Has anyone ever been scammed using redweek?

They promise to SEND payment in 2 business days. They don't say you'll RECEIVE payment in 2 business days. EFTs can take 3 days or more days, so that's 5 days and you got your money on the 7th day. You're complaining about payment being 1 or 2 days late! And you call that a SCAM! Unbelievable! A scam would be if RedWeek never sent you ANY money. And the representative states that you wanted a full refund for your minor inconvenience. And how did you get ripped off? Why are you in such a hurry to get the money anyway, in need for a fix. You could use one.

Bill, I see you renewed your membership and bought some DIY postings.

After you went around and left negative reviews for us everywhere you could find, I figured you wouldn't be back. You really want to continue to do business with us?

We'll happily refund your membership and posting fees. I think it might be better for everyone involved if you found a more reputable company.

I could see if there was an emergency and time was of the essence but you're talking about a couple of days . I would be happy to have the deal done and get my money and that's what happened . Redweek kept their end of the deal and paid the customer what else could you want ? I agree with Maurice that maybe you should find another site to rent out your timeshare .

If you see whats going on in the world today this seems like such a petty complaint .

maurice wrote:

Bill, I see you renewed your membership and bought some DIY postings.

After you went around and left negative reviews for us everywhere you could find, I figured you wouldn't be back. You really want to continue to do business with us?

We'll happily refund your membership and posting fees. I think it might be better for everyone involved if you found a more reputable company.

Maurice, you are more gracious and polite with William than I would be if in your position.

William2319 (apparently now "reinvented" as billm819) should be grateful that he was allowed to renew his RedWeek membership AT ALL. If in RedWeek's shoes, I would have rejected the renewal with a polite "no thank you", immediately declining the membership renewal payment and bidding William / Bill farewell --- permanently. But that's just me...

Hi Maurice,

As I’d expect you are aware from our prior correspondence on November 27th, I’m still waiting patiently for my money on this. The last email exchange from Lorna/RedWeek on December 1st stated the following: “Hi Richard, I wanted to give you a quick update. We are still working with the credit card company to resolve the issue. As soon as I have more information for you, I’ll be sure to update you. We apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused. Lorna Quijano” I would have hoped this matter would have been long resolved by now and the money due me been received. Nevertheless, I’m again writing to you directly for any update. As way too much time has passed with no updates from RedWeek, I’d like to understand precisely what is going on in this matter so that I can then determine my best course of action to proceed forward. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Best regards, Richard

richardw733 wrote:

Hi Maurice, Thank you for your comments. Glad to hear you will try to do better. You have made some interesting observations but with a bit of a twist on the facts and potential results. On the above post, we used some estimated figures and didn’t take into consideration all the details. From our perspective, a reasonable hypothetical would be to compare our rental proceeds this year to the same proceeds last year for the same unit during the same week. Our original asking price was 3% higher than last years gross rental price and the hypothetical figures you have quoted above are substantially higher than reality. Under what we believe is a reasonable comparable scenario, assuming that penalty is ultimately received, our total proceeds for the combined rental and the penalty would be 15% more than the prior year rental. We would not consider that a windfall after all that has transpired and believe your records would confirm that to be the case (but if not please feel free to publish otherwise). As a matter of fact, in this case, the fees charged by RedWeek (again assuming the penalty applies) will be double what was charged by RedWeek last year and we have NO issue with that either (as two contracts were involved). On the other hand you may argue that we had a windfall last year but none of that is really relevant. The relevant penalty provisions established by RedWeek are included in the contract for the obvious reasons to protect the owner. All we are asking is that RedWeek take the necessary steps to do just that and keep us informed. The potential ultimate end result was not derived from our greed but is in line with normal business practices when a renter backs out of a contract. The real issue is that your organization continually drops the ball and then apologizes for their shortcomings. At the end of the day, everyone does make some mistakes and that is to be expected. However, in the case of RedWeek, the mistakes are ongoing and that is not acceptable. The organization really needs to step up its game particularly when they describe their product as a FULL SERVICE RENTAL. At this point, we still do not have any indication as to the expected timeline for resolution or precisely what information is changing hands to get to the bottom of this. We will be most grateful if you could provide that and avoid the biased implications made above so we would have a clear understanding of the path forward.

