Scottish Action Group claims settled

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

It is being reported on other websites that the claims of the Scottish Action Group Against Sunterra, who for years maintained the website Sunterrafied, and its offshoot which had the Scambusters website, have been settled by Stephen Cloobeck with cash offers which have been accepted. As part of the arrangement, both websites are now down. Cloobeck has not only done the right thing ethically to clean up a mess he inherited, but he has ended a PR black eye for the firm he bought.

In the pre-Diamond days, Sunterra had settled with a disgruntled European Sunterra points owner who had set up the Sunterror website.

Now, I wonder what the future will be for Sunterra Compensation Group

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

My guess is that things are not nearly as bleak as you've been seeing them as. At this point I believe that Mr. Cloobeck has a good grasp of the situation, understands the importance of owner satisfaction and is in a position to move DRI ahead with a product strong in quality. He's done in less than 5 months what the previous Sunterra management/ownership was not able to do, reach satisfactory agreements with thousands of disgruntled owners.

Reaching the agreement is the first major step in making disgruntled owners happy owners. Happy owners have optimism about the future of their ownership and the company they own with. That optimism will help to increase ownership and expand the company. I'd say he's on the right track and is doing very well.

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

As I said, it will also be interesting to see what Diamond does with the claims organized by the Timeshare Consumers Association in the Sunterra Compensation Group.

The Sunterra points club does seem to be very hard pressed in Europe, based on the comments on CRIMESHARE - Sunterra & Grand Vacation Club and that is true even with the comments of Sunterra insiders who are trying to defend the company.

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

Streettalk says things look good

As reported at streettalkblog it seems the new owner is making all the right moves in Europe for Sunterra. I guess the sky isn't going to fall after all?

Now when we get the word that the sham RCI Class Action has folded it's tent (should be fairly soon) we can get on with vacation life and stop wasting time and money on shysters.

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

I have never really understood why some seem to want to see RCI prevail on its program of ripping off exchangers with its rentals to the general public. This is a dagger pointed right at the heart of the ownership/exchange model of timesharing.

As to Sunterra, the info on Crimeshare (whose site seems to have moved again, fending off the hachetmen of OTE) both from Sunterra members and Sunterra insiders defending the company points to a massive loss of membership of its points club in Europe (30,000 members in a mere 3 years). While the excuses for that loss simply don't fold water (the chief Sunterra insider/defender there claimed timeshare resorts in the industry routinely lose 20% of their members yearly!), the fact that Sunterra was in a financial bind in Europe because of it does make sense. Selling resorts, starting with Carlton Court (not because it is ''underutilized'' but because it is one that is easiest to sell and has a very high market value) with others certain to follow is obviously one way out of that bind, but for the sake of Sunterra members it is unfortunate that they did not find another route to go.

The Streettalk article is solely about the settlement of the Scottish Action Group claims, which I too applauded as you will see if you reread the first post in this thread. It does not address the selling off of resorts like Carlton Court, as you seem to imply when you say ''all the right moves''. It also does not address the Timeshare Consumers Association claims against Sunterra, which I do hope that Cloobeck can also quietly settle in a satisfactory way for those involved. Maybe you hope that those people will continue to be screwed. I do not.

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

I believe that one of the terms of the settlement was that the "crimeshare" site was to be taken down, not moved.

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

Twisted goals

I have never really understood why some seem to want to see RCI prevail on its program of ripping off exchangers with its rentals to the general public. This is a dagger pointed right at the heart of the ownership/exchange model of timesharing.

I don't want RCI to ripoff owners / exchangers - never have. But the class action method will not produce the desired end result and will cost everyone - including those owners / exchangers - simply to pay the shysters. There are better ways to make RCI toe the line as we have discussed many times before. To say I support the ripoff is twisting my stance.

The Streettalk article is solely about the settlement of the Scottish Action Group claims, which I too applauded as you will see if you reread the first post in this thread. It does not address the selling off of resorts like Carlton Court, as you seem to imply when you say ''all the right moves''. It also does not address the Timeshare Consumers Association claims against Sunterra, which I do hope that Cloobeck can also quietly settle in a satisfactory way for those involved. Maybe you hope that those people will continue to be screwed. I do not.

The point here is the repeated view that terrible things are happening to these groups, that only draconian measures will fix it and that the owners/management simply aren't capable of working things out. As shown with the Scottish settlement - how much worse could a situation be? - with compromise things can and will get fixed. Demanding one sided fixes never works for either side.