Browse Month

December 2018

Friday’s Letter from America

Welcome to the last Letter from America of 2018, we hope that you all had a very good Christmas and are looking forward to the New Year. For this last Letter from America, Irene Parker had to make a last minute change, once again a timeshare company responded before publication.

The Satisfaction of a Dispute Resolved

By Irene Parker

December 28, 2018

The article originally scheduled for today was pulled because the dispute was resolved. The timeshare company listened to a well written complaint and followed the above circle of resolution.

Like most of the timeshare members reaching out to Inside Timeshare, the family featured in the original article is struggling with a medical crisis. I spent this Christmas in Houston at the MD Anderson cancer center dealing with our own family crisis. As our family begins our stages of grief, I thought about all the timeshare families that we have talked to over the last two years that have experienced the same. I can’t imagine receiving debt collection calls in the middle of our personal medical crisis. Making matters worse, all but a handful of the 646 families that have contacted us describe unfair and deceptive sales practices.  

According to cancer.gov, approximately 38.4% of men and women will be diagnosed with cancer at some point during their lifetimes (based on 2013-2015 data). I estimate about 60% of our readers have experienced some form of debilitating illness. This is when they learn the timeshare they were told would be easy to sell, is not. Often there is a loan outstanding, so a voluntary surrender program is not an option. https://www.cancer.gov/

I will never forget the 100% disabled Agent Orange veteran who was up-sold into an unnecessary loan. The sales agent was aware this double Purple Heart veteran had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Due to the circumstances, there was no question he experienced unfair and deceptive sales practices. He contacted me six times the last month of his life. His wife contacted me with just hours left to live because the credit card company was hounding them for the down payment. The timeshare company did resolve the dispute, but how unfair this decorated veteran had to spend his last days battling his timeshare company.

A recent caller was told she should pay an exit company $6,000 because she would be responsible for her father’s timeshare after her father’s passing. This was not true. In the case of this member, the company offers a voluntary surrender program and would have easily taken back the timeshare. Their contract even states heirs are not responsible for the timeshare.   

Contact Inside Timeshare if you receive a call from someone employing scare tactics to get you to sign up with their exit company or give up your deeded timeshare.  

How Timeshare Companies have dealt with complaints:              

According to all but a handful of our readers, timeshare companies have responded to their complaints with:

  • We are not responsible for what our sales agents say,
  • You signed a contract,
  • It sounds like he said, she said,
  • You have no proof,
  • If this was important to you, you should have asked for it to have been added to the contract,
  • All that matters is what is in the contract.     

How complaints should be dealt with according to thebalancesmallbusiness:

No one likes hearing complaints, and many of us have developed a reflex shrug, saying, “You can’t please all the people all the time”. Maybe not, but if you give the complaint your attention, you may be able to please this one person this one time – and position your business to reap the benefits of good customer service. Properly dealt with, complaints can become opportunities. They give you the chance to discover issues and correct them, thereby improving your customer service. Market research has found that customers who have complained about a product or service and had that complaint successfully dealt with are 70 percent likely to order from the vendor again.  

https://www.thebalancesmb.com/rules-for-good-customer-service-2948079

Sun Trust Bank offers these words of hope and encouragement  

http://www.bankrate.com/finance/real-estate/debt-collector-demands-huge-fees-on-past-due-time-share.aspx

“Now, if you were deceived or otherwise legally abused in the purchase, you can file a complaint against the seller. Each state has a different process so you’ll have to contact your state’s attorney general to determine the jurisdiction. Have a narrative of your complaint and a copy of your contract when filing. The agency will contact you if it finds a valid violation of real estate statutes (or sometimes banking statutes), especially if it involves deceptive sales practices. Collectors must legally back off in such under-dispute cases, though many don’t.”

“By the way, consumer complaints about abusive debt collectors have nearly tripled in less than a decade, according to the Federal Trade Commission. They’re exceeded only by identity-theft cases, says the FTC, which has sued about 200 collection companies since 2010. Many have been banned from doing business.”

We are primarily members helping members, providing straight answers on how to file regulatory and, if necessary, law enforcement complaints. It is our hope lawmakers and regulators will take note of our efforts to stop the financial harm caused by timeshare sales agents and companies that hide behind the oral representation clause.

A significant percentage of our readers are in their 60s and 70s, some in their 80s, with high US credit scores around 800, suddenly faced with timeshare foreclosure. About a third is younger. The youngest was 19 and pregnant when she signed a perpetual timeshare contract after a six hour presentation.

