General Discussion

RCI Class Action Lawsuit

How does SkyAuction.com relate to RCI? Looked it up with Linkedin and a few other places with no indication of a connection. (Did find some very unhappy customers.)MD

Mary D.

There is a lot of information about the RCI class action lawsuit at: http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=100107

An attorney, Susan Collins, who owns 9 timeshares now (sold some she owned before) is appearing in Federal Court representing herself and over 100 Weeks members who are objecting to the proposed settlement. Susan is not charging any fees for her services. I think she is no longer accepting chttp://rciclassactionlawsuit.com/lients because she has so many already. But she is posting updates at: http://rciclassactionlawsuit.com/

Marie M.

ralphr24 wrote:
does this lawsuit apply to points-system folks?

No. Not in any way, shape or form. However, there are recent rumblings (and "rumblings" is all that it is so far) about the possibility of a separate action for RCI Points.

ralphr24 wrote:
does this lawsuit apply to points-system folks?

The "class" includes "point-system folks" if those folks own or did own a timeshare week between January 1, 2000 and August 31, 2009 that was affiilated with RCI.

Dave (aka Goofyhobbie)

David W.

I just googled class action suits as I am in a horrible situation with a timeshare in Cancun Palace resorts and I feel that Holiday Transfer Equity co and RCI are involved in a cheating, lying , stealing scheme. i was told to hand over 2 deeds to my timeshare back in 07 to get a reduced payment on my newly acquired timeshare and was told i needed to open a Bank of american MC to put 12,000 on it , the value of my 2 timeshares. Now, i have no timeshares and I owe boa 12,000 supposedly! Someone, anyone, if this has happened to you or you know anyone that is in the same situation please contact me. i am drafting a letter tothe board of directors of boa and have been dealing with the BS for 2 years!!!! If there is a class action suit I can join, please let me know!!! I can be reached at penbenson@msn.com Thanks , NB

Nancy B.

nancyb486 wrote:
I just googled class action suits as I am in a horrible situation with a timeshare in Cancun Palace resorts and I feel that Holiday Transfer Equity co and RCI are involved in a cheating, lying , stealing scheme. i was told to hand over 2 deeds to my timeshare back in 07 to get a reduced payment on my newly acquired timeshare and was told i needed to open a Bank of american MC to put 12,000 on it , the value of my 2 timeshares. Now, i have no timeshares and I owe boa 12,000 supposedly! Someone, anyone, if this has happened to you or you know anyone that is in the same situation please contact me. i am drafting a letter tothe board of directors of boa and have been dealing with the BS for 2 years!!!! If there is a class action suit I can join, please let me know!!! I can be reached at penbenson@msn.com Thanks , NB

This doesn't appear to have anything to do with RCI and your issues are too complicated (I don't even understand them) to be addressed on an internet forum ... I would suggest you get in touch with a real estate attorney ... I believe you might be able to get the first session free.

R P.

Tell me what I need to do to join in the class action lawsuit against RCI. My husband and I have been RedWeek owners for approximately 10 years. We've been able to schedule all of two vacations w/RCI during this time.

Janet W.

janetw205 wrote:
Tell me what I need to do to join in the class action lawsuit against RCI. My husband and I have been RedWeek owners for approximately 10 years. We've been able to schedule all of two vacations w/RCI during this time.

The class action lawsuit (known as Murillo vs. RCI in Federal Court in NJ) was initiated nearly four years ago. The case is now officially OVER as of a few weeks ago, concluding with a fizzle and a settlement too weak to flatter with further description here. Accordingly, there is nothing for you to "join" at this late juncture.

If you choose to read through some of the many posts on this subject, right here in these RedWeek forums, you can easily read the entire evolution and final outcome of the case in great (albeit painful) detail...

Last edited by ken1193 on Jan 02, 2010 09:04 AM

Please clarify your answers to my question. In one, Kent said, "No, not in any way..." In the second reply, David stated, " The class includes Point-system folks...." RalphR24

Ralph R.

ralphr24 wrote:
Please clarify your answers to my question. In one, Ken said, "No, not in any way..." In the second reply, David stated, " The class includes Point-system folks...." RalphR24

Ralph: David stated what (I thought) was already quite obvious for a "weeks" lawsuit, but he was still correct. That is, **IF** (and ONLY if) a RCI Points owner was **ALSO** a "weeks" owner, then (and ONLY then) he/she WOULD have been eligible to be a member of the "class", whereas a RCI Points owner who was NOT *ALSO* a "weeks" owner would NOT have been eligible for the "class". In essence, a "WEEKS" ownership was clearly and obviously required for class eligibility --- with OR without an (irrelevant) "points" ownership. The lawsuit simply had NOTHING whatsoever to do with RCI Points in any way, shape or form.

