My wife and I originally wanted to buy time share at the Paradise Beach villas in Aruba. When we set up the appointment we thought that's what we were doing. We found out, after a sales pitch of over 4 hours, that RHC was just a service that rented time share there. We asked about availability of units at Paradise Beach and the RHC sales agent said that it would never be a problem as they owned a large block of units there for their members. As a sales incentive we were given a free week as part of the package. I asked if that was for a studio or a one bedroom. He stated a studio, but not to worry, that the reason for the extra 15000 points he was giving us was so we could upgrade to a one bedroom. We purchased a point package that day. We were not given a resort guide as they did not have any but said they would send us one. This is the book that has all the rules in it. All of our paper work was completed and we left the sales office. Upon returning home to the states, we had to request that the resort guide again be sent. Finally 2 months after our original paperwork was done we received the book. We decided to use our "free" week to go back to Aruba and called to schedule our trip. My wife spoke to Paloma. Explained about the free week and that we wanted to use the 15,000 bonus points to upgrade. She informed my wife that our requested date was not available but we could go some other time or go somewhere else. We were not able to reach any solution and said we would call back. We called with an alternative date and they said that we couldn't use our free week and the bonus points together. We could use 15000 points from our 30000 points to upgrade. The service agent said this was stated in the operating rules at the back of our book. We explained that we had been promised otherwise when we purchased with RHC. He basically said take it or leave it, those were the rules. We asked to talk with Paloma and were told she would call us back. We have since called three more times and still no return phone calls from her or anyone else. This has been going on since 3/11/08. How can we use our time share if they will not even contact us??? We never received any phone call until we sent a complaint to the BBB. Amazing that RHC finally called us after they received a notice from the BBB. We had also sent 3 emails with no response. The first email was to request information on using their website. No one ever returned our request for an ID # or password so that we could log on. RHC states that this was all a misunderstanding and that they had provided service and were willing to help us book our trip albeit to a location that was not where we wanted to go. The only reason that they contacted us was because of the complaint to BBB. RHC does not provide the services they promised. They made promises at the sales promotion that they have now reneged on. They maintain that we received the resort guide with the operating rules, but in fact we never saw these nor did we receive the book until 2 months after purchase. The paperwork that we have copies of does not include the eleven pages that are listed at the end of the resort guide book. We feel that RHC did not fully disclose their rules to us. Apparently one of the rules is that you cannot use the bonus points to upgrade on their offer of a free week. There was no misunderstanding between us and the agent. He said we could not use the 15,000 HC CERTIFICATE, with the free week. That's clear in any language. RHC is now calling this fiasco some "confusion". They are offering a goodwill gesture to resolve our complaint of an additional 15000 credits with no activation fee IF we withdraw our complaint. This doesn't sound like goodwill, it sounds like a bribe/threat whatever. Why would I want another 15000 credits when I can not get them to call us back or give us what we want for vacation? Alberto did call us in the mean time and said that if we want to book Aruba that we could if the dates are available. But if it was unavailable that week we could go to another royal-holiday resort, maybe in the US. He could set me up right now if I had some dates in mind. I stated that I only wanted Aruba to begin with and really wasn't interested in any other location. I told him that we have tried to book Aruba since 3/11 and have gotten either not available or we will call you back. They never called back. Again I explained to him I only wanted Aruba. He indicated that RHC was providing service, if you consider not calling us back after numerous calls and emails. I fail to see this as service and would like to know how the sales agents can make promises to get the sale and then have the company renege on the promises without any recourse for the buyer.
We feel that our contract should be voided and RHC should return all monies paid by us since they are not fulfilling their part of their contract. Lack of service, sales coercion with false promises and not fully disclosing all the rules seems like grounds to cancel this contract.
We now have sent an additional email to cancel our contract, for lack of service. That was two weeks ago and no answer.
Aruba buyers beware! They are not governed by the Mexican rules. Its covered by the Republic of Panama rules which I am trying to find out what they are.
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