Wyndham Vacation Ownership My husband and I were taken advantage of by Wyndham Timeshare in Panama Florida. We were made promises that they never keeped. Florida Panama

In June 18, 2016, my husband and I were approached at Pier Park and asked to come listen to a timeshare presentation for Wyndham.  We were promised a VISA card and free vacation to attend, but was assured that we would not have to purchase anything.  We arrived and spent 8 hours talking to several representatives of Wyndham.  My husband and I both kept turning down the offers but the two men kept pressuring us by not taking “No” as our answer but pushing us to purchase by offering 3 free vacations and promises of having the perfect family vacations. 

They told us how we would have the bonus points to visit Hawaii and other tropical places. When our two small children came back to us after playing in the play area the two men started talking to them about the wonderful places we could visit by joining Wyndham Vacation Ownership.  Finally after spending all day there we finally broke down and purchased what we thought would be the best vacation ownership ever.  It was not!  When we returned home I immediately started planning our vacations to soon find out that we couldn’t book anything!  I never used any of those free vacation vouchers because every place and time I picked was booked. 

Now looking back this was a big red flag.  I was not aware that I had 10 days to cancel our contract because no one explained that.  I have never bought anything like this so I wasn’t aware what to do if I found myself in this situation.  My husband and I followed through with our commitment and hoped that it would all work out.  We paid for the mortgage in full and continued to pay our maintenance fees like we were supposed to do.

In the past 4 years we have had so many lies and promises broken.  Here are just a few examples:

·       The first year I called and tried to book a vacation using the bonus points they promised us during the day of our purchase.  I searched for the resort in Panama and other beaches in Florida for my family to vacation that next summer.  I searched and they told me it was booked each time.  I would search online and find open reservations at the exact resort I wanted to visit at the exact dates I wanted to stay.  When I called Wyndham to confront them of this they said that Wyndham only had a few rooms they booked for owners.  So basically I could pay my own money and stay at the exact resort that I had a deed for sitting at my house that I already paid for.  That is not right.  I ended up paying $1,500.00 that summer to vacation in Panama at a different resort just so my family could go on vacation that year.  (Even thought I just paid over $18,000.00 for the deed to a resort I couldn’t even go to)

·       We went to Chicago later that year for a ballgame and I tried to book a room at the Wyndham Hotel downtown Chicago.  The site kept saying it was booked and when I called Wyndham they confirmed that the rooms were booked.  I went online myself and paid my own money again to book a room at that same Wyndham Hotel in Chicago on the same dates I tried to use my points for.  (So at this point, I still never used my points that I paid for but instead spent my own money)

·       We did finally get to go on a one week vacation to Daytona where we used our bonus points.  This was our 2nd year we owned the vacation ownership.  It was a nice resort but we were hassled the whole time.  When checking in I was pressured to go sit in for a meeting but I ended up calling them to cancel the next morning.  I was charged $25 on my credit card on file at the resort.  I called Wyndham when I returned but they refused to help me.  They said it was up to the Daytona Resort to refund and they wouldn’t refund the money.

·       I tried several other times to plan another week long trip for my family but wasn’t able to.  So basically since owning the Wyndham Vacation Ownership I have only been able to use my points to go on one week vacation with my family.

·       Last Fall I used the last of the bonus points for 3 nights at the Panama Resort that I hold a deed for.  I could only stay 3 nights which was better than nothing.  I took my mother and 2 daughters just so we didn’t lose the points.

·       In September 29, 2019, I called again to schedule a vacation and they forced me to move my 82,000 points and deposit them into RCI program so I wouldn’t lose them.  So again I lost points.  I was told the year prior that I could hold on to those points and combine those with the next years points so I would have enough for a one week vacation.  That was a lie!  So now we have two years of points in the RCI program which involves paying an exchange fee to use the points.

·       So last year, I decided to book a vacation with RCI and paid the exchange fee even though I felt like I shouldn’t have to since Wyndham made me move the points to RCI.  Now with the Covid 19 outbreak the vacation has been canceled.  I am not complaining about that because that could not be helped.  I am upset with the fact that RCI will not return my exchange fee that I already paid for which was $209.00.  They also told me today that I have to pay $69.00 to hold my points over to use for the next year even though I can’t help that we can’t travel right now due to the Covid 19 virus.