Given the relatively worthless and insignificant "settlement" outcome of the case, the distinction is now just academic anyhow...

Last edited by ken1193 on Jan 03, 2010 11:30 AM

I WORK FOR A TIMESHARE RESORT IN BRANSON MISSOURI. ONE OF MY JOBS IS TO ASSIGN NAMES FROM RCI TO THE UNITS OUR OWNERS HAVE GIVEN TO RCI. I AM AMAZED AT HOW MANY OF OUR UNITS ARE USED FOR MILITARY PEOPLE AND RENTAL COMPANIES. I SEE THAT 80% ARE USED FOR THESE PEOPLE AND NOT FOR TIMESHARE OWNERS. OUR CLUB MEMBERS COMPLAIN DAILY ABOUT NOT GETTING INTO PLACES THEY WANT TO GO. NOW I KNOW WHY!!!!!!!!!!

Julie S.

julies515 wrote:
I WORK FOR A TIMESHARE RESORT IN BRANSON MISSOURI. ONE OF MY JOBS IS TO ASSIGN NAMES FROM RCI TO THE UNITS OUR OWNERS HAVE GIVEN TO RCI. I AM AMAZED AT HOW MANY OF OUR UNITS ARE USED FOR MILITARY PEOPLE AND RENTAL COMPANIES. I SEE THAT 80% ARE USED FOR THESE PEOPLE AND NOT FOR TIMESHARE OWNERS. OUR CLUB MEMBERS COMPLAIN DAILY ABOUT NOT GETTING INTO PLACES THEY WANT TO GO. NOW I KNOW WHY!!!!!!!!!!

Are you saying that RCI gives your resort member's deposits to rent out ???? Who actually makes the money from these rentals, your resort or RCI?

R P.

Last edited by jayjay on Apr 06, 2010 01:31 PM

jayjay wrote:
julies515 wrote:
I WORK FOR A TIMESHARE RESORT IN BRANSON MISSOURI. ONE OF MY JOBS IS TO ASSIGN NAMES FROM RCI TO THE UNITS OUR OWNERS HAVE GIVEN TO RCI. I AM AMAZED AT HOW MANY OF OUR UNITS ARE USED FOR MILITARY PEOPLE AND RENTAL COMPANIES. I SEE THAT 80% ARE USED FOR THESE PEOPLE AND NOT FOR TIMESHARE OWNERS. OUR CLUB MEMBERS COMPLAIN DAILY ABOUT NOT GETTING INTO PLACES THEY WANT TO GO. NOW I KNOW WHY!!!!!!!!!!
Are you saying that RCI gives your resort member's deposits to rent out ???? Who actually makes the money from these rentals, your resort or RCI?

This is kind of the crux of the issue! RCI renting out member deposits. Of course RCI gets the revenue! And devalues ownership in the process.

RCI has a ton of public rental sites, including the "military outlet".

Vicki Y.

We joined RCI in 2000 and for the first several years were very happy. We were able to reasonably get what and where we wanted. Then, we began to notice about 2007 that there was less and less inventory available to tradewith, and RCI's fees began to increase. By mid-2008, we decided not to renew our membership because the fees to trade (annual membership fee + banking fee + exchange fee) began to equal what we were paying for our HOA fee on a 1 bed/odd year. RCI took our final week with them as punishment for not paying our 2009 membership renewal; they refered to it as "forfiture". However, we are glad to be free from them and all the excessive additional fees and cumbersome policies. Now we just use what we bought (Sedona Pines, AZ) and rent it if we don't use it. If several hundred of us TS owners did the same (pull their memberships...even for 2-3 years) RCI would suffer not only loss revenue and fees but also lost weeks to trade. This may be what has started happening and RCI will get caught in a tidalwave of dissatified members.

Bryan H.

