Westgate Resorts Ripoff River Ranch We were sold flex week that we can never use and they want to charge us more (we already paid for our timeshare) to just surrender it to them. River Ranch Florida

Since this last post, Westgate Resorts has had the opportunity to work with this owner and we have been able to come to a mutually beneficial agreement. We respect our owners' privacy and can not divulge any details at this time. However, we do want to reaffirm our commitment to our owners and their families to provide wonderful vacation experiences that they can cherish forever.

Thank you for being an owner for the past 10 years. While the River Ranch property has been a favorite of those who love animals and the outdoors, it is even more exciting with the completion of a mulit-million dollar renovation, covering not only an increase in activities and amenities, but also renovations of accommodations. Please see finance.yahoo.com/news/westgate-river-ranch-blends-florida-195900185.html for more info.

Some of our salespeople, in their enthusiasm, will mention forward leaning items that have not yet begun. There are a lot of factors included on why something may or may not be completed, such as permits and regulation. While Westgate has the best interests of our owners in mind when planning, sometime things like the waterpark are not able to be built. We encourage owners to make decisions based on what exists and keep intended projects as possible extras.  

However, we were able to add the intense bullriding sessions, a rock climbing wall with different challenges and an exciting zip line amongst our new activities. We still have our professional 9 hole golf course, 3321 yards of golf, designed by Joseph L. Lee, our petting farm, horseback riding, airboat rides, mud buggy rides, skeet shooting and a whole lot more. Some, like the horseback riding, do require an appointment. Owners do receive a significant discount off some amenities, and you can get more details about these discounts and amenities by speaking with the resort at 1-863-692-1321.

Regarding flex time, a.k.a. "floating", versus a fixed week: each has their benefits and detriments. The benefit to fixed is also it's weakness-you will always get that week, whether or not that works into your schedule. If you decide to go on another date, it will cost you additional fees. Floating weeks give you a range of weeks from which to choose, and you do not pay more to use it on one date or another within that range. We gladly give our owners information about these weeks and other items, such as Seasons and Developer Exchanges, in the Owners Document that can be found on our Owner Account Management website, an invaluable resource for managing their timeshare. It can be found at oam.westgateresorts.com/oam/  We do have a finite number of units, and we encourage our owners to book as early as they can, up to 11 months ahead, to ensure best availability at this popular resort.

Regarding selling your unit, we do not have a buyback program at Westgate. It is, however, deeded property that can be willed to your loved ones or sold to others. Some of our owners have marketed their property by word of mouth to friends or family, advertised in the paper or online at such sites as Craigslist, or used a real estate company that handles timeshare. We do not make any recommendations other that to not pay any party an upfront fee to sell your property.

Please contact our Owner Reservations or Owner Relations teams at 1-800-925-9999 so we can assist you in getting more enjoyment out of your timeshare. We look forward to your call.