Complaint Review: Point To Point Destinations (PTP Destinations) West Coast Timeshare - Vancouver British Columbia

Do you know that by law you have a 7-day cooling-off period in BC? Within 7 days you may cancel your contract with no explanation required, providing you have proof that you notified the company of your decision within 7 days.

If you are thinking of buying timeshare from any company do your research first. The Internet is a great resource read what people are saying about this company and the timeshare industry in general. Use Google to search for what other people have to say! You owe it to yourself. You do not have to learn by your own mistakes that could cost you tens of thousands of dollars.

Never rely on what you are told on the presentation. Their contract says that they did not make any representation and that you never relied on it. If so, there is no point to even listen to or trust a single word of a presentation.

Below are just a few facts that you should consider. This is a compilation of what you will find on the internet.

Timeshare is a bad investment. Even the company itself says in the contract that it should not be purchased as an investment. It does not save you money either. If you invest the same amount as what you would pay initially plus all sorts of yearly fees, you will make much more money than what you can possibly spend on a vacation allowed with your timeshare package.

Timeshare has extremely limited liquidity. If you try to sell your timeshare you will be lucky if you can recover a tiny portion of what you paid for it if you can sell it at all. Check how low timeshare offers sell on eBay for example and how long they stay there unsold. You can even find people who want to get rid of their timeshare for free or donate them. It is not very easy to even donate your timeshare for free. So think about it when you plan to buy it if you ever decide to sell it, you are guaranteed to loose most of what you paid for it. It never appreciates, it only depreciates.

Many people claim that the same vacations, cruises or staying in the same hotels are cheaper to buy for cash than how much your RCI points cost you after paying for initial investment plus yearly maintenance and numerous other fees.

Maintenance fees go up every year much faster than commonly accepted inflation level does and much faster than your salary does. So your timeshare becomes more expensive every year even if you make a correction for inflation.

Did you know that you cannot accumulate more than one last year of your points? Anything that is not used for more than a year is simply taken away and lost forever. Your maintenance fees for those unused years are not refundable though.

Did you know that you cannot book RCI vacations any earlier than typically 10 or 11 month in advance? You have approximately 1 month window which is almost a year ahead and you cannot book through RCI either earlier or later than that?

Did you know that even if you manage to plan within timeframe allowed for booking, you may find out that it is not available for RCI points while rooms are available for cash in the same hotels?

Be sure that you know about all the fees. Some of them are: Maintenance Fee, Transaction Fee, RCI Membership Fee, Cancellation Fee, Transfer Fee (if you want anyone else other than yourself to use your points), Moving points to another year Fee, hotel fees may be charged on top of maintenance fees, Housekeeping Fees, Administration Fees and more.

Did you know that under the contract you have a liability to pay special assessments too? For example, if one of their resort buildings appears to be a leaky building or needs a new roof or in a need of a major repair, this cost will be passed to you in a form of a special assessment. And if you fail to pay that special assessment, you will simply loose your membership along with the initial investment that you've made.

Using your RCI points to rent cars, pay for cruises, pay for airline tickets, use for entertainment and so on can pay for much less than the amount of your yearly maintenance fee alone. It is cheaper to buy any of that for cash.

Did you know that when you are late paying your maintenance fees the company threatens you with a $20 late charge and collection fees of 25% of the past due amount?

Do you fully understand what you sign when it says that they have first right of refusal? You cannot even sell your package without company's approval and the company gives no commitment to the time frame of such approval. You can only hope that you still have a buyer by the time you are allowed to sell it to that buyer.

Did you know that deed and title is? Be sure you understand that your name is not going to be put on a title of any particular property. You are buying shares / membership / points and it all can be simply taken away if you miss a maintenance fee payment.

Check the company's asset value. You may believe what you are told about their position in the PROFIT 100 guide. Although when you read their audited financial statements it appears that the price per share (or per point) that they sell is many times higher than the value of their assets per share.

Do you know how much of your money goes to sales people and how much actually goes towards the company's assets?

Do you know that by law you have a 7-day cooling-off period? Within 7 days you may cancel your contract, with no explanation required providing you have proof that you notified the company of your decision within 7 days.

Concerned citizen

Toronto, Ontario

Canada