Complaint Review: Fairfield / Wyndham Resorts - Orlando Florida

I do have some complaints regarding Fairfield...but the only time my family has ever had any trouble booking exactly where we wanted to go is in the first year when we did not have that full 10 to 13 month window to book...and even then we did get booked...just not exactly where we wanted to go. We have been to Orlando, Destin numerous times, Daytona, Branson, Gatlinburg, Nashville, Fairfield Glade, last year we pooled some points the previous year and booked TWO 3 Bedroom Cottages in Myrtle Beach and took 20 family members total on Vacation...this year we are going to Edisto Beach in South Carolina.....No problems booking any of these. Let me stress...that we do NOT AT all work for Fairfield/Wyndham or have any family or friends who work with Fairfield/Wyndham...we first bought in Orlando...then transferred our points to Fairfield Glade...because the points were cheaper per point and the Maintance fees were cheaper. The sales people DO and WILL lie to you and exaggerate and tell you whatever it takes to get your sale...but if you do your research and know your stuff and read the fine print BEFORE signing...you can make it work without getting scammed. We have heard a number of different tales!! And had one salesman cut us down and pretty much tell us we were stupid for transferring our ownership from Orlando to Glade...but we have never had any problems. We were first offered points at Destin...before we bought into it...the points there were extemely more in a cost per point basis then what we have now. And maintance fees were much higher...never let them tell you that the points or maintance fees cost the same in all resorts...they don't! But as far as booking...we have never had a problem...although like Mike...we book 10 months in advance....exactly 10 months from the first day of the day we want to leave. Never had a problem.

I do have some complaints regarding Fairfield...but the only time my family has ever had any trouble booking exactly where we wanted to go is in the first year when we did not have that full 10 to 13 month window to book...and even then we did get booked...just not exactly where we wanted to go. We have been to Orlando, Destin numerous times, Daytona, Branson, Gatlinburg, Nashville, Fairfield Glade, last year we pooled some points the previous year and booked TWO 3 Bedroom Cottages in Myrtle Beach and took 20 family members total on Vacation...this year we are going to Edisto Beach in South Carolina.....No problems booking any of these. Let me stress...that we do NOT AT all work for Fairfield/Wyndham or have any family or friends who work with Fairfield/Wyndham...we first bought in Orlando...then transferred our points to Fairfield Glade...because the points were cheaper per point and the Maintance fees were cheaper. The sales people DO and WILL lie to you and exaggerate and tell you whatever it takes to get your sale...but if you do your research and know your stuff and read the fine print BEFORE signing...you can make it work without getting scammed. We have heard a number of different tales!! And had one salesman cut us down and pretty much tell us we were stupid for transferring our ownership from Orlando to Glade...but we have never had any problems. We were first offered points at Destin...before we bought into it...the points there were extemely more in a cost per point basis then what we have now. And maintance fees were much higher...never let them tell you that the points or maintance fees cost the same in all resorts...they don't! But as far as booking...we have never had a problem...although like Mike...we book 10 months in advance....exactly 10 months from the first day of the day we want to leave. Never had a problem.

I do have some complaints regarding Fairfield...but the only time my family has ever had any trouble booking exactly where we wanted to go is in the first year when we did not have that full 10 to 13 month window to book...and even then we did get booked...just not exactly where we wanted to go. We have been to Orlando, Destin numerous times, Daytona, Branson, Gatlinburg, Nashville, Fairfield Glade, last year we pooled some points the previous year and booked TWO 3 Bedroom Cottages in Myrtle Beach and took 20 family members total on Vacation...this year we are going to Edisto Beach in South Carolina.....No problems booking any of these. Let me stress...that we do NOT AT all work for Fairfield/Wyndham or have any family or friends who work with Fairfield/Wyndham...we first bought in Orlando...then transferred our points to Fairfield Glade...because the points were cheaper per point and the Maintance fees were cheaper. The sales people DO and WILL lie to you and exaggerate and tell you whatever it takes to get your sale...but if you do your research and know your stuff and read the fine print BEFORE signing...you can make it work without getting scammed. We have heard a number of different tales!! And had one salesman cut us down and pretty much tell us we were stupid for transferring our ownership from Orlando to Glade...but we have never had any problems. We were first offered points at Destin...before we bought into it...the points there were extemely more in a cost per point basis then what we have now. And maintance fees were much higher...never let them tell you that the points or maintance fees cost the same in all resorts...they don't! But as far as booking...we have never had a problem...although like Mike...we book 10 months in advance....exactly 10 months from the first day of the day we want to leave. Never had a problem.