Hi Maurice,

No doubt my note to you on Friday prompted the following email response from Lorna Quijano, Redweek’s Full Service Manager. “My apologies for not updating you sooner. Unfortunately, we did not win the chargeback for booking B12-9815-4373. As previously stated, if we are not able to keep the funds, we will not be able to disburse the funds. We are truly sorry for the inconvenience this may have caused.” Unfortunately that is not an acceptable reply after all this time but instead just another example of how RedWeek continues to drop the ball.

Maurice, having reviewed all previous correspondence surrounding the case you had stated in your last communication on November 27th “I can’t say for certain, but from everything we can see on our side, the booking was not due to identity theft, so we are challenging the chargeback.” I totally agreed with that assessment and given the facts in this booking it makes no sense that identify theft would have occurred. I’d therefore like to continue to purse a judicial resolution of the issue on my own and will need all the documentation to move forward. Please send me via mail or email copies of all the documentation surrounding the booking (including both attempts by the same renter) and their follow-up correspondence to either cancel the reservation and/or claim credit card fraud. Please also forward all correspondence between the renter’s credit card company and RedWeek. I have maintained a copy of the executed contract between myself and the renter so no need to include that information. Thank you in advance and I’ll be happy to share on this forum for the benefit of others who could wind up in a similar situation how this advances forward to conclusion. Best regards, Richard

Hi Richard,

While it is in no way an excuse, please understand that disputes to credit card companies of this nature can be extremely difficult and are not always cut and dry. We do still feel that it was a legitimate rental purchase and that the claim of fraud by the renter was unwarranted. Matters like this often involves going back and forth several times, with a middleman in between, which can take many weeks, if not months to resolve. However, because of the inconvenience that you’ve experienced, we’re issuing you a refund in the amount of $604.25 to hopefully make up for that inconvenience.

We are extremely happy that your unit did ultimately re-rent successfully and the $1234.75 from that rental was disbursed to you on November 20, 2017.

We do absolutely regret that the notification ball was dropped, and we look at your matter as an opportunity to learn and improve.

We bought a second unit in our home resort. Used the listing Realtor on red week. We were very pleased. Tom

Redweek full service made renting of my unit hassle free. I used RedWeek full service to rent out my Week 23 unit in Carlsbad and the process was simple and fast compared to the third party escrow service i used in the past. Electronic check was sent to me on the day it was promised.

Z Mekonnen

Do any owners take credit cards for payment?

billc589 wrote:

Do any owners take credit cards for payment?

Generally speaking, no --- unless you consider PayPal as "credit card" use. Most owners are not literally "businesses", per se. Accordingly, they are are not set up to deal with credit card payments. Even those who might be set up as businesses would still be reluctant to accept credit card payment, since unscrupulous tenants could potentially occupy and use the week --- and then immediately afterward "dispute" the charge for completely bogus, fabricated and contrived reasons. No intelligent owner needs or wants to invite or endure that headache.

Please note: Your contact with redweek was 2012, Redweek has grown so big, that their service is horrible., phone calls are useless, they direct to go to the computer forum to find your answer or leave a message and wait 2 business day to get an answer.

jayjay wrote:

This is why, if it is possible, to rent from the same owners every year that's given you what you asked for in the past .... and book that week very early in the year (I'd say at least 6 months earlier than your check-in date, especially for a prime holiday week).

I'm surprised Redweek would allow someone to post an ad with wrong information (or unclear information). They should, at least, make him correct the ad.

Lucille-

Since we are an internet-based company, we have always handled the bulk of our communication by email. I notice you sent in an email regarding your issue less than an hour ago, and a response has already been sent back to you. We typically respond to all emails within 24 hours. If you need to reach a phone representative, our lines can get very busy. If you leave a voicemail, we will return the call as soon as possible, but sending an email is usually the best way to receive a quick response. The link to "Contact Us" is at the very bottom of every page.

lucilles25 wrote:

Your contact with redweek was 2012, Redweek has grown so big, that their service is horrible., phone calls are useless, they direct to go to the computer forum to find your answer or leave a message and wait 2 business day to get an answer.

