Shell Vacations Club

My wife and I got the Shell Vacations Club membership a few years ago. Long story short, we came to realize too late that this was actually a scam. Here's some food for thought: With all of their convoluted rules regarding reserving a location, you have to attempt to reserve something well far in advance. So much that it is far from realistic. I often hear that their locations really aren't as good as they say they are. In addition to this, I have found that you get much better deals elsewhere with the help of Living Social, Groupon, Priceline, etc.

Out of fear, we paid off the entire mortgage amount so as to not incur more costs from interest. However, the tricky thing is the membership portion. I simply want out of this membership. SVC is less than helpful as getting rid of this membership as it is far too convoluted. This is not like a gym membership where you can just cancel out of it. Searching for solutions, I find yet other scams out there from organizations that claim to take your membership off of your hand so long as you pay them upfront for listing costs. With so many complaints out there, it seems that there are people out there who wasted even more money and yet without even getting rid of it. In other words, I don't feel safe dealing with these organizations.

I've already filed a complaint with our state Attorney General's office. They have acknowledged receipt of my complaint and are adding it to the growing list of other complaints regarding Shell. However, I filed this complaint 6 months ago. I don't see the state interceding on our behalf anytime soon. I've searched far and wide on the internet regarding this issue. So far, I have found no shortage of complaints from people over how bad Shell Vacation is, as they really provide little to no value to its members. We get it: Shell is bad. What I was really hoping for is a solution in how to get rid of this valueless membership. Strangely, I have found no real solutions. The only thing close to this is to stop paying their ridiculous membership fees.

What this has resulted in is a torrent of robocalls from them along with additional harassment from Equiant (their collection agency). How much is this going to ruin my credit? Look, I know Shell Vacation is bad. My real question is, has anyone successfully gotten rid of this membership? How do these people call this a business when it provides no consumer value? If this is a membership and we're not even using it, why is it so difficult to get rid of it? Please advise with some real ideas. We don't have a shortage of complaints against SVC. What we need are solutions in getting rid of this membership and holding them accountable for their predatory business practices.

I handle the financial affairs of my parents, ** of Greenacres, WA. In 2010 while on a trip to Kailua Kona, HI. They paid $1600 for a Shell Vacation Explorer program. The contracts they signed stated the timeshare units paid for needed to be used within two years. My mother contacted Shell Vacations multiple times prior to expiration to ask for options to extend. After the numerous attempts to have the point expiration date moved, she was turned away simply being told no with no options. She even offered to pay a transfer fee to have the points extended so they could go on vacation at a later date and was told that was not a possibility.

Their personal situation is also important to note. The reason they were unable to leave for vacation during the two-year time period was because my father is a self employed contractor who provides 100% of their income. As the economy continued to slow, it was simply not an option to take any time off. They have paid $1600 to Shell Vacations for something they received absolutely no services or benefit for in return. To not even allow for a fee to transfer the time or extend the expiration date is clearly a predatory business practice. If Shell Vacation would even extend the date by 12 months, it would sure seem like a reasonable request even if they charged some kind of compensatory fee for the change. My parents would welcome an offer to fix this situation. If there is no resolve, they do feel it important to lodge a complaint with the BBB and Attorney General's Office as well.

My complaint is simple. Shell Vacations overcharges you for what you get. We bought the lowest number of points they would let us buy, which was 1250 for around $8000. We did this a few years ago. Since then, we've used our points and taken vacations, as promised. But what we didn't count on was the exorbitant cost of maintenance fees, exchange fees, and other transaction fees. For instance, we just booked a vacation for a two bedroom suite for two nights in Palm Springs through their exchange company (which is now Interval International), which cost us 1500 points. In addition to those 1500 points, we paid a $119 exchange fee. One year of maintenance fees for 1250 points is over $400. So, we paid well over $500 for this vacation, not including the original cost we paid.

If we were to book the exact same resort on the exact same dates directly through their website, we would have paid $160/night for a total of $320. What a rip-off!! We are getting way less than we're paying for and that doesn't even include the $8000 we paid up front, which is the most ridiculous part. I can't believe we wasted that much money on something that, even when paid off, doesn't provide the value you pay for just in annual maintenance fees. And don't be fooled by thinking it would be better worth it if you had more points. No. The maintenance fees go up the more points you have. So, it's still a *** ripoff. There's no way to justify otherwise.

