Owning a Timeshare - RCI - COSTS - Atlantic Palace, Atlantic City, NJ.

Hello!

My name is Deepesh and i just purchased a Studio TimeShare at Atlantic Palace - Gold grown RCI resort - Week Red - Floating, this past weekend assuming your are the owner i wanted to know if it is really worth it and should i keep it. I have 7 days to back out of the contract. I have a family of 4 (2 kids - one is 5 and other is leas than 1) and me and my wife both are pretty young in our early thirties and atleast take one interntaional amd one local vacation. What i am skeptical about is the exchange program and i have a biennial week at Atlantic Palace so our thought process was we will be banking our week and never be at the Atlantic Palace as we like to travel.Importantly we will be traveling during school vacation times so thats what i really wanted to know if the costs are going to be off the roof? I just wanted to know that if it makes sense for us to do this and will it really save us money after the exchange fees, the resort fees etc. We also have the 12 Bonus weeks which avg $399 as per the Fantasea Resorts rep so the years we can't exchange we would use the bonus weeks, with what i have read lot of people have had issues and some are complaining about exorbitant costs and paying more than going through regular booking companies like Expedia etc. I just wanted to get a real feel from an actual owner who has been through this. I know RCI can be challenging if you don't spend much time and I'm willing to spend that time as i m very comfortable with technology etc and looking up last min calls and flexible planning vacations between 45 to 30 days in advance as thats the time when you get really good deals for exchanges or bonus vacations. I am a platinum RCI member with $168/yr membership fees which will give me priority access to such deals. I have a maintenance of $317/yr for my timeshare. Please help me out as any feed back will be really appreciated. Thanks, Deepesh

Definitely rescind!!! The fact that you are questioning what you purchased should tell you that you are not ready for this purchase. Make sure you follow the rescission instructions exactly as outlined in the owner's package you were given. The instructions will likely tell you to send your letter via certified mail with a receipt requested. That receipt will be proof enough that you mailed your letter within the seven days.

Your letter does not need to be fancy. You do not have to provide any reason. Just make sure that all parties who signed the purchase agreement all sign the letter of rescission. And once you do send it, watch out for any phone calls that might come your way from the sales people or resort trying to twist your arm to not rescind.

As for where to go from there, I would suggest renting at least once (from a current owner and not the resort) so you can try before you buy. Also, do some research for a while on timeshare-related forums such as here on RedWeek, TS4MS, and Timeshare Users Group (aka "TUG"). That will open your eyes to the world of timeshares. What you learned from the sales person was only one-sided and not in your favor.

Were you able to rescind?

I have a RCI timeshare, and if I had to do it all over again, I would not have gotten it. The fees are ridiculous compared to other time share companies. If I had known better, I would have just rented from someone that had a timeshare, or just bought one off Ebay. There are plenty of owners on there DYING to get out of their time shares, some even selling for a penny! What they didn't tell my exhusband and me was when we were purchasing the time share, some owners book their vacations 2 to 3 years out, so my favorite place to go in the summer (Destin, FL, and Panama City, FL) is never available during the summer. The only way to go is if someone cancels and you just happen to catch it.

Although I still have my timeshare and it is paid for, it was a real struggle making payments and then if you wanted to travel, MORE and MORE FEES. I would advise to not get it.

dannyeh wrote:

I have a RCI timeshare

What do you mean by an RCI timeshare? RCI is an exchange company. The resort where you own might deal with RCI regarding exchanges but I do not think there is such a thing as an RCI timeshare.

dannyeh wrote:

I have a RCI timeshare, and if I had to do it all over again, I would not have gotten it. The fees are ridiculous compared to other time share companies.

I too am confused by the term "RCI timeshare"; RCI is just an exchange company, as already noted above. It is not clear to me if you are referring to resort maintenance fees (which vary from one resort to another and which have nothing whatsoever with RCI) or if you are instead referring to RCI membership and exchange fees (which are actually just about the same as most other "exchange" companies, although a bit more costly than II, TPI, DAE). You DO realize that RCI has absolutely NOTHING to do with any resort anywhere determining its' resort maintenance fees, right? The issue of resort maintenance fees is exclusively the domain of the resort HOA; RCI has no involvement of any kind in resort maintenance fees. Again, RCI is just a "timeshare exchange" company --- nothing more.

PLEASE, CAN ANYONE tell me what's going on with RCI!! I am no longer able to find any units available in searches. No extra vacations anymore? And they're constantly hitting you up to be a premium member. What the heck??

It's called " Corporate Greed " !!!!!!!!!

Longtime member of RCI. It seems that this organization continues to head downward. There are far less places offered to trade using RCI than in the past. We have been members of RCI since 1996 and will not renew our membership when it expires next year.

How much does a timeshare cost at the Atlantic Palace in AC?

kathyp474 wrote:

How much does a timeshare cost at the Atlantic Palace in AC?

That depends on a number of factors. Are you buying resale or direct from the resort? What size unit? What time of year?

You can browse RedWeek for resales.

I have a biennial timeshare at Atlantic Palace that I have used only once in the 20 or so years I've had it. I want to get rid of it. I don't even want money for it I just want out. Many other time shares don't want unhappy customers so they will allow you to surrender your timeshare. Atlantic Palace will not. The sales pitch sounds great because it's supposed to but the maintainance fees keep rising, the exchange company membership fees keep rising and the one time I did use it I paid more than everyone else on the trip. Now I need to seek the help of an attorney to get me out of this...so fair warning.... Think very, very carefully before you purchase as this is FOREVER and that can be a very long (and very expensive) time! I'm a senior citizen who was a lot younger and was earning money when I made this mistake. Now I'm on a fixed income and these fees are a problem. If anyone has successfully gotten out of an Atlantic Palace timeshare please let me know.

janev71 wrote:

Now I need to seek the help of an attorney to get me out of this..

No you do not "need to seek the help of an attorney to get [you] out of this." An attorney is just going to cost you money. What will an attorney do that you can't do yourself? What I would do is contact the resort again and tell them that you are not paying another penny in maintenance fees so either the resort's Homeowners' Association can take it back amicably while perhaps charging you closing costs or it can go through the expense and troubles of foreclosing.

lancec13 wrote:

janev71 wrote:

Now I need to seek the help of an attorney to get me out of this..

No you do not "need to seek the help of an attorney to get [you] out of this." An attorney is just going to cost you money. What will an attorney do that you can't do yourself? What I would do is contact the resort again and tell them that you are not paying another penny in maintenance fees so either the resort's Homeowners' Association can take it back amicably while perhaps charging you closing costs or it can go through the expense and troubles of foreclosing.

Sound input and good advice. There are NO secret passageways by which to magically “escape” a legally binding contract, with or without an attorney. OP should tell the resort point blank that the resort can take the deed back voluntarily or by foreclosure —- pick one —- clearly informing the resort that, in either case, they will not be seeing another nickel in maintenance fees from the OP. Period, amen.

if I want to bank my week and use the next year should i join RCI to do this .. also if i dont want to use my week and perhaps decide later to go somewhere else with my week is RCI a good place to become a member ? if so how do I join RCI is there a sight or toll free number to call that is affiliated with orange lakr resort , I heard they have an RCI office right at Orngelake that you can join up as a member to do your bank of weeks or exchange to another destination in future if you like some one advise and give me direction please and thank you