point rental liquidators

boobier wrote:

Thanks donp196 & jayjay: The FTC is a GREAT way to bring this to a end, but it really needs for as many people to file as quick as possible to have it work. I will try to get as much info on this and try to get more info to help. It is time to focus on just the facts and good info so all of us can help each other. Lets all just worry about the facts that will bring these guys down. jayjay, do you know the address and date that the Florida AG and the FTC will be holding the press conference?

It was supposedly yesterday (June 6), going by an article that I read .... don't know the address but I'll do some research to find out more.

FTC to Announce Multinational Effort to Stop Travel and Timeshare Resale Scams

More Than 170 Actions Brought by FTC and its Law Enforcement Partners. The Federal Trade Commission will host a press conference in Miami, Florida, on Thursday, June 6, at 1 p.m. ET to announce a crackdown on deceptive travel and timeshare resale scams by the FTC and its federal, state, and international law enforcement partners.

Chuck Harwood, Acting Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, will be available to answer reporters’ questions, along with Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi; Wifredo A. Ferrer, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; and Jay Levenstein, Deputy Commissioner, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

WHO: Chuck Harwood, Acting Director, FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection

Pam Bondi, Florida Attorney General

Wifredo A. Ferrer, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida

Jay Levenstein, Deputy Commissioner, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services

WHERE: U.S. Attorney’s Office 99 NE 4th Street, 2nd Floor Media Room Miami, FL

Thanks jayjay. It's a very good thing that the FTC is getting onboard with this.

BJ has killed tons of my deals. I promise everyone that RCI points are the way to go, especially for people who alrdy own weeks. Just the fact that ur maint. fees will be dropped signifigantly with about 5x the availability. Yea, he lied and told people they cud rent there points out but the ones who buy into his lies are just plain greedy, how are u gonna buy a 10k package and sell them every year for 8k. Smh. And as far as sunset harbor goes I literally spent this last week there. Lake conroe is beautiful and the condos are excellent. My advice, don't b greedy and think about what a rep tells u and if it makes sense.

I don't believe RCI points are definitely the way to go. It might work out well for some, but not all. The dumpy condos at Sunset Harbor Resorts had maintenance fees almost double what my parents pay for a nice 2BR condo in New Orleans. If you think Sunset Harbor Resorts is nice, get on RCI.com and look at their rating and read the reviews and you will see that most other people do not think it's so nice. Here's some highlights from the reviews: "In our 14 years of timeshare travel to over 50 locations, this is the worst experience we have ever endured." and "My was this place terrible." and "Absolutely the dirtiest resort I have ever stayed at. I can't believe RCI even has this on this list." and "In 25 years plus of time sharing this is this worst place that we have ever stayed. RCI should be ashamed to even list this as a resort." These are reviews from 2012 & 2013. Like I posted before, 1 week at my parents' N.O. 2br condo rents for Trading Power of 31-38 and you can rent a week in a 2br unit at SHR for Trading Power of 7, just so you can compare. SHR has a customer rating of 1.9 stars out of 5, while the N.O. condo has a rating of 4.9/5. If you're still wondering, please call RCI to ask them about the pros & cons of Weeks vs. Points. Also, ask them if it's necessary to purchase another timeshare in order to use points. Also, as weeks owners, we've been noticing "Housekeeping Fees" for Points reservations through RCI, but no fees on the Weeks reservations. You'd have to factor those fees into you cost comparison. I'm sure the salesmen (who aren't at all GREEDY, right?) don't mention that to all of the GREEDY scam victims they've conned. Please don't trust everything you read on these forums. You REALLY don't know who's posting.

timesharel2 wrote:

BJ has killed tons of my deals. I promise everyone that RCI points are the way to go, especially for people who alrdy own weeks. Just the fact that ur maint. fees will be dropped signifigantly with about 5x the availability. Yea, he lied and told people they cud rent there points out but the ones who buy into his lies are just plain greedy, how are u gonna buy a 10k package and sell them every year for 8k. Smh. And as far as sunset harbor goes I literally spent this last week there. Lake conroe is beautiful and the condos are excellent. My advice, don't b greedy and think about what a rep tells u and if it makes sense.

