The Resort Development Organisation (RDO) is the European trade association for the vacation and timeshare industry in Europe. RDO membership is open to all companies which work within, for or on behalf of the vacation industry, including resort developers, exchange companies, management companies, resale companies, consumer credit institutions, trustees and legal professionals.
RDO is in the first instance a trade association representing the timeshare industry in Europe. RDO therefore represents member companies and as such looks after their interests. However, RDO’s consumer policy allows for consumers to address complaints about members with RDO. RDO provides this consumer service free-of-charge and aims to resolve valid complaints against member companies.
RDO’s members believe that it is important that RDO undertakes this service for the consumer and count on RDO being fair and equitable. RDO has full authority to rule on consumer complaints logged against members. It has to be emphasised however that RDO will mediate between its members and consumers filing complaints but will not enter into any legal sanctions against its members.
However, if RDO establishes that a member continuously breaches its Code of Ethics or acts with intent outside the law, the Board will investigate the case, following set procedures.
RDO has established the following procedures for handling consumer complaints:-
- Before RDO will investigate any complaint against a member, the complainant must first demonstrate that they have already attempted to resolve the complaint directly with the RDO member.
- RDO will send the complainant a letter acknowledging the complaint and asking them to complete a Complaint Registration Form.
- Once all relevant information has been received, the consumer will be sent a communication indicating that the member company to which the complaint relates will be contacted and asked to respond directly to the customer.
- NB If it is clear from the documentation received from the client that the complaint is not valid, the client will be contacted to advise that RDO will not take up the case on their behalf.
- RDO will contact the member company and give it 21 days to respond directly to the complainant, providing a copy of its response to RDO. In exceptional cases, this deadline might be extended.
- If, after the 21-day deadline, the consumer flags that they have received no reply, the Secretariat will write to the company again and request that the complaint is resolved within 7 days. A letter is sent to the consumer asking them to wait a further 7 days.
- If the company fails to respond at this point, then the company will be informed that their failure to respond is a breach of the RDO Code of Conduct and if the breach is not immediately rectified, the company will be referred to the RDO Board, who will investigate and take appropriate action in accordance with the RDO Code of Conduct.
- If upon receipt of the response from the RDO member, the complainant remains dissatisfied, RDO will inform the consumer that it cannot assist further in the resolution of the complaint. If the complaint falls within the scope of the RDO arbitration or mediation schemes, which are independently administered by NetNeutrals, RDO will send the complainant details of the schemes.
Download the RDO complaint registration form here
Please note that the RDO complaint registration form should only be used for complaints about RDO members, if you are unsure if the company you wish to register a complaint or enquiry about is an RDO member, you can search our members list here or send an email to info@rdo.org