RCI Innovations Inc.

Does anyone know anything about Divine Vacations, Inc? They said they have a qualified buyer for our Hawaii timeshare who has put 20% down and has a 725 credit score. I told him that I wanted to use our own title company and did not want to pay any upfront fees. He was fine with that. Said to be careful about selecting a title company and they had to deal with timeshares and be licensed and bonded in the 4 states involved. Otherwise, we would need to use their title company and the fee is $1999 (refundable). Is there any way around this?

ken1193 wrote:

I recommend specifically telling them that you will select, use (and pay) a closing company of YOUR OWN choice, and that this third party entity will handle any and all funds (eliminating your having to give these parasites ANY credit card payment or info at ANY time).

...

Finally, why on earth would you believe for one second that ANYONE is going to pay you $106,000.00 for a few timeshares when any literate person with a computer could pick up a DOZEN timeshares on eBay right now, today for fifty to one hundred dollars total. It simply makes no sense --- they are merely appealing to greed in order to put stars (and dollar signs) in your eyes...

This is all clearly and obviously just a scam, plain and simple --- but I hope that you already know that. ...

Generally speaking Ken, you are correct. today however I received a call from an Antonio Pardo with First Choice Advocates 954-741-5243 and 866-611-4750. He said he's part of an organization working to contact timeshare owners who were called by the scam companies. Universal Marketing for example, called me about a year ago. Antonio said the FL DA office is initiating investigations which would lead to convictions but of course the companies settle. One part of the settlement is providing call records of all the peole each scam company calls.

Antonio works for one of the companies making the calls to determine how many owners were scammed. When I told him I sold (successfully) 15 units in one block to someone thru Universal Marketing, he told me I was the ONLY person he'd spoken to out of thousands who actually had something sell.

So do I really believe RCI Innovations will actually get me a buyer paying $106k for my WVR Ocean Walk 818k pts? No. But I didn't think the Universal deal would work out either.

Why did my Universal deal work out when no one else's did? It was possibly a fluke, but the most important reason was that I took the time to re-write the contract, then negotiate it so in the event the sales didn't go thru I would get a refund. And the only way to ensure that can happen is by charging on a credit card.

peterp151 outrageously claims, quoted in releveant part: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Re: >>... I sold (successfully) 15 units in one block to someone thru Universal Marketing... << ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Frankly, I don't believe that ANY entity on Planet Earth has EVER sold 15 resale timeshare units to ANYONE in a single transaction, with or without the involvement of an upront fee listing service. Please post the recorded deed date, county, book and page and grantor / grantee name in this (alleged) miracle transaction and I'll be happy to promptly research your unbelievable claim and report the factual details of my findings back here. I certainly won't hold my breath in the meantime while waiting to read and research those specific details...

Moreover, I don't believe for one moment that Universal Marketing Solutions (which, by the way, is also currently under investigation by the Florida AG's office) has ever sold 15 timeshare units total in the entire collective time span of their existence (...never mind having sold 15 for you alone in one, single transaction).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Re: >> ...the only way to ensure that can happen is by charging on a credit card << -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anyone who voluntarily provides their credit card info (...and the authorization to charge it) to ANY obscure, unknown, upfront fee "listing" service is a fool, plain and simple. You tell a good story, but it's clearly just an entirely unconvincing fairy tale.

I openly challenge you here and now to prove me wrong by providing the year, county, book, page and grantee (or grantor) name on the deed in this alleged "15 units" single transaction. It's a matter of public record, so it is very easily researched once some actual FACTS are provided....but you and I both already know that no such facts (or any recorded deed for the sale of 15 units in a single transaction) actually even exists.

There are certainly lots of naive, inexperienced people in these RedWeek forums, with no legal or investigative background. Unfortunately for you and your fairy tale, I actually have BOTH.

peterp151 wrote:

Antonio works for one of the companies making the calls to determine how many owners were scammed. When I told him I sold (successfully) 15 units in one block to someone thru Universal Marketing, he told me I was the ONLY person he'd spoken to out of thousands who actually had something sell.

So do I really believe RCI Innovations will actually get me a buyer paying $106k for my WVR Ocean Walk 818k pts? No. But I didn't think the Universal deal would work out either.

Why did my Universal deal work out when no one else's did? It was possibly a fluke, but the most important reason was that I took the time to re-write the contract, then negotiate it so in the event the sales didn't go thru I would get a refund. And the only way to ensure that can happen is by charging on a credit card.

