Anyone heard of United in Discounts?

[toniosmom]

I've received a couple of calls from "United in Discounts", which is a service where you "buy" an RCI week of vacation for $149 and then they turn around and rent it at a discount to members of the military. We qualify as RCI members because we own DVC. This guy is really giving me the hard sell and it seems almost too good to be true. And we all know when something's too good to be true, it usually is. He says that RCI members we are allotted a certain number of $149 vacations per year and we can rent these vacations out for about $1,100.

Curious if anyone has had any experience with them.

Thanks!

P.S. I apologize if this post is inappropriate, but I thought the best place to get info would be from my fellow DVC-ers. Thanks in advance.

 

[Bellecruiser]

I have never heard of this...it sounds suspicious.

 

[Dean]

I have never heard of this...it sounds suspicious.

I agree, this would seem outside of RCI's own rules. I'd run away.

 

[crisi]

Agree with Dean, you can't rent RCI reservations by policy.

 

[toniosmom]

I figured as much. Other DVC owners should beware -- you may get one of these calls too!

 

[CarolMN]

It appears that the organization itself is legitimate - check out their website:

http://www.unitedindiscounts.com/

Take a look at the FAQ and About Us sections.

Is the person calling you an employee of the organization or is he/she getting paid by RCI or some other group to get inventory? Is he willing to answer your questions about how he is compensated? Will you get something that says you are entitled to get a tax deduction? (Not that it's why you give, but it is an indication of legitimacy).

If not, and if you support the organization, perhaps you can do it directly rather than through professional fund raisers (if that is what is happening here). It's hard to believe that the organization itself would support high pressure tactics on individuals to get inventory to discount. More likely, another group (and it's probably not RCI) will get advertising or other benefits for giving the organization your donation. I prefer to deal directly when I am making donations.




P.S. After reading the following (under terms and conditions on the United For Discounts website), one can't help but wonder WHO is calling the OP and are they making money from the OP's donation?

2. The Site is a Venue

2.1. Please be advised that we are not a party to any rental transaction. We do not own nor can we contract for any vacation rental property listed on the Site. Instead, the Site acts as a venue to allow a home owner of our Site (each, a “Home owner”) to offer for rent, or rent, in a variety of pricing formats, a specific vacation rental property to potential renters (each, a “ traveler ” and, collectively with a home owner, the “ users ”). We are not involved in the actual transaction between travelers and home owners even though we may from time to time provide tools, such as direct booking, that enable a traveler to enter into a transaction to lease a specific property directly from the home owner of that property. As a result, the quality, safety or legality of the properties advertised, the truth or accuracy of the listings (including the content thereof or any property or guest book review), the ability of home owners to rent vacation property or the ability of travelers to pay for vacation rental properties are solely the responsibility of each user.

 

[LisaS]

We qualify as RCI members because we own DVC.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong here but I thought we were NOT RCI members. DVC holds the membership.

I get calls all the time about renting out or selling my timeshare. Your ownership information is publicly available so anyone can get or generate a list of timeshare owners and call them about any number of schemes they've got going.

This guy is really giving me the hard sell and it seems almost too good to be true.

This is another HUGE red flag. Anyone giving you the hard sell is most likely not legitimate. I would just say no and hang up.

 

[toniosmom]

I get calls all the time about renting out or selling my timeshare. Your ownership information is publicly available so anyone can get or generate a list of timeshare owners and call them about any number of schemes they've got going.

I get those calls too, but this one was different. This was someone who wanted me to go to their web site and view a couple of videos, so he could walk me through their process.

Part of my motivation for the original posting was to warn other DVC members of this potential scam. Knowledge is power. I was caught off-guard by the call and wanted to give a heads-up to my fellow DVCers that this is happening.

For myself, I have already decided that when they call again, I'm going to ask for my name to be removed from their call lists. However, I'm curious if anyone has actually bought any of these RCI vacations and rented them out as this group indicates is possible.

We've all got to look out for each other!

 

[Dean]

After doing more digging, it looks like they really aren't legit as I would see it. The BBB lists them as a timeshare rental and resale site.

http://www.reviewcentre.com/Online-...iform-www-unitedinuniform-com-reviews_1451003
http://www.orlandojobs.com/employer...r-heroes/edb890d3-fb8a-4523-94e0-5ebc7833c4e4

Sounds like someone trying to make money rather than help those who serve. It sounds more like a scam than anything else to me or at least a company taking advantage of the sentiment for our troups.

 

[LisaS]

I get those calls too, but this one was different. This was someone who wanted me to go to their web site and view a couple of videos, so he could walk me through their process.

Part of my motivation for the original posting was to warn other DVC members of this potential scam. Knowledge is power. I was caught off-guard by the call and wanted to give a heads-up to my fellow DVCers that this is happening.

For myself, I have already decided that when they call again, I'm going to ask for my name to be removed from their call lists. However, I'm curious if anyone has actually bought any of these RCI vacations and rented them out as this group indicates is possible.

We've all got to look out for each other!

I am very glad you posted so that others are aware there is yet another group out there making these kinds of calls. As you said in your original post, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is and yet some people will be swayed and part with their money and get scammed. So thanks for starting this discussion and making other members aware.

And just an FYI (though you probably already know this!) if someone I don't know calls me and wants me to visit a website and click on something, I would never do that. I'm amazed how often I visit what looks like a legitimate website, only to have my virus software throw up a warning that the site attempted to infect my laptop with malware. I don't think that is what was going on here but there are people who will call you, tell you there is something wrong with your computer and you need to visit their website and click on something to fix the problem. Yeah right...

 

[staceymay00]

They called me today and left a voice mail regarding our Tahoe vacation property and RCI account. Funny since DVC is our one and only timeshare. Maybe he got mixed up when leaving the message, but I won't be returning the call, that's for sure.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[toniosmom]

He called today and when I told him that I wasn't interested, he asked me to check the website again and wanted to know what my reason was for not pursuing this "amazing opportunity". I was pretty short and sweet, asking him to also remove my name from their call lists. Once he realized I wasn't going to change my mind, he became a bit curt and hung up.

Buh-bye.