A unhappy Worldmark Story

To contrast with the previous post, a reader says...

I agree with everything people wrote about being pressured with the tactics used at our meeting with Trendwest Worldmark South Pacific (as it was known in Australia) when we signed up some 4 or 5 years ago. By the way now it is known as Wyndham here. There are so many stumbling blocks when one tries to book short holidays. You can never get in at peak times known as Red Seasons unless you book a year ahead.

The reason for this I strongly suspect is that these resorts rent out the best rooms to those who pay the full holiday time price and they only have a few rooms reserved for Worldmark/Wyndham shares owners. Then if you do get in you have no choice of what accommodation you prefer. You only get what you want if you're lucky or if you complain and almost threaten the resort owner who says that he is not the person who controls the booking but Head Office on the Sunshine Coast.

The worse thing of all is that we are stuck with our decision for life and then we have to inflict our dreaded mistake at signing up on to our heirs for ever it seems.

When I have been contacted by them to buy more shares I have vehemently expressed by desire to sell by shares back to them for even half the price they had charged us, to no avail. They say that they don't do that. Finally, one day they gave me a website and a phone number of a broker on the Sunshine Coast in Australia. We paid $98 up front to have our shares listed for resale on his website. Of course he did so with the hundreds more he had listed already on his site. That was more than six months ago.

In the beginning the guy was very solicitous and told us that he sells 2 to 3 resales every week. As time passed we heard nothing more from him and every time we needed to know how the selling was going we had to contact him and sometimes he would not call us back. We kept a good eye on the ads on his website and nothing whatsoever was being sold. He then blamed the down turn in the economy. We even lowered our price further which at the time was the second lowest on his list. The six months limit for the advert is up now but we have not heard a word from him.

So please no one be fooled by Worldmark's suggestion that your shares can be sold by anyone whom they nominate to advertise for you or like us you will be down another $98 paid up front, to that website.

To add to our dilemma this week we received our annual bill for Levies for the upkeep of the Resorts they own (not we own) and on some of which we have never set foot. And guess what? Yes you guessed! The levies have gone up again from $109 per quarter to $114 that's another $20 per year which bring the total of $456 a year. This amount can give us a 4 nights stay at a descent Motel anywhere in Australia once a year so who needs Trenwest WorldMark/Wyndham.

As suggested in one of your contributors comments a Class Action against this ripoff is not such a bad idea if enough people show interest.

Buying $12,000 plus, worth of points with this company, where once you foolishly sign up you can never get out again, was the worse decision we have ever made in our life!!

So please beware anyone who is contemplating doing likewise.

NOW TO THOSE PEOPLE who are happy with owning shares with Wynham/Worldmark Trendwest maybe they would like to buy our shares. We would be more than happy to negotiate a fair price and they will have more points to enjoy their time at all those fabulous resorts??

Yep, that's about right. By my calculation, the levies just kill any financial justification for owning Worldmark credits. For 12,000 credits you pay almost AUD700, which is half the cost of an equivalent holiday.

I disagree with your comments about Worldmark "renting out the best rooms to those who pay full holiday time price". All members get equal access at the listed points, but it is first-come, first-served. Not all resorts are completely full, but they might be for the particular time you try to book (eg school holidays).

As for selling your credits, you can also try eBay — but it is showing a value of under AUD $1 per credit, which is about what RedSeason lists. So, accept your loss, sell for under $1/credit and write it off as hard-earned experience — always research before signing something.

Oh, another option is to 'sell' your annual points via eBay in the form of a holiday — you are allowed to give your bookings to 'guests' who can then pay you for the booking. However, liability for damage remains with you. So, pick a nice place at a good time of year, make a booking and then list it on eBay. Worst case you can cancel the booking and get your points back.

-- Fabbo
Tags: trendwest worldmark