I totally agree about the "military rental market" issue. I am in the Army (24 years now) and was shocked to see RCI offering what they coin as "off-season" to military members thru a website called "Armed Forces Vacation Club by Endless Vacation Rentals", now a division of Wyndham Resorts (http://www.afvclub.com/). Searching through that site, I was able to find locations and dates that I could not find on the RCI website as a bonified timeshare owner and RCI member who had deposited my week with RCI. How do you explain that??? Instead of using our deposited weeks to offer to it's paying members, RCI has been selling/renting weeks in secondary and terciary markets and keeping the money! When I deposit my week, I have already paid my HOA and fees...so that week is mine and if I do not use it after depositing it, then the week if forfeited...IT SHOULD NOT BE SOLD BY RCI AGAIN FOR THEIR CORPORATE GAIN...ITS MY WEEK, BOUGHT AND PAID FOR! They have us coming and going...and that's why we are no longer members of RCI. Heck, I can get what I want from the Armed Forces Vacation Club website when ever I want and don't have to pay "membership" fees. However, this practice is repeated thru other venues...not just to the military. THIS IS WHAT IS DEVALUING OUR OWNERSHIPS AND DECREASING THE OVERALL INVENTORY OF AVAILABLE PROPERTIES!

Bryan H.

Last edited by majbeck on Apr 22, 2010 10:15 AM

davidw810

ralphr24 wrote:
does this lawsuit apply to points-system folks?

The "class" includes "point-system folks" if those folks own or did own a timeshare week between January 1, 2000 and August 31, 2009 that was affiilated with RCI. ----------------------- Dave, we have been "RCI Points" members since May 2000 and have never been notified or even heard of the RCI lawsuit until last week. Don't they have a legal responsibility, as set by the court, to notify all members in a class-action lawsuit to determine the pool of claimants and litigants? As I said, we have received nothing and didn't even know about this, and we are very in tune to these things. I'll admit that I don't check out Redweek or TUG websights every week but it sounds like someone has been trying to keep the RCI lawsuits under wraps.

Bryan H.

majbeck wrote:
.... it sounds like someone has been trying to keep the RCI lawsuits under wraps.

The issue of proper notification by RCI did indeed come up during the pre-settlement proceedings in Murillo vs. RCI. However, in view of the fact that the case is now over and done with --- with nothing of any meaningful or long-term significance achieved --- it's academic anyhow.

You certainly didn't "miss out" on any "benefits" by being unaware of the case over its' nearly four year life span. Any and all "benefits" in the settlement are (and will remain) both temporary and worthless...

Last edited by ken1193 on Apr 22, 2010 05:11 PM

We have complained to RCI telephone representatives and also to the CEO directly about the inability to exchange any of our time - Gold Crown and regular weeks but this result in nought. It should be noted however that RCI has numerous listings for rent. We have been with RCI since 1982 and it is a scandal what is happening now. How do we get results and who do we turn to for help.

Susan B.

susanb872 wrote:
How do we get results and who do we turn to for help.

The simple, straightforward (although unpleasant) fact is that RCI is now, openly and quite deliberately, every bit as much a direct rental company as an exchange company. RCI did not really lose much (if any) of this rental ability in (or as a result of) the four years long court case filed against them in 2006 for renting out good deposits (Murillo vs. RCI). RCI will continue to rent out the best deposits and, after about a year from now, RCI will likely even drastically INCREASE doing so.

In short, the battle is over. RCI members interested in regaining those good exchanges of "yesteryear" have officially LOST the war. In my opinion, there is literally NOTHING you can do about it now except to vote with your feet and refuse to remain a RCI member or deposit with RCI. Use another exchange company instead. If you stay with RCI, you will henceforth only be offered the "dregs" for exchanges, while RCI keeps and rents out the best deposited weeks --- for top dollar.

The exchange game has changed with RCI --- and NOT for the better.

Last edited by ken1193 on May 20, 2010 01:56 PM

I agree with Dave. I have been a member for what turns out to be an eternity and I am very much affect by the fact that we are no longer able to exchange our weeks. I just received a call from RCI informing me of an opportunity to buy an RCI week and get a second week free. The weeks costs about $1,699 and change. How do we join forces to get results. By the way, I did not hear about the lawsuit until today.

Susan B.