Scammed

[gr8fl4295 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close gr8fl4295]

Hello,
I was scammed into buying a timeshare, no new news there, but now I can't afford the property.
It's way past the rescission time.
Any advice on getting out of a contract/agreement?
I've paid a deposit on the TS, now the bills are starting to come.

thanks in advance.

[timeos2 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close timeos2]

No resale so go to the Developer

Hello,
I was scammed into buying a timeshare, no new news there, but now I can't afford the property.
It's way past the rescission time.
Any advice on getting out of a contract/agreement?
I've paid a deposit on the TS, now the bills are starting to come.

thanks in advance.

As there is no way to sell for what you owe your only choices are to go back to the seller & try to get a buy back (it will cost you) or default on the deal. The second can be a big hit to your credit so #1 is the way to go if at all possible. Good luck.

[Kentonmag Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Kentonmag]

Hello,
I was scammed into buying a timeshare, no new news there, but now I can't afford the property.
It's way past the rescission time.
Any advice on getting out of a contract/agreement?
I've paid a deposit on the TS, now the bills are starting to come.

thanks in advance.

Unless a person has been totally lied to, then no one is scammed into buying a timeshare, pressured yes but anyone can walk away from the salesman without comeback.

How do you feel you were scammed and how long have you owned the timeshare? If your signed contract is not being honoured by your resort then you may want to seek legal advice but if you just want to get your money back because you have had 2nd thoughts, you've got little to no chance.

[Keitht Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Keitht]

I think that to many people these days the term 'scammed' is interchangeable with mislead or misinformed where timeshare is involved. I don't agree with the practice but it is pretty common.
I suspect many people are mislead or misinformed when they make most major purchases but don't claim to have been scammed. For example is a car salesman absolutely accurate in giving fuel consumption figures or depreciation figures when trying to sell a car? Does a TV or hi-fi salesman ever turn round and say you should buy a product they don't sell in preference to their offerings? If not, have you been scammed into purchasing??
There are plenty of scams out there in the world of timeshare, but most of them are in the area of selling your timeshare rather than the initial purchase from the developer.
Yes, timeshare from the developer is massively over priced but no gun is being held to the purchasers head. For 'scammed' read 'buyers regret'.

[gr8fl4295 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close gr8fl4295]

Here's the update on this matter....
I sent an VERY scathing email to EVERYONE in the Raintree organization, including VP, CEO, SVP, CFO, Managers, membership services, head of sales, etc.
And since Raintree stated they were associated with Westin, I sent the same email to the executive offices at Westin Group/Starwood Hotels.
I made sure everyone knew.

I received an email from the CEO stating they would look into the accusation.
I also received an email from the Manager of Membership Services.

Then I spoke to the Manager on the phone, explained to her what had happened and how frustrated we are.

After a long apology, she said she was going to cancel our contract and told me not too worry about any loans or payments.

This is such a relief. She was very understanding, and did not condone the sales tactics of who helped us at Club Regina. In fact told me they would no longer be employed.

I'm just hoping this will never happen again to anyone.

Thanks for all your help.

[Chap7 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Chap7]

Hope you have some sort of written confirmation of their willingness to let you out of your contract.

[gr8fl4295 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close gr8fl4295]

yep, sure do. A professionally written email as well as a physical letter.

[Chap7 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Chap7]

It looks like you did pretty well then. Timesharing may still be an option for you but buy resale next time. There are a ton of great deals out there now.

[dbwill Member Find all posts View Profile Close dbwill]

Seems to me that resale is the way to go. Are there benefits to buying from the agents?

[4ARedOctober Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close 4ARedOctober]

Nice....congratulations for fighting back and getting what you wanted.

yep, sure do. A professionally written email as well as a physical letter.

[Hobbitess Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hobbitess]

Seems to me that resale is the way to go. Are there benefits to buying from the agents?

Some places there are benefits from buying from the developer you can't get from resale, some places you can get benefits buying resale but the benefit points are more expensive that those without benefits, some places are the same either way.

For instance, with the Bluegreen system, if you buy off E-Bay you get the points (it's a points-based system), as well as membership in RCI (whether you want it or not), but that's about it. If you buy from an "authorized" reseller (read, related to Bluegreen), then you can get all the benefits you can from the developer at a discount price. On the resale market, "authorized" points cost about twice per point as unauthorized, on average. Might be higher now since the market's tanked. Authorized resale is still much less than half what it costs from the developer, though.

OTOH, with "this unit this week at this resort" kind of resales, you generally get pretty much what the original owner had; rights to that week at that place that you can trade through where ever if you want. But I have heard that sometimes the contract doesn't transfer at all - the owner can return it to the management company, period - so you'd need to be sure of that going in.

Buying resale carries some risks, sometimes because people don't really understand what they own, sometimes because people are trying to scam you, so it does require more research going in, but most of the time it's a great deal. Just be careful that you know what "carries over" with the type of resale you're interested in and what doesn't.