If you are here, you probably already knew all the bad things about Shell Vacations Club. They lied to you, and now it's too late to cancel. Now you find yourself a victim. But it's not too late to do something to recover your loss and prevent the company from preying on other people in the future.

If you are victims of Shell Vacations Club's misrepresentation, unethical and illegal business practices, please contact **@aol.com immediately to join a class-action lawsuit against SVC. There will be no fee to join. Together we can help fight these abusive corporations. If you find yourself a victim of Shell Vacations Club, the first thing you should do is write to the Attorney General Consumer Complaint Division for your state. They usually have a specific section for complaints against companies. Fill it out, asking that they not share information that would identify you to SVC, and send it in immediately. The reason for doing this is that, even in the event that you have to sign a complaint disclosure agreement in order to settle, the Attorney General can continue its investigation to stop these criminals.

My husband and I purchased shell vacations points in 2008. At the point of sale, we were given 10,000 bonus points redeemable for our 2009 use year. On August 7, 2009, my husband called it in for redemption. Our points account was credited on August 17, 2009.

On August 24, 2009, Shell Vacations through one of its employee by name Nicole ** mailed us another 10,000 bonus points certificate which was good for one year. We decided to call it in on June 6 2010 but was met with strong opposition by SVC. We were given the run around by Shell. One of their employees I spoke to could not assist and were very rude on the phone. One of them even insinuated that I got the certificate through a dubious means. Because we were using our points to travel to London we had to borrow points from next year, which means that we are left with no points.

We currently have the certificates from Shell. We paid them a visit on the October 1, 2010 to give them another chance to remedy the situation but we were met with great resistance and refusal to honor their own certificate they mailed to us for redemption, but are refusing to redeem because they claim it was sent in error.

Hi Linsay, we completely understand your frustration. Without getting into too much detail, it is fairly difficult to calculate the value of points with respect to the rack rate of our partner hotels. We understand it appears easy on the surface when comparing it to the purchase price of your Explorer program, but it is important to note that these rates are negotiated with respect to the Shell Vacations Club memberships also, which are lifetime vacation ownerships, so any attempts at determining a calculation with regard to a trial membership are destined to be skewed.

With that said, we completely understand your frustration, which is why we strongly encourage our Explorer members to try out the Club at Shell Vacations owned and operated properties, thereby giving them a great value at a great resort. Given that you had a negative experience at our affiliate property, we now understand that you have been compensated one full night's stay from your bill. We hope this helps and gives you an opportunity to make a reservation at one of our properties to truly experience what Shell Vacations Club has to offer. Again, our sincerest apologies that this past stay was not to your liking and we look forward to assisting you with a more positive and rewarding vacation stay with the remainder of your membership. Sincerely, Shell Vacations Club Customer Care.

We bought an Explorer membership with Shell after being hassled and pressured by numerous sales people while in Hawaii on our honeymoon. Although this isn't the reason for my complaint, I will point out that the sales people were extremely rude when we didn't want to buy the timeshare property, criticizing us and telling us that our relationship would suffer without vacations, which consisted of buying a Shell timeshare. Extremely rude. Well, I got over that, and finally booked my first vacation with the points I purchased through the Explorer program. We went to San Diego and booked the Days Hotel through Shell, which was an affiliated property through Resortime.

The hotel looked decent on the web pages, and the Shell associate I spoke to while booking the hotel indicated it was a nice property. Well, we arrived at this hotel and it was a total dump. Our so called "deluxe room with kitchenette" was a tiny motel room (that's right, not a hotel, but a motel) with half of a bathroom because the other half was a half size ghetto kitchen. It was the equivalent, or probably worse, than a Super 8 Motel. We arrived at this motel and it was an instant damper on our entire trip knowing that we would have to come back to this crap hole every night. We tried to find ways to avoid going back to the hotel at all costs, but had to at some point. And, why am I upset with Shell? Because Shell had me pay $283 per night on this room. That's right, a whopping $283 for a Super 8 (essentially).

