Wyndham's new "Ovation" program offers exit solutions for their owners... interested?

I Have been an owner with Worldmark for 20 years and had accumulated 22,000 points which were fully paid for. Last July I decided to add an additional 13,000 points to get to diamond level. The payment was a little bit of a stretch, but was something I thought I could handle. I was very excited to add the points necessary to get me to diamond. Then, in October, I was staying at WorldMark Las Vegas strip and attended an owner update. I explained that I had just upgraded and wasn’t interested in upgrading anymore. The manager there named Mana looked at my paperwork and said that she could get me a better interest-rate. She then told me that she had to redo all of the paperwork so they had an updated file. She had me re-sign all of the original paperwork that I had filled out in July, including a credit application through Wyndham rewards. I questioned every single piece of paper and told her I had already done these and she continued to say we have to have a complete file so you’ll just have to do this again. I believed her; that was my first mistake. It turned out I was a victim of bait and switch. While Mana led me to believe that she was just updating the paperwork To get me a better interest-rate on the 13,000 points I had added in July, she had actually added an additional 12,000 points and a $6000 vacation club membership, neither of which I knowingly authorized. My second mistake was taking the paperwork back to my room and setting it on the counter and continuing my vacation without looking at it. By the time I pulled it out and realized what it was, I was a one day past the five day recidivism period. I immediately filed a complaint with the customer care team at Wyndham and they spoke with Mana who, not surprisingly, told them that I knew exactly what I was signing and had authorized everything. It’s completely ludicrous to believe that I knowingly upgraded my account twice in just a few months. Considering I had just upgraded my account by 13,000, what reason would I have to add an additional 12,000 so quickly? It’s not like the 12,000 got me to a different level, it would still be diamond. Regardless, Wyndham rather rudely told me there was nothing they could do. In fact the woman that I spoke with in customer care said “I guess you’ll pay closer attention to what you sign from now on, won’t you.“ Since then I have been in a financial nightmare and I am on the brink of having to declare bankruptcy and lose all of the timeshare including the 22,000 points that I have owned for two decades. I am very interested in any program that might help me to get out of this mess without having to declare bankruptcy.

RE: Laura Beck-Ard wrote, in part: "I Have been an owner with Worldmark for 20 years and had accumulated 22,000 points which were fully paid for. Last July I decided to add an additional 13,000 points to get to diamond level. The payment was a little bit of a stretch, but was something I thought I could handle. I was very excited to add the points necessary to get me to diamond. Then, in October, I was staying at WorldMark Las Vegas strip and attended an owner update."

Is everybody listening? DON'T GO TO OWNER UPDATES FOR A PAIR OF TICKETS AND A FREE MEAL! EVER!

How do I get in on this lawsuit. I was lied to and misled. I now own timeshare that is bankrupting me.

The only way to believe the 1% claim is to see the 1% that are excluded. I am from Canada and Ovation does not cover Carriage Hills. Used their preferred Exit agency Fidelity and was told they don’t remember the last time they have ever sold Carriage Hills as it’s old and no one wants it. That I should post it on a website and add a $400 gift card. So I did...added a $2200 gift card and no interest! There is no sales office at the location. There are hundreds of owners desperate to get out with no options. Wyndham offers rooms through various websites [hotels.ca and booking.com] for less than timeshare owners maintenance fee’s] further degrading the value of the property and making selling your timeshare impossible.

laurab908 wrote:

I was lied to and misled. I now own timeshare that is bankrupting me.

Just a suggestion: See if there's an agency in your State's governmental system -- in the State where you live -- that deals with consumer complaints or consumer fraud or problems with real estate transactions. Then look at your deed(s) or Wyndham documents and know for certain the State(s) in which your Wyndham points are anchored. Then contact the consumer complaint/fraud agency/agencies in that/those state/states. This may lead you down a rathole to nowhere, but -- hey -- you signed binding contracts and Wyndham won't just throw in the towel. You'll need to spend time -- maybe lots of it -- on this unfortunate situation.

liza162 wrote:

I am from Canada and Ovation does not cover Carriage Hills. ... Wyndham offers rooms through various websites [hotels.ca and booking.com] for less than timeshare owners maintenance fee’s] further degrading the value of the property and making selling your timeshare impossible.

Is this the Timeshare you're talking about? https://www.shellvacationsclub.com/club/resorts/carriage_hills/index.page

Is Shell now part of Wyndham?

Is there a regulatory agency in your Province where you (and other owners) can lodge a complaint or look for help?

Thank you for this note! I appreciate it. Shell was purchased via Wyndham years ago. Carriage Hills with it. There is a Consumer Protection ACT but there has not yet been a timeshare class action suit win in Canada to change some of the archaic behaviours.