Contact Inside Timeshare or one of the following self-help groups if you have a concern about your timeshare.

We seek to provide timeshare members a way to proactively address membership concerns; to advocate for timeshare reform; to obtain greater disclosure from the company; to advocate for a viable secondary market; and to educate prospective buyers.

https://www.facebook.com/timeshareadvocategroup/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/DiamondResortsOwnersAdvocacy/

https://tug2.com/Home.aspx

https://everythingabouttimeshares.com/consider-exchange-options/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/180578055325962/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/465692163568779/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1639958046252175/

So that’s it for 2018, it has certainly been a roller coaster year, so many complaints, many of them veterans, many have been resolved, to the timeshare companies that did take notice, well done and thank you. All we can hope for is that 2019 will see many more start to change their ways.

From Inside Timeshare, we wish you all a happy and prosperous New Year.

Christmas Greetings

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2018 from Across the Miles

By Irene Parker

The holidays provide an opportunity for better communication, but better communication should be a year round opportunity.

Article Title: Christmas Truce of 1914

Author: History.com Editors

During World War I, on and around Christmas Day 1914, the sounds of rifles firing and shells exploding faded in a number of places along the Western Front in favor of holiday celebrations in the trenches and gestures of goodwill between enemies.

Did you know? On December 7, 1914, Pope Benedict XV suggested a temporary hiatus of the war for the celebration of Christmas. The warring countries refused to create any official cease-fire, but on Christmas the soldiers in the trenches declared their own unofficial truce.

Starting on Christmas Eve, many German and British troops sang Christmas carols to each other across the lines, and at certain points the Allied soldiers even heard brass bands joining the Germans in their joyous singing.

At the first light of dawn on Christmas Day, some German soldiers emerged from their trenches and approached the Allied lines across no-man’s-land, calling out “Merry Christmas” in their enemies’ native tongues. At first, the Allied soldiers feared it was a trick, but seeing the Germans unarmed they climbed out of their trenches and shook hands with the enemy soldiers. The men exchanged presents of cigarettes and plum puddings and sang carols and songs. There was even a documented case of soldiers from opposing sides playing a good-natured game of soccer.

The so-called Christmas Truce of 1914 came only five months after the outbreak of war in Europe and was one of the last examples of the outdated notion of chivalry between enemies in warfare. It was never repeated—future attempts at holiday ceasefires were quashed by officers’ threats of disciplinary action—but it served as heartening proof, however brief, that beneath the brutal clash of weapons, the soldiers’ essential humanity endured.

https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/christmas-truce-of-1914

Our 2017 Christmas Wish (I don’t feel I need to improve upon)

December 22, 2017 restated December 24, 2018

I wish to thank all our readers and supporters as we journey down the path towards resolution of conflict whether with our timeshare, or with our world. The relationships that have blossomed and grown are precious to me. The few I have had the opportunity to meet face to face solidifies and takes our relationship to a new level. I look forward to more of those experiences in the New Year.

There are no words to express the love and support I’ve felt from my band of brothers and sisters seeking to reform timeshare for the better, and we know there are honest timeshare sales agents and even some executives who feel the same.

Here’s hoping 2018 (19) will bring communication, resolution and relief to those who have laughed and cried with me over life’s ups and down. I also want to wish the best to those who may not like us very much, but know in their heart we only wish for better accountability, transparency and respect.

Thank you Charles Thomas, our Facebook admins, those supporting timeshare members working behind the scenes, our past and future Inside Timeshare contributors and to all our Facebook members, Inside Timeshare readers, Timeshare Accountability Group™  followers as we change our name to reflect our mission:

We seek to provide timeshare members a way to proactively address membership concerns; to advocate for timeshare reform; to obtain greater disclosure from the company; to advocate for a viable secondary market; and to educate prospective buyers.

https://www.facebook.com/timeshareadvocategroup/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/DiamondResortsOwnersAdvocacy/

https://tug2.com/Home.aspx

https://everythingabouttimeshares.com/consider-exchange-options/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/180578055325962/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/465692163568779/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1639958046252175/

 

  

 

Mid Week Report: Diamond Resorts Receive Second Supreme Court Sentence

The Supreme Court, Spain’s highest judicial body has again found against Diamond Resorts as per their previous 129 rulings. This week alone Diamond have lost 2 cases at the highest court in Spain, it all centers on their points system which has been declared an illegal product due to lack of tangibility and the length of the contract.