I could have stayed in a 5 star hotel in downtown San Diego near everything instead of this nasty motel on Hotel Circle. And we looked up the real value of the motel, which is $70 a night. It's really disturbing to me that they could rip people off so badly and ruin a family's vacation in doing so. It's just unbelievable. I am beyond upset about this situation and so mad that my vacation had to suffer on their account. They were so insistent on us buying their crap and ensuring us it was worth the money. They are just flat out liars and out to ruin people's lives and take their money. Not only would I never buy anything from Shell again, but I will certainly discourage anyone and everyone from even considering to do so as well.

When I bought my time share 10 years ago with shell vacations, I was told I would get for 2500 points 1 week in the smallest unit at my home resort of Holua Resort at Mauna Loa Village for the rest of my life and my children's life. Now I see that the lowest # of points for 1 week is 3500 points! Shell either raised the #of points it takes for a week at my home resort or lied to me when I purchased. I live in DC. Why would I buy points for over $11K to fly to Hawaii and stay for 3 or 4 nights? I wouldn't. I was swindled out of over $11K plus over $600 maintenance fees for the last 10 years and cannot use these points for 1 week anywhere in the shell network.

Hello Richard, We are certainly sorry you did not find the memberships you purchased with us to be what you hoped for. However, we would be remiss if we did not try to clear up some of the discrepancies regarding our product that you have posted here on this site. We will not divulge any personal information here on this site, but we can attest to the fact that maintenance fees for both memberships you previously owned have not gone up by more than 11.7 percent in one club and 17.8 percent in the other, which was quite an aberration that only occurred once, not every year. All other years were considerably less. Maintenance fees will go up from time to time as costs to maintain the resorts go up over time. We are unsure how you have arrived at a calculation of 20 percent every year, but the numbers simply do not bear this out.

Of course, we want our members to be able to acquire availability at any resort they would like at any time. However, try as anybody might, that is simply not possible to guarantee. Without knowing the details of your vacation requests, it is impossible to say what further could have been done to assist you, but we offer several options for our members to bank or save their points from one year to another if they are unable to travel in a certain year. Often times, our members will do this to save up for an even bigger or better vacation and things work out beautifully.

In other instances, our members will broaden their vacation search to find suitable alternatives among the thousands of affiliated properties we can offer through exchange services and other benefits. We wish we would have had the opportunity to do this for you as well, but as you know we cannot book reservations for our members if fees are not paid. This is clearly stated in our contracts and foreclosure is a normal recourse when fees remain unpaid. We never take any pleasure in a foreclosure, but it is a certain reality of purchases that are delinquent on payments after a certain period of time.

We certainly are not pleased that your membership turned out this way as we see it work for our many members on a daily basis. Without question, we are not happy to hear about the issues you are currently facing as we hate to see any person going through this, let alone one of our members. However, we must take the time to clear up any discrepancies written in this account on consumeraffairs.com. Thank you very much for your time.

I purchased 2500 points in Hawaii and 1250 in San Diego from Shell Vacations Club. I was never able to book any vacation with RCI and never able to trade my points for travel. When I bought them I was told that they would never go down in value. I spent an additional $750.00 at sellmytimesharenow.com to get them sold (and this was during the real estate boom from 2005-2007) and only got one offer of $500 for the Hawaii contract. After maintenance fees rose 20% a year I was unable to afford it anymore. I quit making payments and was hounded for months and months at from phone calls at work from Equient Financial.

I finally got letters from Shell saying they were taking back my points for payment in full. My credit is ruined; I can't get a car loan. I can't get a home loan. I can't even change apartments because of them ruining my credit. I just want it off my credit report. I have lost thousands of dollars for one vacation to Hawaii in 2005 and one to Disneyland in 2006. I was paying $400 a month for two years for the loans and maintenance fees. I would like to sue Shell and Equient Financial.

on Aug 15,08 while we were on vacation ask to buy a membership for their vacation club. They kept us there for hours said they would feed our kids and that they would be done in 45 min. well we got there at 6:00pm and at 9:00pm my kids had not eaten I wanted to leave and they kept saying that they should be done we were told that if we buy the membership we could leave as soon as we could sign the paper work and that we can cancel anytime after, if we decided we didn't want it.