I was first introduced to timeshare programs 24 years ago. My good friends Purchased a timeshare in Hawaii and were very happy with it. They paid cash for it so they only have the maintenance fees. I went to Lake Tahoe with them and bought a timeshare. I was told we could use it any week of the year. I tried to make reservations the next day for the winter holidays and was told that was not part of my timeshare. We were able to cancel the contract. A few years later we found out there was a secondary market for timeshares. We were able to get a one bedroom 2 bath for one week any week of the year for free! On the Big Island of Hawaii at the lovely Wyndham Mauna Loa Village. They frequently upgraded us to a two bedroom three bath. No extra charge. We only had to pay maintenance fees. 10 years later, after many enjoyable vacations to Hawaii, I am ready to give it to someone else. No one in my family is interested in it. None of my friends are interested. I contacted one company who told me they might be able to sell it, there will be no fee for me, but the high maintenance fee is devaluing the timeshare. I would not make any money from it. but if I use Wyndham ovation program it would be like an instant sale. I called Wyndham and I’m going through their ovation department and giving it back to them. It was a simple quick phone call with the follow up email from them. Now I’m waiting for paperwork. They did say I would have to sign and notarize it and send it back. It’s a lengthy process but it will be done by the end of the year it was a simple quick phone call with the follow up email from them. Now I’m waiting for paperwork. They did say I would have to sign and notarize it and send it back. It’s a lengthy process but it will be done by the end of the year. We had to have paid our maintenance fees for this year which we had. We already deposited that week into RCI as we were not going to Hawaii this year. We owe nothing on it as it was free. Therefore we were accepted into the program. I am happy with my decision.

A word to the wise. You wrote you deposited your points in RCI. Fine, however, make sure you set up a reservation with those points before you close with Ovation or those points will be gone. I used Ovation to exit out of Wyndham and it worked very well.. I had 234,000 points in RCI & when I went to use them, puff, gone after I closed. Bad news, I lost them. Good news, no more Wyndham.

I had a “weeks” account not points. I made a reservation through Wyndham and then banked my week with RCI and will use it next year.

Good point on making sure to make your reservation and use it or bank with RCI.

jimh873 wrote:

A word to the wise. You wrote you deposited your points in RCI. Fine, however, make sure you set up a reservation with those points before you close with Ovation or those points will be gone. I used Ovation to exit out of Wyndham and it worked very well.. I had 234,000 points in RCI & when I went to use them, puff, gone after I closed. Bad news, I lost them. Good news, no more Wyndham.

I also had a lot of points in RCI and knew that I would lose them if I didn't make a reservation. There is nothing secret about that condition. It't part of the Ovation deal. Search as I might, there was nothing available that I wanted, which is of course one of the reasons I wanted out. So sayonara RCI. Wyndham ruined you when they took you over.

jimh873 wrote:

A word to the wise. You wrote you deposited your points in RCI. Fine, however, make sure you set up a reservation with those points before you close with Ovation or those points will be gone. I used Ovation to exit out of Wyndham and it worked very well.. I had 234,000 points in RCI & when I went to use them, puff, gone after I closed. Bad news, I lost them. Good news, no more Wyndham.

I agree, especially in Las Vegas, they are sharks out there. But sad to say, others have learned their tricks and can talk you into anything. It always sounds good. I am in the Ovation program and I will tell you that it is very limited. They keep taking away privileges, like guest certificates, but I just need to be satisfied that I can still go to some of the other resorts for two more years. I loved going to their resorts, it really spoiled us and we just have to not compare to hotel rooms. JUST REMEMBER, DON'T GO TO THE UPDATES UNLESS YOU HAVE A WILL OF STEEL AND STICK TO YOUR CONVICTIONS!!!!

I’m very interested in learning more about this URGENTLY as I have also begun talks to pursue exit through legal resources. Been a Worldmark member since 2001 and new life changes have set in requiring that I significantly reduce my debt. Thank you in advance for a prompt reply.

helenc238 wrote:

I’m very interested in learning more about this URGENTLY as I have also begun talks to pursue exit through legal resources. Been a Worldmark member since 2001 ....

Seems to me the FASTEST way would be to, first, call Wyndham to see whether your Worldmark timeshare is included in Ovation and, second, to sit and read this now-huge collection of fact and comment about the Wyndham Ovation program to become educated about it.

Call Wyndham at 1-855-312-9040.

Of course, if your Worldmark timeshare is not paid off there's not much you can do; you have to be paid off to participate in Ovation. Perhaps your legal resources could guide you through the process of just "walking away' from your timeshare and dealing with the consequences.

