Just wanted to post the lastest corspondence with Raintree regarding the special assessment and various other questions regarding there pactices. This is the most information I have been able to receive from anyone at raintree, I still am going to hold firm in my decission to not pay there special assessment fee and if that means I have no further use of my time share then I also will quite paying my maintenance fees which means for the next 2 years they will loose that income also. I really do not want to be a part of this orgination anymore and so even if they were to change things I could never trust them again. I just see that they will continue to keep raiseing our Maintenace fees and anyother fess they can to offset there poor management of not only the company but most importantly our monies we have all spent with them. I would encourage anyone with questions and wants a real answer to contact this Daniel Keeney via his email, because he does at least respond and get back to you in a timely manor. As you can and will see by my questions below I have alot of concerns and issues with Raintree, I think if enough people hold firm to not paying this special assessment and then there maintenance fees they will either be forced to go into bankruptcy or sell to someone who will truly manage the place properly and have there members best intrest at heart. I feel that they truly on the brink of looseing it and what ever any adds to it will be lost. Dainel does a good job of addressing and skating the true issues at hand. From: Daniel Keeney, APR [[protected]@keeneypr.com] Sent: Wednesday, June 02, 2010 5:11 PM To: 'World Wide Abrasives' Subject: RE: Raintree Resorts John: The decision was made to call this a “special assessment” because it is a temporary (and not a permanent) increase in your annual membership fee (described in the Multi-Resort Regulations which are part of your purchase agreement). You will find reference to your annual membership fee in your contract. You won’t find reference to the term “special assessment.” If you review the original notice of the special assessment (http://www.raintreelistens.com/en/art/53/) dated 10/30/09, you will see in paragraph three that it states, “…we are issuing a temporary increase in your annual member fee. We refer to this increase as a special assessment because this will not be a permanent annual increase.” I can arrange to order a copy of your contract documents – I believe there is a fee for ordering a copy, since Raintree does not manage those documents in-house. Have you called Member Services (800.424.6532) to order a copy of your contract? They should be able to help you with that. Regarding Member attrition – my understanding is that the organization typically experiences a small attrition rate of approximately 3% in Membership each year. After two years of non-payment, Memberships are reclaimed and resold and all past-due maintenance fees and annual member fees are recouped for the Club to ensure there is no negative impact on Members. If you are wondering about the impact of the special assessment on attrition, we will not know that for another couple years, since contracts allow Members to be delinquent for two years prior to Memberships being reclaimed. Additionally, a large portion of the Membership took advantage of the 12-month flexible payment option. The Member surveys are typically reported to Members later in the year – the organization gathers the information in one report, although the data is gathered throughout the year. My understanding (I have not seen the data) is that the feedback has not been substantially different from past years. That is not to suggest that we are deaf to the negative feedback we have received about the special assessment and other matters, but it has been expressed by a relatively small percentage of Members. At least that’s my understanding. Regarding votes of Members, you might benefit from reviewing http://www.raintreelistens.com/structure, which explains the structure of Raintree Vacation Club and its parent company. The Club in which you purchased a Membership is a private company. To be blunt, Raintree Vacation Club is not a democracy and is not operated by Member votes. It is a private enterprise. Now, for the past several years, it has not been a particularly successful private enterprise, writing off approximately $10 million and, in the process, waiving management fees. The Club has a duty to do what’s necessary to keep the standards of the resort properties at the level expected by Members. With aging properties, that can be a challenge, and that’s the situation – annual fees have not kept pace with the need for capital repairs and renovations, which caused a backlog of needs that went unfunded. Regarding increases in maintenance fees, contracts allow for increases of 10% PLUS the rate of inflation. The calculation for figuring the compound annual growth rate is: (820/465) (1/9) - 1. If you’re like me, you don’t have a fancy calculator to do that, but I found on online at http://www.calculator.com/calcs/calc_sci.html. It comes out to an annual growth rate of 6.5%. You are right that it is more than inflation, but it was not enough to keep up with the increasing costs of upgrading the aging resort properties. Your final question is a judgment call, I guess. We have a large percentage of Members who have paid and a small percentage who have not. The organization has always had a policy that prohibits Members who are delinquent to enjoy the benefit of the Membership if they have not kept their payments current. That is only fair to the Members who HAVE paid their fees. This is not new – it is in the contract that if fees are not paid you can’t use your Membership. Knowing that the special assessment was difficult for some, the organization delayed enforcing this rule for four months from February 25th until July 1st. The easiest way to avoid this is to sign up for the flexible payment option, which is still available. It allows you to stretch payments over 12 months at no interest. Sincerely, Daniel Keeney, APR DPK Public Relations DFW: 214.432.7556 Houston: 832.467.2904 E-mail: [protected]@dpkpr.com Web: http://www.dpkpr.