I smell a SHILL bigtime ... why in the world would you think any company is going to find a buyer that's going to pay you $106K when most timeshares can't even be given away. I also don't believe any company sold 15 units in one block to one person for you.

Peter,

You say you used a credit card to ensure you would get a refund if the sale did not go through. I am sad to inform you that the use of the credit card almost certainly means you can kiss those funds goodbye.

I suspect you failed to read the small print on the credit card agreement - typical boiler plate language appearing on all credit card agreements - that required you to dispute any charge within sixty days of the day the charge first appeared on your credit card statement. A failure to timely dispute the charge means you waived any recourse against the issuerer of the card. The agreement was attached to the card when you first received it and/or when it was renewed. The small print that most folks fail to read simply says that the first use of the card constitutes agreement to the terms set out in the agreement. It seems unfair to be held to a contract you probably never read and certainly never signed but case law has repeated held for the banks when this issue is litigated.

Your only recourse will be against the company to whom you made the upfront payment. Past experience indicates you will join the thousands who lost hundreds and even thousands of dollars by giving their credit card number to a company that promised the impossible while laughing all the way to the bank.

Truth be known, I suspect you are simply another shill trying to lure another unsuspecting mullet into believing that paying an unfront fee is ok if one simply uses a credit card.

As suggested by Ken, just provide the recordation information for the 15 timeshare deeds and a simple phone call by any of us to the appropriate county clerk will validate your claim. Go for it Peter! Prove us wrong!

You guys are so sad. If you've read my other posts on this forum you'd find I'm pretty hard core anti developer. And yet I post about how I have made some direct purchases work. Just because you can't do it doesn't mean it can't be done.

The same is true for selling your timeshares. So assuming RW doesn't delete my next post I'm listing the deeds and recording dates for what Universal handled.

As for JayJay's comment, I think you've called me a shill before. All I can say is if you have that little faith that a person who posts the way I post (Anti developer yet buys direct at times, anti up front fee but takes the time to work a few companies to see how I can work it out anyway, heavy advocate for how buying timeshares can be profitabe, I post as much info on a method about using or owning at specific timeshares or timeshares in general, etc) is NOT a shill, then you are having a pretty difficult time owning and managing your timeshares.

It's one thing to be pessimistic in this unscrupulous timeshare market, but to be so pessimistic that nothing is possible is very sad for you. Please give me a bit of time to list a few of the units.

First set of deeds Deeds See if this link works http://205.166.161.12/oncoreV2/search.aspx?bd=1%2F1%2F2009&ed=6%2F8%2F2009&n=Chocholak&bt=O&d=6%2F8%2F2010&pt=-1&st=fullname&vbt=M

Otherwise goto http://www.broward.org/records/cri03300.htm then Click the Public search icon in the middle/upper Right of screen, click the acceptance, enter Chocholak for name and 03/17/2009 for the date range. you'll see 10 entries for 6 unique deeds from Chocholak to Johnson.

You'll also see that Johnson has the same address as the title company as well as Universal Marketing, the only difference being Fidelity title is in a different suite. Yeah, Fidelity title is not THE Fidelity, it is Fidelity First.

I also sold two RHC and six DRI "Trust" or Collections contracts, so there are not any deeds for those.

Last Deed is in AZ

Go here http://recorder.maricopa.gov/recdocdata/

Enter Chocholak Peter into the names, then date range 04/01/2009 to 05/01/2009

The top three entries 4/1/09 and 4/29/09 are me, one timeshare sold to Johnson

In anticipation of your next claim this is all fake, yes the deeds show $10 to $200 sale prices. However, if you search the Broward county FL records for 2003 thru 2010 you will see that all my deeds (buying and selling) are $10 to $100. That's not the actual price of the transactions. Please be realistic. If I can provide this info, it's pretty likely I am telling a fairly accurate story.

BTW, RCI Innovations has not responded to me since I faxed back their contract with my addendum. Probably means they've realized they can't scam me for the $3k, but I'll let you know what develops next.

from india,

i have some difficulty in this matter ,mr. arun called me up and ask me to sale time share to them. I send him some IRS (Indian rupees) To them. in last month. is it possible ,he can sale my time share and rented out ? to any one. JUST I HAVE RECEIVED A BOOKING CONFIRMATION from RED WEEK INTERNATIONAL. with name of gust and week days details.

now, he is saying, i will be come personally to you and will ay your amount ,whcih i have committed to you. I am in dark, may be its possible or may its fake.