Well we were in vacation and when we came back from vacation we decided to Cancel because it is a burden for us and not a benefit. I fax, e-mail and send a letter to the address given to me by Kim of where she wanted me to send a voided check. Kim never mention to me about 7 days, when she was explaining the paper work we sign, she said if you want to cancel just send in a letter and the only thing that would happen is that you have to pay $200 on your credit card. Now I never received a call to confirm they received the letter and never a call to explain that we couldn't cancel. I called, left several messages and no luck. Now am receiving bills from the company saying I didn't cancel on time. I spoke to Ana from verification center today 9-20-08 saying that I only had seven days and that if I can prove that is within the seven days it should be no problem.

The problem is that I never new about the seven days they kept asking me to stay 15min and we should be done and I was so desperate to get out of there that I sign. Because she said I could cancel anytime and never stated that I needed seven days to cancel. When they want you to buy they call you 24/7. When I called to cancel no one returned my call and now they have lied saying they have left messages I have never received a called until today that I called because I received the bills.I feel they force me into buying this knowing I didn't want to. They never told me about the seven days, until now that I want to cancel.

I purchased my points for a studio unit to be used every year during the red season which they made it seem as though it was prime season and worth a bundle. For my 2500 points I paid $15,000 plus traded in another timeshare through Interval which they gave me $9,600.00 for a total of approximately $26,000.00 which they claimed my unit was worth. I don't think so.

I think they just took my timeshare. I was told that I would be able to get a one or two bedroom every other year in Hawaii for my points but can't see anything in the book for under 7,000 points. I went to try to exchange it in CA and was told that there was nothing available for a year and half at least. I talked to a broker about selling it and was told that my 2500 points were worth about $6,000.00. Imagine my surprise. I have sent several emails to them about the situation which have all gone unanswered.

They were certainly much more accommodating when it came to trying to sell the thing. My husband and I also have another timshare with Interval International which we have used several times and have been very satisfied with them. We booked a unit in two months in a five star resort. I wish I had not traded in my other one. I think I got taken big time. I am so upset with myself.

and maintenance.

I attempted to make an online payment I was blocked from making the payment. I called the company and was told that they had submitted the account for collection. I had previously contacted the Lender and told them that I would be going into the hospital.

$2500.00 dollars when we only owed two payments at theat time. The reason we owed two payments was because I was not allowed to make them. They only wanted the full amount that they were asking for and was told the it would keep getting higher.

My daughter and I went to California to complain about what had happen to us by the collection agency and the Lender and was told that we should have come to them from the beginning and that they would take care of the whole matter. That they would take the collection off our credit reports and that they would restore the membership. They had us to sit in on another presentation because they told us it would be to our benefit to add on more points. Since we were assured that the Shell Representative would take care of the problem we sat in the presentation and was told that all the points that we had up till that day would be restored and we would be able to have them double since we had the membership one year. Since we purchased more points that very day, that my daughter could have her vacation in Las Vagas and I could enjoy the new Vacation Resort in Napa, California. Convinced that they were going to clear the whole unfortunate situation up, I gave them two Post Dated Checks one for $500. I was told that in case we had missed a payment or two this would be a replacement and/or any payments that had been lost or misplaced by the Lender. I also gave a check for $203.00 which was for the merging of the two contracts and the additional points we had just purchased.

We left their offices believing what they told us about correcting the problem and getting our membership started again. But after we returned to Colorado we called the Company trying to contact the representative, Nealey Wheatly, the one that made all the promises about our credit report and membership, We faxed proof of payments we made sent bank statements and copies of checks and electronic payments. I spoke with Nealey once about using the $500. check to replace any payments the lender have no records for. The did not need to use the check because all payments we made up till the time I attempted to make the Online payment in May 2006. After that time I was not allowed to speak with this representative and was assigned to another person representing the company, Mindy McGowan. Apparently this Lady Representative for Shell had taken over and the first representative that made all the promises was not working at that location anymore. The new lady didn't know anything about what we were told and what it all boiled down to was that she could not help us there was nothing she could do. They cashed the check for $203. and she didn't know anything about the $500.00 check. I've written letters to the Collection Agency and to the Lender as well as Shell regarding the whole situation and I had an attorney send a letter about our membership.