First, I do not work for Fairfield, and never have. Neither does my fiance. Secondly, I see your point about RCI. I tried it one time because I waited too long to book a resort in DC during Cherry Blossom Time, I should have known better, but RCI didn't have anything. Third, was Hawaii the only offer you were made at the time of purchase? We were given three places at the time, and Atlantic City happened to be the closest, but we get advance priority on Alexandria, VA as well. This is in writing. Timeshares (in Fairfield's case) have nothing to do with how often you will go to a particular place. We have been to Atlantic City one time, Orlando once, and Hawaii next month will make our 3rd resort. There are "dead" times of year at most resorts in their network. You should get a magazine every 3 months that has a chart showing this. Atlantic City's happens to be Jan through early March. They usually run discount points in that time as well.

Hello mike ...i'm not gonna get in a contest with you over this but i did leave a lot of details out of my complaint on this website for the sake of brevity. one such detail is I haved tried to book time months in advance,from 13 months out to 2 months out and from june thru nov, in a effort to acquire time at various FF resorts in several states. All to no avail. I couldn't even swap my pts for hotel time , the 2x's I tried to do that.I posted on this site to alert others of the timeshare trap more than expecting any relief from my dispute with FF. I bought there because I had intended on repeated vacation to the Hawaiian isles. You're missing the whole point here. How difficult is it to "plan" a vacation ?? You pick a resort and then you pick a time frame to go there and then you make a request for time at that resort.This isn't rocket science. The repeated denial of usage by FF is unjustified and inexcusable. For all anyone knows , you are a employee of Fairfield and are trying to do damage control..so I consider your rebuttal worthless,in fact , your rebuttal sounds eerily similiar to FF's response. As far as using RCI , why would any owner pay RCI another fee for time usage when that owner is already paying FF thousands of $$$$ for time usage ata FF resort? that would be a double fee and increase a owners cost. Also, it's well known that the Orlando area is overbuilt and overstocked on timeshares, and has been for yrs. and that area is probably the easiest place on earth to acquire time at, which would xplain why you were able to book only 3 months out. I bought my timeshare to allow me to go WHERE I want to go and WHEN I want to go and not where and when FF wants. I"ll be damned if i'll book time in outer mongolia just to avail myself usage each year. End of story.

My fiance and I have been owners w/Fairfield (now Wyndham) since the middle of 2005 and we haven't had any issues booking a resort. We live in the Washington, DC area and our home resort is in Atlantic City, which is driveable. Also, we can book Alexandria sooner than most owners because we live so close to it. Why would your home resort be in Hawaii if you live in NY? We are going to Hawaii in April and we booked it last June, the earliest we could (10 month window). We went to Orlando last summer and booked that one 3 months out, no problem. The way I see it, Wyndham allows you to book time far enough out. If you have to cancel, and it is outside of 30 days of your arrival date, you can still get your points back. Also, you can use RCI for resorts (granted, you can't get 3 or 4 bedroom places) for a small fee. RCI has resorts all over the place. I am sorry, people that complain about never using their purchase do not plan, it is as simple as that. Mike Arlington, VA

