DRI Devbuyback program officialy dead

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

I guess that's as appropriate of a heading as you can get since it's halloween.

I just received a call from the director of operations after making a post on the DRI forums. As of Oct. 1st, all offers and deals that had not been paid out were recsinded. The entire department was shut down. If you had a deal but haven't received a check, the chances you'll get one are slim and none.

Now I'm not so dissapointed that my agreement with DRI to sell my Polo Towers units was dead. I joined THE Club to give me flexability and protect my exchangability investment in case something bad happened at Polo Towers........such as a second legioniare's breakout. What does upset me is that "DRI, a leader in the timeshare industry" would make such a move without an exit plan in place.

I'm assuming there was no plan on how they were going to notify owners that their deals were dead, even though it's time to make decisions for vacations next year, plan on paying MF's and THE Club dues and possibly even using some of their points to offset MF's like myself. The director of operations tells me she's personally made over 600 calls to notify owners their deals were dead. Seems like a waste of resources for have a director of operations handling these phone calls.

I ask you, if you ran a buiness and wanted to shut this program down, wouldn't it have been easier to have a plan to notify people by E-mail, snail mail and/or phone call before shutting that division down completely? Heck, even a phone message for owners that called to see where their deal stood would have been something other than that fast busy signal I've been getting.

DRI call's it simplicity. If this is S. Cloobeck's idea of simplicty I'd hate to see complicated. DRI's method of just shutting down a division has apparently complicted the lives of some of their own managers and it sure as heck complicated the lives of some of their owners. The second legioniare's breakout really complicates the selling of my two units if I were to decide to sell them on the open market. Who wants to trust an HOA/BOD that charged owners an SA back in 2001 or 2002 with the express stated reason to put in a water treatment system to prevent legioniare's from happening again, updated security measures (I think those key card elevator passes were finally put in 1 or 2 years ago) and transforming the tennis courts to a family water park (took 3 or 4 years to complete that project)

At this point, DRI, IMO, is at best inept and poorly managed. They've spent hundereds of thousands of dollars (maybe millions) attracting the best top brass money can buy, but everything from the bottom up remains rotten to the core. All this and they wanted to buy out Bluegreen at $15/share before they've cleaned up their own act. All this while hitting owners up for MF increases of 12 to 27% (sorry DRI, you can try to shove it off on the HOA's but I'm not buying it).

IMO, DRI is a far cry from being a leader in the industry. Big doesn't mean best or leadership. It only means big.

[Bill4728 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Bill4728]

I thought the Dev Bay back idea was a great one. Instead of building new resorts, just keep buying back old memberships at $0.10/dollar. If you have enough resorts ( and no one can say DRI doesn't have a lot of resorts) you could sell all you want without ever building more because there are so many people willing to sell their TS for pennies.

[falmouth3 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close falmouth3]

I have a signed purchase agreement and a signed warantee deed since June, but the realtor who was handling the deal has not returned my phone calls in months and I couldn't get through on the phone to DRI and they haven't responded to my email. This was for a deeded week, not the club.

Doug, can you PM me with a phone number so that I can find out the status of my dealings with them. The deed has not been transferred through the county yet - I check weekly.

In the meantime, it looks like I may still own my 2 BR in Orlando, with Easter week reserved - if anyone wants it.

Thanks,
Sue

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

... Big doesn't mean best or leadership. It only means big.

Sometime 'big' means 'fat' like in an obese whale. Moves slow, reacts slow, acts stupidly, deaf, blind, that sort of thing.

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

I think they just lost access to credit lines for purchasing these timeshares. They probably didn't have a choice.

It's probably affecting their ability to acquire Bluegreen as well. If they have indeed lost all of their credit lines, they actually may be in danger of insolvency. Since they are a private company, owners may get about the same notice they just got on this program.

I wonder what their monthly debt obligations and convenances are?

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

Great, now how is this going to affect those of us who who have not purchased into the Club?

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

The value to deeds and an ownership at a resort

Great, now how is this going to affect those of us who who have not purchased into the Club?

It shouldn't. If you own a deeded week at a resort - even one managed by DRI - that is independent of the problems/finances of DRI. It's one of the main reasons I won't buy into the "trust" idea. I want to hold my tiny sliver of deeded property and the voting rights to exercise what control is offered to those owners. Even if DRI disappeared tomorrow and shut down the management there are plenty of (possibly superior) management companies anxious to step in and take over for those deeded owners. It may be messy but you're safe.

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

I have a signed purchase agreement and a signed warantee deed since June, but the realtor who was handling the deal has not returned my phone calls in months and I couldn't get through on the phone to DRI and they haven't responded to my email. This was for a deeded week, not the club.

Doug, can you PM me with a phone number so that I can find out the status of my dealings with them. The deed has not been transferred through the county yet - I check weekly.

In the meantime, it looks like I may still own my 2 BR in Orlando, with Easter week reserved - if anyone wants it.

Thanks,
Sue

Done.

It's a shame that you were as far along in the process as you were if your deal is dead also and, from what I was told, anyone that didn't receive a check might have a tough time getting one.

Nothing like leaving owners hanging towards the end of the year when MF's are getting ready to be billed. I'd like to have thought DRI was getting better at communication. Looks like their idea of communication is along the lines of crisis management rather than real communication.

Since your's was a signed deal it may just still be working it's way through the system. In all fairness I was told that after the papers were signed, it would take 90 to 120 days to get a check. Still, not knowing where the deal stands and not having published contact information to find out at this late date if the deal is alive or dead is just bad business IMO.

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

I think they just lost access to credit lines for purchasing these timeshares. They probably didn't have a choice.

It's probably affecting their ability to acquire Bluegreen as well. If they have indeed lost all of their credit lines, they actually may be in danger of insolvency. Since they are a private company, owners may get about the same notice they just got on this program.

I wonder what their monthly debt obligations and convenances are?

And I understand that. It's just business. It's the complete lack of consideration for the owners with agreed upon deals that bothers me. Especially at this time of year. It seems the least they could have done before shutting down was to send out some correspondce to let owners know they would still be owning their timeshare. It seems to me that keeping the phone line open with a recorded message would have been the least they could have done. Instead, all those that called received was a fast busy signal.

Perhaps when the market corrects itself things will turn around and they'll be making offers again. I won't hold my breath but I will try to keep my ear to the ground and hope I get a second bite at the apple sometime in the future.

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

It shouldn't. If you own a deeded week at a resort - even one managed by DRI - that is independent of the problems/finances of DRI. It's one of the main reasons I won't buy into the "trust" idea. I want to hold my tiny sliver of deeded property and the voting rights to exercise what control is offered to those owners. Even if DRI disappeared tomorrow and shut down the management there are plenty of (possibly superior) management companies anxious to step in and take over for those deeded owners. It may be messy but you're safe.

Well, safer maybe. There have been a couple of timeshares I've read about on these forums that, thanks to poor management have shut down. Seems like the last one had a name like Deer Run Village or something to that affect. It is possible, although unlikely, to lose it all.

I agree that you're MUCH better off owning a deeded week rather than trusting in a trust. It seems more likely that a trust could fail and leave owner empty handed than losing a deeded week. I've always hoped that, with the price of land in Vegas, if something happened to PT's there would at least be some residual value for owners. I'm probably wrong about that but it's thin flimsy branch of hope to hang onto.