Recently we got a letter from Shell stating that they were going to retain the membership, if we didn't pay $1,650.00 and that our membership would not be a full membership. If we didn't respond within 20 days we would lose all they money we put into the account. They sent a refund for the $203.00 they cashed but never sent me the $500.00 check. I am pursuing every avenue that I know to get help with this problem. I want all my money back. I believe that this whole Vacations Timeshare is a SCAM. We just gave them our money for services never rendered by Shell Vacations.

this, is whole situation is illegal, fraudulent and in violation of our Consumers Rights. As a Senior I feel violated because of my age. The club took advantage of us.

I "own" 3500 points with this company, and in March 2005, April 2005, July 2005, October 2005, December 2005, Feb 2006, March 2006, April 2006, June 2006 I have attempted to plan a vacation, but my points were not in my account. They were given to another customer to use without my knowledge, consent, or permission.

Strangers have been to Hawaii and on a cruise, using points from my account, and the Shell employees performed these transactions 10 times in 14 months. After each time I complained, a supervisor was to call back. I got a total of 2 call-backs, both saying it was fixed. It is not. I have NEVER missed a payment or fee due, and this is a total scam that the points magically disappear from my account repeatedly. What in the world am I paying $3,000 a year for? I have never been offered a reason, apology, or any form of compensation. All I get is " a supervisor will call you back, they are all in a meeting" They must have an awful lot of meetings since that has been the answer I get every single time I call. My husband is a US Marine, and we purchased this in 1999 to enjoy the little family time we do get. Due to frequent deployments and separations, I need to plan our trips in advance, and can rarely even use these points now since it always takes months to get the error corrected and points back into my account.

I have given Shell 15 months to get to the bottom of this, but I am really at my wit's end. I just can't fathom how they can tap into my account, and give my points to another member, on a monthly basis. I call and call and call and they could care less. Please help!!!!! Barbara/Francisco Castillo

In March 2005 I went to a sales presentation at the Kona Coast Resort in Hawaii. I told the young lady I was recently divorced and working on acquiring a home did not want any additional debt. I also told her, that with my travel and spending habits, I was not going to use the other features and benefits that might come with points. I just use the vacation when I can. If and when I could pay cash for an upgrade to my current program I would let them know. She took paperwork from me and made a letter for the file that said the paperwork was to be used only if I oked , provided the complete cash payment, and a checking account number to withdraw it from.

They called me in May 2005 to see if I was ready and I said no. They called again in July 2005 and I said no. These are on my cell phone bill. I received the 2006 maintenance bill for my original unit which I paid in December. From July 05 to Feb 06 I did not hear from them and reasoned they had given up. I had a fire at my new residence in November 2005 and it really wasnt a priority anymore. In February 2006 I received a series of phone calls from Equiant financial that I owed them sales and maintenance fees. I received at least a dozen calls. In addition to asking they not disrupt me at work, I asked several associates for a direct phone number the person who executed this contract. The numbers they gave me to the resort did not work to locate the sales person.

I have been harassed with demands for money, threats on my credit report, threats that they are going to take my current time share. I cannot even make a reservation for the unit I own. This is ridiculous.

I bought a timeshare (trial only- not a full-fledged membership)from SHELL VACATION CLUB. I paid the cost amounting to $1511 (equivalent to 6000 points)by installment which i fully paid in Feb 2006.On March 2, after my full payment i inquired about how to use the points. I was informed that my points would expire August 31, 2006. In order that my points will not be forfeited i decided to take a vacation in New York in April 2006. I made several calls to 1877-shell-11 regarding a place to stay.

The customer service said there is nothing available for New York or any other state near NY. I ask the customer service if they can offer their AFFILIATES. And there was nothing. On my third or fourth call i ask about the homestead. There was available room that is 750 points per night but only one bed so i told them to call back. I went to the website of HOMESTEAD.com and found out that they are giving better offer than the SHELL VACATION CLUB. I also told the SVC customer service that they should be giving me a better rate because my package is a prepaid and was fully paid. Since i was not satisfied with the rate and available room i considered converting my points to a reward points to pay for the airfare.