Helen C. wrote: I’m very interested in learning more about this URGENTLY as I have also begun talks to pursue exit through legal resources. Been a Worldmark member since 2001 and new life changes have set in requiring that I significantly reduce my debt. Thank you in advance for a prompt reply.

Not sure why you would wait for someone to reply here in this forum if you are interested in Ovation. Here's the Wyndham web page: https://www.myclubwyndham.com/mycw/happening/news/ovation-by-wyndham.page? Not too much there really, but it does have the phone number, +1-855-312-9040. Call it and find out if your unit will qualify for Ovation. There is absolutely NO SALES PRESSURE when you call. We made the call, explained that we wanted to use the deed-back option, and they told us that our unit qualified for Ovation. They opened a case and said that we would receive documents in the mail in a matter of days. We needed to sign them and have them notarized, then return them. Only 4 WEEKS after returning the documents, we received another letter stating that our contract cancellation had been completed. Less than 5 weeks start to finish and we were done. We did this process in May of this year (2019). Costs involved: About $10 for notary service and we had to have our 2019 maintenance fees paid in full even though we were exiting our timeshare in May/June. However, we still banked our week (fixed week timeshare). We then checked with RCI and they indicated that even without a current timeshare ownership, our banked week (and any previously banked weeks) would still remain available for us to use for exchanges. Our RCI account indicates that we still have our banked weeks available for exchange now. We got 15 years out of our timeshare but IMO, the constantly increasing maintenance fees have reduced the value of exchanges and we have found it harder to find new places that we can exchange to (that interest us) so that's why we decided to exit. We'll use up our banked weeks and call it even with Wyndham.

Hello... I'm also an Owner at Carriage Hills. Please consider joining our Carriage Hills private Facebook Group of owners. We are looking for other owners to collectively work together on sharing of information including exit stratgey discussions. I apologize in advanced if you are already a member, as I can not tell by the user name. The link will take you to the private page, simply request access and Cheryl who manages the page will grant you access. Look for EXIT topic. Thanks Natasha

https://www.facebook.com/groups/152117225452689/

Thx! I’m on the CH Facebook page. Amazing information/forum. Highly recommend for all owners.

The Carriage Hills Face Book site is an independently run group of Carriage Hills and Carriage Ridge owners who are wishing to come together to discuss subjects of mutual interest such as ownership, exchanging, promotion and the ultimate goal of many of our owners...transition/exit. Please be advised that everything posted here is an opinion and all comments should be verified for accuracy before action is taken. The Board of Directors have no input in this group and should be contacted directly for pressing questions. As we have no direct communication and many of us have found ourselves on a DNC list, any pertinent answers to questions you receive can be posted here for the benefit of all.

franw52 wrote:

This is an independently run group of Carriage Hills and Carriage Ridge owners who are wishing to come together to discuss subjects of mutual interest such as ownership, exchanging, promotion and the ultimate goal of many of our owners...transition/exit. .

Hmmm. I for one thought this was and still is a forum for Wyndham owners who want out: "Wyndham's new "Ovation" program offers exit solutions for their owners... interested?" Is Carriage Hill a Wyndham property? Does it qualify for Wyndham's Ovation "take-back" program?

Thx for asking Stu. Carriage Hills is a Wyndham property. I spoke with Erica an Ovation supervisor on June 18th who advised Carriage Hills is not in Ovation. She also advised to try Fidelity - and I let her know I spoke with Jacob Jones who said he doesn’t remember ever selling Carriage Hills and suggested I list on EBay with a $400 gift card and pay all the legal fees. At that point Erica suggested I gift it to family. Like my dad duped me. October 30th Carriage Hills Board Q&A Mr. Masry Wyndham Vice President of operations for Carriage Hills stated ‘If there was a sales opportunity Wyndham would be all over it. This message has gone all the way up to the CEO. Major contributors preventing Carriage Hills from rolling into a club membership is the bad debt being high, Ontario taxes not favorable and the products integrity’. I will point you to the article below on Wainfleet seniors. Statement from our our elected board President in regards to the Gains situation [in their 80’s, unable to travel, unable to pay, when they went arrears sent to collections and legal action taken, can’t sleep from the stress] ‘owners don’t pay their share those costs are passed on to other time-share owners. That’s unfair and require “strong and legal collections measures to resolve’. So that a few people can take vacation? In 2018 800 [10%] of shares are in arrears. There is $11MM in unpaid maintenance fees. Given the above many owners are calling for the sale of the property as the model is collapsing. For those that want it - deeds should be taken back. This is what is happening in Carriage Hills. https://www.niagarathisweek.com/news-story/9525038-wainfleet-seniors-feel-trapped-by-time-share-units/