My fiance and I have been owners w/Fairfield (now Wyndham) since the middle of 2005 and we haven't had any issues booking a resort. We live in the Washington, DC area and our home resort is in Atlantic City, which is driveable. Also, we can book Alexandria sooner than most owners because we live so close to it. Why would your home resort be in Hawaii if you live in NY? We are going to Hawaii in April and we booked it last June, the earliest we could (10 month window). We went to Orlando last summer and booked that one 3 months out, no problem. The way I see it, Wyndham allows you to book time far enough out. If you have to cancel, and it is outside of 30 days of your arrival date, you can still get your points back. Also, you can use RCI for resorts (granted, you can't get 3 or 4 bedroom places) for a small fee. RCI has resorts all over the place. I am sorry, people that complain about never using their purchase do not plan, it is as simple as that. Mike Arlington, VA

My fiance and I have been owners w/Fairfield (now Wyndham) since the middle of 2005 and we haven't had any issues booking a resort. We live in the Washington, DC area and our home resort is in Atlantic City, which is driveable. Also, we can book Alexandria sooner than most owners because we live so close to it. Why would your home resort be in Hawaii if you live in NY? We are going to Hawaii in April and we booked it last June, the earliest we could (10 month window). We went to Orlando last summer and booked that one 3 months out, no problem. The way I see it, Wyndham allows you to book time far enough out. If you have to cancel, and it is outside of 30 days of your arrival date, you can still get your points back. Also, you can use RCI for resorts (granted, you can't get 3 or 4 bedroom places) for a small fee. RCI has resorts all over the place. I am sorry, people that complain about never using their purchase do not plan, it is as simple as that. Mike Arlington, VA

My fiance and I have been owners w/Fairfield (now Wyndham) since the middle of 2005 and we haven't had any issues booking a resort. We live in the Washington, DC area and our home resort is in Atlantic City, which is driveable. Also, we can book Alexandria sooner than most owners because we live so close to it. Why would your home resort be in Hawaii if you live in NY? We are going to Hawaii in April and we booked it last June, the earliest we could (10 month window). We went to Orlando last summer and booked that one 3 months out, no problem. The way I see it, Wyndham allows you to book time far enough out. If you have to cancel, and it is outside of 30 days of your arrival date, you can still get your points back. Also, you can use RCI for resorts (granted, you can't get 3 or 4 bedroom places) for a small fee. RCI has resorts all over the place. I am sorry, people that complain about never using their purchase do not plan, it is as simple as that. Mike Arlington, VA

update...finally got a response from a FF rep..Susan Young /Senior Consumer Affairs Specialist..as expected ..she has , on behalf of the company mgt..denied any wrongdoing or willful misrepresentation by the company. Basically , the answer was ...1st come/1st served ..and if you don't get usage ,,it's the owners fault and FF is under no legal obligation to afford it's owners usage in any year or years , as the case maybe. FF has worded the contracts so as to absolve themselves of any legal, moral, ethical respondsibility to owners of ever providing any usage of time on a fair and reasonable basis. In my opinion, this is due to lack of any governing laws from federal/State/Local authorities. By the time owners read and then understand their contracts ...the 3 or 5 day "grace period " to accept or reject the contract is over and they are stuck with it. When timeshare co.'s like FF sell XXX,XXX 's of shares and only have X,XXX of units available to rent out ...the math doesn't work out... some body is going to get denied usage like I have been denied each year for the last 3 1/2 yrs. DO NOT DO BUSINESS with Fairfield/Wyndham Resorts, is my advice based on my experiences so far with this company. And NEVER, NEVER ,NEVER buy a timeshare at list price. Resellers sites have tons of them for resale at up to 70 % off list price. There is currently rumors that theres a law firm in Arkansas, that will accept participants in a possible class action lawsuit if they get enough people together to proceed with it, on various grounds of misconduct by FF...I have heard that the Koch law firm of little rock , arkansas is this firm. check out thesqueakywheel.com web site for further complaints against Fairfield/ Wyndham resorts. After 1 year from this date this email addy will be removed from the 'net. If anyone knows of a good law firm with experience and a winning record in lawsuits against timeshare co.'s ...i would like to hear from you.