I agree with Tina. I don't know what timeshare12's motives are but it's obvious that he or she is some how connected to selling points. In my opinion points are the worst investment ever. They can dump some unwanted properties like SHR on the market just to fill their point quota. RCI and other point companies will promise you the world to get you to sign on the dotted line and then see how hard it is to get an actual resort that you want. I got rid of two timeshares because RCI was renting out prime locations on the open market depriving memebers of those exchanges.

If anyone knows anything about the industry today they will never buy another timeshare or points. You can rent one from an owner for less than he pays for maintenance fees without the lifetime obligation of never ending increasing maintenance fees and assessments.

Now that the FTC has formed a unit dedicated to timeshare fraud we might see some changes in marketing in the industry. Let's hope that this is the beginning of the end for BJ Cooke and his band of thieves.

I agree w/Don & Tina about the point system (which we have). We find we do not have any greater access to the rental of timeshare resorts as they suggest we do. (what I find interesting,, everytime we go to a timeshare meeting at our resort the sales people tell how easy it is for THEM to rent a resort wherever they want-- we just aren't working w/the point system right!!Ha (also w/platinum I don't find that either except we can use our points for car rental, hotels, etc. but am not convinced that is the best use of our points. Also we haven't been charged a housekeeping fee so far whether we stayed a week or several days with our points, but have heard that this is happening. On another issue w/SHR---they have given us an offer to take the timeshare off our hands if we sign and send the deed back to them-----no concern about the $8,000 we paid!!! because we don't want to pay the maintenance fee for 2013. The last letter we got they threatened to foreclose on us as they are not responsible for what BJ did to us and nothing to do w/it. I refuse to give them any more money after what also happened w/maintenance fees the first year 2012. We were billed 3x even though we had already paid!!!!

donp196 wrote:

I agree with Tina. I don't know what timeshare12's motives are but it's obvious that he or she is some how connected to selling points. In my opinion points are the worst investment ever. They can dump some unwanted properties like SHR on the market just to fill their point quota. RCI and other point companies will promise you the world to get you to sign on the dotted line and then see how hard it is to get an actual resort that you want. I got rid of two timeshares because RCI was renting out prime locations on the open market depriving memebers of those exchanges.

If anyone knows anything about the industry today they will never buy another timeshare or points. You can rent one from an owner for less than he pays for maintenance fees without the lifetime obligation of never ending increasing maintenance fees and assessments.

Now that the FTC has formed a unit dedicated to timeshare fraud we might see some changes in marketing in the industry. Let's hope that this is the beginning of the end for BJ Cooke and his band of thieves.

Here is a link to read about the conference and information on how to contact the FTC. In my opinion these are the only people who are helping not the AG as some would think. highlight and click on all four lines

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ftc-and-dozens-of-law-enforcement-partners-halt-travel-and-timeshare-resale-scams-in-multinational-effort-210429141.html

cindy1206 wrote:

Just a quick point. The current terp/vsi/eps model has nothing to do with SHR. They are marketing a simple cash buy-in over $9000 that you can finance to access the points rental services. A separate annual fee applies to the exchange service. No mention of deeds or specific properties.

Dinner last night at Ruby Tuesday in Allentown, PA. TERP / VSI / EPS deal pitched as described by cindy1206. We thanked them for dinner, and walked away from the "too good to be true" deal. They gave us a sheet of contact info, if anyone is interested. The TERP leader's name was Shane, and he says he has 13 teams out doing these "update" meetings.

What made this look fishy from the start is that the original cold call Caller ID said "RCI," yet we belong to Interval International. During the pitch, the salesman kept referring to RCI, and when I reminded him that we're with Interval, he'd say something like "yeah, them too."