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/dpkpr Blog: http://www.theprcounselor-blog.com From: World Wide Abrasives [mailto:[protected]@lewiston.com] Sent: Wednesday, June 02, 2010 5:05 PM To: 'Daniel Keeney, APR' Subject: RE: Raintree Resorts Daniel, Once again thank you for your response, I think this the most and quickest responses I have received since I have been trying to get information from Raintree. I have been trying and have requested a copy of my contract dated 3/30/2001 and with this request ask to specially show me in my contract where it states the special assessment fee, I have asked for this over the last 2 months and still have yet to see it so maybe you will be able to assist me in getting this. I also would be curious to know and would like to receive a Customer Satisfaction Index/ Questioner in regards to how satisfied Raintree customers are currently, also what percentage of membership you have lost over the past 1-2 years not only do to the economy but all circumstances surrounding them either leaving or just plan quieting, In my earlier comment on line I have and had no intention of offending anyone but have felt like that we(customers/members) have had no vote or discussion in this matter and based on today’s economy this cannot just be shoved down people’s throats without any discussion, now if you can show me where and when this was discussed and minutes from a meeting with the members involved in it I would truly welcome that information. I have also tried to understand what you are calling up grading to some of this should of been covered under the normal and yearly maintenance fee’s (which I am sure you are aware of has gone up from $ 465.00 to $ 820.00 which is a 76.5 % increase over 9 years or 8.5 % which far exceeds inflation or cost of living increases). One final question to you is does Raintree honestly feel by locking people out of using their membership in Raintree for not paying this special assessment that this is going to be to your advantage, since I like many others not only spend money getting to these resorts but also spend allot of money while I am there in many of the resorts facilities and related services you are affiliated with so does this not mean even bigger looses in the future? I look forward to hearing back from you and addressing these issues I mentioned. Again thank you for your response, this truly is the most information I have received to date. John Kirkpatrick From: Daniel Keeney, APR [mailto:[protected]@keeneypr.com] Sent: Wednesday, June 02, 2010 1:15 PM To: 'World Wide Abrasives' Subject: RE: Raintree Resorts John: Thanks for the note. We only have a couple rules for posting comments, but one is that we can’t allow comments that accuse the organization or individuals of wrongdoing – as doing so could have legal consequences. As you can see, we do post comments that criticize the organization as long as they don’t allege wrongdoing or threaten legal action. Out of thousands of comments submitted, we have not posted fewer than a couple dozen. We keep Raintree leadership appraised of what’s being communicated on the various online boards. We don’t minimize the interest and passion of the people who have posted complaints online, but we also consider that less than 1% of Raintree Vacation Club’s 38, 000 Members have expressed concerns about the special assessment or other matters. Member surveys continue to show that Members give high marks to their vacation experiences, which is where the rubber meets the road. That said, the organization’s leadership has acknowledged that it has made a number of missteps in the past and they are committed to improving aspects of Member communications and Member involvement in decisions. Nonetheless, we understand that some Members remain unhappy and we are working to help the organization re-earn your trust. Thanks again for expressing your thoughts and I will be sure they get to the organization’s leadership. Sincerely, Daniel Keeney, APR DPK Public Relations DFW: 214.432.7556 Houston: 832.467.2904 E-mail: [protected]@dpkpr.com Web: http://www.dpkpr.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/dpkpr Blog: http://www.theprcounselor-blog.com From: World Wide Abrasives [mailto:[protected]@lewiston.com] Sent: Wednesday, June 02, 2010 2:45 PM To: 'Daniel Keeney, APR' Subject: RE: Raintree Resorts I figured as much, I appreciate your response, but I would also encourage you to pass along to them to go out to Complaints blog sight and see how angry and upset people are with Raintree, I know they truly are not listening or they would open there comment sight open to hear true feedback but since they don’t they will just have to find out by loosing clients or customers. But again thanks and if you would also pass this one along I would respect you for it, no one really seems to care within the origination so you really cannot get to anyone who cares or can make a difference. John Kirkpatrick From: Daniel Keeney, APR [mailto:[protected]@keeneypr.com] Sent: Wednesday, June 02, 2010 12:07 PM To: [protected]@lewiston.com Subject: RE: Raintree Resorts Hi, John: I help Raintree with the Raintree Listens website and wanted to thank you for expressing your thoughts. I will pass them along to the organization’s leadership, but I also wanted you to know that for legal reasons, we can’t post allegations of wrongdoing on the forums – so I can’t approve your comment as submitted. Sincerely, Daniel Keeney, APR DPK Public Relations DFW: 214.432.7556 Houston: 832.467.2904 E-mail: [protected]@dpkpr.com Web: http://www.dpkpr.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/dpkpr Blog: http://www.theprcounselor-blog.com From: KIRKPATRICK, JOHN [mailto:[protected]@schipul.net] Sent: Wednesday, June 02, 2010 1:35 PM To: [protected]@keeneypr.com Subject: Raintree Resorts - New Comment for the CMS Module: Special Assessment Forum / Cuota Especial Foro New Comment Posting for Raintree Resorts on http://www.raintreelistens.com/Special-Assessment-Forum-Cuota-Especial-Foro/index.asp#1380 Submitted by: JOHN KIRKPATRICK ([protected]@lewiston.com) User Comments: What a great way of spending money which should of already been taken care of by our maintenance fees. To me this is nothing short of a scam and you have got so many angry clients that if we could get out of these we would. I am sure that if you check with the FTC, BBB and look at all the compliant blogs out there you will soon find out how upset people really are with you and your origination. Comment is Currently Pending Approval Click here to Approve Comment. View a list of all Comments Pending Approval for this item. Webmaster [protected]@raintreeclub.com Raintree Resorts6/2/2010 1:35:11 PM http://www.raintreelistens.com/policy/ Tendenci® Membership Management Software Schipul Web Marketing Raintree Resorts - 10000 Memorial Drive, Suite 480 Houston, TX 77024 (policy)