my original report was NOT for Orlando but the whole system. Prospective buyers usually do not do any homework about timeshares. Ask to see the Members directory(they prolly won't show it to you) see if the points package your buying will take you to the places you want to go, when you want to go. be aware that a 154,000 pt package was $12,000 in 2003 , when i bought and it'll cost you approx. $21- 23,000 'cause of interest to pay off! You can basically double the plan cost for final overall price. also, maintenance fees are always going up with no verifiable explanation for it., you just get the bill. Ask them if the plan your buying will give you a full 7 day week anywheres and everywheres. Some plans wont!!! MY 154,000 pt plan was only good for 2.5 days at my "home" resort on Hawaii. Not much good since in live in NY. If you do buy a plan ..You have 3 calendar days ((at least in Hawaii) to cancel it out ..READ THE CONTRACT AND EVERYTHING, IN THOSE 3 DAYS! DON'T BUY ON A WEEKEND OR LATE IN THE WEEK. compare your pts. plan with the amount of pts it takes to go where you want to go. IE: 154,000 pt plan is only good fer certain wks @ certain resorts ..like week 1 -2 or week 51 @ a resort..not much good if you want to go in another time frame. How many bedrooms do you need? 154,000 pt plan is only good for a 1 br unit. Bring a digital /tape recorder with you and record everything they say( u'll prolly get kicked out !)they'll pressure you to buy then and there with a charge card ..my advice ..don't do it !! think , think, think, and then think again. Do your homework ...think up questions to ask b4 you go. also ,unless you like to plan vacations literally yrs in advance ..plan on getting screwed out of time and usage if you buy a plan. they'll tell you, you can swap pts for hotels ,cruises, etc ...has never worked for me !!! Also you can only use pts from the next yr and combine with this year pts to use.......this means you won't have enuf pts to use next year unless you continue to "borrow" pts from successive yrs. You can't "bank" unused pts from year to year. Caveat Emptor!! "Let the buyer beware" is very true when buying atimeshare , esp from Fairfield /Wyndham Resorts. Scour the internet for similiar reports..learn from them.

my original report was NOT for Orlando but the whole system. Prospective buyers usually do not do any homework about timeshares. Ask to see the Members directory(they prolly won't show it to you) see if the points package your buying will take you to the places you want to go, when you want to go. be aware that a 154,000 pt package was $12,000 in 2003 , when i bought and it'll cost you approx. $21- 23,000 'cause of interest to pay off! You can basically double the plan cost for final overall price. also, maintenance fees are always going up with no verifiable explanation for it., you just get the bill. Ask them if the plan your buying will give you a full 7 day week anywheres and everywheres. Some plans wont!!! MY 154,000 pt plan was only good for 2.5 days at my "home" resort on Hawaii. Not much good since in live in NY. If you do buy a plan ..You have 3 calendar days ((at least in Hawaii) to cancel it out ..READ THE CONTRACT AND EVERYTHING, IN THOSE 3 DAYS! DON'T BUY ON A WEEKEND OR LATE IN THE WEEK. compare your pts. plan with the amount of pts it takes to go where you want to go. IE: 154,000 pt plan is only good fer certain wks @ certain resorts ..like week 1 -2 or week 51 @ a resort..not much good if you want to go in another time frame. How many bedrooms do you need? 154,000 pt plan is only good for a 1 br unit. Bring a digital /tape recorder with you and record everything they say( u'll prolly get kicked out !)they'll pressure you to buy then and there with a charge card ..my advice ..don't do it !! think , think, think, and then think again. Do your homework ...think up questions to ask b4 you go. also ,unless you like to plan vacations literally yrs in advance ..plan on getting screwed out of time and usage if you buy a plan. they'll tell you, you can swap pts for hotels ,cruises, etc ...has never worked for me !!! Also you can only use pts from the next yr and combine with this year pts to use.......this means you won't have enuf pts to use next year unless you continue to "borrow" pts from successive yrs. You can't "bank" unused pts from year to year. Caveat Emptor!! "Let the buyer beware" is very true when buying atimeshare , esp from Fairfield /Wyndham Resorts. Scour the internet for similiar reports..learn from them.