Having been a RedWeek member for at least a decade now, I respectfully disagree with this statement. I have always found RedWeek Customer Service to be very responsive --- even more so now than a decade ago, in fact.

Bearing in mind that that RedWeek is an Internet based entity with a limited staff, I think that it is both misguided and inappropriate to seek (or expect) personal service by phone from a Net-based enterprise.

Just my own personal opinion and viewpoint, based upon a decade of experience with buying, renting and selling timeshares on RedWeek, as well as participating in these discussion forums. Your opinion or experience might be different.

The primary difficulty that I encounter on RedWeek is incomplete and / or inaccurate info in advertised listings (both rentals and sales). This is the direct result of advertisers being unclear or misinformed (or maybe just plain lazy) about important details regarding that which they are advertising. This problem is completely outside the influence or control of RedWeek staff, so it's not really appropriate to blame the site for content posted by inattentive advertisers.

Thank you, that makes sense. I am looking to rent a week for my sister and she is hesitant to send a check for the full amount and "hope" the reservation is completed. Any suggestions on how to verify BEFORE send a check?

ken1193 wrote:

billc589 wrote:

Do any owners take credit cards for payment?

Generally speaking, no --- unless you consider PayPal as "credit card" use. Most owners are not literally "businesses", per se. Accordingly, they are are not set up to deal with credit card payments. Even those who might be set up as businesses would still be reluctant to accept credit card payment, since unscrupulous tenants could potentially occupy and use the week --- and then immediately afterward "dispute" the charge for completely bogus, fabricated and contrived reasons. No intelligent owner needs or wants to invite or endure that headache.

billc589 wrote:

I am looking to rent a week for my sister and she is hesitant to send a check for the full amount and "hope" the reservation is completed. Any suggestions on how to verify BEFORE send a check?

Rather than type out a long answer for the next 20 minutes, I instead refer you to the Timeshare Users Group site (http://www.tug2.net). Take a look at the very informative "stickies" located directly above the Buying, Selling and Renting discussion forum. You will find all the info you need or want there on how to verify that a rental is legitimate and how to safely conduct a rental transaction.

You will also find tips on staying safe on our Resources page: Stay Safe

Any posting flagged with "Verified and Protected" means RedWeek has verified the details of the posting with the resort and you are able to make a credit card payment directly to RedWeek. You will find more information on this page: RedWeek Verified

phyl21, thank you for the response. I am new to this and they offering is by a Redweek member but it is not listed as Redweek verified and the member says he will only take a check and will not use Escrow service.

phyl21 wrote:

You will also find tips on staying safe on our Resources page: Stay Safe

Any posting flagged with "Verified and Protected" means RedWeek has verified the details of the posting with the resort and you are able to make a credit card payment directly to RedWeek. You will find more information on this page: RedWeek Verified

billc589 - You can send the posting number you are inquiring about to support@redweek.com (or use the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of any page) and we can let you know how long the owner has been a member of RedWeek and if we have any complaints on their account.

Not use Escrow service is the "Norm" for people who rent out units. It does not benefit them.

One big problem with "Verified and Protected" with RedWeek since this is a new thing is REDWEEK , the protected part, should have several restriction levels on canceling. Normal timeshare protocol is to get outside insurance for your stay and that the reservation is non-refundable. Not the get 50% back if canceled within 60 days from the trip. It is very hard to move a vacation on a 60 day limit. Not getting paid till the vacation is completed is another problem if this were also true. We have had to pay for our places a year in advance and could use our money also.

I have just made several advertisements that I would normally go with the "verified" but opted not to because of the "protected" part with the terms listed.

Maybe Redweek could just have our basic "when we became a member" pined to our Name as we all have to be members anyway would save work for Redweek employee's as suggested. Especially if it could help in the comfort level of doing business with someone.

Dave