orange lake resorts class action lawsuit

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

I am an owner at Orange Lake and new to this forum - can you tell me the problem that the class action suit addresses? Also - today I got a call from a company called Century Timeshare Grup who said they had an offer on my Orange LAke unit. I am not sure thisis a legitimate company and can find nothing on them online. DOes anyone know?

Re Century Timeshare Group, see this thread: www.centurytimesharegroup.com possible scam.... And ignore anything contributed by Jason Longo as he's almost certainly a shill poster.

Overall, they look to me like a questionable outfit - blatant unauthorized use of trademarks and logos of other companies, conducting business without registering the business entity with the state, engaging in shill posting to hype the company.

*****

On top of that, the whole business of calling someone out of the blue, saying "we have an offer to buy your timeshare" is a well-known scam.

The scam works like this. They tell you they have a buyer, at what sounds to you like a very nice price. That gets you hooked. Then they tell you that they need some money from you upfront for some purpose needed to move the sale to the next stage; the exact purpose isn't important, but it will be something such as opening up an escrow account, conducting a title search, reimbursing them for their efforts to find that buyer. They usually assure you that the amount you pay upfront will be reimbursed to you after closing. They ask for a credit card number so they can charge your account. They might even offer a money-back guarantee if they do not provide services as described.

They get the credit card number, then send you paperwork to sign. The paperwork will not be a sales contract, but will be an advertising and listing agreement. A surprising number of people won't catch that. But if you do, they will say that is a standard agreement that they use because they are a listing company, not a broker. But they assure that the sale is proceeding, and not to worry because in your case the sale is proceeding and you're going to receive all of the money in two to three weeks.

You then won't hear anything back from them and you won't receive any money either. If you call about the status, they will tell you there has been a bit of delay, and payment will probably be delayed by a week or two. They will repeat that story as long as necessary to keep you on the hook during the time that you can dispute the charge with your credit card company.

When the elapsed time does extend past the date for you to dispute the charges, they will say the buyer backed out, but they are now advertising your property in accordance with the agreement you signed.

+++++

Of course, there never was any buyer. It was all just a ruse to collect $1000 or so in "advertising fees", of which they might legitimately spend $50 adding your listing to the inventory on their website.

[slnyc11 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close slnyc11]

ok so you guys don't feel that we should take this any further and we do. My only mistake was walking into that hole in the first place. There are many smart people who get scammed because those doing the scamming don't have a heart. They will do and say anything to get your money. You are nothing but money to them. You are assuming that we didn't read our contract but I know I did. I thought I understood it. Now I know that I didn't. When I asked questions about the contract I was told more lies. They are so skilled in using the wording on the contract to twist what it says around on you. After being there for hours you think you know what you're doing. I was happy when I walked out of there. I thought I got something I would be able to enjoy. Now I know that this is not the case.

I am not a scam artist. I signed on here to see if there are more people on here like us. I made it clear that when I get the ok from the firm to post the information I will.

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

Hadn't thought of that. Although I think if my uncle, say, said "Go find someone else to be plaintiff" - instead of saying, "I'm too close to this; let me introduce you to a trustworthy lawyer" - I'd wonder why. If there's a legit case, why dis-empower me by removing me from the whole process?...

Because the attorney's goal is to collect a fee work performed. The attorney doesn't want to shunt the work off to someone else because then the attorney doesn't get any fee. But if the attorney can find someone else to be the plaintiff, then the attorney keeps the business.

Attorneys have been known to use non-attorney confederates to troll for plaintiffs on the attorney's behalf.

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

I am not a scam artist.

I don't think anyone has called you a scam artist, although admittedly I'm doing six things at once and might have missed it.

What I have seen is a number of people who're concerned that your lawyer does not think you have a good case but hopes to get some money from you anyhow.

Because the attorney's goal is to collect a fee work performed.

Exactly. What I consider a good attorney will tell me if I don't have a case (or if they think I'll do just fine without an attorney, which at least one attorney did, and he was right) - and if said good attorney is a relative, they'd be more interested in my getting justice than in them getting more money. If my imaginary uncle-the-attorney suggested I go find someone to be his plaintiff, he's essentially just told me that he isn't interested in whether the case is good or not - he just wants someone paying for his time.

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

I am not a scam artist.

I don't think anyone has called you a scam artist, although admittedly I'm doing six things at once and might have missed it.

