RCI and AM Resorts (Unlimited Vacation Club)

[mat4]

let me clarify something major before the other threaders spook you with their "expertise"....

i own a hilton 1bd red time in hawaii for 12 years and i also own the silver membership with Amresorts vacation club, so i know both timeshare and vacation club.
the silver membership has a trading power of 15 TPU per week and i insist per week, indeed you can release as many weeks as you want at the same time, the first one 449us and all the others 199us each. As an example, 60 is the highest TPU requested in the industry (hawaii christmas time 2bd), i have 15 base with one week so i release 4 weeks (50 weeks is my allotment) to reach 60 TPUs for a total cost of 1046usd for my reservation.

the pure maintenance fee of any timeshare giving that type of TP would be wayyyyy higher than the 1046us previously mentionned, AMresorts is also no maintenance, no time commitment, no home resort, none of the obligations involved in timeshare.......... the silver membership cost me 15000usd, 30 years unlimited right to use all the properties of AM with 25 % off plus upgrade to preferred club, 50 rci weeks, 2 free weeks all inclusive as incentives, simply much more value than my hilton timeshare, not even comparable....

[tonyg]

A brand new expert to promote AM resorts from the Dominican Republic---sounds like someone on the watch list.

[SallyHoover]

Probably shill but maybe not... there are people who like AI resorts in places like Mexico and Dominican Republic. If someone already bought into the membership and it is too late to rescind definitely learn the system and work it to its advantage. Mat4 seems to understand how to work it pretty well. If you haven't bought or bought but can rescind and really like the resorts and AI in general your best bet may be to find an owner and rent or get referrals. If you haven't bought yet but like the whole idea of the RCI exchange thing with a little research and patience you can get the same kind of MF's/tpu ratio as above or better for $1000 or less upfront and similar or better ongoing cost.

[jrowland]

Well, we got duped as well. Just got back from Mexico and stayed at Secrets Maroma. They pitched some amazing stuff to us and we bit. I got my hands on the contract and they lied right to our faces about so many things. I've had to file complaints with the Federal Trade Commission, BBB, left negative reviews on every website I can. They didn't want to cancel, then said they MIGHT for 50%, then laughed, yes LAUGHED at me on the phone when I brought up Article 56 of the Mexican Consumer Act. The holding company is out of DR and they said that I could do whatever I wanted, DR laws rule the contract. Don't fall for this scam like the rest of us. I'll fight them tooth and nail, but it's gonna suck!

[tonyg]

Best bet is to contact the Mexican consumer protection agency. It's called PROFECA.
If you bought in Mexico-it's under Mexican laws.

[81sparkle]

For anyone out there that did get some money back from this company, could you please tell me what steps you followed to do so. I would appreciate any help you might be able to send my way. This has been a nightmare experience. The only (and I repeat ONLY) ray of hope is that my husband and I were not the only ones that experienced this horrible company and someone might be able to advise us on what to do. The people of UVC lie and go around in circles when you contact them.

[Carolinian]

Most vacation clubs are bad deals. If you want to get into timesharing, buy a fixed week at a resort that trades well. Also it is better to buy at a member-controlled resort than a developer-controlled resort, so you know that management decisions will be on a member-friendly basis.

eBay is the bargain basement of timesharing, as far as a cheap place to buy. You may also find some decent weeks posted as freebies on this site.

[blackdot54]

To anyone thinking about joining Unlimited Vacations Club with RCI, IT IS A SCAM! DO NOT DO IT.

My wife and I were invited for a breakfast where they immediately started offering us booze and Champaign before they sat us down to start the cult like brainwashing about how they are offering the greatest and unbelievable vacation club out there. I am a very skeptical person and therefore asked all the questions most people would ask, what’s the catch? What are the blackout dates? What restrictions? And to that they told me only what I wanted to hear but at the end of the day, it was all a bunch of lies. To make things worse, they’re serving you alcohol the entire time you’re doing the paperwork, and then they ask you to sign a piece of paper stating that you are not under the influence of alcohol. To anyone thinking about signing up, take this as your moment to get out of it. You’re not thinking clearly. They should be shut down for being allowed to provide such contracts in the presence of alcohol.

Now as we try and make use of this membership which we have paid many thousands for, we’re bounced around by their call staff, they have lousy hours so we can’t get hold of them and they come back with outrageous pricing which is not at all what was promised to us during our original meeting. They also asked us what we typically pay for a vacation and we can’t price anything even with the club discount to come anywhere close. Not worth it.

Again I say, it is a SCAM through and through. We are currently trying to get our money back but it is a colossal pain in the ass. To anyone that has been successful, please send me a PM and let me know what you did.

[chanou74]

We did end up getting a refund after months of emails, phone calls and documentation. I began posting our experience as well, this may have helped. Post your experience on all of the travel sites, you will probably get a better response. I am a lawyer and my husband is a doctor. We are experienced travelers and we still got duped! They made it sound like a perfect club and said everything we wanted to hear. The very first time we used the membership, it was the worst vacation we ever had. We had invited two other families as well and they experienced the "benefits" of UVC. Let's just say they will NEVER join. We were lied to on the phone about what upgrade we would get if we booked a certain room. When we arrived the room was available nd the resort would not give it to us. We were even mocked at and lied to from the by the front desk staff and management. We called the Miami office and they said the room was available, that was the upgrade our membership entitled us to and they had no clue why the resort would not honor the upgrade. BUT, UVC could not make them do it! What? Yes we were confused. UVC was selling the memberships but could not honor the membership if the resort chose not to! We dealt with this for 3 days of our vacation before we gave up. We were DOWNGRADED and told it was an upgrade. Yes, we were moved into a less expensive room. Actually, we were moved twice. We never received the upgrade. We gave up so our kids and the other families would not be affected by the negativity that was occurring. I posted our experience and all of the lies we were told on several websites. We did end up getting a refund after several months. I know my husband called multiple times and I had emails to different people I was told to contact. It seems like we were both always given different names every time we emailed or called. Just stick with it and keep trying to get your money back. You can get better rates most of the time on bookedit.com and cheapcarribean.com for the same resorts. Although they say they will beat those rates they don't because you loose the package benefit of getting the better airfare rates from bookedit, etc. UVC doesn't offer that so at the end of the day, most of the time, it is either a wash or you might pay more with UVC, not to mention the loss of your membership fee, which, depending on how well they sold you on the perks, could be $10,000 to $20,000 for the basic membership. Good luck!

Hello,

I became a member in April 2012 while being on vacation in Republic Dominican. I am leaving in France and faced bad surprise when looking at UVC / RCI package offering no benefit especially from Europe departure.
I would like to get money back which seems hard to achieve or to sell package with discount.
Could you or somebody else with similar experience provide me with guidance ? Any help would be highly appreciated ... Merci !

[Hilgy]

Don't do it.... We joined in dec. and have nothing but problems.... Just returned from Now Sapphire it was the worst vacation of our lives. The staff was so rude and the management was even worse. We joined the club in Dec. and have had nothing but problems and people lying to us ever since. We were called nasty names by staff and complained to different managers and were told there is nothing they can do about what their employees say. We were told we would get an upgraded room when we book they put us in a room with two small beds... The worst customer service.... I called corporate the second day and still haven't heard from them. Now 8 days ago...