Raintree Vacation Club is a timeshare and vacation rental company owned by Raintree Resorts International, and headquartered in Houston, TX. They have 16 resorts located across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Raintree Vacation Club is owned by RCI, the largest timeshare company in the world.
While the locations of Raintree Vacation Club’s properties are some of the most enviable in the world, it may be that you want to get out of Raintree Vacation Club timeshare. It could be that you have not been able to book a vacation through the company, you are no longer able to manage its maintenance, or you ended up buying the timeshare because of high-pressure sales tactics. Whatever your reason, there are plenty of other people in this position as well.
When we looked into Raintree Vacation Club, some of the most common reasons timeshare owners wanted out included:
- Poorly managed and maintained properties
- Hidden fees and no cancellation policy
- Poor customer service and overall negative experiences with management
- Having purchased a timeshare back when Raintree Vacation Club was called Club Regina, and under different management
These complaints were easy to find when looking into Raintree Vacation Club’s reviews and ratings. A few of those included:
- No accreditation and 1 out of 5 stars with the BBB
- Several 1-star ratings on TripAdvisor that speak to the complaints above
- 53 complaints on ComplaintsBoard
- 1.5 stars with Defaulters based on 14 reviews
Here are some of the most noteworthy complaints among the many that we encountered online, on several different websites.
From the BBB:
- “I am a timeshare owner through RCI for 36 years. My latest purchase was at The Westin Club Regina in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. We owned the highest priority membership with RCI. Then, without my knowledge or consult or consent, my condo was sold(?) Taken over(?) transferred(?) to Raintree Vacation Club without my knowledge. There followed consistent aggressive pressure to buy more condo time … My Maintenance frees [sic] have soared under Raintree from $834.00 to over $1200.00 after having paid off in full my purchase originally with RCI.”
- “All in all, this membership is certainly not the same as it was when we originally bought it. And now that my husband has passed away, I have no further use for it and I wish to cancel my membership. However, when I called the office, the staff told me that “cancellation was not possible” and that “we do not allow cancellation of memberships.” Oh really? Do they mean that a Raintree membership is like a life sentence? This is pure nonsense.”
From ComplaintsBoard:
- “My wife and I purchased a vacation club membership with RCI/Raintree and have never been able to use it. We’ve called about 10 times to plan a vacation and every single time, I get the same response “We’re sold out and have no space available”. These were all different dates and locations. We got scammed out of a large sum of money. I am looking to file a class action lawsuit as many others have had the same experience. I just need to get a large enough group to fight these thieves!”
In addition, at one point there seems to have been a website dedicated to complaints about this timeshare company called raintreevacationclubsucks.com, but it is no longer active. Still, its existence at one point or another certainly points to some serious underlying problems with Raintree Vacation Club.
On the whole, we would say all of this points to Raintree Vacation Club being a fraudulent timeshare company, in spite of its seemingly decent past life as Club Regina. They operate on false promises and bait-and-switch practices while making it incredibly difficult for customers to cancel Raintree Vacation Club timeshare.
Raintree Vacation Club Timeshare Exit Program
Sometimes you can pursue your interest in cancellation with a resort’s official exit program. We did not find anything on Raintree Vacation Club’s website that indicated this was a possibility, and struggled to find comments on any online message board conversations regarding this concern either. However, Raintree Vacation Club does have a dedicated customer service email that you can find on their website’s contact page, so you may be able to get in touch about exiting your timeshare that way. They also have a non-member website called Travel Raintree; if you’re not successful with their customer service, you can do a Google search for this, and try going that route.
One thing we should note is that RCI has a page about selling your timeshare and avoiding exit companies and scams. They note that they work with the American Resort Development Association (ARDA) and American Resort Development Association-Resort Owners Coalition when it comes to timeshare sales.
Raintree Vacation Club Class Action Lawsuits
It is surprising that it’s so challenging to find official timeshare exit information from Raintree Vacation Club itself, as they have been involved in a few class action lawsuits in recent years. One of them resulted in a positive outcome for the company, though, so that is something to be aware of. If you’d like to research these lawsuits, you can look up the following:
- Adams V. Raintree Vacation Exchange LLC – No. 11–3576. Decided: December 20, 2012.
- Berrien v. New Raintree Resorts International, LLC – No. CV-10-03125 CW (N.D. Cal.). Decided: November 15, 2011.
In the latter case, Raintree Vacation Club was required to forego $20 million in the ensuing settlement. This resulted in waived maintenance fees and the awarding of supplemental points to members.
Tips to Avoid Getting Scammed By a Timeshare Exit Company
Just as there are several upfront fee scams in the timeshare resale industry, you might also run into one of the many timeshare exit scams and schemes that are prevalent in the timeshare exit industry. For one example, when you look to get out of Raintree Vacation Club timeshare, you may come upon one of the websites we found run by Mexican Timeshare Solutions. On their website (called Timeshare Scam), they make tons of promises, and aggregate complaints about Raintree Vacation Club. But they are also known for demanding upfront payments, and they arguably have just as many complaints as Raintree Vacation Club does about their practices.
So many timeshare exit companies are like this, and demand prior payments to fulfill their promises, but they never end up getting people’s timeshares cancelled in the long run. Instead, they keep their clients’ money and are never heard from again.
To help people avoid scams like this, we generally recommend that timeshare owners work with companies who offer escrow as a payment option. Paying with escrow means that the timeshare exit company doesn’t get paid in full until your timeshare is cancelled and you are satisfied. You can learn more about escrow and why it’s important on this page.
Here are some other key tips to keep in mind so you avoid scams in the timeshare exit industry:
- Avoid any company without an online presence. Not having a website at all is a good sign a company is a scam. Looking for online ratings and reviews of the timeshare exit company will help you research this more thoroughly.
- Avoid any company with either no BBB rating or a very low grade.
- Avoid any company that cannot speak to ever having successfully released a timeshare owner from his or her contract.
- Make sure to get everything in writing. Having a contract is a good way to avoid getting scammed by a timeshare exit company.
Working with a Legitimate Timeshare Exit Company
If resale proves to be more challenging of a route than you expected, working with a reputable timeshare exit company might be a better option for you. Because of the amount of people who end up wanting to get rid of Raintree Vacation Club timeshare or similar properties, there are several companies who want to help people deal with false promises and fraudulent claims like theirs.
Generally, timeshare exit companies will not try to sell your timeshare — they’ll instead use different tactics to work directly with the developer or resort owner so they take the timeshare back and cancel your maintenance fees. Sometimes, though not every time, this will be a lengthy process involving lawyers. But no matter what method they use, you shouldn’t expect it to be without cost. You can take a look at the average cost to get out of a timeshare here.
Summary
There are decent timeshare exit companies out there who can help you with your situation. We make a point of reviewing and recommending timeshare exit companies like this who have a history of success and use escrow for all payments from customers. Please be sure to check out that list of recommended companies when you begin the process of trying to cancel Raintree Vacation Club timeshare. And if you have any other questions about timeshare cancellation in general, feel free to get in touch. You can call us at 833-416-8796, submit the contact form on the right side of this page, or initiate the live chat to get started.