what they were looking for.

As far as viewing to see if anyone has looked at it, I can't really think of any site that has a number of views except maybe e-bay. I don't deal with them or Craig's list, to many scammers. Keep in mind yours is not the only one out there, and if it's a good week at a good place(as you say) and the price is right, you shouldn't have a problem. GOOD LUCK

jenniferk570 wrote:

I paid for a posting and I'm just worried that no one will even look at it. It's been a week and I haven't heard anything!

ken1208 wrote:

It was under the same account. Maybe you guys deleted them? Resale Posting R714773.

Sorry, yes, I see it now.

So it looks like there was a similar week that just sold. See the one for $24,500 here: https://www.redweek.com/resort/P5641-the-westin-kaanapali-ocean-resort-villas/timeshare-resales

Here's the posting itself: https://www.redweek.com/posting/R703531

The main difference being that yours is ocean view and that one was ocean front?

Anyone have suggestions on why Ken's didn't attract more attention? What do you think of the pricing?