Thanks eds333, eds333 said: "The TERP leader's name was Shane, and he says he has 13 teams out doing these "update" meetings. ____________________________________________________ The leader was Shayne Lowe and as of today they only have only 3 teams out working. They use the marketing company named: (The Las Vegas marketing hasn't worked in weeks) Getaway Marketing 3595 Hiram Dougasville Highway, Hiram, GA 30141. William "Bill" Redford is the co-owner with Robert Guy Russell and Nonna Russell. His email is getawaybill@att.net.

Kesha Croft Turner is the Marketing manager, her email is getawaykesha@att.net. ____________________________________________________ IF THEY WERE THERE (RUBY TUESDAY'S) LAST NIGHT THEY ARE THERE AGAIN TODAY. If you could just let us all know the address that would be great. And that Sheet of contact info they gave you, you should post all of that info here ASAP. Thanks eds333 for the information. Boobie r

boobier wrote:

IF THEY WERE THERE (RUBY TUESDAY'S) LAST NIGHT THEY ARE THERE AGAIN TODAY. If you could just let us all know the address that would be great. And that Sheet of contact info they gave you, you should post all of that info here ASAP. Thanks eds333 for the information. Boobie r

I have received a letter back from the Illinois Attorney General. They have sent my complaint to R&R Venture Group. The have also stated that the AD's office is not allowed to prosecute and individual's complaint.

I got a call from a lady at R&R Venture Group yesterday claiming to be the customer dispute coordinator. She informed me that because I had filed a dispute with my credit card company, my memberships in both EPS and VSI have been canceled by R&R Venture Group. VSI President Josh Fazenbaker disagrees with this, stating so in an email to me, and EPS doesn't bother to answer any phone calls or emails. She also said that they had received the AD's letter and that she had to now send my dispute file to R&R's "large" legal team. They would have to get in touch with me, but they never return any of the $9000+ they collected over and above the membership fees.

Based on this conversation, I have sent a 20 page document to my credit card company detailing how these cancellation mean that the R&R and EPS cannot possibly fulfil the deliverables they promised in the contract and requested that they re-open the dispute for the $9000+ that R&R Ventures says they paid to VSI. Josh Fazenbaker of VSI says they only got a $346.00 membership fee. That's the money that the R&R/EPS group takes from the scam.

I have also completed the complaint process with the Federal Trade Commission. They also have the 20 page document which details all I have discovered about the little group of people that live over in Ottawa/Morris. Illinois area that drive this scam out of the dinky little EPS office in the Morris Technology and Business Center on Division Street in Morris, Illinois. That group would be BJ Cooke, William Thompson (if that isn't another name for BJ), Shane Lowe, Trevor Alonzo, and others. The good old boys club from Ottawa High School.

It is going to take time, but we will eventually get these punks. If you sort through their Friends lists on Facebook, it is easy to see the relationship of the group. It is also easy to see the kinds of scum bags we are dealing with. Rest assured all of this information is what has been sent to the AD and the FTC

Just got off the phone with the Manager (Mike) of Ruby Tuesday at 3995 W Tilghman St Allentown, PA 18104. He called the R&R Venture marketing and cancelled today and the rest of this week at his store. He told me he knew they were up to no good. He also said that Lisa Benza (Guy Russell's girl friday) was the one that called and booked the meeting with R&R Venture's Visa card. Another B.J. Cooke team down for a week. :)

Thanks for taking the initiative to do what I did not. We were worried for some of the elderly couples that were still there in meetings when we left. BTW, the contact sheet said "Shane Williams," not Shayne Lowe.

I still do not see any actual owners of this product complaining how it works ???? From what it looks like, it is a travel club that offers to work with your existing timeshare....????......correct me if I'm wrong.....

How do you know where these people meet before they even get there? Once again, sounds like disgruntled employees who have a "mole" on the inside to make it seem like they have all the answers!!!