Again i called SVC to inquire about the using my points to payoff the airfare. I was quoted of 1950 points from California to New York. I was thinking that since i had 6000 points available, I will just buy 3 round trip tickets instead. So in the evening of that same day March 2, i called the SVC customer service to convert my points. After 3 working days, March 7 i made a follow-up and found out that i can only buy 2 tickets out of the 6000 points available. I talked to a supervisor about my complaints. We had argument because she was saying that she cannot do anything about it. She said i was given a wrong qoute and she can not convert again points to its original. The only option she gave me is to issue me a Master Card amounting to $1100 for the package i paid for $1511. This is unfair!!!!

During my inquiries with the SVC customer service i found out that we,timeshare members, are not really getting a better rate. One good example is the airfare. As of today Mar 08 Southwest offered $389 (Includes taxes) Round Trip ticket from San Jose to La Guardia while SVC needs 2350 points.

Beware of Shell Vacation Club and broken promises associated with their timeshare contracts. As of this date I have not received the proper paperwork with a breakdown of the refunded contract amounts.

We purchased a Shell Timeshare on 8/2/04 and then, again on 10/04. Since then, we found out that we were falsely mislead as to how we could use our Harbor Vacation points that were sold to us with untrue promises. We have asked to have our contracts cancelled and the money refunded. We are simply claiming that with all of the problems we have encountered, that we have lost faith in Shell Vacations Club and their ability to offer quality customer support and service.

My wife and I have placed numerous calls to the Shell Corporate Office in Northbrook, Illinois and as of this date we have not had our phone calls returned properly. We feel Shell has mislead us as Shell owners and failed in addressing our concerns. Please take this as a warning if you are considering buying from Shell Vacation Club.

I was called my the Shell Vacation Marketing team. The individual offered my husband and I an all paid trip to Hawaii if we attended a 90 min seminar at no charge to us.However there was a fee, I had to pay $100 for taxes on Hotel and airline tickets. Not to mention the seminar went way past 90 minutes. I have yet to receive the trip or my $100 back.

In Nov of 2003 We received the gift card and tried to redeem it through Holiday Travel as we were instructed. We picked several dates 2 to 3 months out. None of the dates were available.

I have tried on numerous occasions to redeem the certificate #101101VIPHA to no avail. No matter how far out or how many times I call nothing is ever available.

I have been trying to redeem this certificate since Nov 2003 and to no avail.

I just do know what options are left.

I don't recal the exact address of the Shell office. The seminar was held on Cannery at Fishermans's wharf in San Francisco.

Last year, we purchased a vacation ownership package in Shell Vacations club. The salesman made the package very attractive, and did seem very desirable. However, when we asked for a few days to think it over and go over the details of our budget, they denied the opportunity. It had to be purchased then and there. Well, the details presented to us made the deal seem very economical and we were interested in saving money on our vacations, so after we had denied two of their offers, they finally presented one that seemed to fit our financial situation and we accepted the final offer.

Our first inkling that something was wrong was in January when the monthly fees tacked onto our payments increased by over 250%. After inquiring, we found out that there was a poorly explained detail about a club fee on top of the association fee that came into effect at the beginning of the year following the purchase.

Next, we found out that the salesman's pitch about points rolling over from year to year was only partially true; that it could only banked for one year and that there is a fee to bank it.

Additionally, we are finding out that booking a vacation through Shell Vacations, when taking into account the purchase price, the monthy fees and club costs make the vacation much more expensive that if we had simply booked the same vacation through a travel agent.

We felt that we had been skillfully misled by the sales people, and even now they continue to pressure us to sink more money into ever depreciating club points.

In our frustration, we wished to cancel our membership, realizing that the ugly details of the purchase were omitted. We were willing to cut our losses and just cancel, but Shell Vacations refused. We didn't even care if we got our money back; we just wanted out of the contract. We told them they could keep the money we already sunk into the program. Still they refused.

I have to admit. Buying into Shell Vacations was one of the dumbest financial blunders I have ever made.