ALSO, i have give another booking to sale 48 days ,just received a latter from RED WEEK INTERNATIONAL,

We would like to remind you that if we do not receive the payments on or Before June 10th 2010 we will cancel the balance package and al l the weeks according go the requests will be forfeited .list of the members for non payment is mentioned bellow

I am not UNDERSTANDING , WHAT IS THE MATTER>.....pls guide me. viral thakker

Peter,

Thanks for posting the deed information. Very informative. You buy and sale on EBay as Purefct and your most recent listing was a unit at Marriott Aruba Surf Club with a minimum bid of $1,399 that closed on April 1, 2010 with 0 bidders. You have a 100% rating on EBay with many positive postings. Your are on both Facebook (Peter Chocholak)and MySpace and you are a member of a timeshare resale group. You are an owner/investor in various timeshare vacation, resale, and rental companies. With this background it is not surprising that you have many deeds recorded in both the grantor and grantee indexes. You obviously are very good at what you do. You buy low and then rent or resale often in bulk for a profit. Thus, multiple deed recordations. You are protected from personal exposure by a corporate shield which is certainly a good business practice for one facing multiple maintenance fees each year. All of the above is purely speculative on my part based on the infomation you provided .

Aside from "protected by a corporate shield" the other information about me is correct. I believe I posted on another thread regarding rentals about how poor the rental market is right now, as confirmed by carvana's reference to my Marriott Aruba Surf Club which didn't rent out. I believe in that thread I mentioned I also had an Ocean Club 2BR as well, only one offer for $1,200 came in and I decided to take the trip on my own. After all, if customers want a deal that badly then I may as well be the one benefitting from the deal and take the trip myself!

Anyway, it's nice someone is able to tell I'm not a shill.

so did any one of you give in and gave $2,896

Veronica,

I think that Peter in an earlier post on this thread indicated he had paid RCI Innovations Inc. $2,896 up front based on their guarantee that they would sell his units for "no less than $106,340 within ninety days" and if unsuccessful would refund $2,896 to him. Clearly, Peter is not the shill in this transaction but he may be the victim when after 90 days he does not receive a refund of the $2,896 he paid upfront. I doubt the units will sell for $106,340 and I am even more certain he will never again see the $2,896. The point to be learned as Jayjay has said so often, "never, ever, pay an upfront fee" to anyone who promises or even guarantees a sale of your timeshare(s). This is just as true for Peter as it is for a novice who has limited experience buying and selling timeshares.

.

Well, I guess I haven't exactly paid the $2,896. I did return a contract where I authorized RCI Innov to charge my card that amount, but I added an addendum to the contract which ties them to specific requirements if they charge my card. I haven't called them to find out why they haven't charged the card, but they stopped calling me after I faxed the amended contract.

I completely agree most people are apparently not suited for entering into transactions with these companies. The First Choice Advocates guy said there were multiple people he spoke with who admitted they had paid more than three of these cold calling companies $1,500+ each time, and they didn't understand they should stop doing that I guess.

And yes, by allowing the time period to go past 60 days I enter into a risky predicament. My AMEX and Capital One have said they would process a dispute for transactions over 60 days old but I won't really know until I actually do it. You are absolutely correct the only way to know I can dispute the charge without risk is to dispute within 60 days. My plan was to dispute the charge just before 60 days if it did not appear the terms of my amendment were being met, since in order to complete a sale within 90 days quite a few things would need to be completed by 60 days.

Peter, I'm afraid you've been taken to the cleaners .... I would dispute the charge today .... upfront resellers will tell you all kinds of BS/lies to get your upfront fee. They have not and will not sell anything.

I would have to agree Peter...you need to see if you can get the money back NOW. It has been said before, and I'll say it again...NO ADVANCE LISTING FEES, especially if the company in question contacted you out of the blue.

DON'T DO IT!

I got a call 6 weeks ago from RCI Innovations ... first he said RCI until I pressured him. Said he had a firm price of 27K on my timeshare and wanted 1996 up front for a title search (a title search costs about 395 in NJ). My unit was advertised for 8K or best offer. Think it was fishy? I hung up.

3 weeks ago, I got a call from them again, but this time the firm offer and buyer's names and phone numbers. He wanted 1780 for title search. I told him I wanted a copy of the "contract" that they were going to send me, stipulating that they indeed had a buyer for that price. Said he'd have to talk to supervisor. Never sent anything.

There is a Florida statute that states that the contract must contain all offers made from phone sales, among other things. I have contacted the Florida Atty. General's office several times about many of these scam companies. Look at their BBB ratings! Call the FL atty. general's office and ask about complaints.

JUST DON'T GIVE THEM YOUR CREDIT CARD NUMBER!