Look at their websites.......it looks legit to me!!!

Yes, It looked and sounded legit to all of us that got scammed for 10,000 bucks. Trust us, this is not legit.

DebbieP308, -Which "product" do you want owners to comment on? All of us on here that have been scammed are here to try to prevent others from falling for the same scam. I would caution you to be very careful if you are considering paying money to a company that is making promises to pay you for giving up your timeshare weeks or points, but you have to wait at least 6 months to get these fantastic pay-outs in return. Google the name of the company with "scam" added to the end and see if you find lots of other websites besides RedWeek.com, such as ScamBook.com, RipOffReport.com, etc. - The people that were posting about the meetings at the restaurants are ones that are receiving invitations to attend the presentations via phone calls.

debbiep308 wrote:

I still do not see any actual owners of this product complaining how it works ???? From what it looks like, it is a travel club that offers to work with your existing timeshare....????......correct me if I'm wrong.....

How do you know where these people meet before they even get there? Once again, sounds like disgruntled employees who have a "mole" on the inside to make it seem like they have all the answers!!!

Look at their websites.......it looks legit to me!!!

To debbiep308 Debbie, have you read these post at all? Have you ever been to one of the meetings that everyone is talking about. What websites are you talking about? And yes there is a mole on the inside of the R&R Venture Group, and the AG's, RCI & FTC are aware of this. Guy Russell, Nonna Russell & B.J. Cooke makes this all sound legit so people will believe them and give them $10,000 dollars. Please go back thru the post and read, or call the AG in your state or go to a meeting and give B.J. Cooke $10,000 dollars and you will know it is a SCAM. Just trying to help you understand and keep your money in your pocket. We have been to these meetings and know.

PS: Thanks tinak117 & sandrap250 for helping

Debbie, PRL has been replaced by EPS (Excess Property Solutions). You do not give them your points or weeks up front. All you give them up front is your money. Six months after you give them the money, they claim that they will contact you and get you on the telephone with them and RCI and RCI will transfer your weeks or points to EPS. When you get in touch with RCI and ask them if they have any relationship with EPS and how your weeks or points will get transfered, they will tell you that there is no relationship between EPS to do transfers between the two.

If you call VSI and ask them if they can transfer points or weeks to EPS or get points or weeks transfered from RCI they will tell you no, they cannot do that. You have to book your weeks, in your name, with you home resort and then send confirmation of that to VSI. Then you have to send VSI what area you weant to trade into. They will then send you emails with lists of places you can get into based on the weeks or points that you have from your timeshare. When VSI finds someone who wants to take you home timeshare, they notify you who that person is and you have to notify you home resort by taking out a guest certificate with your home resort. How do I know this? I called VSI and my home resort. What was offered in the presentation? The presentors stated that all of this would be done online with VSI and weeks and points would be transfered from RCI ----Not true.

Because I filed a dispute with my credit care company when I found all of this out, R&R Ventures cancelled my "lifetime" membership with EPS and told me that there is now no way that I can get my weeks and points bought by them, and there is no way that I will get my money back from them.

And EPS does not find it necessary to respond to my request for membership status. AND R&R Venture Group says they have turned my file over to their "large" legal department for action.

Debbie this is for you. They charge you $498 to join PRL and if you sign off w/supposedly no more than 100,000 points with them, they tell you they will rent these out for 8.5cents per point and send you the money for rental of those points (approx. in 6 months and by that time it's too late to go after them) which you can use for timeshare maintenance fees, pay for the timeshare they just conned you into, pay for timeshare exchanges etc. You never get the money so they've just conned you for $498. This has all been stated back in previous messages +whatever else might come w/the deal!!!!! RCI says they can't even get ahold of these points to do so anyway. Unless they hope you will switch your points over to VSI???? , if that's at all possible, and then you've got another little battle on your hands. It's a no go all the way!!!