my original report was NOT for Orlando but the whole system. Prospective buyers usually do not do any homework about timeshares. Ask to see the Members directory(they prolly won't show it to you) see if the points package your buying will take you to the places you want to go, when you want to go. be aware that a 154,000 pt package was $12,000 in 2003 , when i bought and it'll cost you approx. $21- 23,000 'cause of interest to pay off! You can basically double the plan cost for final overall price. also, maintenance fees are always going up with no verifiable explanation for it., you just get the bill. Ask them if the plan your buying will give you a full 7 day week anywheres and everywheres. Some plans wont!!! MY 154,000 pt plan was only good for 2.5 days at my "home" resort on Hawaii. Not much good since in live in NY. If you do buy a plan ..You have 3 calendar days ((at least in Hawaii) to cancel it out ..READ THE CONTRACT AND EVERYTHING, IN THOSE 3 DAYS! DON'T BUY ON A WEEKEND OR LATE IN THE WEEK. compare your pts. plan with the amount of pts it takes to go where you want to go. IE: 154,000 pt plan is only good fer certain wks @ certain resorts ..like week 1 -2 or week 51 @ a resort..not much good if you want to go in another time frame. How many bedrooms do you need? 154,000 pt plan is only good for a 1 br unit. Bring a digital /tape recorder with you and record everything they say( u'll prolly get kicked out !)they'll pressure you to buy then and there with a charge card ..my advice ..don't do it !! think , think, think, and then think again. Do your homework ...think up questions to ask b4 you go. also ,unless you like to plan vacations literally yrs in advance ..plan on getting screwed out of time and usage if you buy a plan. they'll tell you, you can swap pts for hotels ,cruises, etc ...has never worked for me !!! Also you can only use pts from the next yr and combine with this year pts to use.......this means you won't have enuf pts to use next year unless you continue to "borrow" pts from successive yrs. You can't "bank" unused pts from year to year. Caveat Emptor!! "Let the buyer beware" is very true when buying atimeshare , esp from Fairfield /Wyndham Resorts. Scour the internet for similiar reports..learn from them.

my original report was NOT for Orlando but the whole system. Prospective buyers usually do not do any homework about timeshares. Ask to see the Members directory(they prolly won't show it to you) see if the points package your buying will take you to the places you want to go, when you want to go. be aware that a 154,000 pt package was $12,000 in 2003 , when i bought and it'll cost you approx. $21- 23,000 'cause of interest to pay off! You can basically double the plan cost for final overall price. also, maintenance fees are always going up with no verifiable explanation for it., you just get the bill. Ask them if the plan your buying will give you a full 7 day week anywheres and everywheres. Some plans wont!!! MY 154,000 pt plan was only good for 2.5 days at my "home" resort on Hawaii. Not much good since in live in NY. If you do buy a plan ..You have 3 calendar days ((at least in Hawaii) to cancel it out ..READ THE CONTRACT AND EVERYTHING, IN THOSE 3 DAYS! DON'T BUY ON A WEEKEND OR LATE IN THE WEEK. compare your pts. plan with the amount of pts it takes to go where you want to go. IE: 154,000 pt plan is only good fer certain wks @ certain resorts ..like week 1 -2 or week 51 @ a resort..not much good if you want to go in another time frame. How many bedrooms do you need? 154,000 pt plan is only good for a 1 br unit. Bring a digital /tape recorder with you and record everything they say( u'll prolly get kicked out !)they'll pressure you to buy then and there with a charge card ..my advice ..don't do it !! think , think, think, and then think again. Do your homework ...think up questions to ask b4 you go. also ,unless you like to plan vacations literally yrs in advance ..plan on getting screwed out of time and usage if you buy a plan. they'll tell you, you can swap pts for hotels ,cruises, etc ...has never worked for me !!! Also you can only use pts from the next yr and combine with this year pts to use.......this means you won't have enuf pts to use next year unless you continue to "borrow" pts from successive yrs. You can't "bank" unused pts from year to year. Caveat Emptor!! "Let the buyer beware" is very true when buying atimeshare , esp from Fairfield /Wyndham Resorts. Scour the internet for similiar reports..learn from them.