What I have seen is a number of people who're concerned that your lawyer does not think you have a good case but hopes to get some money from you anyhow.

And layered against that is our long history of people suddenly registering at the site and starting threads in which they present themselves as something that they are not. When that happens it our antennae that are tuned to flag things that don't seem right start buzzing.

+++++

Our new good friends here are posting about how they were scammed because they took at face value information that was being provided to them by someone they just met in a sales room.

But yet they seem offended when we don't take at face value the information they are providing to us?

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

Exactly. What I consider a good attorney will tell me if I don't have a case (or if they think I'll do just fine without an attorney, which at least one attorney did, and he was right) - and if said good attorney is a relative, they'd be more interested in my getting justice than in them getting more money. If my imaginary uncle-the-attorney suggested I go find someone to be his plaintiff, he's essentially just told me that he isn't interested in whether the case is good or not - he just wants someone paying for his time.

Attorneys are in business to provide legal advice and assistance. Part of that is advising people that they don't have a legal case.

When someone comes to an attorney for legal advice, it's not inappropriate for an attorney to to charge for legal services provided even if the end result is an opinion that legal services aren't needed. Just as it's not improper for a doctor to charge for an office visit when you visit the doctor about an ache or pain that turns out to be nothing.

+++++

It becomes unethical when an attorney strings someone along, doing more work than is needed to provide advice.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

An idle thought . . . what if consumer complaints were handled like automobile defects . . . after a handful get reported, owners get notified . . . then, suddenly, like in the Toyota situation, a whole bunch of similar experiences pour forth?

In situations where the consumer gets screwed, most are inclined not to get involved in the legal process, but if it was made easy, if the consumer was notified and asked if they had a similar experience . . .

To y'all who came here to report, go for it, and you got a fairly typical cross-section of how others feel about it.

& life, in general, on Internet forums.

[slnyc11 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close slnyc11]

And layered against that is our long history of people suddenly registering at the site and starting threads in which they present themselves as something that they are not. When that happens it our antennae that are tuned to flag things that don't seem right start buzzing.

+++++

Our new good friends here are posting about how they were scammed because they took at face value information that was being provided to them by someone they just met in a sales room.

But yet they seem offended when we don't take at face value the information they are providing to us?

I am not offended that you don't take at face value the information we are providing. What does offend me is being called a scam. It makes this whole situation even harder. For those of you explaining your views on the situation nicely, thank you.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

I've been on Internet timeshare forums for more than 10 years, something like 50,000 posts, and folks still don't take me at face value.

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

Maybe because they can't see all the deleted posts ? :

[slnyc11 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close slnyc11]

I don't see anything wrong with letting other OL owners who have been scammed know that they are not the only only ones and there is a group of us who have been through the same thing and we are trying to do somethig about it. The more there are of us the louder noise we can make against them.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Your purpose is to let other OL owners know about your effort. Non-OL owners are of no value to you, unless they are also doing something similar.

It serves no purpose for non-OL owners or those not involved in something similar to discourage you. They have nothing to offer that can help you and are just a distraction.

Keep focused and don't waste your enthusiasm.

[slnyc11 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close slnyc11]

Thank you for your encouragement JLB . I do feel that with many of us we can make a difference. We may be able to get the media in on it as well.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Well, it was our first tour 20 years ago and one of the last. We sat through five of em. We went from glazed and amazed in the beginning to not believing they were still dishing out the same BS and getting away with it.

The last tour we got the sales wench from hell and my wife told me if I ever wanted to do one again, to get golf for instance, then I would have to go with her brother and we would have to pretend we were a couple.

So that ended that.

We've traded in several times, always 3-bedroom units.

As far as how long it takes to learn the truth about what you buy, for us it took 10 years. That's when we first found out there was more than what we had been able to perceive up until then. Up until then we just believed the BS.

Some people never do learn the truth.

Of course, if you ever do learn the truth, they change it.

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

Your purpose is to let other OL owners know about your effort. Non-OL owners are of no value to you, unless they are also doing something similar.

It serves no purpose for non-OL owners or those not involved in something similar to discourage you. They have nothing to offer that can help you and are just a distraction.

Keep focused and don't waste your enthusiasm.

Sorry, I thought I was trying to save them a few thousand dollars in wasted lawyer fee's in what is most likely a futile effort at best. Somehow I didn't think that to be useless. Wasted effort in this case but not useless. My bad.