In the past three years, the Supreme Court has ruled on 131 cases involving the sales of timeshare, each time it has upheld its previous rulings, on many occasions it has added further rulings on the interpretation of the Spanish Timeshare Laws 42/98 & 4/12.

The latest case started with a trial at the Court of First Instance No 24 in Tenerife, the judge in this instance found for the clients as dictated by the previous ruling of the Supreme Court and the Spanish Timeshare laws.

The infractions were the contract had no end date, which is in contravention of the law as laid down and reinforced by previous rulings, the law clearly states that a timeshare contract should be a minimum of 3 years and a maximum of 50 years in duration. The second was the points system, which shows no tangible product, this being a fixed week number and fixed apartment number, which guarantees the purchaser the period and accommodation each year.

The Judge ruled in favour of the client, declaring the contract null and void plus the return of all money paid. However, Diamond did not agree and promptly appealed the decision to the High Court.

During this appeal, Diamond pleaded that what they had sold was not timeshare, that just like Silverpoint, these were “investors” and not consumers of timeshare. For some reason the judges at the High Court agreed and overturned the decision of the Court of First Instance.

The lawyers of Canarian Legal Alliance representing the clients, placed an appeal with the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court had already previously ruled on the point of “investors as opposed to consumers”, ruling that they are consumers.

On 13 December 2018, the judges of the Supreme Court overturned the decision of the Tenerife High Court upholding and reaffirming the ruling of the Court of First Instance, in favour of the client and in accordance to their previous rulings.

The court along with the original decision declared the contract null and void, awarded over 11,000€ plus they ordered the return of all legal fees for the original case and the appeal, sending it back to the original court for execution of sentence.

The full sentence can be seen in the PDF below.

Supreme Court 2nd Diamond sentence data protected

Over the past 3 or so years the Supreme Court has been consistent in reaffirming their previous rulings, which all courts must abide by. The basic rulings are that deposits or any payment made within the cooling off period are illegal, including those made to a third party. The points and floating weeks systems are not permitted as they do not guarantee anything to the consumer. The duration of the contract is another aspect they have consistently ruled upon, that any contract with a period of more than 50 years is not permitted.

As with the Silverpoint rulings on the “investment packs” which Silverpoint argued made the purchaser an “investor” not a “consumer”, the court has ruled these are indeed timeshares and the law applies. This is also being used in the case of “fractional ownership” and more recently the Silverpoint “Company Participations”, the courts have ruled that they are timeshare and that the consumer has the full protection of the timeshare law.

On the point of “investing”, timeshare is not an investment in property, it is a right of use and enjoyment of accommodation for specific periods of time, therefore it should never be marketed or sold as an investment. This is actually borne out by First National Trust in 2012, they are the trustees for the Club la Costa Fractional Owners Club, they informed CLC that fractional should never be marketed as an investment. (See link below).

http://clcmembers.blogspot.com/

Over the years we have seen many timeshare companies change the product, giving it new names, in many cases it has been a blatant attempt to bypass the timeshare laws, but thanks to the courts and especially the Supreme Court, this has been thwarted.

As with any new law, it has taken a long time and many test cases to clarify the interpretation of the law, there is still a long way to go as timeshare companies try to evade the strict laws which now govern the sale of any timeshare product in Spain.

  • Have you purchased a timeshare in Spain or upgraded since 5 January 1999?
  • Is the contract over 50 years in duration?
  • Is it a floating weeks or points system?
  • Have you purchased fractional?
  • Did you purchase the Silverpoint “Investment Weeks”?
  • Are you a participant in the Silverpoint “Company Participation” scheme?
  • Have you paid any money within the cooling off period?

If you can say yes to any of these questions, then you may have the right to have your contract declared null and void, along with the return of at least your purchase price, double whatever paid within the cooling off period.

If you require any information on what your rights are and whether you do have a valid and viable claim, then use our contact page and we will point you in the right direction.

You should also bare in mind that these claims must go through a Spanish court using a genuine Spanish registered lawyer, your contract must also still be running. Once you have cancelled any ownership / membership, then you lose your right to file with the courts.

Remember, before you do anything, do your due diligence and check who you are dealing with, do not take at face value some of the claims many companies will make. If you require any help in determining the validity of any company that contacts you, that you find on the internet or through adverts in magazines or newspapers, then contact Inside Timeshare for the best advice possible.

Stay safe and do your homework.